The Good Word

THE GOOD WORD

Aug 16, 2021 - Week 35

Volume 7S-14| Pages 2

Afghanistan falls!

Taliban wrest power, Ashraf Ghani flees, uncertainty looms

Aug 16, the 4 month

Taliban offensive in

Afghanistan which

started once the US

declared its intention to

pull out troops in April,

came to an end with

the Taliban having

swiftly wrested control

of almost the entire

country. It entered

Kabul on Sunday and

took control of the

president’s palace. It

has since declared the

war is over.

Former president

Ashraf Ghani fled the

country, reportedly, to

neighbouring

Tajikistan. Ghani

explained on a

Facebook post, on

Sunday, that Taliban

had always demanded

Ghani’s stepping down

from government. So

he had left the country

to avoid more

bloodshed. However

he asked if the Taliban

had won the legitimacy

of hearts? ‘Never in

history has dry power

given legitimacy to

anyone and won't give

it to them’. A Russian

news agency accused

Bharat First

100 GW of renewable

energy is 26% of India’s

total energy capacity of

383 GW. With large

hydro-projects included

that goes up to 38%.

In 2005, India’s installed

renewable energy

capacity was only 10

GW. Prime minister,

Narendra Modi set a

target in 2015-2016 to

increase that to 175 GW

(excluding large hydro

projects) by 2022.

Despite a slow down

during the Corona

Aug 11, a Delhi court

granted BJP leader and

Supreme Court lawyer,

Ashwini Upadhyay, bail a

day after Delhi Police

arrested him and five

others for anti-Muslim

sloganeering at Jantar

Mantar. Commenting on

a video clip of the hate-

slogans, the court

declared there was no

evidence to show

Upadhyay was involved.

Hundreds had rallied

earlier at Jantar Mantar

in response to

Upadhyay’s call for a

‘Bharat Jodo Andolan’.

They demanded that the

parliament unite India by

enacting uniform laws for

all, across education,

health, demography, civil

code etc. Later a video

emerged showing a few

raising anti-Muslim

slogans. Republic, Twitter

Visit IndiaWiki.org

Aug 12, in a setback to

Kerala chief minister (CM)

Pinarayi Vijayan, the High

Court (HC) stayed the

state’s judicial inquiry

against enforcement

directorate (ED) officers

in the gold smuggling

case. Earlier the state

police had filed FIRs

against ED, claiming its

officers had forced the

main accused Swapna

Suresh to implicate the

CM in the case.

Jul 5, 2020, Customs had

intercepted 30 kg of gold

worth Rs.15 crore at

Thiruvananthapuram

airport. Swapna Suresh

and the CM’s principle

secretary were among

those arrested. Jan 2021,

the NIA filed a charge

sheet that claimed a

conspiracy had started in

Jun 2019 to raise funds

for antinational activities.

167 kg of gold were

smuggled between Nov

2019 and Jun 2020

through import cargo

addressed to the UAE

Consulate. The state had

then counter with a probe

against the ED.

More at: Republic

the flag near Degree

College, Khanabal with

200 party workers. BJP

put up flags across 122

mandals in Jammu and

all 46 assembly

constituencies in

Kashmir. Aug 7, the

clock tower at

Srinagar’s, Lal Chowk

was also lit up in the

tricolour in advance of

the Indian

independence day.

In Feb 2020, the J&K

government had

directed all schools to

put up standard

signage with the

national flag on it and

all government

buildings to hoist the

tricolour. Until article

370 was sequestered

J&K had its own state

flag. DailyExcelsior,

DeccanHerald, ANI , Republic,

image - Tribune India, NIE

Aug 12, India crossed a

noteworthy milestone

of having installed a

renewable energy

capacity of 100 GW. If

large hydro-projects are

also included the

capacity goes up to 146

GW.

This makes India the

fourth largest nation in

terms of installed

renewable energy

capacity. The only

countries ahead of India

are China, USA and

Japan.

Aug 11, Adil Farooq, a

sub-editor at CNS News

Agency, was arrested at

Srinagar’s Lal Chowk after

security forces searched

and retrieved two

grenades from his bag-

pack. The arrest comes a

day after the grenade

attack in Srinagar that

injured five civilians.

Farooq was also arrested

in 2019 for assisting

Laskar-e-Taiba and Jaish

terrorists in smuggling

weapons and providing

logistics support. At the

time, Hurriyat had

campaigned for his

release alleging

journalists are being

targeted in J&K. The

misuse of journalistic

privilege calls for

heightened vigilance.

More arrests are likely.

Republic, OpIndia

Ghani of leaving on a

helicopter stuffed with

cash, so full that some

of it was left strewn on

the tarmac.

There was

unprecedented chaos at

the Hamid Karzai

international airport,

Kabul yesterday. People

thronged the airport

hoping to fly out of

Afghanistan. A

departing US air force

C-17 plane was

captured on video with

a clutch of desperate

Afghans clinging to its

Continued on Pg 2

Aug 11, the ministry of

agriculture announced a

record output of food

grains, non-food grain

oilseeds and sugarcane in

India for the crop year

2020-2021 (Jul-Jun). The

total food grain

production last year was

already at a record high

of 298 million tons. It

was bettered by 3.7% this

year. Non food grain

oilseed production

jumped 9% to 36 million

tons and sugarcane 8% to

399 million tons. Cotton

and jute saw a minor

drop compared to last

year.

More at: EconomicTimes

pandemic the country

crossed 100 GW. It

makes India’s installed

capacity fourth largest

in wind energy and fifth

largest in solar. While

100 GW has been

installed, 50 GW is

under installation and

27 GW is under

tendering according to

records.

The country has set a

target of 450 GW of

renewable energy by

2030.

More at: saurenergy, MSN.com,

Image from SuarEnergy

Aug 10, the Indian Army

installed the nation’s

tallest tricolour at

Gulmarg in Kashmir.

The Northern Command

dedicated the 100 feet

high flag to the nation

to mark the beginning

of a new era of peace

and patriotism in

Jammu and Kashmir

(J&K).

A week earlier, Aug 5,

on the 2

anniversary

of the amendment of

article 370 to provide

full application of the

Indian constitution to

J&K, BJP, Shiv Sena,

Dogra Front, VHP and

Bajrang Dal celebrated

with tiranga rallies

across the state.

Romasia Rafiq, BJP

councilor from

Anantnag, kicked off

celebrations hoisting

Raksha Bandhan image courtesy insightsindia.blogspot.com

Climate change

singes the planet

with wildfires

India achieves 100 GW of installed

renewable energy capacity

Kerala HC stays

state probe

against ED

India posts record

food grain output

in 2020-2021

Dabur.com

Tricolour unfurled across J&K; India’s

tallest flag, at 100 feet, in Gulmarg

‘Journalist’ nabbed

with grenades at

Lal Chowk, J&K

Ashwini Upadhaya

bailed out by court,

says no evidence

Aug 12, in a setback to

Azam Khan and son,

jailed since Feb 2020,

the UP police has filed a

fresh FIR on a BJP

worker’s complaint of

criminal conspiracy

against them. It comes a

day after the SC granted

them bail in a case

alleging they had forged

documents to show the

son was eligible to

contest the 2017

Rampur assembly poll.

The Khans will now

need to file a fresh bail

application. Unmid.com

Aug 12, 108 temples in

Vadodara, Gujarat will

get loudspeakers to play

Hanuman Chalisa and

aaratis twice a day.

Sponsored by a local

entity ‘Mission Ram

Sethu’ it is to help people

during the lockdown as

temple access is

restricted. The city BJP

unit attended the

distribution event. OpIndia

Vadodara temples

get speakers for

Hanuman Chalisa

Day after SC bail

fresh charge on

Azam Khan

Aug 8, extreme heat,

drought and gusts due

to warming by

greenhouse gas

emissions is causing

wildfires at an alarming

and unprecedented

scale across Europe and

North America.

In north-east Siberia

close to 15,000 sq km of

forest has been charred

this summer. Canada

saw 5,800 sq km burnt

since spring. California

is battling the worst

wildfire in state history.

1,875 sq km was burnt

in a largest single

wildfire. In Turkey 1,600

sq km of forest was lost

to fire over July and

August. Greece lost 570

sq km of forest in 10

days at the start of

August, more than 30

times the average. Italy

lost 100 sq km in 2 days

in July. More at: Guardian 1-2,

image – Kafkadesk. Wikipedia

Aug 12, the latest US

census data reveals that

in the decade from July

2010 to July 2020 White

population of the

country dropped from

63.8% to 59.7%. It fell

by nearly a million

people in the decade

and the pace of decline

is increasing. Whites

population fell by 0.1

million between 2016-

2017 but by 0.5 million

between 2019-2020.

Fewer children and

starting families a later

age have led to the fall.

By contrast in the same

decade Hispanic

Americans numbers

grew by 10.5 million,

Asian Americans by 4.7

and African Americans

by 3.4 million. This is

due to a mix of new

births in the US and

immigration. A rethink

on US demographics is

in order. Reliablesasa.com

Whites fall below

60% in browning

America

-1

10.5

4.7

3.4

-2

Whites

Latino

Hispanics

Asian

Americans

African

Americans

US Population Growth

(million people between 2010 to 2020)

In million tons

200

400

Sugar Cane

Oilseeds

Pulses

Millets

Wheat

Rice

371

108

119

399

110

122

2020-2021

(Jul-Jun)

2019-2020

(Jul-Jun)

Aug 16, 2021 | Week 35 | Volume 7S-14

Bharat First

Visit IndiaWiki.org

PAGE 2 THE GOOD WORD

India Proves Critics Wrong on Kashmir

Right of Children to

Free and Compulsory

Education Act. Women

in Jammu and Kashmir

get full rights that

Jammu and Kashmiri

law had previously

denied them. That

prominent human

rights groups like

Human Rights Watch

ignore such changes

suggests they prioritize

politics above their

founding principles.

Pakistan’s complaints

meanwhile were

hypocritical: It had

imposed state control

over Gilgit-Baltistan, a

region of Kashmir

occupied by Pakistan.

Nor did the Indian

government’s move

come out of nowhere:

India’s own war on

terror—made

necessary by Pakistan’s

sponsorship and

support for Kashmiri

terrorism—made the

move necessary.

Incidents of terrorism

within Jammu and

Kashmir dropped by

more than half from

455 to 211 in the 402

days before versus the

same period after the

abrogation of Article

370. As importantly,

there was a 40 percent

decline in the

involvement of

Kashmiri youth in

terror attacks. The

withdrawal of U.S.

troops from

Afghanistan—and with

the U.S. Special Envoy’s

empowerment of the

Taliban—make the

Indian decision to

change Kashmir’s

status prescient given

the near-certainty that

Afghanistan will soon

revert to strategic

depth for myriad anti-

Western and anti-

Indian terrorist groups.

India accompanied the

initial announcement

of the change in status

with a crackdown that

Western politicians

and human rights

activists widely

condemned. First

impressions matter.

Many progressive

politicians in

Washington and well-

meaning officials in

Europe assume the

measures that

accompanied the

change-in-status

remain unaltered and

that Kashmir is,

essentially, under

military rule.

Subsequent

developments,

however, tell a

different story. In

October 2019, the

Blocks (loosely rural

counties) held their

first-ever elections in

which locals chose 310

block development

council chairpersons

from 1,092 candidates.

The polls were popular

with a 98 percent

turnout, perhaps

because they were so

local, although some

critics poured cold

water on the numbers.

Even if such criticism is

legitimate, the

accomplishment is real.

Nor is the Indian

investment only in the

symbolism of elections;

the national

government has put its

money where its mouth

is. It has begun work to

link Jammu and

Kashmir to the national

rail network and has

inaugurated seventeen

power projects that

should generate 3500

megawatts of

electricity for the

territory within four

years, equivalent to the

Hoover Dam. In March

2021, Indian Finance

Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman announced

a $14.6 billion budget

for the territory, 37

percent of which the

government earmarked

for development and

infrastructure down to

the District and Block

Council level.

The Jammu and

Kashmir government

also signed a

memorandum of

understanding with the

National Agricultural

Cooperative Marketing

Federation of India to

help move regional

produce across India

and internationally.

This could increase

farmers’ take-home

pay three-fold.

Within progressive

policy circles, a

derangement

syndrome exists

toward Narendra Modi

that predates his rise to

India’s premiership and

lies in animosity toward

the Bharatiya Janata

Party. Certainly, not all

of their criticism

toward Modi is unfair

but that does not mean

that every action his

administration takes

should be subject to

automatic

condemnation. The

revocation of Article

370 was controversial,

but it did not occur in a

vacuum. While much of

the world treated it

with opprobrium two

years ago, subsequent

events show the Indian

government’s move

was both wise and

prescient.

__________________

Author: Michael Rubin

Twitter: @mrubin1971

Image courtesy – TheHansIndia

Source: NationalInterest.Org

To contribute content to The Good Word email IndiaWiki2020@gmail.com

Thursday marks the

second anniversary

since India’s President

Ram Nath Kovind

revoked Kashmir’s

special status under

Article 370 of India’s

constitution. In effect,

the move ended

Kashmir’s autonomy

and turned Kashmir into

a union territory equal

in status to Delhi or the

Andaman and Nicobar

Islands. While the

international

community largely

condemned India’s

move and Pakistan

reacted with outrage,

both countries acted

out of ignorance.

Diplomats may have

condemned the change

to the status quo but, as

legal specialist Kelly

Buchanan noted for the

nonpartisan Library of

Congress noted, India’s

Constitution

categorized Articles 370

and 371 as “Temporary,

Transitional and Special

Provisions,” which

means they never

meant to be

permanent. Technically

speaking, the Indian

government’s actions

were legal. While the

change in status meant

the application of the

Indian constitution and

890 Central laws in

Jammu Kashmir, many

of these brought

progressive change,

including the Scheduled

Caste and the

Scheduled Tribes Act

that forbade targeting

and atrocities against

lower castes; the

Whistleblowers

Protection Act, and the

The men of mighty

will the world has

produced have all

been tremendous

workers — gigantic

souls, with wills

powerful enough to

overturn worlds, wills

they got by persistent

work, through ages,

and ages. Such a

gigantic will as that of

a Buddha or a Jesus

could not be obtained

in one life, for we

know who their

fathers were. It is not

known that their

fathers ever spoke a

word for the good of

mankind. Millions and

millions of carpenters

like Joseph had gone;

millions are still living.

Millions and millions

of petty kings like

Buddha's father had

been in the world. If it

was only a case of

hereditary

transmission, how do

you account for this

petty prince, who was

not, perhaps, obeyed

by his own servants,

producing this son,

whom half a world

worships? How do you

explain the gulf

between the

carpenter and his son,

whom millions of

human beings worship

as God? It cannot be

solved by the theory

of heredity. The

gigantic will which

Buddha and Jesus

threw over the world,

whence did it come?

Whence came this

accumulation of

power? It must have

been there through

ages and ages,

continually growing

bigger and bigger,

until it burst on

society in a Buddha or

a Jesus, even rolling

down to the present

day.

All this is determined

by Karma, work. No

one can get anything

unless he earns it. This

is an eternal law. We

may sometimes think

it is not so, but in the

long run we become

convinced of it.

Swami Vivekananda

Karma Yoga

a series of extracts

Swami Vivekananda Image courtesy Newsgram.com

From Pg 1

wheel bay as the craft

taxied to takeoff.

Three were seen falling

to a harrowing death.

Panicked people were

seen piling on a

stairway of an

aerobridge. The C-17

carried a record 640

passengers on board.

Staff from the US and

other Western

embassies has been

evacuated.

In a now viral video clip

on Jul 8, President

Biden dismissed the

possibility of a Taliban

takeover of

Afghanistan saying a

300,000 strong Afghan

National Army

supported by an air

force would defeat the

75,000 Taliban

militants. Why then

was the Afghan army

routed? Accounts of

desertions and

surrendering without

resistance were heard

often. Residents in

Herat and Kandahar

were shocked at how

quickly their cities fell.

Corruption down the

ranks and disaffection

with its leadership are

key reasons. The 2020

election that returned

Ghani to power was

widely seen as

manipulated. There

existed lack of faith in

the government.

Defense and police

salaries had not been

paid on time. Strained

supply chains resulted

in frequent outages of

food, water and

ammunition. The army

was unable to rush in

urgent reinforcements

when required to

relieve units under

pressure from constant

combat. The void was

accentuated as the

Afghan army was now

fighting in an American

resource intensive style

of war. Drug abuse

afflicted some in the

army. A defensive

military strategy that

allowed the Taliban to

choke supply routes

accelerated the

capitulation. A more

radical Islamic ideology

may have appealed to

some and the fear of

being left at the mercy

of the barbaric Taliban

in the event of a loss

after staunch fight may

have deterred others.

The will to defend the

While much of the

world treated it

with opprobrium

two years ago,

subsequent events

show the Indian

government’s

move was both

wise and prescient.

Pakistan’s

complaints were

hypocritical: It had

imposed state

control over Gilgit-

Baltistan, a region

of Kashmir occupied

by Pakistan. Nor did

the Indian

government’s move

come out of

nowhere: India’s

own war on

terror—made

necessary by

Pakistan’s

sponsorship and

support for

Kashmiri terrorism-

made the move

necessary.

idea of a nation was

lacking in the Afghan

political leadership and

the frontline.

However, with over

65,000 Afghan armed

force personnel

sacrificed over the two

decade war against the

Taliban, not all the

Afghan army could be

accused of being

irresolute. Those that

fought Taliban the

hardest, with sincerity,

standing for principles

and honour, may be

facing their bleakest

hour now as they and

their families are likely

to face a brutal death

at the hands of the

Taliban. One Afghan

commando tweeted

about a colleague, ‘a

brave Police

Commander of the

Takhtapul District of

KDR. I learnt from

people in KDR that,

Taliban are planning to

execute him and three

other Commanders.‘

The world now looks to

the US and NATO

leadership, which is

often seen addressing

evacuation of its own

forces and people, to

see how they help their

erstwhile ally the

resolute Afghan fighter

on the frontline.

Militaries world over

will undoubtedly study

of the success of the

Taliban offence.

Despite a raging

pandemic, a largely

covert leadership and

command structure,

challenges with

communication and

mobility, no air support

they pulled off a win.

Pakistan successfully

provided a safe haven

to Taliban leadership

and fighters without

facing consequences

over the 20 years war.

From lying in a

Pakistani jail just three

years ago Abdul Ghani

Baradar, a veteran of

the mujahidin who

fought the Soviet

Union, has swept the

Taliban back into

power, reads one

assessment. The

Taliban in the

meantime are trying to

seek international

acceptance for their

government by trying

to improve their record

on women’s and

human rights abuse.

Wikipedia, Twitter 1-2, IndiaTimes,

Defense.gov 1-2, CNBC, TheSun,

FirstPost.com, BusinessInsider

Taliban take control of

Afghanistan