On 31 July 2025, the Chandigarh State Consumer Commission delivered a landmark ruling in the DHFL scam, holding Catalyst Trusteeship, CARE Ratings, and Brickwork Ratings liable for negligence and ordering them to compensate an investor—marking the first time market gatekeepers, not just the defaulter, were held accountable. This breakthrough offers all DHFL victims a second path to justice beyond the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, empowering them to pursue trustees, rating agencies, and other enablers. Once in a Blue Moon Academia (OBMA) has long called for such accountability, urging victims to unite, gather evidence, sign petitions, and build a sustained public movement to turn this precedent into systemic change.
Author Archives: Once In A Blue Moon Academia
Justice Beyond Courts: DHFL Scam and the Call to Organize
On India’s Political Independence Day, we discuss the strength of social movements and why DHFL scam victims need more than courtrooms to win justice. Learn how to educate, agitate, and organize for real change—and why united action is the only way to hold the “powerful” accountable. 📢 Sign and share the petitions: PETITION 1– SIGN HERE: https://chng.it/rndVPmFY8z’ PETITION 2– SIGN HERE: https://chng.it/dSwwM2pYNT PETITION 3– SIGN HERE: https://chng.it/DCxVVJz8bW PETITION 4– SIGN HERE: https://chng.it/9RwFbKMMFp 🌐 Read more on Once in a Blue Moon Academia (OBMA): https://onceinabluemoon2021.in/
Endangered Gender: Half The Sky Under The BJP’s Patriarchal Misogyny
India’s gender inequality persists as a contradiction between constitutional promises and patriarchal realities, evidenced by its 2025 Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) rank of 131 out of 148 countries (score: 0.644). This article examines three core issues—educational disparities, women’s malnutrition, and female foeticide—challenging overstated claims of literacy parity (98% women vs. 99% men). Drawing on Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2023–24, it reveals a 12.6-point literacy gap (87.2% men vs. 74.6% women), malnutrition’s dual burden (18.7% underweight, 24% overweight per NFHS-5), and ~307,000 annual foeticides (2013–2017) skewing sex ratios (108.9). These intersect with low economic participation (28.3%) and caste divides, worsened by data opacity (jugupsā). Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach frames these as entitlement failures, while feminist intersectionality highlights caste and regional disparities. Comparisons with Bangladesh, Sweden, and Pakistan underscore policy gaps. The dystopian film Matrubhoomi (2003) illustrates gender imbalance’s consequences. Recommendations emphasize targeted literacy drives, nutrition fortification, foeticide enforcement, and transparent data to foster equity.
Fortifying India: Reading Between the Lines of the 2025 Defence Budget
In the shadow of escalating geopolitical tensions, India’s defense strategy for the fiscal year 2025-26, with a staggering Rs 681,210 crore budget (13.45% of the Union Budget), perpetuates a militaristic paradigm that prioritizes arms over human and ecological well-being. This allocation, blending indigenous manufacturing (e.g., Tejas, BrahMos) with heavy reliance on imports (e.g., Rafale, S-400), is marred by historical corruption scandals (Bofors, Coffin, Rafale) and shrouded covert operations via entities like the Special Frontier Force (SFF) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). Meanwhile, external debt servicing at USD 682.2 billion (19.2% of GDP) drains fiscal resources, exacerbating economic distress marked by bankruptcies, rising poverty, and wealth concentration among crony elites. Findings reveal that this defense-centric approach ignores profound ecological devastation, agrarian crises, and hunger epidemics, diverting public taxes to fuel a predatory military-industrial complex. War-mongering, akin to manufactured religious pogroms by the current political executive, fosters a false nationalistic fervor, sustaining a debt-ridden global techno-economic system that benefits tycoons while neglecting climate resilience, public health, and equitable flourishing.
Of Size and Suffering: Challenging the Illusion of “Progress”
India’s emergence as the world’s fourth-largest economy masks deep ethical and structural crises. This article critiques the country’s development model, which prioritizes GDP growth while perpetuating informal labour, systemic inequality, environmental degradation, and authoritarian neoliberal governance. It highlights the disjunction between economic scale and human well-being, exposing how neoliberal globalization erodes local economies, social cohesion, and democratic participation. Persistent gender and social inequities, ecological injustices, and increasing external debt trap India in a cycle of “pre-debtor” capitalism, undermining sovereignty and welfare. Drawing on critical political economy, postcolonial theory, and alternative frameworks such as degrowth and localization, the article calls for transcending growth-centric paradigms to pursue justice, sustainability, and pluralistic development rooted in dignity and ecological balance.
Demand Transparent Accountability: The Mass RTI Appeal to the DHFL Victims
This mass RTI appeal urges DHFL victims and their communities to demand transparency regarding the RBI-appointed Committee of Creditors’ (CoC) meetings, voting records, and expenditures during the DHFL insolvency resolution process. Faced with systematic denial of crucial information, this coordinated effort seeks to expose potential manipulation and cronyism that have compromised fair decision-making. By collectively filing RTI requests, the public asserts its right to scrutinize how votes were cast, decisions made, and funds spent—upholding democratic accountability in a process that deeply affects victims and the broader financial system. This appeal highlights transparency as a fundamental democratic right essential to justice and fairness.
No More Silence: DHFL Victims, Unite and Sign for Justice!
This open letter is a heartfelt call to action for victims of the DHFL financial scam, urging collective courage and mobilization against systemic injustice. It outlines the devastating betrayal by corporate, regulatory, and judicial entities that enabled the fraud, leaving lakhs of small investors unheard. Framing the crisis as a human rights issue, the letter invites victims to join a growing civil movement through four online platforms and support four urgent petitions demanding judicial accountability, auditing reforms, celebrity endorser responsibility, and protection for whistleblowers. It emphasizes non-violent resistance and the vital role of public pressure in seeking truth and justice.
Hold Shah Rukh Khan Accountable for DHFL Endorsement! (An Online Mass Petition)
This petition seeks urgent legal and ethical accountability from Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan for his role in endorsing Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd. (DHFL), a company whose collapse in 2019 devastated lakhs of small investors. As brand ambassador during DHFL’s fraudulent operations, Khan’s public image bolstered investor trust in a failing institution. Under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, celebrity endorsers are legally obligated to conduct due diligence—an obligation Khan appears to have ignored. OBMA thereby demands a formal CCPA inquiry, public apology, disgorgement of endorsement fees, and penalties to set a precedent for responsible celebrity conduct in financial advertising.
In the Shadow of Mr. Paramavaisnava: Defamation, Dissent, and Democratic Rights
The article argues that the piece’s objective is not to malign or defame Mr. Paramavaisnava, but rather to subject his public role to democratic scrutiny. It positions critique as a civic duty aligned with Gandhian principles of non‑violence and civil disobedience, drawing a line between legitimate democratic dissent and defamatory intent
onceinabluemoon2021.in
. The author contends that vigilant public discourse is essential in holding influential individuals accountable—especially when their philanthropic gestures or public image are intertwined with questions of power, privilege, and socio-economic inequities.
In situating dissent within the framework of constitutional democratic rights, the piece foregrounds the importance of freedom of expression while cautioning against opportunistic defamation laws that may stifle critical voices. Overall, the article frames its critique as part of a broader tradition of civil restraint and moral resistance, underscoring the need for transparency and debate in robust democracies.
The “Charitable” Sovereign: PM CARES, Philanthrocapitalism, and the Erosion of Democratic Accountability
The Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund, established in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, was designed as a citizen-driven mechanism for emergency relief. However, its formation and functioning reveal profound contradictions between its stated ideals and actual governance. This article critically examines PM CARES as an emblem of philanthrocapitalism, executive populism, and corporate-state entanglement. Drawing on theoretical frameworks such as Foucault’s governmentality, Agamben’s state of exception, Fraser’s critique of progressive neoliberalism, and Chatterjee’s political society, the analysis illustrates how PM CARES reconfigures welfare into a spectacle of personalized legitimacy, evading democratic accountability. The case of Mr. Ajay Piramal’s reported donations—alongside alleged regulatory favors and the questionable DHFL acquisition—demonstrates how philanthropy can become a strategic substitute for justice and a vehicle for crony capitalism. Ultimately, PM CARES signifies a broader ideological reconfiguration in India’s political economy: the transformation of crisis governance into a post-democratic regime characterized by moralized coercion, symbolic aid, and technocratic opacity.
