काउंटरव्यू

By Venkatesh Nayak* During his reply on the Motion of Thanks to the Address of the President of India in the Lok Sabha on 7th February 2018, the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi compared his Government’s efforts to curb corruption and flush out black money to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan – the nation-wide mission launched to clean up cities, towns, villages and roads, build community toilets and end the practice of open defecation. He drew attention once again to is government’s emphasis on ‘transparency in governance’. Despite the clear signals from the topmost level of the Government, key departments and agencies are failing to abide by this important principle. The Ministry of Finance and one national public finance institute under its control, have both refused to reveal the research reports on black money in the domestic sector under The Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act). More interestingly, the Black Money SIT has claimed that it does not have a copy of the study repo

By Moin Qazi* A dignified aura of its rich past cloaks every corner of Aurangabad, a bustling city in Maharashtra. The crowning minarets that dot the city landscape and the villages around it, dissolve into the mist of history as the lavender of the evening glow envelopes the monuments from which writers extract magical romances for their books. Legends abound of the great kings and saints who once inhabited this land. The ravages of time and the passages of history have slowly driven the chapters of glory into bygone memories. But, in the narrow lanes of Aurangabad, a splendid tradition— of the intricately woven fabric called himroo–still struggles to survive. Enduring the driftwood of history , it is now relived in the houses of narrow lanes, where against the click-clack of the looms, families weave exquisite varieties of this fabric. Himroo is the only surviving relic of the regal past. In its heyday, it found an echo in foreign lands. Hand-woven, it is a traditional Aurangabad

By Moin Qazi* India has been home to a variety of arts and crafts which have won it a coveted place in the cultural heritage of the world. Khadi was the symbol of the freedom struggle and handloom weaving was one of the core elements of Gandhi’s philosophy of self-reliance. After independence, handloom industry was seen both as an employment provider in large parts of rural India and a vehicle to protect cultural heritage. It is really tragic that the handloom sector is going through a painful phase. What was once an abiding symbol of India’s glorious cultural legacy has left many of its tradition bearers in a state of penury. It is time for the government, businesses and entrepreneurs to infuse new economic oxygen before these traditions become extinct. Ironically, the most authentic connoisseurs of Indian arts and o crafts are foreigners who are genuinely interested in patronizing them so that they withstand the onslaught of the changing state of affairs. While the origin o

By Venkatesh Nayak* To ensure compliance with proactive information disclosure obligations under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act), under Rule 10 of the Rules of Procedure in Regard to the Proceedings of Cabinet, 1987, government ministries/ departments are required to submit reports to the Cabinet Secretariat every month. With the exception of the Ministry of Coal no other Ministry had volunteered to make this information public. In April 2016, the Central Information Commission (CIC) had issued a recommendation to the Cabinet Secretariat to upload monthly reports of work done by all Ministries and Departments on their respective websites. Within two months of the CIC’s recommendation, the Cabinet Secretariat issued a circular to all Central Ministries and Departments requiring them to upload monthly reports of their major achievements, significant developments and important events. Ever since, Parliament has been asking questions regarding compliance with this circular

By Moin Qazi* India has long been a testing ground for several western products, particularly in agriculture and medicine—making the most of loose regulations and genetic diversity of a huge population. It is done to help cut research costs dramatically for lucrative products to be sold in the West. The relationship is highly exploitative and many believe it represents a new colonialism. Encouraging vulnerable and poor people to take risks raises ethical questions. Especially when it is they, and not the outsider, who will pay the price of failure. A painstaking reflection of such interventions needs to be demanded. New agricultural practices are being propagated with enticements of extravagant promises. By manipulating the choices of consumers at the low-income pyramid, they are being disempowered. The damage to the economy and ecology of these already fragile societies is now starkly visible. In their book “Poor Economics”, development economists Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee lis