By Sidharth Mishra

In about a week’s time the keenly contested elections to the Delhi University Students Union of (DUSU) would take place. The direct elections to the students’ body started in the 1970s, sometime before the Emergency and has largely witnessed keen contest between the Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI) and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh-sponsored Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

There have been times when some other political forces have entered the fray and have had some impact but then those have been more or less cases of aberration than any trend. This time around too, the students’ arm of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Chatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) has entered the fray after a gap, albeit in alliance with the All India Students Association (AISA), which is closely identified with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).

By Sidharth Mishra

August has become a feared month in the Millennium City of Gurgaon. The overnight shower brought the cyber hub, our showcase to the western world, to a grinding halt on morning of Tuesday last. Gurgaon is not alone. The whole of National Capital region (NCR), which has witnessed most rapid speed of urbanisation in the past 25 years is increasingly feeling the ‘wrath’ of the annual Monsoon rains.

Be it Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad or even parts of the national Capital, all linked up by swanky roads and lined by spic and span apartment blocks are increasingly being visited by the fear of deluge years after year. Why is this happening? We stop asking this question as soon as the Monsoon season is over.

In mad rush, we forget that it’s the rivers which are having their revenge of the urban settlements. About decade ago, an enthusiastic green activist from Ghaziabad had taken me to the banks of Hindon river near Mohun Nagar. 

By Sidharth Mishra

It’s said that five years is a longtime in politics. For journalist-turned-politicians Ashutosh and Ashish khetan, the past five years have been roller-coaster ride. They joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) at the height of the ‘India Against Corruption’ Movement. They made their decision to quit the party public a day after its leadership has gone to the court to gag the media from reporting about they have been chargesheeted in the case of alleged assault on Delhi chief secretary Anshu Prakash.

In his post on the micro-blogging site Tweeter on the morning of the 72nd Independence Day, Ashutosh wrote, “Every journey has an end. My association with AAP which was beautiful/revolutionary has also an end. I have resigned from the PARTY/requested PAC to accept the same. It is purely from a very very personal reason. Thanks to party/all of them who supported me Throughout. Thanks.”

By Sidharth Mishra

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has advised Prime Minister NarendraModi to accept Pakistan’s Prime Minister-elect Imran Khan’s offer of friendship and add a positive dimension to tense relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.

Mehbooba feels that a better relationship with Pakistan means the ending of bloodshed in Jammu and Kashmir. Cricketer-turned politician Khan, in his first public address after leading his party to victory in the general elections, had said Pakistan is ready to improve its ties with India and his government would like the leaders of the two sides to resolve all disputes including the ‘core issue’ of Kashmir through talks. Khan, whose party emerged as the single largest party in the National Assembly elections, has also asserted that the blame game between the two neighbours should stop.

By Sidharth Mishra

The AamAadmi Party (AAP) should celebrate the Supreme Court last week’s order as a major political victoryonly with a pinch of salt. Though the judgment in spirit may be seen to be backing the elected government it has done little in words to add to the powers of the city’s political executive. There are three major points to ponder over, which in essence will not allow any material change in the relationship between Delhi Secretariat and the Raj Niwas. These are:

• The Supreme Court has upheld its earlier nine-judge bench judgment which ruled out full-statehood for Delhi.
• It has not enhanced the limited powers of legislation of Delhi Assembly.  
• The Supreme Court has not set aside the Delhi High Court order which had upheld the MHA notification of May 21, 2015. Add a comment

By Sidharth Mishra

Peace must return to Jammu and Kashmir, which has been on the boil for several decades. The growing role of non-state actors has only worsened the condition over the years. The inability of our successive Central and state governments in blocking the flow of aid to separatists from abroad and within the country has always provided a kind of financial and moral cushion to the unscrupulous forces to carry out their anti-India activities in the Valley.

When the BJP came to power at the Centre under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the nation hoped that things would improve in the strife-torn Valley. The hope further got a boost when the BJP decided to be a part of the state government in alliance with the PDP. However, there was little improvement in the condition at the ground level. The stone-pelting on armed forces assumed a critical dimension.

By Sidharth Mishra

The nine-day-long drama which Delhi chief minister ArvindKejriwal unfolded in the ante-room of Lieutenant Governor’s office opened discussions on several political repercussions which it believed to have caused. While a quadruple of Chief Ministers, belonging to Opposition parties and in the town for a NitiAayog meeting, did not miss the opportunity for a photo frame. On the other hand, the Congress leadership was on the receiving end of brickbats hurled at them for not joining the opposition party.

All through the nine-days that ArvindKejriwal and his aides had the television crews holed up at Raj NiwasMarg, they did not bother to address the ‘official opposition’ that is the Delhi BJP. Despite having won the last round of polls in the city – the municipal elections in 2017 and having seven LokSabha MPs from the city, Delhi BJP failed to make an effective presence in the political drama. It was left to the Lieutenant Governor and the bureaucrats to fend for the centre’s cause.

By Sidharth Mishra

in 2013, as Sheila Dikshit’s 15-years-long tenure as Chief Minister of Delhi inched to closure, several of her close confidantes in the bureaucracy took voluntary transfer out of Delhi. Around the same time ManoharParrikar had come to power in Goa and was forming his team. Since Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories have a common pool of all India service officers to draw from, several of these officers got transferred to Goa.

One morning a newspaper headline screamed, “Sheila’s confidantes now part ofParrikar’s team.” This sums up the nature of bureaucracy in this country – apolitical. The political leadership should have the wherewithal to make the bureaucracy work, which owns its final accountability to the blue book drafted by a gentleman called Dr BhimraoAmbedkar, laws passed by the parliament and rules of business drawn thereafter and not the whims and fancies of elected body of law makerswhich are sought to be camouflaged as “desire of the people”.