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Stable long-term policies will allow platforms to grow, and encourage the growth of new ones.
Government agencies, industry associations, and platforms should undertake capacity-building
programmes to get on board more small and medium businesses. FILE PHOTO
I
ndia and the United States (US) have
ongoing cooperation dialogues and
mechanisms across 30 areas or even
more — from ayurveda and space to mil-
itary exercises and education and, of course,
the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with
Australia and Japan, the current hot-bod on
the beach. Time to add one more to the list:
Sport?
But wait. We are not talking here of
cricket or baseball matches between the US
and India. They are more dissimilar than
similar despite what your inebriated uncle
argued at the last family wedding; one is
ultra-boring and the other is super exciting,
depending on which of them you truly love
and which you are trying to understand.
But there is massive scope for cooperation
— by both the public and private sectors — in
a multitude of other sporting disciplines.
How about athletics, track and field, to begin
with?
India’s first track and field Olympic gold,
brought home by Neeraj Chopra, must have
inspired many young Indians to walk in his
shoes, or try it at the very least. Most of them
will try and then give up. Some would persist
but eventually give up for lack of an enabling
infrastructure — Chopra’s gold is heroic and
inspiring because of the lack of the support
structure that churns out gold medallists
with regular frequency elsewhere. Take a
shot and many of them will succeed. They
need to be discovered early and put through
the paces by leading coaches with world-
class facilities and programmes. Till we have
one, the US would be a good alternative.
We should be looking beyond individual
initiatives being taken by Indians to relocate
to the US to live, learn and compete among
the best equipped, best trained and, gener-
ally, best organised.
Somdev Devvarman did it to great effect
some years ago. There is a need for a more
organised push for cooperation in disci-
plines like track and field where India gets a
PT Usha-close to a world medal or swim-
ming, which has produced a Khazan Singh
but no Anthony Nesty, a Surinamese who
lived and trained in the US but won an Olym-
pics gold for his country — a country of only
half a million people — in 1988. Nesty’s was
a case of individual initiative as well, some-
thing like Devvarman.
There is probably a need for an organised
private-public effort to spot young Indian tal-
ent and put them through the same process.
Not all of them will bring India gold and
glory and the scorecard may look no less dis-
mal than now, but, with time, things could
change.
Leading US coaches, schools and facilities
could be interested in branching out into
India if made a workable business proposi-
tion and could create a top-level school in
India such as MRF’s pace academy.
Neeraj Chopra has offered India an oppor-
tunity. Let’s grab it. It may be possible to
make a start, some start, at the upcoming
meeting of the foreign and defence ministers
of the two countries for the annual 2+2 meet-
ing, though sport is not a subject covered by
either ministry.
yashwant.raj@hindustantimes.com
The views expressed are personal
It’s time to add sport to
India-US cooperation
{ PIT STOP }
Yashwant Raj
{ EDITOR’S PICK }
A
s the Omicron wave swept over India, ratch-
eting infections up to levels not seen since
the second wave, the only silver lining was
the relatively mild manifestation of the new
variant. Data from hospitals and mortuaries indi-
cated that symptoms were far less severe among the
fully jabbed — underlining the importance of the
country’s mass Covid-19 inoculation regimen.
This week, we recommend Vaxxers: The Inside
Story of the Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine and the Race
Against the Virus by Sarah Gilbert and Catherine
Green, the scientists responsible for developing the
shot whose Indian version has become the mainstay
of the country’s vaccination programme. The writers
describe the process of working on the vaccine, and
how it built on previously low-profile advances in
science. It is a manifesto on the need for science to
drive pandemic policy and a reminder that dogma is
the most dangerous foe in the fight against the virus.
Book Name:
Vaxxers
Year:
2021
HT’s editors offer a book recommendation every Saturday, which provides history,
context, and helps understand recent news events
THE MAKING OF THE ASTRAZENECA VACCINE
First, the primary focus must be on establish-
ing centres of excellence dedicated to quantum
science and technology within academic institu-
tions as well as government research institutes.
Quantum technology remains a field highly con-
centrated in long-term research and
development (R&D). Even the famed
quantum industry of China started in a
university laboratory, led by Pan Jian-
wei at the University of Science and
Technology of China in 2008. In 2022,
China boasts of developing the world’s
first quantum satellite, creating a quan-
tum communication line between Bei-
jing and Shanghai, and owning two of
the world’s fastest quantum computers.
This was a result of decade-long research car-
ried out in the hope of achieving critical break-
throughs. Hence, a majority of the Indian gov-
ernment’s outlay has to be pumped into institu-
tions specialising in quantum R&D.
This can pay dividends in two ways: It will
help create crucial intellectual property (IP)
infrastructure that can be used for the country’s
benefit. The focus on research and academia
will also improve the talent pool and strengthen
the domestic quantum technology workforce.
Just a few hundred researchers, industry profes-
sionals, academicians, and entrepreneurs are in
the field right now. A constant focus on R&D can
change that significantly.
Second, there must be effective coordination
between the central and state governments in
promoting quantum technology projects. The
manufacturing and fabrication process of basic
quantum devices requires advanced semicon-
ductor materials and chipsets. With state gov-
ernments playing an integral role in setting up
semiconductor fabs in the near future, quantum
technology can benefit immensely from these
domestic manufacturing facilities and units.
The establishment of “quantum innovation
hubs” in partnership with selected state govern-
ments can help direct investments efficiently
and build a well-connected quantum research
network in the country. These hubs, set up with
the help of government resources, can
serve as centres of collaboration
between academia and the private sec-
tor. Finally, it is the responsibility of
both the central and state governments
to establish a conducive fiscal and legal
environment to foster innovation. This
can potentially attract international
firms to conduct their research in the
country while involving local talent.
Third, the power of startups and Big
Tech corporations involved in developing quan-
tum technology and applications must be har-
nessed. The minister, in his Lok Sabha reply,
stated that no private sector partners had been
identified yet and no one from outside the gov-
ernment had been tapped for consultations for
the national mission. The government must rec-
ognise the leaps made by these companies.
While academic institutions are largely involved
on the research side, quantum tech corporations
and startups are vital in converting and com-
mercialising this research into applications or
products that can be of use.
This is buttressed by Google, Microsoft, and
IBM. These companies have dedicated pro-
grammes for quantum computing and its appli-
cations. Similarly, several Indian startups such
as QNu Labs, BosonQ, and Qulabs.ai are doing
remarkable work in developing quantum-based
applications for cryptography, computing, and
cybersecurity. Facilitations must be made by the
government to connect academic institutions
and industry to translate research into real-
worldapplications.
Finally, the necessity of international cooper-
ation cannot be ignored. The quantum value
chain remains highly complicated and it will be
hard for India to remain self-reliant to build a
successful quantum ecosystem. Quantum tech-
nology agreements with the United States/Aus-
tralia/Canada/the United Kingdom and others
should serve as a base for India to pursue a joint
effort on projects related to quantum technolo-
gies. The first step could be for the government
to engage with its allies in key groupings such as
Quad and BRICS. Technology alliances are gain-
ing traction, and India must look at signing some
bilateral or multilateral agreements to leverage
others’ growth in the domain. This is imperative
for India to win critical technology transfer
deals, get external technical advice or mento-
ring, and establish state-of-the-art facilities for
joint R&D on quantum technologies.
The government has taken the first step by
acknowledging the importance of quantum
technologies through its plan of kick-starting a
national mission in the country. The global
quantum industry has already taken incredible
strides and seen massive investments made by
both governments and the private sector in
recent years. India, which has fallen behind
other technologically advanced states in the field
of quantum technology, cannot afford to miss
the bus this time.
Arjun Gargeyas is a researcher with the High Tech
Geopolitics programme at the Takshashila Institution
The views expressed are personal
erably.
Unfortunately, in the last two years, policy
changes have been frequent for e-commerce.
Most of these are restrictive and increase the
compliance burden for online platforms.
India’s e-commerce foreign direct investment
(FDI) policy has been revised several times in
the last two years to restrict operations of for-
eign e-commerce platforms.
The recent draft Consumer Protection
(e-commerce) rules also attempt to control
their operations, including the sales they can
organise on their platforms. The regulatory
framework should create a level playing field
for all platforms.
However, the direction of regulatory
changes suggests protection for domestic play-
ers vis-à-vis foreign platforms. This not only
skews competition, but is also detrimental to
the induction of the latest innovations in retail
technologies and logistic chain development
that foreign platforms can bring to India that
contribute to making e-commerce more effi-
cient, and ensure wider reach.
While the regulatory compliance burden
may not deter large platforms, it will create
barriers for new entrants into the platform
economy and distort competition. This will
result in increased prices or quality deteriora-
tion of the goods and services detrimental to
consumer interests.
Stable long-term policies will allow these
platforms to grow and encourage the growth
of new ones. In addition, government agen-
cies, industry associations, and platforms
should undertake extensive capacity-building
programmes to get onboard more SMBs, espe-
cially in peri-urban and rural areas.
Several small sellers in these areas depend
greatly on the festive season sales for their
livelihood, with the season again on us over
the next few days. E-commerce expansion to
these areas will provide wider market penetra-
tion to them.
Arvind Mayaram is former Union finance
secretary and chairman, CUTS Institute
for Regulation and Competition
Garima Sodhi is senior policy analyst, CUTS
Institute for Regulation and Competition
The views expressed are personal
I
n the 2020 Budget speech, finance minister
Nirmala Sitharaman announced the
National Mission for Quantum Technologies
and Applications (NM-QTA) with a total out-
lay of ₹8000 crore over five years for strengthen-
ing the quantum industry in the country. A Lok
Sabha question posed in July 2021 enquired
about the status and progress of the mission.
The reply that was provided by the minister of
state for science and technology, Jitendra Singh,
mentioned that the mission had not even
received approval yet. Singh also announced
that no funds were allocated, disbursed or util-
ised under NM-QTA during the financial year
2020-21.
With no credible advancements made by the
government, there is a need to rethink how the
proposed NM-QTA will evolve if India plans to
harness the benefits of quantum technology.
The focus should be to develop an overarching
strategy for the next 10-15 years. The strategy
must ensure that there is no misallocation of
resources and that the efforts put in are concen-
trated in key areas that provide both economic
and strategic benefits. This is needed for India to
maintain any comparative advantage it may
have in the global quantum playing field.
Adequate attention to those who can contrib-
ute to developing quantum technology must be
the government’s top priority. In the current sce-
nario, our view is that the government must fol-
low a four-fold path to build a robust quantum
ecosystem in the country.
I
ndia is a land of festivities, with another
season underway. Throughout the year,
festivities boost markets, and the reverse
is also true. Digitally driven e-commerce
has taken to the Indian festive mood as
fish takes to water. The Covid-19 pan-
demic has expedited the digital
adoption manifold. According to a
report by Shopify, 86% of Indians
have adopted online shopping dur-
ing the pandemic.
Initially, the shift happened due
to the lockdowns and the growing
fear of infection. However, last
year, during Diwali, even though no
major restrictions were in place,
e-commerce witnessed phenome-
nal sales of $8.3 billion during a
one-month festive sale from Octo-
ber 15 to November 15 — 18% more
than the predicted $7 billion
(according to consulting firm, Red-
Seer).
This indicates a structural shift
in consumer behaviour. Retail usu-
ally picks up at that time of the year
in India as consumers shop for the
festival. With Diwali bonuses, consumers have
more disposable income. Banks also reduce
interest rates to boost consumer demand. Sell-
ers look forward to the festive season to make
some extra sales and clear out their invento-
ries.
For certain businesses such as handicrafts
and gift items, the bulk of the sales happens
during the festive season. E-commerce has
been the saving grace for consumers and sell-
ers, especially small- and medium-sized busi-
nesses (SMBs), which struggled to stay afloat
during the pandemic.
CUTS Institute for Regulation and Competi-
tion (CIRC) is undertaking a study to under-
stand the e-commerce festive economy in
India to ascertain if joining e-commerce plat-
forms has benefitted SMBs, logistics partners
and consumers during festival times. The
research involves a consumer survey and a
few case studies of small sellers to study their
e-commerce usage and experience.
Preliminary findings suggest that approxi-
mately 50% of consumers preferred shopping
online during the festivals amid the pandemic
and sellers think that their presence online
has become essential. The sellers interviewed
deal in different goods: Handicrafts, gift items,
grocery, jewellery, home decor, apparel,
health care.
Some of the sellers, who have been
running their brick-and-mortar outlets
for several years, said they now operate
in a hybrid online and offline mode.
Several others started their businesses
online during the pandemic. The sea-
sonal item sellers said they have bene-
fitted from the e-commerce festive sale
events. One of the sellers even claimed
to have made 300% higher sales during
the e-commerce festive sale in October.
Before joining the e-commerce plat-
forms, small sellers were restricted only
to local geographies. E-commerce has
enabled them to expand their reach to
national — and for some, even interna-
tional — markets. This has increased
sales significantly. The festive season
deals and discounts also attract more
customers. Most of these sellers said
they add new products to their offerings
during the festive season.
Looking atthe benefits that e-commerce
brings to all stakeholders, the government
must work towards supporting and promoting
the emerging e-commerce economy and eco-
system. With an increase in online sales, the
government will also collect more taxes. In
India, small sellers mostly trade in cash and
provide “kaccha” bills. Through e-commerce,
the government will widen the tax net consid-
The quest for a
robust e-commerce
economy in India
Indians have begun to prefer
shopping online, especially
during the festive season. In
light of this structural shift in
consumer behaviour, the
government must make policy
changes to ensure a level
playing field for all platforms
Arjun
Gargeyas
{ FAULT-LINE }
A four-point action plan
for quantum technologies
{ OUR TAKE }
C
ome Monday, India will enter its third week
since the Omicron variant began pushing up
cases, led by hotspot regions of Delhi and
Mumbai. After a rise in infections in both
cities, the optimistic presumption of the variant
appears to have been borne out: The medical care
infrastructure is unlikely to be overwhelmed as long
as timely reinforcements are made and infection-
control measures are put in place. Both cities have
growing amounts of data on who is more likely to
have severe disease, how the variant sickens those
with one, two or no vaccine shots, and the critical
comorbid diseases that could put people at risk of
death.
Some of this data has been consistent with global
experiences. For instance, in Delhi, close to 75% of
the deaths were in unvaccinated people, and having
two doses significantly lowered the odds of death.
The state’s health minister also said that the death
audit committee’s analyses showed most deaths
were in those who came to a facility due to some
other critical illness. This echoes the higher rate of
deaths in unvaccinated people and the “incidental
diagnosis” seen in other parts of the world. But Delhi
showed other trends too: Almost 60% of the deaths
occurred within 48 hours of admission, and almost
all fatalities suffered from critical comorbidities
instead of diabetes or hypertension — two diseases
seen as big Covid-19 risk factors, but may now not be
playing as big a role. A small subgroup analysis
showed kidney disease might be a significant hazard.
These are still early trends, highlighting a crucial
gap in India’s Covid-19 management: The lack of
minute data. Authorities in Delhi and Mumbai have
shared these analyses sporadically, releasing
information in their own formats. But even these
have not included data on how long ago the
hospitalised or the deceased got their doses —
information that could be critical to understanding
the effect of vaccine waning. Outside of these two
metropolises, the information gap worsens with
hardly any data on comorbid conditions, age and
gender distribution, vaccination status, and
symptoms of serious cases. Understanding who
needs what type of care will help determine who
should be shielded the most. Without these, the
scientific understanding of Covid-19 is incomplete.
The government should consider a unified portal for
states to feed data in a standardised format. This will
be crucial in keeping India, as the prime minister
implored on Thursday, ready for any variant.
Omicron: What
we know so far
Early trends are optimistic. But they highlight
gaps in Covid-19 management. Bridge them
E STA B L I S H E D I N 1 9 24
E-COMMERCE HAS BEEN
THE SAVING GRACE FOR
CONSUMERS AND SELLERS,
ESPECIALLY SMALL- AND
MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES,
WHICH STRUGGLED TO
STAY AFLOAT DURING
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Arvind
Mayaram
Garima
Sodhi
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Editor: KUNAL PRADHAN
Opinion
14
NEW DELHI
SATURDAY
JANUARY 15, 2022
The term “Dirty War” was coined in
Argentina by a military government
which wanted to justify mass rape,
torture, executions without trials, arrests
without bail, chucking dissidents out of
planes, etc, as necessary to “prevent sub-
version”. Between 1976 and 1983, over
30,000 Argentines were killed in sundry
ways by men in uniform, usually after
being sexually violated and tortured.
Dirty War is now used to describe more
generic state-sponsored repression of civ-
ilian populations. Latin America has a tra-
dition of rule by military-backed dictators,
and military councils, or juntas. There have
been “Dirty Wars” in Paraguay (1954–1989),
Brazil (1964–1985), Bolivia (1971–1981),
Uruguay (1973–1985), and Chile (1973–
1990). In each case, the army and the police
tortured and killed vast numbers of their
own citizens.
Some of the dictatorships also co-opted
the Catholic Church (Latin America is over-
whelmingly Catholic) to provide “moral
support”. Dictators like Jorge Videla of
Argentina and Augusto Pinochet of Chile
regularly and ostentatiously prayed, along-
side committing mass murder.
In each of these nations, the army and
the police are still viewed with extreme
distrust by those who don’t wear uni-
forms. People in uniform are perceived as
corrupt, vicious and beyond the law. This
attitude persists decades after the return
of democracy.
It is not unjustified. The Dirty Wars
ensured that the armed forces of these
nations (the army, paramilitary forces and
police) became both corrupt, and politi-
cised. Every Latin American democracy
lives under the shadow of possible future
coups, and corruption is endemic. Every
so often, there are crazy scandals involving
uniforms. The Brazilian police set up death
squads to murder homeless children. In
democratic Buenos Aires, as recently as
2017, there were 121 deaths (including
deaths of pre-teen children) caused by the
police using excessive force. The police
facilitating drug trades is considered the
norm in some places.
It is also not surprising the Church was
equivocal, or outright supportive of human
rights violations. Religious organisations
tend to be run by the conservative, and
religious hierarchies are not democratic by
nature. Moreover, the regimes which ran
these countries donated generously to reli-
gious institutions, which had a vested
interest in propping them up.
It is not an accident that these are
poor countries. Military dictators are not
noted for economic savvy, or probity.
Apart from the fact that it is hard to run
businesses in corrupt and volatile politi-
cal environments, there was a huge flight
of capital during the Dirty Wars, includ-
ing cash being stashed offshore by
members of the regimes themselves.
Anybody who could flee and gain asylum
elsewhere, fled, which meant a brain
drain as well. The Dirty Wars also wiped
out the best and the brightest of entire
generations in some cases.
Similar things have happened closer
to home. Indonesia went through hell in
the 1960s when Suharto came to power.
Over a million died, and the country suf-
fered the aftermath for decades. Nepal,
Myanmar, Bangladesh and Pakistan have
also had their fair share of Dirty Wars and
coups. So has Sri Lanka.
We know from these examples that the
legacy of a Dirty War usually goes well bey-
ond poverty. It leads to a toxic mix of cor-
rupt governments, politicised men in uni-
form who rewrite constitutions and run
governments, and religious fundamental-ists gaining political leverage.
India has always been exceptional,
though it has endured Dirty Wars on a
larger scale than most other places. The
Dirty Wars in the Northeast have lasted
nearly 60 years. The one in Kashmir has
lasted 30 years. The one against Left
Wing Extremists has lasted 25 years. West
Bengal and Punjab suffered Dirty Wars
for a decade. Apart from chucking dis-
sidents out of planes, India has logged
every other type of conceivable human
rights violation during these conflicts.
However, although corruption has
always been part of the Indian ethos,
Indians in uniform were never politi-
cised, and religious fundamentalists did
not have a political say. Notice the past
tense. The situation has obviously
changed in both instances. As a result,
India may now be vulnerable to the same
ills that plague its neighbours.
OPINION 9
>
Dirty War comes closer to home Green is good
An IIT Kharagpur 2022 calendar
sparked debate regarding the Indus
Valley Civilisation. Let’s not get into
the related controversies. However, it imme-
diately reminds us that about a century has
passed since the discovery of Harappa and
Mohenjodaro but its language still remains
cryptic. Just like the Indus unicorn, maybe.
Being a Bengali brought up in Kolkata,
I had the opportunity to read the adven-
tures of Professor Shonku, an eccentric
super-scientist created by Satyajit Ray.
The mythical super-scientist could
decipher the Indus scripts! In the story
“The Unicorn Expedition”, Ray, however,
was surprised at the presence of an imag-
inary animal such as a unicorn among the
Indus seals, along with other real-life ani-
mal-seals. In his 2015 paper “Ancient civ-
ilization: Cracking the Indus script”, pub-
lished in Nature, Andrew Robinson
reminded us about the motifs of a puz-
zling “unicorn”.
To me, the Indus Valley mystery is thus
a unicorn mystery, to some extent. Over
decades, several attempts have been made
in deciphering the Indus script, without any
unanimous outcome yet. A prize of $10,000
was offered as reward by an anonymous
donor in 2004 through comparative histo-
rian Steve Farmer. Didn’t hear any real-life
“Professor Shonku” claiming it yet!
The famous Rosetta Stone certainly
helped decode the ancient Egyptian hiero-
glyphs as similar text has been written in
three distinct languages — ancient Greek,
Egyptian hieroglyphs, and Egyptian
Demotic. Not all lost languages are so lucky
to have a Rosetta Stone. Due to the absence
of bilingual texts and extreme brevity of the
inscriptions, deciphering the Indus inscrip-
tions is a daunting task. Moreover,
Mr Robinson pointed out in his 2015 Nature
paper: “Was this an ancestor of Sanskrit or
Dravidian, or of some other Indian language
family, such as Munda, or was it a language
that has disappeared?”
Iravatham Mahadevan’s 1977 work pro-
vides a detailed study on concordances in
the Indus script — it was found that the
signs were not randomly distributed, cer-
tain signs were associated with the unicorn
symbol, while others were associated with
the gharial and dotted circle symbols.
Well, is it a written language at all? Steve
Farmer and Harvard’s professor Michael
Wizel argue that it’s not. Asko Parpola of the
University of Helsinki, who has been trying
to decipher the script since 1968, and others,
however, think it was pretty much linguistic.
Professor Parpola’s 1994 book, Deciphering
the Indus Script, is built on his study of
nearly 4,000 samples of the writing that sur-
vive, mainly on stamp seals and amulets.
Now comes artificial intelligence (AI).
For decades, AI has been playing a vital role
in the comprehension and decoding of lost
languages. In various ways. In fact, as early
as 1953, the Linear B language, known as
the oldest Greek language spoken by the
Mycenaean, was the first language to be
decoded using AI. But, the Indus script is
possibly a more complex system. However,
the ever-expanding horizon of AI is making
its domain broader, with an increasing
power of synthesis and self-learning. A
2009 paper in Science magazine led by
University of Washington computer scien-
tist Rajesh Rao presented evidence for the
linguistic hypothesis by showing that the
Indus script’s conditional entropy is closer
to those of natural languages than various
types of non-linguistic systems. There have
been other recent attempts by different
researchers of using AI to demystify the
Indus script — ranging from understanding
how Indus inscriptions conveyed meanings
to finding its root.
Implementing AI needs the training of
an algorithm involving comparison with
known values. But, certainly, no pre-
viously known values can be there for lost
languages. Well, recent developments
might help. In a 2019 article, Jiaming Luo
and Regina Barzilay of MIT and Yuan Cao
of Google proposed a novel neural
approach for the automatic decipherment
of lost languages. They applied their
method on two already decoded lan-
guages — Linear B and also 3,000-year-
old Ugaritic. A 5 per cent absolute
improvement over state-of-the-art results
for Ugaritic was observed and 67.3 per cent
of Linear B cognates were correctly trans-
lated into the suitable Greek equivalents.
Then, in a follow-up 2020 study, these
authors, along with co-researchers, devel-
oped a new algorithm for languages that are
not fully segmented into words, and also the
closest known language is not determined.
Their model captures the natural phono-
logical geometry by learning character
embedding based on the International
Phonetic Alphabet. They evaluated
their model on two already deciphered lan-
guages — Gothic and Ugaritic — and it
worked! And they could decipher an undeci-
phered one, Iberian. Importantly, there’s no
consensus about Iberian’s close known lan-
guage — it can be Greek, Latin, or Basque.
Well, what next? Can such AI or its suit-
able improvement decipher the Indus script
in near future, ignoring all previous analy-
ses? Will the Indus unicorns be demystified
then? Maybe. Still, one would never know
the pronunciations in a lost language, for
example. A bit of spice would remain buried
under time. Always.
The writer is professor of Statistics at Indian
Statistical Institute, Kolkata
I
ndia’s corporate sector is enjoying a dramatic turnaround. The Reserve Bank
of India’s (RBI’s) studies of corporate finances show that, for a shifting sample
of 2,600+ listed private companies, excluding financial enterprises, net profits
in the first half of this financial year are already about 80 per cent of the profits
earned during all of last year. Even if the profit growth rate falters in the second half
of the year, the RBI sample’s profits for all of 2021-22 could end up showing growth
in the region of 60 per cent. This comes on top of a more than doubling of profits in
2020-21, but that was mostly a recovery from a sharp dip the previous year.
It is important to qualify that a good chunk of the corporate sector lies outside
the RBI’s sample database: For instance, big unlisted firms (like Hyundai, Coke
and Pepsi, IBM and Accenture) plus banks and public sector behemoths (Indian
Oil, ONGC, Coal India, etc). Still, banks (including government-owned ones) have
been doing better than before, and there is no reason to expect that large unlisted
enterprises have done differently from listed ones. Moderation in profit growth
would be on account of non-bank public sector enterprises. Even making allowances
for that and for inferior performance by small and some medium enterprises (whose
share in the total profit pie is small), one should expect a surge in profits this year.
This slice of good news comes along with others — including handsome
growth in the RBI sample’s sales revenue (more than 30 per cent in the July-
September quarter, compared to a year earlier), accompanied by static interest
payments that translate into higher net profit margins. As BusinessStandard has
reported, the corporate debt-equity ratio is at a six-year low. Such numbers could
explain several things, including the buoyancy on a stock market widely seen as
over-valued. Perhaps it is, but price-earnings ratios are a misleading indicator
when earnings are shooting up.
The remarkable thing about this performance is that it comes despite low
capacity utilisation, and the existence of several distressed sectors. Such an “output
gap” as it is called would suggest that there is headroom for further growth in
sales without fresh investment in capacity, and therefore without the new debt
that would carry an interest tag as additional cost. Translated, margins could
improve further if sales growth continues.
There are obvious implications here for government revenue. In her Budget a
year ago, the finance minister expected modestly to garner ~5.47 trillion from cor-
poration tax in 2021-22. Admittedly, this was 22.6 per cent more than the ~4.46
trillion collected in Covid-affected 2020-21. But more pertinently, it was lower
than the revenue collected in the two prior years of 2019-20 and 2018-19. Twice
bitten by lower revenues, the finance minister clearly decided to be cautious in
her expectations of a rebound.
As things may turn out, if one were to narrowly focus on the RBI’s tally of cor-
porate profits for the first half of the year, profits for the full year could well be
double the level of 2018-19. That year had seen record corporate tax collection of
~6.64 trillion. If much higher profits this year do not propel corporation tax revenue
to a level higher than that peak, and massively exceed what has been budgeted,
something is wrong with corporation tax.
Recent changes to corporation tax rates, announced in stages by the two Modi
governments, were to be revenue-neutral. Lower rates were to be matched by the
removal of exemptions, so that the effective tax rate and the nominal tax rate
would no longer be wide apart. The thrust of that reform was sensible; among
other things, it brought the nominal tax rates closer to what prevails in other large
economies. The question to be answered on Budget day is whether the changes
were in fact revenue-neutral, given that the goods and services tax rates were also
supposed to be revenue-neutral but turned out differently. If it now turns out dif-
ferently for corporation tax as well, the finance minister should take a good look
at which tax exemptions to target.
Boom time for companies
WEEKEND RUMINATIONS
T N NINAN
VIEWPOINT
DEVANGSHU DATTA
Deciphering the Indus mystery
EYE CULTURE
CHINTAN GIRISH MODI
Can businesses continue making
profits if they prioritise environ-
mental sustainability? Going by
some of the high-profile business
books published in India recently, the
answer is: Yes.
Narotam Sekhsaria, chairman of
Ambuja Cements, believes that “envi-
ronmental consciousness” is good for
the planet and for business. This man-
tra has had a “direct beneficial impact
on the bottom line”, and helped him
command a premium price for his
cement. In his book, The Ambuja Story
(2022), he remarks, “Even consumers
feel happy about buying from com-
panies that are eco-friendly and run
their business ethically.”
Using a mineral called fluorspar
from the discarded industrial waste
of a nearby unit of the Gujarat Mineral
Development Corporation, his factory
managed to lower the melting tem-
perature in the kiln. Mr Sekhsaria
writes, “We were able to cut down fuel
consumption by three per cent.
Cutting down electricity consump-
tion by even a unit at the plant led to
a saving of rupees 20 lakh annually.
And as our production grew, the sav-
ings multiplied.”
Cement factories are concerned
about dust because it can cause equip-
ment to malfunction, leading to pro-
duction delays and reputational risk.
Mr Sekhsaria invested in dust control
equipment at a high cost. As a result,
there were fewer breakdowns. This
prolonged the life of the cement plant.
The dust-free environment gave him
the confidence to plant a rose garden.
Indra Nooyi, former chairperson
and chief executive officer of PepsiCo,
was hit by the realisation that “millen-
nial women and men flooding into the
workplace” would not choose the com-
pany unless it “turned the corner on
health and the environment.” PepsiCo
then cut down greenhouse gas emis-
sions, adopted waterless bottle-wash-
ing techniques, incorporated higher
levels of recycled plastic in soda bot-
tles, and published detailed sustain-
ability reports.
In her book, My Life in Full (2021),
Ms Nooyi discusses her “Performance
with Purpose” vision. She writes, “We
needed to join the global effort to
restore the health of the planet and
couldn’t wait any longer for more
evidence on global warming. We had
to be very open-minded, seeking out
and embracing completely new ideas
for our business in these areas.”
Innovation helps companies figure
out how to be profitable as well as envi-
ronmentally responsible. Michael Dell,
chairman and CEO of Dell
Technologies, believes that they
should do this because it is the right
thing to do and not because a regulator
might show up one day. He also cham-
pions the circular economy in his
book, Play Nice But Win (2021).
Apparently, he gave his engineers a
challenge that they loved. It was about
finding ways to minimise the environ-
mental impact of their products with-
out increasing the cost for the com-
pany. He writes, “With every single
thing that we build, we think about how
we can make it so that it can be decon-
structed and all the parts reused.” Dell
has a jewellery designer who makes
rings, necklaces, and earrings from the
gold in their printed circuit boards.
He adds, “Materials are a key source
of innovation: recycling plastics and
other materials from old computers
into new parts and identifying oppor-
tunities to use waste materials — like
ocean-bound plastics — resources that
can be brought back into the economy.
Accelerating the shift to a circular
economy benefits us, our suppliers, our
customers, and the world.”
Harsh Mariwala, founder and
chairman of Marico, is another corpo-
rate leader who is serious about sus-
tainability. In his book, Harsh Realities
(2021), he writes about a gradual shift
from fossil fuels to renewable energy,
and efforts such as redesigning net-
work routes, upsizing vehicles, con-
solidating warehouses, and improving
vehicle utilisation for fuel efficiency.
Since water availability is critical
for the company, it has been helping
with dam de-silting projects to create
additional storage capacity for rain-
water. It is also involved in creating
check dams near its operating loca-
tions in order to improve water table
levels and irrigation. Marico’s water
consumption is being offset by build-
ing farm ponds for local communities.
Mukund Rajan and Col Rajeev
Kumar, who used to work for the Tata
Group, and have co-authored the
book, Outlast: How ESG Can Benefit
Your Business (2021), spotlight
Marico’s performance on environmen-
tal, social and governance metrics. The
company invests in safflower and
coconut farmers through long-term
contracts to reduce the risk of supply
shocks. It also trains them to
strengthen agricultural productivity
and multiply their yields.
In her book, Watershed: How We
Destroyed India’s Water and How We
Can Save It (2021), Mridula Ramesh,
executive director of Sundaram
Textiles, advises businesses to include
water in their core business strategy in
addition to sustainability reports and
corporate social responsibility spend-
ing. Hopefully, businesses, starting
with water, will embrace resource opti-
misation on other fronts. Caring for the
environment, and making key busi-
ness decisions in keeping with that
agenda, seems to have translated well
into commercial success for many.
It’s so comfortable, safe and gainful to dismiss
even a serious policy statement producedby
the Pakistani establishment as a load of rubbish.
Old wine (oops, lassi) in old bottle. That’s been the
default position on the Indian side for a long time.
It is fully reciprocated, if more rudely by the
Pakistanis. Looking at the Pakistani National
Security Division’s latest National Security Policy
document released Friday, we are avoiding
that temptation.
There are three reasons commending a serious
read of the document. One, that it
is short, just 48 pages in large, legi-
ble type. There’s more but that’s
confidential. So, thank you. Second,
most of it is just faff, virtue signal-
ling platitudes. So easy to skip, and
thank you again. And third, it still
has nuggets that anyone on the
Indian side would find useful to
reflect on and debate.
Unless, the only debates you par-
ticipate in are the ones on our war-
rior channels. Why even bother
reading what that “evil establish-
ment” has written. Who takes them
seriously?
We do not have the scholarship to tell you
exactly what Chanakya might have said on this. So
much is attributed to him, as to Sun Tzu and
Confucius that it is impossible to tell fact from fic-
tion. We will play safe and borrow an idea from
former top civil servant and fine thought leader
Anil Swarup, who prolifically tweets sharp points
hashtagged #WhatChanakyaDidn’tSay. So here is
another thing Chanakya definitely did not say.
Either whisper to Chandragupta or write in any of
his treatises: Never talk to your adversary, never
read their lips, and definitely never read anything
they publish, especially on their strategic vision.
Chanakya, on the contrary, would have wanted us
Indians to make a close study of this. Even if it was-
n’t a mere 48 pages in large type, with exactly 113
words on Kashmir.
Chaff is easy to discard from this document. Since
it is the most of it. But if you do not allow our old
contempt for the Pakistani establishment to cloud
your curiosity, you might find these five nuggets.
Let’s go over these by turn in some detail.
lThat Kashmir merits only 113 words and is among
the smaller segments in this plan document is
curious. And what it contains is less important than
what it doesn’t. There isn’t, to begin with, any
demand for the reversal of the August 4, 2019,
changes made by India in the status of Jammu &
Kashmir. Does it mean Pakistan is moving away from
Imran Khan’s oft-repeated precondition for any
resumption of normalcy? Or could it be, that going
by the popular belief in India, Mr Khan is so dim
that he hasn’t even read the plan? He has, by the
way, written the foreword to it. He had also pushed
back earlier last year when his army had supported
the idea of resumption of trade with India. “First
meet my preconditions on Kashmir,” he’d said. This
document, signed by his National
Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf,
makes a departure.
Further, what do they want on
Kashmir? It takes me back to my
first interview for India Today in
1991 with Nawaz Sharif soon after
he became prime minister for the
first time. He fielded questions
about all issues warmly. But when I
asked him about Kashmir, he
turned to his information advisor
Mushahid Hussain (now a senator),
and said with a charming grin,
“Kashmir par Mushahid Sahib, woh
kya kehte hain hum, aap hee bataa-
yein.” (on Kashmir, Mushahid Sahib, what is the
line we always take? You better restate it.) What
Mushahid Hussain exactly said I cannot repeat.
But it would’ve fitted in about 113
words. More or less the same words
as in this document. From Imran
2019 to Nawaz 1991 is an important
walk back.
lThe emphasis on the economy as
the main bedrock of national security
is interesting. We can see Pakistan is
hurting economically, with internal
instability and global indifference.
This comes exactly in the weeks
when they are involved in humiliat-
ing negotiations with the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) for further disbursals from their sanc-
tioned loan. Their 11th since 1993. Now, now, we
know that Mr Khan said earlier this week that
Pakistan’s economy was in a better place than
India’s, but he certainly isn’t saying that to IMF.
Pakistan is finding it much too onerous to fulfil its
“conditionalities” fuelling inflation and popular
resentment. It has asked for the IMF Board meeting
to be deferred to the end of this month as it weighs
the risks in losing this bailout or raising prices of
goods, utilities, taxes, passing a new law guarantee-
ing the autonomy of its central bank.
This emphasis on the economy, internal stability,
threat from sectarian strife and internal separatist
movements underlines a much more inward-look-
ing Pakistan than we’ve seen for three decades now.
l It is fascinating how this Pakistani establishment
looks at the world. When you start reading,
Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, you might think for
a moment that this is a straight alphabetical listing
of the countries Pakistan considers important. But
this list ends with India, to be followed by “Rest of
the World”. That is where the US features. America
consigned to the rest of the world? By one it called
stalwart ally (George Bush Jr). Would you have imag-
ined? Unless you think that’s the price Joe Biden is
paying for not having made that phone call to Imran
Khan yet?
lAnd what does it say about America? That much
as it cherishes the ties, Pakistan does not subscribe
to “camp politics”. Which is a bit rich for the only
nation in the subcontinent to have formally become
a member of multi-national military-strategic alli-
ances. And all of these, SEATO, CENTO with the
Americans. Even now they are treaty-bound security
allies. Again, will this change if there is that phone
call from Mr Biden?
Pakistan says that it does not like the current
reality where its ties with the US are purely located
in counter-terrorism cooperation. This is translated
as, must you keep seeing me only as a global
migraine? The frustration over the indifference of
the oldest ally and patron is evident. It reflects again
when the document talks about India and complains
that counter-proliferation restrictions have been
lifted on it.
lWhich is our fifth and last takeaway. There is more
than one reference to the ideology currently ruling
and driving India. There is the mention of
“Hindutva politics” which needs hostility to
Pakistan as the centre-point of its internal politics.
There is also a fear expressed that an India driven
by this ideology could try enforcing one-sided solu-
tions. Or warfare could break out, whether conven-
tional or, interestingly, of the no-contact variety.
Now what do the authors mean here,
they don’t elaborate. It could be a refer-
ence to cyber-warfare, stand-off
weapons (which ultimately would still
lead to “contact” of some kind) or polit-
ical campaigns and pressures as in key
foreign capitals and multilateral bodies
such as the IMF. We can’t say for sure
right now. Except that these apprehen-
sions need to be taken note of.
Pakistan is hurting, looking inwards
and needs breathing space. It is realising
the loss of global stature and friendship with the
US, which is unidimensional and limited to: You
better ensure your territory is of no further nuisance
to me. And third, that after having pushed back at
his army thrice last year, on trade with India, air-
space access to the US for operations in Afghanistan
and the appointment of the new ISI chief, Imran
Khan is listening to it. At least for now because his
politics and popularity have derailed..
By Special Arrangement with ThePrint
Pakistan’s National Security Policy shows it is hurting, looking
inwards and desperately needs some breathing space. India
should study it closely
NATIONAL INTEREST
SHEKHAR GUPTA
Pakistan gets
serious
That Kashmir merits
only 113 words and is
among the smaller
segments in this plan
document is curious.
And what it contains is
less important than
what it doesn’t
ATANU BISWASVolume IX Number 25
NEW DELHI | 15 JANUARY 2022
THINK SATURDAY, 15 JANUARY 2022
MUMBAI 05
A
s a former techie, it didn’t sur-
prise me that several of those
arrested in the Bulli Bai and Sulli
Deals cases that put up Muslim women
for auction were young middle-class
techies.
Vishal Kumar Jha, 21, is a civil engi-
neering student in Bengaluru. Niraj
Bishnoi, 20, is pursuing a BTech in
computer science in Bhopal. Aum-
kareshwar Thakur, 26, has a bachelor’s
in computer applications and works as a
freelance web designer in Indore.
Mayank Rawal, 21, is a BSc (chemistry)
student in Delhi and Shweta Singh, 18,
wanted to major in archaeology. They
were all very active in the online world.
And it won’t surprise me if more
techies emerge as the investigation
unfolds.
It’s not just because the cases
involved technical expertise—creating
apps and online personas with multiple
Twitter IDs and covering up one’s digi-
tal footprint. There’s something about
technical education that can breed a
world view where we think there is only
ever one right answer and everything
needs to be laid out in clear-cut black
and white. Technical colleges have
boomed in India, holding out the holy
grail of a “good job” to anxious young-
sters struggling to race ahead of their
peers. Humanities are much derided
and devalued because they do not carry
that promise of a “good job” in an
intensely competitive society.
In a 2014 interview with Firstpost,
Homi K. Bhabha, the Anne. F. Rothen-
berg professor of the humanities at the
US’ Harvard University, said large
Indian corporations complain that they
struggle with software engineers who
are excellent as programmers but “can-
not share the vision of our product”
because they do not have those skills of
“presentation, interpretation and
description”. Interpretation, said
Bhabha, is “at the heart of humanities”.
If humanities give us breadth, technical
education gives us focus—but that focus
can take us down a rabbit hole as well.
It’s no surprise that even as technical
schools are brimming with the promise
of young India, they are also a pressure
cooker for frustration and anger
because that’s also where upper-caste
Indians most strongly feel the impact of
reservations and quotas. That’s where
there is the least tolerance for the messy
complications of India’s social history
and a conviction that India can become
an unquestioned superpower as soon as
the trains run on time.
In some ways the preliminary
accounts of those arrested in these cases
tell that same troubling story of
thwarted ambitions—the boy who
wanted to get into IIT but could only
make it to a less celebrated engineering
school. We hear that Vishal Jha used to
be a bright student with a “warm social
outlook” but became “aloof” in the
months before his arrest. In the real
world they had few friends but in the
online world, one person might have six
Gmail accounts and several Twitter
handles. While the youngsters came
from different backgrounds and differ-
ent parts of India, what’s common is
their families’ bafflement about the vir-
tual lives of their children. Aumkaresh-
war Thakur’s father said he himself
barely knew how to operate a mobile
phone. Shweta Singh’s family is ada-
mant she has been framed because they
cannot believe she was “bright” enough
to have the technical knowledge to be
involved in the whole imbroglio.
It’s understandable that the media
are interested in mining the details of
life stories when people are accused of
something heinous. We saw that during
the 2012 Delhi gang rape as well.
We want to find the fork in the road,
pinpoint the moment where we think it
all started to go wrong. Is the laptop
allegedly only filled with games and
porn, that too porn involving older
Muslim women, proof of how an ordi-
nary life veers dramatically off-track
online? In Shweta Singh’s case, some
have pointed to her parents’ deaths, one
from cancer and the other from cov-
id-19, as pushing her over the edge. Priti
Gandhi, the national social media head
of the Bharatiya Janata Party Mahila
Morcha, tweeted that Singh should be
“counselled & reformed” because she
was an 18-year-old coping with the loss
of her parents rather than being a ter-
rorist. When Disha Ravi, the climate
activist, had been accused of sharing a
toolkit for protest during the farmers’
movement, the same Priti Gandhi had
said, “What this got to do with her age or
the fact that she is brought up by a sin-
gle parent?? Matlab, kuch bhi.”
All this points to our eagerness to try
and paint these youngsters as rotten
apples, as singular stories of ordinary
people whose lives go terribly wrong for
some reason. That ignores the ecosys-
tem that connects them, feeds their
fevered fantasies and abets and encour-
ages them. Investigations will reveal
who was involved to what extent, who
led and who was led. Perhaps some
were unwitting accomplices who just
allowed their emails to be used.
But it is also true that they were not
just posting rabid conspiracy theories
that were proven false. Bulli Bai and
Sulli Deals were depraved apps that
took pleasure in humiliating Muslim
women. The larger question is, how was
it just fun and games for them? This is
not young people breaking windows on
a lark. Some of them were savvy enough
to create multiple aliases suggesting dif-
ferent religious identities to confuse
people trying to track them down.
There is something far more sick at
work here. We have to accept that peo-
ple are capable of doing terrible things
to other people, especially when they
feel they are cloaked in anonymity.
There are no easy answers. Young
people have gotten radicalised from
time immemorial. The online world has
just made it faster and easier to find like-
minded people and live entirely in a
world that reinforces a narrow world
view. WhatsApp forwards don’t make
us radicalised, they just play into exist-
ing biases. The more worrying issue is
the alternate reality these young people
inhabit.
The Sulli Deals and Bulli Bais are
clearly just the tip of the iceberg. They
were so egregious they stuck out and
ignited a civil war within the right
wing—the so-called “raitas” who sup-
port mainstream BJP/RSS (Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh) politics and the
more hard-core “trads” who think they
are too moderate.
We think in our naivety that we can
fix these issues by fact-checking,
through logic and reason. But alternate
realities do not work that way, says
Shivam Shankar Singh, co-author of
The Art Of Conjuring Alternate Reali-
ties. By the time the fact-check hap-
pens at the content level, Singh said in
an interview, “you’ve already bought
Bulli Bai and Sulli Deals were depraved apps that took pleasure in humiliating Muslim
women. The larger question is, how was it just fun and games for them?
Bulli Bai case—just the tip of the iceberg
Several of those arrested in the Bulli Bai and Sulli Deals cases were young middle-class techies. ISTOCKPHOTO
CULT
FRICTION
S A N D I P
R O Y
Shrabonti Bagchi
Shrabonti.B@livemint.com
I
n his short story Where Is Gopal?, pub-
lished on 1 January in Lounge, author
Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar writes
about the lives of two Adivasi factory
workers, Purnima and Gopal, who are
from the Santal villages surrounding Jam-
shedpur, Jharkhand. Hansda (his family
name) writes of them walking hand in
hand in the 500-acre Jubilee Park, visiting
the new and posh PM Mall, sitting beside
the river Subarnarekha in Kanderbera.
Growing up in Jamshedpur, I didn’t
know any Purnimas and Gopals. I hadn’t
met them in Jubilee Park, in PM Mall (or
its less swanky predecessors), or during a
picnic in Kanderbera. They were not to be
found in my neighbourhood of predomi-
nantly middle-class Bengalis and Biharis,
or among my friends, who were mainly
the children of Tata Iron and Steel Co.
(Tisco) executives; nor even in my slightly
more heterogenous school, which did
have a sprinklingof students from the
nearby Muslim neighbourhood. Jam-
shedpur is often held up—mostly by peo-
ple like me who grew up in this clean,
green, well-ordered city and continue to
cherish it with a deep, abiding, nostalgic
love—as “cosmopolitan”. Despite these
claims, however, we failed to notice that
the Adivasis had been systematically
erased from its cultural, social and eco-
nomic life. We didn’t even realise that the
original inhabitants of our city were
entirely missing from it.
They, at least, had a name for us—we
were the diku, the non-Adivasi.
A few months ago, it was an essay/
review of the book In Forest, Field And
Factory: Adivasi Habitations Through
Twentieth Century India by Gauri Bharat,
written by Hansda for the Third Eye Por-
tal, that made me see this starkly. “Do Adi-
vasis build cities? Yes, they do. Aren’t they
the ones mixing cement and water, the
ones carrying mortar on their heads and
climbing up scaffolding, the ones working
amidst scalding tar fumes under the hot
sun? But do these Adivasis build these cit-
ies for themselves? Do they own these cit-
ies? No,” writes Hansda.
Bharat, who is an architect and the head
of the architectural history and theory
programme at CEPT University, Ahmeda-
bad, is from Jamshedpur too, and mirrors
a common enough experience when she
writes in the book (published by Yoda
Press in December 2019): “As a young per-
son growing up in Jamshedpur...I was
largely oblivious to the presence of Adiva-
sis in the city and beyond. I had heard of
them of course, but they were almost
abstract, living somewhere deep within
unknown forests, far outside the moder-
nity of the city.”
The book is a culmination of 20 years of
work researching Adivasi, specifically
Santal, homes—a subject on which there
has been scant academic inquiry in post-
independence India. When and why did
Santal families give up building wood
houses and shift to building with mud?
How did different Santal villages develop
distinctly different mural art traditions?
What are the different parts of a typical
Santal home? Why do Santal houses not
have windows on the outside? Bharat set
out to answer these questions, and in the
process she delves into a new kind of his-
torical narrative—one that offers a
glimpse into not just everyday Santal life
but provides perspective on the erasure of
Adivasi history in the narrative of Jam-
shedpur as a model industrial city.
“This powerful narrative not only cap-
tured people’s imagination but effectively
made the region relevant to the nation
almost entirely through the lens of indus-
trial development…for most people, there
was no significant history prior to the
establishment of mines and factories,”
Bharat writes in her introduction.
“It’s almost as if the city sprung into life
from nothing,” she says over a phone call.
“But there are colonial records of the sur-
vey and settlement process, which hap-
pened through the late 19th and early
20th century. If you look at survey maps
from this time, you can see that the places
that make up Jamshedpur today are dot-
ted with the names of Adivasi villages.
They were around in the 1850s.” She
believes a lot of what we are seeing—and
not seeing—today is part of this historical
invisibility. “Around 120 years ago, if the
Adivasis were not even considered full cit-
izens, there was no question of creating
space for them within the fabric of the city.
The erasure is historic, but the marginali-
sation is a continuous kind of process
which extends to the present day.”
The clear-headed yet empathetic way
in which Bharat writes the book makes it
fascinating reading not just for students of
architecture and architectural history but
anyone interested in the lives of Adivasis
in modern India. It not only provides a sig-
nificant lens through which to look at
these communities but also records how
changes in the way they construct their
homes, the orak, indicate changing priori-
ties and social structures. “During one of
my research trips, I met a Santal woman
who was running a self-help group and
had a busy life. She had built a modern
concrete house instead of an orak. She
told me very clearly ‘now I have time to do
other things because I am not sitting and
plastering the walls all day’, referring to
the mud walls of oraks that need to be
maintained with fresh mud. Most of this
labour falls on women,” says Bharat.
She constantly questions established
narratives about Adivasis in the book—not
just their homogenising (actually, Adivasi
communities are distinct and diverse) but
also a shift that took place with the crea-
tion of the state of Jharkhand, when tribal
communities gained more political and
social power—at least in theory—and a
“specific, simplistic imagination of this
culture” emerged. From being ignored,
Adivasis became mythologised and
romanticised as simple forest-dwellers;
“the antithesis of industrial modernity,” as
Bharat puts it.
Contrary to a certain narrative that
imagines Adivasis as somehow more egal-
itarian and sexually liberated than the
mainstream, for instance, her book reveals
that most villages and communities are
patriarchal and hierarchical, just like most
of Indian society. Women are still not
allowed into the jaherthan or jahera—the
sacred groves of the Santals—and it’s
always the eldest man of the household
who is allowed to offer worship to the fam-
ily deities in the bhitar, which is the sacred
spot within the orak.
A similar complexity underpins our
understanding of what Santal houses
“should” look like, says Bharat. At the end
of her fieldwork in each village, she would
conduct an exercise where she would dis-
play around 30-40 photographs of the vil-
lage to its residents and then ask them to
pick the most important spots. Unani-
mously, across the several villages in
which she conducted this exercise, people
picked the sacred grove, the jaherthan, as
the most important place, usually fol-
lowed by the majhithan, another sacred
site for Santals that marks the home of the
ancestral headman, or majhi, of the vil-
lage. After that came the village school, a
source of water, and so on. The orak
almost never featured in this list, and Bha-
rat finds this fascinating. “I told them that
I found this surprising, because as an out-
sider, I thought their houses are remarka-
ble— they are really stunning bits of archi-
tecture. But they were like ‘uska kya hai?
Wahan hum sirf sone jaate hain’ (we just
sleep there). Now our way of thinking is
that the home is an important place, cen-
tral and significant to our lives, and that is
where you begin to see that there is a clear
difference in how they value their envi-
ronment and the logic behind that value,
versus how we, as outsiders, would value
their environment,” says Bharat.
Adivasi modernity doesn’t have to look
like non-Adivasi modernity but that
doesn’t mean there isn’t such a thing, she
adds. “So you have someone who works in
a factory, has a mobile phone, but lives in
a mud house and visits the sacred grove.
There are so many identities within one
identity… so many points of tension,” she
says.
And it is this complexity that Bharat’s
book brings alive. In forest, field and fac-
tory, the Adivasi is not just the Adivasi—
but perhaps we are always the diku.
THE MISSING ADIVASIS OF
JAMSHEDPUR
A book on Santal houses
and architectural
practices sheds light on
the erasure of the Adivasi
from Jamshedpur, often
held up as a model city
The outside walls of Santal homes are window-less; and (below) the inner courtyard or ‘racha’ of a typical Santal home.
into the narrative, you’ve already
accepted the fact that the Muslim pop-
ulation is going to overtake the Hindu
population by 2030 or Muslims will
not survive in India in the next 30
years.” That belief, reinforced over and
over again through the algorithms of
the social media we consume, becomes
part of our identity.
The connection is not logical. It’s
emotional. So, a factual attack feels like
an attack on our core. Anyway, the fact-
checkershave long been discredited as
the enemy by those peddling the narra-
tive. While we may accept one fact as
erroneous, we are loath to let go of the
ecosystem because without that we
would feel truly orphaned.
Meanwhile, even as the Bulli Bai and
Sulli Deals apps were dominating social
media, a video emerged of people in
Kundi Kalan village in Chhattisgarh’s
Surguja district taking a group pledge
to boycott Muslim vendors and end all
commercial transactions with them,
including giving them land on lease.
Police allege the “pledge” was orches-
trated by mischief-makers taking
advantage of a New Year brawl
between two villages. Whatever the
reason, the fact remains that the
ground was fertile for such a pledge.
While calls for riots and lynchings and
Bulli Bai apps are easier to condemn
because they employ tactics that are
overtly violent or hideously misogynis-
tic, this calm, matter-of-fact, almost
disciplined pledge is chilling. Is it proof
that the shadowy alternate virtual reali-
ties are bearing toxic fruit above the
ground as well?
This will not be so easy to “counsel
and reform” or explain away with sto-
ries of personal tragedy.
Cult Friction is a fortnightly column on
issues we keep rubbing up against. San-
dip Roy is a writer, journalist and radio
host.
@sandipr
THIRD EYE PORTAL
Bharat also records how
changes in the way they
construct their homes,
the ‘orak’, indicate
changing priorities and
social structures
COURTESY GAURI BHARAT
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ne of the unexplained conun-
drums of independent, ‘secular’
India is the unabashed involve-
ment of the government in the
management of Hindu places of
worship all over the country.
This issue, which has been
simmering for decades but
pushed under the carpet by the
Nehruvians and Marxists, has
now come to the fore because of
the pragmatic initiative of Kar-
nataka Chief Minister Basavaraj
Bommai to liberate Hindu tem-
ples in his state from govern-
ment control.
The Congress party, which has
been the fountainhead of a dubi-
ous brand of secularism in the
country since the days of Jawa-
harlal Nehru, had ensured gov-
ernment control over Hindu tem-
ples across the nation through
various laws and regulations
that fly against the basic secular
tenets of the Constitution. In oth-
er words, the Nehru government
continued the British policy of
controlling temples and dipping
into their funds.
The Preamble to the Constitu-
tion, when it first came into force
in 1950, defined India as a “sover-
eign democratic republic”. Later,
during the Emergency, the
Congress party added the words
“socialist” and “secular” to
the Preamble.
Apart from the Preamble, the
assertion of the secular ideal can
be seen in other articles of the
Constitution, notably including
Articles 25 and 26.
Article 25 guarantees freedom
of conscience and free profes-
sion, practice and propagation of
religion; Article 26 guarantees
the freedom to manage religious
affairs. It declares that every de-
nomination or any section there-
of shall have the right to estab-
lish and maintain institutions
for religious and charitable pur-
poses; to manage its own affairs
in matters of religion; and to
own and acquire property and
administer it.
Muslims, Christians, Sikhs
and other religious denomina-
tions utilise these constitutional
guarantees to the fullest
and manage their institutions.
These institutions are out of
bounds for the government.
However, since Independence,
the government has been intrud-
ing into the affairs of Hindu re-
ligious institutions in what con-
stitutes gross contempt for this
constitutional provision and for
the sentiments of 100 crore Hin-
dus in the country.
Such is the callous indiffer-
ence of the Congress party to
the fundamental principles
in the Constitution that it has
now begun advancing several bi-
zarre arguments against Chief
Minister Bommai’s plan to liber-
ate the temples.
Some of these arguments, in-
cluding those of D K Shivaku-
mar, President of the Karnataka
Pradesh Congress Committee
(KPCC), are rather strange.
In his recent tweets in Kanna-
da, Shivakumar says that the ex-
chequer gets a lot of funds from
Hindu temples in southern
states. As a result of Covid, the
state’s treasury is getting emp-
tied out. At a time like this, to lib-
erate temples from state control
and hand them over to private in-
dividuals is like rubbing salt into
the wound.
Terming the Karnataka gov-
ernment’s move a “historic blun-
der”, Shivakumar contends that
the temples are the “wealth of
the government” because crores
of rupees pour in from them into
the treasury.
According to media reports,
Karnataka has close to 35,000
temples and they are placed in
three categories depending on
the annual revenue they gener-
ate. The most prominent temples
have generated around `1,400
crore in the last couple of years.
The arguments of Shivakumar
defy constitutional logic. He sees
the offerings of Hindu devotees
in temples as revenue, just like
excise, sales tax and so on.
Sadly, the Hindus have allowed
this to go on for so long that there
are politicians in the country
who believe that it is the right of
the government to treat these
places of worship as milch cows.
The statements of the KPCC
president need to be challenged.
It is indeed amazing to hear his
argument that if the government
disengages itself from the busi-
ness of running temples, the
state’s revenues will drop! Would
he dare ask the mosques, church-
es and gurdwaras in the state to
remit all the offerings of devo-
tees to the government treasury,
since Covid continues to haunt
us? How is it the responsibility
of just Hindus to buttress the
government’s coffers during
times of financial distress?
More importantly, since the
Congress introduced the word
‘secular’ into the Preamble, can
the KPCC president explain what
this term means to him? Is not
the equal treatment of all reli-
gions the central pillar of secu-
larism? Further, what about Ar-
ticle 26? Is it the Congress party’s
contention that Hindus are
barred from exercising the right
to establish and maintain their
religious places and manage the
affairs of their religion?
One of the arguments ad-
vanced by pseudo-secularists is
that if temples are managed by
Hindu individuals, there will be
chaos and mismanagement. Are
Muslim and Christian religious
places and institutions managed
well? If they are not, will the gov-
ernment step in?
Bommai’s move comes in the
wake of growing sentiments
against the government control
of Hindu temples and the views
of key public opinion influenc-
ers like Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev.
He says there are 44,000 temples
with over half a million acres of
land under the management of
the Tamil Nadu government.
However, the revenue from these
temples is a paltry `128 crore. In
comparison, the Sadhguru says,
the Shiromani Gurdwara Par-
bandhak Committee manages 85
gurdwaras, but its budget is over
`1,000 crore. This statistic is in-deed an eye-opener.
One must congratulate the
Karnataka chief minister for
having raised the red flag. He
must live up to his promise, de-
vise a system to disengage the
government from temple control
and set an example that all other
states can follow.
(suryamedia@gmail.com)
10
INDIAN EXPRESS IS NOT AN
INDUSTRY. IT IS A MISSION.
— Ramnath Goenka
VODAFONE BAILOUT
SHOWS URGENT NEED
FOR POLICY REFORMS
T
he government will emerge as the larg-
est shareholder of Vodafone Idea, ac-
quiring a 35.8% stake in lieu of the
`16,000 crore pending interest payments.
Stake acquisition of private entities was
never on the government’s agenda and serves
at cross purposes, given its deep desire for
privatisation. The biggest achievement this
fiscal is undoubtedly the sale of Air India, but
owning up stake in Vodafone, even out of
compulsion, seems ironic just when the an-
nual disinvestment target is likely to be
missed by a country mile. The rescue act isn’t
finished yet, as being the largest shareholder,
it’s in the government’s interest to protect
Vodafone’s equity value so that the telco
doesn’t break the buck.
Much of the telecom operators’ suffering
was due to intense tariff wars and policy pit-
falls. They suffered a fatal blow when the ver-
dict in the Adjusted Gross Revenue case went
in favour of the government. The worst hit
among them was Vodafone Idea, which has
one foot in the grave, reeling under a debt bur-
den of `1.95 lakh crore. Its subscriber base
crashed from 400 million to some 250 million,
while its market share plunged from 35% to
24%. Now, the government’s bailout package
eases its cash flows and improves the near-
term liquidity concerns reducing its payment
outgo. On its part, Vodafone must give its all
to raise long-term funding needed to acquire
5G spectrum, accelerate network investments,
arrest subscriber attrition, and regain lost
customers and market share. Importantly, it
must start making money soon so as to meet
its enhanced payments to the government
once the moratorium period ends.
But Vodafone’s survival also rests on two
other stakeholders—the government and arch
rivals Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio. First,
telcos must be bent on increasing average rev-
enue per user as that’s the only way to pull
through. As analysts note, an increase in tar-
iffs appears certain now that the likelihood of
Vodafone’s demise is a less-likely event. Lastly,
the government, with stakes in multiple tel-
cos, must ensure a sound policy regime to
avoid the need for further relief packages.
HARVEST FESTIVAL IN
THE TIME OF COVID
T
he third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic,
spurred by the Omicron variant, has
swept metropolitan cities in India, leav-
ing a trail of fatigue on the battle-weary
people. Most victims may have shown
mild symptoms and recovered promptly at
home without a mandatory hospital visit. As
a result, the current wave has not led to hospi-
tals getting overwhelmed, but people with
comorbidities and those undergoing surgeries
are definitely facing the brunt of the fast-
spreading infection.
The fact remains that metropolitan cities
are now mega clusters in the country, thanks
to the high density of people. Both Kolkata and
Chennai account for nearly half of the new
cases in their respective states, while more
than one-third of new cases in Maharashtra
are from Mumbai. Delhi recorded nearly 28,000
new cases on January 12, the second highest
since the pandemic began, with a positive rate
of 26%. According to the health ministry, cities
are the main regions of concern. Compara-
tively better health infrastructure in cities
brings some solace, but the disquiet is palpa-
ble. The virus is fast spreading to the country-
side, where health facilities are weaker.
Hence, it becomes important for state gov-
ernments to slow the spread by all means.
Sunday lockdowns and fresh curbs are re-
minders that we do not live in normal times
and we can’t afford to let our guard down. For
instance, in Tamil Nadu, places of worship
are shut upto January 18, the period of Pon-
gal festivities, and a complete lockdown is
imposed on Sunday. Jallikattu events have
been permitted with restrictions, with bull
tamers being forced to come with double vac-
cinations and negative RT-PCR test results.
Buses can carry only 75% of their capacity
and the government is making available more
transport facilities to help people going home
for Pongal celebrations.
Yet, not all states have enforced restrictions
to slow the viral transmission. Health offi-
cials need to be on constant vigil over the
movement of people so that they are ready for
any emergency.
CHENNAI FRIDAY 14�01�2022
John D
Barrow
The Indian system of counting is probably the most
successful intellectual innovation ever devised by
human beings. It has been universally adopted. ...It
is the nearest thing we have to a universal language
THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
Chairman of the Board: Manoj Kumar Sonthalia Editor: G S Vasu
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WHY SHOULD THE
GOVERNMENT RUN
HINDU TEMPLES?
Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and people from other religions
utilise constitutional guarantees and manage their own
institutions. Why do Hindus not have this freedom?
O
A SURYA
PRAKASH
Former chairman of Prasar Bharati
and Scholar, Democracy Studies
HOW SCIENCE & TECH FLOURISHED IN ANCIENT INDIA
J
anuary 14 is Makara Sankranti,
and it is celebrated all over
the country and wherever Indi-
an culture has spread. It is
known as Bihu in Assam, Pon-
gal in Tamil Nadu, Uttarayan in
Uttar Pradesh, Shishur Saenk-
raat in Kashmir, Songkran in
Thailand, Thingyan in Myan-
mar, Mohan Songkran in Cam-
bodia and so on. On this day, the
sun, the source of life on earth,
transits into Capricorn and
moves into the northern hemi-
sphere. The knowledge of this
astronomical feat is as old as the
Indian civilisation.
Indian astronomy has a long
history and was a Vedanga, an
auxiliary discipline associated
with the study of the Vedas, dat-
ing back to 1,500 BCE or earlier.
Varahamihira, Aryabhata,
Bhaskara, Brahmagupta and oth-
ers were astronomers who even
mention their scientific instru-
ments. Maharaja Jai Singh II of
Jaipur constructed five Jantar
Mantars in New Delhi, Jaipur,
Ujjain, Mathura and Varanasi.
They give us a good idea of the
early scientific tools.
India produced great scientists
and mathematicians. Baudhaya-
na in 800 BCE calculated the val-
ue of pi and discovered what is
now known as the Pythagoras’
theorem. Pythagoras lived in
sixth century BCE Greece; and
the third century CE sophist Phi-
lostratus says that Pythagoras
studied under Hindu sages or
gymnosophists in India. Brah-
magupta lived in seventh century
Ujjain and wrote several books
on mathematics and astronomy.
India was the source of the
number system, now called the
Arabic numerals because the Ar-
abs took it everywhere. This
number system is a feat of gen-
ius. It enables all numbers to be
expressed with just ten symbols—
the numbers 1 through 9 and the
symbol for zero. Without this key,
we would have a separate word
for each number and be hopeless-
ly confused. It is this brilliant In-
dian numeral system that makes
mathematics, modern account-
ing, business deals and computer
technology possible; from Wall
Street to the space programme,
moderncivilisation depends
on this number system. Brah-
magupta was the first to discuss
zero as a number and established
the basic mathematical rules
for it. He did a lot of work in ge-
ometry, trigonometry and discov-
ered new theorems. He also ex-
plained how to find cubes, cube
roots, squares and square roots.
Fifty years before the Italian
mathematician Fibonacci wrote
about the number sequence, now
known as the Fibonacci num-
bers, a sage named Hemchandra
wrote about this sequence, but
even he was not the first Indian
to do so. An earlier Indian math-
ematician named Gopala had
also studied these numbers. And
several earlier Indian mathema-
ticians also knew about them.
In 500 CE, Aryabhata, and later
Brahmagupta understood that
the earth is round. They talked
about gravity, saying that it is the
nature of the earth to attract ob-
jects, causing them to fall to-
wards the ground.
Bhaskaracharya wrote about
arithmetic, geometry, algebra
and calculus. Isaac Newton and
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
are given credit for being the first
to introduce calculus, but
Bhaskaracharya had written
about it 500 years earlier. Bhaska-
racharya had calculated the time
taken for the earth to travel
around the sun: 365.2588 days.
The modern measurement is
365.25636, a difference of just 3.5
minutes. He did not work with
instruments or computers. He
knew that the earth travels
around the sun at a time when
the West did not; when people
thought the sun revolved around
the earth.
But it was not in mathematics
alone that Indians flourished. Su-
shruta was a great surgeon who
used 125 different surgical in-
struments and herbal sprays be-
fore an operation to prevent sep-
sis. His greatest contribution
was in the fields of plastic sur-
gery and cataract removal. When
the British arrived, they learned
these sciences from Indian doc-
tors, cut off their fingers so that
the Indians could never practise
again, and introduced plastic
and cataract surgery in British
medical colleges as their inven-
tion. Charaka wrote about herbal
treatments that Indians are just
rediscovering. In 300 BCE, Patan-
jali codified the Yoga sutras. In
200 BCE, Kanada wrote about
gravity and that the universe is
made up of atoms. Nagarjuna
was a great metallurgist and
chemist. The list is endless.
Indian science and technology
began at Mehrgarh (now in Paki-
stan) and continued throughout
the country’s history. People de-
veloped different systems of ag-
riculture, irrigation, canals and
water storage systems, including
artificial lakes, by 3,000 BCE.
Cotton was cultivated by 5,000–
4,000 BCE. They farmed with
animal-drawn ploughs in the In-
dus Civilisation in 2,500 BCE.
The people of the Indus-Sarasva-
ti region used weights and meas-
ures. Large numbers are used in
the Vedas. The earliest-known
dock in the world, which could
berth and service ships, was situ-
ated at Lothal in Gujarat. Indian
metallurgy was very advanced.
Steel was made in India from 500
BCE. King Porus gifted Alexan-
der a steel sword in 326 BCE. The
iron pillar located in Delhi is sev-
en metres high and has never
rusted. Over 5,000 years ago,
there were dentists in the Indus-
Sarasvati region. A modern sci-
entist who was looking at the
teeth of people who had died
there long ago found that ancient
dentists had drilled teeth as far
back as 9,000 years ago.
Young people should be taught
about the scientific and mathe-
matical achievements of India.
But it should be scientific, logical
and truthful. Unfortunately, even
centres of higher learning are
claiming the impossible. We do
not need to resort to falsehoods to
establish our scientific prowess.
The truth is sufficiently amazing.
What we can be sure of is that In-
dia played a central role in all
that is known today of mathemat-
ics and many sciences, and our
civilisation discovered these con-
cepts several millennia before
they were known in Europe.
(nankrishna18@gmail.com)
NANDITHA
KRISHNA
Historian, environmentalist
and writer based in Chennai
Hasty alliances short-lived
The ongoing confusion in poll-bound
UP, with hectic attempts at political
realignments after the successive
resignation of BJP ministers, reflects
how personal ambitions among party
leaders override their credentials as
men of principle. But hasty alliances
and unprincipled defections will be
short-lived.
R Pichumani, Kumbakonam
Political opportunism
Uttar Pradesh Cabinet ministers
Swami Prasad Maurya and Dara Singh
Chauhan, considered to be the faces
of backward classes in the BJP, have
resigned for the reason that the Yogi
government had not ‘done anything’
for BCs. Some MLAs have followed suit
and it is perceived that there will be
more. They are likely to join the SP.
The two former ministers had earlier
jumped ship from the BSP to the BJP.
If they felt the SP had done yeomen
service for BCs, why didn’t they join
the party right away? Why did it
take them five years to realise that
the BJP had not done anything?
This is nothing but political
opportunism by the leaders.
K R Jayaprakash Rao, Mysuru
K-Rail not realistic
The Indian Railways expressing concern
over the financial viability of Kerala’s
K-Rail project is a step in the right
direction. Currently, there is a lack of
clarity on the estimated revenue and
passenger numbers for the project. The
ecological imbalance that would be
created is far beyond any estimate. The
project is not realistic.
K A Solaman, Alappuzha
Contain infection spread
This is with reference to Ad hoc Delhi Covid
response shows lack of coherence (Jan 13).
Delhi has seen its daily Covid cases tally
making records in the wake of the Omicron
spread. Strengthening the vaccination
drive and awarding stringent punishment
to those who violate Covid protocols can
contain the spread of the infection.
P Victor Selvaraj, Palayamkottai
Ecosystem for job growth
The article India’s paradox: Vacant
posts and joblessness (Jan 9), has hit
the nail on the head when it conveyed
that the creation of an ecosystem that
could propel job growth in the country
should be the primary focus of our
policymakers. The presence of
vacancies in government departments
cannot be counted as the correct
barometer of net joblessness in the
country; a massive right-sizing is being
attempted in those organisations.
What successive governments failed
to ensure was equal growth of all the
sectors of the economy. This resulted
in lopsided growth and the inability of
workers to switch jobs across sectors
seamlessly. Demonetisation and a
botched implementation of the GST
followed by two spells of the pandemic
have crippled the unorganised sectors,
resulting in massive unemployment/
underemployment in the country.
S Vasudevan, Talcher
SOUMYADIP SINHA
What about Article 26? Is it the
Congress party’s contention that Hindus
are barred from exercising the right to
establish and maintain their religious places
and manage the affairs of their religion?
Young people should be taught about
the scientific and mathematical
achievements of India. But it should be
scientific, logical and truthful. Unfortunately,
even centres of higher learning are claiming
the impossible. We do not need to resort
to falsehoods to establish our scientific
prowess. The truth is sufficiently amazing
THE TRIBUNE10 GURUGRAM | SATURDAY | 15 JANUARY 2022OPINION
When Indians get angry
Demilitarisation of glacier
Pakistan's recent National Security
Policy articulating that for the next
100 years it wouldn't be seeking hostil-
ity with India has been put to test by
our Army Chief, who has offered
demilitarisation of Siachen Glacier,
provided Pakistan accepted the Actu-
al Ground Position Line. Will Pakistan
take do it? Continued deployment on
the glacier makes no economic sense
for both India and Pakistan as they
spend billions of rupees to maintain
troops on the highest battlefieldof the
world. Precious human lives are lost
to avalanches and extremely cold
weather every day. Even strategically,
there is no logic for Pakistan to contin-
ue to deploy there as it holds lower
heights. If the economy is at the core
of Pakistan's NSP, it must seize the
offer at once. Any meaningful trade
between the two nations can take
place only if there are no conflicts on
the borders. We must upgrade the
offer of demilitarisation to the highest
political level. The only way forward
for peace between two neighbours is
to have clearly demarcated borders. It
is true of both India and Pakistan and
India and China.
LT COL GS BEDI (RETD), MOHALI
Perennial hostility
‘ Pakistan’s new security policy
seeks peace with India: Report’ has
to be taken with a pinch of salt. Pak-
istan’s media says that the
prospects of rapprochement with
India’s current government were
remote. It implies that Pakistan’s
new peace policy flashed in the
media has a hidden agenda of hos-
tility. It wants to destabilise and
covertly malign the present govern-
ment of India. Has Pakistan ever
been friendly to any government of
India since 1947?
LR SHARMA, SUNDERNAGAR
Make amends
Refers to ‘Punjab Government
tripped, and how’; intentions of the
state authorities are reflected from
their acts of commission and omis-
sion. Nobody stopped the protest-
ers from blocking the route of the
Prime Minister at a flyover which
created a very serious security
threat. Various roads leading to the
rally site were blocked so that peo-
ple could not reach their destina-
tion. After the return of the PM,
many irresponsible statements like
‘How’s the josh’ and ‘it is a drama’
were made by some politicians
occupying key positions. This has
affected the credibility of leaders in
power. In a damage control effort,
CM Channi has expressed regret to
the PM for what happened on Jan-
uary 5, though it is inexcusable. He
may now personally request the
Prime Minister to pay homage to
martyrs at Hussainiwala assuring
that all protocols shall be observed.
SUBHASH VAID, NEW DELHI
Virtual campaigns
In view of the widespread out-
break of the third wave of coron-
avirus, there is a demand that
political rallies be banned and the
parties should campaign through
media or social media. It is an
opportunity that should be seized.
It will save election expenditure
and remove the influence of mon-
ey power on voters. The burden on
election officials will also be less.
The politicians would not be able
to raise too much mud against
each other, and they will be forced
to focus only on their own achieve-
ments and promises.
RAVINDER MITTAL, BY MAIL
Farmers and elections
During the prolonged farmers’
protest, all kisan unions were work-
ing together. There was no dispute
among them. However, after the
protest was over, some of them
started a blame game against each
other due to the elections in Pun-
jab. This shows the worst state of
politics in the state.
LAKSHAY ANAND, MOHALI
Snow blocks roads
Refer to ‘Mild snow in Shimla; 450
roads blocked’; winter snow blocks
roads and halts life in Himachal
Pradesh, but not in Canada, the
US, China or Russia. Evaluate eco-
nomic loss to the state, people,
tourists and border security by
road blocks simply due to snow.
Abroad roads are kept clean by
timely scraping snow in cities and
highways. Why can't this be made
available here? It costs little when
snow is scrapped timely instead
afterwards when it hardens. To
match China at the borders, it is
necessary to keep road lifelines
working in all weather conditions.
ASHOK KUMAR GOEL, PANCHKULA
What is govt for?
The SC has issued a notice on the
plea seeking action against hate
speeches at a religious event held
in Hardwar last month. The dis-
turbing point here is that if the SC
has to intervene in each and every
issue, what for do we elect a govern-
ment? There has not been a word of
condemnation from our lawmakers
during this time. Why is our young
generation being fed poison by
such hate speeches distorting past
incidents? We have to save our cul-
ture and society from such hatred.
BHUPINDER KOCHHAR, PANCHKULA
RK Prashar
IT all happened when I was just
beginning to hone my writing skills.
In the course of time, I had become
a lesser-known feature writer, mostly
having penned on people and places.
Once, the Nehru Yuvak Kendra
organised a 10-day sports camp for
rural youths in a remote idyllic vil-
lage. The village fell in the Assembly
constituency of the then MLA of
Chamba, Sagar Chand Nayyar, also a
minister. The camp on the concluding
day had to be presided over by him.
Having found none to do a wee bit
for the Press, the coordinator of the
kendra called on me to cover the con-
cluding day programme.
Since the programme was in a far-
off village and a reasonable lung-
busting climb had to be trudged, we
decided to be in time and set out ear-
ly in the morning so that the minister
could be warmly received.
We fast travelled in the coordina-
tor’s jalopy Willys jeep. The wimpy
driver took a long drag on his ‘beedi’
and set to rev up the creaky jeep.
Trundling past the dusty road, clouds
of grime had already settled on us
before we arrived at a PWD rest house,
from where we had to walk on foot.
Hardly had we started on the lateral
trail when the chowkidar of the rest
house called us from behind, inform-
ing us that he had been apprised by
the minister’s PSO on the telephone
that the minister, due to more impor-
tant engagements, would not be able
to attend the function.
The coordinator was in a fix. Locals,
including panchayat representatives,
government field officers and
women and children of some pan-
chayats, had already come forward to
receive the minister with garlands in
hands and a local band.
The coordinator, being experienced,
tackled the situation and quickly
assigned the role of the chief guest to
me. Upon reaching the reception
point, the locals were duly briefed
about the minister’s preoccupation.
I was, however, given a warm wel-
come, though many were suspicious-
ly gawking at me if I was their MLA.
My nervousness went unnoticed as
the jarring village band played on
local lilting songs.
Ceremonial speeches were made
and a colourful programme by the tra-
ditionally dressed folks was presented.
Even while I was enjoying the atten-
tion of the village folks, the thought of
the minister’s wrath, in case he
sneaked on to my deemed imperson-
ation, filled me with dread.
But came the moment when I had
to be timidly invited to make a con-
cluding speech. I stood confidently
at the dais and besides heaping
praise on the local minister, I praised
the government’s various develop-
mental and welfare initiatives. The
gathering clapped cheerily and the
programme concluded. Back home,
detailed about the programme by
the coordinator, Nayyar — known for
his untarnished image, simplicity
and honesty — congratulated us for
the successful programme with a
hearty laugh. And I came up with a
developmental feature.
P OLL time is when oppor-
tunists wager their political
capital. So, party-hopping
during elections deserves
special attention, particularly when
ministers and local strongmen put
their greed at stake. In Uttar Pradesh,
12 MLAs, including three ministers,
have quit in just three days. This is a
significant turn of events because
nobody normally dismounts a winning
horse, that too a saffron stud. In a clear
case of vindictive afterthought, the
backward caste minister Swami
Prasad Maurya, who quit the BJP on
Tuesday, was served an arrest warrant
the day after his resignation from the
Yogi Adityanath cabinet.
The first sign of serious distress for the
BJP in UP was the Centre’s decision to
repeal the contentious farm laws. It was
clearly aimed at the Jat community that
has varying degrees of influence across
western UP, which accounts for 135
seats. Soon, reports from western UP
(including The Tribune’ s story, ‘Winter
of discontent in western UP’) indicated
that the Jat discontent is getting con-
verted into a social alliance of Jatsand
Muslims against the BJP over the sec-
ular issue of farm distress and the
Centre’s apathetic imposition of the
laws, even if they were subsequently
repealed. This social alliance has also
found a political expression in the tie-
up of Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya
Lok Dal with Akhilesh Yadav’s Sama-
jwadi Party. Interestingly, western UP
goes to the polls in the first two phas-
es and will be badly affected by the
campaign ban on account of the
milder Omicron surge.
The BJP had won about 100 out of
135 western UP seats and 51 of the 71
Jat-dominated constituencies in the
last Assembly polls in 2017. With a
three-fourth majority and 312 seats in a
house of 403 on its own, a loss of a few
seats would not have really mattered to
the BJP. But the Jat discontent seems
to be merely the reflection of a deeper
political angst against the ruling estab-
lishment — socially and politically. UP
is a place where one’s social identity
counts most. The more the Chief Min-
ister begins to identify with his own
caste or community, the greater the
opposition it builds. When Mulayam
Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav nur-
ture Yadavs using Muslims as props,
the other communities obviously gang
up, bringing the incumbent down.
This fact of identity anti-incumbency
or a group apathy against the Chief
Minister for empowering only his or her
own community has been ensuring
organic opposition against ruling par-
ties in UP and elsewhere, disallowing
incumbents to continue in power. Most
leaders who have bucked this trend are
those without community baggage, like
Jyoti Basu and Naveen Patnaik. Inter-
estingly, Yogi Adityanath was hyped up
as a Hindu monk without a caste bias.
The revolt of the Jats and now the oth-
er backward caste leaders against
Adityanath reveals that the BJP’s Hin-
dutva plastering over the caste cracks
is peeling off. Adityanath is looked at
more as a Thakur or Rajput leader
than a Hindutva consolidator, thereby
weakening the credibility of the
BJP’s saffron campaign.
Along with the Jats, the non-Yadav
OBCs are a significant block of voters
and when some of their leaders with a
criminal past come out of the protection
of the ruling establishment, it surely
reflects the larger sentiments of the
people who they represent. Sure, these
opportunists could be jumping ship
merely because of the fear of being
denied the party ticket or for lucrative
offers from various quarters. The BJP is
expected to deny tickets to a large num-
ber of sitting MLAs to overcome anti-
incumbency. Still, these MLAs would
have done their basic math before
throwing their ministerial perks away.
The question is: are the people of UP
angry enough with the BJP?
However much political parties take
credit for regime changes, they hap-
pen primarily because of a negative
vote. It was not a vote for the Congress
in 2004, but a vote against the BJP;
similarly, the 2014 mandate was also
for change and hope against the cor-
rupt UPA. The anti-corruption move-
ment led by Anna Hazare and Arvind
Kejriwal since 2011 successfully
unleashed a tidal wave of opposition
against the UPA; and the BJP and its
leadership were the beneficiaries.
Now, the anger against the Centre,
expressed during the farmers’ agita-
tion, has a bearing on the elections in
at least two states: UP and Punjab. In
UP, if those who have quit the BJP
have any politics beyond personal
aspirations, they seem to represent
the fury against governments at the
Centre and in Lucknow. For, the BJP
has been running a strong campaign
over the ‘double engine of growth’
and if the people are still not con-
vinced, then both the engines have to
bear the brunt of their anger.
In Punjab, the removal of Captain
Amarinder Singh has helped the Con-
gress fight anti-incumbency, particu-
larly because he has struck an alliance
with the BJP. The greatest gain for the
Congress in Punjab is that the free-
floating anti-establishment anger got
channelised into the farmers’ protest
against the Centre. So, despite the
Congress being in power in the state
for a full term without much to talk
about, the Centre has to face the peo-
ple's ire. The security lapse of not
keeping the Prime Minister’s route
sanitised has also, curiously, let the
Chief Minister score a few brownie
points with the irate farmers.
There is no landslide in the BJP’s
favour in Goa, Uttarakhand or
Manipur, giving a fillip to the theory of
the angry India. Are these Assembly
elections the tipping point of people’s
angst against the Central government?
Well, unlike other governments, partic-
ularly led by disparate coalitions, the
Modi government is cohesive, pur-
poseful and proactive. It sees the writ-
ing on the wall much before others do,
courtesy its regular surveys that read
the people’s pulse. If the Haridwar
and Raipur Dharm Sansads, commu-
nal spite and the moth-eaten idea of
polarisation are the BJP’s only anti-
dote to the incensed voter, these old
tricks may not work — for an angry
India does not think communally.
Letters to the Editor, typed in double space, should not exceed the 200-word limit. These should be cogently written and can be sent by e-mail to: Letters@tribunemail.com
thought for the day
Let us not look back in anger, nor go forward in fear, but
around in awareness. — James Thurber
COMMON CAUSE: The farmers’ agitation has found resonance in UP. REUTERS
THE TRIBUNE
established in 1881
Loss of natural forests
India’s green cover up, but there are some setbacks
THE 17th edition of the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) offers us
some good news, but it also lays bare several areas of concern over
India’s natural ecosystem. The report says that nearly a quarter of
India is under green cover, with an addition of 2,261 sq km since the previ-
ous ISFR, released in 2019. India’s forest and tree cover now stands at 80.9
million hectares, or 24.62% of the total geographical area, a rise of 0.3% since
2019. The two-year increase in the forest cover aggregates to 1,540 sq km
and that in the tree cover to 721 sq km. India’s forest cover is 7,13,789 sq
km, or 21.71% of the geographical area, up from 21.67% in 2019. The states
that have done particularly well in increasing the forest cover are Andhra
Pradesh (647 sq km), Telangana (632 sq km) and Odisha (537 sq km).
Now, the worrying part: 1,643 sq km of dense forests have been
destroyed since 2019. There still is a net gain in green cover because 549
sq km of non-forest areas, with a canopy density of under 10%, have been
converted to dense forests, with a canopy density of over 40%. Alarming-
ly, five Northeastern states — Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya,
Mizoram and Nagaland — have lost significant forest cover, aggregating
to 1,020 sq km. Nagaland has lost 1.88% of its forest cover, followed by
Manipur (1.48%), Mizoram (1.03%), Meghalaya (0.43%) and Arunachal
Pradesh (0.39%). In the northern region, Punjab is the only loser, shed-
ding 2 sq km of forest cover, and now only 1,847 sq km of the state is under
forest cover; at 3.67%, it is a fraction of the national average of 21.71%.
Forests are not merely precious natural treasures, they are also
the lungs of a nation and repository of flora and fauna. Their
absence, coupled with overpopulation and industrialisation, can lead
to terrible levels of pollution and climate change, which can have
devastating consequences. Our forests are menaced by fires — over
3.98 lakh fires reported in the fire season in 2020-21 — and timber
mafia. ‘Progress’ too leads to encroachment, as seems to be happen-
ing at an alarming rate in the Northeast. Striking a balance is not
easy, but we must do it for the sake of the coming generations. For
that, an urgent and effective policy must be formulated and enacted.
Free-for-all at rly station
Harrowing time for passengers arriving at Chandigarh
CHANDIGARH, one of the few well-planned cities of India, gives a rude
shock to train passengers when they disembark at the city railway
station. Autorickshaw drivers and cabbies aggressively vie with each
other to hound thetravellers, particularly those who are unfamiliar with the
city. What makes things worse for the fatigued passengers is the ordeal of get-
ting past these unruly drivers, who often double up as hotel touts. Without a
functioning pre-paid auto booth, some people inevitably succumb to pres-
sure in view of the urgency to reach their destination. These travellers are
unaware of the driver’s antecedents, whether he is honestly plying his trade
or has a criminal record or tendencies. It was an autorickshaw driver who
picked up a Delhi resident from the Chandigarh railway station on Sunday
night and allegedly raped her en route to the ISBT, Sector 17.
The railway authorities have challaned 870 people — mostly autorick-
shaw drivers and cabbies — in the past six months for not having the plat-
form ticket. However, a mechanism to deal sternly with repeat offenders
is conspicuous by its absence. The fact that the menace persists clearly
shows that checking is lax, making it easy for some auto/taxi drivers to
reach the platform without paying the fine. The sealing of all unauthorised
entry points is the least that can be done, even as the possibility of a nexus
between some officials and drivers-cum-touts cannot be ruled out.
Cleanliness at railway stations is no doubt important and makes
for good optics, but an obsessive focus on this aspect under the
Swachh Rail mission is leading to gross neglect of passengers’ post-
arrival safety and comfort. The Railways should spare a thought for
people who are unable to utilise or access app-based auto/taxi servic-
es. A world-class railway station will continue to elude the Smart City
of Chandigarh as long as the authorities turn a blind eye to the
harassment of passengers. It’s high time the operations at this busy
railway station are streamlined to prevent all the chaos, which is not
only an eyesore but also a poor advertisement for the City Beautiful.
on this day...100 years ago
Three Reservations
WE have three reservations. In the first place, Swaraj in this particular form
will, in all human probability, come at the end of a series of negotiations, all
but the last of which will be unsuccessful or only partially successful. It
could come at once, only if we could posit the possibility of the whole
country speaking with one voice at an early stage in the struggle. The case
of South Africa stands on a different footing, because there the settlement
came at the end of a life-and-death struggle, in which the combatants had
had full opportunity in a single operation of testing each other’s mettle. In
any other case, attempts are sure to be made from time to time on both
sides to bring about some sort of a settlement, and it is by no means
improbable that once or twice such settlements will actually be arrived at,
or all but arrived at. If they are of such a kind that they can automatically,
and within a reasonably short time, lead India to her goal, well and good. If
they are not of such a kind, the probability is that the struggle will re-
commence when a fresh crucial question arises, leading eventually to a
fuller or complete settlement. Another point which is sometimes
overlooked is that in this struggle even the Legislatures of to-day,
defective as they are in their constitution and personnel, will take an active
part. That process has begun already. It will go forward as time proceeds,
and we are not without hope that before long these bodies will present a
united front to the bureaucracy. The Legislative Assembly has already
partially moved in the matter of its reconstitution. Every Provincial
Council will in the immediate future either formally or informally move in
the same direction, and ask for complete provincial autonomy.
lahore, sunday, january 15, 1922
❝ ❞
letters to the editor
Filling in for a minister
If communal spite and polarisation are the BJP’s only
antidote to the incensed voter, these old tricks may not
work — for an angry India does not think communally.
NOUS INDICA
RAJESH RAMACHANDRAN
The forthcoming Assembly polls could be tipping point of people’s angst against BJP
THE TRIBUNE
GURUGRAM | SATURDAY | 15 JANUARY 2022 11OPED
L EARN from history. Create
harmony and credibility.
Leave behind for future gen-
erations a life of peace and
prosperity. It’s got to be the mantra of
every political party to expunge the
lingering trauma of India’s Partition
and bloody past. Indeed, the way for-
ward could be to draw lessons from
the devastating, fratricidal Mahab-
harata war which finished after the
younger brother’s five sons killed all
100 first cousins, the sons of elder
paternal uncle, to gain power. All this
happened in Aryavarta (North India),
around the present-day capital of
India, ending with the peace of the
graveyard.
One, therefore, fears to tread and
treads with fear as an apolitical citizen
or student of history, economics, polit-
ical science, law and geography. Why
some Indians, willingly or unwillingly,
wittingly or unwittingly can’t compre-
hend as to how their (hard-earned) sov-
ereignty is likely to be eroded, and
trampled upon by a formidable foe like
China, taking unethical advantage to
fish in New Delhi’s troubled political
waters? Can two wrongs make one
right? Is it possible? Shouldn’t the
misguided Indians re-learn from the
blast of the past for course correction?
Is it too much to expect a minimum
decorum, dignity and honour from
those in position to influence the lives
of a billion-plus benign Indians?
Let’s remember that India is a gigan-
tic canvas consisting of a bewildering
variety of history, geography, culture
and tradition which changes every 75-
100 km. It’s a land where till 1947 exist-
ed more than 560 Rajas, Maharajas,
Sultans, Princes, Maliks and Sardars
along with British India, thereby con-
stituting a figure which together far
outnumbered more than 110 sovereign
nation states in the rest of the world.
Let’s recall the undeniable and indis-
putable facts and figures. The main lin-
guistic composition of India consists of
Hindi (35%); Bengali (8.12%); Telugu
(7.20%); Marathi (7%); Tamil (5.95%);
Urdu (5.02%); Gujarati (4.48%); Kannada
(3.70%); Malayalam (3.21%); Odiya
(3.21%); Punjabi (2.84%); Assamese
(1.30%); Maithili (1.18%); Bhili/Bhilodi
(0.93%); Santhali (0.63%); Kashmiri
(0.54%); Nepali (0.28%); Gondi (0.26%);
Sindhi (0.25%); Konkani (0.24%); Dogri
(0.22%); Khandeshi (0.20%); Tulu
(0.17%); Kurukh/Oraon (0.17%);
Manipuri (0.14%); Bodo (0.13%); Khasi
(0.11%); Mundari (0.10%); Ho (0.10%);
and Sanskrit (0.0013%).
Aside stands the religious affiliation:
Hindus (75%); Muslims (15%); Chris-
tians (3%); Sikhs (2.5%); Buddhists
(0.80%); Jains (0.60%); Bahais (0.17%);
Zoroastrians/Parsis (0.03%). Hence,
there’s no place for hate-mongering or
venomous sloganeering and malicious
utterances of imbecile delinquents.
All the more, as Indians always (right-
ly) pride themselves on their ‘unity in
diversity’, it would be a travesty of jus-
tice, equity and fair play to hear the open
call being given for extermination of
minority religious groups. That’s not
done. It’s totally unacceptable. We
ought to reject the horrendous history of
the medieval age; the 1947 Partition
plight of Hindu Bengalis and the repeat
1971 atrocities and forced migration of
the same Hindu Bengalis from Dhaka to
Delhi; and en masse mutual retaliatory
massacre of the Hindu Punjabis, Sikhs
and Muslims in 1947. Any repeat of his-
tory or revenge of the past, regrettably,
will be a sure way of navigating the
country towards utter destruction.
We all know the catastrophic conse-
quences of India’s partitioned Indepen-
dence, and therefore had rightly reject-
ed the ‘two nation theory’ of
Muhammad Ali Jinnah from the very
beginning, as he excelled and revelled in
the politics of hatred and hostility in the
1940s. Today, however, Jinnah’s ven-
omous policy of murder can’t be emu-
lated by 21st-century India. As any
revenge call (for Jinnah’s misdeeds)
through extermination of a religious
minority will be the recipe for self-destruction. India can do better with
saner advice and strictly follow the rule
of law, in letter and spirit, while dealing
with a microscopic minority of malicious
men masquerading as enlightened min-
strels-cum-mendicants.
One, therefore, wishes to re-empha-
sise the need to take lessons from the
past tragedies and civil wars and the
absolute necessity of avoiding repeat
mistakes in the 21st century when after
thousands of years, India appears at the
cusp of making her presence felt glob-
ally as an epitome of civilised, modern
and enlightened society/state.
Just recapitulate the venomous
sequence of the past. A deplorable deci-
sion by Muslim League supremo Jin-
nah on July 29, 1946, incited the louts
and loafers of the land despite it being a
day of unprecedented, successful gen-
eral strike. It was reported on July 31,
1946: “General strike by all communi-
ties”. It was an indisputably unique
united Hindu-Muslim strike. However,
Muslim League daily Morning Post
played spoilsport: “Muslim League
Council directs the working committee
to prepare forthwith a programme of
Direct Action to carry out the policy... to
prepare Muslims for the coming strug-
gle... when necessary.”
The president of the Bengal Chapter
of Muslim League Nazimuddin was
ecstatic and emphatic: “Time for test
has come” and the Muslim League’s
Bengal Prime Minister Shahid
Suhrawardy gave a clarion call to the
Muslim youth: “Marshal all your forces
under the Muslim League banner.”
Asked to clarify the content and nature
of the ‘Direct Action’ call, Jinnah
brusquely retorted: “I am not going to
discuss ethics.” Indeed, not once did
any Muslim League leader clarify the
nature of things to come. And, when
the day of mindless massacre and may-
hem dawned in Calcutta on August 16,
1946, it ended and resumed, with the
final outcome of 5,000-plus dead
(mostly Hindus) in four days. There-
after, retaliation and revenge by the
Hindus and Sikhs, resulted in double
the number of dead Muslims.
What was achieved? Who won, who
lost? Where is the blood-smeared glitter-
ing trophy? The questions are many, but
the answers are yet to be found.
Contextually, one can’t help but
refer to an incredible instance. My
father (then 28) was an income tax
officer in Calcutta during August
1946, residing in a government flat at
Garcha First Lane, Ballygunge. Three
unarmed Muslim vendors were
butchered in broad daylight in an act
of retaliation. The fourth survived as
my father sheltered him. Lathi-carry-
ing Bengali Hindus and sword-wield-
ing Sikhs from the adjacent Garcha
Gurdwara came at night to seek
revenge but gave him one
‘last’chance: “Explain your sin.”
There was no explanation. He chal-
lenged the 200-plus gathering: “I will
lead you to kill Jinnah the culprit, even
though I am part of the government.
Let’s murder the murderer, not an inno-
cent. Neither Sikhism nor Hinduism is
known to kill innocents. Are you
game?” He recited Gurbani and Gita.
Miraculously, both Sikhs and Hindu
Bengalis dispersed quietly. My father
repeated this at least a thousand times
in my life. Follow the rule of law, avoid
lawlessness, protect the innocent and
punish the criminal. It’s time for Indi-
ans to stand up. The fractured states of
Bengal and Punjab know best. Hence,
they don’t talk of a civil war, unlike
those whose houses are still intact.
WE often read about the
brave deeds of the offi-
cers and jawans of our
Army, whether they are
fighting terrorists or maintaining a
vigil and defending our borders.
There are, however, those whose
contributions remain unsung. Let
us remember them today as we cel-
ebrate Army Day.
Consider a typical skirmish at the
Line of Control (LoC) in the Kashmir
valley to foil an infiltration attempt,
quite often abetted by the Pakistan
army. The terrorists are eliminated
in the fire-fight, but one of our
braves is grievously injured. His
buddy pulls out his field dressing
and bandages the wound to stop the
blood flow. The unit’s Regimental
Medical Officer (RMO) is alerted. He
is aware that his timely action would
make the difference between losing
a life or a limb. So, he rushes forth
along with his nursing assistants,
unconcerned about his own safety.
Two more messages are flashed out —
one to the advanced dressing station
(ADS) and the other to the Army Avia-
tion. As the injured is evacuated, the
medical staff does a quick assessment
of the seriousness of his injury. Will
they be able to save his life or limb?
How long before he goes into an irre-
versible shock due to loss of blood?
They decide that an air evacuation to
the Base Hospital is his best chance.
The Army Aviation unit, in the mean-
while, has already acted. A helicopter is
readied for evacuation, complete with
necessary medical equipment on board
while the ground crew get it ready to fly.
The aviators are already strapped into
their seats and waiting. In a matter of
minutes, the ‘cyclic is up and the stick
goes forward’ and they are airborne;
they know that they will receive the nec-
essary briefing en route. Meanwhile, the
injured jawan’s face lights up when he
is assured that a ‘chopper’ is already on
its way to take him to the Base Hospital.
Over the years, the sterling perform-
ance of the Army aviators and doctors
has created certain undefined confi-
dence among all ranks. The aviators
have demonstrated exceptional skill
and dedication in rescue and casualty
evacuation (Casevac) operations. They
have landed where only eagles would
dare — cliffs, mountain slopes or hur-
riedly prepared ‘postage stamp-sized’
helipads, in foul weather, even putting
their lives on the line.
The doctors, on their part, have rou-
tinely pushed the envelope of their per-
formances. The medical staff often goes
beyond its brief and its specific duties in
giving treatment and carrying out
exceptional surgeries under field condi-
tions that have resulted in saving lives.
Their timely assistance has benefited
even the civilian population in the bor-
der areas. Army doctors, including vet-
erinary doctors, regularly visit villages
close to the LoC on ‘medical patrols’,
treating people and livestock. The Base
Hospital at Srinagar has a success rate of
over 96 per cent in routine as well as life-
saving surgeries, a truly enviable record.
Once during a heavy blizzard, road
and landline communication had com-
pletely broken down in Badoab — a
remote hamlet in the Gurez sector. A
clutch of villagers approached the near-
est Army post seeking medical assis-
tance for a woman in labour. The RMO
was away visiting the brigade head-
quarters and a nursing assistant (NA)
was the only one present. The RMO
could only be contacted over a radio
communication link. The NA decided
that he had to do something to save the
lives of the woman and the unborn
child. He got in touch with the RMO
who asked the NA to follow his instruc-
tions step-by-step on the radio link; the
NA did so and delivered the baby. It is
rumoured that the mother named the
baby after the NA, a South Indian lad.
At another time, a helicopter Casevac at
a post in the Gulmarg sector unexpected-
ly turned difficult when it ran into a
snowstorm which not only reduced visi-
bility drastically but also completely
obliterated the small helipad. Ordinarily,
the mission should have been aborted
but the aviators decided to challenge
their skill for the sake of the casualty. As
they approached what they estimated to
be the helipad, they could barely discern
some ghost-like figures — the men carry-
ing the casualty. Literally, on a wing and
a prayer, they kept lowering the chopper
till it sat on a pile of snow. Soon, they
were off again with the casualty safely on
board. For the aviators, the flirting with
danger soon seemed worth the risk
when, after informing the injured man
that he was being taken to the Base Hos-
pital, he was heard saying, “I knew,
sahab, that you will come, no matter
what and the Base Hospital will make
sure that I will survive.”
So, the next time you read about
another heroic incident involving the
Army,do think of the silent, unsung
angels of mercy — the Army aviators
and medical staff.
LT GEN VINAYAK PATANKAR (RETD)
DEFENCE COMMENTATOR
The sterling performance of
the Army aviators and doctors
has created undefined
confidence among all ranks.
The doctors have routinely
pushed the envelope. The
medical staff often goes
beyond its brief in giving
treatment and carrying out
exceptional surgeries under
field conditions that have
resulted in saving lives. Their
timely assistance has
benefited even the civilian
population in border areas.
Healing part of Army’s professional outreach
YEOMAN SERVICE: The Army has excelled in providing medical services
to its own personnel and the civilians. FILE PHOTO
ABHIJIT BHATTACHARYYA
COMMENTATOR AND AUTHOR
Preserve social amity, cohesion for progress
LIVING SCARS: Having suffered the trauma of Partition, the country should move on and not get
enmeshed in the sectarian divide time and again. FILE PHOTO
As Indians always pride themselves on
‘unity in diversity’, it would be a travesty
of justice, equity and fair play to hear
the open call being given for the
extermination of minority groups. That’s
not done. It’s unacceptable. There’s no
place for hate-mongering or venomous
sloganeering and malicious utterances
of imbecile delinquents. We ought to
reject the horrendous history of the
medieval age. Any repeat of history
or revenge of the past will be a sure
way of navigating the country
towards utter destruction.
ARMY DAY
su do ku calendar forecastquick crossword
ACROSS
1 Transitory (8)
5 Reiterate (4)
9 Dexterous (5)
10 Enterprising (2-5)
11 Rejecting any persuasion
(4,2,6)
13 An improvement (6)
14 Container for arrows (6)
17 Those in authority (6,4,2)
20 Clumsy mistake (7)
21 Make suitable (5)
22 Nervously anxious (4)
23 Of late (8)
DOWN
1 Needless commotion (4)
2 Plain (7)
3 To dupe (4,3,1,4)
4 Useless (2,4)
6 A salad plant (5)
7 Usual (8)
8 Give arguments in favour
(4,3,1,4)
12 Blameworthy (8)
15 Full of animation (7)
16 Die of hunger (6)
18 Extracted under pressure (5)
19 Remain (4)
JANUARY 15, 2022, SATURDAY
■ Vikrami Samvat 2078
■ Shaka Samvat 1943
■ Posh Shaka 25
■ Magh Parvishte 2
■ Hijari 1443
■ Shukla Paksha Tithi 13, up to 12.58 am
■ Brahma Yoga up to 2.32 pm
■ Mrighshikha Nakshatra up to 11.21 pm
■ Moon enters Gemini sign 9.51 am
YESTERDAY’S sOLUTION
Across: 1 Coup d’etat, 8 Horde, 9 Addenda, 10 Pebble, 11 Dragon, 12 Goodness, 15
Construe, 18 Rapids, 20 Nitwit, 21 Numeral, 22 Annul, 23 Even break.
Down: 2 Order, 3 Pledge, 4 Endanger, 5 Thread, 6 Problem, 7 Seven seas, 11 Draconian,
13 Overturn, 14 Instant, 16 Triple, 17 Appear, 19 Drama.
YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION
MEDIUM
8 5 2 7 3 9 6 1 4
1 7 4 2 5 6 9 3 8
9 3 6 4 1 8 7 2 5
6 8 1 3 4 2 5 7 9
3 4 7 8 9 5 1 6 2
2 9 5 1 6 7 4 8 3
4 2 3 5 7 1 8 9 6
5 1 9 6 8 3 2 4 7
7 6 8 9 2 4 3 5 1
9 3
1 6 3 7
7 6
5 4 1 7
6 9
4 1 5 3
5 8
7 2 9 4
9 8
Sunny Partly Cloudy Cloudy Rainy Foggy
CITY MAX MIN
Chandigarh 15 10
New Delhi 16 07
Amritsar 16 06
Bathinda 16 04
Jalandhar 16 07
Ludhiana 16 07
Bhiwani 16 08
Hisar 16 06
Sirsa 16 05
Dharamsala 13 05
Manali 10 01
Shimla 13 04
Srinagar 09 --03
Jammu 18 06
Kargil --03 --17
Leh --05 --15
Dehradun 21 07
Mussoorie 12 01
SUNSET: SATURDAY 17:45 HRS
SUNRISE: SUNDAY 07:19 HRS
TEMPERATURE IN OC
EDIT pg 5
THE ASIAN AGE | SATURDAY | 15 JANUARY 2022 | NEW DELHI
A
t the end of the 13-hour long “frank and in-depth exchange of views for the
resolution of the relevant issues” along the Line of Actual Control (LAC)
in the western sector (Ladakh) last Wednesday, India and China issued a
joint statement. This is a move on from October last year when the talks
were evidently acrimonious and Beijing and New Delhi gave their respective sides
of the story which amounted to hurling blame at one another.
The two sides agreed at the end of the 14th round, according to the joint state-
ment, that the next session should be held at the earliest. But there is no getting
away from the reality that no worthwhile gain has been made from the Indian per-
spective in these many months of intermittent parleys.
Army chief Gen. M.M. Naravane was partially candid and partially correct when
he spoke to the media on Wednesday before the joint statement was issued. He said
while there had been “partial disengagement” in eastern Ladakh, “the threat has
in no way reduced”. Threat not reducing is dead centre, but partial disengagement
is not quite accurate. India surrendered its advantage in the Kailash Range and got
less than part relief on the north bank of Pangong Lake — and none at all in
Depsang and Demchok. The 14th round was directed from the Indian side to secur-
ing disengagement of forces in the Hot Springs area (Patrolling Point 15) with a
Chinese move-back to its own side of the LAC, but no visible progress was record-
ed. While it is useful to meet for the next round of
military-level negotiation at the earliest, if we are
attentive to history, we will know that this is nothing
but a pious hope.
The Joint Working Group to delineate the bound-
ary through LAC re-alignments and the Special
Representatives Mechanism to go over the same
ground at the political level have laboured fruitless-
ly, round after round, since the late 1980s. Even par-
ticipants in these ventures have tired of the process
by now. Therefore, scepticism as regards the mili-
tary-level conversation producing results acceptable
to both sides is not out of order.
Beijing’s forces have been sitting pretty on the Indian side of the LAC since
April-May 2020 in eastern Ladakh and we are left to beseeching them to go back
home. It is as lame as that. Meanwhile, the Chinese leadership tells us to carry on
with bilateral relations, especially on the commercial side, as though nothing has
happened. And we have obliged them. That’s the funny part.
Meanwhile, the appearance of productive conversations to restore status quo
ante in the western sector is kept up by both sides. India is obliged to go along with
the charade. All it has done is to amass its forces not only in Ladakh but all along
the roughly 4,000 km of its perception of the LAC. This is because there is no know-
ing where the Chinese troops will sneak in next. There have been credible reports
of China establishing so-called villages in Bhutan territory not far from Doklam
where the forces of the two countries were eyeball to eyeball in 2017.
India had no choice in the matter. If entrenched in that geography, Chinese
forces can bring North Bengal within its gunsights. A “village” — which looks to
be stationing of troops round the year — is also established in Demchok to the
south of Pangong. The Chinese military is also in the process of throwing a bridge
across the Pangong Lake further up north. But we talk without meaningful
results.
15 JANUARY 2022
Fresh dialogue a charade
as China has upper hand
Army chief Gen.
M.M. Naravane was
partially candid and
partially correct
when he spoke to
the media on
Wednesday before
the joint statement
was issued
W
ith the run-
up to the
A s s e m b l y
elections in
five states
under way and the external
security environment
being taken up by the
dynamics of US-Russia-
Europe, Afghanistan and
Central Asia, the focus on
India’s internal security in
2022 and immediately
beyond has not received
the full attention that it
usually gets at the begin-
ning of each year. It’s a phe-
nomenon that is necessary
to keep in sight because
otherwise things have a
nasty habit of appearing on
the scene without any form
of pre-warning — remem-
ber the agitations of 2020-
21. We are passing through
an era in which informa-
tion is emerging as the
main weapon to instigate
the street. Our neighbours
too have always fully
understood that India’s
strengths lie at its borders;
so why only challenge it
there? If they have to, they
can do so deep within the
nation where the fault lines
and cleavages exist aplen-
ty. Their strategy mostly is
to embroil every region of
the nation in turmoil
throughinternecine differ-
ences triggered by rumour
and information twists,
with fractious politics
becoming a weapon in
itself.
Before looking at the tra-
ditional hotspots and their
likely status in 2022 and
beyond, it is important to
understand a few facts
about the coming period.
First, it may hopefully see
the last of the Covid-19 pan-
demic waves and a return
nearer to normal. Even
while the economy
improves, there are seg-
ments of society which
have badly suffered; the
unorganised sector in par-
ticular. Aspirations have
taken a beating due to the
Covid-19 pandemic. All this
has an adverse effect on the
psyche of any society, espe-
cially one which has people
living on the margins at
most times. We cannot for-
get the caste-based agita-
tion in Haryana in 2015.
Crores of rupees worth of
property was burnt down
by angry mobs from
deprived sections of society
in just three days.
Unpredictability in the
internal environment can
spell havoc. With networks
far easier to establish and
communications faster and
more reliable, instability
spreads many times quick-
er. The second area of con-
cern is that by the time the
Assembly elections are
over in March 2022, India
will be entering the last
two years’ phase of the gov-
ernment at the Centre.
This is a period when
jostling for political space
begins, ethics start taking a
backseat, political parties
get bolder and risk-taking
is of a higher order.
Divisiveness or combina-
tions to garner regional
strengths occur. The poten-
tial of some of these factors
being exploited by external
players is always live. It’s
necessary to remember
that agitation is the mode
most used for grey zone
attacks on the internal
security of a nation.
Besides the traditional
internal security hotspots
like Kashmir and the
Northeast, we need to dwell
briefly on other places
where attention does not
travel easily. Southern
India, largely peaceful and
having more than its share
of natural disasters
through 2021, needs to
remember that the net-
works of some radical out-
fits, financed and con-
trolled externally, lie with-
in some of the prominent
states of the South. This
became evident during the
April 18, 2019, terror
attacks in Sri Lanka,
claimed by the ISIS. The
footprint of terror financ-
ing and ideological radical-
ism lies in some of the larg-
er cities of southern India,
such as Bengaluru,
Coimbatore and Chennai,
not forgetting Hyderabad
too. Communal instigation
drives clandestine move-
ments, which can be
extremely dangerous.
Among the states of the
Northeast, major issues
exist in Nagaland and
Manipur, where the re-trig-
gering of insurgencies is
always the intent of anti-
national elements.
Although the ceasefire
holds with the Naga
groups, including the Niki
Sumi group of NSCN(K),
there has been very little
positive movement beyond
the Framework Agreement
of 2015. The ceasefire is for
one year and will come up
for renewal with the back-
drop of AFSPA sensitivity.
The recent incident of mis-
taken identity killings in
Mon district in Nagaland
by a sub-unit of the Army
has set back relations even
with civil society. AFSPA
is now becoming a mill-
stone and if it is removed
or re-enacted for the
Northeast region, it will
trigger demands for
Kashmir, where the proxy
war situation is far more
intense. While no major
surge in violence or insta-
bility of other kinds is
expected, sporadic violent
acts will probably contin-
ue. It’s important to ensure
that external players do not
attempt to cultivate influ-
ence. The instability at the
Line of Actual Control, for
instance, should not result
in China enhancing its
stakes in proxy support
here.
The Red Corridor has
largely been stabilised
although there exist pock-
ets which need to be neu-
tralised. The Naxalite lead-
ership is not known to be
as effective as in the past
and the armed police forces
have done well to establish
their domination. The
problem here is that of the
proverbial big act which
pushes back the graph, and
that is something the polit-
ical and security leader-
ship has to guard against.
Punjab threatens to
become a continuum of
Kashmir. That is the intent
of Pakistan, which now
appears confident of han-
dling J&K, Punjab and
Afghanistan, all at once.
Networks which probably
exist from the past may
attempt to revitalise. While
fractious politics also play
a role here, the external
support includes but goes
well beyond Pakistan to the
west. The sub-region we
need to be careful about is
the Ravi belt, Gurdaspur to
Samba, well known for the
Pathankot air base attack
and a series of other
attempts at infiltration
seven to eight years ago.
Jammu and Kashmir
appears to be under control
from a security point of
view, notwithstanding the
number of terrorists killed
in the numerous encoun-
ters towards the end of 2021
and the number of local
youth recruited to terror-
ists’ ranks. It awaits politi-
cal activity to resume,
which will indicate how
successful the efforts at
integration have been. One
should not expect any
major change in thinking,
although some serious
efforts at outreach have
been undertaken. These
efforts will take a fair time
to manifest and lack of
early success should never
disappoint pragmatists.
Expect low-level violence
with sporadic surges to
take place. Big-ticket acts
such as Pulwama are
unlikely although Pakistan
could be expected to take
more risks now that the
Chinese presence in
Ladakh is more pro-
nounced and Pakistan is
also guiding the Chinese
interests in Afghanistan.
The serious student of
India’s internal security
challenges should mainly
be looking at the unfolding
social dynamics, involving
both the impact of the pan-
demic and the effect of the
fractious political scene
that can also offer opportu-
nities for external forces to
weaken India’s internal
fabric.
The writer, a retired lieu-
tenant-general, is a former
GOC of Srinagar-based 15
(“Chinar”) Corps
BHOPAL GAMING
Online gaming is a huge
industry raking in millions
of dollars for its creators.
Video games are slowly
replacing fun outdoor
activities bringing with
them a host of social and
psychological problems.
Oldtimers with their old
circle of friends can yet sit
together and chat amica-
bly for hours, something
which their grandchildren
will never be able to. The
pandemic has created a
huge dent in human con-
tact and children who have
not been able to interact
with their peers will find it
difficult to adjust to others
in later life. Online games
have a limited attention
span and children will out-
grow them soon.
Regulating them, as the
MP government will soon
realise, is a hard task.
Anthony Henriques
Mumbai
We are passing
through an era in
which information
is emerging as the
main weapon to
instigate the street.
Our neighbours
too... can challenge
us deep within the
nation where cleav-
ages exist aplenty.
THE ASIAN AGE
KAUSHIK MITTER K. SUDHAKAR
Editor Printer & Publisher
THE ASIAN AGE office is located at:
New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre, 219 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi-110002. Phone:
(011) 23211124.
Published and Printed on behalf of and for
◗ Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited, Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre, 219 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg,
New Delhi 110 002 at BFL Infotech Ltd., C-9, Sector-III, Noida -201301.
◗ London: Quickmarsh Ltd, 8th Floor, Block 2, Elizabeth House, 39 York Road, London, SE1 7NQ.
RNI Registration number: 57290/94
The sensitivities of India’s
internal security in 2022
It is remarkable how quickly things have unravelled since Boris Johnson, the
charismatic poster boy of Brexit, led the Tories to a grand, if unexpected, victo-
ry to a clear majority of 80 three years ago. And, till very recently, he was seen
as the saviour of the people’s Christmas when he ruled against the projections of
the epidemiologists and the mathematicians in refusing to impose any restric-
tions. Today, the British Prime Minister is seen as a liability by his party, which
believes his time is up as he has been exposed to being blatantly economical with
the truthwith regard to partying in his Downing Street office while the pandemic
was at its apogee in May 2020.
The British people who endured some of the strictest restrictions — no meeting
more than one person outside the household, no visiting parents in their old age
homes, no attending funerals of the dearest and dearest and so on — have come to
learn that their PM was party to a “bring your own booze” celebration with 100
staff members. And worse, lurid details are just emerging that British bureaucrats
were partying when Prince Philip had just died and their Queen was in solitary
mourning.
Mr Johnson survives only temporarily as the Tories tarry until an inquiry ver-
dict comes by month end. He is now the subject of jokes about liars that used to be
told of Harold Wilson. Brexit is done and the pandemic survived, not without great
hardships for everyone, and what is left is inflation, rising energy bills and taxes
and discontent with a leader who may have outlived his usefulness. The
Conservatives themselves will be hoping Mr Johnson would leave before further
embarrassment in local polls or jousting with defeat like John Major who clung on.
It is interesting that Rishi Sunak, a person of Indian origin who seems to be play-
ing his cards smartly in keeping his distance from the beleaguered PM and Liz
Truss, a tough talking, no compromise foreign minister should be the frontrun-
ners to replace Mr Johnson whenever he has read the signs well enough to know
his show is over. How nonchalant politicians in power can be has been amply
demonstrated by a partying Prime Minister.
SHUTTLERS HIT
UNFORTUNATELY, the Covid-19 pan-
demic has rocked the ongoing Yonex-
Sunrise India Open Super 500 tourna-
ment in New Delhi. Seven players,
including men’s singles no. 1 seed
Kidambi Srikanth, withdrew after
returning a positive result to a manda-
tory RT-PCR test conducted on
Tuesday. All the close contacts of the
seven players also pulled out from the
event though they didn’t test positive
for the virus. The development could
rob the tournament of its sheen.
Meanwhile, former women’s world no.
1, Saina Nehwal was sent packing by
Malvika Bansod, while top-seed
Sindhu advanced to the quarter-finals.
N.J. Ravi Chander
Bengaluru
Bell tolls for cavalier Boris
BEWARE THE BACKLASH
WITH THE BJP’S social engineering
bid getting a jolt with a number of its
OBC leaders joining the Samajwadi
Party, the saffron party is all set to
deepen its hardline Hindutva
approach. The thinking in the party to
field Yogi Adityanath from the nerve
centre of Hindutva politics, Ayodhya,
is mainly to do with giving a Hindutva
face to the BJP’s poll strategy. With the
exit of non-Yadav OBC leaders the BJP
will have to fall back on its best bait
and bet, hardline Hindutva.
Sankar Paul
Chakdaha, West Bengal
Farrukh
Dhondy
Is the party over
for BoJo at last?
Will Starmers get
ready for No. 10?
LETTERS
“A dropped handkerchief by your bed --
Is that a certain sign
A wish that you, finding it, were led
To restore to me what’s clearly mine?
But does the ‘favour’ bear perchance
The starting letters of my name
Which stand out plainly at a glance
Part of the dropping-hankies game?
— From Hanky Panky, by Bachchoo
I
s the party over? And is it over owing to sev-
eral parties. Or perhaps it will be over when
the Party comes to its senses and decides that
these weren’t their parties and decides to part
company with the participants?
What’s this all about? British politics, yaar!
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, acting on the
advice of scientists and doctors, imposed a nation-
al lockdown against the spread of Covid-19 early in
2020. Part of the decree was that people should stay
indoors except for exercise and meet no more than
one person outdoors at a distance of at least two
metres. People couldn’t have social gatherings or
go to pubs and restaurants and certainly couldn’t
hold gatherings in their homes.
Despite these precautions, thousands died of the
viral infection.
The scientifically endorsed diktat was
inevitable.
However, last week the media discovered that
one of BoJo’s closest civil servants had issued an
email in May, during that imposed lockdown, to a
hundred 10 Downing Street staff and other associ-
ates, which said that after weeks of hard work and
now with pleasant sunshine, they should congre-
gate in the garden of the Prime Minister’s resi-
dence and should “BYOB”. This last is a known
abbreviation for “Bring Your Own Booze”.
The media now claims that about 40 people
answered the email by attending on the specified
day at 10 Downing Street. There were snacks on a
spread made available.
According to a few witnesses, who may have
been guests or serving staff, BoJo and his wife
Carrie Symonds were a part of the crowd.
Was this invitation from the civil servant issued
without BoJo’s knowledge, consent and indeed
active initiation? Can you tell me, gentle reader,
has the Pope converted to Scientology?
Was this congregation of people in the garden of
10 Downing Street a prayer meeting? Was it with
the invitation going out to a hundred people, with
the injunction to BYOB and the provision of
snacks, a working session? And does Santa Claus
wear soot-proof gowns?
Does the attendance of BoJo and Mrs BoJo
with forty others at this occasion, considering
that BoJo as PM had imposed the rules regard-
ing not more than one person meeting another
outdoors appear somewhat, or even outrageous-
ly, hypocritical?
On the day of this party — and BoJo had the
brazen cheek to attend Parliament on Wednesday
this week and claim it was a work gathering,
much to the merriment of his own back benches --
268 citizens of the UK died. Their relatives, under
the diktat of the lockdown rules, were obediently,
caringly but tragically, deprived of this last
human contact with their loved ones. And no
doubt BoJo and Carrie were raising a glass of bub-
bly and spooning in the caviar. O tempora O
mores!
The revelations concerning the truth of this May
celebration follows eight other scandalous reports
of parties held in government offices and particu-
larly one in December 2020 when the country was
again in a government-imposed lockdown pro-
hibiting such gatherings. This party came to light
when a video recording of Allegra Stratton, a BoJo
spokesperson, was leaked. It showed Stratton in
the company of other No. 10 staff mockingly refer-
ring to the “party” which they were imperiously
going to pass off as a working meeting. Allegations
emerged of other government ministries holding
parties during the lockdown in defiance of the
rules they all hypocritically endorsed and
imposed on the rest of the country.
And the country cries out in pain and outrage.
To my undiscerning ears, the cry will have conse-
quences. The public is not amused — or fooled.
They know that Carrie Antoinette was eating cake
while they went without bread. Already, four
Opposition leaders have officially demanded
BoJo’s resignation. Even the Tory MPs, who fear
for their own jobs once BoJo is dislodged, may
even now be thinking of replacing him in a hurry
by someone untouched by the sleaze to carry
them into the next election.
BoJo couldn’t dodge the consequences of the
media revelations. He has resorted to instituting
an enquiry led by Sue Gray, a senior civil servant
(who works for him) to establish whether any
lockdown rules were broken during these
“alleged” parties. If Ms Gray reports that they
were, and that he lied to Parliament and exhibit-
ed traits of character unworthy of the PM, then
BoJo will be GoJo.
No doubt Hedgy Sunak, Liz Truss and the oth-
ers are trying to distance themselves as far as
possible from the parties, the inquiry and the
affairs as they plot to replace Pinocchio. They
may not have the chance. If a good number of
Tory MPs, putting service to the nation above
personal considerations (are baboons about to
build five-star toilet facilities to stop defecting in
the jungle? Maybe… maybe…), join the
Opposition in a no-confidence motion, there will
be a generalelection.
The dilemma then for Labour leader and future
PM Sir Keir Starmer and Lady Starmer is how to
get rid of the ridiculously bad-taste, kitsch décor
which Antoinette has imposed on 10 Downing
Street. Décor that would make the guests sick at
any indoor party.
Subhani
Syed Ata Hasnain
Cabbages
& Kings
Two men who had gained, each in his own
way, prominence in public life at Home
were recently threatened with blindness
when at the height of their activities. In
the case of Sir Arthur Pearson the disease
crept on until he completely lost the use of
his eyes, and he died under tragic circum-
stances. Viscount Grey has been more for-
tunate. For some time after retiring in
company with Mr. Asquith at the end of
1916, he completely withdrew from the
turmoil of politics, and only made a brief
reappearance in public affairs when in
1919 he acted as temporary Ambassador
to the United States. His engagement to
the widowed Lady Glenconner, which was
recently announced, has possibly been
one of the factors which have prompted
his return to public life, for the Tennant
family are ardent politicians. Few men
have, throughout a long career, com-
manded greater public respect than Vis-
count Grey. Coming from an old family
well known in the North of England, and
utterly disdaining the democratic artifices
of so many of his colleagues, he yet won
the esteem of the country and secured the
ear of the House of Commons, even when
hostile, by sheer force of character. His
greatest oratorical triumph was on the 3rd
August, 1914, when, in a speech that stood
on the highest plane in its appeal to the
national honour, he convinced the con-
science of England that there was but one
course for it to follow.
ELECTRO-TECHNICAL
COMMISSION
DELHI, JAN 14
The Government of India have decided to
constitute a national electro-technical
committee in accordance with the resolu-
tion of Chamber of Commerce delegates
at the International Electrical Congress of
St. Louis in September 1904. In 1910 an
international electro-technical Commis-
sion was formed with its headquarters in
London for the purpose of carrying out the
resolution of the Chamber of Commerce
delegates and under the statutes of the
Commission each self-governing county is
authorised to form an electro-technical
committee for its own country to discuss
points of interest to the country and to for-
ward its resolutions to the Commission.
As the manufacture of electrical machin-
ery in India was too small in 1910, the Gov-
ernment of India then decided to post-
pone the formation of India's committee
but remained a regular member of the
Commission.
POLITICAL CONTROL
OF NATIVE STATES
MADRAS, JAN 14
Some of the newspapers in Travancore and
one in Cochin are responsible for a report
that the political control over the adminis-
trations of these two native States, along
with those of two others of minor impor-
tance in South India, is to be transferred
shortly from the Madras Government to
that of India and that a political agent will
be appointed in place of a British Resident,
who will be directly responsible to the
Governor-General for efficient supervision
over the administration of these two
States. In this connection, it may be
recalled to mind that when Sir
Rajagopalachari was Dewan of Travancore,
he made an attempt to get the political
control of that State transferred from the
Madras Government to the Government
of India.
PROPOSED ROUND
TABLE CONFERENCE
BOMBAY, JAN 14
Over 350 invitations were issued by the
conveners of a meeting to be held in Bom-
bay today in order to come to some under-
standing to bring about a Round Table
Conference between the Government and
people. About two hundred persons have
signified their intention to attend. The
Conference will begin this evening. Many
of the prominent Congress men invited
have replied, it appears, to the effect that
Mr. Gandhi fully represents their views and
has their confidence, so they do not feel it
necessary to attend. The Principle that
determined the issue of invitations
appears to have been that the persons
invited should have taken part in politics
and possessed certain status. A good con-
tingent of leaders are expected from
Madras, Bengal and Maharashtra.
A SURVIVOR OF THE
FRANCO-PRUSSIAN
WAR
By the death of Lieut.-Colonel E.P.R.
Gilman, of the Barduai Tea Estate, Kam-
rup, Assam loses a familiar and genial fig-
ure, well known not only in Gauhati and its
neighbourhood but throughout the
province, and in Calcutta also. He was a
tea planter of the grand old type, with an
old-world courtesy and hospitality, and his
loss will be widely deplored. Mr. Gilman
had been in excellent health up to a few
days prior to his death, and, although 70
years of age, was present at the luncheon
given by the Bengal Club to His Royal
Highness, The Prince of Wales. An episode
of his life of which he would sometimes
speak to his friends was the share which he
had in the Franco-Prussian War.
07
NEWS ITEMS
ARMIN ROSENCRANZ AND
ANOUSHKA CHATURVEDI
G
lobal food productivity
gradually diminishes on
account of deteriorating soil
quality, climate change
impacts such as acidification, deser-
tification, and generational use of
harmful chemical pesticides and
insecticides. There is an eminent
need for research and innovation in
sustainable, scalable and economi-
cally viable farming techniques.
Biochar in this context presents itself
as a unique, organic opportunity
which can also reduce the malice of
stubble burning and its multifarious
impacts on public health.
While every gardening enthusi-
ast is aware of the need for NPK
(Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium)
fertilizer, another important element
imperative for farming is Carbon.
Carbon increases soil fertility of
acidic soil and its agricultural pro-
ductivity and protects the soil against
some foliar and soil borne diseases
like collar disease and root rot. Stud-
ies indicate that soil in tropical
regions has a poorer Carbon reten-
tion as compared to the temperate
region. Stubble burning, scientifical-
ly, adds to this carbon content, but
results in increased air pollution in
the atmosphere.
Biochar is a rich in carbon, fine
grained residue obtained by pyrolysis
of biomass. A stroll on the streets of
our country can acquaint us to a
wide variety of biomass. Typically,
biomass includes plant and agricul-
tural residues like straw, husk, peels,
bagasse etc, or animal waste. This
biomass is then subject to a process
called Pyrolysis which involves direct
thermal decomposition or baking in
low or absence of oxygen. The bio-
mass is subjected to large amount of
heat, depending on the type of bio-
mass. The temperature could be as
high as 500 degree Celsius.
First evaporation occurs and the
water is lost from the biomass. Then
the volatile compounds escape due
to the high temperature leaving
behind a black porous solid, rich in
carbon. Pyrolysis retains more than
50 per cent of the carbon of the initial
biomass whereas typical stubble
burning method retains less than 2
per cent of the carbon. Other residue
left behind is a brown coloured liquid
called bio oil and syngas. Both these
serve as clean replacements to fossil
fuels. Bio oil can be directly used as a
fuel in boilers or treated and used to
produce bulk chemicals - alkanes,
lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose etc,
which are otherwise typically extract-
ed from crude oil or natural gas. Syn-
gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide
and hydrogen, can be used during
the production of synthetic diesel.
Biomass is rich in macro nutri-
ents like nitrogen, phosphorous, cal-
cium etc. These nutrients are usually
carried into biochar based on the
conditions used during the pyrolysis
process. For example, in spite of the
combustion, biochar samples typi-
cally contains 21 to 370 mg kg dw-1
of Nitrogen. When biochar is mixed
into the soil, it increases its alkalinity
(increases the pH). This increases the
nitrification (conversion of nitrogen
to nitrates, plants are only able to
absorb nitrogen in the nitrate form).
Biocharfurther gains from its
porous nature, which gives it two
very distinct utilities: (1) Carbon
sequestration i.e. absorption of car-
bon from the atmosphere: the pores
increase the surface area thereby
allowing it absorb more carbon
through its surface and (2) Coloniza-
tion of various bacteria and fungi:
Bacteria called diazotrophs and a few
species of Fungi are able to colonise.
Bacteria increases the nitrates con-
tent in the soil and fungi aids in dis-
ease management. Biochar further
directly increases the phosphorous
content by increasing the cationic
and anionic activity of the soil.
In all, biochar not just presents
itself as a substitute for stubble burn-
ing which can help cut down on the
negative impacts of such activity, it
qualitatively benefits the soil quality,
increases the crop productivity and
gives valuable by-products in its
manufacturing cycle.
The challenge, however, with the
production, usage and supply chain
management of biochar remains the
cost competitiveness of the product.
Central and State Governments need
to reallocate resources, to make it
available to its immediate con-
sumers.
An acre of land needs about 4 to
4.5 tonnes of Biochar yearly and in
today’s market costs Rs 18 per kg.
This totals up to an annual invest-
ment of Rs 75,000 for an average
Indian farmer who owns about an
acre of land. Perhaps, what is
required is a trifecta of subsidies,
awareness programmes and an inno-
vative machinery from the technical
sector so that it could be produced
by the consumers directly.
The writers are with the Jindal School of
Environment and Sustainability,
O P Jindal University, Sonepat.
OCCASIONAL NOTE
ACROSS
1/5 Means of laundering
cash, when aiming
high? (7,7)
9 Material not fit for
use in Fight Club (5,4)
10 6 missing when
coming back
travelling at the
speed of sound (5)
11 �Constructive play�
destroying learner�s
self-confidence (3)
12 Replacement of fossil
fuels requires years
longer to develop
(5,6)
13 Senior nurses
content to pay
attention to her? (6)
14 Musical composed 32
pieces (5,3)
17 Fantasise about
following old man
around yard in the
morning (8)
19 Number one hit
about America? (6)
23 What is required to
release 21 workers?
(6,5)
25 Try to contain love�s
soppy stuff (3)
26 Unknown speaker
losing head suggests
immaturity (5)
27 Data Romanian sent
back contains desired
target (9)
28 Lawyer�s argument
to remove barriers?
(7)
29 Operations room
where available
guards are
transferred to begin
with (7)
DOWN
1 Ne�er-do-wells
perhaps said little
after dropping
ecstasy (7)
2 Very grave case of
leprosy (9)
3 Has-been�s admission
that makes progress
impossible (7)
4 Style of dress ends in
small size 8 (6)
5 Stomach releasing
tense, nervous
reactions initially
could produce
butterflies (8)
6 Establishments that
sell better chips (7)
7 Interior designer
regularly developed
new lines (5)
8 Gateway computer�s
T&C changed and put
into unintelligible
form (7)
15 Hide transfer of large
amount backing
special honour (4,5)
16 Coffee shop receives
fine after
distributing legal
high (8)
17 Put back legal
document containing
deposit (7)
18 Chap is hungover,
but not very drunk
(7)
20 This plant�s turnover
makes phenomenal
contribution (7)
21 Baby originally
named by cracking
joke (7)
22 Loyal soldier leaving
base to avoid
training? (6)
24 Bank almost deceives
punters by
concealing weak
holding (5)
NOTE: Figures in parentheses denote the number of letters in the words required. (By arrangement with The Independent, London)
NO 29149CROSSWORD
YESTERDAY'S SOLUTION
SOLUTION FOR
08 JANUARY
D
r. Rakesh Lodha, Professor
and Incharge at the Pedi-
atric Intensive Care Unit of
AIIMS, New Delhi, is
among the best-known pediatricians
in the country. In an interview with
Swimmi Shrivastava, Dr Lodha talks
about how Covid -19 has affected
children.
Excerpts:
Q. It has been reported that children
were affected more during the
second wave of Covid-19. Why was
it so?
A: During the second wave of the
pandemic, the overall number of
Covid-19 cases was high. Therefore,
the absolute number of children who
tested positive also increased. In the
previous wave, the data suggested
that of the total number of people
who had tested positive, around 11
to 12 per cent were below 20 years of
age. This proportion did not change
during the second wave. So, the chil-
dren were not disproportionately
affected and it is unlikely that chil-
dren will be disproportionately or
more severely affected in the future
waves.
The available data also suggests
that of all children who tested posi-
tive, only about 5 to 6 per cent need-
ed hospitalisation. And most children
who were hospitalised had some
underlying disease such as chronic
kidney disease, chronic lung disease,
liver disease, malignancies, or hema-
tological problems. So, essentially
when children get exposed to the
virus, they get infected, but they usu-
ally remain asymptomatic or display
mild symptoms. As compared to
adults and the elderly, the infection is
less severe in children. The only con-
cern is that post–Covid, in rare cases
children develop a potentially seri-
ous condition called Multisystem
Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS-C). So,
since the total number of cases was
high, the number of MIS-C cases also
went up. And a large proportion of
these children were RTPCR-negative
but showed antibodies for Covid-19.
We need to be prepared to treat more
cases of MIS in the future.
Q. Can you elaborate more on
Multisystem Inflammatory
Syndrome? What proportion of
children with Covid-19 is
susceptible to developing MIS-C?
A: It is an immunologically
mediated condition, which can affect
multiple systems such as the heart,
liver, kidney, etc. It may manifest as
high fever, rashes, conjunctivitis or
the redness of eyes, severe abdomi-
nal pain or poor perfusion. There are
well-defined criteria to diagnose it. It
could be life-threatening in a subset
of children, especially in those in
whom it affects the heart. But if it's
diagnosed in time, it can be treated
effectively. The average age of affect-
ed children is around 9-10 years;
however, younger and older children
may also develop MIS-C. In the West,
about 1 in 1000 children with Covid-
19 developed this syndrome.
Q. How do we treat children with
Covid-19?
A: Children with asymptomatic
and mild Covid can be managed at
home. For asymptomatic pediatric
patients, we don’t recommend medi-
cines, but we do recommend that
they should be isolated and moni-
tored. One person should provide
care to the children, and he/she
should also stay in isolation. In mild
cases, symptomatic treatment for
fever or body ache should be given.
Children should be treated under
regular medical supervision. They
may take telemedicine support.
Some children with underlying ill-
ness and mild Covid-19 may require
hospitalisation. However, children
with moderate to severe Covid need
hospitalisation for supportive care,
including oxygen therapy/ respirato-
ry support. Some may need steroids.
Q. Does the country have enough
pediatric care units to deal with
serious pediatric patients?
A: The country has a large num-
ber of pediatric ICUs but these are
concentrated in urban areas. Besides,
a majority of intensive care facilities
are in the private sector, so accessi-
bility and affordability could be an
issue. In addition, there are chal-
lenges relating to trained manpower
to manage pediatric illnesses. The
authorities across the country are
working hard to augment the health-
care facilities and manpower for
pediatric care. Besides, we need to
prepare hospitals in a way that par-
ents can stay with children, particu-
larly younger children, suffering from
Covid. The parents would have to
take precautions in terms of ade-
quate masking, other appropriate
protective gear, etc.
Q. How important is it to vaccinate
children against Covid-19?
A: Trials in children have been
initiated to study the antibody
response of some of the available
vaccines. These are likely to be com-
pletedover the next few weeks, and if
the vaccines are found to be
immunogenic, they will be approved
for use in children. Having said that,
it is also true that children are less
likely to develop the symptomatic
disease, and they rarely get the severe
disease. The current vaccines reduce
a person’s chance of developing
severe disease and mortality and so
vaccines should be prioritised for
high-risk groups. It will be appropri-
ate that the high priority groups - the
elderly, and those with co-morbidi-
ty, those who are at risk of developing
severe disease and mortality - should
first get the vaccine, and then gradu-
ally, when we have sufficient vac-
cines, we can immunise all children
as well. Till the time the vaccine cov-
erage is substantial, and also after
that, we all have to adhere to Covid-
Appropriate Behaviour. This will cer-
tainly help protect the children.
Q. The pandemic has been affecting
the physical as well as the mental
well-being of children.What should
be done to minimise its impact?
A: Yes, there are many direct
and indirect effects on children.
And I feel that the direct effects are
not too many and too severe when
compared to adults, but there are
multiple factors affecting children
indirectly. For example, the income
of many families would have been
affected during the last year and a
half, which affects children’s overall
growth as it affects their nutrition,
education, and so on. The absence
of school, limited or no interac-
tions with peers can also lead to a
lot of behavioural issues among
children. So, it is important for the
parents or guardians to provide a
cheerful environment to children.
Involve them in some for m of
physical activity at home. Besides,
the children who have lost their
parent(s), need the support of the
government, extended family, and
society.
NEW DELHI, SATURDAY 15 JANUARY 2022
100 YEARS AGOSATURDAY INTERVIEW
�Parents� caution can protect children�
An alternative to stubble burning
7millenniumpost EditorialNEW DELHI | SATURDAY, 15 JANUARY, 2022
An unwelcome ‘bargain’
Few jobs, many seekers
Defections nowadays have come to be crudely associated with personal
agenda — benefitting parties and leaders against voters’ interests
India’s unemployment rate is at a four-month high leading
to a worrying situation for the country’s youth
The year 2022 added
another season to
the existing seasons,
and that season is the
“season of political defections”.
The announcement of the elec-
tion schedule was followed by a
plethora of political defections
across parties though only the
defections in the crucial state of
Uttar Pradesh, and specifically
from BJP to other parties, are
being highlighted in the media.
There is no state and no politi-
cal party which is not experi-
encing defections. The spread
of defection is analogous to
the spread of highly infectious
Omicron. Like the unpredict-
able virus, the defection bug is
also infesting leaders across the
political spectrum. There is no
prior warning; all of a sudden,
leaders are found ‘positive’ for
defection.
The change of heart regard-
ing the political party or phi-
losophy, which was rare prior
to the emergence of Indira
Gandhi on the political scene,
has picked up momentum and
now, as the 2022 assembly elec-
tion approaches, the pace of
defection is unprecedented.
It is not that defections didn’t
happen in 2021. What is hap-
pening in Uttar Pradesh is just
an extension of what happened
in Bengal last year. But the
pace of defections has peaked
despite the fact that defections
into BJP from TMC didn’t help
the BJP to dethrone Mamata
Banerjee. Neither the earlier
defections were ideologically
oriented nor are the current
ones. It is not the ideology but
the personal agenda which has
become an overriding factor in
prompting defections. Money
and power are the only criteria
for joining the new party in any
defection, and none, including
the defectors, can deny this.
Prominent defectors like
Swami Prasad Maurya and
Dara Singh Chouhan are
the past masters of defec-
tion. These weather cocks of
political atmosphere are early
detectors of direction of polit-
ical winds and, like migrant
birds which use the seasonal
winds, these leaders migrate
to the winning party. Earlier
in 2017, they saw victory wind
blowing towards the BJP and
shifted from BSP to the saffron
party. Now they think the wind
is blowing towards SP and they
spread their wings to fly in that
direction. At the same time,
two leaders — one sitting MLA
from Congress, Naresh Saini,
and a former MLA from SP —
defected to the BJP. Any poli-
tician is capable of defending
his action on any issue, so, for
these seasoned MLAs, explain-
ing the reasons for their defec-
tions is quite easy. After being
in ministry for almost five
years, both Maurya and Chou-
han have cited defective treat-
ment of BCs and SCs by the
BJP government to resign from
the power and party.
No leader can be denied his
freedom to change the party or
shift his ideology. The current
pack of defectors are enjoying
that Constitutional freedom
only. Even the anti-defection
law prohibits the defection
while holding the post if done
alone but condones mass defec-
tions. So, even legally speaking,
the current defectors can’t be
considered as doing the unholy
act. Earlier, observers used to
see the BJP and Communist
parties as ideologically oriented
and different from other par-
ties. But over the years, BJP has
dropped its proclamation of
‘party with a difference’ and
started behaving like any other
party. With the recent defec-
tions of some CPM leaders to
Congress and leaders joining
the CPM in Kerala, the ideo-
logical party tag of Commu-
nists was self-robbed.
We heard a lot from Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Ara-
vind Kejriwal on value-based
politics. He abhorred politi-
cal corruption and promised
value-based politics. He cap-
tured Delhi twice on the slogan
of exercising different kinds of
politics from the BJP and the
Congress. Now in his ambi-
tion of expanding his influence
into other states, what the AAP
chief is doing is to depend on
the defectors. In Goa, out of the
first list of ten AAP candidates,
at least four are defectors from
BJP; the next list may include
more such names. So, what is
the message the parties are giv-
ing to the voter? In the elections,
the party labels may change but
the candidates remain the same.
It is going to happen in all the
states because the assurance of
a ticket is the prime condition
for defections, besides hidden
benefits offered to the defectors.
For the parties, the ultimate
goal is power. They are least
worried about the means. What
the present BJP is doing was
what the Congress did when
Indira Gandhi was at the helm.
The winning party in Haryana
then went straight to Indira
Gandhi and joined her party
to remain in power and retain
position. Such was the power of
Indira that it was very difficult
for any non-Congress party to
remain in power even after get-
ting the people’s mandate. Now
it is the BJP’s turn to take the
chance for forming the govern-
ment even though its major-
ity is in doubt. It happened in
Karnataka in 2018 and then in
Maharashtra in 2019. Even its
Goa government formation in
2017 was based on the strength
of defections it engineered.
Now in early 2022, the BJP
is facing the effect of desertions
from its own camp in UP. No
doubt that it is gaining some
defectors from other parties —
both in UP and Uttarakhand
— but the perception is that
SP is exhibiting the surge in
attracting defectors. It is dif-
ficult to expect ethics from the
defectors. Once made up his
mind to shift the allegiance, the
defector will easily find faults
in the party in which he was,
and virtues in the party which
is offering him a better future.
The current defectors in UP
have a past history of chang-
ing parties. Some of the defec-
tors are proudly claiming that
whichever party towhich they
defected gained power in elec-
tions, and they are confident of
extension of that in 2022.
With defections the parties
may gain, the leaders may get
the benefits but, ultimately, the
voter stands to lose.
Views expressed are personal
Jobs aren’t easy to come by.
A fact that even a small
business like mine expe-
riences every time we put
out a job post. We are
overwhelmed by the response
from candidates, many of
whom are overqualified and/
or hail from diverse back-
grounds. For our communi-
cations job openings, we have
had applications from former
entrepreneurs, air hostesses
and cabin crew, marketing
and sales executives, people
with over two decades of work
experience, and even a scien-
tist! The most heartrending
among them are the pleas that
come from the younger lot.
Given two years of raging pan-
demic and many workplaces
still working from home or
opting to, it’s become almost
impossible to give out intern-
ships leave alone jobs to fresh-
ers. No opportunity either to
take them under your wing
in order to train them. They
send out earnest requests to
learn on the job but have to
be turned down. According
to reports by Azim Premji
University, workers between
15-23 years of age have
been adversely affected the
most.
Covid hit an already shaky
Indian job market causing
deep lacerations, which are
yet to heal. This week, Salil
Tripathi, a Zomato deliv-
ery partner died in an acci-
dent when allegedly a cop car
rammed into him. His per-
sonal story of the last two
years of the pandemic is
equally tragic. According to a
news report, he had worked in
several hotels before clinching
the job of a restaurant man-
ager. There was a time when
he was doing well, earning Rs
40,000-Rs 50,000 a month. He
had a job he loved, his family
depended on him, his life had
a purpose. But then Covid-
19 impacted his life. In the
first lockdown, he lost his job;
during the second, he lost his
father. Soon after, he turned
gig worker within a year. His
death became the final chap-
ter of two years of misery.
There are many like Salil who
have had their fortunes over-
turned during Covid. Unlike
him, they live to tell the tale.
The job market in India
that had marginally improved
has again hit a four-month
high in December with 7.9
per cent. In December 2020,
it had peaked to 9.1 per cent
before it settled down to 8.3
per cent in August, accord-
ing to the Centre for Monitor-
ing Indian Economy (CMIE).
Since August last year, job-
lessness rate had cooled
down slightly before spiking
again last month wherein the
urban unemployment rate on
a weekly basis had increased
to 10.09 per cent. Economic
activity in the country had
restarted once the Covid
curve was flattening. But now
with Omicron fears and the
third wave causing thousands
of daily infections, the situa-
tion looks grim.
Interestingly, the poll-
bound states of Uttar Pradesh,
Goa, Punjab, and Uttarakhand
have fewer employed people
today than 5 years ago. India’s
Labour Force Participation is
quite embarrassing too at 46
per cent in 2020; much lower
than other emerging nations
such as Chile, Brazil, Ethiopia,
Ghana, Indonesia, China, and
Malaysia. A deeper look at the
data unveils worrying details
— more graduates are jobless,
more women are unemployed
than men, jobs shrunk more
in India in the first Covid year
compared to Vietnam, Brazil,
Bangladesh, and Mexico.
The job market is also
rapidly evolving due to the
pandemic. According to a
survey by an edtech startup,
80 per cent respondents felt
that the skill set for the youth
had changed during the
Covid-19 pandemic. Given
the work-from-home/remote
job options, employers were
increasingly looking for pro-
active problem-solvers, who
are self-motivated, work well
within a team, and are adept
at time-management, and
learning on the job. Critical
thinking, decision-making,
and communications prow-
ess emerged as most sought-
after skills among the youth.
These asks create a competi-
tive scenario for any potential
job-seeker, including fresh-
ers. No wonder there are few
coveted jobs and hundreds of
applicants.
Lockdowns, curfews, shut-
downs — life has been com-
ing to a temporary halt after
10 pm or over the weekend
in some Indian cities. Some-
times the only buzz one hears
is the whizzing of two-wheel-
ers as delivery boys come in
and out of restaurants and
cloud kitchens. The gig econ-
omy is truly alive and kicking,
and (as I have written here
before) proving to be a sav-
iour to freshers and those who
have lost jobs. But how long
can they sustain? And what
lives are these for India’s tal-
ented, educated youth?
The writer is an author and
media entrepreneur. Views
expressed are personal
Even the anti-defection law in India appears to allow ‘mass defection’
India’s Labour Force Participation stood at 46 per cent in 2020 — much lower than other developing economies
EDITORIAL
Backed into
a corner
It appears that the world has turned upside-down. In its
first-ever National Security Policy, Pakistan has surpris-
ingly left room open for reconciliation with New Delhi,
especially on matters of trade. More importantly, the res-
olution of the Kashmir issue may not even be a prerequisite
so long as there is some headway in bilateral talks between
the two nations. This policy, approved both by the Cabinet
and the all-powerful military, was formally unveiled by PM
Imran Khan last week. The overall theme of the 100-page or
so policy is peace and economic diplomacy with Pakistan’s
immediate neighbours. Of course, India is obviously a part of
this group. News reports have quoted anonymous Pakistan
government officials as saying that Islamabad is not seek-
ing any hostility with India within the next 100 years. As may
be known, ties between the two rival nations are nearly at a
historic low since the Pathankot terror attack in 2016. Since
then, subsequent events such as the abrogation of Article 370
in 2019 have only served to further widen the already gap-
ing chasm. Trade has been affected, normal diplomatic out-
reach efforts have ground to a halt and the two sides are often
seen trading allegations on the international stage. Even mat-
ters of common concern such as the fate of neighbouring
Afghanistan are seemingly not enough to bring the two sides
to any level of mutual understanding. So, what is all this talk
of peace? Well, as many experts have pointed out, Pakistan is
in a bit of a pickle at the moment. Years of mismanagement
and corruption have left the country with an economy that is
as stable as a leaky boat and requires regular infusions of for-
eign aid, further driving up Pakistan’s already insurmountable
debt. The former head of Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue,
Syed Shabbar Zaidi, recently opined that Pakistan’s current
debt levels have reached a point that the country cannot ever
realistically recover from. Its various lenders and ‘well-wish-
ers’ such as Saudi Arabia and China no longer appear willing
to be quite as helpful as they were before. Of course, with the
exit of America and the end of the forever war, the financial
support Pakistan received from the world’s foremost mili-
tary power is also gone. At the same time, the threat of being
black-listed by the FATF for terror financing always looms
on the horizon for Pakistan. And speaking of the war on ter-
ror, it would appear that even Pakistan’s carefully played out
strategy in Afghanistan over the last few decades of playing
all sides may be coming loose. A section of US leadership
appears intent on holding Pakistan to task for double-dealing.
Regional allies like China appear impatient that Pakistan has
not managed to bring stability to the region so that economic
activity may follow. And even the Taliban itself, the so-called
Islamic Emirate, is not exactly happy with Pakistan at the
moment. Points of contention include Pakistan’s continuingfailure to compel the global community to accept the legiti-
macy of the Taliban, and contentions over the Durand Line.
The Taliban, which has never accepted the imaginary bor-
der drawn up by the British, took to forceful confrontations
recently with its ally and sponsor Pakistan over the latter’s
attempt to put up fences along the Durand Line. And this is
before one considers the more localised problem of the Teh-
reek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) that continues to be a source of
tension between the Taliban and Pakistan. Islamabad expects
the Taliban to keep its offshoot in Pakistan under control but
the Taliban leadership itself seems reluctant to act against the
TTP for its offensive actions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and
Balochistan. Much of this comes down to the fact that even
with the Taliban, friendship towards Islamabad is not a given,
with a certain section of the leadership displaying consider-
able antipathy towards Pakistan and its role in the region.
All this briefly sums up just a small fraction of problems and
existential crises faced by Pakistan at this moment. Given all
this, it is not altogether surprising to note that Pakistan is at
least attempting to create a scenario of peace with its neigh-
bours. Hostility with India has not been profitable for Paki-
stan, and the new security policy raises the future possibility
that the two sides may move towards a more significant rap-
prochement that would be profitable for everyone involved.
But there are so many factors in the way of this ideal view
of the future. For one, there is little clarity from Pakistan on
what exactly would be a reasonable amount of headway in
negotiations over Kashmir that would convince Islamabad to
pursue a broader improvement of relations with India? Will
India even accept the conditions that Pakistan puts forth to
establish friendly relations? Finally, is Pakistan actually sin-
cere with what it is claiming in its new security policy? This
remains somewhat doubtful given that Pakistan absolutely
has an incentive to try and improve its global image any way
it can at the moment and this new ‘friendly’ policy may just
be a way to signal to the world that Pakistan is done with its
old double-dealing, terror-financing ways. As usual, all India
can do is pragmatically watch on, and respond as the situa-
tion requires.
Past masters
of political
defection are
early detectors
of the direction
of political
winds and, like
migrant birds
which follow the
seasonal winds,
these leaders
migrate to the
winning party
The poll-bound
states of Uttar
Pradesh, Goa,
Punjab and
Uttarakhand
have fewer
employed
people today
than five
years ago
DUGGARAJU
SRINIVASA RAO
SHUTAPA PAUL
Log on to write letters to the editor or send them to
letter2editor.mp@gmail.com. You can also send your comments to The Editor,
Millennium Post, Pratap Bhawan, 5 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002
DearEditor
In a dramatic turn of events, the Govt has become the
largest shareholder in the telecom major Vodafone India
in order to prevent the telecom sector from becoming a
duopoly of Reliance Jio and Airtel. Its ever-increasing debt
of nearly Rs 2 lakh crore might be the prime factor behind
the telecom operator offering 35.8 per cent equity to the
Govt of India. However, considering the Govt dismal track
record of bailing out BSNL and MTNL, which are still
struggling to keep themselves afloat despite being given
Rs 69,000 crore revival package in 2019, it would be a
herculean task ahead. To solely view it as a Mitch cow, an
opportunity to increase revenues and fiscal requirements
would mean compromising on stability, investment and
competitiveness. This grim situation can be attributed
to excessive taxation and fees, license cancellation, and
ambiguous regulatory framework, forcing the government
to step in. The foremost challenge for the ailing company
is to widen its subscriber base. Improving network
quality, clear cut regulatory framework, investing in new
technology etc. are other challenges. The Govt, by virtue
of becoming the largest shareholder of the telco, also has
the onus to protect the equity value of the company. The
taxpayers’ money is also at stake.
— VIJAY SINGH ADHIKARI,
NAINITAL via email
millenniumpost.in
A HERCULEAN TASK
4
DELHI SATURDAY 15 JANUARY 2022
EDIT
S
uch things can happen only
in India. On one hand, the
active cases of Covid-19 are
increasing day by day. Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has not
only been reviewing the situation
with officials but also held a
meeting with Chief Ministers of
States on Thursday. The Delhi
government has asked private of-
fices to work from home, shut
restaurants and bars, but still nei-
ther the political parties nor the
Election Commission of India
deems it fit to postpone the elec-
tions to five States.
Experts say that there would
have been no constitutional
breakdown if the polls are post-
poned by a month or so as the
Covid-19 third wave curve is
likely to be flattened by the end
of February or early March. The
ECI says that they did not post-
pone polls because no political
party demanded it during the
meeting they had with them.
Why the political parties chose
not to seek postponement is
something intriguing. All of them
call themselves responsible par-
ties; when the number of casual-
ties increases due to Covid-19,
they blame the government for
mishandling the situation, while
the fact is no politician follows
appropriate Covid behaviour.
Though the political parties have
not asked for postponement, the
ECI, if it wanted, could have post-
poned the polls in view of the ris-
ing cases of Covid-19. But the
Chief Election Commissioner
Sushil Chandra said, “There were
a lot of queries on this (Covid-
19) issue. The decision to go
ahead was taken after much dis-
cussion, the situation is very dy-
namic… Article 172 (1) of the
Constitution gives the period of
any state Assembly at maximum
five years… Holding of timely
elections is the essence of demo-
cratic governance and this task
has been given to the Election
Commission.” It may be recalled
how the Commission had come
under heavy criticism during the
West Bengal Assembly elections
which was spread over eight
phases over five weeks between
March and April 2021 as India
was grappling with the second
wave – the deadliest in terms of
the death toll and the number of
cases in the country. This forced
the poll panel to finally restrict
campaigning towards the remain-
ing two phases of the elections.
Hence, the EC said that this
time they decided on imposing
tough restrictions and came up
with a new concept of virtual
campaign. This came as a bolt
from blue for the opposition par-
ties which now seem to have de-
veloped cold feet. e biggest
worry for these parties now is
what would happen if the EC ex-
tends the restrictions beyond Jan-
uary 15. Even if it permits physical
campaign, the parties feel they will
hardly have any time to cover the
constituencies that would go to
polls under phase-1.
On the face of it, all parties are
putting up a brave face saying that
they are prepared for virtual cam-
paign, however, in reality they are
highly worried because even if
they are prepared to take up cam-
paign, the people are not prepared
to receive it.
e BJP says they plan to use
3D Studio Mix technology
through which leaders sitting at
two different places can be shown
on a podium. For some time, sim-
ilar messages could be seen on
WhatsApp groups and twitter
handles of BJP supporters. e
party already has more than 1.5
lakh booth-level WhatsApp
groups in each state, which will be
used to hold these virtual rallies.
The Aam Aadmi Party termed
the EC directive for virtual cam-
paigns a blessing and said it
would use its experience in social
media to whip up support. But
the question is how they will
monitor whether their virtual
campaign has reached the tar-
geted audience or not. In physical
meetings, crowds can be mo-
bilised and their moodcan be
gauged. But in virtual meetings
it is difficult to see whether their
speeches have been heard by the
voters or not. Some say that the
views on YouTube, twitter and
other social media can help them
in analysing the data. The views
and likes will not indicate
whether the viewer is a voter or
not. It could be the party activists
who would have viewed the
speeches and that itself could
have run into lakhs. What use it
can it be for the political parties?
The reaction of a BJP leader in
Lucknow reflects the ground re-
ality. He said there are many is-
sues regarding virtual meetings.
In rural and semi urban areas,
there are issues like poor internet
connectivity. Even if a majority
of the people have smartphones,
they prefer watching movies and
web series and not political meet-
ings. He said his own driver said
he was not going to go for addi-
tional recharge of data to watch
political speeches.
The parties and the leaders are
worried that if the restrictions
continue beyond January 15, it
may not be possible to connect
directly with the voters. Door-to-
door campaigns help them in not
only connecting with people that
also distribute gifts and cash to
the voters which has become a
menace in all elections from local
body to Lok Sabha. We have seen
how every party vies with others
in this race. Maybe, this would
be the only positive aspect of vir-
tual campaign if the EC decides
to extend the restrictions.
SP national spokesperson
Ashutosh Verma agreed that it
would be difficult to reach out to
rural folk through digital plat-
forms. The reason being, in rural
areas, 40 per cent people do not
use smartphones. This 40 per
cent are the hardcore voters who
stand in queues and cast their
votes unlike the urban voters who
do not show seriousness in exer-
cising their franchise. The only
hope is that the youth would not
only listen to the speeches on
YouTube or other social media
platforms but would also get up-
dates on thousands of Whatsapp
groups that have been created by
the political parties.
But then, this experiment has
a positive side as well. If it be-
comes successful, it may result in
ushering in a new chapter in the
electoral politics of India. The po-
litical parties can opt for virtual
campaigns in future elections as
well and that would reduce the
poll expenditure incurred by can-
didates and parties. But to per-
manently adopt such a system,
political parties will require
greater levels of maturity and
broadmindedness. The possibility
of indulging in mudslinging on
social media where all limits of
decency in terms of language
would be thrown to winds is also
not ruled out and this would be-
come a new headache for the ECI
to control. All the best to all con-
testants.
Conclusion: The EC decision
to conduct polls for the five
State assemblies in time seems
to be not right. By this, it's ven-
turing an avoidable risky task,
given the raging pandemic. The
elections could have waited a
few months without any consti-
tutional breakdown. The Alla-
habad High Court had also
opined in that direction. An ex-
traordinary situation demands
an extraordinary decision. All
energies of the government and
its wings should have been fo-
cused only on the fight against
corona. But the politicians seem
to have taken the Allahabad
High Court observation as in-
spiration and have taken an ex-
traordinary decision in an ex-
traordinary situation.
Research raises hopes amid Omicron surge
This theory could also explain why, by
some estimates, Omicron is nearly as
transmissible as measles, which is the
benchmark for high transmissibility, says
Michael Diamond, a virologist at Wash-
ington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Early indications from South Africa and
the United Kingdom signal that the fast-
spreading Omicron variant of the coron-
avirus SARS-CoV-2 is less dangerous than
its predecessor Delta.
Now, a series of laboratory studies offers
a tantalising explanation for the difference:
Omicron does not infect cells deep in the
lung as readily as it does those in the upper
airways, a review of medical reviews pub-
lished in various science magazines sug-
gests.
A look at the medical reports of South
Africa tells us that the country had passed
through the Omicron peak without a ma-
jor spike in deaths. Similarly, a December
31 UK government report said that people
in England who were infected with Omi-
cron were about half as likely to require
hospitalisation or emergency care as were
those infected with Delta. But the number
of people who have gained immune pro-
tection against Covid-19 through vacci-
nation, infection or both has grown over
time, making it difficult to determine
whether Omicron intrinsically causes
milder disease than earlier variants. For
answers, researchers have turned to ani-
mals and to cells in laboratory dishes. Di-
amond and his colleagues infected ham-
sters and mice with Omicron and other
variants to track disease progression. e
differences were staggering. Aer a few
days, the concentration of virus in the
lungs of animals infected with Omicron
was at least ten times lower than that in
rodents infected with other variants. Other
teams have also noted that compared with
previous variants, Omicron is found at re-
duced levels in lung tissue. Diamond says
he was especially shocked to see that the
Omicron-infected animals nearly main-
tained their body weight, whereas the oth-
ers quickly lost weight — a sign that their
infections were causing severe disease.
e lungs are where the coronavirus
does much of its damage, and lung infec-
tion can set off an inflammatory immune
response that ravages infected and unin-
fected cells alike, leading to tissue scarring
and oxygen deprivation. Fewer infected
lung cells could mean milder illness. An-
other group found that Omicron is much
less successful than previous variants at
infecting lung cells and miniature lung
models called organoids. ese experi-
ments also identified a plausible player in
the difference: a protein called TMPRSS2,
which protrudes from the surfaces of
many cells in the lungs and other organs,
but is notably absent from the surfaces of
most nose and throat cells. Previous vari-
ants have exploited this protein to infect
cells, but the researchers noticed that Omi-
cron doesn’t bind to TMPRSS2 so well. In-
stead, it tends to enter cells when it is in-
gested by them. Difficulty entering lung
cells could help to explain why Omicron
does better in the upper airways than in
the lungs, said Ravindra Gupta, a virologist
at the University of Cambridge, UK, who
co-authored one of the TMPRSS2 studies.
All these observations hold out hope
for humanity. But, it suffers more because
of its negligence. How long should Covid-
19 last and in what form depends on us.
e question remains: Do we want to kick
it out of the window?
LETTERS
thehansreader@gmail.com
THE
Read more at
https://epaper.thehansindia.com (Bengaluru edition)
SUMIT KUMAR SINGH
Towards the end of last year, the Indian
Navy inducted two 'potent' indige-
nously built platforms – INS Visakhapat-
nam and INS Vela. Speaking during the in-
duction ceremony at Visakhapatnam on
November 21, 2021, Defence Minister Raj-
nath Singh underlined the Navy's role in
ensuring a safe and open Indo-Pacific and
thus safeguarding the country's economic
interests.
What is it that the Navy does, which
makes it the preferred instrument in safe-
guarding the nation's as well as the world's
economic aspirations? Maritime trade and
commerce are economic activities, which
need a safe and conducive environment to
thrive. It is this requirement, which led to
development of navies. e Cholas had a
powerful navy up until the 13th century,
which allowed them to trade and establish
their influence right up to Southeast Asia.
e imperialistic designs of European
powers remained in check till the time there
was a credible navy guarding the Indian
shores. e decline of Maratha naval power
in the mid-18th century allowed the Euro-
pean powers, particularly the Britishto flex
their muscles. e presence of capable naval
forces had allowed us to flourish and the
'sea blindness' resulting in weakening of
naval power led to the ultimate conquest,
downfall and exploitation of the Indian sub-
continent.
To put it simply, the dependence of the
world in general and India in particular on
maritime trade has never been greater. A
total 95 per cent of all Indian trade by vol-
ume or 70 per cent by value is handled
through the maritime route.
To further put it more clearly, about 80
per cent of the fuel that we fill in our vehi-
cles at petrol pumps is brought into the
country via the sea route. Similarly, be it a
smartphone, a television or a computer, al-
most all the semiconductor chips inbuilt
devices and components such as batteries,
display components are imported into the
country through sea.
To understand the importance of mar-
itime trade a little better, let's look at what
happened in the Suez Canal on March 23,
2021. MV Ever Given, a 400-metre long
container carrier, loaded with 17,000 con-
tainers ran aground for six full days in the
world's most busy waterway. e blockage
of Suez Canal during the period sent shock
waves throughout the world. e Suez car-
ries 12 per cent of the entire world's sea
trade.
It would be interesting to note that the
entire loss caused to world maritime trade
due to this single incident can perhaps never
be quantified accurately because the aer-
effects of this incident may still be catching
up with some individuals and agencies. Such
is the depth of the extent of dependence on
maritime trade on our individual lives.
While the Ever Given incident may have
happened due to human error, the possi-
bility of such an incident happening in
other busy constricted waterways by way
of deliberate military action or a pre med-
itated terror attack remains a grim possi-
bility.
As the nation progresses towards becom-
ing a global production hub, it needs more
and more sea trade to bring in raw materi-
als, oil and petroleum and take out finished
products to their destinations worldwide,
thereby ushering in employment, growth
and prosperity. Such a vast and diverse sea
trade requires protection against traditional
and non-traditional threats. As history
shows us, such protection can be provided
only by a capable and a professional navy.
The Indian Navy is mandated to ensure
safety of the nation's maritime trade
through protection of Sea Lines of Com-
munication (SLOCs). This remains the In-
dian Navy's primary military mission. The
mission is achieved by ensuring that the
SLOCs are monitored and patrolled by the
naval ships and aircraft. While protection
of trade remains a continuous and om-
nipresent mission for the Indian Navy, pro-
tection of country's vast coastline, offshore
development areas and island territories --
which are far from the mainland is also a
crucial mission.
Just as the Indian Army and the Border
Security Force are responsible to ensure
that country's land borders with neighbour-
ing countries are well guarded and pro-
tected from external attacks, the Indian
Navy take continuous measures to ensure
that anti-national elements as well as drug
traffickers do not infiltrate into our country
through the sea route.
The missions and deployments of the as-
sets of the Indian Navy are aimed to ensure
that the conducive conditions are created
on the high seas as well as coastal waters to
further guarantee that the economic
progress of the nation remains unhindered.
So, the next time you see a large sophis-
ticated windmill churning away silently or
a solar power panel on top of your house,
remember that there are ships and aircraft
of the Indian Navy on 24x7 patrol, ensuring
that the ships that are carrying these vital
cargo proceed to their destinations un-
harmed to bring about prosperity and re-
alise the dream of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat
(Self-Reliant India).
Man hides his HIV positive status,
wife approaches cops
BENGALURU: In a shocking incident, a woman in Karnataka has lodged
a complaint against her husband for hiding his HIV positive status from
her, police said on Friday.
In a complaint with the Basavanagudi Woman's Police Station, the vic-
tim(25) said even aer learning that he was HIV infected, she continued
to live with him but he threw her out of the house and snatched all the
jewellery given by her parents. Based on the complaint, the police have
registered an FIR against the 35-year-old engineer residing in Basa-
vanagudi. According to police, the accused working at a reputed company
married the victim -- an accountant in a private firm -- on March 12,
2018. Even during their honeymoon, he did not consummate the marriage
citing stomach ache.
Covid third wave dampens
Sandalwood's Sankranthi spirit
BENGALURU: e Covid-19 surge has proved to be costly for the Kan-
nada film industry, aka Sandalwood, as the movies that made a good
start at the box-office are not being able to capitalise on their success. e
reason? e Karnataka government has limited occupancy in cinema
theatres to 50 per cent because of the third wave.
Producers who had planned grand Sankranthi releases have deferred
their movies. And the film trade estimates that by the time the third wave
peters down, scores of theatres across the state will permanently close
down. 'Badava Rascal', starring actor Dhananjaya, released on December
24 and showed all signs of becoming a hit. e movie team had already
begun a tour across the state to celebrate its success, but it received a rude
shock when the 50 per cent limitation was announced in the first week of
January.
V RAMU SARMA
Paradigm shift in Indian poll scenario
The EC decision to conduct polls for the five State assemblies
in time seems to be not right. However, it is a welcome
decision to allow only virtual rallies, not large in-person
gatherings, in view of the Covid-19 surge. On the face of it,
all parties are putting up a brave face saying that they are
prepared for virtual campaigning; however, in reality, they
are highly worried because people do not appear amenable
to such mode of electioneering
A pragmatic measure by EC
The Election Commission’s decision to ban all political rallies, road-
shows and other processions till January 15 is praiseworthy. Restric-
tions need to be imposed whenever required. When election campaigns
are allowed without any restrictions, people will behave as they wish. In
the absence of strict restrictions, the second wave of the pandemic had
caused a catastrophe in the country. We cannot afford to repeat such a
folly. By ordering a ban on rallies, the EC has acknowledged the gravity
of the situation and has shown awareness about the possibility of a public
health emergency. It would be better if the Commission extended the du-
ration of the ban. Political parties must devise plans to reach out to people
without mass gatherings.
Venu GS, Kollam
Lay focus on satellite townships
Apropos 'Explore ways to push mass housing,' all state and central
governments are doing all they can to give an impetus to housing,
but apparently all their efforts are falling short. Since the construction in-
dustry contributes significantly to the GDP, a push for constructions
could help India in achieving the $5 trillion economy too. A large number
of our urban population lives in slums which are not only an eyesore but
an affront to human dignity. Cities have been growing more horizontally
than vertically. e only way to minimise the housing problem is to
provide employment in rural India to stop urban migration and to build
satellite towns to ease the pressure on land.
Anthony Henriques, Mumbai
Railway safety derails
The train accident in Bengal saw 5 people dead in a major accident
and more people are trapped inside the maligned compartments.
Strange are the ways of train accidents in Indian history. A panel will be
set up for a probe. But the dear lives were lost in a major mishap. It is
time to have railway safety first as per the budget promises givenby the
Railway Minister. Time-tested methods are to be carried out regularly on
all rail routes periodically.
C K Subramaniam, Mumbai
Exodus from BJP
Though assembly elections are going to be held in five states, all eyes
over in the UP assembly elections, as it is taken as a template for Lok
Sabha elections in 2024. All election surveys predicted the return of BJP
in UP. Only a few months back all was going well for the powerful UP
CM Yogi, but suddenly large-scale desertions ahead of polls started from
BJP to Samajwadi Party. ough political defections are normal phenom-
enon, a large number of BJP leaders joining in SP is a big jolt to BJP. It
will definitely hurt BJP's electoral prospects.
Zakir Hussain, Kazipet
II
From all accounts, it is clear, that Yogi cared too less for PM's o-re-
peated slogan "sab ka saath, sab ka vikas, sab ka vishwas and sab ka
prayas" as the present goings-on in the state against OBC and Dalits are
only disturbing and alarming. All in all, PM has to take the blame for
praising Yogi even when OBC leaders are clearly unhappy with his rule
who only tried to saffronise politics at every level by undermining OBC
and Dalits on whose support the party could come out triumphant in
2017.
K R Srinivasan, Secunderabad
III
Poll-bound Uttar Pradesh is witnessing blatant party-hopping, brought
about by naked opportunism, and power mongering, far removed
from professed ‘genuine concern for OBCs, and socially downtrodden. If
only the discerning voters see through the ulterior and selfish motives of
these unscrupulous individuals and give them a deserving treatment at
the polls facilitating their political oblivion!
Dr George Jacob, Kochi
Alternative to Silverline project
Madhavan Nair, former ISRO Chairman, came up with a simple so-
lution to Kerala's SilverLine project which is attractive and irre-
sistible. He suggested an alternative economical air travel in place of this
rail project. When Rs 1000 crore investment would be sufficient for the
air project, in place of �1lakh crores, the difference is mind- boggling. It
is hoped that Kerala government will have a relook at the project with a
fresh and open mind. Alternate projects that can help Kerala to retain its
pride of being God's own country, avoiding environmental degradation
and disasters.
D Nagarjuna, Hyderabad
As the nation progresses
towards becoming a global
production hub, it needs more
and more sea trade to bring in
raw materials, oil and petroleum
and take out finished products
to their destinations
worldwide, thereby ushering
in employment, growth and
prosperity. Such a vast and
diverse sea trade requires
protection against traditional
and non-traditional threats
INDIAN NAVY
Safeguarding country’s economic interests
Dependence of the world in general and India in particular on maritime trade has never been greater
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on Security and Threats’
found. Of those who have
been arrested thus far, “over
half were business owners,
CEOs and from white-collar
occupations. Over a quarter
had college degrees and only
a third had criminal records,
while 13 per cent belonged to
extreme right-wing militia
groups”. It concluded that
the mob was overwhelming-
ly White Non-Latinos, in
ages between 35-50 years
and the vast majority had
come from pockets of Trump
supporters in districts and
States that were either major-
ity Democrat or had swung
towards the Democrats.
The most interesting
aspect of the study was the
revelation that the single
most important motivation
for those who participated in
the insurrection was their
belief in the “Great
Replacement Theory”. A con-
spiracy theory first pro-
pounded in France by author
Renaud Camus in which
white nationalists claimed
that the French white popu-
lation was being demograph-
ically and culturally replaced
deliberately by Non-
European peoples. It has
found much traction not just
in France but also in other
European nations and in the
United States and New
Zealand. In America, it has
come to be seen as the Non-
Latino White population
being replaced by Blacks,
Hispanics and People of
Colour. In essence, a growing
fear of losing their privi-
leged and entitled position in
society that the colour of
their skin provided.
A fear that Donald
Trump was able to effective-
ly harness not just in the
presidential campaign of
2016 but also, even more
successfully, in his 2020
campaign despite his even-
tual loss. Interestingly, the
Replacement Theory with
appropriate modifications
can just as easily be adapted
in support of other extrem-
ist ideologies as well, both
religious and ethnic. In our
own context, for example,
there are groups within the
Hindutva fold that use a
similar argument, not sup-
ported by any scientific data,
to suggest that birth rates in
minority communities are so
high that they will eventual-
ly overtake the majority
Hindu population in a few
decades. There are groups
that have recently gone fur-
ther in propagating even
more radical views than this.
Clearly, one need not be
a social scientist to under-
stand that the motive for
such baseless assertions is
completely rooted in politics,
and works as an effective
tool for propagating fear to
garner votes. What is truly
dangerous is the insidious
nature of the threat posed.
The fear of the unknown, as
we all know, obliterates all
reasoning and logic and
brings out a purely emotion-
al response. Unfortunately,
what most people overlook
is that while it is relatively
simple to start a fire, the
conflagration leaves none
unscathed. Those fanning
the flames of religious big-
otry would do well to heed
18th century English poet
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s
wise words that “in politics,
what begins in fear usually
ends in failure”.
(The writer is a military
veteran, who is a Visiting
Fellow with the Observer
Research Foundation and
Senior Visiting Fellow with
The Peninsula Foundation,
Chennai. The views expressed
are personal.)
��������� ��
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Sir —Since the derailment of Seemanchal
Express in February 2019 in Bihar
where six people lost their lives, and the
curtailment of the railways due to
COVID-19, the Railways was trying hard
to renew its claims of safety and devel-
opment. Just at that moment, at least
seven people were killed and over 40
injured after 12 coaches of the Bikaner-
Guwahati Express derailed in West
Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district. The people
are unable to digest the claim that due
to the pandemic, there were fewer pas-
sengers on board the train. It seems to
be a wrong statement by the officials con-
cerned. There were 550 passengers in the
affected coaches and 1,100 passengers in
the train; so, it's not less.
Moreover, it’s 2022 and still these
trains are using IFC coaches instead of
LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch) coaches.
Instead of inaugurating stations after sta-
tions, there’s a pressing need to develop
the rail compartments first. The silver lin-
ing amid the tragedy was to see about 50
ambulances reaching the spot in no time
at such a remote place, also thanks in no
small measure to locals for a quick help-
ing hand and all parties for overcoming
petty politics and joining hands to help
the passengers. It shows that our medical
system and coordination improved.
Heartfelt condolences to the bereaved
families and praying for early recovery of
those injured.
Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee | Faridabad
��������� ������� ������
Sir — We have too many people around
whose sentiments are too easily hurt by
what happens in the advertisements but
not enough by what happens out there
in reality. Added to the fact that we gen-
erally lack a sense of humour and every
imagined slight is blown out of propor-
tion, it has made it nearly impossible for
any creative person to take a different,
independent view from the accepted tra-
ditional view. After 2014, there is a grow-
ing constituency of eagle-eyed ‘protec-
tors’ of Indiancultural and religious tra-
ditions waiting to getting offended at the
slightest chance.
Thanks to the attitude of the
Government in power and other ele-
ments that are patronised by it extra-con-
stitutionally, which offers them protec-
tion from the essence of the law of the
land, this creed believes they have the sole
proprietary rights over Indian culture.
Culture is dynamic and the fossilised
thought processes of the many ‘guardians
of Indian values’ need a changeover if the
nation is to progress.
Anthony Henriques | Mumbai
������������ �������
Sir — While cricket has seen a lot of
innovations over the years like coloured
clothing, emergence of T20 format,
introduction of pink ball, etc, ambidex-
trous bowling is something that hasn’t
made its way yet into the game. But
being an ambidextrous bowler, and
more so a fast bowler, is highly challeng-
ing and far more demanding in terms
of physical fitness because the bowler
needs to rewire his body very often dur-
ing the game. Across cricketing nations,
only five cricketers have so far tested out
ambidextrous bowling — Akshay
Karnewar (India), Kamindu Mendis
(Sri Lanka), Yasir Jan (Pakistan), Shaila
Sharmin (Bangladesh) and Jemma
Barsby (Australia.)
But how far can ambidextrous bowl-
ing be really effective and sustainable at
international level is the moot question
as these days, batsmen like Glen Maxwell
are adept at employing switch-hitting at
will, a shot which is highly productive in
T20 cricket. In fact, ambidextrous bowl-
ing was in use long ago when Pakistan’s
Hanif Mohammed tried it out a few
times, though in desperation, like he did
to Gary Sobers during his monumental
knock of 365 n.o. at Kingston, Jamaica,
in 1958. It’s believed to be the first-ever
instance of ambidextrous bowling in
international cricket.
Ranganathan Sivakumar | Chennai
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We live in a world
that, as Canadian
p h i l o s o p h e r
Brendan Myers
puts it, is “utterly saturated
with fear. We fear being attacked
by religious extremists, both
foreign and domestic. We fear
the loss of political rights, a loss
of privacy, or a loss of freedom.
We fear being injured, robbed
or attacked, being judged by
others, or neglected, or left
unloved.”
Politicians understand this
well. With the COVID-19 pan-
demic having already laid us
low and in the absence of any
real health-revival hopes on
the horizon, they have lost no
time in using fear to entice and
recruit volunteers to their own
personal causes.
Former American
President Donald Trump is a
prime example of a politician
who has successfully used fear
to his advantage, and continues
to do so despite having lost the
Presidency by approximately
seven million of the popular
vote. With absolutely no evi-
dence to show, he has still
been able to sell the “Big Lie”
that he was denied victory
because the election machinery
was compromised and allowed
incumbent Joe Biden to win
fraudulently, something that
millions continue to believe
even to this day.
This issue, as we are all
aware, boiled over on January 6,
2021, the day Congress was to
formally certify President-elect
Biden’s win. An unruly mob of
Trump’s supporters, egged on by
him but he choosing not to join
them, attacked Capitol Hill in
an effort to stop Congress from
carrying out its constitutional
mandate. In the ensuing vio-
lence, two policemen were
killed and over 150 injured,
leading to the arrest of over
seven hundred of those
involved, with many more still
at large.
One would have expected
that the fanatics who attacked
the Capitol and unleashed utter
mayhem there would belong to
the very fringes of American
society. Surprisingly, that was
not the case, as a study by the
University of Chicago’s ‘Project
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India was earlier known for its flour-
ishing trade in spices and textiles,
along with precious metal and stone.
AfterIndependence, India inherited
an economy that was one of the poorest
in the world with no industrial base and
mostlydevastated land deprived of forest
and fertility. The Britishleft a poor base for
the already developed handicraftsuniver-
sally acclaimed for their quality and
craftsmanship.
In Mahatma Gandhi's view,industrial
civilisation fostered by British rule was the
main cause of India's social, ecological and
economic distress. He believed that India's
salvation lay in the restoration of its
ancient civilisation where economic
progress and moral progress intertwined.
Gandhi knew that "India lives in her
seven lakh villages" thereforethe eco-
nomic and social revival of these villages
is a pre-condition for reconstruction of
India. He wanted to make the villages self-
sufficient and build a rural economy
which is not solely based on agriculture
and allied activities but also has strong
rural industries thereby generating
employment for the villagers.
Gandhi once said, "If the village per-
ishes, India will perish too". He imagined
his ideal village will consist of cottages made
from locally sourced materials with suffi-
cient light, ventilation, proper sanitation
and produce its own grains, vegetables,
fruits, and Khadi. It will have wells, places
of worship, a common meeting place, a
common grazing field, a co-operative
dairy, primary and secondary schools
where vocational training will be impart-
ed and panchayats for settling disputes.
Gandhi was againstthe concentration
of power and the system that makes the
individual subservient to the machine and
material. He wanted a development process
which is harmonious, poverty free, nonvi-
olent, based on cooperation and ethics.
Therefore, he proposed an ecological
model centered on limitation of wants in
contrast to the modern civilization that pro-
motes material welfare and individual
profits. He was sure that too much empha-
sis onmaterialism could lead to violence,
unhappiness and a culture of oppression,
exploitation, and dominance.
Gandhi's concept of sustainable devel-
opment is rooted in a holistic approach
which emphasizes the development of an
individual and society as a whole in con-
nection with nature.By preaching "simple
living," Gandhi sought to curb both human
greed and mindless exploitation of natur-
al resources. He said, one should know the
difference between 'need' and 'want' and
taking more than required to fulfil our
need, in a way is theft from other species,
humans and the future.
Gandhi often said,"The earth provides
enough to satisfy every man's needs, but
not every man's greed".
He warned against the perils of mas-
sive industrialization and unsustainable pat-
terns of consumption in the west. He
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described the process of urbaniza-
tion as a "double drain", i.e., it will
harm the villages and the villagers
and thus proving fatal to
both.Hence, in order to ensure
economic balance, it is important
that the urban sector does not
drainthe rural sectorand shift the
focus from centralization to decen-
tralization. He argued, that a tech-
nologically sophisticated economy
will have two major consequences:
it would disempower the econom-
ic autonomy of the masses and
greatly undermine the ecological
fabric on which millions depend.
Therefore,to increase the pro-
ductivity, we should avoid indis-
criminate use and non-selective
adoption of imported technology.
He foresaw that the development of
small-scale technology could boost
efficiency in rural production with-
out displacing rural labour andad-
vocated an appropriate technolog-
ical mix with controlled production
to maximise the social benefits of
science and technology and to
maintain a proper balance between
man and environment.
He emphasized the develop-
ment of village and cottage indus-
tries where handicrafts, spinning,
weaving, and likewise remain con-
stant sources of income andrevenue
generation. This will protect the vil-
lage crafts and the workers from the
crushing competition of the power-
driven machinery and ensure jobs
for the villagers.
Gandhi ideas couldnot be more
relevant than today when India is
witnessing jobless growth and fac-
ing the worst unemployment crisis
in this pandemic situation. It is evi-
dent that the current paradigm of
developmentis causing serious envi-
ronmental problems whichis neither
ecologically nor socially sustainable.
It is leading the planet into a vor-
tex of inequality, widening the rift
between rich and poor, and proved
inadequate to address the issues of
the millions living in poverty.
Gandhi was well aware of the
pitfalls of such developmentas well
as the consequences of unequal dis-
tribution of wealth between differ-
ent classes.The World Inequality
Report 2022 ranked India as the
most unequal country in the world.
The top 10 per cent and top one per
cent hold 57 per cent and 22 per
cent of the total national
income,respectively,while the bot-
tom half 's share has come down to
13 per cent and they barely have
anything. Thomas Piketty asserts in
his influential book, Capital in the
Twenty-First Century, that inequal-
ity is rapidly intensifying and glob-
al cooperation is desirable to prevent
the wealthy from simply shifting
assets into other jurisdictions.He
proposed, an extremely high
income-tax rates on upper-income
taxpayers along with a global wealth
tax.Economic progress devoid of
moral elements will deepen divi-
sions and increase dissensions
among people.
With growing population, the
increase in food demand has con-
siderably altered land-use practices
whichhas led toagricultural inten-
sification at the expense of forests
and grazing lands.Increased use of
chemicals and fertilizers are caus-
ing pollution, soil and ground
water contamination, loss of bio-
diversity and killthebeneficial
organisms whichincreases fertili-
ty.Gandhi believed in sustainable
agriculture and advised the use of
bio-manures and bio-pesticides to
improve soil fertility. Today, the
experts in the healthcare are
emphasizing the importance of
chemical-free crops because exces-
sive amounts of chemicals in plants
are causing health related problems
in humans as it affects kidneys,
lungs, may also cause cancer and
congenital abnormalities like mal-
nourished children, etc.
Gandhi's understanding of the
ecological crisis was far ahead of his
time and anticipated many of our
greatest challenges of today.
Knowing that afforestation can be
an effective step to combat future
water crisis, he urged people to
plant trees. He also proposed,
water harvesting for irrigational
purposes to prevent droughts and
famines.
Climate change has once again
shed light on Gandhi'sphilosophy
of self-sufficiency and sustainable
development and made the world
realize the importance of practic-
ing a lifestyle that has minimal
environmental impact. These prin-
ciples remain the driving force
behind all the UN's climate agree-
ments, environmental conservation
treaties, and sustainable develop-
ment goals. Many of his ideas fore-
shadow the holistic thinking
behind the "Agenda 2030:
Transforming Our World" for
Sustainable Development. The cen-
tral idea of Agenda 2030 is captured
by the tagline "Leave No One
Behind." The plan aims to achieve
prosperity for people and the plan-
et and calls for "transformative"
change, which includes changing
the way we live, produce, and
consume.
Thus, the current climate cri-
sis and the need to find sustainable
means has brought a long-sup-
pressed and quintessentially
Galbraith's unanswered question to
the fore — "How much should a
country consume?" — along with
Gandhian corollary — "How much
should a person consume?". They
have become fundamental ques-
tionsfor the 21st century and will
dominate the intellectual and polit-
ical debates.
(The writer is a former
Indian Forest Service
officer. The views
expressed are personal.)
Tobacco consumption is a
menace that is worse
than the current
Covid019 pandemic and caus-
es innumerable fatalities. Both
Finance Ministry and GST
Council appear to have over-
looked the causes of this mal-
ady despite representations by
civil society organizations,
Members of Parliament, the
medical fraternity, state repre-
sentatives, Ministers and citi-
zens.
There have been no major
tobacco tax increases after the
GST council placed tobacco
products in the 28 per cent
bracket in 2017. The option of
tax increase on tobacco prod-
ucts gives the government a
golden opportunity to raise
badly required finances.
Remember, lower taxes
increase the affordability of
tobacco consumers, especially
teenagers and children. The
Union Government has the
option of hiking the excise
duty and NCCD in the annu-
al budget while the GST
Council can increase the cess.
This will ensure India has opti-
mal tobacco taxation as man-
dated by WHO.
A submission to
Parliament mentioned that a
small excise duty hike ensured
tax collection of Rs 4962 crores.
This proves the point that rais-
ing excise duty and calamity
duty substantially in the com-
ing budget can fetch a hand-
some revenue.
The costs imposed on our
society and our economy, both
direct as well as indirect, have
been huge. India has over 27
crore tobacco users today and
the consumption of tobacco
kills more than 13 lakh Indians
annually. At a global level,
eight million deaths are report-
ed people every year.
Overseven million deaths are
due to direct use of tobacco
while the rest are caused by
passive smokers exposed to
the poisonous smoke. As per
the data of GYTS (Global
Youth Tobacco Survey) in 2019,
nearly one-fifth of the stu-
dents aged 13-15 have used any
form of the tobacco product
(smoking, smokeless, and any
other form) in their life.
Clearly, consumption of tobac-
co isnot just about one's health
at the individual level, but a
societal problem we face
nationally.
Tobacco taxes and, there-
fore, the prices have to be
increased regularly, so as to sig-
nificantly reduce the affordabil-
ity over a period of time. This
was the practice in the pre-GST
era with additional options of
the states adding VAT. Tobacco
taxes and prices have not been
increased enough over time to
reduce the affordability of these
products resulting in more
numbers of consumers get-
ting addicted. A long, four-year
gap of no tax increase has
tobacco companies share prices
soaring on the one hand, and
on the other, we see rampant
consumption leading to more
deaths and spread of dreaded
diseases. The tobacco industry
may have its reason to look the
other way, but the government
has no such option.
The annual economic cost
from all tobacco products is
estimated to be Rs 177.341
crores in 2017-18 amounting to
more than one per cent of
India's GDP. This will contin-
ue to grow in the post-Covid
era and the next GATS report
will surely point out the alarm-
ing rise of casualties. In a
country like India, an estimat-
ed 1.3 million deaths are
accounted for by tobacco abuse.
As per WHO data, the most
common way tobacco kills
isthrough cardiovascular dis-
eases (CVDs) - nearly 4,49,844
deaths such deaths occurred in
India as of 2018. The high
prevalence of non-communica-
ble diseases due to tobacco use
is posing a huge challenge to
the country's response to
Covid-19 management, ampli-
fying India's health burden in
such difficult times.
It is time that the Finance
Ministry launches a multi-
pronged attack for the social
cause of tobacco control by
increasing taxes on tobacco
products both in the annual
budget and also in the GST
council to wipe out the gap of
the last four years. Doing this
social good will not raise any
eyebrows and citizens will wel-
come it for reasons of public
health.
I am sure that the listening
posts in the Ministry will con-
vey the right message to the
Minister and also work out the
modalities of tax rationalization
which mandates that a sin
product sale needs to be limit-
ed and citizens be protected.
We are especially talking about
children and teens who are
major contributors to our econ-
omy.
A resilient healthcare sys-
tem as an outcome will emerge
that complements our 'Atma
Nirbhar Bharat' mission, which
not only focuses on revival of
the economy but also on over-
all improvement of the health
of our citizens. To mark the
National Youth Day which has
the theme, 'SakshamYuva,
Sashakth Yuva', by making
tobacco products unaffordable
we may save the young gener-
ation from this deadly product
and make them healthy and
aatmanirbhar.
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(The writer is a medical
practitioner and Member
of Parliament, Lok Sabha.
The views expressed
are personal.)