06 VIEWPOINT A

HYDERABAD, Friday, February 3, 2023

Adani speaking Freedom of expression The way LIC and banks’

of being morally is confronted with money are being used
correct is like his Prime challenges arising from for the benefit of BJP
Mentor preaching intolerance... What now and some famous
virtues of humility, appears as the initial people close to it, you
sobriety and signals could lead to don’t know if you will get
large-heartedness. serious consequences your money from banks
This is ENTIRE later if we choose to or insurance
political science remain silent companies
JAIRAM RAMESH MT VASUDEVAN NAIR MAMATA BANERJEE
Congress general secretary Eminent writer West Bengal Chief Minister

Wages of sin
The arts of decline
L
ike a Frankenstein monster, terrorism nur-
tured by the Pakistani deep state for
decades is coming back to bite it with devas- tats. (The archive is now only offline
tating effects. The recent suicide bombing The nostalgia in because the lack of funds forced them
inside a mosque in Peshawar’s high-security zone, database extinction to shut it down). These too are art-
killing nearly 100 worshippers, raises disturbing works designed to draw attention to
questions over Islamabad’s long-held policy of art is directed at what the world no longer possesses:
several thousand species.
using terror outfits to further its cause. The resur- action in the
gence of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is, in a Nostalgia, For the Future
way, a perverse payoff for Pakistan’s policy of sup- present, so that Extinction art brings together the sci-
porting the Afghan Taliban. The TTP has, of late, ences and the arts, mixes considerable
stepped up its attacks after calling off its most re- there is a future rhetoric of absence, impending decline
and sentimentality. The artworks cap-
cent ceasefire with Islamabad. The victory of the ture specimens, and tell us that we will
Taliban in Afghanistan has actually rejuvenated the no longer be able to see these in their
TTP and the Afghans have refused to play mediator. natural or post-natural habitats.
Contrary to the earlier expectations of strategic ad- First, database art, as Ursula Heise
calls it, builds on scientific databases
vantage with the return of the Taliban in the neigh- about extinction and biodiversity loss.
bouring country, Pakistan is actually feeling the But, instead of presenting acres of
heat in the wake of increased terrorist attacks tar- excel sheets, this art presents us visu-
geting its assets. The military bosses in Rawalpindi ally appealing — in fact, multimodal –
had earlier hoped to expand their strategic footprint texts through which we understand the
events on earth. Thus, it is a database
in the region after the American withdrawal from plus something more — maybe an
Afghanistan. However, the situation has quickly PRAMOD K NAYAR imaginative rendering of, say, the dodo
Professor of English and UNESCO Chair in Vulnerability
changed on the ground. In the past, Islamabad Studies at the University of Hyderabad. He is also a Fellow of or the thylacine.
struck a deal with the terror outfit under which sev- the Royal Historical Society, and The English Association, UK Second, as Heise points out, an ele-
eral militant leaders, who giac tone marks database art: “The ele-
giac and tragic modes in which endan-
had declared war on the gered species are often portrayed in
Pakistani state, were re- Resurgence of

T
he most significant ency-
leased. Pakistan is now pay- TTP is, in a clopaedic project about ani-
ing the price for appease- way, a perverse mal life is the International
ment with the blood of its payoff for union for the Conservation of
Pakistan’s Nature’s (IUCN) Red List. The Red
citizens. Instead of surren- List, as is well-known, organises the list
dering their arms, the TTP policy of of endangered species on a scale of vul-
leaders set out their own supporting nerability. Terming it ‘Risk Classifica-
conditions for talks that vir- Afghan Taliban tion’, it moves from ‘Not Evaluated’
through ‘Least Concern’, ‘Near Threat-
tually asked Pakistan to ened’, ‘Vulnerable’, ‘Endangered’, ‘Crit-
hand over its control of the ically Endangered’, ‘Extinct in the Wild’
former tribal areas to them. The militants used the and finally to ‘Extinct’. As on date, the
peace negotiations to reorganise themselves. Red List classifies 42,108 species as
The spurt in terror strikes could not have come at ‘threatened’.
The Red List, established in 1964, is
a more inopportune time as Pakistan is in the grip of the source-book for conservationists,
a worsening political and economic crisis. It has activists, policymakers and the state. It
also led to the weakening of the state authority, pro- also represents, as the critic Ursula
viding a favourable environment to the outlawed Heise has argued, ‘an underlying narra-
tive of decline shapes not only the
groups with a strong ally across the border. The IUCN’s risk labels, but also the quanti-
TTP has claimed responsibility for the Peshawar tative criteria that define them’. But is
mosque attack to avenge the death of its com- this the best way to speak of the decline
mander Umar Khalid Khurasani, who was killed in of species, a decline that culminates in
Afghanistan in August last year. The terror outfit species death?
has upped the ante against Pakistani soldiers and Map of Memory
cops since November last year when it abruptly Maya Lin, celebrity artist-architect best
ended a ceasefire with the government. It has been known for her design of the Vietnam
warning the police and the military to stay away Memorial, also addresses the decline
from operations against its fighters in the restive and extinction of species. Her What is
Missing is a ‘multi-sited memorial’. It
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders includes installation pieces across the
Afghanistan. The Peshawar attack shows that the USA, a screen at Times Square that
confidence of both China and America in Pakistan’s posts videos from What is Missing,
counter-terrorism capabilities is highly misplaced. highlighting different extinct species,
Islamabad’s problems are compounded by the etc. The website of What is Missing
consisting of ‘science-based artwork’,
Afghan Taliban’s brazen sheltering of Tehreek lead- Lin draws attention to mass extinctions
ers and fighters. Time is virtually running out for of species. The website of this artwork
Pakistan. Its leaders must now take an unambiguous gives us a Map of Memory, which high-
stand against terrorism in any form. If it wants lights the ecological histories of species
and habitats.
Afghanistan to not harbour terrorists, it should first The Map is also contributory, and in-
dismantle the terror infrastructure on its own soil. vites anyone with personal memories
— of skating on iced-over lakes, being
on a beach and other landscapes from
childhood — to send these in. The proj-
ect is a collective memory of land-
forms, animal and plant life and the
transformations in these features over
the years. In the process, the Map alerts
us to anthropogenic — human-driven
—changes in habitats and ecosystems.
A timeline of planet earth is drawn,
from earth’s formation dated at 5.6 bil-
lion years ago, to 2020. A clickable map
takes us to different regions of the
world, showing which species of that
region are now extinct, or vulnerable
(India’s Bharatpur sanctuary is on the
site). Lin draws attention to the several
missing species and to the species on
the verge of becoming things of the
past. Serving at once as a museum of
the past and of the future, Lin’s work is
a mix of scientific information, art and
a deep sentimentality.
Witnesses to Extinction
Isabella Kirkland is, like Maya Lin, an
artist whose interest in extinction fo-
calises science and art. In her series
Taxa, she categorises plants and ani-
mals as ‘Descendant’ and ‘Ascendant’,
the former showing us paintings of ani-
mals that have declined or died, and
the latter showing those which, with
serious effort, have been (re)intro-
duced into the Americas.
Kirkland’s work, dating from the late
1990s, also merges scientific data on
disappearing/disappeared species with
art when she draws the animals in
order to document the absences in the
contemporary. Wildscreen, a group
founded by former BBC’s Natural His-
tory head, Christopher Parsons, set up
ARKive: Images of Life on Earth as an
online resource of over 1,00,000 images
of endangered species and their habi-
While we cannot restore
the era of the now-dead
species whom we can
only mourn, perhaps we
should ensure that
conditions of similar
mourning are not created
film, photography, and writing are
meant to convey this general sense of
decline, of sweeping losses of life, di-
versity, knowledge, and beauty.”
Heise is right to note the tone
adopted by such works, whether in lit-
erature or database art, but something
else also pervades them.
Database art and literature based on
extinction themes, right from Mary
Shelley’s The Last Man (1826) to Brian
Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s Y: The Last
Man (2002-08), are nostalgic about the
planet’s past. And yet, database art is
not infused with a naïve nostalgia but
rather a ‘reflective’ one, to employ the
critic Svetlana Boym’s distinction. Re-
flective nostalgia does ‘dwell in the
longing’ but also helps us examine the
contemporary. It does not seek to re-
turn to a golden era but rather sees the
loss of potentialities when species die
out. Boym writes: “[reflective nostalgia
is] not always for the ancient regime or
fallen empire but also for the unre-
alised dreams of the past and visions of
the future that became obsolete … for
unrealised possibilities, unpredictable
turns and crossroads…”
Database art by employing a reflec-
tive nostalgia for the lost, never-ful-
filled-potential futures of all the extinct
species calls for attention to the today
in which the material for ‘future nostal-
gias’ (to borrow Vikram Seth’s phras-
ing) is being prepared: species not dead
but dying. In other words, replacing the
tired Red List, database extinction art
shows us that while we cannot restore
the era of the now-dead species whom
we can only mourn, perhaps we should
ensure that conditions of similar
mourning are not created as current
species disappear.
This is nostalgia directed at action in
the present, so that there is a future.

Letters to the Ill-thought-out Hidden point India in the

Editor
Restoring confidence
Whether Hindenburg’s allegations are
true or not, only time will tell, but the
damage is done and considering the
size of the Adani conglomerate, retail
investors have lost a significant
amount of their money in the last few
days. Now, the Adani group is planning
to hire one of the big six global ac-
counting firms to evaluate its corporate
governing and audit practices. People’s
confidence has taken a huge beating
and findings of independent audits can
restore some of it. The need of the hour
is to allow these auditors to work in a
true independent sense and let the
truth surface without any bias. Allega-
tions and counter-allegations by both
the Adani group and Hindenburg are
not going to serve any purpose.
BAL GOVIND,
Noida
Instead of resolving the difficulties faced by
the Central Government Health Scheme
(CGHS) beneficiaries, the Union government
now wants to link CGHS with Ayushman
Bharat Health Account (ABHA) to provide
treatment for CGHS beneficiaries in govern-
ment hospitals instead of in private hospi-
tals. The government is openly saying that
education, health etc are non-core activities
and is reducing budgetary allocations for the
same and handing them over to corporates.
Surprisingly, the Central government has
asked the CGHS beneficiaries to link CGHS ID
with ABHA ID which should not be done for
the following reasons: It is a well-calculated
move of the government to eventually force
CGHS beneficiaries to avail treatment from
government hospitals and virtually say good-
bye to getting treatment from empanelled
hospitals; the move is aimed exclusively at
effecting cost cutting; this will be the end of
huge, incomparable and distinct advantages
that the CGHS beneficiaries have in compari-
son to Ayushman Bharat beneficiaries.
PADMANABHA SURYANARAYANA,
Kochi
Write to us at letters@telanganatoday.com
Budget is also an exercise to recover in another form what
is given. The much-coveted expectations on Income Tax re-
lief have not been belied totally. But no tax relief has been
given to senior citizens. Senior citizens are forced to be con-
tent with the rise in the deposit limit from the present Rs 15
lakh to Rs 30 lakh. The present tax slab for the salaried class
has been brought on a par with senior citizens. Enhance-
ment of tax rebate from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh gives some
respite to the lower income groups. But this enhanced relief
is more likely to be gobbled up by the increase in the cost of
goods and services by the time this enhanced benefit is
going to be availed next year. In the previous Budget, no tax
benefit was given to the people. Tax relief given now hardly
compensates for the tax relief denied during the fiscal start-
ing from April 1, 2022. People are at liberty either to go for
the earlier tax regime or opt for the new one. If the new tax
regime is beneficial, why should there be the previous
regime in place? Because no person will opt for a tax regime
which is not cheaper than the present tax regime under the
default option. Obviously, it hardly makes any difference
between the new regime and the old one. Also while mo-
biles and TVs are to get cheaper, toys, automobiles and bi-
cycles will cost more. This is nothing but giving the benefit
from one hand and taking it from the other.
KV SEETHARAMAIAH,
Bengaluru
hotspot
Washington Post
Why India’s billionaires banded together for Adani
The world’s biggest democracy now has a brotherhood of billionaires. That’s one
explanation for how Adani’s $2.5 billion share sale scraped through. No doubt the
heavy lifting was done by a $400 million check from Abu Dhabi. But that was
along expected lines — Middle East royals have backed Adani in the past, too.
New York Times
Fans helped “Pathaan” break records
Right-wing groups threatened to block the film’s release. Vigilantes barged into
shopping malls and tore down posters for it. Calls for a boycott trended on social
media....Yet when “Pathaan” — a spy thriller mashing high-octane action — was
released last week, audiences turned up in huge numbers.
TIME
Adani crisis could push away clean energy investors
Understanding what the Adani crisis could mean for green-energy investment in
India is less about grappling with Adani’s environmental track record than it is
about considering the current global climate finance picture. The IEA estimates
India alone will need $1.4 trillion by 2040 to align with global climate goals.

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