159. Will not Indian Passport’s world ranking fall with the Kashmir bifurcation? P S Remesh Chandran

159

Will not Indian Passport’s world ranking fall with the Kashmir bifurcation?

P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Article Title Image 1 By Skipp604. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Does who travels with it decide the higher or lower value ranking of the Indian Passport?

1

Global passport ranking is simply the figure arrived at by adding the number of countries you can travel with a country’s passport with no visa and with visa on arrival. The highest this figure, the more powerful and strong is the passport. The positions of a few countries as on the 07th of August 2019 is shown here:

The passport of the United Arab Emirates is the highest- a 167 score. With an UAE passport you can travel 113 countries with No Visa and 54 countries with Visa On Arrival. UAE, Singapore, Germany, Finland and Denmark are the first five. Sweden, France, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain are the next five. USA was the 14th strong. India is the 140th country in this list of 199 countries, with a 65 score with 25 countries needing No Visa and 40 countries needing Visa On Arrival to travel. Iran is the 192nd country in this list of 199 countries, with a 42 score with 12 countries needing No Visa and 30 countries needing Visa On Arrival to travel. If we are not blind, we can see that India’s passport is not moving towards the status and ranking allocated to respected democratic countries but to the lowest position of theocratic countries, countries with no democracy and countries with religious fundamentalism.

2

When Mr. Narendra Modi told press in an interview in 2018 ‘I don’t think earlier anybody experienced the strength of Indian passport’, he meant his Prime Minister’s diplomatic passport, not the common man’s ordinary passport. Moreover, he must have remembered his experiences of traveling with his personal passport before he became a prime minister when he was denied visa to land in the United States. When he made this statement to press, he did not base his statement on any facts. Actually, during his rule, the Indian passport which already was standing at the bottom level in world ranking did not benefit any from his rule but was undergoing the worst hit at that time. The Indian passport’s standing became worse during his rule and more countries began to insist pre-approved visas for Indian travelers.

Article Title Image 2 By Skipp604. Graphics: Adobe SP.

This particular score was based on the Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index, which analyzes and ranks 104 countries by the number of other countries that their citizens can travel to without a visa, using the world’s largest database of travel information published annually and maintained by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). There are other rankings with other indices which, in addition to no visa countries include countries that their citizens can travel to with visa on arrival issued under bilateral treaties and agreements where also the rankings of the Indian passport is very poor which only worsened during BJP’s rule.

3

India’s score in 2013 was 52 and ranked 74th which in 2018 came down to score 49 and rank 86. During February 2019 this improved. Why? Because India’s Parliament elections were declared and the world thought the theocratic BJP will loose and the democratic Congress will be elected again to power. The following is the score and ranking year wise:

Year Score Rank

2013 52......74
2014 52......76
2015 51......84
2016 52......85
2017 49......87
2018 49......86

After the elections when Congress apparently lost and BJP came to power again, the score further went down to 40 by July last of 2019. The world is waiting to see what the score will be after BJP government’s rape of democracy in Kashmir is acknowledged by the world.

4

India has around 14 percent of the UN-represented population. India’s democracy was considered one of the worlds consistent ones even though, compared to flawless, fine or less wily a few other democracies ranking far higher in world democracy rankings, considered crude and corrupt. India’s constitution was respected and valued high by the world. Still, India’s passport had only a 78th position in cross-country travelling. This was the position even before a few years. Today, after the introduction of electronic voting machines and the world-widespread news of alleged wholesale manipulation of voting machines and rigging of elections in India, India’s democracy is loosing esteem in the eyes of the world. It is even believed by the world that India’s democracy was sabotaged and step by step under BJP India is moving towards a Hindu theocracy like the Islamic theocracy in Iran, the only difference being while in Iran other castes in Islam are killed, in India the Islamists are killed. Today the world is also learning that the original constitution of India which they respected and valued is no more respected even in India by even the ruling party, is amended daily to suit personal purposes, and exist no more in original. These discreditable events which happened during the months from March to the August of 2019 may be invisible to the blind eyes of the Indians but the world’s eyes are open and they can see them. Who said these events in India are not affecting the status of its passport?

5

In passport ranking, India’s position is worse than Uganda, Morocco, Mongolia and Ghana, and only slightly better than Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Senegal. Why are Iran the 192nd and Pakistan the 197th in a list of 199 countries in passport ranking? It’s because they are countries acknowledged as religious theocracies and cannot be trusted like democracies. Why is India which is constantly telling its people it is the fifth or seventh largest economy in the world and is a very strong financial power to reckon with is only the 140th in this list as on August 2019? It’s because the world understands its democracy is failing and it’s moving towards a fundamentally religious theocracy like Iran and Pakistan which cannot be trusted. How unfortunate for Indians to travel abroad!

Article Title Image 3 By Katy Veldhorst. Graphics: Adobe SP.

6

The Irish Mirror on 28 April 2018 reported that ‘a Latvian-born Irish citizen from Dublin, Liga Skromane (33), while traveling as tourist was strangled to death in India, and that her decapitated body was found hanging from a tree at a remote mangrove forest near the secluded Vazhamuttom, close to the famous tourist haven, the Kovalam beach of Trivandrum, Kerala, an area frequented by drug peddlers and addicts. She was snatched from a nearby beach and ferried by fiber boat before being raped and strangled to death. There were blood clots in her brain and bruises on the neck and the legs.’ Her husband flew from Dublin and told press that he was highly dissatisfied with the Kerala Police’s working and was going to make a film to show the world how unsafe for women India is for traveling. Every newspaper and television channel in the world reported this rape and murder. That is one crown for the Indian passport’s world ranking!

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/liga-skromane-33-strangled-death-12445753

7

The famous Forbes Magazine in their article ‘20 Most Dangerous Places For Women Travelers’ published on 26 July 2919 and viewed by 1,63,538 people within seven days and counting, recorded India as the most dangerous place for women travellers. The list is here: 1. South Africa, 2. Brazil, 3. Russia, 4. Mexico, 5. Iran, 6. Dominican Republic, 7. Egypt, 8. Morocco, 9. India, 10. Thailand, 11. Malaysia, 12. Saudi Arabia, 13. Turkey, 14. Argentina, 15. Chile, 16. Cambodia, 17. Bahrain, 18. Tunisia, 19. United States, 20. Ukraine. South Africa tops first and India 9th. India scored the worst in gender inequality and gender gap also. The meaning is clear: never travel to these countries, which soon will also mean: never receive people from these countries! A kudos for the Indian passport indeed!

It’s only contextual here to note the five countries safest for women to travel according to this list: 1. Spain, 2. Singapore, 3. Ireland, 4. Austria, and 5. Switzerland.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2019/07/26/20-most-dangerous-places-for-women-travelers/

8

Not only the Indian Judiciary, Government, Foreign Ministry and police forces but their representatives in the Consulates and Embassies abroad were shaken when the Gulf News on 04 August 2019 reported that a US woman, Jennipha-Lauren Nielsen, posted a video on Facebook on July 30 in which she alleged the Indian legal system corrupt, questioned the Delhi High Court’s decision to grant bail and suspended the seven-year sentence of a man convicted for raping her in India, and the people in the Indian Consulate in San Francisco denying help to rape victims. She made this video standing outside the Consulate General of India in San Fransisco just after coming out after a row. The video caused a stir on social media and went viral, and the social media instantly responded with #NoBailToRapists tags.

She said she had to travel to India alone to testify in the court, the man was given bail by a corrupt judge, she now has to take the case for appeal to the Supreme Court of India, criticized the Indian bureaucracy as corrupt as the consulate told her to go to the Indian consulate in Sacramento, California. ‘India’s incredible corruption and lack of support for women that are attacked is continuing. They refuse to help me yet they say that they want to stop the violence against women in their own country. They want me to spend thousands of dollars to travel to the state of California on my own money because they have let a convicted criminal out on bail. We don’t give bail to convicted criminals.’

This US national was sexually assaulted in South Delhi in 2013 by the nephew of a former Delhi mayor while staying at a rented flat with her husband. The victim had to come all the way from her country for giving deposition in the case. Rajeev Panwar, the accused, was sentenced for a seven year imprisonment in February 2019 by a Delhi trial court. On 05 July 2019 the Delhi High Court granted him bail and suspended his sentence. They thought she was a citizen of a far distant land on the other side of the world and will not ever learn about this legal juggernaut again! So it was another quill for the status of the Indian passport!

https://gulfnews.com/world/americas/viral-video-us-woman-angry-over-her-rapist-getting-bail-in-india-1.65629038

9

There is now even a new Women’s Danger Index, ranking the world’s most dangerous countries for women travelling alone. These rankings are based on such factors as street safety for women, intentional homicide of women, sexual violence, legal discrimination, global gender gap, gender inequality index and attitude of government, bureaucracy and people towards violence against women- a very fearsome list of indices for countries such as India indeed!

Article Title Image 4 By Agus Dietrich. Graphics: Adobe SP.

More English articles by the author at:  
http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
 
Malayalam articles by the author at: http://sahyadrimalayalam.blogspot.in/
 
More political article by the author here: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/p/list-of-political-articles.html 

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSRemeshChandra
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/bloombooks/videos
Blog: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/
E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com

Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.

Tags:

Global Passport Ranking, Visa On Arrival, No Visa Countries, Visa Denial, Strong Passport, Indian Passport, Pre Approved Visa, India Travel, India News Politics, Cross Country Travel, Kashmir, IATA, // BJP Rule, Global Gender Gap, Democracy Ranking, Gender Inequality Index, Womens Danger Index, Henley Index, Safe Countries For Women, Indian Legal System, Consulate General India, Indian Bureaucracy, Street Safety For Women, Legal Discrimination, Voting Machines, Rigging Elections, Indian Democracy, Diplomatic Passports, Democratic Theocratic Countries, Hindu Islamic Theocracy, Religious Fundamentalism,

First published on : Published on September 8, 2019

158. Did the western media cover the removal of Article 370 in Kashmir shamefully? P S Remesh Chandran

158

Did the western media cover the removal of Article 370 in Kashmir shamefully?

P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Article Title Image 1 By Mostafa Meraji. Graphics: Adobe SP.

The view that ‘the western media covered the removal of Article 370 in Kashmir shamefully’ cannot be agreed with. The western media covered the Kashmir move and its aftermath just right, especially the biggest and the most renowned newspapers among them. Certainly they did not write what the BJP of India expected (and wanted) them to write, which they cannot do, but what their representatives and other’s news agencies reported from the field and satellite photos revealed. Remember that after the Kashmir bifurcation by the BJP government, all camera lenses in almost all news and even defense satellites of almost all countries are turned towards India and Kashmir. Whether they are revolving or stationary, the objective is the same. So, there is no question, or possibility, of misleading them. What do you think the Satellite Image Interpretation Centres of these countries and news agencies are doing?

Article Title Image 2 By Mostafa Meraji. Graphics: Adobe SP.

If opposition leaders are arrested and detained to prevent them from immediately going to the Supreme Court for filing a petition to challenge the splitting of Jammu & Kashmir, these foreign media cannot be expected to fall in line and report that they were detained because they were a threat to India’s national security. They will report that they were arrested to prevent them from immediately running to the Supreme Court. They report what the Indian government do, not what the Indian government want them to think they do. Indian media may do that because except a very few among them they have no credibility in the world press. But the foreign media won't do that because they are not going to sacrifice their credibility accrued through decades of free reporting for a BJP which many in the world have not even heard of and which they consider just a regional communal political party in India which is of no significance to the world if they decide to neither travel to India nor import anything from India.

Article Title Image 3 By Mostafa Meraji. Graphics: Adobe SP.

2

This importing from India is more relevant in this context than traveling to India. Why did many foreign countries including the Portuguese, Dutch, French and the British got interested in India in the first place? It was pepper that is essential in cold countries, and silk. Fine silk can be made artificially now but pepper cannot be. Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Brazil and China are the biggest producers and exporters of pepper in that order in the world. India and China combined produce not as much as Indonesia and Indonesia produces only a half that of Vietnam. This means even if pepper import from India stops, the cold world can survive. At least a portion of the world stopping importing from India would be a boon for other countries. In pepper, it would be a godsend for Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil and China. What India looses in pepper trade Indonesia, Vietnam and China in Asia and South East Asia will gain.

Article Title Image 4 By Mostafa Meraji. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Even as early as February 2019, there were people’s protests going on in Indonesia in front of the Indian Embassy in Jakarta, predominantly demonstrations on the Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 5. Their demands were ‘the Indian government stop the military operations and human right violations in Kashmir, give the Kashmiri people a chance to choose their future, and the people in the region should choose their fate with a referendum promised by the United Nations’. No wonder Indonesia was the first to stand with Kashmir against the Kashmir abrogation by the India government in July 2019.

Article Title Image 5 By Mostafa Meraji. Graphics: Adobe SP.

3

Indonesia’s support now means Malaysia’s support in future and Malaysia’s support now means Turkey’s support in future. Malaysia, which is double in area than Pakistan, promptly joined Saudi Arabia, which is the largest in the Middle East, the second-largest in the Arab world, the fifth-largest in Asia, and the 12th-largest in the world, in a move not only to dominate the Organization of Islamic Cooperation which is divided on this issue of India’s abrogation of Kashmir but also in reproving the one-sided move by India by calling for settlement of the conflict in Kashmir by taking into account the interests of the people of the region also in strict observance of the past resolutions of the United Nations Security Council on this issue.

Article Title Image 6 By Mostafa Meraji. Graphics: Adobe SP.

4

Indonesia’s fondest trade partner, Turkey, is one of the largest peninsulas in Asia, is larger than France and UK put together, is surrounded on three sides by the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Aegean Sea and so is situated at the crossroads of the Balkan, Caucasian, Middle East, and Mediterranean countries, bridges the continents of Europe and Asia, and is strategical in position and influence in world geography and politics. In June 2018 India turned down Turkey’s offer to mediate with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue. In January 2019 Turkey asked the Kashmir issue to be settled not unilaterally by India but through multilateral mediation adhering to UN resolutions. In August 2019 Turkey was left with no way but to unmistakably stand with Pakistan against India’s abrogation of Jammu & Kashmir. The only one point the Turkish president and the world press accepted as up to standard was the Indian prime minister’s testimonial that India’s Kashmir abrogation was ‘essentially due to cross-border terrorism’. But the UN had already ‘slammed the change of status and restrictions imposed in Kashmir by India unilaterally’. So the stand of the UN in special and the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation in general is clear in this regard. How else should the world media report this situation? That the world stands united with BJP in suddenly taking things into their hands and deciding things unilaterally and disturbing the peace in Kashmir?

Article Title Image 7 By Mostafa Meraji. Graphics: Adobe SP.

More English articles by the author at:
http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/

Malayalam articles by the author at:
http://sahyadrimalayalam.blogspot.in/

More political article by the author here:
http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/p/list-of-political-articles.html

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSRemeshChandra
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/bloombooks/videos
Blog: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/
E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com

Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.

Tags:

Western Media, World Press, Article370, Jammu Kashmir Bifurcation Abrogation Conflict, Islamic Cooperation, UN Referendum, Security Council, Kashmir Solidarity, Indian Media, BJP Government, // Satellite Images, News Agencies, Communal Politics, Travel India, Pepper Producers Exporters, Turkey Mediation, Cross Border Terrorism,

First published on: Published on September 8, 2019

 

 

157. The UN Charter which India signed specifically underlines man’s right to accept and practice any religion he believes in. P S Remesh Chandran

157
 
The UN Charter which India signed specifically underlines man’s right to accept and practice any religion he believes in
 
P. S. Remesh Chandran
 
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum
  Article Title Image 1 By Dark Workx. Graphics: Adobe SP. 

The belief, and also any rule passed by any group of people, that religion is something which one is born into and therefore cannot be changed is primitive and pagan, not civilized and modern to fit the world. A government of a country which is taking away this fundamental right is showing to the world that it prefers barbarianism to civilization. The UN Charter specifically underlines man’s right to accept and practice any religion he believes in. And India is a member of this organization- that too a founding member. For decades India has been campaigning among other countries for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. None of the present five permanent Security Council members have denounced in their constitution a man’s right to accept and practice any religion he chooses, and none which does that will ever be admitted to this Council too, it’s believed. Russia and China are no exemptions, for though communist nations, there is church in both countries.

Article Title Image 2 By Ifrah Akhter. Graphics: Adobe SP.

A law that one cannot change religion is a clear challenge of this UN Charter which India signed, which one political party desperate not to loose its only support base of fanatic Hindus wants now to un-sign. Now that they have lost all hope of ever securing a permanent position in the Security Council, they may perhaps even be be desiring to quit the UN to become a totally free theocracy which answers to no one, before the time of its present leadership is out. People, who do not know anything at all about the position of India in world affairs, and the respect many countries give to her on account of being a democratic and secular country, laud such moves in their total ignorance. They see only their local village, town or city as India.

Article Title Image 3 By Truth Seeker08. Graphics: Adobe SP.
 
More English articles by the author at:  
http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
 
Malayalam articles by the author at:  
http://sahyadrimalayalam.blogspot.in/
 
More political article by the author here:
http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/p/list-of-political-articles.html
 
About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran: 

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSRemeshChandra
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/bloombooks/videos
Blog: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/
E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com
 
Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.
 
Tags:

UN Charter, Right To Religion, Fundamental Rights, UN Security Council Members, India News, Indian Politics, Democratic Countries, Secular Countries, Hindu Fanatic Theocracy, Church In Communism,

 
First published on : Published on 08 September 2019

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Article Title Image 4 By Klara Avsenik. Graphics: Adobe SP.

  

156. The Indian people’s disapproval of the bifurcation of Kashmir is entirely different from Pakistan's in motive. P S Remesh Chandran

156

The Indian people’s disapproval of the bifurcation of Kashmir is entirely different from Pakistan's in motive
 
P. S. Remesh Chandran
 
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum
  Article Title Image 1 By Mukul Joshi. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Many democratic-minded people in India do stand with the Kashmir people in their misery and do not accept the abrogation and division of Jammu & Kashmir as desirable because they consider Kashmiris as fellow Indians which they indeed were since India’s Independence. Their stand does not mean they stand with Pakistan. In fact, most of them are tired of Pakistan’s exporting terrorism and its failure in harnessing terrorist organizations.

Article Title Image 2 By Confused Me. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Though many people in foreign countries consider the Kashmir move as suppression of democratic rights and human rights of Indians by Indians in spite of their governments’ acquiescing to this abrogation, the only point these world people agrees with the Indian Prime Minister is his statement that he was forced to take this action due to cross-country terrorism from Pakistan. 

Article Title Image 3 By Jeevan. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Why Pakistan did not gain a great deal of support lately on the Kashmir issue was just because it was Pakistan. But sooner or later the world will have to open eyes to the Indian people’s distinct disapproval of the bifurcation of Kashmir and suppression of democratic rights there which is entirely different from that of Pakistan in motive. Presently, the Indian people’s voice is not heard by the world governments and press because of Pakistan.

 
Article Title Image 4 By Banita Tour. Graphics: Adobe SP.
 
More English articles by the author at:  
http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
 
Malayalam articles by the author at: http://sahyadrimalayalam.blogspot.in/
 
More political article by the author here:
http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/p/list-of-political-articles.html
 
About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

 
Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSRemeshChandra
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/bloombooks/videos
Blog: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/
E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com
 
Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.
 
Tags:

Kashmir Bifurcation Abrogation, Civil Rights India, India Pakistan Issues, Kashmir People, Jammu Kashmir, India News, World Press, Cross Country Terrorism, Kashmir Issue, Human Rights Violations,
 
First published on: 

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Article Title Image 5 By Malik Minhaj. Graphics: Adobe SP.

155. Why can’t states have their flags and national flag as well in India? P S Remesh Chandran

155

Why can’t states have their flags and national flag as well in India?
 
P. S. Remesh Chandran
 
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum
  Article Title Image 1 By Quince Media. Graphics: Adobe SP.

1

So many countries in the world have state flags and national flags. State flags and national flags are all government flags. It is better to call them civil flags and national flags. Civil flags can be modified versions of the national flag, or an entirely different one reflecting the purpose and principles of the sub-national division or agency concerned. Civil flags will have restrictions on use as imposed by the law or custom of the country.

In India, a state flag means an official flag of any of the individual states or territorial sub-divisions that make up the nation. It is preferable to call them ‘the State Flag of Kerala, the State Flag of Nagaland, etc., etc., to avoid confusion with the term the National Flag of India. It’s because a state can mean a sub-national division or the entire nation, in general terms. And the army, navy and the air force in India also have theirs. 

Article Title Image 2 By Achannya Lekshmi. Graphics: Adobe SP.

2

The people of India don’t understand why states can’t have their own flags. This confusion was caused by acrimonious slogans, posters, interviews and media reports thrown in by pseudo patriots who actually want to create confusion and murk in the muddy waters. India is a country of heterogeneous people with their own states, cultures and languages which they may want to identify through flags, symbols or emblems. They will want to identify themselves as a people with specific cultures, customs or languages. And at the same time they will want to identify themselves as citizens of a united country also. So they have their state flags as well as a national flag. There was no question of not allowing them to do so until now. And till now, no communal nationalists were ruling India too. That is the change which started this move to take away the state flags. There is scope for arousing suspicion, sensationalism and hatred among these people by taking away their state flags which would serve as excellent food for the survival of religious nationalist elements.

3

State flags do not affect the unity of India anyway. State flags represent their state as a cultural, ethnic or language group and their national flag represents their political and geographical entity as a country. Why should a thing which posed no danger till now made to become so important a topic for serious discussion and legislation? When heterogeneous things are crushed, pulped and tried to be amalgamated into something homogeneous, they loose their properties and become no more those things which they were. Besides, they may even explode in the process. It is when a right thing is tried to be made more right that it goes wrong. We have read that ‘a society with no snobbery is like a dog with no fleas: it goes comatose’. Here it’s like throwing a stone to that dog which has gone comatose to make it do something for a while, meanwhile! Probably, to make it remain active till the next elections! It’s a perfectly characteristic move by the pure Indian snobs! 

Article Title Image 3 By Game Of Pics. Graphics: Adobe SP.

4

There were state flags in India from 1947 to 2019- that means, for 72 years. There was no problem. The problem was BJP came into power in 2019 for the second time. Till then no one talked about state flags posing any dangers to the nations’ unity or security, except those BJP leaders who could not talk about anything else that affects the real life of the people of the country. In 2019, BJP followers and worshipers and beneficiaries began this meaningless chorus and also joined their ranks, to shout that the state flags pose a danger to the unity of the country. What danger? They do not have any reasonable answer, except that they are followers and beneficiaries of the ruling party and so have to repeat just what their leaders say, regardless of if it is logical or not or reasonable or not. Even against their own logic and reason they are burdened with the unglittering job of defending the ruling party in its move to take way the state flags. Look how quick the discussion on the legacy and legality of state flags while holding a national flag, a subject the ruling party does not want people to discuss at all, was tried to be deviated to some CIA presence in India by paid or unpaid campaigners! CIA has been in India for decades since its inception and the present Indian ruling party has all their blessings. They were the first to stand with the ruling party of India when they took away the first state flag. Then, who would be the biggest CIA spy now in India? Do not try to foolishly and idiotically reiterate to learnèd and responsive group members that state flags are going to divide India. Did India get divided during the past 72 years due to state flags? 

Article Title Image 4 By Don Vikro. Graphics: Adobe SP.

5

How many flags does the USA have? The USA has 50 states and 50 state flags- the earliest one from 1795, and one national flag from 1777 with variations! In addition, the several branches of the United States Armed Forces have their individual flags, and within each branch various flags for various occasions. And there are the ships, army bases, military camps and military academies which also have their own flags. Why this many flags? Its legacy, kept alive and proud by a proud people. Did the USA split on account of this ocean of flags during the 242 years of its existence, and its federal democracy collapse? Only utter fools will think the people of America are holding 51 flags at the same time! Any American civilian holds only two flags on any given occasion- that of his state and that of his nation. The case is exactly similar in India. Any Indian civilian holds only two flags, not a sea of flags, if there is a state flag. Here the only difference is there is neither a 242 years’ steady and steadfast democracy nor 50 states in the federal system. Which fool is going to guarantee that India’s democracy is going to hold steady and steadfast for 242 years with only half the states? Even before its 77 years with half the states, India’s federal democracy is withering. Taking state flags away is the sign. Whether it’s going to be a Mercantile Hindu Corporate Autocracy or a Religious Theocracy is another question. Or it may even be a Corporatotheocracy.

6

Autonomy for states in almost all portfolios of administration with state budgets, state laws and state rules but joined at the Centre for Defense is the very essential to the federal system of government. 1947 was the 0-mile stone for India in federalism, and since then the centre has been robbing states of its portfolios of administration, its rights and its privileges one by one for the past 77 years, weakening the federal strength of the nation. Everything that is born has an inherent tendency to also die from that moment onwards, unless helped keep strong and healthy. Unfortunately, that is not the state with federalism in India. States are robbed steadily of authority and power which accumulate at the centre, the very reverse process of what the constitution of India envisaged. An all-powerful state with unlimited and unquestioned powers eventually becomes an enemy of the state in itself in its true sense as the world’s history proves.

 Article Title Image 5 By Liam Desic. Graphics: Adobe SP.
 
More English articles by the author at: 
http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
 
Malayalam articles by the author at:  
http://sahyadrimalayalam.blogspot.in/
 
More political article by the author here:
http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/p/list-of-political-articles.html
 
About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

 
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Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.
 
Tags:

State National Government Flags, Civil Flags, Indian Flag, Sub National Agencies Divisions, Territorial Sub Divisions, Mercantile Hinduism, India News, Federalism, Culture Symbols Emblems, BJP, // Cultural Ethnic Language Groups, Politico Geographical Entity, Heterogeneous People, Communal Nationalists, Religious Nationalists, National Unity Security, Corporate Autocracy, Religious Theocracy, Corporato Theocracy, Constitution Of India,

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