Whispers Forum

As per news reports, Modi is all set to take oath as PM for the third term. In order to succeed, he may have to amend his style of functioning. First and the foremost, as PM of a coalition, he will have to come out of the authoritarian mode that he is not used to. He is bound to face demands from coalition partners for allocating attractive portfolios for ministerial berths. Balancing pressures from coalition partners for arriving at consensus on sensitive issues, will be a herculean task. Every coalition partner cannot be satisfied beyond a point. Worse, pressures from within his own party members especially Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Yogi, could upset the apple cart. Unstable coalition may suffer setbacks in the absence of a spirit of accommodation.
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

As a die-hard supporter of BJP, I am relieved that at least NDA got majority. In my humble opinion the following are the reasons for BJP’s downfall from majority: 1. People love humility and loath hubris. Modi definitely spoiled this image by claiming to be a messenger of God out to save India. 2. Modi surrounded himself with sycophants and promoted his personality cult. 3. Using CBI, ED, I-T as weapons against opposition back fired. No one will fault if convicted politicians are sent to jail. He needs to sack ED and I-T heads immediately for misleading him. 4. BJP official spokespersons on TV debates are very crass, abrasive and arrogant. They need to be replaced by sober people like Shahi who came on Mojo channel 5. Modi totally ignored grass root workers of BJP and RSS and alienated them by giving tickets to turncoats. 6. BJP was very aggressive in Maharashtra while splitting the opposition parties. 7. BJP could not rebut the constitution change remark successfully and 400+ call did not help. 8. Modi and Shah tried to cut the senior leaders like Yogi to size and it backfired in UP. 9. Shah needs to be more humble and help BJP supporters in their mundane issues instead of being arrogant with them. 10. Top brass of BJP needs to shed arrogance. I am reiterating this because this is one singular reason for BJP’s loss in 2024.
Bharat
Prediction proves 100 % correct
We said this on May 25, 2024 (+BJP 290-293) where as 12-14 national media houses exit poll failed as well country’s leading political analysts & strategist predictions came wrong ! Our intuitive analysts prediction proved 100 % correct for Indian Lok sabha elections 2024!
Vivek Dhawan

Whatever may be the outcome of this general election this time both alliances are confident of victory. Prashant Kishore views on elections, Congress and Modi led BJP since 2014 elections is still relevant though in mid of election his same views were seen as unwarranted and setting a narrative and that too in front of a formidable anchor like Karan Thapar. However It will be a great miracle if India alliance makes it as it had no National leaders to challenge a highly experienced, decisive world leader like Modi and the lead partner in the India alliance the Congress is at its lowest strike rate and morale with original Congress man having joined BJP in large numbers with its party president office being remotely controlled by Rahul Gandhi and Ms Priyanka Gandhi and their team mostly imports from collapsed communist outfits and defunct organization secretary office who have collectively wiped out original Congress image among voters. Its success is now solely dependent on regional and caste based party's cooperation and performance. On the other hand the confidence of Modi and NDA is clearly visible as in entire election like a highly experienced fighter pilot Modi had been throwing decoy flares like Mahatma Gandhi, mangalsutra, sent by God etc for opposition and its media supporters to target their missiles on these flares only without touching Modi party's cadre strength and sense of continuity among voters on the basis of great infrastructure development ,welfare measures reaching directly to the beneficiaries and this huge beneficiary section will be the Main voters who may bring Modi back to power plus the middle class who wants market stability and those who saw historical promises being fulfilled. This columnist had long ago in one article here had mentioned that opposition had lost its plot in 2024 and may loose again in 2029 if the leading party Congress doesn't put its house in order and should be seen as a party interested in power to serve the nation.
S K Saboo

Appellant stated that the document on the basis of which the Competition Commission arrived at a conclusion in Case 25 of 2020 was not provided. PIO stated that the Appellant was seeking information pertaining to a quasi-judicial decision for which inspection of records was offered as per the CCI (General) Regulations, 2009 which was not availed off by him. PIO further stated that in case the appellant is dissatisfied with the outcome of the decision, he can exhaust the remedy available to him to appeal against the decision before the NCLAT. The CIC held that an appropriate response in accordance with the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005 has been given by the PIO. The Appellant is at liberty to avail inspection of records as earlier offered to him on a mutually convenient date and time.
Comments
The use of RTI Act in quasi-judicial proceedings is not uncommon where the applicant tries to use another channel instead of the regular appellate remedy. Such attempts can provide a meaningful result only in cases where “information” is sought and there are no prescribed ways to obtain it.
Citation: Shri Prem Prakash v. Competition Commission of India, CIC/CPCOI/A/2023/105991; Date of Decision: 28.03.2024
Dr Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is a RTI Consultant currently working with IIM Visakhapatnam. She has co-authored the books, RTI Right to Information - Law and Practice and PIO’s Guide to RTI. She offers consultancy on RTI matters and Third party audit. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link www.rtifoundationofindia.com

The recent Porsche car accident in Pune has once again drawn attention to the weakness in our traffic laws which are manipulated by the offenders. The Indian Penal Code containing these laws was enacted in the year 1860, when motor vehicles were nonexistent. The offence of causing death due to a rash or negligent act under section 304A was not as frequent and certainly multiple deaths would have been caused rarely. From accounts of those times, such as Charles Allen’s “Plain Tales from the Raj”, such offences were sometimes caused by the ruling British and other privileged classes during hunting expeditions, due to beating up of servants etc. No wonder section 304-A was made bailable, with imprisonment for only two years, though it caused death. As per newspaper reports the new criminal laws which will come in force from July 1, 2024 have proposed making this section non bailable, but there has been opposition from truckers associations. To overcome the handicap of 304A, we need to change the view in law that road accidents occur only due to rashness or negligence. In today’s modern and informed world, if a person talks on his phone while driving or drives after consuming alcohol or drives faster than the speed limit or allows a juvenile to drive his vehicle, etc. and thereby causes death or grievous hurt, it cannot be treated as mere negligence. It is in fact a deadly mix of arrogant defiance of the law and irresponsible behaviour. The police generally apply section 304-A in such cases, though a more effective remedy is available in the form of section 304 IPC (as distinct from section 304-A IPC). This section covers an act done with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death or fatal injury to another person, though the intention to do so is not there and death or fatal injury is caused. Unlike section 304-A, this section is non bailable, that is, the police cannot give bail and they have to produce the offender in court. Further, it has a provision of imprisonment up to ten years, unlike only two years under section 304-A. Unfortunately, the police resorts to section 304 mostly if there is a public or media uproar, such as occurred in the Pune Porche case or death of young businessman Siddharth Sharma in New Delhi in 2016. In this case the police arrested the juvenile driver of the Mercedes car under section 304-A and let him off on bail. When public and media outrage ensued, the police rearrested the juvenile under section 304 IPC along with his father for abetting the crime and the court rightly sent them to custody. Some other cases have occurred since then where section 304 was applied in the first instance, one of the latest being the death of three persons and injury to six persons on the 9 th November, 2023 by a speeding MUV on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai. Thus there is absolutely no legal hurdle in the application of section 304 in the special cases mentioned in the previous paragraph, such as drunken driving etc. Police departments of all the states need to expeditiously issue instructions accordingly, so that the application of section 304 is formalised and is not dependent on the choice of police stations. In Rathnashalvan v. State of Karnataka, the honourable High Court has held the same view and categorically stated that deterrence by way of fear of punishment should always be in the mind of a driver prone to driving rashly and negligently.
A R Pawar, former DGP Madhya Pradesh

It is true that India is still a young country. But our country needs to worry about senior citizens. In this case, the plan in the manifesto of the Bharatiya Janata Party is important that in future all senior citizens above 70 years of age will get the facility of Ayushman card. All parties have given assurances of implementing such schemes in their manifestos. However, in the context of senior citizens, they are most insecure about their health. In this view, it is being suggested that the age under the Ayushman Card Scheme should be 65 instead of 70.
Yogita Kumari
This channel is also a godi media’s partner.
Rakesh

The record breaking heat across the country also led to a steep hike in power demand as ACs, coolers etc remained functional for extended periods. In a significant achievement for India's power sector, the country has met a record maximum power demand of 250 GW on May 30. The combined impact of weather-related loads and growing industrial and residential power consumption led to a record power demand. Support from renewable energy sources especially solar during solar hours and wind during non solar hours is also very significant in meeting the demand.
Nitin Saxena

There are contradictory speculations about election results. All political alliances are claiming majority. Consider a hypothetical situation. What will happen if neither the INDIA alliance nor the NDA fails to achieve the magical 272 mark. The independents could rule the roost. Horse-trading may become widely prevalent. Total chaos, beyond the control of a caretaker government. What will be the fate of anti-corruption agencies? The Election Commission may be flooded with innumerable complaints from hundreds of loosers demanding verifications of EVM/VVPAT machines. If not satisfied (by action or inaction of the commission) the loosers would approach the subordinate courts across the country, further aggravating the backlog of pendency. Geo-political situation is fluid. There is a distinct possibility of China annexing Taiwan escalating tension in the south-china sea region, triggering entry of the US and its western military allies. Worse, China has reportedly deployed PLA forces along the LAC, posing serious threat to India’s security. It has occupied large chunk of land in Ladhak and it trying to grab Arunachal Pradesh. One supposes it to be one reason for extending the tenure of the present Army chief, General Manoj Pandey by a month? Why,was succession planning not done for such sensitive assignment. This is intriguing and reprehensible? One last point relevant to the ongoing elections. Incidentally, how are Secretaries, Addl/Joint Secretaries and other functionaries, being appointed by the Government amid the Model Code of Conduct during the elections. The Election Commission did not raise objections by invoking MCC. The civil services headed by the Cabinet Secretary has much to explain for making appointments ahead of formation of new government. According to WIC, the present dispensation seems confident of retaining power, the third time. The Media is complicit, divisive and partisan.
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

The tax collection system of our country India is moving towards improvement. For the first time in the country, GST collection has crossed Rs 2 lakh crore. Tax experts are calling this the success of efforts to reform the tax system. The future of any democratic system depends on its rich economic resources. The economies of many countries in India's neighborhood collapsed due to lack of planning, corruption and the expenditure burden of populist policies. Therefore, much needed efforts were made to enrich the financial resources in India. It is noteworthy here that while there has been an increase of 13.4 percent in tax collection from domestic activities in April, the revenue collection from imports has also increased by 8.3 percent as compared to last April.
Anam Kumar