Congress Party And JEE/NEET Exams

Last month, 20+ senior leaders of the Congress Party wrote a detailed letter to Sonia Gandhi demanding a complete revamp of the party – which would end the Nehru dynasty's control of the party. This Monday, the Congress Working Committee held its meeting to discuss the letter. Sonia Gandhi started the meeting by asking the CWC to relieve her of her responsibilities. Immediately, loyalists of the Dynasty denounced the letter and declared their loyalty to the Dynasty. The dissenters were outnumbered and the CWC passed a resolution condemning the letter and praising the Dynasty.

When the letter was written, most of the pro-Congress English media rightly saw it as a possible beginning of the Congress Party's revival – and enthusiastically supported the letter. And when the Congress Working Committee torpedoed the initiative, they were furious and produced a flood of reports and analyses criticising the Dynasty. So this week has been full of negative headlines for the Dynasty. This was unacceptable to Sonia Gandhi – and she had to do something to stop this.

But how? Simple: The JEE/NEET exams are starting on September 1. So she called a meeting of all the Congress Chief Ministers and ordered them to oppose the exams. She also ordered the Congress Party to carry out protests all over the country against the exams. Result: Now everybody has forgotten about the rebellious letter and the CWC meeting farce – so her plan has succeeded brilliantly.

Moral of the story: Modi-Shah may be 'Chanakya' – but they have ruled the country for only 6 years. Remember that Sonia Gandhi ruled the country for 10 years . . .

India's Cities And City-Governments

INDIA'S CITIES AND CITY-GOVERNMENTS

In the 21st century, the most important socio-economic unit of a country is the city. Cities are the centres of wealth-creation and job-creation. So an efficient political system must be based on this fundamental reality. That means a city-based political system - in which city-governments have all the powers necessary to manage their cities efficiently. But currently we have a feudal/medieval political system - in which city-governments are under the control of the state-government. And the inefficiency of this system has been completely exposed by the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.

Every city has its own resources and capabilities on the one hand - and its own problems and challenges on the other hand. So cities must use their resources and capabilities to deal with their problems and challenges. City-governments can do this if:

1. They have full powers

2. They are directly elected by the city's people

3. They are answerable to the city's people.

They cannot do this if:

1. They have limited powers

2. They are indirectly elected by the city's people

3. They are not answerable to the city's people

Which is the case now.

Fully empowered city-governments will manage our cities efficiently, create jobs and remove poverty. As long as we continue with our current 2-level government system (centre + states) we will remain a third world country. To become a superpower, we must change to a 3-level government system (centre + states + cities).