Editorials 04-Nov.-2018 R.K.Ranjan

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12 WHO WHAT WHY WHEN WHERE ● ● ● ●
NOIDA/DELHI
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2018

THE HINDU
“Let’s shoot all the Workers Party mem The former Army paratrooper began There is no such thing as this secular resulted in the impeachment of Presi style of Donald Trump, which gave him
WHO
Pp q
Q bers here in Acre (a Brazilian State),”
said Jair Bolsonaro, presidential candi
his political career in 1988 when he ran
for the Rio de Janeiro City Council on
state. The state is Christian and the mi
nority will have to change, if they can,”
dent Dilma Rousseff in 2016. The econo
my fell into a recession in 2014 and con
the nickname, ‘Trump of the Tropics.’
When Mr. Lula withdrew from the race
date of the Social Liberal Party, at a the Christian Democratic Party ticket. he said last year. tinued to contract in 2015 and 2016. If after his conviction, the path was
campaign event on September 1. In a In 1990, he got elected to the federal unemployment was 6.8% before the re cleared for Mr. Bolsonaro. Mr. Haddad
Jair modern democracy, a leading electoral
candidate calling for shooting down his
Congress as a candidate of the same par
ty. Ever since he remained a member of
Did outsider tag help?
Mr. Bolsonaro’s rise coincided with Bra
cession, it almost doubled in two years.
The period also saw the eruption of cor
never posed a serious challenge to him.
or her political opponents should have the National Congress till his election as zil’s economic and political crises that ruption scandals that have felled several What does it mean for Brazil?

Bolsonaro, created a political storm. But in Brazil,
Mr. Bolsonaro, the 63yearold farright
President, though he changed his party
several times. Throughout his tenure as
politicians, including Workers Party
leaders. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the
After the victory, Mr. Bolsonaro has de
nied allegations that he’s a “fascist” and
leader, is known for controversial re a Congressman, Mr. Bolsonaro re former President and arguably the most painted himself as a “Churchillian pa
‘Trump’ of marks against his opponents, women,
blacks and LGBTQ communities.
mained an outspoken defender of ultra
conservativism. He opposed abortion,
popular leftist leader, is serving 12 years
in jail after conviction in a corruption
triot,” who could take the country out of
the political and economic impasse. But
the Tropics What is his politics?

Mr. Bolsonaro built his campaign on
homosexuality and affirmative action.
He had also voiced support for the bru
tal military dictatorship of Brazil’s past.
case. After the economic and political
crises and the scandals, there was re
sentment among the public of the polit
it may not be easy. His biggest challenge
would be to stabilise the economy,
which is yet to recover from the afteref
such controversial, fiery rhetoric, often “The situation of the country would ical establishment. It’s this resentment fects of the country’s worst recession.
attacking the establishment. In the Oc have been better today had the dictator Mr. Bolsonaro turned to his favour. He Unemployment remains high at 12%. So
tober 7 Presidential election, he ship killed more people,” he said in declared his candidacy in 2016 from the is the crime rate. Mr. Bolsonaro will also
emerged the most popular candidate 1992. In 1998, he wrote in Veja magazine Social Christian Party, but in two years face strong opposition from the Left,
with 46% of the vote. He defeated the that Augusto Pinochet, the former mili he joined the Social Liberal Party (SPL), which remains a potent force. He suc
Workers Party’s Fernando Haddad in tary dictator of Chile, “should have which became his vehicle to the presi cessfully capitalised on the popular dis
the runoff on October 28 with 55% of killed more people.” During the cam dential palace. During the campaign, he content with the government. But now,
the popular vote, breaking 15 years of paign, he consistently attacked secula attacked the country’s political elites he’s the government.
Brazil’s political tradition of electing lef rism and the country’s nonChristian and presented himself as an outsider, a
tists as Presidents. minorities. “God above everything. tactic that resembled the campaign STANLY JOHNY
ILLUSTRATION: J.A. PREMKUMAR
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What is it? The midterms, to be held executive, the legislature (Congress), have 51 Senate seats, while Democrats gating agencies and questions on the
WHAT
Pp q
Q on November 6, are elec
tions to the United States Congress — the
and the judiciary. Therefore, control of
Congress and the White House has im
have 49. But of the 36 seats being con
tested, 26 are held by Democrats — so
role of the U.S. armed forces abroad. In
short, the Democrats will put the brakes
Senate and the House of Representa plications for how well these checks and they have more at stake. Like other pro on the Trump administration’s agenda.
tives — that occur in the middle of the balances work and what legislation goes minent pollsters, these analyses suggest Recently, Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer
The lowdown fouryear term of a President. All 435

House seats are up for grabs; each has a
through. When the President’s party
controls Congress, it is easier for him to
the Senate is most likely to stay in Repu
blican control. The most likely scenario
said Democrats, if they took control of
the House, would look to clean up cam
twoyear term. A third of all 100 Senate push his legislative agenda through than is a split Congress: Democrats take paign financing. As for judicial appoint
on mid-term seats, each lasting six years, is contested
every two years. This year, 33 seats plus
if the Opposition controlled both or
even one House: this is especially the
charge of the House and Republicans re
tain the Senate. If this happens, the
ments, Republicans, who have prided
themselves on appointing two Supreme
two retiree seats (Republican Thad Co case today when there has been a near House will likely begin impeachment Court justices in the last two years, will
polls in U.S. chran of Mississippi retired earlier this
year and Arizona Senator Jeff Flake is re
complete breakdown of bipartisanship
and political divisions are deepening.
proceedings against the President — and
if passed by a simple majority, it goes to
continue to fill any vacancy with conser
vative judges, if they control the Senate.
tiring imminently) are being contested. the Senate which acts as a jury and if it This is because the Senate vets the Presi crats would need a large majority to
Additionally, 36 States are electing Go How will it The Republicans “convicts,” it needs to confirm this with dent’s judicial nominees. confirm impeachment proceedings
vernors on November 6. The Governors pan out? have 235 seats in the a twothirds majority. This is unlikely to against Mr. Trump. If Republicans win
are not just the titular heads, but chief House, the Democrats happen if Republicans control the Se What lies If the Democrats win both Houses, there will be more conser
executives. Republicans govern 33 of 193, and there are seven vacancies. The nate. However, this isn’t all of it: win ahead? the House and the Senate vative judicial appointments, an at
the 50 States, while Democrats have 16 Democrats are likely to flip the House, ning the House means Democrats get to (if this happened, they tempt at repealing Obamacare (which
(Alaska is governed by an Independent). as per several polls. Polling outfit, fi chair powerful committees on the judi would have a thin majority), Mr. Trump they tried to do last year, unsuccessful
vethirtyeight.com, gives them a 78% ciary, finance, oversight and govern would have to make deals with them on ly), and unless something egregious oc
Why does it The U.S. constitution chance at least. Online political journal ment reform. There will likely be a slew healthcare, social security spending, curs or is revealed, Mr. Trump is highly
matter? has set up a system of The Cook Political Report expects De of subpoenas and investigations into immigration and other key issues. unlikely to get impeached.
checks and balances by mocrats to make a net gain of 2540 “corruption” in the Trump administra While a Democratic Senate would con
vesting power in the President and the seats as of this writing. The Republicans tion, his attempts to influence investi trol judicial appointments, the Demo SRIRAM LAKSHMAN
lesale onion market in Maharasthra — dropped owing to a droughtlike situa volatile. While the production in the change in preference of Indian consum
WHY
Pp q
Q ruled ₹2223 a kg in midOctober on
tight supplies as supply had dropped.
tion in parts of Maharashtra, where the
onion’s Kharif crop is likely to be lower.
country over the years has been rising,
sharp price spikes are experienced al
ers for onion. It also implies that the ef
fect of spikes in onion price on house
Consequently, the retail prices jumped, However, they are hopeful that as the most every alternate year. The key rea hold budgets is getting heavier. It looks
and in the national capital New Delhi, arrival from neighbouring Karnataka sons for severe and frequent price strange that increased availability is as
onion the price hit ₹40 a kg, before the Union
government reviewed the price and
and Madhya Pradesh has started pick
ing up, prices will moderate. Jaydutta
shocks are attributed by agriculture ex
perts to production fluctuations and
sociated with the increase in price vola
tility rather than providing flexibility to
availability of onion and asked the Delhi Holkar, chairman of the Lasalgaon changes in the nature of demand. absorb small shocks in supply,” he says.
prices are government to make onion available
through its public distribution system
APMC, says supplies are gradually ris
ing, and on October 31, the average
The growth in onion production has
risen from below 5.5 million tonnes till What is in store?
outlets as was done in 2015 when prices wholesale price of the onion was 200203 to nearly 20 million tonnes in ■ The price trends of onion over the
fluctuating had spiked. around ₹1011 a kg. “Onion price surged
only for a couple of days in midOctober
recent years. Experts point out that the
annual growth rate of above 13% in
years show that high prices prevail only
for a few months and the excessive vola
Has supply dropped? but later as the arrival increased the onion production since 200001 is phe tility can be managed through appro
■ Government data show production of price has dropped. However, those sell nomenal and no other food crop in the priate mechanisms. Professor Chand
What is the problem? onion has fallen marginally during the ing in the retail have kept the price up country shows this type of growth in the says a multipronged strategy involving
■ Onion prices peaked in midOctober 201718 crop year that ended June 30. only to derive more profit...,” he says. recent years. technology, extension, public stocks,
in parts of the country on account of The third advance estimates say onion Traders and the government hope However, domestic and overseas de and market intelligence is needed to ad
squeezed supplies from the key bulb output is likely to be around 22 million prices will moderate in the coming days mand for onion seems to be outpacing dress excessive volatility. “Stocking by
growing States, bringing to the fore the tonnes during the reported period, low as the supply is expected to improve as growth in supply, points out Professor public sector parastatal like the NAFED
recurring price volatility of this vegeta er than 22.4 million tonnes in 201617. soon as the harvest begins in the onion Ramesh Chand, a member of the NITI will also keep a check on exploitation
ble which the country witnesses almost However, compared to the average pro growing areas of Maharashtra, Andhra Aayog. He says the per capita demand and market manipulation by private
every alternate season. duction of the past five years, it is about Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan. of onion has increased from 4 kg in trade, besides price stabilisation,” he
The wholesale onion prices at the La 12% higher. 200203 to more than 13 kg in recent adds.
salgaon Agricultural Produce Market Traders point out that the supply of Why this recurring volatility? years. “This growth in per capita de
Committee — the country’s largest who onions in the Lasalgaon market mainly ■ In India, onion prices are extremely mand for onion reflects a mindboggling VIKAS VASUDEVA
Not OK Google? Thousands of Google

WHEN
Pp q
Q employees around the world walked off
their jobs for a while on Thursday to
protest against the company’s response
to sexual harassment. Dubbed ‘Google
1 Walkout,’ the staff was reacting to a New
York Times investigation which found
that executives accused of sexual
harassment got multimillion dollar
November severance packages. They demanded
that the world’s largest search engine,
2018 which employs over 80,000 people,
must address rising concerns about
workplace inequality. Reuters reported
that the protests took place in Asia,
Europe and North America, and at
Google’s headquarters in Mountain
View, California. The protests followed
the report that Google in 2014 gave a
$90 million exit package to senior vice
president Andy Rubin after he was
accused of sexual harassment. Google
did not dispute the report. Google Chief
Executive Sundar Pichai said he was
taking note of the “concrete steps”
workers presented to improve the
company’s culture. REUTERS *
On October 31, the Delhi High Court them to the police station, they were ta in May, 2006 for murder, criminal con longing to one minority community.” It
WHERE
Pp q
Q sentenced 16 former personnel of the
Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Con
ken to a canal near Ghaziabad. The PAC
personnel then shot dead the men with
spiracy, kidnapping, disappearance of
evidence and rioting, among others. It
has been a long and hard fight for the
survivors, battling not just their perso
stabulary (PAC) to life imprisonment for their .303 rifles and dumped some of was only in May 2014 that the state nal loss and trauma but also the system
abducting and shooting dead 38 per the bodies into the Gang Nahar (canal) ments of the accused were recorded. ic failures and obstacles of the justice
Justice after sons, all Muslims, at Hashimpura in

Meerut in 1987. For victims and survi
and the rest into Hindon river. Thirty
eight perished. Most bodies were never Why did it take so long?
system. The prolonged legal battle may
have diluted justice, but the conviction
vors, it was some consolation after 31 found. Only 11 bodies were identified by However, in 2015, all 16 PAC men were of the accused policemen, after three
31 years at years. their relatives.
However, five survived the shooting,
acquitted by the trial court, which not
ed that the evidence required to con
decades, is a landmark, because custo
dial killings are rarely punished in the
What happened? pretending to be dead and swam nect the accused to the killing was mis country.
Hashimpura On May 22, 1987, the western Uttar Pra
desh city of Meerut was engulfed in
through the waterbodies. The case was
built on their testimonies, as they re
sing. The verdict was challenged by the
victims and their families, and the Na What next?
communal violence over the Babri Mas counted the experience. tional Human Rights Commission was The High Court’s order is likely to be
jid dispute in Ayodhya. The PAC and the allowed by the court to intervene, seek challenged in the Supreme Court. This
Army launched a search operation at How did it come about? ing further probe. The High Court then means the accused may still have a
Hashimpura, after two rifles belonging The incident rocked the faith of the mi allowed additional evidence to be re chance to escape or may be too old to
to the PAC personnel were allegedly nority community in the State police, come, the High Court noted in its order. corded. And on October 31, 2018, more serve the sentence. The victims could
looted by “antisocial” elements and a and the protracted criminal justice pro The trial of the cases was later trans than 31 years after the crime, the High have another round of legal battle. Mo
relative of a Major was killed near the cess and the apathy of the political class ferred to Delhi on the orders of the Su Court overturned the 2015 verdict of the reover, only subordinate personnel of
area. added to the anxiety. The CBCID, preme Court after the victims’ families trial court. the PAC were punished while none of
The PAC rounded up 4245 men, which was handed over the probe, filed said they were not satisfied with the their superiors were touched, raising
young and old, and packed them into a a chargesheet in the criminal court in progress of the investigation. What does it mean for families? questions of impunity and accountabili
yellowcoloured truck belonging to the Ghaziabad in 1996. And over 20 war Following this, charges were framed The High Court dubbed the Hashimpu ty beyond this case.
CCompany of the 41st Battalion and rants issued by the court over the next against the accused (19 originally, but ra incident as a custodial killing and said
drove them away. But instead of taking three years failed to produce an out three died during trial) by the trial court it was “targeted killings of persons be OMAR RASHID
CM A ND-NDE
YK
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THE HINDU
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2018
NOIDA/DELHI
COLUMNWIDTH 13
The gigantic Trojan Horse in Narmada district

Sardar Patel would have been revolted by the amount of money that has been wasted on the Statue of Unity, the project’s oppressive symbolism and its location
had become the first Prime Minister of you wanted to show a certain kind of ics. That assurance was given in shame
India. So, let us imagine Patel at the muscular patriotism, the sum would less bad faith, and today we have the
helm of the Central government in, say, even have been handy being spent in irony of that same RSS trying to hollow
1950. Let us imagine someone at the upgrading equipment and combat gear out the legacies of Gandhi, Nehru, Patel
time proposing the construction of a for our soldiers. Instead this money is and Ambedkar even while building the
massive statue of Mahatma Gandhi for spent by Modi & Co. in yet another exer gigantic Trojan Horse in Narmada
an amount then equivalent to the nearly cise in selfpromotion and district.
₹3,000 crore that this grotesquerie has selfadvertisement. I’m sure there are people in Nagpur
Ruchir Joshi cost today. Imagine this and you imme chortling into their falangist white
is a writer, filmmaker and columnist diately see Patel’s famously baleful Insult to injury shirts, thinking this is sweet revenge,
stare. Imagine this and you have no Sardar Patel had no time for religious that this statue of Patel will actually be a
Let’s be absolutely clear. The socalled choice but to imagine the tsunami of extremists of any kind. It didn’t matter mausoleum of Gandhi’s and Sardar’s
Statue of Unity that has just been com cold fury of which the man was capable whether you were Muslim or Hindu; if principles and ideology. The statue it
SANDEEP SAXENA
pleted in Gujarat is not a statue of Sar when confronted with hypocrisy, de you were misusing religion and reli self stares over a land destroyed to make
dar Vallabhbhai Patel, freedom fighter ception, pomposity or grandiose gious sentiments to further your politi the Narmada Dam and socalled Sardar
and major leader of our independence buffoonery. cal power, Patel was not your friend. Sarovar, where thousands of people
movement. The statue is actually a While he may have had more sympathy were ripped out of their traditional
monument to Narendra Modi, to Amit What that money will fetch towards some Hindu traditions than Ja lands to create an irrigation project that
Shah, to Mohan Bhagwat and also to After Sardar Patel’s anger had subsided his life would have been utterly revolted surrounding areas below. waharlal Nehru, neither Nehru nor Pa would benefit only a very few, a project
their political ancestors: K.B. Hedgewar, somewhat, his first question would have by the pride and puffery a statue such as “My only desire is that India should tel was blind to the fact that the Rashtri that has failed dismally. To erect this ob
M.S. Golwalkar, V.D. Savarkar and Nath been: if this massive sum can be put to this implies, by the greed for reflected be a good producer and no one should ya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindutva scene pile on the site of that robbery
uram Godse. The statue is a mammoth gether for a project, surely the desper glory it reveals in the promoters of this be hungry, shedding tears for food in lot consistently bowed to the British rul and disastrous planning is to add insult
symbol to honour Sardar Patel’s sworn ate needs of the poorest sections of our project; the selfrespecting Swarajist in this country,” Patel once said. India is ers while Congress leaders, like them to injury. The insult is as much to the
political enemies, a multithousand society have to come first? The proper, Patel would have been infuriated that still a poor country, people are still selves, were slammed into jail where poor people of Gujarat as it is to Sardar
tonne salute to everything Patel stood abstemious Gujarati in him would have the plan involved the fabrication of shedding tears for food. Nearly ₹3,000 some of them even died. After the mur Patel, one of their greatest champions.
against, to every political idea he dedi shuddered at the colossal waste of mo parts of the statue abroad; the antiim crore, no matter from where it came, is der of Bapu, Patel’s anger towards the This statue may be intended as the
cated his life to fight and dismantle. ney on the Narmada atrocity; the man perialist in him would have seen this ob a lot of money. This money is desperate RSS was unimaginable, and he banned place to inter Patel’s idea of India, but in
There is a lot of talk from the Hindut who gave up the life and career of a rich scene sthambha as a symbol of oppres ly needed in several different areas: in the organisation. He lifted the ban only time, when history kicks back, it might
va brigade about how much better it and successful barrister and cultivated sive centralised power lowering down at health care, education, agricultural sup after the group signed an agreement well become the mausoleum for the tox
would have been if Patel and not Nehru humility and simplicity for the rest of the miniaturised common man in the port and urban improvement. Hell, if saying they would stay away from polit ic ideology of Hindutva.
Wrong doctor, wrong medicine The literary commons

Pollution is not a problem that the courts can solve There’s nothing as reassuring as a copiously marked favourite novel
the number of CNG outlets in the cap
ital and even ordered the construction
of bypass roads and a new interState
bus terminus for the city. Now, the
court has also said that no Bharat
GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK PHOTO

StageIV vehicle shall be sold across
the country with effect from April 1,
R. Srinivasan 2020. These are all measures that the Mini Kapoor
is Editor of The Hindu BusinessLine government should have taken. is Ideas Editor, The Hindu
That all these measures have failed
Just how bad the pollution problem is to have any kind of significant or long A newspaper article reminded me just
AFP
in Delhi was brought home to me in a term impact on Delhi’s pollution levels in time, before 2018 closes, that this is

dramatic and personal fashion when I shows that trying to solve societylevel the 25th anniversary year of one of my
flew from Chennai to Delhi on Friday. Supreme Court, though, the Delhi go problems through court orders, that five favourite novels, A Suitable Boy by title draws from a Fadiman family holi bookshop, and returning with 19
When I departed from Chennai, mon vernment told the court that it had too without an administrative setup Vikram Seth. There was a long stretch day when her brother left the book he pounds of book. By any measure,
soon rains were gently washing the ci struck off nearly 40 lakh such vehicles that is capable and willing to imple of time when I’d read this doorstop was reading face down in his hotel that’s excessive, but it is a reminder of
ty, and Chennai’s air quality index off the registry, which means that ment such orders, is simply going to per of a book, weighing in at roughly room, to return to find it closed and the urge to buy books by the armfuls in
showed a suspended particulate mat these vehicles will no longer be able to fail. Two years ago, the NGT had di 1,500 pages, every single year (one with a note from a member of the staff a secondhand store, something that
ter (SPM) level in the twenties. When I legally ply on the roads. At one stroke, rected commercial vehicles entering year even twice). I could not locate my on top, all in capital letters: “Sir, you never happens when faced with
landed in Delhi, the place was enve this will make a dramatic and imme Delhi to pay an environment compen copy, so last week I bought a shiny (it must never do that to a book.” For her brandnew editions. Explaining her
loped in an acrid, choking smog, the diate difference to the traffic problem sation charge to the government. To was wrapped in cellophane!) new co brother, it was a staggering expe love of secondhand books, Fadiman
SPM level was in the 400s, and my si as well as pollution levels in the NCR. this the administration simply res py. But as I read through, humming rience, as if someone had implied that writes: “I... began to enjoy the sensa
nuses immediately clogged shut. That order was just the latest in a ponded later that it was unable to col aloud the lines I recalled by heart, it he did not truly love books. tion of being a small link in a long
With Diwali round the corner, peo long series of orders and directives by lect this charge. And despite deregis didn’t feel like the same novel. It was Fadiman divides readers into two chain of book owners. The immaculate
ple with respiratory problems are liter the Supreme Court to try to check the tering 40 lakh vehicles at one stroke as if I was reading it through a tracing categories: those who believe in first editions cherished by rare book
ally cowering indoors, anticipating the rampant rise in pollution levels in Del now, reports indicate that the number paper, at a disorienting remove. I mis “courtly love” and those who sub collectors — no notes, no signatures,
worst. If more smoke is blown in from hi caused by a toxic mix of vehicular of cars that have been impounded are sed my old copy, with all the notes in scribe to “carnal love”. The hotel staff no bookplates — now leave me cold. I
the burning fields of stubble in Punjab emissions, emissions from thermal far too few. the margins added in each rereading, was exhibiting courtly love; the Fadi have come to view margins as a liter
and Haryana, and if the great Indian power plants, construction dust and and in doing so — in not being able to mans believed in carnal love. She ary commons with grazing room for
public decides to ignore both legal open burning of refuse along with sea Tackle the root causes connect to a beloved text in an unfami writes: “To us, a book’s words were everyone — the more, the merrier.”
bans and social appeals (as it has done sonal additions like fine dust blowing There is another problem when courts liar edition — I felt very superficial. As holy, but the paper, cloth, cardboard, It’s a clue that I need to look for a
in the past) and celebrate with the in from the Thar desert during some intervene in such technical areas — so if I had failed to read a text on its own glue, thread, and ink that contained used copy of A Suitable Boy, one with
usual noisy, smoky firecrackers, some summer months and smoke from metimes, one tends to miss the wood terms, without my old scribbling to re them were a mere vessel.” For in the margins filled in. And my lost co
of those with acute problems might lit burning field stubble in neighbouring for the trees. For instance, diesel as a connect us. I have always felt a bit guil stance, she says, her father, the editor py? I hope it will give the finder the
erally be facing a death sentence. States, especially in October and fuel has been demonised, although ty about writing in books. But was writer Clifton Fadiman, would tear off “sensation” of being part of a longer,
November. there are specific diesel engines which Seth’s narrative now lost to me forev and throw away pages of novels he connected readership of the book.
Steps taken by the judiciary The courts have intervened dozens pollute less than petrol engines. Like er? read on airplanes to reduce the weight
Something clearly had to be done. So of times over the past couple of de wise, a 10yearold diesel engine car of the paperback. A changing ‘odd shelf ’
mebody had to act. And someone did. cades to somehow curb this relentless might be far less polluting than a poor Notes, folds and scribbles She herself confesses to dogearing, Fadiman also has an essay called “My
As usual, with both the elected and ad rise in pollution, which has left Delhi ly maintained oneyearold diesel taxi. To recover my bearings, I went back to with a system in place, the upper cor Odd Shelf ”, talking about the collec
ministrative arms of government fail with the distinction of being the Likewise, banning registration of non another wellloved book, Ex Libris: ner folded in to mark her page and the tions of books (own or borrowed) that
ing to come up with tangible solutions, world’s most polluted city. Starting BSVI vehicles is akin to your income Confessions of a Common Reader, by bottom corner turned in to mark pages many readers keep apart: “On this
it was left to the judiciary to do so from 1998, when it first imposed a ban tax being deducted at source — it simp the American essayist, Anne Fadiman. to be photocopied. This confession shelf rests a small, mysterious corpus
mething. The Supreme Court did do on all public transport vehicles using ly reflects the tax department’s bid to And it worked. Books about books/ stuns me every time I read it. I am all of volumes whose subject matter is
something: it has prohibited the plying diesel as a fuel and ordered them to cover up its inability to collect by shift reading is a burgeoning shelf, but Fadi for reading books as one likes, or how completely unrelated to the rest of the
of diesel vehicles that are over 10 years convert to CNG, it has taken all kinds of ing the responsibility somewhere else. man’s slim collection, at 132 pages, is else would I justify my liberal underlin library, yet which, upon closer inspec
old and petrol vehicles that are over 15 steps. It has imposed a restriction on There is no point running an oddeven surely the standout volume among ing, sticky notes, and notes and asides tion, reveals a good deal about its own
years old in the National Capital the plying of commercial goods vehi vehicle scheme when the root cause of them, containing pointers and in ink. But dogearing! I don’t even use er.” My “odd shelf ” keeps changing
Region. cles in the day time, ordered the phas stubble burning remains unaddressed. prompts to map an entire universe. In that facility on my ereader. There has character, and I shudder to think what
Actually, the National Green Tribu ing out/banning of commercial vehi Pollution is a societal problem which the essay “Never Do That to a Book”, to be subcategory of dogearers. this reveals about me. But upon disco
nal (NGT) had imposed such a ban as cles over 20, 17 and 15 years old within calls for cohesive administrative action she talks about the many ways in But it’s the last essay, “Secondhand vering that Ex Libris was published 20
far back as in April 7, 2015, but clearly different time frames, ordered stop and behavioural change on the part of which readers make a copy their own, Prose”, in Ex Libris that offers a solu years ago, I am now pulling together
nobody was implementing this very ping the sale of unleaded oil and loose the public. It cannot be fixed through ways which in another’s perspective tion. Fadiman recounts a 42nd birth old favourites that have publishing an
seriously. After being pulled up by the 2T engine oil, directed an increase in court orders. could amount to “book abuse”. The day excursion to a secondhand niversaries this year.
The slow death of the middle

The Sabarimala agitation may help both the Left and the BJP, but for the moderates in Kerala, such radicalisation would mean a lurch to electoral irrelevance
Unlike Gandhi’s personal transforma constitutive factors which influence ide er? We currently see this taking place in
tive experience, nearly 75 years later ological formation change. Yet, despite Kerala’s Hindu population thanks to the
another ‘Event’ — six monthlong com lacking a good theoretical understand Sabarimala imbroglio. The moderate
plexly motivated riots — influenced ing, we know political preferences do Hindu middle classes, often apolitical
another generation (one that included undergo dramatic changes in indivi and apathetic, have slowly begun to
Narendra Modi and Amit Shah) to draw duals, sometimes with catastrophic form hardened political preferences
different lessons about transformations consequences. Nowhere is this starkly due to the perception of assault on their
Keerthik Sasidharan in politics. After this struggle, the BJP in seen than in Kerala’s Kannur district, identity by forces much larger than
is a writer and lives in New York City Gujarat became the party that its Hindu where political violence between RSS their individual selves: the state, the
middle class found not just viable but and CPI(M) workers are often thinly police, and so on. A sustained six
In his perceptive reading of Mahatma progressively its dominant political ex veiled as revenge killings against those monthlong political agitation, at least
Gandhi’s psychological evolution, the pression. At the heart of the riots was who “betray” political loyalties. till the general election in 2019, over Sa
psychoanalyst Erik Erikson wrote in reservation politics. In January 1985, the barimala, in an age of viral social media
1969 that Gandhi’s experiences during Madhavsinh Solankiled Congress go The Sabarimala case and aggressive cable television shows,
H. VIBHU
the mill workers’ strike in Ahmedabad vernment (Solanki is a grand Machiavel Where things get tricky, however, is in can lead to a generational transforma

in 1918 was the ‘Event’ around which a lian, but now forgotten, political figure) situations where political choices are of tion of Kerala’s moderate middle. This,
gestalt — a wholesomeness of world went into overdrive and decided to im ten “strong opinions, weakly held”. By ironically, may work for the CPI(M),
view — was formed. It was during this plement the Rane Commission’s recom antiSolanki discontent. By June, the an saffron stronghold. this, one means political preferences with strict partybased loyalty tests and
period of prolonged agitation that mendation. But the government ig tireservation riots had become full What is the importance of prolonged which are held for short periods of time cadrebased voting patterns, and for the
Gandhi began to think of Satyagraha as nored the Commission’s directive to fledged communal violence. Stabbings, social agitations in forming the political as tactical responses, where electoral aggressively growing BJP. But for prag
the political actualisation of dharma. He focus on economic class; instead, the re bomb blasts and arson continued till Ju beliefs of individuals? More important fates are controlled by a moderate mid matists and moderates across the State,
began to use fasting as a political tool servations were implemented on the ba ly 1985. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi ly, what is the contribution of sustained dle who vote for different parties de this radicalisation is a lurch to electoral
and arrived upon ideas based on “radi sis of caste. Parishad, with tactical support from the social agitations (Mandal, Ram Janmab pending on what matters to them dur irrelevance. The legacy of the Sabarima
cal factualness, obsessive punctuality, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, took hoomi, etc.) in transforming, if not rad ing that particular election cycle. In la agitations may not just be the rise of a
and an absolute responsibility”. The How the debate was framed charge of framing the extant debates in icalising, the political beliefs of large de fact, given the substantive antiincum Hindu electoral block in some key con
long period of struggle allowed for ex As the scholar Howard Spodek wrote, middleclass Gujarati households. The mographic groups? We don’t fully know bency waves that the Indian electorate stituencies but also a steady replication
perimentation of strategies, alteration this decision led to “stirring grave political preferences and vocabulary of the answers to these. In part, this is be regularly displays, elections in India are of Kannurstyle violent politics elsewh
of goals, and a recalibration of methods. doubts about his [Solanki’s] honesty an entire generation of young men and cause we think of political preferences often decided by switches by the prag ere. That all this has been unleashed by
This ‘Event’ was a singular crucible of and straightforwardness”. By February women radically realigned. A State that as sticky, and deem any switches as matic middle. a Supreme Court ruling should remind
experiences into which Gandhi’s past 1985, murmurs of dissent against Solan was a reliable Congress State thanks to marginal or opportunistic. In fact, so What happens to the political prefe us of the wisdom of that tired but often
poured in, and out of which something ki exploded onto the streets. Universi Solanki’s KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, overwhelming is the rhetoric of political rences of such pragmatists when an ag tested truth: the path to hell is paved
permanently revolutionary emerged. ties and colleges were the first sites of Adivasi, Muslim) strategy now became a ideologies that few ask what happens if itation mindset slowly begins to take ov with good intentions.
CM A ND-NDE
YK
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REFLECTIONS
123
CHANDIGARH | SUNDAY | 4 NOVEMBER 2018 11
Tolerance gets a beating

aside the verdict of high court, which This apology was a slap on the face of spiked in Pakistan. People with differ-
had upheld her death sentence award- state institutions and a big disappoint- ent ideological opinions were not
ed to her by a sessions court. The acquittal of Asia Bibi, ment for millions of peaceful Pakista- acceptable. They were killed, forced to
Out of personal grudge, her neigh- nis. It once again cemented the notion leave the country or not allowed to
bour had accused Asia Bibi of using who has been on death row that violent mobs could get away with return to their motherland. Benazir
blasphemous language
Prophet Mohammed. Whether Asia
against
for eight years on blasphemy anything. Would that apology bring
back those who were dead? Would it
Bhutto, Salman Taseer, Shahbaz Bhat-
ti, Bashir Bilous, Haroon Bilaour, etc.
ACROSS THE BORDER Bibi was innocent or had actually com-
mitted the crime, she has been lan-
charges, stirred protests by compensate those who had lost their
property? Would it erase the torment
were just a few of the prominent vic-
tims. Several lawyers were assassinat-
SHAHZAD RAZA guishing in jail for the past nine years. hardliners in the country that the people endured during the ed because they had publically
The judgment stirred unrest through- traffic jams? opposed the misuse of blasphemy law.
A
PETTY argument between out the country. The fanatics, primarily The TLP got prominence last year People thought the government of
Muslim and Christian village belonging to Tehrik Labaik Pakistan travel to attend his funeral because all written agreement was diametrically with a three-week sit-in at Islamabad’s Imran Khan would try to revive the
simpletons in 2009 exposed the (TLP), a religio-political party, choked major arteries were chocked by the opposite to what Imran Khan had main entry point. After the civil gov- good old liberal values of the Pakistani
inherent flaws within Pak- the country for three days. In a tele- protestors. While the TLP is a right- announced in his speech. ernment failed to resolve the crisis, the society. Their hopes were shattered
istan’s system. Not only did it cost the vised address, Prime Minister Imran wing Barelavi outfit, the slain Samiul Under the agreement, the govern- army got the matter resolved. A senior after the government withdrew the
life of liberal-secular Punjab Governor Khan had warned of stern action by the Haq represented the more radical ment promised to place Asia Bibi on general was also seen distributing nomination of Atif Mian, a prominent
Salman Taseer, it gave the extremists yet state. And then he left for China to seek Deobandi segment. Both the govern- the Exit Control List so that she could money among the protesters. Leverag- Pakistani-American economist, from
another “hero” and a tomb to worship. financial assistance leaving the matter ment and the TLP realised an immi- not leave Pakistan. It also agreed to ing its new-found power, the TLP an advisory council. The only crime
In a landmark judgment, the to be dealt by his associates. nent Barelvi-Deoband clash. The gov- release all TLP workers while the TLP bagged over 20 lakh votes in the 2018 Atif Mian committed was that he was
Supreme Court of Pakistan exonerated Meanwhile, a prominent religio-polit- ernment team thought it absolutely apologised to the people “if any incon- polls — much more than the tradition- born in an Ahmadi family.
Asia Bibi, the same Christian woman, ical leader Maulana Samiul Haq was necessary to strike a bargain with the venience was caused to the public dur- al religious parties. — The writer is an
from blasphemy charges by setting murdered. His followers could not protestors at whatever the cost and the ing its protest.” Over the past decade intolerance has Islamabad-based journalist
New battle, old issues No civil-ity this On H4, trapped

in loneliness
A
S a resident of Delhi with family Raman Singh is not a practitioner of formal settings, adorning himself with
links to Uttar Pradesh (an ances- hardline Hindutva (while some of his whitening creams, blinkers, multi-
tral village a few hours drive from adversaries and rivals such as Judeo coloured ties and, even cravats, when
Faizabad-Ayodhya), I keep an eye from the BJP were), even this has not the weather became chill. While other
on convolutions over the Ram Mandir built into a significant narrative that can officers wore their “formals” and
issue that the RSS chief, the VHP and the be used for electoral mobilisation. “bandgalas”, mostly unwillingly, this
BJP president and cadre have been getting Indeed, observers say that Raman Singh budding rake was always suited, with a
so exercised over lately. operates through bureaucrats and BUREAUCRATIC TALES dress sense that was described as
Congress exertions to prove Hindu cre- though the Sangh cadre offers help, he is rather loud. It even led many officers to
MANINDER SINGH DIASPORA
dentials in Madhya Pradesh, of which not overly dependent on them. wonder what powerful defect of charac-
Chhattisgarh was once a part of, could So, it's not temples and cows that trou- ter, dangerous vice or tragic flaw in per- TANUSHREE GHOSH
H
also create an illusion that some-how ble Raman Singh but human machina- E was the likeliest person to be sonality he was attempting to cover up.
A
Hindutva issues matter on the ground in tions within the BJP. It is speculated that labelled as the ruffianly Casano- Undeterred, the hero of these adven- MOVE from education to employment
MOCKING BIRD the three election- bound states. the CM is not happy with the ticket distri- va of the civil service. This babu tures went on his unwavering way, in in the US, which is usually through
SABA NAQVI They don't. At least not in Chhattis- bution where BJP chief Amit Shah had was supposed to be related to his unalloyed style. securing an H1B visa, is tough. H1B is a
garh, except for the peripheral issue of the final call. There is also an alternative an irrepressible and scandalous former The constant dalliance has one strik- non-immigrant visa requiring employer
In Chhattisgarh, cows that has been raised by the Con-
gress and not the BJP. The Congress has
star emerging within the state unit in the
form of Rajya Sabha MP Saroj Pandey.
governor, if newspaper reports and tel-
evision videos are to be believed.
ing and unhappy result. This god-for-
saken satyr was forever in trouble,
sponsorship which essentially ties the recipient
to the job for the sake of residency in the coun-
poll planks are accused the BJP of gau hatya because of She was mayor of Durg for 10 years and The much-speculated ties between either being caught in embarrassing try. An H4 visa — work permit for such visa
deaths in gaushalas. And yes, Chief Min- won the Lok Sabha seat in 2008. She was, the civil servant and the veteran leader, circumstances or walking the tightrope holders is being rolled back— historically puts
conventional for ister Raman Singh, in April 2017, did however, the only BJP candidate from which did not seem to be just true lies, between discovery and a veiled bliss. As the recipients in an even tougher spot by provid-
make a dramatic statement that anyone Chhattisgarh who lost the LS election in manifested themselves on every possi- he rose in seniority, the flaws that had ing a right to residency, but no path to jobs.
both the BJP and found killing cows would be “hanged” the 2014 Modi wave (of the 11 state seats, ble occasion of public holiday and pri- been brushed off by indulgent acquain- In the US, the non-immigrant visa recipients
Congress, but though no such law has been brought.
Actually, there’s a tragedy unfolding
10 are held by the BJP).
There has always been speculation
vate ceremony. The bureaucrat invari-
ably contrived to go and meet his
tances as a late blooming had acquired
the manifestations of a gigantic infirmi-
are designated as “aliens” or “resident aliens”.
Asian populations are the leading groups in
getting the ticket in this state that has one of the highest
cattle populations in the country but
that Raman Singh was not overly sup-
portive of her candidature. Still, the
mentor once a week. He went for inspi-
ration, for words of wisdom and to draw
ty. In his government postings, he
betrayed a manic streak of populating
holding high-skilled jobs through H1Bs. Their
spouses and dependents are the primary
distribution right with the lowest yields of milk. As cows
can no longer be sold to slaughterhous-
BJP national leadership compensated
and Saroj Pandey was elected to the
motivation and solace from a life well-
lived and worth emulating.
various positions with members of the
opposite sex. There was never a god-
recipients of H4. In the Indian diaspora, most
women arrived on the H4 visa to support the
is paramount es, they are abandoned and end up Upper House from Chhattisgarh this The governor had spent his life by given chance, with him in the saddle in spouse’s opportunity of working overseas. To
wandering the roads, fields and year. She had also created a little storm showering the blessings of key posi- a ministry, where the sex ratio could be bust the stereotyping, I often hear that not
forests. On the swank 17-km drive in the BJP teacup some months ago tions and the baker’s loaves and smelly even flimsily adverse. If you happened everyone moved here after an arranged mar-
between Raipur and New Raipur (now when she said that the CMs are decided fishes of public offices upon followers to sit in his office and a woman walked riage. Some of the women (and two men) I
called Atal Nagar), the most com- after the polls. What all of this means is from the ranks of the fairer sex. He had in from some department, he would know were in long and steady relationships
pelling signs of life can be seen in the that Raman Singh does not have a free been so generous that the women, who turn oblivious to your presence. and when one person moved through an
number of cows on the roads, crossing. hand as he did during the BJP presi- had served to assuage his nobler and An officer who had worked with him opportunity, the other followed to be together.
Still, it's not an issue unless it is dove- dentships of Rajnath Singh and Nitin esoteric cravings for the philosophical said he had quite a reputation. Another Now, there is a general sentiment I often
tailed into the larger agrarian distress Gadkari. He needs to make it or he will higher truths of life, were gifted and said in those days, he was the sole male face here on whether that should be made fea-
that the Congress is highlighting. The not be the future of the BJP. blessed with all manner of indulgences. officer in the ministry. A third confided sible in any country. Should there be a path to
Ram Mandir issue too is irrelevant here The local BJP knows there are inner Some were fortunate to benefit from that now that the ruffian had superan- employment for anyone beyond the ones
because as an electoral plank, it needs a struggles, but says it's worse in the Con- altruistic changes of land use, which nuated, he had no time to pick up his hired for their skills? Why should it be the
large Muslim presence to mobilise gress, where there's been a scandal resulted in the taking up of housing calls or listen to his prattle. “And why receiving nation's obligation, especially at a
against the "other" and that is missing involving a tapped conversation with projects and commercial units. would I do that, when he had no time for cost to workers already here? I want to paint
from the demographics of the state. state party chief Bhupesh Baghel where The babu, the accidental chip off the people like us when he was in service.” how this picture looks in real life, as that
Indeed, the communal faultline, if some references are made to a CD old block, inherited many of the pub- But why do you attach to him the might provide the answers.
any, in Chattisgarh traditionally exists involving PL Punia, the party in charge lic-spirited virtues and forgettable appellation of a ruffian, a colleague Here it goes — a bright, young professional,
vis-à-vis Christians (2.5 per cent of the of the state. Baghel’s influence has, vices of his acclaimed ancestor. He asked the officer. He replied, “Because often a woman, independent and satisfied —
population). The state played a signifi- therefore, been curtailed in the ticket made it to the civil service and made it he was always acting the rogue, or was coming into a
cant cameo in the history of Sangh distribution in the state where the Con- a point thereafter to attempt to attach delinquent in some substantive matter country where Deprived of work
Parivar. The late BJP leader, Dileep gress is certainly in with a chance. himself to every lithe presence that and was invariably the bully to juniors. social isolation is
Singh Judeo (died in 2013), the Raja of Within the state Congress, it is the glided by “with sails of silver”. He preyed upon the vulnerable, from high and getting
opportunities, spouses
Jashpur, one of the princely states of gentlemanly TS Singh Deo, who seems The obsession with members of the positions of fidelity and trust, in every stuck spending of H1B visa holders
India during the British Raj, oversaw the leader with respect from within the fair tribe became so pervasive that he which way. He was a scalawag.” most weekdays in often find themselves
with great gusto the project of “ghar ranks. With its limited resources, the was known to turn back, in a violent If ever the #MeToo movement hits tremendous loneli-
wapsi” in collaboration with the VHP. Congress is putting up a coherent fight. about turn of the heels, if ever a siren- the steel frame of the civil service, ness. Suddenly descending into low
Briefly, Christian Tribals were “puri- The issues both for the BJP and Con- like being sailed by, in full panoply, this clayey sawdust figure might be feeling unproduc- self-esteem
fied” and brought into the Hindu fold. gress are conventional, but getting the “like the Battleship Potemkin”. the first to face the music and the tive, isolated, and
Possibly because three-term CM ticket distribution right is paramount. He dressed up rakishly, even in non- wrath of the starry spheres. lost and questioning self-worth. A professional
associates self-identity with the job he or she
holds. In the US — unless one is settled in the
Killing ‘fake’ news in the era of landlines

busy metro like NYC or Boston (or even then)
— it’s even harder not to feel dejected.
Before the 2015 H4 EAD resolution, my rel-
ative declined an opportunity offered by his
firm to visit the US because his wife wouldn’t
I
N 1983-85, I was General Staff Officer commentary” about the fire-fight and I troops of some Sikh battalions after Oper- troops from all three communities and be able to work. I have seen women do every-
Grade One (Operations) at HQ 8 had all details of the ambush. We did ation Bluestar and their subsequent the Band Platoon of the said battalion, for thing from threading and facial to cook etc.
Mountain Division at Zakhama near whatever we could in that isolated and apprehension by other troops in which uniformity sake, had troops wearing just to keep themselves occupied. They die
Kohima. The division was then main- mountainous terrain, including send- some firing did take place, this “news” (of berets only) and the killers were the inside a bit everyday remembering what they
ly responsible for counter-insurgency ing a helicopter, but to no avail. Since I the clash between troops) might have “underground Naga hostiles” and that have left behind. It’s not about any job being
operations encompassing Nagaland and was in touch, I had details of the dead been believed by many. If caught by the the nearest Sikh Battalion was at Sham- more or less. It’s about working at the level of
Manipur and had troops of the Army, and the injured. It was a single vehicle media, it would have been “sen- atore, which was a good 100 km away, so your skills and desires. Not having a route to
Assam Rifles, BSF and CRPF. in which men of “Band Platoon” of a sational” news for them which none of the Sikh troops could have been that by compulsion is devastating.
Keeping track of their operations was J&K Rifles Battalion were travelling. would have brought disgrace at Phek. I told him to rush to those So, does the counter-argument— that open-
my main job. In those days there were no Move of a single vehicle was contrary to to the Army, subsequent “responsible persons”, give them exact ing up the job market to “aliens” displaces US
MILITARY MATTERS mobile phones, we only had landlines instructions, but they took a chance denials notwithstanding. details and “kill” the rumours floating workers as companies prefer to foreign workers
BRIG HARWANT SINGH (RETD) and radio for communications. Smug- and paid for it. I passed on the details, so that none was published, (fortu- with less pay — hold? Just two points to make
gled cordless phones were just making In the afternoon, I got a call from including the names of nately, there were no private TV on that: According to US Bureau of Labour
their faint appearance, but were not used our PRO, Major Sharma, based in the killed and wound- channels those days). Statistics, US unemployment was marked at
by the Army as they could compromise Kohima, that there was “news” ed, to Major Sharma. In the North-East, the sun sets its lowest in five decades with over 6 million
security. For a smooth communication, I of a “clash” between Hindu and None of them, coinci- more than an hour earlier than vacancies in September 2018. Imagine this
Had media got the ensured that I was accessible at all times.
Accordingly, I had (telephone) lines
Sikh troops and that many
Sikh troops had allegedly
dently, was a Sikh. They
were all Hindus and
in Delhi; then Bacchus takes over
and it is impossible to do any
against faces of folks who would do anything
for a job — engineers, professionals, teachers
‘news’ about troop extended to all places where I could be, been butchered. He also Muslims (J&K serious business thereafter. and those all who have the skills, but no access.
including the tennis court and a parallel said “responsible peo- Rifles have Major Sharma must have Or a US labour force which aspires for higher
clash, it would have connection in my bathroom. ple” like the secre- worked hard and it is a trib- skilled jobs, but have no economical route to
On October 31, 1984, the then Prime taries to the govern- ute to his “influence” that the right education. Secondly, if corporations
brought disgrace to Minister, Indira Gandhi, was shot by ment and ministers he did manage to “kill” the are motivated by cost, they will find a route to
the Army her police Sikh guards. Her funeral was
telecast live on November 3. As I was
were talking about it.
In view of the anti-Sikh
rumour. Had there been no
continuous “communication”
it. When cost control becomes inevitable and
skill gaps can’t be filled, moving operations
watching TV, I got a call that a vehicle of riots in Delhi following with me, we might have ended overseas is what most corporations choose.
ours was ambushed by the militants Indira Gandhi’s mur- up with egg on our face. So, all that, especially for populations for
near Phek village in Nagaland. There der, rumours had Thanks “Gimmy”, the “God whom the line to Green Card is too long, leads
were some fatalities also. Our Sparrow been spreading. In of (Signals) Communica- to an exodus from the US or a hard life of wait-
(Signal Officer), Major Gurbakhash view of the earlier tions”, for allowing us to ing in limbo (holding off decisions such as
Singh, enabled me to get a “running desertions by the ILLUSTRATION: SANDEEP JOSHI ambush the rumour! buying a house or having a child).
cmyk cmyk
Edit
MIND POWER
BILL MOYERS DARIO FO PAGE
Ideas are great arrows, and politics I see ideology as an inherent
is the bow of idealism part of culture
6
THE ASIAN AGE SUNDAY | 4 NOVEMBER 2018 | NEW DELHI
4 NOVEMBER 2018
Govt finally eases Kushal

Bhattacharya
biz for MSMEs
T
he sudden announcement of sops by the government to boost the
medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) by providing them
market access and providing them a platform for complaints of
delayed payments, can hardly be seen as a Diwali gift. It is, in real-
ity, the government making amends, rather late in the day, for its disas-
trous demonetisation of the high currency notes of `1,000 and `500 and the
hurried implementation of the goods and services tax. These two moves in
2016 and 2017 resulted in throwing 35 lakh people out of jobs and thou-
sands of units shutting down. The MSMEs were the worst affected by
these moves. The government, through S. Gurumurthy, its representative
on the RBI board, tried to get the Reserve Bank of India to release more
funds to the banks to on-lend to this struggling sector, but the RBI did not
oblige. MSMEs get just 6 per cent of their loan requirements from banks,
since they are not in a position to offer collateral to the banks. Hence Mr
Modi’s decision to take the responsibility of bolstering the MSMEs. He
certainly won’t regret it. They are the backbone of India’s exports as also
the main job creators after the agriculture sector. Mr Modi had promised
to create one crore jobs a year which did not
A befitting tribute to LETTERS
VIEW OF MISERY
Patel was long overdue

materialise. So by giving a push to MSMEs, Mr
MSMEs get just Modi expects to boost employment. Most of the In the short story, The
6 per cent of their MSMEs operate in the informal sector and Happy Prince, Oscar
loan requirements rural areas. Their contribution towards GDP
is considerable at around 30 per cent whilst it Wilde depicted how the
from banks, since is 45 per cent towards manufacturing output costly statue of the
they are not in and 40 per cent of total exports. prince constructed after
a position to offer Mr Modi, however, must be commended for to New Delhi, but they As far as I am
collateral. Hence his empathy with the MSMEs and understand- clearly indicate that concerned, his death began crying
ing their requirements and the handholding there has been an with sadness after see-
PM Narendra that they need. Getting loans of `1 crore with- excess. Since the Nehru- a befitting tribute
Modi’s decision in 59 minutes sounds dramatic, but it would be Pavan K. Varma Gandhis were in power to the Iron Man
of India was
ing the plight of poor
of bolstering extremely helpful to the budding and small for most of the last seven people all around for
the MSMEs. entrepreneurs. More often than not small decades, it is not diffi- long overdue. the first time. Had
units get sick as loans are not provided on a
timely basis and in the quantity required. The
Chanakya’s View cult to understand why
this happened. The role If his statue in Sardar Patel got life in
government in a significant move has provided for a platform whereby big of sycophants, forever his home state the Statue of Unity, the
corporates, who often play truant when it comes to making payments, will ready to suggest what is the tallest
W
have to pay the MSME suppliers on time for their services. The bureau- hy should much like, for example, they believe will appeal statue in the same thing would have
cracy too will be chastened as entrepreneurs will not longer have to run a statue of 10 Downing Street is. I to those in power, must
world, so be it. happened on seeing the
from pillar to post to get environment and other related clearance. The Sardar am of the firm opinion have played a role too.
compliance requirement for all these have been relaxed and made sim- P a t e l that there is no better Of course, none of this is millions of hungry chil-
pler, which means less corruption. What would be music to the ears of cause con- address for the PM of intended, even for a like Sardar Patel. The dren and adults all over
young entrepreneurs is the end of the “inspector raj.” Factory inspectors troversy? Is it because it our country than Teen moment, to belittle the appellation “Iron Man” India. India has been
will be chosen through a computerised random allotment, so their “raj” is the tallest statue in Murti Bhavan. It has the contributions of Jawa- appeals, I think, to a per-
has come to an end. the world? Or, is it right location, size, and harlal Nehru, Indira son like Narendra Modi. identified as among the
All these developments will add to the ease of doing business. because its inauguration suitability for protocol Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi. There is, undoubtedly, countries where child
was an extravaganza requirements. Instead of They served the nation an irony in this new-
choreographed by the that, we now have our with great distinction, found deification. The wasting is most preva-
PM? Or, is it because it PMs living in an impro- and need to be remem- BJP, which is joined at lent in the 2018 Global
Bhutan gives India a message cost — as per reports —
something in the vicini-
ty of `3,000 crore? Other
vised residence which
clumsily combines three
bungalows.
bered. Indira Gandhi
and Rajiv Gandhi gave
their life for the nation.
the hip to the RSS, has
internalised a conve-
nient amnesia about
Hunger Report.
Sujit De
reasons have been cited We seem to be congeni- This can never be forgot- what Sardar Patel actu- Kolkata
B
hutan is deceptively languid. However, the election to the National too. Is erecting statues tally disposed to create ten. Jawaharlal Nehru, ally thought of the RSS.
museums to honour our in particular, is some- He was unrelentingly
LET COURT DECIDE
Assembly (Parliament) late last month gave the Druk Nyamrup out of fashion and a
Tshogpa (DNT), a relatively new party emphasising hitherto unspo- waste of money? Or — as PMs. Former PM Indira one I hugely admire. In critical of RSS ideology,
ken thoughts, 30 of the 47 seats, making its leader, Dr Lotay Tshering, some people have said — Gandhi’s residence is fact, in my study, there and made no secret of it.
Prime Minister. would Sardar Patel have also a museum now. The is a black and white pho- Perhaps, the BJP thinks CONGRESS PRESIDENT Rahul
India was not an election issue, unlike in the 2013 poll when confusion been less than happy at airport in the capital is tograph of Mahatma that the size of the statue Gandhi raised the matter of the
over New Delhi disrupting kerosene subsidies had drawn attention. But this kind of spectacle in named after her, too. Gandhi and Jawaharlal will make people forget Rafale deal in public again saying
the DNT manifesto highlighted economic factors that have a close bearing his name? Perhaps, Connaught Place, anoth- Nehru, and this is the this part of Patel’s lega- that Dassault Aviation had paid
on India-Bhutan relations. India would overlook this at its own peril at a there are even those who er landmark in the capi- permanent backdrop to cy. `284 crores as the first installment
time when the China factor looms large. feel that Sardar Patel tal, is now called Rajiv my participation in TV But all this notwith- of kickbacks to Anil Ambani’s
Beijing has used its economic muscle to try and win over India’s friends. does not deserve this Gandhi Chowk. The cap- debates. standing, a tribute to the Reliance Defence Ltd, and also
China’s annexation of Tibet in the ’50s had frightened Buddhist Bhutan kind of glorification. Or, ital’s premier National However, this does not Iron Man of India, can- claimed that PM Narendra Modi
and Sikkim (then under the Chogyal), but much has changed since. maybe, the Congress is Centre for the Arts bears make me blind to the not — and should not — was having sleepless nights fearing
Thimphu’s principal foreign friend has been India, which built its annoyed at the “appro- Indira Gandhi’s name. fact that there were be made a matter of con- action if a probe was conducted
hydropower potential, became its main financier and export destination, priation” of Sardar Patel New Delhi’s largest sta- other leaders in the pan- troversy. The money into the Rafale deal. Evidence of all
the relationship cocooned by a special treaty. by PM Narendra Modi dium is named after theon of our Freedom spent on the statue could the allegations against PM Modi is
But the country’s young and educated new generation voters are not and the BJP. And, final- Jawaharlal Nehru. Movement, and in the have been less, but it is however, yet to be seen. Mr Gandhi
focused on security. The India-China standoff last year at Doklam, disput- ly, there could be some There is the Jawaharlal making of more recent hardly a material factor, should not speak about such issues
ed between China and Bhutan, is not really the talking point. Discussion who feel that such trib- Nehru University too in Indian history, who given the thousands of until it has been proved in court on
led by the new ruling party centres on expanding private sector invest- utes are best pursued the capital. The coun- have not got their due. crores spent on remem- the basis of concrete evidence. If he
ment to cut high unemployment, and diversifying the economy which cur- only for the Nehru- try’s largest open uni- The allegedly shabby bering other great lead- has some objections on the Rafale
rently depends principally on India-built hydropower with three-fourths Gandhi parivar. versity — also in the manner in which the ers, mostly from the deal, he should go to court and
of the GDP going to pay for debts owed to India. Resolving boundary dis- To the critics of this capital — is named after Congress Party — then Nehru-Gandhi family. prove them.
putes with China too is on people’s mind. New Delhi must take nothing for statue, I say simply, his daughter. Apart in power at the Centre — The contribution of Mohd Usmani
granted. choose from any of these from this, there are huge dealt with the body of Sardar Patel to the Mumbai
options. As far as I am swathes of priceless real the late PM P.V. Freedom Movement is
concerned, a befitting estate marked for the Narasimha Rao, is a case immeasurable. The
tribute to the Iron Man final resting place of
Jawaharlal Nehru,
in point. Netaji Subhash
Chandra Bose, and later,
resolve of steel he dis-
played in uniting India
SHIV SENA’S THREAT
of India was long over-
due. If his statue in his Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Lal Bahadur Shastri, did — earning for himself SHIV SENA chief Uddhav
home state has been Gandhi. The city’s only not get their due either. the sobriquet of Thackerey has reportedly exhorted
THE ASIAN AGE erected, and is the tallest planetarium is in the There were other iconic “Bismarck of India” — is the RSS to bring down the NDA
statue in the world, so be name of Nehru. The cap- leaders, like Ram something that can government at the Centre over the
T. VENKATRAM REDDY it. For too long, the ital’s largest cancer hos- Manohar Lohia, who never be forgotten. He issue of the Ram temple. Ironically,
Editor in Chief Nehru-Gandhi family pital is named after his remained sidelined. was a true Gandhian, a the Sena happens to be a partner of
has tended to monopo- grandson. Sardar Patel suffered the peasant leader of great the government, both at the Centre
Printer & Publisher: T. VENKATESWARLU lise all such tributes, These are only some same neglect. sensitivity and acumen, as well as in Maharashtra. As char-
THE ASIAN AGE offices are located at: and by doing so, has examples, and restricted The BJP is obviously and the founder of the ity has to begin at home, I wonder
New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre, 219 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, pushed to the relative trying to do a course cor- modern all-Indian civil what stops Mr Thackerey from
New Delhi-110002. Phone: (011) 23211124.
margins other iconic fig- rection. Some leaders of services system. As the withdrawing his ministers from
Mumbai: Sigma House, # 43, Ground Floor, R. A. Kidwai Marg, Near Wadala Rly Station, Wadala (West),
ures of the Freedom The BJP, which is eminence from the BJP integrator of the the coalition government in
joined at the hip
Mumbai - 400 031 Phone (022) 24195301 Fax (022) 24195347
Kolkata: 4th Floor, Chowdhury Building, 8/1A Little Russel Street, Kolkata 700 071. Movement, and of stock, like Deen Dayal Republic of India, the Maharashtra?
Phone: (033) 2289 0676/77 Fax (033) 2289 0686 India’s recent history. to the RSS, has Upadhyaya, have sud- Statue of Unity dedicat- Arun Malankar
Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office in the United Kingdom When Pandit Nehru denly shot into promi- ed to him on October 31, Via email
Air surcharge for Kathmandu and J&K `1 internalised a con- nence, knocking off the 2018, deserves the sup-
died, his home was con-
Published and Printed on behalf of and for
◗ Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited, Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre, verted into a museum. venient amnesia names of well-estab- port of every patriotic
219 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi 110 002 at BFL Infotech Ltd., C-9, Sector-III, Noida -201301. That was the first over- about what Patel lished railway stations Indian.
Every Monday the best letter of
◗ Mumbai: Diligent Media Corporation Ltd, Plot No. EL-201, TTC Industrial Area, MIDC, Mahape, reaction. A home once actually thought like Moghul Serai. But
the week wins `500. Email:
Navi Mumbai - 400 705.
designated for the first of the RSS. He the BJP has a paucity of The writer, an author
◗ Kolkata: Satyajug Employees Cooperative Industrial Society Ltd, 13/A, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Kolkata 700 072.
Prime Minister of the iconic figures linked to and former diplomat, is letters@asianage.com Else, send
◗ London: Quickmarsh Ltd, 8th Floor, Block 2, Elizabeth House, 39 York Road, London, SE1 7NQ.
country should have was unrelentingly the Freedom Movement. a member of the JD(U). to Jawaharlal Nehru National
RNI Registration number: 57290/94 been the residence for critical of Hence the need for The views expressed Youth Centre, 219 Deen Dayal
Postal registration numbers: DL(S)-05/4189/15-17 future PMs as well, RSS ideology. appropriating figures are personal. Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi 110002
T
he Bharatiya Janata Party nt has made highly publicised vis- play spoilsport in the election to there was laxity on the part of the ment. A group of its leading mem-
uses every opportunity to its to temples over the past year showdown each other. In order to previous administration and that bers are said to have written to the
poke fun at Congress presi- and has declared himself a “Shiv- avoid such a situation, the party Mr Badal was aware of the situa- IIC management to complain about
dent Rahul Gandhi. Every- bhakt” on several occasions. He leadership is mulling over what is tion. Subsequently, there have the naming of a new lounge as “The
time the Nehru-Gandhi scion also undertook a pilgrimage to Kai- being referred to as the “three-two been growing demands in Punjab Lotus Lounge.” On its part, the IIC
makes a speech or interacts with lash Mansarovar to drive home formula.” This means, Mr Gehlot that punishment be meted out to management maintains the name
Anita Katyal media persons, the BJP’s spokes-
persons are on the job, demolishing
this point. and Mr Pilot as well as Mr Nath
and Mr Scindia would all be
those found guilty. CM Singh has
been making all the right noises in
was picked on the basis of sugges-
tions it had sought from members.
D
assured of a stint as chief minister
Political Gup-Shup
and discrediting him. Their strate- uring his interactions on his this regard but has not acted on his Before this controversy could die
gy has been to project him as an campaign trail, Congress but on a rotation basis for three promise. According to one story down, the IIC was in the midst of
immature leader who should not be president Rahul Gandhi is and two years each. It is hoped this doing the rounds, the chief minis- another row last week over its
taken seriously. It was against this often asked about his choice for the proposal will ensure that all the ter has a secret understanding with annual arts festival. The five-day
backdrop that a journalist in Ind- post of chief ministers in Rajasthan leaders put up a united front in the the Badals. Others refer to the chief programme is normally handled by
ore asked the Nehru-Gandhi scion and Madhya Pradesh. The party coming polls. minister’s meeting with home min- the staff, but this year, the IIC
Bholenath’s at a media interaction last week,

“Why does the BJP call you
Pappu?” Mr Gandhi was taken ab-
ack momentarily by this direct
leadership has deliberately left the
issue open as both states have very
strong contenders. In Madhya Pra-
desh, senior Congress leader Kam- P
unjab chief minister Amar-
inder Singh is under tremen-
dous pressure both from the
ister Rajnath Singh, where he
spoke of the pressure on him to
arrest his predecessor. According
to the grapevine, Mr Singh report-
chose to outsource it to the
government’s North East Council
and the department of North East
region. Members complained that
bhakt & question. He paused for a while,

and replied, “Do you know Lord
Shiva’s other name? He is also
called Bholenath or Bhole (inno-
al Nath and Guna MP Jyotiraditya
Scindia are vying for the top slot in
the event the party succeeds in
dethroning the three-term Bhara-
Congress and others to take action
against Shiromani Akali Dal
leader and former chief minister
Prakash Singh Badal and his son
edly told CM Singh that he too was
under pressure over his friendship
with a Pakistani national.The con-
versation ended abruptly.
the unprecedented step of allowing
the setting up of sarkari food stalls
and craft shops on the gardens had
not only converted the otherwise
a Pakistani cent).” Continuing in the same

vein, the Congress chief said, “I am
a Shiv-bhakt… I am Bhola. I don’t
care what the others have to say
tiya Janata Party chief minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Similarly,
it’s a toss-up between former chief
minister Ashok Gehlot and the
Sukhbir Badal since they were
named by the Justice Ranjit Singh
Commission report probing the
2015 police firing on crowds T
here is growing disquiet
among the members of the
prestigious Delhi-based India
elegant festival into a mela but had
also desecrated the manicured
lawns and destroyed the low-key
and understated ambience of the
friend about me.” Mr Gandhi’s response

is in line with his recent efforts to
dispel the impression that he is
anti-Hindu. The Congress preside-
younger Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan.
But a lack of clarity on this burn-
ing topic has led to fears in the
party that the CM aspirants may
protesting the incidents of sacri-
lege of the Guru Granth Sahib. The
Commission, set up by CM Singh
last year, is learned to have said
International Centre (IIC) about
how it has allowed itself to become
a handmaiden of the BJP-led Nat-
ional Democratic Alliance govern-
Centre.
Anita Katyal is a Delhi-based

journalist
Oped
Word SPY
GREY NOMAD PREDICTIONARY PAGE
A retired person who A dictionary of new words that are predicted to

travels extensively become part of the mainstream lexicon
7
THE ASIAN AGE SUNDAY | 4 NOVEMBER 2018 | NEW DELHI
What sort of India do we want? Dilip

Cherian
Dilli Ka
ort said, “The element of a
mobilised ABVP posed a par-
What sort of resistance from the govern-
ment. We can make all the
poor Christian woman who
was jailed for many years on
Babu
India do we want? noise we want to about being the false charge of defaming
ticular kind of risk. There
The sort where things a tolerant society, but the Islam.
Aakar Patel
was a real concern that Guha
could be harmed on campus.” that some find reality is in front of us. What sort of India do we PMO PREPS
Ahmedabad University’s unpalatable should I am saying that it is worry- want? The sort where things
administration reached out
to Mr Guha on Monday to dis-
not be said ing that the government is
allowing and encouraging
that some find unpalatable
should not be said or an India
FOR 2019
or an India
S
cuss the possibility of defer- this, but I am not surprised at where things that some find ince May 2014, the Modi
ring the date of his joining. where things all. We have been going down unpalatable cannot be said? sarkar has pretty much
He was supposed to join AU that some this path for a few years now. The sad truth is that we have been run from the Prime
T
he books in same author are together on February 1, 2019. Two days find unpalatable The world will see no differ- become the latter. Minister’s Office (PMO). As the
my house are because they are on the same after AU reached out to him, ence between what is happen- 2019 Lok Sabha elections
classified in subject. There is one excep- Mr Guha tweeted his decision
cannot be said? ing in India and what is hap- Aakar Patel is a writer, approach, there are rumours
an unusual tion to this rule. A man who to not join the university. pening in Pakistan today. In columnist and executive that the PMO itself may be in
fashion. Some has written books on subjects The next day, this report ual, freeing terrorists in the that country, people are director of Amnesty for a revamp. Clearly this is an
are arranged as diverse as the environ- appeared in the BBC: “It name of independence of the objecting to the Supreme International (India) attempt to focus on vital issues
by subject ment and ecology, history, appears that Guha was individual, and separating Court’s decision that freed a of administration and gover-
and theme. biography, cricket and poli- hounded out by the Hindu Jammu and Kashmir from nance. Those in the know
For example, biographies and tics. It is hard for me to locate right wing in Gujarat, the the Indian Union”. believe that a senior IAS offi-
autobiographies are in two his books in my library home state of Prime Minister They also referred to him as cer may also be moved out of
large bookcases, and then because his range is so enor- Narendra Modi and widely a “communist.” the PMO to a vital department
they are subdivided by shelf. mous. The writer is regarded as BJP’s bailiwick. The BBC reported that “the to effect a clean-up.
And so biographies of busi- Ramachandra Guha. On A leader of the student wing complaints make it very clear Meanwhile, it is also being sug-
nessmen are shelved togeth- Thursday, November 2, Mr of the local BJP said that they that the students hadn’t read gested that a senior IAS officer
er. Then some are classified Guha tweeted this: “Due to had met an Ahmedabad Guha’s work.” may be inducted into the PMO
by the publisher, so about 500 circumstances beyond my University official and told I will waste no time trying to assist PM Modi in dealing
books from the Penguin control, I shall not be joining him they didn’t want Mr to explain to readers what with macro issues.
Black Classics series are all Ahmedabad University. I Guha to teach in the city.” sort of a writer Mr Guha is. It Several other changes too are
together, though their sub- wish AU well; it has a fine fac- “We said we want intellectu- is pointless. The reason I anticipated in the PMO’s team,
jects are diverse, from ulty and an outstanding Vice als in our educational insti- referred to his range is to with an eye on the impending
ancient Greek works by Plato Chancellor. And may the tutes and not anti-nationals,” demonstrate this: Mr Guha is elections. Apparently, two IAS
and Aristotle to Indian works spirit of Gandhi one day come he said, adding that they had not a man who approaches a officers are likely to be brought
by Kalidasa and Patanjali. alive once more in his native quoted “anti-national con- subject from any ideological in at the additional secretary
Some books are shelved Gujarat.” tent” from his books to the perspective. One cannot level and the joint secretary
together purely because they The circumstances that he official. write books on subjects as level. Reportedly, an IIT com-
are of a certain size. And so is referring to were reported The complaint said that Mr diverse as he has unless there puter science graduate IAS
the Transfer of Power series in a newspaper that said that Guha’s writings “have is genuine curiosity and prop- from a northern state and
is with the Constituent the ABVP, the BJP’s student encouraged divisive tenden- er scholarship. another IAS officer, a joint sec-
Assembly Debates series. Of wing, had objected to his cies, alienation in the name of The worrying thing is that retary, with a private sector
course, usually books by the teaching in Gujarat. The rep- independence of the individ- this has happened with no ‘I feel so empty inside.’ background from a southern
state, may be inducted into
Team PMO. One will be solely
monitoring delivery of projects
and another on the communi-
cations outreach strategy, both
vital to PM Modi’s re-election
ambitions.
PESB FUNCTIONING
PARALYSED
T
he scheduled interview
for the post of chairman
and managing director of
Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd has
been postponed as the Public
Enterprises Selection Board
(PESB) has been reduced to
one member, and is practically
dysfunctional. The Board has
further decided to abstain from
interviews until the appoint-
ments of a new chairman and
members are announced. This
is bound to create both chaos
and spread dissatisfaction
amongst top PSU manage-
ments.
This is perhaps the first time
that this situation has
occurred in the history of the
Board. Former 1981-cadre IAS
officer Madhusudan Prasad is
the lone member of the selec-
tion board since acting PESB
chairman Gauri Kumar retired
last month.
Traditionally, PESB sched-
ules interviews and informs
the shortlisted candidates at
least 15 days in advance. Since
the Board appears clueless
over the time-frames of
appointments, it is constrained
to post-pone interviews.
It may be mentioned that the
four-member board (including
chairman) became headless
after Sanjay Kothari moved to
Raisina Hill as secretary to the
President of India in July 2017.
DOVAL STRENGTHENS
HIS TEAM
F
ormer chairman of the
Joint Intelligence Commi-
ttee, R.N. Ravi’s appoint-
ment as deputy national secu-
rity adviser is being seen by
observers as further strength-
ening the power of national
security advisor Ajit Doval. Mr
Ravi will be the third deputy to
report to the NSA, the others
being former R&AW secretary
Rajinder Khanna and former
diplomat Pankaj Saran.
T
here is no use making the view that the matter requires a decision in 1973 to pack the courts state. This was as late as in 1983, 53 However, sources say that Mr
tenure of the election com- close look and interpretation of the with “committed” judges. years after this Constitution had Ravi is likely to be the senior-
missioner a fixed and provisions of Article 324 of the After her defeat in the polls in come into force. A non-official most among Mr Doval’s
secure tenure if there is no Constitution.” 1977, the Supreme Court embarked committee on electoral reforms set deputies, being a 1976-batch
A.G. provision in the Constitution to
prevent either a fool or a knave or
Article 324 of India’s Constitution
says: “The election commission
on “judicial activism” which saw
in 1993 that odious and unique
up by Jayaprakash Narayan said:
“The tendency of the government
IPS officer. Interestingly, both
Mr Doval and Mr Ravi are
Noorani a person who is likely to be under
the thumb of the executive. My
shall consist of the chief election
commissioner and such number of
spectacle of judges appointing
judges. Attempts to set up a judi-
is not to look for the qualities of
independence and impartiality
Kerala-cadre IPS officers.
Considered close to Mr Doval,
provision — I must admit — does other election commissioners, if cial commission by law failed once which would satisfy the public Mr Ravi was the government’s
not contain anything to provide any, as the President may from the Supreme Court struck down regarding the fairness of the elec- interlocutor with the Naga
against nomination of an unfit per- time to time fix and the appoint- the law which set it up. toral process. Moreover, it is nec- insurgents and had a key role
son to the post of chief election ment of the chief election commis- There is a serious problem. But essary to ensure that the person in the peace accord between
commissioner or the other election sioner and other election commis- that is not the way to solve it. appointed has no sense of obliga- the Centre and the insurgents.
commissioners. I do want to con- sioners shall, subject to the provi- Successive chief election commis- tion. We, therefore, suggest that Sources also point out that
Fairness is a fess that this is a very important

question and it has given me a
great deal of headache,” said Dr
B.R. Ambedkar, the prime archi-
sions of any law made in that
behalf by Parliament, be made by
the President.” Ambedkar had two
solutions. One was an instrument
sioners have been criticised for
partisanship. At least in one case
the partisanship was so patent as
to emerge clearly in the report of
the members of the election com-
mission should be appointed by the
President on the advice of a com-
mittee consisting of the Prime
that Mr Ravi’s redesignation
has brought the
Intelligence Committee com-
Joint
pletely under the control of the
must in the tect of India’s Constitution, in the

Constituent Assembly on June 15,
1949.
It is a pity that he did not tackle
of instructions to control the
President’s discretion. He dropped
it four months later. Another was
to empower Parliament to legislate
the chief commissioner himself.
Shri S.P. Sen Verma’s report, The
Fifth General Elections in India,
1971-72, contains blatantly political
Minister, the leader of the
Opposition (or a member of parlia-
ment selected by the Opposition) in
the Lok Sabha and the Chief
National Security Council sec-
retariat. It is said that Mr Ravi
will handle the internal part of
India’s security policy while
appointment his “headache” and left a loophole.

Some knaves and fools did become
chief election commissioners. On
October 23, 2018, the Supreme
on the subject. But which govern-
ment would sponsor a law to fetter
its own power of appointment?
If the Supreme Court passes any
remarks reflective of a clear bias in
favour of the party led by Indira
Gandhi. The CPI-M held him
responsible for rigging the elec-
Justice of India.”
India began well. The first chief
election commissioner was Suku-
mar Sen, a tower of integrity and
Mr Saran will look after exter-
nal aspects. Mr Khanna will
deal specifically with intelli-
gence. There is also talk of a
of CECs Court did what it has been doing in

the last two decades or more — fill
by judicial orders the gaps which
the legislature ought to have filled.
order on the petition, it will be cre-
ating with the best intention a stop-
gap arrangement, only to create a
royal mess in the long run. It did
tions to the West Bengal
Legislative Assembly. S.L.
Shakdher was rightly criticised for
delaying by-elections arbitrarily.
independence. the appointment of
T.N. Seshan as chief election com-
missioner in 1990 marked a turn-
ing point. This abrasive character
big expansion in the real estate
that this new set-up will annex.
It took up a petition, filed in the that on October 6, 1993. It set up a R.K. Trivedi was criticised for changed the work culture and set Love them, hate them
public interest in 2015, to devise “a “collegium” of its senior judges to adopting double standards in hold- an example of independence which ignore them at national peril,
foolproof and better system of appoint judges to the Supreme ing elections in Assam despite the his successors followed. is the babu guarantee and
appointment of members of the Court and the high courts. This clear certainty that a free and fair Dilip’s belief. Share
election commission. We are of the was a response to Indira Gandhi’s poll was simply not possible in the By arrangement with Dawn significant babu escapades
dilipcherian@hotmail.com
08
NEW DELHI I SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2018
opini n
www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia
It’s all about accountability

daily news & analysis
Alternate Histories
Malcolm McLean and IL&FS fiasco underscores the need to create ownership nucleus in financial services organisation
the shipping container!

Enough and more
has been written
about India’s banks
and NBFCs in the
One person’s innovation changed the face of global trade recent weeks. An
end-October filing
with the Stock Ex-
You must have Keith Tantlinger came up with the now changes on ‘Pro-
seen trucks on familiar self-locking and stackable gress and Way For-
the roads, car- containers. The ship was, thus, refur- Rajiv Malhotra ward’ by IL&FS is
rying long, cor- bished into a modern, efficient con- worth a read
rugated metal tainer carrier. This new ship — ‘Gate- though. The report talks about efforts at
boxes called way City’ — carried over two hundred unravelling the complexities in a systemi-
“containers”. containers. The savings were astound- cally important institution’s problems. The
In fact, we rou- ing as per McLean’s calculations, the central theme of the report, high aggregate
tinely refer to cost of loading a ship the old way was leverage being disproportionate to aggre-
Aneesh Gokhale these as “con- around six dollars a tonne (mainly on gate value, has several important underly-
tainer trucks”. account of the huge numbers of la- ing messages. Difficulties in deconstruct-
All these similar looking boxes are the bourers employed), as compared to just ing a complex structure of holding struc-
same size and have some numbering 16 cents by a container! Time savings tures, entities (as many as 347) and busi-
on them — like some sort of a barcode. were radical too. nesses and handling of intra-group trans-
Their simple design, inexpensive con- Strangely, the world was slow to actions are some the obvious messages. The
struction and standardisation has adapt to this change which had drasti- not so obvious ones include lack of a reli-
changed the face of global trade. cally reduced both time and costs. Old able information and gaps in the data, and
But it was not always this way. Till shipping lines like Holland America absence of an empowered central control
the 1950s, cargo, which today goes into and Cunnard, which had loaded little function. All of these summarised by one
a container, was packed into boxes, boxes and barrels for over a century somewhat hackneyed phrase: “not enough
bales, crates, trunks, rolls, barrels and did not think much of it. Containers skin in the game”. The jury is still on
other such packaging. It would obvi- stacked on a ship’s deck could at most whether it’s a contagion or a problem spe-
ously take an army of men to load such be used for short voyages along a coast, cific to the insitution that is IL&FS.
a cargo onto a ship. Today, a crane can for crossing the big bad ocean, the old It is not the first time that we have seen
lift a container off the jetty and place way was the best way! But in 1966, a a failure like this. Particularly over the last There should be a process that enables a timely calling out of ‘good versus bad’ investments
it on a ship in a matter of seconds. Im- container ship called the ‘Fairland’ decade, we have seen cycles of failure hit-
agine that same container existing as crossed the Atlantic and heralded the ting everyone from managers in Wall Street this ratio is about the treatment of capital we create a nucleus of ownership that sets
five hundred separate boxes! Now im- demise of the old general cargo ship. to investors in emerging markets. The fear or owned funds, while the second part is the tone for driving the organisation by
agine thousands of such containers. Another blessing in disguise for that this may not be the last such event is about the treatment of risk weighted (for strategy and professionalism?’ Merely
Hence, huge numbers of men were container ships was the Vietnam War. worrying the regulatory bodies and stake- credit, operational and market risk) assets. complying with quantitative ratios obvi-
needed to load and offload cargo from McLean put his ships into service, holders alike. As regulators and supervi- Understanding the nature of this ratio ously falls short of ensuring the soft as-
ships, and the amount of time taken quickly transporting supplies to US sory bodies again go back to the drawing could help us see the picture of this service pects of ownership of the service organisa-
was huge. Today, a container ship can troops. The container ships saved time board to figure out how to tighten any sys- business in its entirety. Take the first part, tion and the quality of its decision making.
offload its entire cargo of around two and also prevented pilferage in Viet- temic gaps, it is worthwhile to deconstruct which looks at the quantum of capital It is even possible to conclude that the cur-
thousand containers in one single day. nam. Within 15 years of sailing from the financial services business itself. owned by the stakeholders of the business. rent situation of NPAs and toxic assets has
In the days before the shipping con- New Jersey to Houston, McLean’s Sea When we say Banking & Financial Ser- A softer question that it raises: Should it assets. The quality of assets, however, is a to do more with an inadequte “skin in the
tainer, the same amount of cargo and Land Service had revolutionised vices (BFSI), we perhaps repeatedly over- not give a cue about the desirable levels of culmination of how the entity assesses the game” for the managers/stakeholders that
would take a month to offload. global trade. look the importance of the ‘service’ inher- a ‘promoter’ versus ‘non-promoter’ hold- credit-worthiness of its customers, how it sets the tone for decision-making in our
Surprisingly, it was the innovative Soon, there were global standards ent in the business. A service industry, ing? Banking regulations elsewhere do talk takes decisions on pricing its products, and typcial financial services organisation.
thinking of one single person, Mal- for how big a container could be — 20 with its people-centric nature, is prone to of the maximum level of shareholding that how well key information is warehoused That said, experience tells us that there
colm McLean, that led to this revolu- feet or 40 feet? Nothing in between. all the challenges that people cope with, the promoters can hold. The focus of that, and accessed by its managers. To summa- are two kinds of finance managers. The
tion! McLean ran a trucking firm in How high? Can this container from and that means biases, predilections, halo however, is to ensure demutualisation or a rise, it is about the quality of investment first kind tends to glorify what they do,
the United States of America, and the USA sit on top of a container from effects… or all that would sit on a platter broad-based shareholding in the entity. A decisions of the institution. More impor- while the second thinks of demystifying
goods he carried would take ages to China? The end result was that any called “psychologist’s meal”. For the typi- substantial stake of the promoter group is tantly, it is about the quality of the deci- their task. It would be anyone’s guess as to
load onto and off a ship. While at New container having cargo could be loaded cal banker, the extent of personal contact seen to be an equivalent of concentration sion-making processes, or how objectively which kind is desirable for running a fi-
York one day in 1937, he was exasper- from any truck and discharged onto with the customer/client has also under- of power, translating to concerns about gov- a manager is able to call out a bad invest- nancial services business. This soft aspect
ated by the days upon days it took to another waiting truck five thousand gone a change with retail banking moving ernance. However, lack of a sound nucleus ment from a seemingly good one. The sec- is at the core of “professionalisation” in
load cargo onto a ship bound for Istan- miles away! The economics of it all from the branch to the netbanking and of ownership leads to quite the opposite set ond part then only restates the obvious: the industry.
bul, Turkey. It was a problem that pre- completely altered the trade. Hardly ATM spaces. For the customer, the product of concerns. Ownership sets the tone for That every business has risk and that risk The challenge, therefore, is to create an
occupied his mind for many years af- any costs were now involved in loading experience and its tangibility (simply put the entity’s operations, which translates to is to be managed well. The implications, ownership nucleus in every financial ser-
terwards. and transportation. Countries with its ‘touch and feel’), does not resemble any- accountability and “ownership behaviour” again, are accountability and the process vices organisation, that ensures profes-
After the Second World War, the cheap labour and manufacturing thing from a decade ago. All of these indi- in the professionals who manage the busi- that enables a timely calling out of “good sionalism, accountability and process
United States Navy was selling off its scored big — think China! The con- cators point to the need for more mindful ness. The implication of not having this versus bad” investments, or recognising driven approaches to decision-making. We
surplus stock of supply vessels and tainer enabled the costs of buying supervision and regulation. nucleus — organisational drift and oppor- the symptoms that a “good” investment may not even have a one-size-fits-all an-
other boats which were built for the from the neighbouring country to com- To go down that road further, let us de- tunistic growth, as against sound business may be starting to slip towards the “bad”. swer, pointing thereby to the limitations of
war. Malcolm McLean purchased an pete with buying from half way around construct the micro level (entity level) pru- strategy. The first part, understood thus, In risk parlance, it is about the organisa- mere quantitative ratios.
oil tanker named Potrero Hills and con- the globe. Economies like China, Tai- dential regulation prescribed by the basel points to the need to find the right balance tion doing enough to capture information Is it time for regulators and supervisory
verted it into a ship fit for carrying wan, Vietnam boomed as a result of framework. The capital to risk weighted between accountability and possible con- that gives out ‘early warning signals’. bodies, then, to devote more mindspace to
containers. Fifty eight containers con- being able to produce cheap goods and assets (CRAR) and its computation, which cerns about concentration of power. These aspects of accountability and the softer aspects of ownership of these
taining cargo were loaded onto the be able to export them at little extra incidentally is explained by the RBI in a The second part, with its emphasis on process again loop back to essence of the services?
ship. These containers were quite dif- cost. New ports, specifically for cater- 300-page-plus document. The first part of risk weighting, represents the quality of first part. The issue at the core is: ‘How do Author is Executive Director, PTC India Ltd
ferent from the ones we see today. They ing to containers came up, like Tan-
Giving a boost to infrastructure sector

were in fact truck chassis, disconnect- jung Pelepas in Malaysia and huge
ed from the driver cabin. The little ship container terminals at Singapore. Old
sailed from New Jersey in April 1956 ports like Liverpool and New York re-
and reached Houston six days later. ceded in importance and had to rein-
Here, the truck chassis were offloaded, vent themselves.
connected to new driver cabins and Today, the old ships loading cargo in
driven off ! In one stroke, McLean had
eliminated thousands of men and
little parcels have all but disappeared.
Also gone are the days of month long Public-private partnerships and innovative financing models like Hybrid Annuity Mode can prove to be effective
hours from the logistics calculation! port stays. The average ship of old had
The ship was called the ‘Ideal X’. He set one lakh little parcels, the largest con- About a month ago, Thus, it is fairly evident that India’s maintain the viability of these projects.
upon a new plan, designing containers tainer ship today carries eighteen Infrastructure infrastructure spending is below the level However, the global financial crisis of 2008
that would be able to stack one on top thousand containers. Isn’t it a marve- Leasing & Finance necessary to promote ease of doing busi- dealt a severe blow to the cash flows of
of the other, something that could not lous development! Services (IL&FS) ness, make our exports competitive, create these firms, leading to a surge in non-per-
be done with truck chassis. Writer is author of Brahmaputra — Story defaulted in its pay- jobs and ensure sustainable growth. Yet, forming assets (NPAs) of banks.
A mechanical engineer named of Lachit Borphukan ment to lenders. despite this obvious inference, the push Given the long gestation period and the
The failure of this towards raising infrastructure spending public good characteristics of infrastruc-
large infrastruc- has received a lukewarm response from ture projects, some form of governmental
ture finance com- policymakers, except for a few big ticket intervention is necessary. However, given
Aranyak Saikia pany set off panic projects like the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial the large costs involved, a fiscally con-
among the markets, Corridor (DMIC) or the Dedicated Freight strained government like ours cannot by
economists and policymakers. Not only Corridors. This limited response probably itself fund the entire cost. The private sec-
did it bring back into focus the Twin Bal- stems from the numerous hurdles that in- tor needs to be roped in. Further, foreign
ance Sheet (TBS) problem in the Indian frastructure projects face in India. investments, sovereign wealth funds and
corporate and financial sectors, but it also First, there are issues around land ac- equity finance maybe necessary to fill the
turned the spotlight on the state of infra- quisition and environmental clearances. Issues around land acquisition and funds gap. It is in this context that Public
structure spending and finance in India. Many of these projects lead to displace- environmental clearances are affecting growth Private Partnerships (PPPs) and innova-
The 2018-19 Budget increased infra- ment of local populations generating local tive financing models like Hybrid Annuity
structure spending to Rs 5.97 lakh crore resentment and opposition. Environmen- orbitant’ tolls. Sometimes, the govern- Mode (HAM) have been introduced. The
from Rs 4.94 lakh crore in the previous tal damages can also be significant if a ment steps in to prevent a toll hike, bring- National Investment and Infrastructure
fiscal. While this is laudable, it is clearly proper Environmental Impact Assessment ing in more uncertainty to the revenue Fund (NIIF) is India’s first sovereign infra-
not enough. Estimates suggest that India (EIA) is not undertaken. streams of infra operators. structure fund.
will have to spend about Rs 50 lakh crore Second, pricing issues and recovery of Third, during the period of 2004-08, as However, as the recent IL&FS episode
in the next 5-7 years in creating infra- user charges are fraught with legal and the economy went on an upswing, large highlights, these steps have not been fully
There are global standards for how big a container should be structure across roadways, railways, regulatory hurdles. Most infra firms are infrastructure projects were undertaken, adequate to stem the crisis in the infra-
ports and logistics. Currently, we spend not able to set prices that maximise their with many of the infra firms getting seri- structure sector. The various efforts need
about 9 per cent of our GDP in the con- long-term profits but need to base it on ously over-leveraged with high debt. The to be stepped up and newer pricing
struction infrastructure sector. Even this other social considerations. Further, toll expectation was that the booming econo- schemes looked into.
send your feedback to editor@dnaindia.net needs to be jacked up. operators regularly face protests over ‘ex- my would generate enough demand to Author is research scholar at DSE
Kettle to kindle: Mishearing is a part of everyday life

The other day I and not-so-kind salwars and pants. along this vein I saw the ad on the commitment to the values of founder nounced proudly, “Lighting experts
ran into an old Now, for the first time in my life, I be- wall to which my husband’s eyes Rukmini Devi Arundale, she had her from England, Germany, France, Hol-
friend. We ex- gan to feel proud of what I had been were hooked. Oh my God, what he own responses to the aggressive femi- land came to train our own students
hausted a zillion ashamed before. My friend asked, craved was not a kettle, but a kindle. nist writer who interviewed her for in theatre crafts!”
subjects before “You have always had them?” I nod- I know that there are different her book. “With her upper class Vic- My grandmother was one step
she suddenly de- ded. Next came a googly to stump me: kinds of hearing problems — audito- torian morality, didn’t Rukmini Devi ahead. She seized a single word from
clared, quite out “How much?” I managed to say, ry processing disorders (when the brahminise and sanitised Bharatan- whatever you said and turned it into
of the blue, “Flat “Quite a lot.” Then my friend warned brain is unable to process sound to atyam?” a launch pad for complaints. Com-
feet are so good. me, “Be careful! Flat feet can cause make sense), conductive (a punc- Oblivious to the condescending pelled by my mother, I went to take
Gowri Ramnarayan Best solution to a indigestion.” I was bewildered by the tured ear drum dimming volume and tone, my mother replied, “Rukmini her blessing with the prize and the
thousand prob- notion of flat feet causing stomach clarity), sensorineural (nerve dam- Devi was a world-travelled Theoso- khadi shawl I had won in a college
lems.” As I have the flattest feet in pain until the sad truth dawned on age preventing electrical transmis- phist, and her exposure to great art- competition.
the universe, I was thrilled by this me. You may have guessed it — yes, sion to the brain). ists and scholars in the West and the Grandma fingered the shawl and
pronunciamento, but also puzzled by my friend was talking about flax There is also mixed impairment - Far East deepened her understand- sighed, “They couldn’t give you silk?
her claim that this defect was actual- seeds, not flat feet! with a little bit of everything thrown ing of spiritual values in art.” The I was very sad because I had a Gan-
ly a merit. I guess mishearing is a part of eve- in. I know this is what I have, though writer persisted, “Isn’t it cultural ap- dhi wedding, I mean, your grandfa-
She added, “Flat feet can minimise ryday life. On a subway train in Lon- my family is convinced that mishear- propriation to disenfranchise the ther insisted on wearing only khadi.
arthritis, arrest spondylitis, melt kid- don my husband once mused aloud, ing is some diabolical strategy on my original devadasi practitioners of Back then khadi smelt like cowdung
ney stones, cure back pain, reduce “What I would like is a kettle.” The part to plague them. (Like the disas- the art, and steal their heritage?” My and felt like sackcloth. Not much bet-
rheumatism, block cancer, lower cho- man had no kitchen skills. Why did ter of grabbing a bottle of ghee for a mother beamingly disclosed, “Why, ter now is it?” I told her that I had
lesterol, control blood pressure...” he want a kettle? But as a good wife I holiday trip when told to bring the Rukmini Devi brought two brilliant talked about women power. “I too had
How could I not be spellbound by her was happy to please him by disclos- house key). old devadasis — Saradambal and protested against the British,” she
comprehensive lecture on the inesti- ing that we had one at home. tle on my birthday? I don’t use it be- Did I inherit this affliction? No. Mylapore Gowri Amma — to teach sniffed. “But what’s the use? All our
mable values of flat feet? Why, I was “Where?” he asked. “On the top cause it is such a bother to plug it in My mother had sharp ears all right, right here!” Undaunted, the writer values are dead. Even I may be dead
one of God’s chosen few! kitchen shelf,” I said. “Nonsense!” he and out,” I explained. “A blue kettle? though she decided what to take in asked, hadn’t Rukmini Devi copied for all you care. You talk about femi-
I had always tried to conceal my snorted. “Don’t you remember my In the kitchen? Rubbish!” he and what to bypass. As a dance teach- western ballet in choreographing nism but you never come to see me!”
offending feet under the kind saree cousin giving me a blue German ket- snapped. After more bubble-n-hiss er at Kalakshetra, Madras, with total “Indian” dance dramas? Mother an- Author is a playwright
Vol 03 n Issue No. 25 RNI: DELENG/2016/70265. Printed and published by Rajeev Kakkar on behalf of Diligent Media Corporation Ltd., Printed at Jagran Prakashan Ltd., Plot no D- 210 & 211, Sector 63, Noida, Uttar Pradesh- 201301.
Published at Diligent Media Corporation Ltd, B-10, Essel House, Lawrence Road Industrial Area, New Delhi. 110035. Editor : Yatish Rajawat Responsible for the selection of news under the PRB Act
2
From
AHMEDABAD SUNDAY , 4/11/2018
Editorial
HAL to roll out more Tejas
Editor’s fighters from new facility
Desk Bengaluru,
State-run aerospace
major Hindustan Aeronau-
tics Ltd (HAL) will roll out
tional capacity will augment
the LCA production to 20
units per annum.
The city-based com-
more Light Combat Aircraft pany has an order book of
(LCA) Tejas from its new pro- Rs 64,000 crore.
duction facility at Nashik in "We certainly like to
Maharashtra, a top official have a better order book
position. Generally, an order
Remember the Sardar said on Friday.
"We are setting up a new
facility at Nashik to double
book covers 5-7 years of our
sales, but what we have cov-
It should be considered no small irony that Sardar the production of Tejas ers four years. It is slightly on
Vallabhbhai Patel has finally got his just desserts 68 fighters to 16 from 8 per the lower side, but we have
years after his death, precisely on his 141st birth anni- year," HAL Chairman and pending orders which
versary. And the credit for that must go to the BJP Managing Director R. should make up," said the
Government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi per- Madhavan told reporters Chairman.
sonally, who has invested a lot of stake in remember- here. An order of 83 LCAs for
ing a man who was mainly responsible for unifying The company is invest- the IAF is pending, he said.
India in its nascent and most difficult moment. Those ing Rs 1,300-crore for the Fresh orders are ex-
claiming that it is the BJP’s effort to appropriate the Tejas fighter production pected for the defence ma-
Sardar are missing the point. The man whose job of augmentation, he said. jor within the next 3-6
unifying India was no less daunting than what Bis- The defence behemoth months.
marck achieved in Germany more than seven decades has two production units in "We are looking at or-
before him, as a largely forgotten figure in the Bengaluru where the ad- ders for 83 LCA Mk-1s and
country’s modern history. For close to six decades vanced fourth generation 15 Light Combat Helicop-
since Independence , his exploits were mostly buried multi-role light fighters are ters (LCH)," Madhavan said.
under paeans made to one man and one family. It Kate, 36, only gave birth to Prince Louis six months ago but she's already back to her svelte figure. The built for the Indian Air Force Over the last six months,
would be instructive to examine, for instance, how Duchess has revamped her image with a new slightly shorter hair cut (left), playing tennis (pictured center) (IAF) combat fleet. HAL received an order
many times Vallabhbhai Patel’s name figures in Con- and working out at home. Kate has also managed to keep her sculpted arms by regularly swimming and even The new facility is ex- worth Rs 950 crore for the
gress Working Committee resolutions between 1950 teaching George and Charlotte how to swim. It also seems that new sister-in-law Meghan's glamor may have pected to be operational by upgrade of 17 Dornier air-
and 1989? rubbed off on Kate (pictured right in ball gown) as the pair are starting to share more designer labels, such as 2020. craft from the Indian Coast
The administrative acumen, decisiveness and Canadian brand Smythe. Going forward, the addi- Guard.
quick thinking of Vallabhbhai, or the great Sardar, as
without a peer. Accounts by eminent historians and
writers, V P Menon and Rajmohan Gandhi among
them, testify to the man’s genius, a prince among men
whose idealism was tempered in realism. While Patel’s
inclusion of three large kingdoms of Hyderabad,
Junagadh and Travancore, which entertained visions
of being independent, into the Indian Union are well
Reliance terms Rahul's allegation 'blatant lie'
Mumbai, ness potential in the airports JV (joint venture)." cess conducted by the base of over Rs 1,00,700 posterous.
chronicled, his welding of 563 totally varied princi- Reliance Infrastructure and related infrastructure Referring to repeated al- Maharashtra government crore and net worth of Rs "It is a blatant lie to state
palities of India, one as different as chalk is from cheese, on Friday rejected allega- sector," a company state- legations about the offsets in 2009 and the company 25,800 crore, the release that the land at Mihan was
is the stuff that legends are made of.The one state that tions by Congress President ment said. in the Rafale deal, the state- holds 1,500 acres of prime said. bought from funds pro-
Patel did not -- or was not -- allowed to handle, Kash- Rahul Gandhi that Dassault "Congress attacks on ment said it is clear that the land at strategic locations The statement said de- vided by Dassault. The in-
mir, continues to be a fastering wound in the body Aviation invested Rs 284 Anil Ambani in his individual Congress' consistent allega- on a long-term lease of 95 tails of this transaction had vestment by Dassault in
politic of India, more tan six decades after Indepen- crore in a "loss making" In- capacity are shameful and tion that Anil Ambani had years. been in public domain since RADL and purchase of land
dence. Would the history of that state have been any dian company to secure the deplorable, especially as all received contracts worth Rs "Investment by Dassault 2017 including in the Reli- by Reliance Infra for setting
different? In a commemorative volume titled“This was Rafale jet deal. transactions with Dassault 30,000 crore is a blatant at- Aviation in RADL, to acquire ance Infrastructure filings up a manufacturing facility
Sardar”,published from Ahmedabad in 1974, Patel was Reliance said the Con- have been made by Reli- tempt to mislead the public 34.8 per cent equity stake made with the RBI and for the JV are two different
quoted as saying, “...If Jawaharlal and Gopalaswami gress was once again resort- ance Infrastructure Ltd, a for their own political gains for Rs 309 crore, was made Dassault Aviation annual and independent/
Ayyangar had not made Kashmir their close preserve, ing to "blatant lies" and "dis- publicly listed company and is a concoction of lies. by way of Foreign Direct In- report."Based on the above standalone transactions."
separating it from my portfolio of Home and States,” torted facts" to mount an with over a million small "The Dassault invest- vestment (FDI) in Septem- facts, we hope all the false- It said the transaction
he would have tackled the problem as purposefully "unwarranted campaign of shareholders, including ment in DRAL and RADL are ber 2017 -- nearly 14 hoods being spread con- relating to purchase of land
as he had done with the rest of the Indian Union. calumny and falsehoods" more than 10 per cent own- two independent and months ago, in a transpar- tinuously will be buried was completed well before
Sadly, that is one subject now confined to the dust- against the Reliance Group ership by public financial stand-alone business in- ent manner and in full com- once and for all." the investment by Dassault
bins of history for all times to come. Still, better late and its Chairman Anil institutions such as LIC, GIC vestments and in both cases pliance of applicable laws, Referring to allegations in RADL.
than never. The Statue of Unity, a 182-member giant Ambani. and other insurance compa- funds have been received keeping in view the man- regarding payment of land The spokesperson said
structure built in honour of Patel, was inaugurated by A Reliance Infrastructure nies and over 15 per cent by the companies and not a agement and development at Mihan, it said Reliance In- Indian and French govern-
Modi. The imposing monument, touted as the world’s Ltd spokesperson said it was ownership with reputed single rupee by Anil Ambani of Airport Infrastructure at frastructure applied for land ments, Dassault and Reli-
tallest statue, is built near the Sardar Sarovar Dam on "deeply unfortunate" that global institutional inves- in his personal capacity. five locations by RADL. at Mihan in August 2015, ance have clarified on mul-
the Narmada River in Gujarat. To be fair to Modi, he the group and its Chairman tors." Therefore, any suggestion of "Investment by Dassault land was allocated in Janu- tiple occasions over the last
has long supported the vision of the Sardar, much were continuously being The statement said that any payment to Anil Ambani Aviation was made at fair ary 2016 and all payments several months that there
before he became Prime Minister, perhaps juxtapos- dragged into a political Anil Ambani did not enter is absolutely false and mis- value arrived at by an Inde- were made between August was no offset contract for Rs
ing it vis-a-vis Jawaharlal Nehru, representing in the battle ahead of the state and into any transactions per- chievous," the release said. pendent expert, as per RBI 2015 and July 2017. 30,000 crore to Reliance, re-
process, two competing ideological strands that ex- general elections. sonally with Dassault nor he It said the payment for guidelines.This FDI transac- It said DRAL was located lated to purchase of 36 air-
isted within the Congress even during the indepen- It said that Dassault's in- derived any personal ben- the land at Mihan was made tion was made in the equity at Mihan and manufactur- craft. It said the Indian Air
dence movement. Equally ironically, after overlooking vestment in Reliance Airport efit from any transactions. from 2015 to 2017, much of RADL, which is a subsid- ing of components for the Force (IAF) had stated that
Patel for a better part of the country’s modern history, Developers Ltd (RADL) had It said the RADL transac- before the investment by iary of Reliance Infrastruc- Falcon-2000 business jets Dassault share of offsets was
India’s first home minister was felicitated belatedly by no link whatsoever with the tion was completed in full Dassault in RADL. ture, a publicly listed com- had already begun. limited to Rs 6,500 crore.
the Congress in Parliament. Call it the Modi effect. Rafale contract between the compliance with applicable Noting that RADL is a pany having over one mil- "To allege that Dassault "Reliance Defence is not
Indian and French govern- FDI and all other regulations subsidiary of Reliance Infra- lion retail and institutional investment in RADL was executing any offsets. DRAL
ments on a government-to- and the information was in structure Ltd and operates shareholders."Reliance In- used to pay for this land is is one of the many Indian
government basis where all public domain since De- five regional airports in frastructure has an asset factually incorrect and pre- offset partners."
Kashmir can't survive if given 36 aircraft were to be ex-
ported by France.
cember 2017, nearly a year
ago.
Maharashtra at Nanded,
Latur, Baramati, Yavatmal
independence: Omar Abdullah "This investment is an
independent arms-length
"The Congress has
falsely alleged that the
and Osmanabad,
spokesperson said that
the
New Delhi, (people demanding Azadi) transaction based on fair funds invested in RADL have RADL won these airports on
Former Jammu and are entitled to their senti- market valuation of the land been used for the purchase a long-term lease of 95
Kashmir Chief Minister and ments and I don't argue and other assets of the com- of land at Mihan, Nagpur, for years, by participating in a
National Conference (NC) with that. Their sentiment is pany and the future busi- the Dassault-Reliance 49:51 competitive bidding pro-
leader Omar Abdullah on based on emotions. Mine is
Friday said he "truly be- based on 'if it comes, you
lieves" that the future of
Jammu and Kashmir lied
with the Union of India and
won't survive'," he said.
Abdullah added the
government of India
Institutes cannot keep original
that the state could not sur-
vive on its own if given
Azadi (independence).
He also underlined that
needed to fulfil its promises
that were made to the state
in 1947 when it became a
certificates, UGC warns again cates, the commission in- refund system, according to
part of the Union of India. New Delhi,
the people of Kashmir were "Autonomy is a historic The University Grants structed that no institution which, a student is liable to
well within their right in de- fact. How is asking for au- Commission (UGC) on Fri- will insist on submission of fully refund if he/she cancels
manding greater autonomy tonomy in any way anti-na- day warned education insti- original certificates such as admission in 15 days before
for the state as that was the tional? If autonomy is seces- tutes against keeping the mark sheets, school-leaving the last date of admission.
main condition for joining sion, then there is no main- original certificates of stu- certificates. "The submission There is no refund after
the Union of India. stream politics in Jammu dents at the time of admis- of self-attested copies shall more than 30 days of last
"I honestly, truly believe and Kashmir," he added. sion, directing them to re- be mandatory". date of admission.
that the future of Jammu Berating the Narendra turn the certificates immedi- It said it is mandatory for The premier funding The shocking aspect to the Ku Klux Klan marching outside a mosque (left) is
and Kashmir lies within the Modi government's han- ately after verification and the institutions to return the body also instructed the in- that it didn't occur in America's Deep South, where the hate-filled bigotry of the
Indian Union. And I am not dling of the Kashmir situa- be satisfied with their self- original certificates immedi- stitutions to build a 'griev- white supremacist Klan first took root in the mid-19th century. It happened just
playing politics here or play- tion, Abdullah said that a lar attested copies. ately to students after physi- ance redress mechanism' a few days ago in the small UK town of Newtownards, ten miles outside Belfast.
ing to the gallery," Abdullah willing to join militancy in The commission has is- cal verification in their pres- and make it available on heir The identity of these hooded hatemongers, and their motives, has uncovered
said during a panel discus- recent years and militancy sued such notifications in ence, and "strictly prohib- website.It reserved punish- the disquieting presence of Tony Martin (inset), a notorious Right-wing extrem-
sion at the launch of the had spread to regions of the the past, but the still high ited" them from taking the ments ranging from cancel- ist based in South London and recently elected as leader of the racist National
book "Paradise At War - A state where it earlier was number of student com- certificates into custody lation of affiliation and with- Front party, whose HQ is not in Ulster, but Hull. his English girlfriend, Sharon
Political History of Kashmir", not.Radha Kumar, who was plaints indicate that these anytime "under any circum- holding of grants to sham- Mellor (inset and right) admit to meeting the KKK gang in a pub, on the very
penned by Radha Kumar part of the interlocuters' have been in vain. stance". ing in public domain for the night they paraded outside the Islamic centre, and even posing for photographs
and published by Aleph."I team despatched by the "The commission has The commission prohib- erring parties. with them.
don't believe that an inde- Centre at the height of the notified UGC (Grievance ited the charging of fees in
pendent Jammu and Kash- 2010 unrest in the Valley, Redressal) Regulations, 2012 advance for a year or a se-
mir can survive in this envi-
ronment of Pakistan on one
side, China on the other and
then India here (on one
side). Mine is a practical
said the failure of the peace
process engendered more
discontent. She regretted
that the Union government
never acted on the recom-
on redressal of multifarious
grievances of students. But
given the sheer volume of
the complaints, the commis-
mester. It also warned insti-
tutes against forcing stu-
dents to buy the institu-
tions' prospectus, leaving it
to students' choice and di-
Delhi's air quality very-poor,
levels dependent on winds
sion felt the need to notify
realisation. It is based on mendations made by the elaborate instructions so as recting them to upload all
analysing and understand- interlocuters and hence the to curb such malpractices," relevant information on
ing the realities of Jammu situation went from bad to the UGC said in its notifica- their website.
and Kashmir."But they worse. tion. On the original certifi- It laid out a depreciating
New Delhi, sion of the particle pollut- pacts," said SAFAR. has advised people to avoid
The air quality of the ants in Delhi on Thursday It, however, added that all outdoor physical activi-
national capital and sur- night and Friday morning, the air quality is likely to be ties. Those with asthma
rounding areas saw slight slightly improving the air impacted adversely from must keep relief medication
improvement from near "se- quality. Monday onwards. SAFAR handy, it added.
vere" to very-poor" on Fri- The Air Quality is sup-
day as winds continue de- posed to stay the same, or
may slightly improve for the
termining Delhi's pollution
level. next two days. However by First Lady of South Korea Kim
November 5 pollution will
On a brighter side, the
air quality will not drop un- shoot up, says SAFAR. Jung-sook in Ayodhya on Nov 6
til November 5, said System On Thursday, particle Lucknow, will be organized in which
of Air Quality and Weather pollutants dipped, from 'se- First Lady of South Ko- local artists from Trinidad,
Forecasting And Research vere' to 'very-poor' and rea, Kim Jung-sook, will be Russia and Korea would take
(SAFAR), adding surface 'poor' category. visiting the temple town of part, the spokesman said.
wind speed has picked up The PM2.5 and PM10, or Ayodhya on November 6, a The dignitaries would
slightly, which is good for particles with diameter less state government spokes- inaugurate 'Ram Bazaar' at
dispersion. SAFAR comes than 2.5 and 10mm, in Delhi man said on Friday. the Shilp Gram and view the
under the Ministry of Earth was 216 adn 393 She, along with other sand art made by Sudarshan
Science. microgrammes per cubic dignitaries from South Ko- Patnaik from Odisha.The
meters, against 241 and 437 rea, would be participating First Lady will lay the foun-
On Friday 4 pm, Delhi's units on Thursday respec- in a grand 'Deepotsava' or- dation stone for the Queens
air quality Index was 370 tively. ganized by the ruling BJP Memorial along with the UP
against 393 some 24 hours The permissible limit for government.Bihar Governor Chief Minister. The charac-
back. Faridabad in NCR PM2.5 and PM10 is 60 and Lalji Tandon, his Uttar ters playing Lord Ram, Sita
continied to be in 'severe' 80 units by national stan- Pradesh counterpart Ram and Lakshman would then
category with AQI of 406 on dards and 25 and 50 units by Naik, Chief Minister Yogi arrive in a chopper where
Friday against 407 on Thurs- international standards. Adityanath and many other after landing, the Chief Min-
day. Gurugram, Greater "Westerly Disturbances Central ministers would also ister will welcome them
Noida and Ghaziabad also at this stage appears to be be present on the banks of with full rituals.Hectic ar-
saw improvement with AQI working towards improving the Saryu when a million rangements are under way
SUE REID: Fracking, the controversial process of extracting gas from underground rocks using high-pres- 389, 376, 370 -- all at upper the air quality by making at- in Ayodhya ahead of the
sure chemicals, is being hailed as a salvation for the resort and a good deal of Lancashire. But the testing, earthen lamps will be lit to
reach of "very-poor". The mosphere unstable over mark the 'Choti high-profile visit and many
which began earlier this month on farming land in sight of Blackpool's famous tower (pictured left) and AQI becomes severe after Delhi and favour mixing of buildings in the temple
which extracted its first gas on Friday, has left the town divided. The reason? A series of 32 mini-quakes, all so Diwali'.There would be pro-
AQI is beyond 400. the pollutants at least for the cessions and tableaus about town have been lit up in red,
slight that the tremors are virtually undetectable, have left the locals, if not shaking from reverberations, Winds from eastern di- next two days to offset the purple and green.
shaking with anger and fear (protesters pictured right). Ramayana. A cultural fest
rections helped with disper- other adverse weather im-
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10 DEMOCRACY AT WORK
>
MUMBAI | 4 NOVEMBER 2018 1
DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?

CHATTERBOX
Last-minute cancellation CHECKLIST

If there is one person who doesn’t give up, it is the ousted Vishva Hindu Parishad leader,
Pravin Togadiya, once Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s best friend. Togadiya was in
AGE IS JUST A NUMBER: PROSPECTS OF SOME ABOVE 75 IN THE BJP
Varanasi recently and charged that the fuss the Bharatiya Janata Party is making now
Liladhar Khodaji Vaghela, Patan, Gujarat (83):
Murli Manohar Joshi, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh (84):
over the Ram Mandir is all humbug: If it had wanted to, it could have passed a law in wants to move to neighbouring Banaskantha. His The repeated recent trips by Home Minister Rajnath
Parliament and built the temple. Just like depositing ~1.5 million in every Indian’s bank grandson has defected from the BJP to the Singh to Kanpur suggest he is eyeing the seat. His
account, this too was a ‘chunavi jumla’. Interestingly, Togadiya had a function in Congress. Is unlikely to be renominated from Patan. son and MLA Pankaj has also visited the
Varanasi that was cancelled at the last moment. And no prizes for guessing whose con-
Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav, Madhubani Bihar constituency. Quiet discussions have been held
stituency Varanasi is! He was accompanied by the Shankaracharya of Kashi Sumeru (78): Will not be renominated. State BJP President between the Home Minister and some local BJP
Peeth Swami Narendranand Saraswati, who is publicly critical of Modi. Saraswati Nityanand Rai, who represents Ujiarpur, has laid functionaries. But the question is whether the
charged that Togadiya’s flight was deliberately delayed to prevent him from address- claim to the seat. venerable Murli Manohar Joshi is willing to yield.
ing the function. What is Togadiya going to do during the elections? Watch this space.
BC Khanduri, Garhwal Uttarakhand (84): the BJP
Karia Munda, Khunti, Jharkhand (82): The BJP has
just sacked him from the chairmanship of the recently lost three byelections in Jharkhand and
The back story parliamentary standing committee on defence. one of them was in Khunti. Tribals, angry at the BJP
What really led to MJ Akbar’s resignation? Women and Child Development Minister Unlikely to get his seat. He is expected to claim the state government’s policy of alienating tribal land,
Menaka Gandhi announced that a retired judge would head an enquiry, and sent the seat for his daughter, Ritu Khanduri Kumar, an MLA attacked Munda’s house and abducted three
decision for ratification to the PMO. Till then there was no plan to ask Akbar to step down. "We had a very good meeting, the gist was that from Yamkeshwar Assembly constituency. But security guards. Munda and the BJP state
But the thought of a minister appearing before a retired judge every day and shaming we have to defend democracy and the future of Shaurya Doval, the son of National Security Advisor government are at daggers drawn. Unlikely that
charges about his personal conduct being traded publicly, led the government to ask the country. So we are coming together to work, Ajit Doval is doing a lot of work in the region. And Munda will be renominated.
him to step down. Later, a committee headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh was cre- all opposition forces must unite." Colonel Ajay Kothiyal, the principal of Nehru
Shanta Kumar Chamba, Himachal Pradesh (84): He
ated to reject Menaka Gandhi's recommendation. The government believes Gandhi was Congress President Rahul Gandhi after meeting AP CM N Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), Uttarkashi, is has announced himself that he will not contest the
Chandrababu Naidu in New Delhi, November 1
acting in league with an Opposition party — no prizes for guessing which one. another potential candidate. 2019 elections.
ILLUSTRATION: BINAY SINHA

OPINION cratic and secular polity with federal division of
powers) in order to maintain ethnic harmony
the sons of the soil Indian nationalism and
love for the Indian nation-state, the exigencies
RAVEESH KUMAR and prevent the balkanisation of the country. of power and electoral politics has meant that
Second, in contrast to the Congress view, the the party has had to move away from that def-
We have noted the

Muslim League saw India as incorporating two inition in order to pander to religious, caste
nations organised around religious attributes - a and regional sentiments.
Hindu nation and a Muslim nation; this then
Is 'identity' and 'nation' a contradiction?
reply received
led the Muslim League to demand the division of
India to create a Hindu India and a Muslim Evidence suggests that sometimes it is;
Pakistan. Third, the Communist Party of India and sometimes it isn't….
saw India as a territorial space that incorporated See my previous comments on identity and
from White House several distinct ethnic nations, each of which

should have the right of national self-determi-
nation in order to decide if they wished to remain
nation. I would say that national identity (that
is, identity based on the concept of the nation)
is a socially constructed identity based on a
ave we received any response for the invitation within one loose confederal state or go their sep- certain imagination for the purpose of achiev-
H extended to the US President, and if we have

received a response, who is going to be the Chief
Guest on the coming 26th January celebrations?
arate ways. Finally, there was the Jan Sangh (pre-
cursor to the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP]) view
that India is a territorial state that incorporated
ing certain socio-economic and political objec-
tives. So, I don't see a contradiction between
'identity' and 'nation'.
Official Spokesperson, Raveesh Kumar: See, right now one cultural nation anchored by the common Rather, I would say that there exists tensions
I am not in a position to tell you who will be the Chief attribute of "Hindutva". and contradictions between the national identi-
Guest on January 26 next year. As far as invitation to ty and other forms of identity. For example,
President is concerned, we have noted the reply received Hindutva has been defined Bernard Lewis has correctly
from the White House and we do believe the high level as a 'way of life'. But what argued that the idea of the nation
exchanges are an integral part of our strategic partner- does it really imply? (which is a Western idea) has
ship. We both, US and India, together are still is discus- Simply put, in the Jan never reconciled with the Islamic
sion to mutually decide the time when President Trump Sangh/BJP conception, notion of the ummah or "Islamic
can visit India. Hindutva means "Indianness" community".
Question: We have seen reports that the Americans have or being from the territorial Similarly, there is a lot of
given oil waivers on Iranian sanctions, can you just react to landmass called India. In other tension between the "ethnic"
that and also what is New Delhi’s stand on the recent devel- words, being Hindu does not and the "civic" conceptions of
DR RAJAT GANGULY
opments in Sri Lanka? have a religious connotation; it the nation.
Academic, Murdoch University
Raveesh Kumar: Any other question on Iran? Dr Rajat Ganguly, an academic based at Murdoch University, Australia, has published widely on simply refers to those who trace
identity politics and ethnic conflict, insurgency and terrorism, and security and strategic affairs in their ancestry from the ancient Would it be correct to say
Question: I want to know your stand against US sanctions South and Southeast Asia. In this email interview with Aditi Phadnis, he speaks of identity politics civilisations that existed in this that identity gets effaced by
against Iran, what India is going to do about the sanctions? and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Edited excerpts: Indian landmass centuries ago. It is a kind of development?
Question: The waiver has been granted, has it been "sons of the soil" identity that sits above all I don't think so. If that were the case, then there
capped? If it has been capped then to what extent? other identities. The objective territorial attrib- would be no identity-based politics in the
Raveesh Kumar: Look, it is very difficult for me to react
to source based stories and as far as we are concerned we
haven’t heard anything so far from the US side but you are
aware that we have had several rounds of conversation not
only with the US but also with Iran and other stakeholders
‘I would like to see ute of this identity then has a subjective emo- developed countries. The reality is in most of
tional or psychological aspect as well - the the developed world, identity-based politics
attachment and love for the territorial entity and political behaviour is extremely strong.
called India. Seen from this view, Indian Take the complete ideological polarisation in
Muslims and Christians are actually "Hindus", the United States as an example. This is main-
and as far as the US is concerned they are well aware about
our expectations of the requirement which we have for oil
domestically and which is very critical for sustaining our
economic growth.
As I mentioned last time we have taken note of the US
us voting as Indians’
The BJP believes that in a perfect world,
in the sense that, they are also sons of the soil ly a function of the very different identity of the
who have chosen for various reasons to follow "liberal" and the "conservative" American.
an alien religion that arrived in this territorial
space called India through the hands of What effect do democracy and
invaders and conquerors. democratic movements have on identity
position which was conveyed by Secretary Pompeo that the bers of the community, and a sense of person- Of course, not everyone accepts this "benign" politics?
intention of imposing sanctions on Iran is not to hurt being a nationalist should subsume all al fulfillment in being a part of the nation). and "non-religious" construction of the Hindu In my opinion, democracy may have contradic-
India. We do want to engage and we will continue to engage other identities: Caste, region, religion. But Depending on which common attributes one identity. Moreover, the BJP itself seems to have tory impacts on identity politics. On one hand,
with the US and other stakeholders to ensure that our it can't help playing the caste card if that focuses on, a nation can be imagined in either moved away from the inclusionary sons of the the consolidation of democracy in a multi-ethnic
energy security is not compromised and also that our wins elections, or the region card. In other "ethnic" or "civic" lines. Nations conceived soil construction of the Hindu identity to a more society can create, under certain circumstances,
national interests are interested. words, it plays identity politics without along ethnic lines are exclusionary, whereas exclusionary religious notion of being a Hindu. an impetus towards the creation of an inclusive
On Sri Lanka, we have already issued a statement which saying so. Will this contradiction wither nations conceived along civic lines are more This has been clearly driven by the imperatives civic nationalist polity. But, on the other hand,
I am sure you must have seen and basically at this stage I away or will it become more pronounced as inclusionary. One final point. As the preceding of electoral and vote bank politics, irrespective of democracy may create intensely competitive
can only say that we are following the development very it is faced with the compulsion of winning discussion suggests, nations are "social con- what the party says about its understanding of electoral politics, which could lead towards the
closely. We hope that the democratic values and the con- elections for survival? structions" or "imagined communities" as Elie Hindutva. I don't blame the BJP entirely for this. creation of an exclusive ethnic nationalist polity.
stitutional process in Sri Lanka will be respected. India and In the modern world, we usually have multiple Kedourie once remarked. The Congress also has long moved away from the Inclusive civic nationalism may create condi-
Sri Lanka, we enjoy strong bonds of friendship and we identities. We have religious identity, caste and Since the 19th century and more so in the inclusionary civic ideas of Indian nationalism tions of stability and peace in society, whereas
will continue to extend our developmental assistance to sectarian identity, regional identity, national 20th century (especially after the First World to blatantly play divisive politics on the basis of exclusive ethnic nationalist politics may lead to
the friendly people of Sri Lanka. identity, global identity, gender identity, sexu- War), the idea of the nation coalesced with the religion, caste and reginal identities. Other left of fragmentation and civil conflict.
al identity, class identity, so on and so forth. We idea of the modern sovereign state to give rise centre parties have been no better.
Question: This is about Sri Lanka. You see on 27th the often give hierarchical rankings to these iden- to the concept of the nation-state. Simply put, Even if you look within the Hindu religious In India, caste identities were
Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka already met Rajapaksa tities and these ranking preferences may it was argued by liberals that a nation can ful- community, the BJP seems to be now facing the accommodated and over time, rigidities
and according to Indian media reports Rajapaksa also seek change over time depending on our particular fil its destiny and develop itself fully only when within the dilemma of how to react to divisions were loosened. To retain and grow its base,
to meet Indian officials. So after 26th is there any meetings situation and contextual circumstances. Our it is able to convert itself into a modern sover- religious community. For example, on the should the BJP accommodate caste or
or discussions or phone calls between Indian side and ideological preferences also shape the way we eign state - that is, a nation-state. In reality Lingayat issue, the BJP seemed to rule out divi- reject it?
Rajapaksa? prefer certain identities over others. though, most modern sovereign states are mul- sions within Hinduism along sectarian lines. But As a patriotic Indian, I would like to see us vot-
Raveesh Kumar: Not that I am aware of. You know it is dif- In the past 200 years or so, however, the ti-national; that is, they incorporate more than at the same time, the party has an image of being ing as "Indians" and not on the basis of caste,
ficult for me to comment on meetings which Chinese identity that has had the most profound polit- one nation within their boundaries. close to upper caste Hindus at the expense of religion, region, etc. Our politics need to be at
Ambassador had but as far as I am concerned I am not aware ical impact has been that of the nation. Simply In the modern Indian context, there have lower caste Hindus, Dalits and tribals. It has also a higher level and we must vote for those polit-
of any such plans at this stage. put, a nation is a territorially-based communi- been at least four alternative conceptions of the started playing more prominently the 'regional ical parties and leaders who are best placed to
Question: Has there been any clarity if the Prime Minister ty or a group of individuals, large or small, who nation, each competing with the others for card' in order to win elections. For instance, the advance our collective interests as Indians. But
intends to travel to Maldives for the inaugural ceremony of share certain common attributes. These com- prominence during the freedom struggle. First, Modi government's decision to honour Netaji this is a utopian dream. For the foreseeable
President Solih? mon attributes are both objective (for example, the Congress saw the Indian state as a territorial Subhas Chandra Bose and the Azad Hind Fauj future at least, our politics will be shaped by
Raveesh Kumar: As I mentioned in my last briefing that common cultural, linguistic and religious space being inhabited by several ethnic nations; could have been made with an eye to winning the sectarian, caste, class, regional and religious
during the telephonic conversation between Prime Minister attributes as well as common citizenship and hence, the Congress constructed the Indian "Bengali vote" in parliamentary elections in West identities. If the BJP's aim is to consolidate the
and President elect Solih, he did extend a verbal invitation civic values) and subjective (for example, a psy- national identity essentially along civic lines Bengal in 2019. Hindu vote in its favour, then it has to reach out
to Prime Minister to visit Maldives. As I mentioned that the chological attachment to the nation, a sense of (written constitution, common citizenship with So, to sum up, I would like to believe the to lower castes, Dalits, etc. And shed its image
elements of the program are still being finalized by them. We shared history and ancestry with other mem- clearly defined rights and privileges, and demo- BJP/RSS when it says that Hindutva refers to as an upper caste and bania party.
are in close touch and you are aware that there is a proper
mechanism which we follow when we announce VVIP vis-
its. As and when there are confirmations we will share those
details with you.
Question: Any forward movement on Choksi and Nirav

Modi?
Rainbow parents
Raveesh Kumar: On Choksi I can share with you that last
time I shared that EAM did take up the matter with the
A support group has been started by LGBTQ parents in Mumbai, to come out in support of each other and to
Foreign Minister of Antigua & Barbuda and we are actually help their children live a life guilt-free, writes Sneha Bhattacharjee
constantly following up with the government of Antigua &
Barbuda through different mechanisms. ow do you talk to your child at home? Humsafar Trust (HST) was founded in April Sweekar — has been the most recent one. Roy
We are waiting for their response at this stage. We are
requesting them that their response should be expedited and
at this time we are waiting for their response.
H Do you provide him an environment 1994 by reputed journalist Ashok Row Kavi, to
where he can be open to speak to you reach out to LGBTQ communities in Mumbai
about anything? From his needs and desires, to Metro and surrounding areas. The Trust began
notes what is heartening in this case is that the
group has been started by the parents them-
selves and for the parents. “They call them-
Nirav Modi, again the situation is the same. We under- his sexual preferences — often, a child restricts its activities by inviting gay men and lesbian selves rainbow parents, hold regular meet-
stand that the request for the extradition of Nirav Modi is his/her choices, and bases them upon what has women to attend its workshops on Fridays at its ings, have created their own social media
under consideration of the UK government but at the same been ingrained in him since early drop in centre. Now, HST organises group where they interact and come up with
time let me point that we do remain committed to the extra- years, or what he sees in the socie- advocacy workshops on LGBTQ solutions,” she says.
dition of economic offenders back to India. ty as “normal”. issues. It has nurtured support groups Compare this to a few years back, Roy finds it
For parents of LGBTQ, it is at “Yaariyan” for young LGBTQ, comforting that parents are now slowly and steadi-
Question: Just wanted to know this is regarding the case first, hard to accept. There are “Umang” for LBT persons and ly opening up about their children. Presumably
of the Indian boy who had fallen into the river, landed up times when parents and family “Sanjeevani” for persons living with this is the fall-out of the apex court’s verdict to
into the Pakistan occupied Kashmir and was buried there, members turn hostile towards the HIV. HST also provides legal support, decriminalise Article 377. “The stigma and humil-
would his body be returned, is the Indian government doing child. Not knowing how it affects crisis management, mental health iation is no longer there,” feels Roy adding, “though
anything about it because the family has been trying to the child mentally or emotional- and nutrition counselling to its com- more work needs to be done, we are glad parents
meet External Affairs Minister for a while now. There were ly, often, parents resort to vio- THE OTHER munities. are doing something on their own.”
three who fell, one reached POK.
Question: This is about Sri Lanka. As we know there were
lence or are just unable to come to
terms with it. Misunderstood for
INDIA “There are three ways in which we
work for the LGBTQ parents,” says The group is scheduled to hold their annual
The LGBTQ community is often misun-
derstood in many spheres of their life. While
reports of an assassination plot against their president and who they are, the child is side- Koninika Roy, advocacy manager, play titled “Ek Madhav Bhag” in Delhi this sometime people don’t understand, “some-
there were reports that an Indian was also arrested, what do lined or worse about his or her Humsafar. “First is the “acceptance month times the parents just don’t want the child to
you have to say about this assassination plot? sexual preferences. It is to bridge the gap meet” in which the parents are brought together have a difficult life”, Roy says. That is where
Raveesh Kumar: This has been clarified by multiple between parents and child, and to sensitise and explained the circumstance. For a parent, it “The second way is through creating man- support groups like Humsafar come in and
agencies, sources, from the President’s office, from the the parents about their child’s sexual choice, is not very natural to accept this initially, and uals for counsellors by talking to parents. We lend them a hand to hold. “We see how we
Foreign Ministry, from the Cabinet Secretariat, do I still that a support group called “Sweekar” was hence, these meet function as a place where they get counselling cases, then we reach out to can work in collaboration, and where can we
have to add something to that. I think it has been dismissed started by a group of parents in Mumbai in are sensitised about their child and his prefer- parents. There are several cases of discrimi- build capacity of existing resources,” she adds.
by three different arms of the Sri Lankan government, so 2017, under the aegis of Humsafar, which ences,” Roy adds. How the sensitisation works? It nation or violence at times. That is where the The group is scheduled to hold their annual
there is nothing further which I have to add on that. works for the LGBTQ communities. is not just a “you talk, we listen” kind of approach need for manuals comes in, because even the play titled “Ek Madhav Bhag” in Delhi this
As an organisation, Humsafar has been at but through events such as plays, dance and counsellors, in most cases, are unaware of how month. The play is based on the true story of
Edited excerpts from a media briefing by Raveesh Kumar, the forefront of handling issues around LGBTQ music, making the parents more comfortable they should advise the parents,” says Roy. The a boy and how he opens up about his sexuali-
spokesman, Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, November 1 community since its inception in 1994. The about talking more and understanding. third way of connecting with parents — ty to his mother, a single parent.
>
OPINION 11
Volume XII Number 34
MUMBAI | 4 NOVEMBER 2018
partners around will significantly contribute took a more lenient position, allowing the the same vein, Indian fans should be wise
Family time to their performance. Given that the Indian

players are poor travellers, albeit trying hard
likes of Victoria Beckham and Cheryl
Tweedy — partners of David Beckham and
enough to understand and conclude that
they were unfair in blaming Anushka
to change that notion, family support might Ashley Cole, respectively, and both famous Sharma for Kohli’s disappointing perform-
Nothing wrong with allowing WAGs on tours indeed make some difference. Moreover, pop stars — to set up house not far from the ance in the 2015 World Cup semi-final.
he Indian cricketers’ demand that the BCCI has already given in to the players’ even without the official nod, WAGs are rou- team’s training base. England’s entourage These are professional athletes who must
T their wives and girlfriends (WAGs)

be allowed on overseas tours has
presented the Board of Control for
Cricket in India (BCCI) with a somewhat
peculiar problem. The request is being led by
demand, paving way for the presence of
WAGs on tour, but only after an initial peri-
od of 10 days. Subsequent reports, however,
have claimed that the BCCI is yet to take a
decision and has put the matter on hold.
tinely seen during India’s home matches.
Of course, other than the Board and the
players, there’s also the view of the national
team’s coach to consider. In most other
sports, coaches have often taken extreme
that World Cup numbered 110.
Unfortunately, the team crashed out in
the quarter-finals and Britain’s notorious
tabloid papers pinned the blame on the
WAGs. Even though there is little to suggest
not be shielded by unjust criticism of their
partners.
In essence, what matters more is not the
absence or presence of WAGs but a careful
segregation of professional and personal
captain Virat Kohli, with other senior players, The players’ demand is a reasonable stands on the issue of WAGs. German foot- that the glamorous spouses impacted the activity while on tour. The only other caveat
such as Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, one. International cricketers, after all, spend ball manager Joachim Löw, for instance, out- team’s performance, new boss Fabio Capello is that there should be no caste system of
reportedly backing the skipper. At present, a considerable amount of time on the road. lawed his players from having sex during the nonetheless binned Eriksson’s idea in South sorts in a bid to find a middle path. This was
the BCCI allows WAGs to accompany players Earlier this year, the Indian team camped in World Cup in Russia earlier this year. He, Africa four years later, laying emphasis on quite a shameful norm in the 1970s and ‘80s
for only 14 days and that too only after the Ireland and England for over two months. however, granted permission for a glass of greater focus and privacy. The truth is when a handful of senior Indian players were
first two weeks of a 45-day tour. An earlier Starting the middle of November, the team beer or wine before bed. During the 2006 England were shambolic in their penalty afforded this privilege. The decision makers
rule permitted WAGs being around for one of will be touring around Australia for roughly edition in Germany, when the term WAGs shoot-out defeat to Portugal in 2006, and it must ensure that the rules allowing WAGs to
three formats during a lengthy tour. the same period. By the look of it, there is a first made an entry into the sporting lexi- would be ridiculous to hold the WAGs travel, if and when allowed, must apply uni-
According to a report in The Times of India, consensus among players that having their con, England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson responsible for their embarrassing exit. In formly across the whole team.
More to it than meets the eye Reasons for hope in the

Defence procurement has been bedevilled by controversy for decades, despite quality not being an issue
BLOOMBERG
face of climate change
PREMVIR DAS AJAY SHANKAR cars to be carbon emission-free by 2025.
Enthusiasts of electric vehicles see them
T
n the mid-1980s the Army evaluated four 155 he Paris Agreement adopted the taking over global markets by 2030 on their
I mm guns, of which it preferred two — French

and Swedish (Bofors). In January 1986, the new
Army Chief expressed his preference for Bofors on
goal of limiting global warming to own strength. The Chinese have taken a
two degrees Celsius and recognised strategic call to become world leaders in
the need to actually restrict warming to electric vehicles and battery technology.
the basis that it could “shoot and scoot”, meaning 1.5 degrees. The recently released Special They are now the largest manufacturers of
it could move away easily. Both parties were asked Report of the International Panel on electric vehicles, producing a million elec-
to quote final costs, and when their bids were Climate Change is an unambiguous wake- tric vehicles a year.
opened, the Swedish one was lower; the French up call. The present trajectory is taking There are many who see a resource
then reduced their prices. the world to warming by three degrees. constraint at the global level in the avail-
This offer should have been rejected out of hand, There is no option but to get to a fossil fuel- ability of rare earths which are needed for
but the then minister of state for defence asked the free global economy at the earliest if the batteries in electric vehicles if these
defence secretary to negotiate with Bofors, which human civilisation is to survive. are to replace all the automobiles in the
then offered to supply 10 guns free, which again Fortunately, technological breakthroughs world. They see alternatives in biofuels,
brought them below the French. A contract was make transitioning to a fossil fuel-free ethanol and methanol, as well as hydro-
duly concluded and the guns supplied as stipulat- economy both feasible and affordable. gen cells, as zero carbon-emission energy
ed; they were to prove invaluable in the Kargil War The cost of electricity from renewable sources for automobiles. These technolo-
of 1999. The agreement provided for indigenous sources such as solar and wind has fallen gies have been demonstrated. There is
production of more guns with transfer of rapidly. They are now cheaper than elec- naturally quite a journey from demon-
technology. tricity from conventional fossil fuels. stration projects to large-scale commercial
Also, in the 1980s, the then government Germany and UK get 38 per cent and 30 usage. Biofuel can be used in planes as
approved the purchase of two German submarines per cent respectively of their electricity well as ships. Transportation can then
(HDW) followed by the indigenous production of from renewables. The discussion now is become fully free of fossil fuels. Biomass,
two more at Mazagon Docks Ltd under licence, on phasing out the use of coal altogether biofuels and electricity can be made to
envisaging the setting up of a continuous produc- for electricity. provide the energy needs of most indus-
tion line. In the event, the two plans to set up Make There is legitimate concern on how to tries. Scandinavian countries are now
in India capacities were turned on their heads; the get electricity when there is no wind and no evolving strategies to become fossil fuel-
contracts were terminated and no gun or submarine sunlight. There have been promising devel- free economies by 2040-50.
could be manufactured over the next two decades. opments with batteries and other storage Recent experience has shown that the
In both cases, the chosen equipment was among the technologies. The most promising, accord- best outcomes happen when state leader-
best available globally. ing to many, is solar thermal, where solar ship drives competitive technological
This brings us to the Rafale. The Air Force, after energy is focused through development and continuing
evaluating several offers a la Bofors, found the large mirrors and the heat is India is yet to get deployment to have scale
Rafale best suited to their requirements. In keeping stored in molten salt. This is its act together in effects. This improves tech-
with government policy it was decided to buy 18 air- then used to generate electric- electric vehicles, nology, and hastens a rapid
craft as fly-away from France’s Dassault, and build ity round the clock from con- solar thermal decline in costs. Germany did
the remaining 108 at Hindustan Aeronautics ventional turbines as in a nor- plants and this for the solar photovoltaic
Limited (HAL) in India with transfer of technology. mal coal-fired station. The batteries. It can industry. Norway is doing this
This plan could not be finalised for various techni- Chinese, acting with strategic import these, or for electric cars now. German
cal reasons before the government changed in purpose, have just commis- leapfrog to global technologists did predict in
May 2014. sioned one 50 Mw plant and frontiers in usage the early 2000s that by 2015
Discussions between HAL and Dassault contin- are developing 5000 Mw of and manufacture. solar power would achieve
ued well into the summer of 2015, when it was sud- People gather around a Rafale multirole fighter jet manufactured by Dassault Aviation of France, on display such capacity. The choice is for grid parity — that is, become
denly decided to abandon the project and procure during the 2015 edition of Aero India at Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bengaluru Tariffs from such plants are India to make commercially competitive.
only 36 aircraft through direct purchase. A MoU to now in the range of solar pho- This did happen. China has
this effect was signed in April 2015 by the two heads HDW the prices were made known by the govern- ity that is at issue. What was alleged then and what to voltaic tariffs a decade back. With com- skillfully acquired world leadership in solar
of government and a contract was concluded a year ment of the day despite confidential clauses not is being repeated now is that the way in which the petition and volumes, one can reasonably panel manufacturing. The Chinese state is
later with Dassault; HAL was bowled out. Once dissimilar to those in the Rafale deal. For another, procurements were and are being processed smells expect designs and efficiencies to improve pursuing global technological leadership
again, there was never any doubt of the suitability in the former, money was allegedly paid to AE of mala fide through political manipulation. and prices to fall, as has been the experi- in electric cars and solar thermal power.
of the platform. Services and to unknown persons by the Swedish AE Services was engaged by Bofors only because ence with most new technologies. If storage But a global transition will not be easy.
This is not the only similarity between these and German companies. For Rafale, the price has the Swedish company felt that its principals could on a large scale becomes a reality then all The conventional car industry is large and
purchases separated by three decades and two not been disclosed and the linkage is indirect, wield sufficient influence in our highest decision- electricity needs of the world can concep- powerful. In the US, where it is the most
opposing governments. In the first two, there were though Reliance Defence apparently stands to make making circles. In the latest contract, it is uncertain tually be met from renewables. This would powerful, there is the striking coincidence
obviously middlemen in play, as was the norm in some good money through offsets. if Dassault would have established linkages with be a dramatic breakthrough. California, that the Republican Party and President
those days. What is more, soon after two guns were Second, the Rafale story has only just begun and Reliance Defence and with quite so much speed if which has the fifth-largest economy in the Donald Trump are in complete denial of
shortlisted and it appeared that Bofors could be there is no knowing what remains untold while all it was not persuaded of that company’s influencing world, has just enacted legislation to have the disaster looming ahead from climate
the front-runner, that company entered into col- that was to be known about capabilities with those who matter. fully fossil fuel-free electricity in the state change. They are still acting to promote
laboration with a newly-formed entity called AE Foreign arms the other two is known. The In all these three cases, ambitious plans to make by 2045. the fossil fuel industry. Even “green”
Services, positioned abroad. An Italian friend of suppliers seem then French president has major military systems in India through transfer of Ships, automobiles and aircraft use Germany is finding it difficult to make a
India’s then prime minister was a director in this happy if we reportedly said that the technology have run aground. It is almost as if the petroleum as fuel, though trains usually dent in the auto sector. Ultimately, political
company. Later investigations showed that some manufacture their Indian party was thrust foreign suppliers (read countries) are happy if we run on electricity. Unless radical disrup- economy dynamics in each country will
money was, indeed, paid to this entity by Bofors. products under upon Dassault at the high- manufacture their products under licence (Russia tion occurs here, a fossil fuel-free economy determine how things pan out.
In the case of Reliance Defence, within a fort- licence, but are est level. More recently, a and France are examples), but averse to our becom- cannot emerge. Though this is not yet hap- India is succeeding in the deployment
night of being present at HAL to negotiate issues averse to our written document of 2017 ing producers in our own right through transfer of pening, it could happen fairly soon. The of wind and solar power. But it is yet to get
connected with the original deal, and just 10 days becoming has come to light which technology, even as they ostensibly profess to be electric vehicle has arrived. The battery its act together for electric vehicles, solar
before signing of the new MoU, the chairman of producers through quotes a Dassault executive amenable to it. They then adopt “other means” to technology for electric vehicles keeps get- thermal plants, batteries and other storage
Dassault concluded an agreement with an Indian transfer of telling his colleagues that it thwart our ambitions in which we, inadvertently or ting better. Every major car company in technologies. It can choose to wait for the
private company (Reliance Defence) to help it technology was “obligatory” for them otherwise, contribute. the world is working hard to position itself rest of the world to get ahead and then
progress offset provisions in India, which appar- to choose Reliance Defence There is something strange in this repetitive for the transition to electric vehicles. import and use these. It can also choose to
ently could exceed ~300 billion over a couple of as the partner. pattern. To paraphrase a French saying, “the more Provision of charging infrastructure is the leapfrog to the global frontiers in both
years. So, just before finalisation, new private enti- So, here is the bottom line. Bofors guns and things appear to change, the more they remain the key and where the state takes the lead, usage and manufacturing. The choice is
ties came into play. Finally, in all cases, it was and is HDW Submarines in the 1980s and Rafale multi- same”. change is swift. for India to make.
the media which played the role of first informant. role fighter aircraft in 2015 were and are the best Norway has shown the way with every
So, what is different is a question that may well weapons systems available, as per the professional The writer is a former member of the National Security third vehicle sold in the country now being The writer is a former Secretary, Government
be asked. For one thing, in the case of Bofors and evaluation of our armed forces. It is not their qual- Advisory Board fully electric or hybrid. Its target is for all of India, and Distinguished Fellow, Teri
> OTHER VIEWS

Urgent corrective actions Doing business gets easier Govt-RBI rift unedifying
needed to curb pollution But red tape still hampers growth The two must present a united front
Failure to carry out policy shifts will be India's ranking in the latest India has considerable When the deputy governor of ouring for immediate trans-
edition of the World Bank’s ground to cover on this front: the Reserve Bank of India, fer of surplus profits of the
highly damaging to public health Ease of Doing Business When it comes to enforcing Viral Acharya, trotted out the RBI and a relaxation of the
Index has jumped 23 spots contracts, the country’s analogy of Martín Redrado debt default recognition
Air pollution is choking several cities in the northern states to 77 among 190 economies - score has barely moved in — the Argentine central bank rules in the case of troubled
once again, as changes in temperature and slowing winds - a substantial improvement the latest ranking. governor who resigned in power companies.
trap soot, dust and fine particulate matter. The National over the last couple of years. However, the signs are that 2010 precipitating a consti- In a short statement, the
Capital Region is badly hit, as the burning of agricultural India's score was boosted many states have recognised tutional crisis — he was finance ministry has affirmed
residue in Punjab and Haryana is releasing large volumes of this time because of the the need to remove hurdles to drawing a parallel with the its faith in the autonomy of
smoke containing, among other pollutants, highly damaging strides in cross-border trad- attract industry. Yet, busi- manner in which the Centre the central bank “within the
fine particulates, or PM2.5. The problem is aggravated by the ing with the streamlining of nessmen complain about the has been trying to trammel framework of the RBI Act”.
burning of urban waste, diesel soot, vehicular exhaust, road paper work and documenta- steep cost of doing business the independence of India’s Significantly, the statement
and construction dust, and power generation. The Centre tion — the country’s score and the constraints they face central bank. The Redrado has made no reference to its
and the state governments need to get into crisis mode to dra- has moved up from 146 last in translating ideas into viable episode prefaced Mr Section 7 directives which
matically reduce emissions. They must address the burning year on this count to 80 this commercial ventures. The Acharya’s recent hard-hitting makes it unclear whether or
of carbon, which is a direct source, and emissions with oxides time. The other area of boost to ranking has come at a speech that was delivered not the government will show
of nitrogen and sulphur from vehicles that turn into fine par- improvement is in construc- time when investment activi- just days after a tense meet- some scruples and resist the
ticulates through atmospheric reactions. ments to prioritise public transport, favouring electric mobil- tion permits. All these ty is far from vibrant. The key ing of the RBI’s central board temptation to flatten opposi-
One study of degradation of Delhi's air over a 10-year peri- ity. Governments should make the use of personal vehicles in underline the importance of is, of course, a revival in of directors where the RBI tion from Mr Patel and his
od beginning 2000 estimated premature mortality to have cities less attractive through strict road pricing mechanisms. supply-side reforms. The demand, but removing sys- governor, Urjit Patel, refused cohorts. Both sides need to
risen by as much as 60 per cent. An innovative approach Sharply escalated deterrent parking fees can be implement- other important takeaway temic constrains would help to bow to pressure from the wrap up decisions without a
could be to use climate change funds to turn farm residues ed. If governments delay action on the critical issue of pollu- from the Index is that what is business and industry finance ministry to remove public airing of bellicose
into a resource, using technological options such as convert- tion control, public pressure must force them to act. common among the top- become more competitive. lending restrictions placed positions.
ing them into biofuels and fertilisers. From an urban devel- ranked economies is the pat- on 11 state-owned banks. The
opment perspective, large cities should reorient their invest- The Hindu, 2 November tern of continuous reform. The Indian Express, 2 November Centre has also been clam- The Telegraph, 2 November

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12 WHO WHAT WHY WHEN WHERE ● ● ● ●

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2018

or her political opponents should have the National Congress till his election as zil’s economic and political crises that ruption scandals that have felled several What does it mean for Brazil?

the Tropics What is his politics?

The lowdown four­year term of a President. All 435

Not OK Google? Thousands of Google

Justice after sons, all Muslims, at Hashimpura in

The gigantic Trojan Horse in Narmada district

Wrong doctor, wrong medicine The literary commons

GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK PHOTO

in Delhi was brought home to me in a term impact on Delhi’s pollution levels in time, before 2018 closes, that this is

The slow death of the middle

the mill workers’ strike in Ahmedabad vernment (Solanki is a grand Machiavel­ Where things get tricky, however, is in can lead to a generational transforma­

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Tolerance gets a beating

New battle, old issues No civil-ity this On H4, trapped

Killing ‘fake’ news in the era of landlines

Govt finally eases Kushal

Patel was long overdue

Bholenath’s at a media interaction last week,

bhakt & question. He paused for a while,

a Pakistani cent).” Continuing in the same

friend about me.” Mr Gandhi’s response

Anita Katyal is a Delhi-based

A retired person who A dictionary of new words that are predicted to

What sort of India do we want? Dilip

Fairness is a fess that this is a very important

pletely under the control of the

must in the tect of India’s Constitution, in the

appointment his “headache” and left a loophole.

of CECs Court did what it has been doing in

It’s all about accountability

the shipping container!

Giving a boost to infrastructure sector

Kettle to kindle: Mishearing is a part of everyday life

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DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?

Last-minute cancellation CHECKLIST

ILLUSTRATION: BINAY SINHA

We have noted the

from White House several distinct ethnic nations, each of which

H extended to the US President, and if we have

Question: Any forward movement on Choksi and Nirav

Family time to their performance. Given that the Indian

T their wives and girlfriends (WAGs)

More to it than meets the eye Reasons for hope in the

I mm guns, of which it preferred two — French

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