Shiban Khaibri
Astudy shows that right from 1980 till date,number of days lost in Japan to strikes
have averaged below 9% of that lost in the USA to labour actions. Wearing a black ribbon or an armband are the ways of the labourforce in showing displeasure to the management,Government or wherever engaged . During mostof the strikes in Japan , work continues as usual but during lunch breaks and after workinghours sloganeering , signs, marches and even dances are the ”tools” to show resentment for non fulfilment of demands and urgency to esolve them. Labour management relations are more cordial in Japan than in the USA. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, a few months back ”ridiculed” and criticised PM Modi over his policy on unemployment saying in a period Chinese engaged as many as 50,000 people in employment, “Modi Ji engaged just 400”. Wherefrom he got such a data is another question as the veracity of it is equally another . However, at the time of such a statement , signing of some “agreement” between the Congress Party and the Chinese Communist Party had not been known by common citizens of the country so that the ”love lost ” for China by Congress could have been understood. However, let us not contest the fantastic and manufactured figures of 50,000 but ask Rahul Ji as to how many instances of Chakkajams, Rail Roko, Bandhs , Gheraos , damaging and setting fire to public and private property in China, doing political tourism to select places where a crime takes place to see how some political gains were made provided such a place was BJP led NDA state and the victim was from a particular religion and caste, have taken place in China during the last 10 years. It is another thing in the next breath, tweets and statements are dished out against the scourge of casteism. The same information about Japan as well, would make the issue of unemployment meaningful. We have not forgotten the fervent and strong call by the Congress Chief on the issue of CAA of “Aar paar key ladaie and Gharun say bahar niklo………”. We , in this country, are still frugal in our approach in calculations and reckoning of gains and losses on account of politically sponsored Bandhs, forced hartals, strikes in industrial and commercial institutions, hindering Railways movement and the like. The cost of hold up at Shaeen Bagh for months together , followed by intermittent acts of violence and then explosion into full fledged organised Delhi riots needed to be calculated and visualised as to the extent of damages to national assets due to employing stinking and criminal politics. That amount saved could have, technically speaking , provided employment to hundreds if not thousands. That, President Donald Trump was on his maiden visit to this country – so this country should be projected in an abysmally poor way so that he “disliked” this country and in particular “its leader” , was all aimed at by those conspirators who feign to project themselves as
”loving” this country. And you bring in for comparison, Chinese ways of granting employment to the unemployed ? Many hapless citizens must have watched and
”heard” the words accompanying with each stone
aimed at and thrown on costly Government buses damaging them profusely in Delhi even before full scale Delhi violence, arson and killings were orchestrated. We saw violence in UP too but the government there acted a bit differently by proposing to recovering cost of damages from the identified rioters and arsonists. Agreed, in the process, a few innocents too would have been dragged in but that is not wholly avoidable especially when the determination is to put an end to senseless violence where properties are destroyed and innocents killed . After a few months , we shockingly saw Bengaluru violence – rather
attack – which for giving vent to whichever feelings, was suspected to be fully pre-planned. How ludicrous it is that the conspirators and organisers of such wanton violent acts were claiming that they “loved” this country. About a UN panel report of July this year that number of ISIS terrorists were operating in Kerala, no opposition political party staged a dharna or pressed for the resignation of the CM of that state nor did those liberal and highly secular and urban Naxal intellectuals hold placards before the media
for photo-ops, yet claiming they loved this country and needed not to be ”taught” Nationalism. We must be knowing that our Railways are running losses and except AC -3 Tier and AC Chair Car classes, no other class is earning profits . Subsidy provided to all other classes make the Railways incur losses , as in most of the cases, even operational costs are not recovered, yet Railways are running and providing services
through its 23000 pairs of trains on daily basis covering all the 7500 stations through 75000 passenger coaches ferrying 25 million passengers every day , a number more than the population of Australia. According to Comptroller and Auditor General of India , during the last five years , the subsidy provided to the ordinary class as well as suburban services continuously increased. Subsidy on the ordinary class being the maximum.
Another startling fact as revealed by the CAG is that free and concessional fare train tickets to “various beneficiaries” in good numbers accounted for one of the leading contributors to non recovering of full cost and incurring proportionate losses. This brief prelude was intentionallygiven to bring home the requirement of due concern in respect of an early normalising of railway traffic which due to COVID-19 pandemic
is severely crippled for more than six months resulting in mammoth loss of national wealth .
While revenues are nowhere , not to speak of making any profits, managing overhead and recurring expenses especially towards wages and salaries by Railways being World’s 8th largest employer, is not that hard to comprehend. Should under such circumstances , any call be given for “Chakka jam ” and squat on railway lines to stop even bare skeleton services of the Railways especially goods train traffic in protest against three Farm Reforms Bills recently becoming Laws . In fact, each one of us should have been longing to see our Railway network back on rails as early as possible but what type of service was it to the country, the so called farmers’ interests and the oft repeated democracy and constitution that trains should be stopped which in thousands are already stopped by COVID 19 pandemic. What drama is all this about that a tractor “set on fire” by Congress workers in Ambala on Sept 20 and then the same burnt tractor transported in a truck to India Gate , Delhi and again ”burning ” it there on 28th shows the intentions of the “political”
protestors and the triviality of the protests. Was it due to total failure of the purpose of protests or resorting to comical cost cutting measures by Congress that the ”best use” of the same burnt and re-burnt tractor was made . On Sept20 ”protests”, an Army convoy on way to Ladakh was watched on TV screens stopped for hours at Ambala by a handful of protestors feigning as ”aggrieved” farmers and later claiming as patriots and core nationalists. The funny thing about these Farm protests is that most of the protestors were not farmers (with reference to Sept 20 Bandh) and most of those few did not know the reason of protests or why they were there on roads. Leaders of ”farmers” made political parties ”for” them but Kissan is there where he was but their leaders became
richer day by day , how? Take the case of Samajwadi Party, Nationalist Congress Party , Rashtriya Jana Dal Party etc . It is one thing to feign as Kissan and quite different to be one. A noted
actor also ”produced” himself as a farmer of Barabanki when Mulayam Singh was the UP Chief Minister. He needed to be declared as a “farmer” since he had purchased some agricultural land in Maharashtra. A popular Actor posted a video of himself in July this year coated in mud on a tractor ”ploughing” the land saying “Rice plantation done”. Can these richest actors be called as real farmers or a joke with farmers in the same way recently passed Farm Reforms Laws being misinterpreted leading to misleading the farmers.
And why should not the protests be positive , why Rail Roko , Chakka jam, Hartal etc.
Sooner than later , India is moving towards “Bandh Mukt Bharat” thanks to Information Technology. Bharat cannot be now Bandh or “shut” as it used to be. Most of the office work is now done on -line from homes. Buying and selling
on- line, school college classes and coaching online, exams on line, Video Conferencing , inaugurations and holding important meetings, E- governance , e- tendering, depositing utility bills online and using different Apps. All these numerous advantages of IT revolution have virtually made redundant and stale these Bandhs, Chakka
jams and Hartals since a famous Urdu couplet of Mirza Ghalib sums it up as ” Ishrat -e- qatra hai dariya main fanna ho jana ; Dard ka
hadd say guzarna hai dawa ho jana”.
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