The stage is set for Turkey’s strongman to assume even more power,.,.,.,,.,,.

The path is now clear for Turkey to be transformed from a parliamentary democracy to a presidential republic, after a referendum on constitutional reforms proposed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (or AKP) gave the nod for handing sweeping powers to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The “Yes” campaign won by a relatively narrow margin, with a little more than 51% of the vote, and the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) cited irregularities, including the use of unstamped ballot papers. The three biggest cities, Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, voting “No” also indicates that much work remains to be done by the incumbents to bridge the rift within the polity. However, the head of the electoral body said the vote was valid. This remarkable turn of events, which will echo through the region and beyond, marks a step change from Turkey’s historical tryst with representative democracy. The idea of major constitutional reforms of this sort has been in the making at least since 2014, when Mr. Erdogan became Turkey’s first directly elected president. Nevertheless, many in Turkey and elsewhere, including anxious liberals across the EU, will watch with concern as the 18 major reforms on the table now will centralise power to an unprecedented extent in Mr. Erdogan’s hands, raising valid questions about the separation of powers in the Turkish government.

The new executive powers that will accrue to Mr. Erdogan if he wins the 2019 elections, a very likely outcome, include the abolition of the post of Prime Minister and the transfer of that power to the President; authority to appoint members to the judiciary; and the removal of the bar on the President maintaining party affiliation. These changes could presage overwhelming AKP control of state institutions, which in turn could lead to, for example, a purge in the judiciary and the security forces. Mr. Erdogan has in the past accused the judiciary of being influenced by the U.S.-based Islamic preacher, Fethullah Gülen, besides attacking members of the security forces in the aftermath of the failed coup in July 2016. That these fears are not exaggerated is clear from the fact that tens of thousands of officials have been dismissed and dozens of journalists and opposition politicians arrested since that time, not to mention Mr. Erdogan’s diplomatic spats with the Netherlands and Germany during the harsh campaign leading up to the referendum. Turkey today faces myriad problems, many stemming from the civil war in Syria. But the greatly empowered Mr. Erdogan would do well to design his future policies not only as a reaction to these forces but also as the means to enhance Turkey’s unique effort in reconciling pluralist democracy with political Islam, and Western-style liberalism with populist nationalism.

The HIV/AIDS Bill provides a solid base for further empowerment and treatment access,

The HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill passed by Parliament does not guarantee access to anti-retroviral drugs and treatment for opportunistic infections, but there is no denying that it is a good base for an active health rights movement to build upon. Understandably, HIV-positive people in the country, estimated at over 21 lakh, are disappointed that the Centre’s commitment to take all measures necessary to prevent the spread of HIV or AIDS is not reflected in the Bill, in the form of the right to treatment. The law only enjoins the States to provide access “as far as possible”. Beyond this flaw, though, the legislation empowers those who have contracted the infection in a variety of ways: such as protecting against discrimination in employment, education, health-care services, getting insurance and renting property. It is now for the States to show strong political commitment, and appoint one or more ombudsmen to go into complaints of violations and submit reports as mandated by the law. Here again, State rules should prescribe a reasonable time limit for inquiries into complaints, something highlighted by the Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare that scrutinised the legislation.

Access to insurance for persons with HIV is an important part of the Bill, and is best handled by the government. The numbers are not extraordinarily large and new cases are on the decline, according to the Health Ministry. Data for 2015 published by the Ministry show that two-thirds of HIV-positive cases are confined to seven States, while three others have more than one lakh cases each. Viewed against the national commitment to Goal 3 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals — to “end the epidemic of AIDS” (among others) by 2030 — a rapid scaling up of interventions to prevent new cases and to offer free universal treatment is critical. Publicly funded insurance can easily bring this subset of care-seekers into the overall risk pool. Such a measure is also necessary to make the forward-looking provisions in the new law meaningful, and to provide opportunities for education, skill-building and employment. As a public health concern, HIV/AIDS has a history of active community involvement in policymaking, and a highly visible leadership in the West. It would be appropriate for the Centre to initiate active public consultations to draw up the many guidelines to govern the operation of the law. Evidently, the requirement for the ombudsman to make public the periodic reports on compliance will exert pressure on States to meet their obligations. In an encouraging sign, the Supreme Court has ruled against patent extensions on frivolous grounds, putting the generic drugs industry, so crucial for HIV treatment, on a firm footing. The HIV and AIDS Bill may not be the answer to every need, but it would be a folly not to see its potential to make further gains.

In Patidar bastion Surat, PM Modi sets tone for BJP with eye on Gujarat state polls

On his first visit to his home state Gujarat after a stunning victory in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, a grand welcome for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Surat by the BJP set the tone for the crucial assembly elections to be held later this year.

Through the 12km long roadshow – also seen as a show of strength – in the city that has emerged as the nerve centre for the Patidar agitation for OBC quota, the BJP tried to assert its position in the state. For the BJP, which has already set its eyes on the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, holding on to its bastion for the sixth consecutive term will be another stepping stone after conquering Uttar Pradesh.

With the Congress making hardly any visible effort to resurrect after winning countryside in the 2015 local body elections, the Hardik Patel-led disgruntled Patidars, a crucial vote bank for the BJP, have emerged as the biggest challenge for the BJP in its 22nd year of rule.

Picking Surat for the roadshow is significant in more way than one for BJP. While it is the main centre of south Gujarat, reaching out to a large number of diamond polishers who have migrated from Saurashtra will also have ripple effects in this politically most important region of the state.

Opting to inaugurate the Kiran Multispeciality Hospital – built by the Surat Municipal Corporation with help from a trust financed by Patidar businessmen – will send out a loud and clear message that the community is with the BJP. Besides, Modi will also inaugurate a diamond factory where Patidars from Saurashtra form a major chunk of the workforce.

In a way, the roadshow was also seen as an answer to the embarrassment that the party faced after BJP president Amit Shah was forced to cut short his speech in September 2016 when Hardik’s supporters created ruckus at his rally venue.

The stretch from the city airport to the Circuit House witnessed a Diwali-like atmosphere, with a sea of people queuing up on either side of illuminated streets to catch a glimpse of the PM who kept waving at the crowd through the sunroof of his SUV. The lighting arrangement along the route was done to project the Tricolur.

Earlier, chief minister Vijay Rupani welcomed Modi at the airport. Muslim women in significant numbers were seen outside the airport, also waiting to welcome him. A kit held by them in their hands read, ’Bandh ho ye anyay, PM hai hamari aas’. It was seen as a reference to the issue of triple talaq against which the NDA government has taken a firm stand.

Known as the textile city that produces sarees, the route near the airport was decorated with sarees with development schemes and projects printed on it. A 20-foot statue and cutouts of Modi dotted the route.

Eye on Muslim women vote, Narendra Modi gets combative on triple talaq

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was combative, and certainly not defensive, when he spoke at the BJP conclave in Bhubaneswar about a ban on the Islamic marriage practice of triple talaq. He tried to achieve twin objectives: Touch a chord with Muslim women and drill into the head of BJP leaders that they don’t need to be defensive on this issue.

Modi asked BJP leaders to stand by every Muslim woman who fights for her rights and oppose the practice. Under Muslim personal law based on the Sharia, a Muslim man can divorce his wife by pronouncing talaq thrice. Muslim men are also allowed to have four wives.

BJP leaders have been given assignments to hold conferences, travel across the country and resort to other means to spread awareness about Modi government’s position on this centuries-old practice.

The Modi government’s position on triple talaq and the Prime Minister reaffirming that position at the party conclaves serves two purposes for the BJP.

It helps India’s ruling party to reach out to a large section of Muslim women who have been opposing the practice. Largely, Muslims in India vote against the BJP and a section within the ruling party expect Modi’s stand on triple talaq to win over a large section of Muslim women, at least in the future if not immediately.

Also, it helps the BJP drive home a point among Hindus that Modi, as their leader, was trying reform within Muslim community, which has perhaps not allowed equal opportunity and status to its women. Any aggressive posturing on the issue of triple talaq, BJP sources said, will be received well within the party’s core support base.

Gender equality is part of the basic structure of the Constitution and non-negotiable, the Centre told the Supreme Court in October last year while opposing the practices of triple talaq and polygamy in the Muslim community.

This was the first time the Indian government officially took a stand to oppose the contentious custom that has divided the community, with women’s groups and individuals advocating sweeping reforms in Muslim personal law that is tilted against women.

India has separate sets of personal laws for each religion governing marriage, divorce, succession, adoption and maintenance. While Hindu law overhaul began in the 1950s and continues, activists have long argued that Muslim personal law has remained mostly unchanged. 

Thanks god for providing 

The BJP’s expansion plans cover the minorities and eastern states

Not every meeting of the BJP national executive sends important political messages. Some are routine, and used for nothing more than rallying the faithful and taking account of recent events. In that sense, the past week’s national executive in Bhubaneswar was different. The very fact that Orissa and not Gujarat – where assembly elections are due in November and which was expected to play host – was selected as venue was suggestive of the party’s new ambition.

In the early 2020s, it will be the east – Orissa and neighbouring Bengal – that the BJP hopes will be its sunrise states. As quickly as the 2019 Lok Sabha election, they could start yielding seats, at least an increment from the two in Bengal and one in Orissa that the party won in 2014. That is why the choice of Orissa, where the party did spectacularly in the recent panchayat elections and is now poised to replace the Congress as the challenger to the ruling (and still very strong) Biju Janata Dal, told a story.

At the national executive itself, the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah-led BJP’s aspiration to expand its constituency became apparent in other ways too. Orissa (like Assam, Manipur and perhaps someday Bengal and Kerala) represents a geographical expansion. Yet, the nub of Prime Minister Modi’s interventions was on social expansion.

First, despite the Uttar Pradesh verdict and the widespread hysteria about Hindutva and religious issues becoming paramount, Modi stuck to the sober – for critics, boring – theme of development and poverty elimination. Determinedly, since 2014, Modi has anchored his party and government in the concerns of underprivileged Indians. He has not lost sight of that imperative, whether as a moral compass for his administration or as a political necessity for his party. Indeed, the party has carried forward that message on behalf of the government.

As a result of this close coordination between government and party – and of course due to Modi’s popularity simply soaring – incumbency, far from becoming a drag, has been a tonic for the BJP. Not surprisingly then this positioning of the government, as rooted in social and political realities, was iterated by Modi in Bhubaneswar.

Second, the BJP is gradually beginning its conversation with Muslims. As India’s largest party, it needs to do this, irrespective of how many Muslims may or may not vote for it. Even so, rather than reward a few token Muslim leaders with key posts and pretend that is “empowerment”, Modi has opted to dive deeper.

He has offered political backing to gender rights, seeing the triple talaq issue as crucial in this regard. He has also reached out to socially and economically backward (or OBC) Muslims, by singling them out for mention. Of course, he has been careful and correct to seek for them the same opportunities that are available to their Hindu peers – no more and no less. There was no question of any single group having a “first claim on resources”, to use the UPA government’s ungainly phrase.

The triple talaq case is in the courts, but the political, legal and public debate on it has been in full swing. It has put conservative, patriarchal elements in the Muslim clergy – who defend the practice of triple talaq even as many Muslim-majority countries have abandoned it – on the defensive. Can a combination of a court order and backing for it by the Modi government lead to the abolition of triple talaq?

As a social and political construct, this will reverse a trend going back to the Rajiv Gandhi government’s use of parliamentary legislation to nullify the Shah Bano judgement of 1985. What will be its political impact? That was one of the tantalising takeaways from Modi’s speech in Bhubaneswar.

Govt to introduce land consolidation act to check migration from hills

To check migration from the hills, the government will soon introduce a law legalising both partial and voluntary consolidation of scattered landholdings by farmers for giving a fillip to farm produce, agriculture minister Subodh Uniyal said.

“As it is, we have small terraced landholdings dotting the hills. On top of it, theselandholdings are scattered, which has made hill farming labour intensive and un-remunerative forcing farmers to migrate,” Uniyal told HT. “To ensure that hill farming becomes lucrative, we’ll either amend the Land Consolidation Act or introduce a new law, which will legalise voluntary and partial consolidation of land by farmers.”

Introducing such a law means that even if 20% of farmers in a village mutually “agree for consolidation of their landholdings”, their efforts will have a legal stamp owing to the provisions of the proposed law.

“In that case, not only will such a partial consolidation of scattered landholdings be legally permissible but their land records will be also changed in keeping with the provisions of the proposed law,” Uniyal said. According to him, once consolidation of landholdings is complete, even if partially, hill farming will cease to be labour intensive and will fetch good returns helping to check migration.

“We will try and include provisions legalising partial or voluntary consolidation oflandholdings in the rules of the Land Consolidation Act, which are yet to be formulated,” Uniyal said. “If such a move doesn’t work we will bring in a new law, which will legally permit partial and voluntary consolidation of landholdings.”

Uniyal asserted that partial and voluntary land consolidations didn’t work in the past as they lacked the legal backing of the Land Consolidation Act enacted by the previous Congress government. “The law owing to its lacunae failed to work despite the previous regime’s announcement of an incentive of Rs 1 crore each for villages, if farmers opted for land consolidation.”

The proposed law will be flexible because even if 20% of residents of a village mutually agree for land consolidation. “Such an initiative will have a chain reaction as it will inspire other villagers to opt for land consolidation.”

Uniyal suggested that the proposed law would help allay fears farmers about land consolidation due to ignorance. “Not being educated enough, most hill farmers feel they will lose their scattered lands during consolidation,” he said, adding that the land consolidation law would remove that misconception.

Along with its political goals, BJP must also have a plan to stimulate job creation

The two-day meeting of the BJP’s national executive ended on Sunday on a high note. A new level of confidence among the party’s rank and file marked the conclave that came close on the heels of the its emphatic victory in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and its success in retaining Goa and wresting Manipur from rival Congress.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, sought to raise the bar, urging party leaders to aim big and expand — ideologically, geographically and socially. He set new targets: Winning in states that go to polls between now and the next Lok Sabha elections in 2019; winning in those 120 Lok Sabha seats that the BJP has never won; and winning the support of those communities that have shunned the party in the past.

It is to serve these goals that Mr Modi gave a new gloss to the BJP’s OBC outreach. The political resolution adopted at the weekend conclave in Bhubaneswar, therefore, highlighted the government’s recent move to accord the National Commission for Backward Classes a constitutional status.

The OBCs account for nearly 52% of India’s population whose support can make or break a party. These social groups gradually aligned themselves with regional players as the Congress grew weaker. The rout of Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh gives the BJP a hope that the OBCs were mobilising behind the party. Mr Modi’s plan also includes reaching out to backward Muslims. He reiterated the BJP’s stand on banning triple talaq, a move largely aimed at winning over women from the minority community. The OBC and Muslims outreach is also aimed at weakening the regional players, particularly in northern and eastern India, who thrive on these vote-banks.

The two resolutions passed at the BJP conclave touched upon the pro-poor initiatives of the Modi government, but stopped short of commenting on many issues like slow job creation. These issues will come to haunt the BJP, if a change is not brought about in the current situation. Mr Modi has always spoken of India’s demographic dividend and its nearly 65% population that is below 35. A sluggish economy and the slow pace of job creation hurts them. Needless to say, Brand Modi counts the most on the support of this demographic section and its aspirations.