Blatant Misrepresentations..

I have earlier documented startling departures from the truth in PM Modi's statements. Here are some more I found when reading on some other topic :

Modi said in parliament in early 2018 : “Till the time you (UPA) were in power you lied and said the NPAs were 36% but in 2014 (the year the BJP came to power) we started seeking the truth and looked at the documents. We realised that you gave wrong statistics. NPAs were at 82%,” 

In contrast, the Reserve Bank of India has said that in the year 2013-14, gross NPA (as percentage of total loan amounts) stood at 3.8% – a far cry from the 82% Modi said it is.

Modi went on to say in Parliament that total advances by banks climbed to Rs 52 lakh crore in March 2014 – as part of the UPA government’s bad debt. “This was the money of India’s poor.”

But in fact, the Rs 52 lakh crore refers to total advances by public sector banks, according to RBI data, and not NPAs.

Could even a high school student have made these wild misrepresentations ?

The Droughts are Coming...

Droughts are among the most costly natural disasters, affecting agriculture, ecosystems and societies. A study found that climate change has been impacting drought risk in the world since 1900. All the models are projecting that one should see unprecedented drying soon, in a lot of places.

Although it is floods that grab the headlines and trigger aid quickly, droughts have “shockingly large and often hidden” impacts that can last for generations, the world bank said in a report.

Girls in rural Africa born during a severe drought are more likely to grow up poor and hungry, be less educated, stunted, wed younger, give birth to underweight babies and bear more of them, the bank said.

This is an example of a poverty trap that has been created by a single episode of drought … and it continues across generations.

Nor are cities – the economic engines of most countries – immune from drought. The economic impact of droughts on city businesses is four times worse than that of floods.

Urban economies slow because of power outages, weak sales and increased health problems such as diarrhoea and dysentery.

Large swathes of eastern Australia have been in drought for periods ranging from a year to seven years.

Australia's biggest city Sydney is running down its water supply at the fastest rate on record. The amount of water flowing into the dam was just 10% of what it was a year ago. Catchments that have been historically reliable are now facing a critical shortage of water. A recent survey of Sydney residents found that despite the dry conditions and declining water supply, 47% of people did not realise there was a drought.

The Jews in Iran

I was surprised by the public hangings though as I had thought of Iran to be a modern nation despite being headed by a religious figure. So I looked up various documentaries on iran and was surprised by many aspects.

There are 10,000 – 25,000 jews in Iran although Iran considers Israel to be an enemy. The Jews in Iran have the same rights as others, and are even free to travel to Israel or the US. The Jews there have never experienced anti-semitism and prefer living in Iran though they could immigrate to lsrael anytime as Jews.

The Jews have their own schools, run charity hospitals and have freedom of worship. Unlike the rest of the world, the synagogues in Tehran don’t even need any security.

Persian Jews have lived in the territories of today's Iran for over 2,700 years. They were expelled from the Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrian (then Iraq) king who had annexed it. But in Persia (now Iran), the Jews had sanctuary, and in the 6^th century, the Persian kings enabled Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild its temple.

Homosexuality law in India and Iran

Someone wrote to me : 'ईरान में तीन लोगों ने ज्वैलरी शोरूम लूट लिए और मालिक को मार डाला। सरकार ने उन्हें दुकान के सामने लटका दिया. 15 दिनों के भीतर न्याय.'

I wrote back : 'These admiring messages on summary justice and executions are generally forwarded by right wingers. Would they like india to be headed only by religious people, like iran ?

This kind of ‘justice’ is sharply criticized in the world though as it is not transparent, there is no proper defence available to the accused, and because of so many death sentences awarded. Only a few of the executions are public though, as a lesson, I suppose.

Sadly, over 6000 gays have been hanged since the Islamic revolution in 1979 as homosexuality is illegal in iran.. we have got to remember though that the ugly law that punished homosexuality by upto 10 years in prison was only outlawed in india 13 months ago !'

This person wrote back : 'Yes I know Modi Government is not opposed to homosexuality. This is a very progressive government.'

I wrote him back : 'History does not bear this out. Subramniam Swami and Ramdev (especially the former who issued vicious statements) were very vocal against homosexuality in 2013 when the Supreme court overturned the Delhi high court judgement which had decriminalized homosexuality.

Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi, issued statements agains the Supreme court judgement.

Even in 2015, the Law Minister refuse to do anything to change the law. Subramaniam Swamy said the BJP’s position was that homosexuality was a genetic disorder. Modi maintained a studied silence.

In 2016, Narendra Modi tweeted out his condolences for the 50 people killed in the horrific shooting at an Orlando gay club. A lady called Rachita responded on twitter : "There's no point of giving "thoughts and prayers" to the families of the LGBTQ community in Orlando if you don't walk the talk. You have the power to ensure LGBTQ people in your own country don't get harassed, hurt, and criminalised by the state. You're quick to show solidarity with the victims of Orlando without acknowledging that your government is responsible for continuing hate speech against LGBTQ people. Where are you when your party members use hate speeches against the community? Stop with this "thoughts and prayers"--you are in a position to decriminalise millions of LGBTQ Indians and till the time you do that, you don't have a right to show solidarity with the community in Orlando."

His Govt. STILL did not do anything. Gay people kept on petitioning the Govt. with no response.

The Supreme Court judgement in 2018 decriminalizing homosexuality came on the petition filed in 2016 by these courageous people : dancer Navtej Singh Johar, journalist Sunil Mehra, chef Ritu Dalmia, hoteliers Aman Nath and Keshav Suri, and businesswoman Ayesha Kapur, wherein the petitioners argued that they had all been directly aggrieved because of Section 377, alleging it to be a direct violation of fundamental rights.

The only sensible role that the Govt. played was this : It abstained from the hearings and left the matter to the “wisdom of the court". BJP spokesperson did say that any decision on the matter "takes in sync with the jurisprudential developments on gay rights the world over would be welcome". In January 2018, the BJP's coalition partner, the Shiv Sena had supported legalisation of homosexuality.

The right-wing organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh conveyed its agreement with the court's verdict as it didn't believe homosexuality was a crime, but did label the orientation as "unnatural". Congress issued a statement welcoming the ruling and remarked that the judgement should bring about "the beginning of a more equal and inclusive society".'