Why RSS has picked one group of India’s former ambassadors over another https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egmCN48LMi8   Jyoti Malhotra asks why the Forum of Former Ambassadors, which is in close touch with the RSS, is embarrassed about its affiliation and what the differences are with another group of retired Indian ambassadors, including former National Security Advisor Shiv Shanker Menon and former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran

https://theprint.in/opinion/global-print/indias-retd-diplomats-divided-on-modi-foreign-policy-rss-has-picked-team/673467/ India’s retired diplomats are divided on Modi’s foreign policy. RSS has picked its team
The big difference between Forum of Former Ambassadors of India and the Constitutional Conduct Group is that the RSS seems to take a keen interest in one...The big difference, of course, between FOFA and CCG is that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) takes a keen interest in the former. Senior and powerful RSS leaders like Krishna Gopal and Dattatreya Hosabale, the number-two man in the organisation only next to Mohan Bhagwat, have addressed FOFA meetings. While Chandra Wadhwa, RSS functionary in charge of the RSS’ ‘vishesh sampark’ or ‘special initiatives’ project, and India Foundation trustee, is the only non-ambassador who regularly posts RSS documents on the Forum’s WhatsApp group.

What critics of PM Modi’s foreign policy are ignoring  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egmCN48LMi8

Those faulting the Modi government’s foreign policy as if there are serious departures from the past miss the clear continuities in key areas under the UPA and the NDA governments. The BJP government under former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee made India nuclear, engaged the US government in strategic discussions to resolve the nuclear issue, which eventually led to the India-US nuclear deal under PM Manmohan Singh’s government.

The dialogue with Pakistan broke down under the previous government and the impasse endures. ..

Where PM Modi has imposed his thinking and personality more markedly at the international level is in the active wooing of the Indian diaspora. He has been able to galvanise them with his oratory and his message of confidence in India’s future. PM Modi has also promoted India’s soft power and its cultural and religious heritage as a tool of foreign policy which his predecessor did not. In 2014, the UN declared June 21 as Yoga Day annually. The new areas he has explored, such as leveraging our cultural soft power, are add-ons to a basic continuity, not diversions from it.

https://thewire.in/government/notification-new-cbi-director-subodh-kumar-jaiswal-centre-caged-parrot Text of Centre's Notification Appointing New Director Ensures CBI Remains a 'Caged Parrot' 

Flying in the face of a Supreme Court directive, the Centre has reserved the right to remove Subodh Kumar Jaiswal before his term ends. 

The notification said the ACC, based on the panel recommended by the committee, had:

“approved the appointment of Shri Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, IPS (MH:1985) as director, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a period of two years from the date of assumption of charge of the office or until further orders whichever is earlier (emphasis added) ”.

Thus it is clear that while the law envisages transfer of the CBI director before he completes two year tenure, with the prior approval of the HPC, the law does not at all contemplate his removal from office before the end of his tenure. Therefore, the ACC’s note approving the appointment of Jaiswal is not only mischievous, but flies in the face of a clear and unambiguous ruling of the Supreme Court in the Alok Verma case against any direct and indirect meddling in the functioning of the CBI’s director. Worse, the official note is tantamount to the government wielding a Damocles sword over the CBI director, even before he assumed office.

Central security for BJP MLAs in Bengal is bad politics https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/central-security-for-bjp-mlas-in-bengal-is-bad-politics-7315445/   Julio Rebeiro: Either the Centre distrusts the state government’s desire or its ability, probably the former, to protect its political opponents or it has decided to keep the pot of electoral animosity boiling in preparation for a takeover. Both propositions are dangerously adversarial, the likes of which had not come to my notice ever before... To teach Banerjee a lesson for daring to halt the BJP’s planned juggernaut, the Ministry of Home Affairs is prepared to forfeit the unspoken camaraderie and brotherhood between different police formations in the country. And along with the loss of brotherhood will go the edifice of a “modus vivendi” that successive governments have built since Independence...By introducing a new concept of Centre-state relations based on distrust and mistaken superiority, Home Minister Amit Shah is literally “cutting his nose to spite his face”.

Is it justified for India to have Lok Sabha elections in 7 phases over 6 weeks in 2019? https://theprint.in/talk-point/is-it-justified-for-india-to-have-lok-sabha-elections-in-7-phases-over-6-weeks-in-2019/204127/
 11 March, 2019

What the 8-phase West Bengal election means for EC, parties and voters  https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/west-bengal-elections-2021-tmc-bjp-congress-cpm-election-commission-7207375/   According to the poll panel, such a prolonged election schedule was required due to festivals, the buffer for movement of security forces and an increased number of polling stations keeping in mind the Covid-19 protocols. 

However, soon after poll dates were announced, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose party Trinamool Congress is facing a tough challenge from BJP in the state, alleged that such a long poll schedule was suited to the saffron party. ...

A simple solution to the issue of manipulation of phases of elections to benefit one party, can be solved, by closing street & public campaigning in the entire State on one particular date. As well as closing nominations on a common day.  EC supervised  and equity based telecast and social media for each party as they had earlier in the election broadcast on Doordarshan could be allowed till the end of polling for all constituencies.   This will prevent electorate from being manipulated region wise. 

This will incentivise the security forces to act and move from one phase to another quickly. And in cases like this where there is a health emergency or there are possibilities of poll violence, it is easier to impose restrictions on movements curfews etc..