Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'CBI Director reinstated' that was published in Newsband

CBI Director reinstated

CBI Director Alok Verma has been reinstated, conditionally. The Supreme Court had divested Alok Verma of his functions and duties as Director of the CBI. There was an unseemly tussle for supremacy between Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana, with corruption charges being traded. The court came up with the interim order asking for a time-bound inquiry into the charges against Verma. The Bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, has chosen to deal only with the major question of law involved. The decision has gone against the government.

‘Transfer’ is something that cannot be done by any authority except the high-powered selection committee headed by the Prime Minister in terms of the 2003 amendments to the law. Stripping the CBI Director of his duties did not amount to a transfer. Verma could appeal to SC for restoring his lost service period of three months due to illegal order of the government.

Varma would most likely have instigated an inquiry into the Rafale deal had this coup not been attempted. Having said that a nation's affairs cannot be dependent solely on an individual. If there is corruption in the Rafale deal, and all indications are pointing to that direction, then it must come out - Varma or no Varma. Otherwise we do not deserve democracy.

The court ruling is limited to the question of the procedure adopted by the government. The court has done the right thing in conditionally reinstating him. SC saved CBI director but didn't guarantee for further episodes. Both sides must save the sanctity of CBI.

Verma has faced an enquiry, which was supervised by a former SC Judge. The findings have been submitted in a sealed cover. Though the contents are now known, the CGI himself has observed that some findings are not complimentary and a few others need further probe. Now who will act as a disciplinary authority and decide upon the findings - certainly not the Apex Court, but it is the appointing authority i.e. the high powered committee that will decide and if warranted, award a suitable punishment. The CGI is one of the three members of the committee and his opinion will be decisive. But he, in his capacity as a judge, has not aired his view, as the role and capacity is different.

Verma is not yet exonerated till such time conditions apply. There is no intrigue here and the judgment is very fair and balanced. So if there is issues between two senior officers of an independent body, Government should keep quiet according to SC verdict. How can that be? Everyone is answerable to elected Government If this was same case during UPA, TH and media houses would have written otherwise.

Dinesh Kamath’s column ‘New movies released in Navi Mumbai’ (The Accidental Prime Minister, Uri: The Surgical Strike, Khamiyaza, 706 and Battalion 609) that was published in Newsband

New movies released in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

The Accidental Prime Minister

The Accidental Prime Minister is a 2018 Indian biographical political drama film, presented by Rudra Production (UK), Bohra Bros in association with Dr Jayantilal Gada (Pen India Limited). Directed by Vijay Ratnakar Gutte and written by Mayank Tewari. The film stars Anupam Kher as Manmohan Singh, the economist and politician who served as the Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014 under the United Progressive Alliance. The film is based on the 2014 memoir of the same name by Sanjaya Baru.

Based on the memoir by Indian policy analyst Sanjaya Baru, the Accidental Prime Minister explores Manmohan Singh's tenure as the Prime Minister of India, and the kind of control he had over the cabinet and the country. The story touches on several scams that took place under the reign of Congress. Everything happened in the public domain, whether it was 2G, 3G, or the coal scam. There was something wrong which is why the Congress lost the last election by the biggest ever margin. It’s all there in the film but tackled sensitively. And at the end of the day, it is an entertaining film, not a documentary.

The movie has Anupam Kher as Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister of Republic of India during 2004 to 2014, Akshaye Khanna as Sanjaya Baru, political commentator, Suzanne Bernert as Sonia Gandhi, former president of Indian National Congress, Aahana Kumra as Priyanka Gandhi, daughter of Sonia Gandhi, Arjun Mathur as Rahul Gandhi, son of Sonia Gandhi, Vimal Verma as Lalu Prasad Yadav, Avter Saini as Lal Krishna Advani, Anil Rastogi as Shivraj Patil, Ajit Satbhai as P. V. Narasimha_Rao, former Prime Minister of India, and Chitragupta Sinha P. V. Ranga_Rao,Elder son of P.V.Narasimha Rao.Music is composed by Sudip Roy and Sandhu Tiwari while lyrics are written by Baba Ngarjun.

Uri: The Surgical Strike

Uri: The Surgical Strike is a 2019 Indian action film written and directed by debutant Aditya Dhar and produced by Ronnie Screwvala under his banner RSVP Movies. Starring Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Mohit Raina and Yami Gautam, the film is based on the 2016 Indian Army's surgical strikes on Pakistan Administered Kashmir as a retaliation for the Uri attack.

URI chronicles the events of the surgical strike conducted by the Indian military against the suspected militants in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). It tells the story of the 11 tumultuous events over which the operation was carried out.  The movie is all about surgical strike carried out by Indian army on Pakistani terrorists positioned across the Line of Control. Uri stars Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Yami Gautam, Kirti Kulhari, etc. in the lead roles. The film has been divided into chapters which ultimately culminates in the surgical strikes. Major Vihaan Singh Shergill (Vicky Kaushal) is a valiant army man who aces in strategic operations. However, when his mother's (Swaroop Sampat) Alzheimer starts progressing rapidly, he bids goodbye to his border adventures and requests for a transfer to an army base in the Capital so that he can spend some time with her. Unfortunately during that period, Vihaan's brother-in-law Karan (Mohit Raina) who is also his fellow army-man gets killed in the Uri attack. This incident triggers Vihaan to join the surgical strike operation and go all guns blazing to avenge the loss of his slained fellow officers in the Uri attacks.

The film has Vicky Kaushal as Major Vihan Singh Shergill, Paresh Rawal as Govind, Yami Gautam as Pallavi Sharma, Kirti Kulhari as Jaskeerat, Mohit Raina as Captain Karan Kashyap, Ivan Rodrigues as Brian D'souza, Yogesh Soman as Manohar Parrikar and Mansi Parekh.

Shashwat Sachdev composed songs for the film. Kumaar, Raj Shekhar and Abhiruchi Chand are the lyricist. The film has songs like "Challa (Main Lad Jaana)", "Beh Chala", "Jigra", "Manzar Hai Ye Naya" and "Jagga Jiteya".

Khamiyaza

The film Khamiyaza is directed by Deekshit Kaul. Nilu Kaul co-produced. Sandeep Tiwari is executive producer and Heramb Tripathi and Rajesh Tripathy – producers.

Khamiyaza is story of a common man Abhimanyu who dares to save a life of a social worker Satya Prakash without knowing that Satya Prakash is on Mantri's target. So in return Abhimanyu sacrifices his own life for his good deeds. Khamiyaza is a story of corruption, brutal system and a Common Man.

The film has Heramb Tripathi , Piyali Munshi, Alok Chaturvedi, Shravni Sahay, Sunil Thappa, Shakku Rana, Ehasan Khan, Javed Haider, Bakshi Rohit and Aanand Dev.          

Music is by Sunjoy Bose, Jitendra Jawda and Imran Wasim.

706

The film 706 is directed by Shravan Kumar. The film has Rocky Patel as executive producer and Sandip Patel as producer.

Dr. Suman Asthana is a doctor, whose husband Anil Asthana is missing since last 11 days and investigating officer DCP Shekhawat is unable to find him. A psychic child patient revels the whereabouts of Dr.Anil and opens the doors of secrets.

The film has Mohan Agashe as Dr. Anil Asthana, Raayo S. Bakhirta as Rahul Bora, Divya Dutta as Dr. Suman Asthana, Atul Kulkarni as DCP Shekhawat, Yashvit Sancheti and Anupam Shyam as Baba.

Music is by Amar Mohile.

           

Battalion 609

Battalion 609 is an Indian action film written and directed by Brijesh Batuknath Tripathi and produced by Naraindas Lalwani under his banner N.J Lalwani Films. Starring Shoaib Ibrahim, Elena Kazan, Farnaz Shetty, Sparsh Sharma, Vishwas Kini, Vicky Ahuja, Vikas Srivastava and Chandraprakash Thakur.

The story revolves around a cricket match between Indian Army and the Pakistan army gone wrong and narrates the tale of the brave soldiers of Battalion 609 putting up a fight with the mighty Taliban.

Self clicked photographs of Dinesh Kamath

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Reservations should be based on economic and not caste grounds' that was published in Newsband

Reservations should be based on economic and not caste grounds

The erosion in upper caste votes in the recent Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, has led the BJP government to come up with ‘10% reservation for upper caste’ idea to try and recover this traditional vote base. It has sought to provide a 10% quota for economically weaker sections in public employment and educational institutions. This is an election-time signal to upper castes that justice is being done to them too.

The 124th Constitution Amendment Bill will have to be passed by two-thirds of the MPs. To win the approval of both the houses will be a challenge. It is doubtful if it will stand judicial scrutiny. Why do socially and educationally backward people who are rich enough need reservation facility. They can fetch for themselves social and educational justice with the money they have. They don’t need reservation benefit for that.   

There are no clear routes to achieve social equality. Affirmative action is essential for a society to tap on to the skills of the less fortunate members of the society to enhance the rate of progress. Unfortunately it can be misused. And India is a glaring example.

Someone has to take the courage to scrap the whole mess of reservations based on birth and follow an economic model where the poorer sections of the society can achieve parity with the rest.

If the reservation is based on the Social and Educational backwardness, why then there is reservation for employment in Government services? Historical wrongs can never be corrected. How can we take revenge on the generation who are not responsible for the historical wrongs? In keeping out the deserving candidates out, we can see the deterioration in the public services.

There is a significant number of people who belong to that 10% given the present criteria. One would need 25% to accommodate that many people whose family income lingers below 8lakhs. Supreme Court should not hesitate to sneak in this 10% into the other 50%.

Some are of the opinion that the Bill proposed by BJP led NDA government to provide a 10% quota for economically weaker sections in public employment and educational institutions more is an election-time signal to upper castes than a genuine attempt to revisit social justice policy. But if for political benefits, Rajiv Gandhi government could pass an act to rescind a Supreme Court decision in Shah Bano case, why can’t BJP govt. propose a bill for job reservation, etc for the economically backward among the higher castes?

This is a step in the right direction. As time passes and the stigma of caste pales, economic backwardness would be the sole criterion for reservations. Let's give it another 20 years and all reservations will become uniform and based on economic backwardness.

Reservation based out of caste and creed was installed in our constitution because there was true injustice to the socially weaker sections of people. The motive of the constitution drafters was to use the reservation as a key to uplift the socially weaker groups in terms of their education and economic status so that they would earn a respectable position in the society. As a result of it, now we see a judge or an IAS from scheduled castes who is earning much respect and accolade from the society. So the purpose of reservation has already been delivered to those people and so it would be undue to carry forward the reservation benefits to their career progress or to their Kith and kin as they have sufficient economic mass to look after themselves without the need for reservation which they are used to.

Therefore, it is necessary to shift from social and education status to economic status and it is the duty of lawmakers to amend the necessary changes.

The current reservations for SC/ST/OBC has already dampened the competitiveness based on merit. Some may find competition on merit unfavorable for those classes or caste. That's where government should come in. Make the starting point equal and don't provide different tracks to race.

Thus the government is right even if it is based on election time. The economically backward class is suffering a lot as the SC &ST. They too need to be considered. Instead of giving importance to social backwardness, support economically backward. Then only India can develop.

This move by Central Government Is a positive move, and it is welcome. This gives an opportunity to economically weak general category to come out of social and educational backwardness imposed on them by the reservation regime of last 70 years.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial '10% reservation for upper caste – a good idea' that was published in Newsband

10% reservation for upper caste – a good idea

A proposed law got Cabinet approval to provide 10% reservation for upper castes (or the unreserved category) exclusively with reference to their economic backwardness. If the government proposes to bring a constitutional amendment to include the 10% quota for “unreserved economically weaker sections”, the 13-judge Kesavananda Bharati judgment may stand in the way.

The government, it is reported, proposes to bring the 10% over and above the 49.5% quota — 15% for Scheduled Castes, 7.5% for Scheduled Tribes and 27% for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes, including widows and orphans of any caste, which is permitted. But a total 59% (49%+10%) quota would leave other candidates with just 41% government jobs or seats. This may amount to “sacrifice of merit” and violate Article 14.

The court observed that the “unreserved category itself is a class” and economic criteria was too fluctuating a basis for providing quota.

The government’s deciding to give 10% reservation to upper caste in the economically backwards section is a good step to maintain the development of the nation. But this reservation should had been carved out from the 49% seats reserved for the SC/ST/OBC

It is a wonderful move by central government. It will help many economically backward communities. The opposition parties are likely oppose it. The opposition parties can tend to be unethical. Hope that this move by Modi's government passes through without hurdle. Even if it goes to Supreme Court, the judges should not oppose it as it will help many middle class families.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Protecting literary freedom' that was published in Newsband

Protecting literary freedom

Literary freedom needs to be protected especially in democratic countries. In recent times, there has been several attempts to get books withdrawn, pulped or sanitised of offending content. The victims were Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus: An Alternative History, A.K. Ramanujan’s essay ‘Three Hundred Ramayanas’, and Tamil writer Perumal Murugan’s Madhorubagan (One Part Woman).

Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP and writer, has introduced a private member’s Bill in the Lok Sabha seeking to protect freedom of literature. As per the Bill, the authors must be guaranteed the freedom to express their work without fear of punitive action by the State or by sections of society.

Section 295A is a grossly misused section, often invoked in trivial ways to hound individuals, harass writers and curtail free expression. It deserves to be scrapped. Section 153A punishes those who promote enmity between groups on grounds of religion, race or language. Section 153B criminalises words and imputations prejudicial to national integration. Considering all these things, Tharoor’s initiative is most welcome.

Salman Rushdie's novel was banned. Tasleema was forced out of India. Congress was party to it. Tasleema was hounded by India's "secularist" stalwarts in West Bengal. The physical violence Tasleema had to undergo in Hyderabad was something that needed to be condemned.  

Freedom of expression should not be misinterpreted as irresponsible way of writing gives vent to feelings and impulses without contemplation like spontaneous overflow of emotions which would find justification as," I write for myself and for nobody else".

A man with clear vision in political life and a miscalculated way in personal life is clearly indicated the best approach to maintain the literary freedom in public life. The religious enmity way should be scrapped at any cost. But in reality, the irreligious sentiment is motivated in all walks of our life.

The literary freedom has been put to pressure on the ground that free write ups in that sphere disturbs religious harmony or hurts the feeling of a group and the like. Hence Tharoor’s individual bill which invoke such freedom is welcome. At the same time the writer must avoid intentional write up causing the boilings of group or individual and disturbs harmony.

Photograph of Editor Dinesh Kamath clicked by Reporter Chandrashekhar Hendve of Newsband