MyVoice: Views of our readers 8th November 2020

US elections and its impact on world politics

It is a well-known fact that the President of the United States (POTUS) holds an important position in world affairs. As the US is the wealthiest nation among all nations of the world, the dollar currency sets a benchmark when compared to all other currencies. In the backdrop of such economic supremacy, the role of the President of America is an esteemed and coveted preposition in establishing and consolidating relations with other countries.

The US which is the oldest democracy in the world has so far had 45 Presidents who served the office of Presidency for one or two terms since 1789. The recent election held in 2020 which gave Joe Biden more number of electoral college votes than in case of the incumbent President, Donald Trump by shunning him from a second term re-election, has seen

a great contrast as compared to previous elections for oval office as it raised a great deal of suspense with the race between the democratic and Republican electors having gone down to the wire.

The race between Joe Biden and Trump was marked by a photo finish that was precedented in the history of America. For the non-whites and immigrants living in the US, the dethronement/ defeat of Donald Trump from power and election of Biden to power has been a foregone conclusion.

Trump did not live up to the expectations of the people of America, especially of the immigrants ettled in that nation. His incitement of dubious racism has been a setback to his victory. While the defiant Trump was overambitious and overconfident about his own victory, the Presidential candidate Biden has been cool until the last moment of his success in suspense ridden States that were in the race for White House.

The main factor responsible for Trump's defeat in many crucial States was due to his failure in wielding administration that disenchanted the voters besides his negligence to control the Covid-19 pandemic which affected the modus operandi of the conventional electoral process by dividing it into early postal / mail and in person ballots that came to an end of 3rd November.

Due to the pandemic effect, many voters have resorted to exercise their franchise by mail or postal ballots even before the day of election set for Nov.3. The postal ballots made the process of counting very difficult and delayed, especially in case of States crucial for both groups of contestants in the fray.

Counting of votes was virtually a herculean task for the officials as the number of votes was exceedingly large in States where the contest was neck to neck between Biden and Trump who mainly differed on counting of ballots.

- Bh Indu Sekhar , Hyderabad

Governance would be a challenge for Biden

The US presidential election 2020 is unprecedented in many ways because it is for the first time since 1900, a record turnout of over 100 million votes were polled with nearly half of the votes cast ahead of the actual date and an equally large number were via mail-in ballots due to covid-19 plaguing the nation.

When the world has always been looking at the US in awe to provide good leadership on various critical issues ranging from climate and environment, terrorism and security, shockingly, Trump's poor record on these counts not only raised doubts about his temperament but also many pertinent questions whether his style of functioning be able to bring turnaround in a second term.

Even as counting continue, Trump mocking at Joe Biden by stoking misinformation campaign by coming out with outrageous statements like democrats are stealing polls adopting fraudulent methods and further demanding to halt the counting and then declaring himself as the victor even before conclusive outcome in the keenly contested states exposes his lies and desperation.

Though nothing can be said as certain till the counting is completed, still, it is important that in the end, it is the total electoral votes that will determine the final outcome. Further, unlike Trump, Biden sought to build as wide a coalition as possible in his campaign by avoiding racial appeals and addressing issues of growing economic inequality, promote racial harmony and Justice which helped to garner votes from cross-section of voters.

As Biden inches forward overtaking Trump while maintaining a lead in Pennsylvania and Georgia to cross past the magical figure to win the race, it is baffling that Trump way behind Biden is refusing to concede defeat.

Instead fuming with anger, filing law suits in various courts in US to put roadblocks to Biden has not gone down well with the people of America that prides itself as the world's oldest democracy. In fact, when two courts dismissed suits saying lack of constructive proof to show that manipulation of votes has taken place, Trump' s lies were nailed.

All in all, Trump's undoing is his poor performance on the economic front, abject failure during the outbreak of pandemic and withdrawal from the Paris agreement which made American electorate think twice before casting their votes which as things stand even before the counting is completed, a likely picture emerges that Biden is far ahead of Trump to win the race for president.

Though Biden-Harris would be welcome, governance may not be an easy task for Biden administration due to the reason that Trump is still not totally rejected with republicans having a sway in Senate.

- K R Srinivasan, Secunderabad

China making advance moves to forge ahead

The deliberations and outcome of the 5th plenum of the 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist party are indicative of how the party leadership and Chinese government intends to position itself in a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape. President Xi Jinping has described China's intention for future as the China Dream of a great rejuvenation of the country.

He said that the economy would be double in size by 2035 and the country could reach high-income status in the next five years.

China has recognised the challenges that must be overcome to reach the 2035 goal. China would adopt strategies to tackle the challenges. The domestic market would be taken as the base for development but Chinese economy would be open to foreign trade and investment. The focus is on greater self-reliance through developing domestic consumption.

The government acknowledges the fact that technological innovation is essential for growth. China wants to become a global leader in artificial intelligence(AI), robotics, cloud computing and quantum computing. A huge amount of R&D expenditure has been allocated to these sectors and greater efforts will be made to achieve self-reliance in these sectors.

China is making amazing recovery from the pandemic while advanced economies are still struggling to contain it. China firmly believes that its economic advancement and self-reliant strategy of growth aided by technological advancements will enable it to emerge as the most powerful country.

In such a scenario, India's relations with China may become more complex and it will have to search for stronger and more credible coalitions than the Quad to counter Chinese aggression.

- Venu G S, Kollam

Notable moves by Delhi government

The Kejriwal government's decision to ban bursting of crackers in Delhi is to be welcomed as the people are preparing to celebrate this year's Diwali. With Covid-19 pandemic cases reaching more than 6,000 in one day, the Delhi government on Thursday announced a complete ban on the sale, purchase and the use of firecrackers ahead of Diwali. The rationale behind the imposition of ban is to prevent lung infections and breathing problems that may lead to higher infections due to air pollution.

Moreover, the Covid situation is deteriorating in Delhi due to rising air pollution and people are required to cooperate with the government by not bursting crackers. It may be noted that Delhi high court expressed displeasure over the rising Covid-19 cases in Delhi and the Court also expressed apprehension whether the capital of the country could soon become the 'corona capital.'

Last year during the Diwali celebrations, massive toxic fumes generated on bursting of crackers and fireworks on Diwali night had literally turned Delhi into a gas chamber. Despite several attempts made to curb the menace of air pollution, a layer of haze enveloped the national capital a day after Diwali as the city's air quality plummeted to the severe category for the first time that season.

This tragedy for Delhi was rather wilfully courted by the revellers who comfortably forgot the highly vulnerable condition of the environment while celebrating Diwali. The Delhi government also seemed to have been less strict in enforcing the rules. Rampant bursting of crackers had pumped ultra-fine particles, less than 2.5 microns, into the air making it difficult to breathe, especially for kids and the elderly. Now the Delhi administration realised of its immediate implementation of prevention of bursting of crackers.

For revelers of Diwali, the ban on bursting crackers may come as a dampener. But it may be understood that the real spirit of Diwali does not limit to bursting crackers alone. Moreover, spending huge amounts of money on such unproductive purposes is really a waste too though admittedly it is an occasion of joyous celebration.

The restriction to keep the environment clean and green may come in as an opportunity to divert our money earmarked for spending on crackers to help those who are needy and poor. So, let us fine-tune our heart to fit into the occasion and make it memorable of a lifetime by doing better things than bursting crackers during this Diwali. Kindly remember that in case we burn crackers, we will be playing with health of our children and our family and by doing so, we will be doing irreparable damage to their health.

Not only firecrackers but stubble burning also causes acute air pollution in Delhi especially during October and November months when the stubble after harvest gets disposed of by burning. Actually, farmers do not want to burn stubble because it kills the good bacteria on the farmlands, makes the soil infertile and causes major pollution. But they become helpless to dispose of the stubble through other ways than stubble burning which is the cheapest way. But there is glad news for farmers.

The Delhi government has taken a crucial step in association with the Pusa Institute, which had developed a chemical to use on the fields. When it is used on the fields, the stubble turns into manure in just 20 days. Now the farmers all across the country can use this chemical for disposing of the stubble without resorting to burning. Undoubtedly, it is hoped that this chemical can put an end to the air pollution in a greater way.

- T K Nandanan, Kochi