The Good Word

Bharat First Visit IndiaWiki.org

Volume 7S-93| Pages 3 Feb 20, 2023 - Week 8

The Good Word

Feb 24, after supporters

of pro-Khalistan leader

Amritpal Singh in Ajnala,

stormed the police

station brandishing

swords and sticks, AAP’s

Punjab Police was quick

to surrender retracting

the FIR registered

against Singh’s close aid

Lovepreet Singh Toofan.

The violence left several

cops injured including 11

stitches to the SP. Punjab

Chief Minister Mann

then claimed that the

states law and order was

under control. OpIndia, APB

Volume 7S-93| Page 2

HC refuses to stay return

of 123 Waqf properties

Bharat First Visit IndiaWiki.org

Feb 20, The Central

Bureau of Investigation

(CBI) issued a fresh

summon to Delhi Deputy

Chief Minister (CM)

Manish Sisodia to probe

alleged irregularities in

the Delhi government's

now-scrapped liquor

policy. He will now be

quizzed on Feb 26.

The deferment came after

Sisodia pleaded for time

to participate in the Delhi

government’s budget

preparation. The earlier

was for Feb 19.

At: Republic

One year on, in a

Russia-Ukraine

war impasse

Feb 24, More than

7,000 civilians killed,

eight million displaced,

and an inflation spiral in

large parts of the world

are some of the key

outcomes of the year

long war between

Russia and Ukraine.

Russia has not been

able or tried to make

advances beyond what

land it had captured in

the early days of the

invasion. The US arms

lobby seems to have

profited handsomely

from the war.

At: IndiaToday Maps: ISW

Feb 22, Israeli forces

entered Nablus' old city

in an attempt to arrest a

number of wanted

Palestinians, killing

eleven and wounding

102 others in the intense

confrontations with

residents. Israel had

aimed to arrest militants

who had wanted to carry

out "imminent" shooting

attacks. It demolished a

building where the

suspects had were

hiding. It is now

preparing to fend off

retaliatory fire. At: Haaretz

Israel raids leave

11 dead in Nablus

old city

Feb 21, India and

Singapore have linked

their mobile-based fast

payment systems, the

UPI and PayNow. UPI

allows real time transfer

of funds using mobile

numbers, powering

multiple bank accounts

into a single mobile

application. PayNow is

Singapore’s counterpart.

Indians can now send

money to Singapore via

UPI. 12 other countries

like UAE, Mauritius etc,

want to adopt the UPI.

FirstPost

CBI to grill Delhi

deputy CM Manish

Sisodia on Feb 26

Prior to the 2014 Lok

Sabha elections, a

Congress-led UPA had

doled them out to the

Delhi Waqf Board. The

Vishwa Hindu Parishad

had raised concerns and

approached court. A

Centre appointed 2-

member committee had

given the Delhi Waqf

Board opportunity to

present its case but the

Board had not and it

had absolved the Board

of all matters relating to

the 123 properties.

Then in Mar 2022, the

HC had also refused to

provide relief to the

Delhi Waqf Board, in a

petition against the

delisting of its 123

alleged properties by

the Centre.

At: OpIndia, IndianExpress, PDTime

Feb 25, a massive

confrontation between

Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief

Minister (CM) Yogi

Adityanath and

Samajwadi Party (SP)

chief Akhilesh Yadav was

seen in the State

Assembly over the

recent murder of Umesh

Pal, a key witness in the

murder of BSP MLA Raju

Pal in 2005.

Yogi tore into Yadav.

“Who sheltered the

mafia and criminals?” he

demanded. He accused

the SP of sheltering,

then garland criminals

and later perniciously

leveling allegations

against others. He

roared, “Iss House mein

keh raha hoon. Iss mafia

ko mitti me mila denge.”

Feb 23, the Delhi High

Court (HC) refused to

stay the Ministry of

Housing and Urban

Affairs letter that

“absolves” the Delhi

Waqf Board from

matters pertaining to

123 properties in the

national capital. The HC

asked the Board instead

to file a “substantive”

petition and “urge their

grounds” and kept the

matter for hearing with

the main plea on Aug 4.

On Feb 17, the Ministry

had posted notices

outside 123 properties in

Delhi, stating that they

are no longer considered

properties of the Delhi

Waqf Board. These

properties include

mosques, dargahs and a

cemetery.

Olive Ridley turtles arrive at

Rushikulya beach, Odisha to nest

Ajay Banga

nominated to lead

the World Bank

India’s UPI and

Singapore’s

PayNow, link up

Feb 24, Prime Minister

(PM) Narendra Modi

held a massive

roadshow in poll-bound

Meghalaya ahead of the

upcoming Assembly

elections. A sea of

crowd spilled out on

We will reduce the mafia

to dust he thundered

referring to gangster-

turned-politician Atiq

Ahmed whose links to the

Pal’s murder have

emerged. Yogi said

Ahmed was a mafia don

nurtured by SP and it was

the BJP government that

had taken action against

him “uski kamar todne ka

kaam kiya”.

Prayagraj police have

lodged an FIR against

Ahmed, his wife Shaista

Parveen, brother Khalid

Azeem, his two sons, a

Guddu Muslim, Gulam

and others. It detained 17

including Ahmed’s two

sons for interrogation.

Ahmed is presently in

Sabarmati jail. At: OpIndia,

IndianExpress, Google

Feb 22, the Supreme

Court (SC) refused to

stay the Election

Commission (EC) order

granting the Shiv Sena

party name and symbol

to Maharashtra Chief

Minister (CM) Eknath

Shinde’s faction. It has

sought response from

the Shinde’s group in

two weeks while

allowing the Uddhav

Thackeray faction to

continue to be known as

Shiv Sena (UBT) and use

a ‘Flaming Torch’ symbol.

The EC had said MLAs

backing Shinde had

secured nearly 76% of

votes polled in favour of

the 55 winning Shiv Sena

candidates in the 2019

Maharashtra Assembly

polls. The Uddhav

Thackeray faction's

MLAs got 23.5%.

Meanwhile the SC is

hearing on merits the

case related to the

Maharashtra political

crisis and if the

Governor was right to

order a floor test. It will

also examine if the

Governor’s decision is

subject to a judicial

review.

The court observed that

Uddhav Thackeray’s

decision to resign as CM

even before the trust

vote could take place

could become an

impediment to his plea

for reinstatement as

Maharashtra CM.

At: OpIndia, TheLeaflet, IndiaTV,

HindustanTimes,

Image: DeccanHerald

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharajbirth anniversary – Feb 19 – image courtesy, Twitter; MS Golwalkar birth anniversary – Feb 19 – image courtesy blogspot

SAP asks Punit

Renjen to take

over as Chairman

Feb 23, German software

giant, SAP, has announced

that former Deloitte CEO,

India-born, Punit Renjen,

will succeed co-founder

Hasso Plattner as its board

chairman. At: TechStory, Siasat

Feb 23, Ajay Banga, the

former CEO of Mastercard

was announced as the

United States' choice for

the position of president of

the World Bank. He is the

first Indian-born nominee

for the office At: WION

SC does not stay EC order

Sena name and symbol

AAP’s Punjab cops

surrender tamely

to Khalistani mob

Pakistani terrorist

killed, shot dead

point-blank

Feb 20, In a severe blow

to Hizb-Ul-Mujahideen,

the group’s launching

commander Ahmad Peer

was shot dead, point-

blank, in Pakistan’s

Rawalpindi. The

assailant remains

unidentified. On Oct 4,

India had declared Peer

a terrorist under the

UAPA for his

involvement in terror-

related activities in

Kupwara, Jammu &

Kashmir. At: Republic

Pawan Khera to

offer unconditional

apology, gets bail

Feb 23, the Supreme

Court (SC) let off deplaned

and arrested, Congress

spokesperson Pawan

Khera on interim bail after

he offered to tender an

unconditional apology.

Khera had coined

‘Gautamdas’ and used it

as the Prime Minister’s

middle-name mocking him

of subservience to

Gautam Adani. The SC’s

urgent hearing despite

high case-pendency has

raised eyebrows. At: OpIndia

Feb 20, 2023 - Week 8

Feb 25, UP CM Yogi

Adityanath lambasted the

SP for tearing the sacred

text Ramcharitmanas and

offending a hundred crore

Hindus across the world.

‘What if it had happened

with (the texts of) another

religion?’ he asked. He

warned the SP not to

insult Hindu’s nor offend

their spiritual sentiments.

At: IndiLeak

Yogi rips into SP

for desecrating the

Ramcharitmanas

PM Modi sounds the election

bugle with road show in Shillong

UAE, Malaysia,

Nigeria express

interest in ₹ trade

Feb 23 after Russia,

trade settlement in

Indian rupee will soon

be possible with the

UAE, Malaysia and

Nigeria. The rupee-

dirham trade settlement

is expected soon as

officials from India are

on a three-day trip to

Abu Dhabi to finalise the

deal. Pacts with

Malaysia and Nigeria are

expected to be

completed next month.

At: FirstPost

both sides of the road

chanting 'Modi-Modi'

enthusiastically as the

PM’s convoy passed

through the streets of

Shillong. Later the PM

was to address a rally in

Tura. At: TimesNow

Yogi tears into SP, says

will reduce mafia to dust

Feb 24, Olive Ridley sea

turtles have started

mass nesting on

Rushikulya sea beach in

Odisha. To the surprise

of wildlife activists the

nesting this year is

earlier than usual due to

favourable weather

conditions and occurred

during the day in place

of the customary

nighttime. Turtles came

up the beach and dug

ditches to lay eggs

before returning to sea.

Forest officials have

barricaded the area to

protect the nests. The

beach had seen 4.8 lac

turtle nests in 2018 and

a record 5.5 lac in 2022.

At: OdiaSamaj

Mar 2022

Feb 2023

Feb 20, 2023 | Week 8 | Volume 7S-93

Bharat First Visit IndiaWiki.org

PAGE 3 THE GOOD WORD

Email: IndiaWiki2020@gmail.com Website: http://TheGoodWord.IndiaWiki.Org

Jaishankar doled out

sound advice to the

jingoistic neighbour

remarking it was in

nobody’s interest to

see any country,

especially a

neighbouring one, get

into sever difficulty.

No sensible person

would nurse that

thought.

However, Jaishankar

pointed out, that

when a country does

get into serious

economic crisis, it is

for that country to

make economic and

governance choices.

The help must come

from within. Help

from outside can only

be momentary and

transient. The root of

the crisis must be

eliminated from

within and often with

tough choices.

“Another country,

neighbour or not,

cannot solve a

problem, if you are

not prepared to solve

it yourself.” the

External Affairs

Minister argued.

“I want all of us to

remember, we went

through this thirty

years ago. So its not

something which

It is the level-headed

man, the calm man, of

good judgment and cool

nerves, of great

sympathy and love, who

does good work and so

does good to himself.

The fanatic is foolish

and has no sympathy;

he can never straighten

the world, nor himself

become pure and

perfect.

To recapitulate the

chief points in today's

lecture: First, we have

to bear in mind that we

are all debtors to the

world and the world

does not owe us

anything. It is a great

privilege for all of us to

be allowed to do

anything for the world.

In helping the world we

really help ourselves.

The second point is that

there is a God in this

universe. It is not true

that this universe is

drifting and stands in

need of help from you

and me. God is ever

present therein, He is

undying and eternally

active and infinitely

watchful. When the

whole universe sleeps,

He sleeps not; He is

working incessantly; all

the changes and

manifestations of the

world are His. Thirdly,

we ought not to hate

anyone. This world will

always continue to be a

mixture of good and

evil. Our duty is to

sympathise with the

weak and to love even

the wrongdoer. The

world is a grand moral

gymnasium wherein we

have all to take exercise

so as to become

stronger and stronger

spiritually. Fourthly, we

ought not to be fanatics

of any kind, because

fanaticism is opposed to

love. You hear fanatics

glibly saying, "I do not

hate the sinner. I hate

the sin," but I am

prepared to go any

distance to see the face

of that man who can

really make a distinction

between the sin and the

sinner.

(to continue next week)

-Swami Vivekananda

Karma Yoga

a series of extracts

Swami Vivekananda Image courtesy Newsgram.com;

Jaishankar added, “And

we mustn’t be in denial

of what are very

fundamental problems

in that relationship. And

just as a country has to

fix its economic issues,

a country has to fix its

political issues, too. A

country has to fix its

social issues as well. No

country will ever come

out of a difficult

situation and become

prosperous power if its

basic industry is

terrorism.”

Pakistan's economy is in

an unprecedented crisis

as its forex reserves

have fallen to $2.91,

enough only to cover

three weeks imports. Its

rupee dived to a historic

low of 275 to the US

dollar and inflation was

looming at 27%. It

stares at increasing

taxes by $ 170

billion to be able to

secure an IMF loan

which will bail it out

from a default on debt.

The availability of IMF

money will avoid the

default but it is feared

to bring a tsunami of

price hikes. The country

is holding virtual talks

on the Memorandum of

Economic and Financial

Policies to strike staff-

level agreements.

Source: OpIndia, CNBC-

TV18

Firing a fresh salvo at

Pakistan as its economy

continues to remain in

crisis, External Affairs

Minister S Jaishankar on

Thursday said that no

country can come out of

the difficult situation “if

its basic industry is

terrorism.”

Speaking at the annual

Asia Economic Dialogue

organised by the

External Affairs Ministry

in Pune, Jaishankar

offered pragmatic

advice to the

beleaguered neighbour,

“The reality of this

particular relationship

(India-Pakistan) is that it

has a fundamental issue

which we cannot and we

must not avoid. And

that issue is that of

terrorism.” He argued

against walking around

this basic issue and

focusing instead on

smaller measures to

assuage some

immediate crises,

pointing out that that

had been the approach

for the past 75 years

and had yielded only

disastrous

consequences.

‘No country will ever come out of a difficult situation if its basic

industry is terrorism’: EAM Dr Jaishankar on Pakistan’s crisis

happens to other

people. It also

happened to us.”

Jaishankar

commiserated adding

that it happened to

India more than once,

though perhaps not

with the same

severity with which

Pakistan is facing the

crisis today.

The Minister was

addressing a question

on if India would send

aid to its western

neighbour in the wake

of Pakistan’s recent

woes. He said the

changes Pakistan

needed to make also

included those to its

policy on terrorism.

“If I were to look at

any big decision I am

making,”, he went on.

“I would also look at

what is the public

sentiment. I would

have a pulse of what

my people feel about

it. And I think you

know the answer.” he

concluded showing

Pakistan the mirror on

how its misplaced

priority on

antagonizing India has

come home to roost.

The Inaugural Session

of the Dialogue was a

conversation between

Jaishankar, Lyonpo

Namgay Tshering,

Bhutan’s Finance

Minister, and Ibrahim

Ameer, Maldives’

Finance Minister.

Jaishankar also

highlighted the

‘Neighbourhood First’

policy, the state of

the world and India’s

G20 Presidency at the

event.

“If I were to pick three

big issues in the

forefront of my

thoughts, the first

would be our

neighbourhood, partly

because we form the

neighbourhood, the

three of us,” said

Jaishankar. He added

how since 2014, the

Modi government has

followed a policy of

‘Neighbourhood First’.

The neighbourhood had

witnessed a sea-change

in the past few years.

He reckoned that many

in our country may not

fully appreciate how

significant a

neighbourhood’s

contribution can be to

the current affairs on a

nation.

The second area of

focus Jaishankar stated

was the state of the

world. The three C’s –

Covid, Conflict and

Climate were all

concerns. Climate-

Change he added was

now an operational

challenge in addition to

an existential one.

Extreme climate events

are creating disruptions

in routine global

economic activity. He

went on to outline that

the solution to these 3-

Cs also needed to have.

3-C’s of credibility,

creativity and caution

The third area of focus

was the G-20 Presidency

he added. The G-20

summit, with over 200

meetings planned in India

over the next year the

Minister pointed out was

an opportunity to

acquaint influencers of

these countries to India,

its cultural diversity, its

socio-economic

opportunities, the energy

and enthusiasm of its

people, music and arts.

On India’s equation with

China, the Minister

admitted that the

economic challenges that

relationship presented

were formidable. In 2006

India was even thinking

of an FTA with China.

However unequal access

to market and other non-

market factors saw

Indian business migrate

to China. India’s

message through

‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ to

industrialists has been

that there is not just a

moral obligation but a

national security

requirement that

manufacturing supply

chains be developed

locally. We have to

create a manufacturing

culture in this country.

Jaishankar added,

“We mustn’t be

in denial of what

are very

fundamental

problems in that

relationship.

And just as a

country has to fix

its economic

issues, a country

has to fix its

political issues,

too. A country

has to fix its

social issues as

well.

No country will

ever come out of

a difficult

situation and

become

prosperous

power if its basic

industry is

terrorism.”