JUL-21 BOUDHIK YOJANA
Jul-04-2021 Samachar Sameeksha: Pakistan on FATF Grey List
Ø In all the focus on Chinese virus COVID and vaccination, an important news did not hit the headlines
Ø FATF has retained Pakistan on it’s grey list i.e a list of countries under increased scrutiny for terror funding, money laundering and other activities
Ø The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog. The inter-governmental body sets international standards that aim to prevent these illegal activities and the harm they cause to society. As a policy-making body, the FATF works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas.
Ø Pakistan was retained on the grey list, or list of countries under "increased monitoring", as the Paris-based UN watchdog judged it deficient in prosecuting the top leadership of UN Security Council-designated terror groups.
Ø With the FATF's latest action, Pakistan, even after 'largely completing' 26 of the 27 targets, will remain in the grey list for at least another year and deliver on seven new parallel action points to address deficiencies in its Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime
Ø The FATF has certainly praised Pakistan’s efforts to resolve issues around the 26 items on the agenda. The FATF, however, wants Pakistan to investigate, prosecute and convict senior leaders and commanders of the UN-designated terror organizations, including Afghan Taliban, Haqqani Network, Lashkar-e-Toiba, and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Ø Foreign Minister Qureshi had even claimed that 'some forces' were trying to maintain pressure on Pakistan by keeping it on the grey list of the FATF. He even alleged that India was using it as a front to demean Pakistan on international forum
Ø As per a paper by Islamabad based think tank, Pakistan has suffered a loss of 38 billion $ in GDP due to grey listing from 2008-2009,2012-2015 and 2018-till date
Ø Estimates indicate that a large proportion of this response (58 per cent) was driven by reduction in consumption expenditures (both household and government).
Ø Exports and inward foreign direct investment are also partially responsible for this decline in GDP, with associated cumulative losses of $4.5 billion and $3.6 billion respectively.
Ø The main impact of being on the grey list is that it raises the risk that the country could be placed on the black list which is a serious threat and factor that discourages investors
Other News: 1) Love Jihad in Jammu and Kashmir 2) Vaccination Campaign (Tika Utsav)
Jul 11-2021 Boudhik: 100 years of CCP (Chinese Communist Party)
1st July is an important day in history of Chinese Communist Party as it completes 100 years of it’s founding.
Inception
The first official meeting of the CCP, the first Congress, was held in Shanghai and Jiaxing in July 1921. Only 12 members were present then. However, the party came into being in a meeting that was held on a tourist boat on a lake in Jiaxing. Of the 50-odd members present on the boat, there was also a 27-year old man by the name of Mao Zedong.
From 1921 to 1927, the CCP supported the government under the Chinese Nationalist Party, also known as the Kuomintang or the KMT. The unity, however, did not last long. In April 1927, the KMT forces aided by many warlords and mercenaries launched an attack on the members of the CCP. Many communists were detained and arrested. The number of the ones assassinated or executed remains unclear to this day.
Civil War
This was followed by an organized execution of communists in the following months, also known as a period of White Terror. The communists retaliated with the creation of the Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR), an empire of distributed territories, mainly in Eastern China. The CSR resistance was led by Mao Zedong who would go on to lead the Communist Party of China.
However, between 1931 and 1934, the KMT government launched five campaigns, killing as many as 700,000 as per some estimates.
Long March
In 1934, the CCP began its long walk towards the western and northern enclaves of the CSR. Mao Zedong led one of the longest and most difficult marches that covered more than 9,000 kilometres in more than a year. This single march established Zedong as the future leader amongst the supporters. For CCP, this was a defining moment as from more than the 100,000 communists that had begun the long march from the main CSR enclave of Jiangxi in East China, only around 8,000 survived. The person who gave shelter to Mao during his Long March was Xi Jinping’s father.
Japanese Invasion
In 1937 Japan invaded China and smashed the power of KMT. It also showcased the guerrilla warfare tactics of CCP which made it popular among people. America's defeat of Japan in 1945 further strengthened the prospects of the CCP, so much that by the end of the war, CCP’s army, also known as the Red Army, was now more than 1.3 million members strong with an additional military strength of 2.6 million. Within the CCP controlled zones alone, 100 million Chinese were living, around 20-25 per cent of the total population.
People’s Republic of China
The war between the two factions intensified further after 1945, and eventually, the CCP prevailed, ending the Civil War in 1949. Tiring out the KMT forces by means of guerrilla warfare, the CCP wiped out more than 1.1 million troops of the KMT. Whatever was left of the KMT escaped to the island state of Taiwan.
The Chinese Communist Party was finally in complete control of China, merely 28 years after its inception. The proclamation of the People’s Republic of China was carried out by the leader of the Long March from 1934, Mao Zedong.
Great Leap Forward
‘The Great Leap Forward’ was initiated in 1958. Desperate to transform China into an industrial economy from an agricultural one, Mao, under the second five-year plan, ordered all the farms to be collectivised, and thus, the entire production, resources, distribution of food grains were taken over by the CCP. Mao also initiated grand irrigation projects along with modern agricultural techniques. The entire pursuit failed.
Somewhere between 30 to 55 million Chinese perished due to starvation and extreme poverty. The scale of poverty and starvation was so extreme that people had to consume tree bark and dirt. The farmers who failed to meet the required quota of crops grown or tried escaping the brutalities were tortured, had their bodies mutilated, and were eventually killed.
It wasn’t until 1961 that the project was called off, but the aftermath was felt in the ‘Great Chinese Famine of 1962. Indo-China war was a way to rally people behind the failed leadership against an external enemy.
The ‘Great Leap Forward’ and the ‘Great Chinese Famine’, together, caused the birth rate per thousand people in China to drop from 37 to 17 and the death rate to shoot up from 11 to 25.
Deng Xiaoping
Back to back blunders like Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution had broken the back of China but there was no way to challenge Mao till his death in 1976. It led to the rise of Deng Xiaoping who ushered in an era of stability and the gradual opening of the country’s economy in post-1978.
Such was the success of Xiaoping’s reforms that it set the foundation for China’s economic success, resulting in an increase of per capita income by 25 times between the late 1970s and 2010s, the upliftment of more than 800 million Chinese from extreme poverty.
Overview
Today, the CCP relies heavily on control of human rights, active digital propaganda, and the complete control of the military (People’s Liberation Army). For the PLA, the primary objective is to safeguard the interests of the party. The party is the country, and the country is from the party.
The CCP has overcome complete extermination, annihilation during the Japanese invasion during the Second World War, self-inflicted economic disasters, famines, self-implosion, an unpredictable phase of economic liberalisation, democracy movements, and the age of globalised internet.
Reference: 1) https://swarajyamag.com/politics/the-great-dictatorship-chinese-communist-party-turns-100
2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O-vsDkA8vI (Understanding Communist China | Col. Ramakrishnan (Retd.) | #SangamTalks
Jul 18-2021 Charcha: Big Tech and Big Data
Ø Twitter and GOI have been at loggerheads for more than a month after the deadline lapsed for Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021
Ø Twitter is behaving as a self-certified champion of Free Speech and lecturing that it is upholding Freedom of Speech which is endangered in India
Ø If it was such a champion really then why did it de-platform Donald Trump, ideally he also has a freedom to voice his opinion
Ø But Big Tech i.e not only Twitter but Facebook, Google, Amazon are all in bed with Left-Liberal cabal and act as holier than thou
Ø But the real issue is being missed completely and that is DATA, more specifically Data Colonialism
Ø India has 530 million users on WhatsApp, 448 million users on YouTube, 410 million users on Facebook, 210 million users on Instagram, and merely 17 million people on Twitter
Ø India is the largest market after China, but the largest for US Tech companies as China has it’s home grown ecosystem and does not allow foreign entities
Ø The scale at which Indians are generating data through messages, videos, likes, comments, clicks, scrolls, share, dislike is humungous and is feeding the Social Media giants
Ø No data of Indians is being stored in India but it is siphoned to US / Europe where the servers are installed and it is sliced and digested to generate algorithms
Ø Larry Page, legendary Google Founder once commented “We are not building Search Engine, but we are building AI (Artificial Intelligence)”. The algorithms then power AI, as they get more and more data they get more and more accurate. But none of these algorithms actually give any credit to the user data which is the real driver.
Ø The larger the data sets, the better the algorithms. And who do these algorithms benefit, definitely to the highest bidder. Any company or a political party will pay a fortune to know who its consumers are and how will they respond to a particular stimulus.
Ø For example if a tooth paste company finds that a particular offer on e-commerce website attracts more customers, it can replicate it in offline as well. But all this data will be in the pocket of e-commerce website and not the company.
Ø The more users interact with Big Tech, the more data they get and the more powerful they become. Being home to the second largest population on Internet, India will be the biggest hub to get zillions of data. Instead of keeping India in good humor what we are getting in return is sermons on free speech and human rights and what not
Ø It becomes very necessary to develop an ecosystem which is completely Swadeshi. It will not only keep Indians data localized but will lead to companies feeding on this data and develop complex algorithms which are the most precious catch. It will be a positive reinforcement loop and will lead to big financial dividends
Ø As per Bain and Co report, by 2030, AI will add 14 Trillion $ to Global GDP. Out of which 7 Trillion $ will be accounted by China. India’s current GDP is 3 Trillion $ with an ambitious target of 5 Trillion $ in 2025, but more than that will be added to China through AI. You will realize the scale of benefits.
Ø As Indians we should start using Indian apps like Ola, Paytm, Koo, Arattai, BHIM and many more to come if we have to really win this battle and not lose real gems in Twitter vs GOI mud-slinging.
References: 1) AI and Future of Power By Rajeev Malhotra 2) Swarajya June-2021 issue
Jul-25-2021 Katha: Samarth Ramdas / (Gurupujan Boudhik will be by Vakta)
Samarth Ramdas was one of the greatest saints of the world. He was the inspirer of Shivaji. He was born of Suryaji Panth and Renuka Bai in Jamb, Maharashtra, in 1608 A.D. His original name was Narayan.
Ramdas was a contemporary of Sant Tukaram. He was a great devotee of Hanuman and Bhagwan Rama.
As a boy, he was very mischievous and always had a prank up his sleeve. He liked to climb trees, swimming, exercises and was never afraid of anything. He had a natural ability to lead and his friends always listened to him.
One day he shut himself in a room and began to meditate on God. When his mother asked him what he was doing, Ramdas replied that he was meditating and praying for the good of the world. His mother was surprised at the precocious religious inclination of the boy and felt happy.
When Ramdas was twelve years of age, all arrangements were made for his marriage. He sat in front of the bride. There was a screen between the bridegroom and the bride. When the priests chanted "Sawadhan!' (be alert), Ramdas bolted away from the place and disappeared within the twinkling of an eye.
Tapas
For twelve years Ramdas stayed at Takli, Nasik on the banks of the Godavari. He used to get up very early in the morning, go into the Godavari river, and with his body half-immersed in water, recite the sacred Gayatri Mantra till about noon. Then he would go round for bhiksha. He first offered the collected food to his Deity Sri Rama and then took it as Prasad. After resting a while, he used to attend religious discourses in the various temples of Nasik and Panchavati. Ramdas also studied Sanskrit and copied in his own hand the Ramayana of Valmiki. This manuscript is still preserved in the collection of Sri S.S. Dev of Dhubliah.
Ramdas did Purascharana of the Rama Mantra of thirteen letters Sri Ram Jaya Ram Jaya Jaya Ram thirteen lakhs of times at Tafali, near Nasik, on the banks of the Godavari. After the Purascharana was over, once again Ramdas had Darshan of Bhagwan Rama. It is said that Ramachandra ordered Ramdas to visit holy places such as Nasik, Haridwar, Kasi, etc.
Travels
For the next 12 years, Samarth Ramdas travelled across the length and breadth of country. He travelled from Manasarovar to Rameshwaram. It was not just a pilgrimage but it gave him an opportunity to understand people. He saw the life of common people from close quarters.
It was the time when Islamic invasions were at it’s peak, there was no major Hindu power across country. Wars, plunder, rapes had become commonplace. People had lost all hope and were surviving for the sake of it. When he was in Ayodhya, he had to make an escape due to invading armies. It impacted him deeply, as an enlightened soul who saw the GOD in every living being, he was moved by the dire straits of people.
Return to Maharashtra
He is supposed to have been inspired by Bhagwan Ram to come back to banks of Krishna river. He started his movement from there. He was a very good storyteller i.e kirtan and hence attracted lot of people. While wandering from villages he inspired people to establish Hanuman murti at the outskirts and practice physical and martial exercises there. This kindled a martial spirit among people and they became ready soldiers for Hindavi Swarajya.
His contact with people, also gave him lot of shishyas, men as well as women. Most notable among them were Kalyan Swami, Uddhav Swami and even women will Akkaswami and others. He was very well built and was fond of playing with children. He was meticulous in his approach and liked hard-working people. He knew Marathi, Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu and several dialects.
Literary Works
He was a prolific author and composer. He wrote treatise like Dasbodh (…), Manache Shlok (teachings to mind), Karunashtake, Atmaram and several others. He composed beautiful Aartis for Bhagwan Ganesh, Hanuman, Ram and several others. He had a deep understanding of music and could sing well. He composed his works in Marathi and not Sanskrit to spread the message of Vedant far and wide. At the beginning of Dasbodh he says don’t look down upon it because it is written in Prakrit (Marathi) but see the message.
Prophet of Nationalism
Samarth Ramdas was a keen observer of social movements, people, politics, cultures and deep impact of invasions. He awakened the masses and inspired them to fight for their rights. He disliked tendency to rely on fate and be inactive, but he called for efforts and said “Yatna to Dev Janvava”, think of efforts as God.
Only efforts were not enough but they had to be backed by intelligence as well. He said “ Yukti Ne Milati Rajye”, intelligence or smart work will win you kingdoms. He was not looking at sacrifice alone but it has to be for Dharma. He said one should die for Dharma, but while dying should kill Adharmis, killing and defeating them should win back our own Rajya. It is his fiery thoughts which made Hindus in Maharashtra an ammunition for ultimate fight for Swarajya.
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