Shame on Tusla for failing kids
Why you need to worry after Modi poll triumph
TUSLA should hang its head in shame after leaks of a damning report emerged yesterday exposing a disastrous failure to protect children in care.
The child and family agency was hauled over the coals for not removing kids from a Galway foster home despite their knowledge of the rape of an eight year-old girl.
Rachel Barry and two other victims were raped by evil Keith Burke – and Tusla’s handling of the case has been rotten to the core.
It may now be time for a full audit of Tusla and its organisation to gauge its true commitment to the children it purports to protect. Modi & Trump in 2017
YOU may not have heard of the man who has just won the largest election in history – but his triumph could affect you in ways you may never imagine.
Over six weeks of voting, which ended yesterday, more than 600 million Indians cast their ballots, using more than 2.3 million polling machines and overseen by 11 million officials.
The staggering scale of the operation in the world’s largest democracy was dwarfed only by surprise at the result, a landslide for premier Narendra Modi.
Modi, leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, should have faced a drubbing at the polls.
Joblessness had risen to a 45-year high under him, along with plummeting incomes for most workers and a damaging slump in industrial production.
But, reflecting of the rise of nationalism worldwide, the 68-year-old appealed to patriotism and fed on fear.
He vowed a return to “achhe din” – or good times – and projected himself as the only one who could ensure the nation’s security.
In fact many have likened him to another nationalist, US President Donald Trump.
While Trump won votes by his tough talk on Mexico, Modi presented himself as the strongman in relations with India’s neighbour Pakistan.
Like Trump, he has been criticised for often distasteful attacks on his rivals or critics.
And just like the divisive US president, he speak directly to the people through social media.
Taking another page out of Trump’s playbook, Modi has also been accused of whipping up nationalist feelings, stoking religious and social tensions and even inciting violence against Muslims and others.
During his campaign, Amit Shah, the party’s president, called Muslim migrants who enter the country illegally “termites”. The
ON FEAR AFTER MODI WIN
has also been accused of stoking hysteria against Muslims and low-caste Hindus for not respecting cows – sacred to Hindus.
As a result, Hindu mobs have attacked and lynched Muslims for supposedly eating beef. Among BJP candidates elected yesterday with a landslide was Pagya Thakur, accused of plotting a bomb attack on Indian Muslims.
But why should we care that a man like Modi has just become India’s most powerful since Indira Gandhi?
First, India is expected to become the third largest economy by 2030 .
Britain has been counting on its old empire ties to secure a postbrexit free trade deal, and Theresa
May has been busily wooing
Modi.
But emboldened with the first majority governbjp leader ment in India for 30 years, could Modi take a cue from Trump’s protectionism and block deals good for the UK or Europe?
Last year he raised import tariffs on 19 items, including gemstones, jet fuel, plastics, home appliances and shoes, in a bid to protect India’s industries.
For Adam Ziegfeld, professor of political science at Temple University, Philadelphia, his landslide win will have “empowered” Modi in trade dealings with other nations.
He said: “It will mean he can focus on economic growth and a muscular foreign policy, making sure India has a wider impact.
“The fact he has raised tariffs on imports gives some idea of the direction he might take.”
Another reason it matters who runs India is because it is a nuclear power, involved in a long-running conflict in Kashmir. This is behind tension with nuclear-armed Pakistan.
The Federation of American Scientists estimates India has between 130 and 140 nuclear warheads. It also possesses the technology to send a nuclear warhead 5,000 miles on its Agni-v rockets.
Many fear that a man who has sabre-rattled about Pakistan now
A lot of people will be feeling in a very precarious position
ADAM ZIEGFELD
Line in Bhopal
has his finger even more firmly on the nuclear button.
Those concerned about the climate crisis should also take heed. India is the third-biggest C02 polluter.
A study in 2017 found it was overtaking China as the largest emitter of sulphur dioxide.
Twenty-two of the world’s 30 most polluted cities are in India.
Ziegfeld said Modi will now be “more assertive about his stance that ‘you polluted your way to industrialisation, and now you’re telling us to change?’”
Perhaps the most immediate worry, however, is for the ethnic and religious minorities.
He said: “A pro-hindu, antimuslim sentiment has run through Indian politics but this is the first time a party has really embraced it. From the point of view of 170 million Muslims, their victory is not good.
“An awful lot of people feel in a very precarious position.” Nuns at poll