Tag: M Veerappa Moily

  • Veerappa Moily, Arundhathi Subramaniam, other winners receive Sahitya Akademi Award

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Politician-writer M Veerappa Moily and poet Arundhathi Subramaniam were among the 20 authors who received the Sahitya Akademi Award for 2020 at a ceremony here on Saturday.

    While Moily received the prestigious award for his epic poetry ‘Sri Bahubali Ahimsadigvijayam’ in Kannada, Subramaniam won the award for her poetry collection, “When God is a Traveller”, in English.

    The other winners in poetry include Harish Meenakshi (Gujarati), Anamika (Hindi), RS Bhaskar (Konkani), Irungbam Deven (Manipuri), Rupchand Hansda (Santali), and Nikhileswar (Telugu).

    Nanda Khare (Marathi), Maheshchandra Sharma Gautam (Sanskrit), Imaiyam (Tamil) and Sri Hussain-ul-Haque bagged the award for their novels.

    Apurba Kumar Saikia (Assamese), (late) Dharanidhar Owari (Bodo), (late) Hiday Koul Bharti (Kashmiri), Kamalkant Jha (Maithili) and Gurdev Singh Rupana (Punjabi) have received the award for short stories.

    The Akademi has named Gian Singh (Dogri) and Jetho Lalwani (Sindhi) the winners for their plays, while Mani Shankar Mukhopadhyay, popularly known as Shankar received the award for memoir (Bengali).

    The award, which includes a casket containing an engraved copper plaque, a shawl and an amount of Rs 1,00,000, was presented at the award presentation function.

    The executive board also announced the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize 2020 in 24 Indian languages on Saturday.

    The English translation of Kannada novel ‘Ghachar Ghochar’, written by Vivek Shanbhag and translated by Srinath Perur, and the Hindi translation of Thiruvalluvar’s ‘Thirukkural’ by T E S Raghwan won the award among 22 others.

    “The books were selected on the basis of recommendations made by the Selection Committees of three members each in the concerned languages in accordance with the rules and procedure laid down for the purpose,” the National Academy of Letters said in a statement.

    The translation prize carries an amount of Rs 50,000 and a copper plaque which will be presented to the translators of each of these books at a special function to be held sometime later this year, it said.

  • ‘Some leaders ‘misused’ G-23; Prashant Kishor should join Congress: M Veerappa Moily

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily on Sunday said some leaders “misused” the G-23 and asserted that if anyone persists with its institutionalisation it would be for “vested interest” as reform of the party was already underway under Sonia Gandhi.

    The former Union minister also voiced strong support for poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s induction into the Congress and said those opposing his entry into the party were “anti-reform”.

    In an interview with PTI, Moily, who was among the 23 leaders who wrote to Gandhi last year seeking organizational overhaul, opposed the institutionalisation of the G-23 and said “some of us put our signatures only for reform of the party from within and to rebuild the party, not to destroy it”.

    “Some of our leaders misused the G-23. No sooner did Sonia ji think of reforming the party from within and from the grassroots level, we did not subscribe to the idea of G-23,” the senior Congress leader said, without taking any names.

    He said with the initiation of reform under party chief Sonia Gandhi’s leadership, the G-23 has “no role and has become irrelevant”. “If they (some leaders) persist (with G-23) that means there is a vested interest for a few of them to work against the Congress party which we don’t subscribe to and rather oppose it,” Moily said.

    Anybody who again uses the instrument of G-23 is doing a great disservice to the Indian National Congress and its legacy, he said, adding such actions would help the Congress’ rivals. His remarks assume significance as many leaders of the G-23 have either distanced themselves from it or have been silent following the letter they wrote last year.

    Out of that group of 23 leaders who wrote to Sonia Gandhi, Jitin Prasada has switched over to the BJP. A few members of the G-23 had got together at social gatherings a couple of times at Kapil Sibal’s residence recently and reportedly discussed party issues.

    At one of the gatherings, Sibal had invited a host of opposition leaders as well to his residence. Moily said the “major surgery” of the party that he has been talking about to revitalize the organisation was already being contemplated by Sonia Gandhi.

    “She (Sonia Gandhi) is active and taking decisions, such decisions are needed,” he said, adding he was happy with the steps taken by the party chief. Asked about speculation that Kishor could join the Congress, Moily said it was advisable that he joins the Congress and injects reforms from within.

    Moily urged those within the party opposing Kishor’s entry into the Congress not to do so, saying it was important for the country and the Congress that the party be reformed, which, he said, was the intention of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

    According to sources, Congress president Sonia Gandhi will take a final call on the induction of Kishor and has held discussions with several senior leaders on the issue. Asked if he thinks Kishor’s induction will be beneficial for the party, Moily said the poll strategist has proved that he is successful in working out strategies. “Instead of working from outside, if he joins the party, it will be quite beneficial,” he added.

    “Let there be strong willpower to join hands with Sonia ji to ensure that the party’s organisation is strengthened within a couple of months. This is what I proposed that Prashant Kishor can inject that kind of resurgence of the Congress party (that is needed) by plan and design,” Moily said.

    He also said the Congress is the main plank of the politics of this country. “We may lose sometimes but it cannot be said that we will lose forever. For example, in 1977 we lost and in 1980 with all the allegations against her (Indira Gandhi), ultimately the people found that they wanted the Congress and Indira ji came back, this is the history of the Congress,” he said when asked about NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s remarks suggesting that Congress’ situation was now like impoverished landlords.

    Moily also pointed out that Pawar himself has acknowledged that Congress was the only party in power in multiple states that could take on the BJP. “Congress is the fulcrum of the strength of the politics of this country,” Moily asserted.

    Asked if Congress would be the fulcrum of an Opposition alliance to take on the BJP in 2024 elections, he answered in the affirmative. “Ultimately the government cannot function to serve the interest of a group of people, few castes or few religions, it cannot be done. Just because the people are silent it does not mean that they cannot stage a political revolution, they can do it but only under the leadership of the Congress,” Moily said.

    It should be remembered that the integrity of the Constitution of India is under threat under the NDA regime, he alleged.

    Hitting out at those alleging that the Congress was all about the benefit of one family, Moily said Sonia Gandhi had sacrificed for the country and never hankered for posts. “We should not forget that Sonia ji represents martyrs like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and also the Congress’ virtues brought independence and sustained democracy in the nation,” he said.

    The Congress is the backbone of forces to take on the BJP, Moily said.

    Asked about calls from within the Congress that Rahul Gandhi should be made the chief of the party again, he said the Wayanad MP was best suited to lead the party but added that presently it was important to turn attention to reorganise and revamp the party.

  • Assam-Mizoram border violence: Veerappa Moily slams Home Ministry’s ‘failure’

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily on Wednesday attacked the Centre over the violence at the Assam-Mizoram border, saying that the incident demonstrated the “failure” of the Union Home Ministry and central para-military forces should have been deployed.

    The former Union minister said if states resort to deploying their own police forces to resolve the border disputes, the internal security of the country will be jeopardised.

    Seven people were killed and 50 others, including an SP, injured in an exchange of fire between the police forces of Assam and Mizoram along their inter-state border.

    In a statement, Moily said the nation is shocked to witness the clash between the police forces of Assam and Mizoram.

    The episode of violence is a clear case of failure of constitutional machinery. This demonstrates the failure of the union Home Ministry which failed to de-escalate the tensions. The central para-military forces should have been deployed at the instance of the Home Ministry,” he said.

    Moily said “laxity” on the part of the home ministry, particularly Home Minister Amit Shah, is a sad reflection of the failure to resolve interstate conflicts.

    It is quite surprising that both the states are ruled by BJP and its allies, he said.

    Noting that the UPA-1 had constituted the second Administrative Reforms Commission under his chairmanship and it submitted its 7th Report titled ‘Capacity Building for Conflict Resolution’, Moily said one of the key recommendations of the said report is on the North Eastern Policy Academy (NEPA) and also deployment of police personnel from the region to Central Police Organisations.

    The government of India should ensure that all the recommendations of the 7th Report of the second Administrative Reforms Commission should be implemented, he said.

    “The present scuffle should not be allowed to escalate particularly in the sensitive Northeastern states.

    If states resort to taking recourse on their own and deploy their own police forces to resolve the border disputes, the internal security of the country will be jeopardised,” he said.

    “It is unfortunate that both Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and Home Minister (Amit Shah) have not taken the episode as an ‘alert signal’ to nip this case in the bud,” Moily said.

  • Former petroleum minister M Veerappa Moily slams Centre over rising fuel prices

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Slamming the Centre over rising fuel prices, former petroleum minister M Veerappa Moily on Saturday said the government is solely responsible for the “illogical price regime” and demanded that petrol and diesel be brought under the purview of the GST regime.

    Moily said India levies one of the highest taxes on petrol and diesel in the world and asserted that this “illogical taxation liability” will have to be halted immediately.

    After the Modi government took over the reins of India in 2014, the pattern of taxation has been such that it has led to petrol prices crossing Rs 100 per litre in several districts in the country, he said in a statement.

    The central excise duty on petrol was Rs 9.28 in 2014 and now has risen up to Rs 31.83 in 2021. In January and February, prices were hiked 10 and 16 times, respectively, he said.

    With the global prices of crude dipping and rupee relatively stable, Indians should have been paying less for fuel, Moily argued.

    In the last 14 months, international oil prices have gone down by around five per cent in dollar terms and in this scenario, the retail prices of petrol and diesel, in rupee terms, should drop at least by five per cent as compared to January last year, instead, they are 20 per cent higher, the Congress leader said.

    Petrol and diesel are not part of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) but attract excise duties from the Centre and value-added tax from states that make them one of the highest-taxed commodities in the country, he noted.

    While the decision of the Unite Progressive Alliance was to reduce imports and go for indigenous production and make India self-sufficient in oil and gas exploration by 2013, the present government has not invested in oil and gas exploration since 2014, he claimed.

    This is the right time to impose GST on petrol and diesel and give up the present adhocism which has contributed to both inflation and also caused irreparable damage to both internal and external trade, Moily alleged.

    The system of subsidy by oil PSUs and the government has been given up after the National Democratic Alliance took over in 2014 and hence, the entire burden falls on the consumer, he said.

    “They are now thinking of selling away the sound PSUs. Oil bonds were issued by the UPA government when fuel prices were regulated. In doing so, the government shielded customers and domestic businesses from the vagaries of the global market for crude oil. By raising capital through bonds, the payments could be made in a deferred manner without causing a major escalation in prices, thus insulating customers,” he said.

    The taxation policy of the present regime is totally flawed and the frequent hike in prices of petrol and diesel has contributed to the distress and sufferings of the people during the present Covid pandernic, Moily said.

    He alleged that the government of India is solely responsible for the illogical price regime and contributing to the miseries of the people in a large way.

    “When inflation is galloping, there are job losses and business is collapsing. It is the duty of the central government to have checks and balances on the fuel prices,” Moily said.

    Many sectors have dipped to the lowest levels in May 2021 and corporate sentiments have further deteriorated, he said.

    The prime minister should wake up and respond to the miseries of the people of this country, Moily added.

    The Congress Friday demonstrated in several parts of the country against the rising fuel prices, during which over 150 members were detained in Gujarat, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh for allegedly violating Covid protocol and protesting without permission.

    The protests, in response to a call given by the Congress leadership, came on a day when another hike — the 22nd since May 4 — pushed the fuel prices across the country to historic heights.