Varun Hari Prasad

On 12th December 2019, the Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill amending the Citizenship Act, 1955. The Bill seeks to make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and who arrived in India till 31 st December 2014, eligible for Indian citizenship. A plain reading of the Act makes it clear that it is unlikely to stand the test of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution. In this essay, I wish to write about why this Act is legally flawed and how it exposes the agenda of the ruling establishment. The Context In India, citizenship is acquired on the following grounds: i) by birth ii) by descent iii) by registration iv) by naturalisation v) by incorporation of territory. All other persons who are living in India and do not fall under any of these 5 categories are termed as illegal immigrants . The Foreigners Act, 1946, and the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, would apply to them ...

On 5 August 2019, Home Minister Amit Shah announced in the Rajya Sabha that a Presidential Order would be issued to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution of India, which provides special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. He further said that Jammu and Kashmir would be bifurcated into two Union Territories: UT of Jammu & Kashmir (with legislature) and UT of Ladak (without legislature). A resolution to this effect was passed by the Rajya Sabha on the same day. The Build-up Ahead of this announcement, the Union Government sent additional troops to the state to ‘maintain peace and order’ in wake of an ‘intelligence input’. They went to the extent of taking an unprecedented decision of suddenly cancelling the Amarnath Yatra. Mainstream political leaders like former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were placed under house arrest, communication services were withdrawn and curfew was imposed (it continues even now). What is Article 370? Article...

Four phases of the world’s biggest democratic exercise – elections to the 17 th Lok Sabha – have been completed. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party led by Mr Narendra Modi are extensively banking on the National Security plank to get back to power for one more term. Mr Modi has been saying since the first day of campaign that he has used an ‘Iron Fist’ in dealing with Pakistan. He refers to the surgical strikes done by the Indian Air Force in Balakot as an example of his tough policy. Despite bringing National Security issues to the fore, he refuses to speak about one of the biggest security challenges: Jammu and Kashmir. In my previous essays: ‘ Pulwama Attack: Time to Raise a Few Questions & Explore the Reasons ’ and ‘ The Turmoil In India’s Paradise ’, I have written in detail about the current Government’s policy with respect to Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir. In this essay I wish to share what I feel the new Government must do with regard to J&K. The Two Aspects...

On 14 February, in one of the worst attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, a suicide bomber of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) rammed a car full of explosives into a CRPF convoy killing over 40 personnel. The attack sent shockwaves across the country and people transcended all barriers to stand in solidarity with the security forces. In a rare sight, all political parties pledged support to the Government in any retaliatory action it would initiate. At a time when almost everyone had refrained from politicising the martyrdom of our soldiers, the ruling establishment at the Centre left no stone unturned to score brownie points. From Amit Shah to Sakshi Maharaj, the intention was clear, to stroke sentiments ahead of general elections. But now, I think it is time to shed restraint and ask a few questions. Intelligence Failure It is now known that the Jaish-e-Mohammed had issued a video threat 48 hours before the Pulwama attack. Why did the Government ignore that threat?...

On 2 January 2019, the Union Cabinet approved the merging of Vijaya Bank, Dena Bank and Bank of Baroda. In April 2017, the Government had also merged six state banks with the State Bank of India. As we all know, our Banks are in a mess. The real question we must ponder over is this: Will mergers help in solving bank problems? Three main issues Firstly, these are not private banks which could sack its employees in the name of cost saving. These are public sector banks and they have the task of securing the future of around 90,000 employees. In general sense, when a merger takes place, multiple branches would have to be shut down. How this task will be achieved without terminating some employees and without resentment from them remains to be seen. Also, all these three banks have different organisation cultures. Therefore, the task of synchronising the employees into a single culture without any friction will definitely be a huge task. Secondly, the idea behind decentralis...