Modi ridicules Dr Manmohan Singh for criticising note ban

February 8, 2017

New Delhi, Feb 8: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today targeted his predecessor Manmohan Singh for describing demonetisation as "loot" and "plunder" even as he asserted in the Rajya Sabha that the fight against black money is not a political one or against any party.

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He tore into Congress and took on Singh who had described demonetisation as "organised loot" and "legalised plunder", saying "the art of bathing in a bathroom with a raincoat on" is known only to the former Prime Minister as there is "no blot on him" despite "all the scams".

This provoked an angry reaction from Congress members who staged a walkout in the midst of the reply by the Prime Minister to a debate on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address which was later adopted by the House after negation of all the 651 amendments.

Members of Left, Trinamool Congress and JD(U) also staged a walkout after the reply, complaining that they were unhappy with Modi's statement and wanted to ask questions which was disallowed.

Modi, in his over one-hour speech, focussed his attack on Congress and other opposition parties for criticising the demonetisation decision and his push for cash-less economy. He also slammed the Congress for finding faults with lack of proper infrastructure in the country, saying by doing so, they were only presenting their "report card" of 70-year rule.

Targeting Singh, he said, "in this country, perhaps there will be hardly anyone from the economic field who has had dominance on the country's financial affairs for half of the country's 70 years of independence. Out of 70 years, for 30-35 years, he has been directly associated with financial decisions.

"So many scams occurred... We politicians have a lot to learn from Dr Sahab. So much happened, there is not a single blot on him. Dr Sahab is the only person who knows the art of bathing in a bathroom with a raincoat on."

As Congress members created uproar and staged a walkout, an angry Modi said, "if you cross the limits of decorum, then you should have courage to listen to the response. We have the capacity to pay in the same coin. We do so within the limits of decorum and boundaries of the Constitution. They (Congress) don't want to accept the defeat in any form. How long will it continue??

He went on to add, "the person who held such a high post, used the words 'loot' and 'plunder' in the House. Then they (Congress) also should have thought 50 times (before using those words)."

Singh, while speaking in the Rajya Sabha during the last Winter Session, had castigated the Prime Minister over demonetisation, saying its implementation was a "monumental management failure" and a case of "organised loot and legalised plunder."

Responding to those comments today, Modi also took a swipe at Singh using the pretext of a book. "Manmohan Singh ji had delivered a speech here... Recently a book was released in which Manmohan Singh ji had written the Foreword. Initially, I thought he is a renowned economist and it (the book) will have his contribution. But then I realised that the book was written by somebody else and he had only written the Foreword. In his speech also, I felt the same," the Prime Minister said.

This triggered an uproar from the Congress members. To this, Modi took a dig, saying, "the word I did not even utter, that too they (Congress members) have understood."

As Congress members shouted slogans, Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu took strong objection, questioning why the opposition members were so agitated when terms like "Hitler" were used against Modi in the same House. "I request you to go through the records. Prime Minister was called Hitler. Prime Minister was called Mussolini," Naidu said.

The Prime Minister, whose speech was interrupted a number of times due to opposition uproar, also took on the Congress for quoting economists to denounce demonetisation.

"You are quoting economists. If you quote 10, I can quote 20. Economists have never seen such a step anywhere in the world as this has happened for the first time... In fact, this can become a case study for them," he said.

Taking on Congress at another point, Modi quoted a book authored by former Home Secretary Madhav Godbole, which he said, contained criticism of Indira Gandhi for not undertaking demonetisation in 1971 when there was an opportunity. This evoked an uproar from Congress benches.

At this, Modi took a dig at them, saying, "you should have shown behaviour when the book was published. What were you doing when it was published? Were you sleeping all this while? When such allegations were levelled, why were you silent? Had I been in your place I would have filed a case against Godbole."

The Prime Minister said while 125 crore countrymen are making efforts to come out of "inner malaise" of black money and corruption, Congress and other opposition parties are standing against it.

Defending his demonetisation decision announced on November 8 last year, he said, "to fight against black money and corruption is not a political fight. It is not to harass any political. It is the responsibility of everyone to fight against it... We did what our wisdom suggested."

He said the maximum impact of black money is on the poor who have been exploited.
"There is need for more efforts (to fight black money). How long will we keep it brushing under the carpet? Even if this attempt is to be taken forward, it will be taken," he said.

"We need to fight as one. Honest person will not get strengthened, till the dishonest are not dealt with strongly.... The ultimate benefit of these steps is going to be to the poor," he said.

Modi said he did not mean to say that attempts would not have been made earlier. On contention by opposition members that people were facing hardships because of demonetistion, the Prime Minister said there will be "problems while finding a way out of vices".

"There is a horizontal divide in the country...The public sentiment is on one side, while the sentiments of leaders is on the other side. They are cut-off from the public sentiment," he said, attacking the opposition.

"Usually government and public are face-to-face on issues but this is such a decision where government and people are together. Some people are on the other side...You may have faced problems," Modi said

Comments

Rikaz
 - 
Wednesday, 8 Feb 2017

As of now no black money retrieved from anyone. More than 100 people died due to it...it was unsuccessful move of Modi....

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News Network
March 21,2024

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New Delhi: India has now become more unequal in terms of wealth concentration than the British colonial period as income and wealth of the top 1% of the country’s population have hit historical highs, according to a paper released by World Inequality Lab.

By 2022-23, the top 1 per cent income share in India was 22.6 per cent and the top 1 per cent wealth share rose to 40.1 per cent, with India’s top 1 per cent income share among the very highest in the world, higher than even South Africa, Brazil and the US.

Co-authored by economists Nitin Kumar Bharti, Lucas Chancel, Thomas Piketty, and Anmol Somanchi, the paper stated that the “Billionaire Raj” headed by “India’s modern bourgeoisie” is now more unequal than the British Raj headed by the colonialist forces. 

The paper said there is evidence to suggest the Indian tax system might be “regressive when viewed from the lens of net wealth”. A restructuring of the tax code is needed, the paper said, adding that a levy of a “super tax” of 2 per cent on the net wealth of 167 wealthiest families would yield 0.5 per cent of national income in revenues and create space for investments.

“A restructuring of the tax code to account for both income and wealth, and broad-based public investments in health, education and nutrition are needed to enable the average Indian, and not just the elites, to meaningfully benefit from the ongoing wave of globalisation. Besides serving as a tool to fight inequality, a “super tax” of 2% on the net wealth of the 167 wealthiest families in 2022-23 would yield 0.5% of national income in revenues and create valuable fiscal space to facilitate such investments,” the paper said. 

The paper has analysed data based on the annual tax tabulations published by the Indian income tax authorities to extract the distribution of top income earners between 1922-2020.

The share of national income going to the top 10 per cent fell from 37 per cent in 1951 to 30 per cent by 1982 after which it began steadily rising. From the early 1990s onwards, the top 10 per cent share increased substantially over the next three decades, nearly touching 60 per cent in the most recent years, the paper said. This compares with the bottom 50 per cent getting only 15 per cent of India’s national income in 2022-23.

 The top 1 per cent earn on average Rs 5.3 million, 23 times the average Indian (Rs 0.23 million). Average incomes for the bottom 50 per cent and the middle 40 per cent stood at Rs 71,000 (0.3 times national average) and Rs 1,65,000 (0.7 times national average), respectively.
The richest, nearly 10,000 individuals (of 92 million Indian adults) earn on average Rs 480 million (2,069 times the average Indian). “To get a sense of just how skewed the distribution is, one would have to be at nearly the 90th percentile to earn the average income in India,” the paper said.

In 2022, just the top 0.1 per cent in India earned nearly 10 per cent of the national income, while the top 0.01 per cent earned 4.3 per cent share of the national income and top 0.001 per cent earned 2.1 per cent of the national income.

Enlisting the probable reasons for sharp rise in top 1 per cent income shares, the paper said public and private sector wage growth could have played a part till the late 1990s, adding that there are good reasons to believe capital incomes likely played a role in subsequent years. For the shares of the bottom 50 per cent and middle 40 per cent remaining depressed, the paper said, the primary reason has been the lack of quality broad-based education, focused on the masses and not just the elites.

“One reason to be concerned with such high levels of inequality is that extreme concentration of incomes and wealth is likely to facilitate disproportionate influence on society and government. This is even more so in contexts with weak democratic institutions. After largely being a role model among post-colonial nations in this regard, the integrity of various key institutions in India appears to have been compromised in recent years. This makes the possibility of India’s slide towards plutocracy even more real. If only for this reason, income and wealth inequality in India must be closely tracked and challenged,” it said.

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News Network
March 17,2024

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New Delhi: The Election Commission on Sunday made public fresh data on electoral bonds, which it had submitted in sealed covers to the Supreme Court and was later asked to put it in public domain.

These details are believed to be pertaining to the period before April 12, 2019. Electoral bond details after this date was made public by the poll panel last week.

The BJP encashed electoral bonds totalling Rs 6,986.5 crore; maximum Rs 2,555 crore received in 2019-20, as per the EC data.

The Trinamool Congress received Rs 1,397 crore through electoral bonds, second largest recipient after BJP, as per the EC data.

On the other hand, the Congress redeemed a total of Rs 1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds.

DMK received Rs 656.5 crore through electoral bonds, including Rs 509 crore from lottery king Santiago Martin's Future Gaming.

BJD encashed electoral bonds worth Rs 944.5 crore, YSR Congress Rs 442.8 crore, TDP Rs 181.35 crore.

Political parties had filed data on electoral bonds in sealed cover as directed by the Supreme Court's interim order dated April 12, 2019, the poll panel said in a statement.

"Data so received from political parties was deposited in the Supreme Court without opening sealed covers. In pursuance of the Supreme Court's order dated March 15, 2024, the Registry of the Supreme Court has returned physical copies along with a digitized record of the same in a pen drive in sealed cover. The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data received in the digitized form from the registry of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds on its website," EC said.

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News Network
March 21,2024

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New Delhi, Mar 21: Election Commission (EC) on Thursday directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of Narendra Modi-led government to put an end to bulk WhatsApp messages labelled 'Viksit Bharat Sampark.' It has also sought a compliance report immediately from the ministry.

EC had received several complaints that such messages are still being delivered on citizens’ phones despite the announcement of Lok Sabha elections and the model code of conduct (MCC) entering into force.

In response, the govt informed the commission that although the letters were sent out before MCC came into force, some of them could have possibly been delivered to recipients with a delay because of systemic and network limitations.

In the past few days, several WhatsApp users have received messages from 'Viksit Bharat Sampark' seeking feedback and suggestions from the public. 

The message comes with a PDF that has a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioning government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Ayushman Bharat, Matru Vandana Yojana, etc, and seeking suggestions from the citizens over government initiatives and schemes.

The letter which addresses users as 'my dear family members' had sparked political controversy. Congress has called the PDF file attached with the message a ‘political propaganda’.

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