News, Opinions & Updates

February 9, 2017

Hello. Although for a couple of years I have been using Amrit's Updates to broadcast the articles and blog posts that I write, sometimes, due to work pressure, I am unable to  come up  with ideas as regularly as I should.  So from now onwards, I will be preparing these updates to aggregate interesting news, opinions and blog posts and compiling them into an update to send you interesting "food for thought" items and also stimulate myself for more writing.

People have been commenting that Sasikala Natarajan and her clan (which, incidentally, is called the Mannargudi Mafia in Tamil Nadu) didn’t even wait for two months after Jayalalitha’s death. They want to gain maximum power in the state as soon as possible.

But their march towards the ultimate power centre has been stunted, whether temporarily or permanently remains to be seen, by the current CM Pannerselvam. Initially it seemed he would quit without even a whimper, but suddenly, he seems to have found his backbone and has started expressing words of discontent. He claims that the “spirit of Amma” came to him and told him to speak up. He should have told the “ spirit of Amma” to pay sisterly visit to Sasikala too.

He says that he was forced to resign, and for saying this, he has been forced out of the post of treasurer in the party. It seems to be becoming a lose-lose situation for him.

For the sake of the people of Tamil Nadu, let’s hope better sense prevails and the state gets a legitimate Chief Minister, although in Indian politics, this is often too much to ask for.

The newly-elected US president Donald Trump wants companies to hire Americans. For that, he is making it difficult and unprofitable for American companies and other companies working in America to hire people from India who, if a guesstimate is to be believed, constitute 70% of the tech workforce in the US.

According to the new law, companies will have to pay a minimum wage of $ 130,000 per annum to all the employees no matter from where they get them. Currently, half of it is paid to the Indian code coolies. There is a chance that thousands of H1B visas might be cancelled.

In his America-first doctrine Trump believes that American businesses and American employees should be given preference over foreigners, and he has all the right to believe like that for his country. India and Indians should see this new development as a great opportunity to tap the vast market at home. There is a great opportunity for software development companies to set shop in India and open up their production centres here. Apple is already about to start manufacturing iPhones in India. Many more such initiatives should be taken.

A good thing about Narendra Modi is, he turns every hurdle into an opportunity.

Meanwhile, this Economic Times article claims that there might be big trouble for the BJP in Gujarat in the form of the Patidar agitation. Apparently, eggs were thrown on the newly-appointed president of the BJP youth wing Rutvij Patel, although it isn’t sure whether this is confirmed or not.

Yesterday there was an article that raised the prospects of the BJP coming face to face its Waterloo (check it in the previous issue of Amrit’s Updates) and now this Economic Times article says that the BJP might come face-to-face with its Achilles’ Heel moment in Gujarat very soon. Well, you should always take such reports with a pinch of salt. Having said that, the BJP is certainly getting into a hubris.

I guess it took Bhagirath less time to bring Ganga from heavens to earth than it is taking the earthlings to clean it up. At many places the holy and majestic river has been turned into a sewage. The various projects initiated for cleaning Ganga have proven to be sinkholes for money.

This article rightly says that simply cleaning up the river isn’t going to solve any problem unless there is a paradigm shift in the way we manage civil and industrial waste. What is the use of cleaning the waters of the river if millions of tons of toxic water is put into it by thousands of cities and industries thriving on its banks? If this aspect of the Gangetic planes is taken care of, if I’m not wrong, the river should be clean in just a few months.

It has been established beyond doubt that most of the news media is partisan. We have seen it in India where everything about the BJP or Narendra Modi is bad and worrisome, and everything about the Congress and its various allies is either good, or is to be swept under the carpet. We have observed similar trends in the US although in the US media has crossed all the boundaries when it comes to vilifying Donald Trump.

Anyway, about the recent Narendra Modi speech in the Parliament: This Hindustan Times article says “Modi’s defence of demonetisation in Parliament fails to resonate with Opposition”. On the other hand, this Dainik Jagran front-page news says, “प्रधानमंत्री ने विपक्ष की बोलती बंद की” – Prime Minister left the opposition speechless.