Editorial - 10-10-2021

கூத்துப்பட்டறையின் தொடக்க காலச் செயல்பாடுகளின் பிரிக்க முடியாதவரும் கூத்துக் கலைஞரும் நவீன நாடக ஆளுமையுமான கண்ணப்ப.காசி தனது 77-வது வயதில் செப்டம்பர் 13 அன்று காலமானார். காசி, அஞ்சல் துறையில் பணியாற்றியவர். காசியுடன் அஞ்சல் துறையில் பணியாற்றிய அவரது சக ஊழியர்கள்தான் கூத்துப்பட்டறையின் தொடக்க கால நடிகர்களாக இருந்தனர். அவர் ஒரு தொழிற்சங்கச் செயல்பாட்டாளராக இருந்ததால்தானோ என்னவோ, பணம், புகழ் என எதற்குமே உத்தரவாதமற்ற ஒரு நவீன நாடகச் செயல்பாட்டுக்குத் தன்னுடன் பணியாற்றிய பலரையும் அழைத்துவர முடிந்தது.

இப்படி முழுக்க முழுக்க அஞ்சல் துறை ஊழியர்களே பங்குபெற்ற, கிளிப்போர்டு ஓடட்ஸ் எழுதிய ‘இடதுசாரிக்காகக் காத்திருங்கள்’ நாடகத்தை அப்போது தியாகராய நகர் அபிபுல்லா சாலையில் இருந்த தென்னிந்திய நடிகர் சங்கத்தின் சங்கர தாஸ் சுவாமிகள் அரங்கத்தில் ‘கூத்துப்பட்டறை’ நிகழ்த்தியபோது நான் பார்த்திருக்கிறேன். அந்த நாடகத்தை வ.ஆறுமுகம் இயக்கினார். காசியும் அவரது சக ஊழியர்களான ராதாகிருஷ்ணன், பன்னீர்செல்வம், பழனி ஆகியோரும் அந்த நாடகத்தில் நடித்திருந்தனர்.

ஃபோர்டு பவுண்டேஷனின் நிதி நல்கையோடு ஒரு முழு நேரக் குழுவாகச் செயல்படத் தொடங்கும் வரை கூத்துப்பட்டறையின் நிலைமை இதுதான். கூத்துப்பட்டறையின் முழு நேர நடிகராக இல்லையே தவிர, அதற்கு அடுத்து நடந்த எல்லா தயாரிப்புகளிலும் காசி, முக்கிய பாத்திரங்களை ஏற்று நடித்தார். முத்துசாமியின் நெறியாள்கையிலும், பின்னர் அன்மோல் வெல்லானியின் நெறியாள்கையிலும் மேடையேற்றப்பட்ட ‘இங்கிலாந்து’ நாடகத்தில் பொய்க்கால்களைக் கட்டிக்கொண்டு வருகிற ‘தக்களி’க்காரர் பாத்திரத்தில் காசி நடித்தார். காந்தியைக் குறிப்பால் உணர்த்தும் உருவகம்தான் அந்த தக்களி நூற்பவர் பாத்திரம். அதனை அவர் திறமையாகக் கையாண்டது எனக்கு இன்னும் நினைவிலுள்ளது.

தொடர்ந்து கூத்துப்பட்டறையின் பல நாடகங்களில் காசி நடித்திருந்தபோதும் முக்கியமான ஒரு பாத்திரமாக இன்றும் எனது நினைவில் நிற்பது, நோபல் பரிசு பெற்ற எழுத்தாளர் காப்ரியேல் கார்சியா மார்க்கேஸின் ‘பெரிய சிறகுகளுடன் கூடிய வயோதிகன்’ நாடகத்தில் அவர் கட்டியங்காரனாக நடித்ததுதான். இது முழுக்க முழுக்கக் கூத்து வடிவத்தில் தயாரிக்கப்பட்ட ஒரு நாடகம். கொலம்பியாவில் நடைபெற்ற ஒரு நாடக விழாவில் பங்கு பெற்ற நாடகம் இது. மார்க்கேஸின் கதை, முழுக்கக் கூத்து பாணியிலே சொல்லப்பட்டிருந்தது. காசியின் தந்தையார் புரிசை கண்ணப்ப தம்பிரான் குழுவினரே இந்த நாடகத்தில் நடித்திருந்தனர்.

கூத்து போன்ற மரபார்ந்த நாடக வடிவங்களின் எடுத்துரைப்பு [Narrative] நெகிழ்வானதாக இருந்தாலும், அவற்றின் சட்டகங்கள் அல்லது நாடகீயம் [Dramaturgy] சற்று இறுக்கமானவை. அது நன்மைக்கும் தீமைக்கும் ஏற்படுகிற மோதல் அல்லது முரண், அதனால் ஏற்படுகிற இறுக்கம், வளர்ச்சி, முடிவு இவற்றை அடிப்படையாகக் கொண்டது. தேவ - அசுர முரண் அல்லது கடவுளுக்கும் சாத்தானுக்குமான முரண் என்பதாக வளர்ந்து இறுக்கமாகி, முடிவுறும் கதையாடல்களுக்கு ஏற்புடைய வடிவமாகவே இருந்துவந்தது. அதனால், சமகாலச் சிக்கல்களைக் கொண்ட கதையாடல்களை இது போன்ற மரபான வடிவங்களில் நேர்த்தியாகக் கையாள முடியாது என்று ஒரு வலுவான கருத்து நாடகச் செயற்பாட்டாளர்களிடம் இருந்துவந்தது. புகழ்பெற்ற நாடகவியலாளர் பி.வி.காராந்த், ஷேக்ஸ்பியரின் ‘மேக்பத்’ நாடகத்தை யக்ஷகானா வடிவத்தில் ‘பர்னம் வானா’ என்கிற பெயரில் கன்னடத்தில் தயாரித்திருந்தார். இந்நாடகம் ஷேக்ஸ்பியரையும் சிதைத்துவிட்டது, யக்ஷகானாவையும் சிதைத்துவிட்டது என்பதுதான் பெருவாரியாக மேலெழுந்த விமர்சனம். எனவே, மரபான நாடக வடிவங்களில் பன்முகப் பரிமாணங்கள் கொண்ட சமகாலச் சிக்கல்களை அவ்வளவு எளிதாகச் சித்தரித்துவிட இயலாது என்பதுதான் பலரின் கருத்தும். நானும் இக்கருத்தைத்தான் கொண்டிருந்தேன்.

எனினும் புரிசை குழுவினர் நிகழ்த்திய ‘பெரிய சிறகுகளுடன் கூடிய வயோதிகன்’ நாடகம், எனது புரிதல்களைக் கவிழ்த்துப்போட்டுவிட்டது. மார்க்கேஸின் மாய யதார்த்த பாணியிலான கதையாடலுக்குக் கூத்து வடிவம் மிகச் சிறந்த தளம் அமைத்துக் கொடுத்திருந்ததை மாக்ஸ்முல்லர் பவன் வளாகத்தில் அரங்கேறிய நிகழ்விலே நான் காண நேர்ந்தது. கூத்தின் வடிவம் இறுக்கமான நேர்க்கோட்டுத்தன்மையில் அமைந்திருந்தாலும் கட்டியங்காரன் எனும் பாத்திரம் உட்புகுந்து, அதன் எடுத்துரைப்பில் பலவிதமான உபகதையாடல்களுக்கு வழிகளைத் திறந்துவிடுகிறது. கூத்தின் எடுத்துரைப்பில் அமைந்திருந்த இந்தக் கூறுகள், மார்க்கேஸின் மாய யதார்த்த எடுத்துரைப்புக்கு ஏதுவாக, அதாவது நேர்க்கோட்டில் செல்லாமல் தாண்டிக் குதித்தும் பக்கவாட்டில் பயணித்தும் குறுக்கு நெடுக்காக ஓடியும் கதையாடலை நிகழ்த்த வாய்ப்புகளை அளித்திருந்தது.

தொடர்ந்து மழைபெய்து ஓய்ந்திருந்த ஒரு நாளில், வீட்டுக்குள் படையெடுக்கும் நண்டுகளை அடித்துக்கொண்டிருக்கும்போது புறக்கடையில் பெரிய சிறகுகளுடன் கூடிய ஒரு வயோதிகன் பறந்து வந்து அமர்ந்திருப்பான் என்று தொடங்கும் இக்கதை, சிலந்தியாக மாறிவிடுகிற ஒரு பெண், சிறகுகளுடன் கூடிய வயோதிகன் தேவதையா, இல்லை ஏமாற்றுப் பேர்வழியா என்று விவாதிக்கும் திருச்சபையின் குருமார்கள் எனக் கதை அங்கும் இங்கும் பயணிக்கும். தமிழ் நாடகப் பரப்பில் மிக முக்கியமான தயாரிப்பு இந்நாடகம்.

இந்நாடகத்தின் மையமான கட்டியங்காரன் பாத்திரத்தை காசி ஏற்றிருந்தது எல்லோருக்கும் தெரிந்த விஷயம். ஆனால், இக்கதையைக் கூத்து வடிவமாகத் தயாரிப்பதில் தன் முகத்தைக் காட்டிக்கொள்ளாமல் பெரும்பங்கு ஆற்றியவர் காசி. அவரது மற்றொரு முக்கியமான பங்களிப்பு, அவரது இளவல் கண்ணப்ப.சம்பந்தத்தோடு இணைந்து, புரிசை கிராமத்தில் தங்கள் தந்தை புரிசை கண்ணப்பத் தம்பிரான் நினைவாக ஒவ்வோர் ஆண்டும் அக்டோபர் மாதத்தில் கண்ணப்பத் தம்பிரான் நாடக விழாவை நடத்தத் தொடங்கியதுதான். அனைத்து நாடகச் செயல்பாட்டாளர்களும் ஆவலோடு எதிர்பார்க்கிற நாடக விழா இது.

2019-ல் ‘தமிழ்நாடு முற்போக்கு எழுத்தாளர்கள் கலைஞர்கள் சங்கம்’ சென்னையில் நடத்திய தென்னிந்திய மக்கள் நாடக விழாவின் தொடக்க நாளில் இடம்பெற்ற கலைஞர்கள் பேரணியை காசிதான் தொடங்கி வைத்தார். கூத்துப்பட்டறை ‘நடிப்பு’ பயிற்சியளிக்கத் தொடங்குகிற காலம் வரை அதன் செயல்பாடுகளில் பிரிக்க முடியாத பகுதியாக காசி இருந்தார். அந்தக் காலங்களில் காசியும் ந.முத்துசாமியும் இரட்டையர் போல இணைபிரியாமல் ஒன்றாகவே எல்லா இடங்களுக்கும் வருவார்கள், போவார்கள். இருவரும் இந்திய பாணியிலான காலரில்லாத ஒரே மாதிரியான பூப்போட்ட சட்டை அணிந்திருப்பார்கள். இப்போது எல்லாம் நினைவாகப் போய்விட்டது. முதலில் முத்துசாமி விடைபெற்றார். இப்போது தன் உடலை மருத்துவமனைக்குத் தானம் செய்துவிட்டு காசியும் கிளம்பிவிட்டார். தமிழ் நாடக உலகம் என்றென்றும் காசியை நினைவில் வைத்திருக்கும்.

- பிரளயன், நாடகச் செயல்பாட்டாளர். தொடர்புக்கு: pralayans@gmail.com

இந்துக் கோயில்களை அரசின் மேற்பார்வையிலிருந்து விடுவிக்க வேண்டுமென்று சில தரப்பினர்களிடமிருந்து கோரிக்கைகள் அதிகரித்துவருகின்றன. இது வரலாற்றின் படிப்பினைகளை மறப்பதற்கான ஒரு உதாரணமாகும். ஏனெனில், இந்தியாவை ஆண்ட ஆங்கிலேய அரசு, 19-ம் நூற்றாண்டில் இதே கொள்கையைத்தான் செயல்படுத்தியது. இதனால் ஏற்பட்ட பேரழிவிலிருந்து இந்து திருக்கோயில்கள் இன்று வரையில் மீளவில்லை.

திருக்கோயில்களின் ‘பாதுகாவலராக’ அரசு

வரலாற்றுரீதியாக, ‘மதம் மற்றும் அரசைப் பிரித்தல்’ என்ற கருத்து இந்து சமயத்துக்குப் புறம்பானதாகும். இந்து மத மன்னர்கள் கோயில்களைக் கட்டினார்கள். பணம், நகைகள் மற்றும் வருமானம் தரும் விவசாய நிலங்களை நன்கொடையாக வழங்கினார்கள். கோயில் விவகாரங்களை ஒழுங்குபடுத்தினார்கள். கௌடில்யரின் அர்த்தசாஸ்திரத்தில் ‘சமய நிறுவனங்களின் கண்காணிப்பாளர்’ பற்றிய குறிப்பும் உள்ளது.

கிழக்கிந்திய கம்பெனி இந்தியாவின் பெரும் பகுதிகளை ஆண்டபோதும், இந்தப் பழமையான பாரம்பரியத்தைத் தொடர்ந்தது. பிரிட்டிஷ் கலெக்டர்கள் திருக்கோயில்களைச் செம்மையாக நிர்வகித்து, சமயப் பண்டிகைகளை உரிய வகையில் நடத்தினர். இந்துக்கள் அவர்களைத் ‘தங்கள் மதத்தின் நட்பான பாதுகாவலர்’ என்று உயர்வாகப் போற்றினார்கள். ஆனால், ஒரு கிறித்துவ அரசு, ‘உருவ வழிபாட்டு முறையை’ ஊக்குவிப்பதை இந்தியாவிலும் இங்கிலாந்திலும் உள்ள கிறித்துவ சமய நெறியினரும் ஆர்வலர்களும் விரும்பவில்லை. அவர்கள் ஒரு போராட்டத்தைத் தொடங்கினார்கள். 1833-ல் கிழக்கிந்திய கம்பெனியின் சாசனத்தைப் புதுப்பிக்கும்போது, இந்து திருக்கோயில்களின் நிர்வாகத்திலிருந்து கிழக்கிந்திய கம்பெனி விலக வேண்டும் என பிரிட்டிஷ் நாடாளுமன்றம் நிபந்தனை விதித்தது.

அரசின் கண்காணிப்பிலிருந்து விடுபட்டதும், நேர்மையற்ற அறங்காவலர்கள், பக்தர்கள் கடவுளுக்கு வழங்கிய காணிக்கைகளைத் தன்வசப்படுத்தினார்கள். கோயில் நிதி, நகைகளை அபகரித்தார்கள். கோயில் நிலங்களைக் குறைந்த தொகைக்குக் குத்தகைக்கு விட்டனர் அல்லது விற்றனர். சில அறங்காவலர்கள் கோயில்கள் மீது தனியார் உரிமையை வலியுறுத்தினார்கள். அறங்காவலர்களின், அர்ச்சகர்களின் பதவிகள் விற்கப்பட்ட பல நிகழ்வுகளும் அரங்கேறின. உத்தர பிரதேசத்தில் உள்ள விந்தியாச்சல் கோயிலில், சில அறங்காவலர்கள் முஸ்லிம்களுக்குத் தங்கள் உரிமைகளை விற்றனர். மேலும், நிலையான நிதி ஆதாரமின்மை காரணமாக, கோயில் சடங்குகளும், பூசைகளும் நிறுத்தப்பட்டன. கோயில் வளாகங்கள் முறையாகப் பராமரிக்கப்படவில்லை. விவசாய நிலங்களின் பாசன வழிமுறைகள் புறக்கணிக்கப்பட்டன.

கோயில்களைச் சிதைவிலிருந்து காப்பாற்றுவதற்கு, முனைப்பான நிர்வாக மேற்பார்வையை மீண்டும் கொண்டுவருமாறு, இந்து சமயத் தலைவர்கள் தொடர்ந்து வலியுறுத்தினார்கள். இறுதியில், 1927-ல் மெட்ராஸ் இந்து சமயம் மற்றும் அறநிலையங்கள் (HRE) சட்டத்தை மெட்ராஸ் மாகாணம் வெற்றிகரமாக இயற்றியது. இதனால், கோயில்கள் மற்றும் அறநிலையங்களை மேற்பார்வை செய்வதற்கு ஆணையர்கள் குழு ஒன்று அமைக்கப்பட்டது. இது 1951-ம் ஆண்டு மெட்ராஸ் இந்து சமய மற்றும் அறநிலையங்கள்

(HR&CE) சட்டத்தால் மாற்றப்பட்டது. இந்துக் கோயில்கள் மற்றும் மடங்களின் மதச்சார்பற்ற விவகாரங்களை முறைப்படுத்துவதற்கு, ஆணையர் ஒருவர் தலைமையில் அரசுத் துறை ஒன்று உருவாக்கப்பட்டது. புகழ்பெற்ற ஷிரூர் மடம் வழக்கில் (1954) உச்ச நீதிமன்றத்தின் மறுப்புரைகளைக் கருதிப் பார்த்து, 1959-ல் புதிய ‘HR&CE’ சட்டம் இயற்றப்பட்டது. பல மாநிலங்கள் மெட்ராஸின் (தமிழ்நாடு) வழியைப் பின்பற்றின.

சி.பி.இராமசுவாமி ஆணையத்தின் பரிந்துரைகள்

1960 மார்ச் மாதம், சி.பி.இராமசுவாமி தலைமையில் உயர்நிலை இந்து சமய அறநிலைய ஆணையம் ஒன்றை இந்திய அரசு நியமித்ததது. இந்துக் கோயில்கள், மடங்கள் மற்றும் அறநிலையங்களின் பிரச்சினைகளை ஆராய்ந்த பின்னர், 1962, மே மாதத்தில் ஆணையம் ஒரு விரிவான அறிக்கையை அரசிடம் சமர்ப்பித்தது. இந்து சமயம் மற்றும் அறநிலையங்கள் சட்டம் இல்லாத மாநிலங்களில் (அப்போதைய அஸ்ஸாம், மேற்கு வங்கம், பஞ்சாப் மற்றும் உத்தர பிரதேசம்) உள்ள கோயில்களின் நிலை ‘வருந்தத்தக்கது’ என்பதும், பல முக்கியமான பொதுக் கோயில்கள் தனியார் சொத்தாக மாறிவிட்டன என்பதும் அதன் முக்கிய முடிவுகளில் ஒன்றாகும். அம்மாநிலங்களில் இது தொடர்பாகத் தகுந்த சட்டம் இயற்றுவதற்கு விரைவாக நடவடிக்கை எடுக்க வேண்டும் என்பதே ஆணையத்தின் முதல் பரிந்துரை.

மற்ற மதங்களின் வழிபாட்டுத் தலங்களிலும், அறநிலையங்களிலும் இது போன்ற கட்டுப்பாடுகள் இல்லாத சமத்துவமின்மை குறித்து, இந்துக்கள் அடிக்கடி புகார் தெரிவிக்கின்றனர். தனிப்பட்ட ஒவ்வொரு மதத்தின் சிறப்புப் பிரச்சினைகளைக் கையாள உரிய கலந்தாலோசனை செய்ய வலியுறுத்தி, அதற்குப் பின்னர் அனைத்து மதங்களின் நன்கொடைகளை நிர்வகிப்பதற்காக ஒரே மாதிரியான, சீரான சட்டத்தைச் செயல்முறைக்குக் கொண்டுவர சி.பி.இராமசுவாமி ஐயர் ஆணையம் பரிந்துரைத்தது. 1925-ல் சீக்கிய குருத்துவாராக்கள் சட்டம் மற்றும் 1995-ம் ஆண்டு வக்பு சட்டம் போன்றவை உள்ளன. ஆனால், அவை ‘HR&CE’ சட்டத்தின் அளவுக்கு விரிவான கட்டுப்பாட்டு அதிகாரங்கள் கொண்டவை அல்ல.

திருக்கோயிலின் உபரி நிதியை சமூக, கல்வி மற்றும் இதர நல்ல நோக்கங்களுக்குப் பயன்படுத்துவது மெச்சத்தக்க வகையில் இருப்பினும், அதனை விமர்சித்து மத நோக்கங்களுக்கு மட்டுமே பயன்படுத்த வேண்டும் என சில பழமைவாதிகள் அடிக்கடி வழக்கு தாக்கல் செய்கின்றனர்.

சி.பி.இராமசுவாமி ஐயர் ஆணையம் இந்தப் பிரச்சினைக்குத் தீர்வு கண்டது. மனு, கவுதமா, சயனா மற்றும் லவுகாக்ஷி பாஸ்கரா போன்ற பண்டைய இந்து சாஸ்திர உரையாசிரியர்களின் மேற்கோள்களைக் காட்டி, மதத் தகுதி நிலையை ஏற்படுத்துகிற செயல்பாடுகள் இரண்டு வகைப்படும் என்று ஆணையம் சுட்டிக்காட்டியது. அவையாவன: (i) இஷ்டா: வேத தியாகங்களுடன் தொடர்புடைய பணிகள் (ii) புர்தா: கல்வி நிலையங்கள், மருத்துவமனைகள், ஏழைகளுக்கு அன்னதானம், யாத்ரீகர்களுக்கான வசதிகள், தெப்பக்குளங்கள் மற்றும் நந்தவனப் பூங்காக்கள் போன்றவற்றை அமைப்பது ஆகிய பணிகள். உபரி நிதி மாற்றிப் பயன்படுத்தப்படுவது புர்தா இந்து மதக் கோட்பாட்டுக்கு இணக்கமானதாகவே உள்ளது” என்பதைக் குறிப்பிட்டு, உபரி நிதிகளை வேறு நோக்கத்துக்குப் பயன்படுத்துவதற்கு மெட்ராஸ் மாநிலத்தின் 1959-ம் ஆண்டு HR&CE சட்டத்தின் 36 மற்றும் 66-ம் பிரிவுகள்போல மற்ற மாநிலங்களும் இயற்ற வேண்டும் என ஆணையம் பரிந்துரைத்தது.

ஏராளமான சிக்கல்கள்

கோயில்களையும் அறநிலையங்களையும் கண்காணிக்கும் பணியிலிருந்து அரசு விலகினால், என்ன செய்ய வேண்டும் என்பதற்கு விமர்சகர்களிடையே சரியான மாற்றுத் திட்டம் ஏதும் இருப்பதாகத் தெரியவில்லை. வரி செலுத்துவோரின் பணத்திலிருந்து இந்து சமய அரசர்களால் கட்டப்பட்டு, நன்கொடை அளிக்கப்பட்ட பொதுக் கோயில்களை ஆங்கில அரசு செய்ததுபோல பிரதிநிதித்துவமற்ற அமைப்புகளிடம் ஒப்படைப்பது பொறுப்பற்ற செயலாகும். சட்டபூர்வமாக இருக்க வேண்டுமென்றால், அறங்காவலர்கள் தேர்தலின் மூலம் தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டு, இந்துக்களின் அனைத்துப் பிரிவுகளின் பிரதிநிதிகளாகச் செயல்பட வேண்டும். தொகுதி வரையறை செய்து, இந்துக்களுக்கான தனி வாக்காளர் பட்டியலைத் தயார்செய்து, நியாயமான தேர்தலை நடத்தும் பணிகளை மேற்கொள்வது யார்? சீக்கிய குருத்துவாராக்களை மேற்பார்வையிடும் சிரோமணி குருத்வாரா பிரபந்தக் குழு (SGPC) உறுப்பினர்களின் தேர்தல், மாநிலத் தேர்தல் ஆணையத்தைக் கொண்டு நடத்தப்படுகிறது. இந்த முன்னுதாரணத்தைப் பின்பற்றுவது இந்து மதத்தினர் அதிக அளவில் அரசைச் சார்ந்திருக்க வேண்டிய சூழலை உருவாக்காதா, பக்தி நிரம்பிய, நேர்மையான கோயில் அறங்காவலர்கள் தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்படுவதற்கான வாய்ப்புகள் யாவை என்றெல்லாம் கேள்விகள் எழுகின்றன. இது குறித்து உருவாக்கப்படும் யாதொரு மாற்று ஏற்பாட்டு முறையும், தற்போது உள்ளதைக் காட்டிலும் குறைந்த அளவிலான மனநிறைவையே நமக்கு அளிக்கும்.

ஒட்டுமொத்த இந்து சமயத்துக்கும் ஒரு சரியான திருக்கோயில் கட்டமைப்பு (ecclesiastical organisation) இல்லாததால், கோயில் நிர்வாகத்தில் தவறுகள் நடந்தால் அதற்கு எதிராகக் கட்டுப்பாடுகளை விதிக்கவும், அறங்காவலர்கள், அர்ச்சகர்கள் மற்றும் பிற பங்குதாரர்களிடையே மோதல்கள், சச்சரவுகள் தீர்க்கவும் வழியில்லை. தற்போது இல்லாத திருக்கோயில் கட்டமைப்பை முன்பு இந்து மன்னர்களின் ஆட்சி வழங்கிவந்தது; இன்று இந்து சமய மற்றும் அறநிலையங்கள் (HR&CE) துறை வழங்கிவருகிறது.

மொத்தத்தில், HR&CE சட்டங்கள் இந்துக் கோயில்களுக்கு நன்மை தருபவையே ஆகும். எடுத்துக்காட்டாக, தமிழ்நாட்டில் உள்ள 88% கோயில்களின் ஆண்டு வருமானம் பத்தாயிரம் ரூபாய்க்கும் குறைவாக உள்ளது. அரசின் ஆதரவு இல்லாமல் இந்தக் கோயில்களால் ஒரு நாளைக்கு ஒரு பூஜைகூடச் செய்ய இயலாது. மேலும், அரசின் ஆதரவு இல்லாமல் அர்ச்சகர்களுக்கு சம்பளம், ஓய்வூதியம் வழங்கவும், கோயில்களின் வளாகத்தை நல்ல முறையில் பழுது பார்க்கவும் இயலாது. HR&CE துறையின் செயல்பாடுகளில் சில குறைபாடுகள் இருக்கக்கூடும் என்பதை மறுக்க முடியாது. இவற்றைச் சரிசெய்ய நல்ல அமைச்சர் மற்றும் அதிகாரிகளும், குடிமைச் சமூகத்தின் ஈடுபாடும், விரைவான நீதித் துறை நடவடிக்கைகளும் தேவை. HR&CE துறை இல்லாமல்போனால் பொதுக் கோயில்கள் தனியார் சொத்தாக மாறிவிடக்கூடும் அல்லது அலட்சியம் காரணமாகச் சிதைந்துவிடும் என்பதில் சந்தேகமே இல்லை; இதற்கு வரலாற்றில் ஏராளமான சான்றுகள் இருக்கின்றன. ‘தலையீடு செய்யாமை’ என்ற முழக்கத்தைக் கேட்க வேண்டுமானால் நன்றாக இருக்கலாம். ஆனால், நிர்வாக நடைமுறையில் அது சாத்தியமற்றது.

- க.அஷோக் வர்தன் ஷெட்டி, முன்னாள் ஐ.ஏ.எஸ் அதிகாரி மற்றும் இந்திய கடல்சார் பல்கலைக்கழகத்தின் முன்னாள் துணைவேந்தர். தொடர்புக்கு: shetty25@hotmail.com

The displaced community must be welcomed back in an atmosphere of peace and harmony in the Valley

As a law-abiding Indian citizen and Indian Muslim, my heart is shattered after witnessing the dastardly killings by The Resistance Force (TRF) in Kashmir, including those of chemist Makhan Lal Bindroo, principal Supinder Kaur and a Kashmiri Pandit, Deepak Chand, who had returned from Jammu to his ancestral house, plus thousands of others since 1947. Sadly, the land of Sufi saints and sadhus alike, Syed Bulbul Shah, Mir Sayyed Hamdani, Nund Rishi (Nooruddin Wali), Utpaladeva, Bhagwan Gopinath, Lal Ded, Rupa Bhawani, Habba Khatoon and many others has become a hellhole

What’s more lamentable is that no Muslim group has taken to the streets to condemn the killings. The matter became even more heart-rending when a spokesperson from the National Conference stated that of the 30 ruthlessly murdered Kashmiris, 24 are Muslims! This Hindu-Muslim bandwagon that had started in 1947 hasn’t waned to date.

Dilbagh Singh, DG of Police, stated that the objective was to attack and damage the age-old tradition of communal harmony and brotherhood in Kashmir. And as stated by Junaid Azeem Mattoo, Mayor of Srinagar, the attempt was to terrorise the increasing number of tourists, as a minimum of 30-40 flights had been landing in Srinagar.

Such attacks will be a setback to the government’s sincere efforts to rehabilitate the displaced Kashmiri Pandits. Some time ago, Dattatreya Hosabale, the RSS general secretary, had rightly stated that the displaced Kashmiri Pandits should now return to their homeland, that is, Kashmir Valley, with the assurance of their safety and security. Unfortunately, politics in the region has warmed up as there’s a lobby of the ilk of JKLF (Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front), APHC (All Party Hurriyat Conference) and others that are against this.

Nevertheless, Hosabale’s idea is on the lines of humaneness and democratic principles. Besides, he has to get assurance from the present government, including the NSA, that their resettlement must be peaceful. If the Kashmiri Pandits are to be rehabilitated, the paramount need of the hour, according to Professor Sushila Bhan, is the cleansing of hearts on both sides. When the Pandits go back, there shouldn’t be any feeling of avenging the wrongs done to them in the past and as their large-hearted brethren, Kashmir’s Muslims too must not only welcome but help out in their resettlement.

Har chehra yahan chand, har zarrah sitara/ Yeh wadi-e-Kashmir, hai Jannat ka nazzara! These lines from Abroo, a duet by Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle during the mid-1970s actually implored me to tell my parents to take me to Kashmir for my summer vacation. I remember that peace had just started deteriorating due to the communalised ambience. But the disaster for Kashmiri Hindus began only in 1989 and 1990.

Even today, at least eleven major militant organisations, and perhaps dozens of smaller ones, operate in Kashmir. They are roughly divided between those who support independence and those who support accession to Pakistan. The oldest and most widely known militant organisation, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), has spearheaded the movement for an independent Kashmir. Its student wing is the Jammu and Kashmir Students Liberation Front (JKSLF).

Although all groups reportedly receive arms and training from Pakistan, the pro-Pakistani groups are reputed to be favoured by the ISI. The most powerful of these is the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. According to press reports, several hundred fighters from Afghanistan and Sudan have also joined some of the militant groups.

The major incident of the Kashmiri Pandits’ ethnic cleansing began on September 14, 1989 with a Kashmiri Pandit and political activist, Tika Lal Taploo, who was shot dead outside his residence. On November 4, 1989, high court judge Neelkanth Ganjoo was killed.

On January 4, 1990, a local Urdu newspaper, Aftab, published a press release issued by the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, asking all the Pandits to leave the Valley immediately. Al-Safa, another local daily, repeated the warning. On January 9, these warnings were followed by Kalashnikov-wielding masked jihadis carrying out militarised marches and openly threatening and killing the Kashmiri Pandits who objected.

As the darkness descended, the beleaguered Pandit community became panic-stricken. A host of highly provocative, communal and threatening slogans, interspersed with martial songs, incited the Muslims to come out on the streets and break the chains of “slavery”.

These slogans were mixed with precise and unambiguous threats to Pandits. They were presented with three choices — ralive, tsaliv ya galive (convert to Islam, leave the place or be ready to perish). Bomb explosions and indiscriminate firing by the militants became a daily occurrence.

Between 1989 and 1991, over 95 per cent of the Valley’s indigenous Hindu population was forced out through a targeted campaign. Since then, about 63,000 families of displaced Pandits, Sikhs and some Muslims have been living in camps in Jammu or the NCR area, as well as throughout other Indian states in India and abroad.

The ruthless ethnic cleansing of the Kashmiri Pandit community 30 years ago remains one of the darkest chapters of modern India’s history. The central and state government’s failure at that time to officially recognise them as “Internally Displaced Persons” and allow them to return to their homeland with the full dignity, security, and civil rights that they deserve, only amplifies this tragedy.

What is heart-rending is that for the last 32 years, the Kashmiri Pandits continue to fight for their return to the Valley. They have not done so because the state of affairs in the Valley remains unstable and they fear for their lives. Most of them lost their properties after the exodus and many are unable to go back and sell them. Their status as displaced people has harmed them in the realm of education as many Hindu families could not afford to send their children to up-market public schools.

True, what Hosabale has desired is something that should have been done decades ago. But the previous governments were weak-kneed, lacked resolve and willpower – unlike the present one, which has amicably fixed issues like the Ram temple, Article 370, triple talaq and Shaheen Bagh. However, Hosabale should also know that owing to the separatist and militant element in Kashmir, the return of the Pandits won’t be easy. Nevertheless, if the NSA, army and the state police decide to provide a harmonious life to these original inhabitants, nothing is impossible. Kashmiri Pandits mustn’t be faced with a repeat of the 1990s.

Shalini Langer writes: Shah Rukh Khan has crossed paths with ours again with the arrest of his son Aryan on drug charges. The star who has always spoken of his children as his world is just a parent right now.

It was a bus full of irrepressible teenagers, exhausted by the demands of high school, overfed on much-shared Mills & Boons, tired of the tedium of a small town — one of those “chhote, chhote sheher”, with their “khaali, bore dopeher” that Gulzar would describe years later. That morning though, simple eloquence such as this would have been lost on us. Rushing to our school bus stops, tumbling onto the bus, crowding at the back, chattering incessantly, squealing at intervals, unmindful of a formidable teacher occupying the front row, we were still swooning from a very, very unsubtle bit of cheesy charm we had witnessed the previous evening.

On our TV sets with their patchy reception, three episodes into his television appearance as an Army Commando-in-making, in the very earnestly made Fauji, Shah Rukh Khan had just swept a generation of girls off their feet. All he had done was do a countdown hoping that the woman he was wooing would saunter in before he hit 10. She stepped in when he was at “paune das (9.45)”. Never before, and never since, has 1 to 10 been packed with so much promise or such longing.

As we grew up, SRK grew with us. In that period of the heady early 1990s, when on our TVs, in our cars, in our houses, and in our pockets, we thought we would live like the rest of the “developed” world did, SRK spoke to us in ways that no one had before. He was not the angry young man like Bachchan, or a pointedly earnest one like Aamir, nor the lover boy who grew muscles and temper like Salman, or the whatever-works star Akshay Kumar. He was the flawed, reachable hero, who spent film after film trying to accomplish largely the same things — mostly women. He often didn’t get them, he made small compromises to get what he wanted, he didn’t seem particularly bothered about it, he constantly laughed at himself, and his women were mostly their own person.

He was what most of us were in our own lives, without the charm, the dimples, the hair that kissed the forehead — strugglers, trying to find our own paths, navigating love, discovering the map change every day as technology kept increasing its footprint, and learning to live with compromises.

SRK endeared us even more when he married his college sweetheart, moved from Delhi to Mumbai, had two kids, and now was a family, like we were. The fact that he still soared, and soared — the Badshaah of the country, then its snooty extension of NRIs — thrilled our hearts, held a promise. He did many, many silly films, but we knew he knew that. And he did some great films, wading into the troubled history of the Northeast (if only for love) in that under-appreciated Dil Se…, turned up in a greying stubble in Chak De!, tried to improve the world in Swades, wore his faith on his sleeve in Raees, and let his hair down in that silly little delight called Chennai Express. He still laughed at himself and could make others do so, he remained incredulous about his success, he could express himself as sharply as ever, and he could in his 40s do a cartwheel on the cricket ground, where he was once a sportsperson with promise and which he now owned as part of that ultimate show, IPL.

In recent years though, we had been left in despair. As we aged, as the world that we thought had changed and that we would change more, slid speedily back, SRK seemed caught in a time warp. How long could he keep playing that same old, same young guy. There were new stories to be told, new ones being told, and SRK did not feature in them. Even Bachchan seemed to have left SRK — the man with his finger on the zeitgeist — behind.

It’s at this juncture that SRK has crossed paths with ours again with the arrest of his son Aryan on drug charges. The star who has always spoken of his children as his world is just a parent right now. And, as parents ourselves, trying to steer a new generation in a world that is again changing, we know as well as SRK that there are no easy answers, no fingers to point, no stones to be cast. We are all as fallible as the next person in a system rigged to trip you, to hit you at your lowest, to catch you at your littlest. Any one of ours can be the next Aryan, without the searing spotlight.

And, if it is any consolation, SRK, you are that again — one of ours.

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National Editor Shalini Langer curates the ‘She Said’ column

Tavleen Singh writes: When something horrible happens in some distant country, PM Narendra Modi nearly always offers commiseration and condolences. Why is it so hard for him to tweet when something horrible happens in India?

The Prime Minister recently revealed, in one of his rare interviews, that he missed critics. ‘But, unfortunately, the number of critics is very few,’ he said. ‘Mostly, people only level allegations, the people who play games about perception are more in number.’ It is with these words in mind that I make clear before going any further that I consider myself an honest critic. But, what I want to begin with is neither an allegation or criticism but a simple statement of facts. On a narrow, dirt road in Lakhimpur Kheri last week, a cavalcade of SUVs, one of them at least belonging to the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Kumar Mishra, drove at high speed into a group of protesting farmers, and when they were mowed down, proceeded to drive over their bodies.

Hours later, the Prime Minister arrived in Lucknow, not far from where the killings happened, and made a speech about urbanisation and the strides he was helping India take in this direction. Beside him stood the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh who also behaved as if he had no idea that eight people died in a crime committed with such sickening callousness that the videos were hard to watch. After four men were crushed to death, enraged farmers took the law into their own hands and killed three people who were travelling in the cars that were in the minister’s convoy. A young journalist was also killed and his family claims that his body had wheel marks on it although the BJP’s propaganda machine has tried to spread the word that he was beaten to death by farmers. These are the bare facts.

Now comes an allegation. I find it shocking that, after so horrific an incident, there has not been a single word of condemnation from the Prime Minister, who likes to remind us, from time to time, that he is really the Pradhan Sevak (prime servant) of the people of India. If he truly believes this, then does he not feel the pain of what happened? Does he not feel the need to say something? Or does he agree with the view expressed by the man whose car mowed the farmers down that they needed to be taught a lesson? Unfortunately, he made a speech saying this, days before his cavalcade became a killing machine. Unfortunately, the BJP chief minister of Haryana made a similarly threatening speech just before this awful incident, so the Prime Minister’s silence gives the impression that these speeches were made with his assent. That is an allegation.

Let me return now to my role as critic. The Prime Minister is not a man of long silences. Almost every day he can be heard tweeting or speaking. Sometimes he tweets many times a day. When something horrible happens in some distant country, he nearly always offers commiseration and condolences. Why is it so hard for him to tweet when something horrible happens in India?

Last week was a truly awful one. The horror of Lakhimpur Kheri had just begun to sink in when came a spate of killings in Srinagar. A much-loved Hindu chemist was killed in his shop. Two teachers were asked their religion and when they were found to not be Muslim, they were killed by the jihadi monsters who came hunting for Hindus and Sikhs to kill. In their killing spree they managed also to kill a couple of Muslims, but the pattern was so reminiscent of that time 20 years ago when Hindus were ethnically cleansed from the Kashmir Valley that it is hard not to believe that this is not a similar exercise. Why does the Prime Minister not feel the need to speak or at the very least tweet?

In the past week he has tweeted his greetings to our ‘air warriors’ on Air Force Day. He has sent Navratri greetings. He has thanked those who wished him to mark the twentieth anniversary of his career as a public servant. He has tweeted about the ‘honour of inaugurating Oxygen plants across India’. And, there have been many more tweets of similar banality. Could he not find a few minutes to express his horror at the killings in Lakhimpur Kheri and Kashmir? That is criticism veiled in a question.

Now here comes some open criticism. Prime Minister, it is my considered and ever humble opinion that you have surrounded yourself with such a large collection of sycophants and timeservers that you have begun to treat your critics as enemies. This is easy to do when the delusion that India, because of you, has become a land of endless good times (achche din) is backed up by an army of aggressive trolls who see all criticism as ‘anti-national’ and who charge anyone who dares say anything against you with high treason. In such an atmosphere, it is easy to mistake genuine critics for foes, easy to get fooled into believing that sycophants are your only real friends. They are not.

They have done you harm as sycophants always do. You say in that same interview that you ‘attach big importance to criticism’ and that you ‘respect critics a lot’. It is time that you began to show that you do, because your political instincts, that have always been remarkably sharp, appear to have dulled. Or you would have expressed outrage at the killings last week.

Dilip Tirkey writes: Jaipal Singh Munda was the first Adivasi player to represent India. He opened the door for a lot of us from the tribal belt. However, he left behind a great legacy beyond the hockey field as well.

Written by Dilip Tirkey

My introduction to Jaipal Singh Munda sir was via a book.

I was very young and still learning to play the sport when a hockey writer published a list of all the players who had captained India at the Olympic Games. Jaipal sir’s name was on top of the pile. I did not immediately realise how big a deal it was to be a team’s captain. It was only later, when I started playing seriously, that I understood the respect and honour associated with the role.

But to say that Jaipal sir was the flag-bearer of tribal hockey would be too simplistic. Indeed, he was the first Adivasi player to represent India. He captained the team that won India’s first hockey gold, at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. In that sense, he opened the door for a lot of us from the tribal belt. However, he left behind a great legacy beyond the hockey field as well.

Hence, the Jharkhand government’s decision to award six tribal students a scholarship in his name, sending them to the United Kingdom for higher education, is a fitting tribute to a great man.

These are good times for Indian hockey. In Odisha, under Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, we are working hard to bring back the golden days by providing the best of facilities to the players and hosting major international tournaments, including the World Cup, in tribal areas like Rourkela. At the same time, it is important to make sure we do not forget the contributions made by heroes from past generations.

The decision to help youngsters from the tribal belt attain education from reputed universities would have made Jaipal sir very proud, given the kind of importance he gave to education. At a very early age, the principal of his school in Ranchi took him under his wings and sent Jaipal sir to Oxford University for higher education.

Jaipal sir played hockey for the Oxford University team and his career flourished. He played as a deep defender and was known to have been very good — a clean tackler, calm-headed, with an unparalleled ability to read the game and with powerful hits. These are some of the qualities that define players from the tribal belt even today — from the legendary Michael Kindo to players like Birendra Lakra, Amit Rohidas and Deep Grace Ekka, who were part of the men’s and women’s hockey teams at the Tokyo Olympics recently.

Jaipal sir made a significant contribution off the field as well. After he returned to India in 1937, he championed the cause of the tribals and worked tirelessly for their empowerment. He joined politics, formed the Adivasi Mahasabha in 1938 and used it as a platform to demand the creation of a separate Jharkhand state. Then, as a representative of the tribal community at the Constituent Assembly, which was responsible for drafting the Indian Constitution, he made sure the voice of his people were heard.

For these reasons, we call him Marang Gomke, roughly translated as ‘great leader’, around these parts. In and around Chota Nagpur and the Adivasi belt, we remember him fondly even today for being a great player, a highly-rated intellectual and a visionary leader.

On the hockey field, there was a huge void after Jaipal sir stopped playing. For almost four decades, we had little-to-no representation at the national level. It’s a mystery to me why there was such a long gap, but the long drought ended when Michael Kindo, who went on to play in three World Cups (1971, 1973 and 1975), the 1972 Munich Olympics and the 1974 Tehran Asian Games, was selected for India. For my generation, which saw him live, Michael remains a big inspiration as well.

But sometimes, you wonder if any of us would have made it this far had Jaipal sir not taken the first step.

The author is former captain of the Indian hockey team

Coomi Kapoor writes: If delimitation takes place in 2026 on the basis of the 2021 Census, it will open a Pandora’s box. Especially since BJP-ruled states in the north will be the ones getting a greater say in who rules the country.

The new Parliament House is to have a Lok Sabha chamber which can seat 772. It is intriguing how this precise figure was arrived at considering that the present Lok Sabha can barely accommodate all 543 MPs. The government’s calculation, on the basis of which the figure has been provided, is on the assumption that the numbers of parliamentary constituencies will increase dramatically once the freeze on inter-state delimitation of seats is lifted in 2026.

The concept of equal number of voters for each parliamentary constituency has long been contentious. States such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu argue that they get penalised due to their successful family planning programmes while high-population states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan increase their political clout (as their population translates to a higher number of seats). Since 1971, parliamentary constituencies have been frozen regardless of huge disparities in population. If delimitation takes place in 2026 on the basis of the 2021 Census, it will open a Pandora’s box. Especially since BJP-ruled states in the north will be the ones getting a greater say in who rules the country.

After his humiliating ouster as Punjab chief minister, Amarinder Singh visited Delhi to meet Home Minister Amit Shah. The speculation was that Singh might join the BJP or working out an alliance. Actually Singh met Shah not to discuss politics but to convey allegations against Congress state chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, which he felt the Central government should pay heed to. Shah referred Singh to National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. The latter, however, was hesitant to act on the basis of the information provided. A maverick Sidhu would incite more controversy and trouble, he felt.

Nath in Running?

Rahul Gandhi is reluctant to hold an election for party president though he resigned after the Congress’s 2019 general election defeat. Gandhi does not want to take charge at this low point in the party’s fortunes. Also, the present Congress president’s term ends in December 2022. Gandhi contemplated installing one of his lightweight favourites to take temporary charge. But with the G-23 group determined to field a rival candidate, this option has become untenable. The high command is now reportedly considering appointing Kamal Nath as a stopgap president. Nath, who had gone to the US for medical consultation, met the Gandhis on his return. He fits the bill in many ways. He is an experienced old hand and a loyalist, who, at 74, is unlikely to pose a challenge to the Gandhis’ suzerainty. If not Nath, then the party may opt to simply brazen it out with an interim president.

Chain Reaction

When Jyotiraditya Scindia was sworn in as a Cabinet minister in the Modi government reshuffle in July, he hoped to reclaim 27, Safdarjung Road, the bungalow in Lutyens Delhi where he spent most of his life. The Type 8 ministerial bungalow was first allotted to his father, Madhavrao Scindia, during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure in the 1980s and remained with the family till 2019, when Jyotiraditya was defeated from the Guna seat. Since Ramesh Pokhriyal, who occupied the house subsequently, lost his ministership in the recent reshuffle, Scindia assumed it would be easy for him to move back. But three months later, Scindia is still waiting because some ex-ministers refuse to shift to ‘lower-status’ bungalows.

The CPWD plan was that Pokhriyal would move to a Type 7 bungalow currently occupied by former ministerof state Jayant Sinha, who was expected to move to a Type 6. However, Sinha’s wife refused to budge, citing the example of Rajyavardhan Rathore, also a former MoS, who still occupies a Type 7 bungalow. The Urban Development Ministry’s explanation that Rathore had a superior claim since he had been an MoS with Independent charge, unlike Sinha, fell on deaf years.

Rationalist Yogi

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi, from the US, finally gave the go-ahead to Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath to expand his Cabinet, Adityanath immediately did so, though it was the period of pitru paksha, when Hindus pay homage to the dead and traditionally no new work is started. But Adityanath is not constrained by the taboos that many of his predecessors followed unquestioningly. Whether it was the so-called jinx on UP CMs visiting Noida, staying overnight at the circuit house in Agra, or being served food during a lunar eclipse in Varanasi, Adityanath has ignored the doomsday predictions. UP residents attribute his rationalist streak to the fact that he is the head of the Gorakhnath math, whose rituals are different from traditional Hindu customs.

P Chidambaram writes: The concept of law and order has a different meaning in Uttar Pradesh whose chief minister is Mr Adityanath. There is a law — it is Mr Adityanath’s law, not Indian law.

The words ring loud and clear, lofty, almost dramatic: We, The People of India……. Give to Ourselves This Constitution. And we gave to ourselves the Constitution in order to secure to all, among other objectives, Liberty and Fraternity.

The Preamble to the Constitution of India must be made compulsory reading for every Officer, Minister, Chief Minister and Prime Minister. Each one took an oath under the Constitution. His/her first obligation must be to secure Liberty and promote Fraternity. To enable them to do so, we created a Parliament (for India) and a Legislature (for each state). We tasked the state Legislature to make laws on ‘public order’ and ‘police’ and tasked both Parliament and the Legislature to make laws on ‘criminal law’, criminal procedure’ and ‘preventive detention’.

The People’s Commands

We created an Executive to implement the laws. We put a check on the Executive’s powers by incorporating the ‘fundamental rights’ of citizens and cautioned them that “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.”

We commanded the Executive to observe that “No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for such arrest nor shall he be denied the right to consult, and to be defended by, a legal practitioner of his choice.”

We further commanded the Executive to observe that “Every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before the nearest magistrate within a period of twenty-four hours of such arrest……and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the said period without the authority of a magistrate.”

The exhortations were like Robert Burns’s “the best laid schemes of mice and men”. Our fault was we did not take into account the state of Uttar Pradesh!

First Tragedy, then Comedy

The tragic incident in Lakhimpur Kheri left eight people dead — four farmers run over by an SUV and four others in the violence that followed the death of the farmers. It is natural that political leaders will attempt to go to the village and meet the families of the victims. They have every right to do so because that is what we understand by Liberty. Fraternity is empathising with the grieving families.

Ms Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a general secretary of the Congress, was traveling to Lakhimpur Kheri when she was stopped near Sitapur. Some facts concerning the interdiction are not disputed: It was at 4.30 am on Monday, October 4. She was told that she was being arrested under Sec 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). She was hustled into a police vehicle by male police officers. She was detained at the PAC guest house until the evening of Wednesday, October 6. In the intervening 60 hours,

I have lost count of the number of provisions of law that were violated. If you have the intellectual curiosity, please get hold of copies of the Constitution, the CrPC and the IPC and look at Articles 19, 21 and 22; Sections 41B, 41D, 46, 50, 50A, 56, 57, 60A, 151, particularly sub-section (2), and 167 of the CrPC; and Sections 107, 116 of the IPC.

Ignorance or Impunity?

It seems to me the concept of law and order has a different meaning in Uttar Pradesh whose chief minister is Mr Adityanath. There is a law — it is Mr Adityanath’s law, not Indian law. There is order, in fact, multiple orders — they are Mr Adityanath’s orders, not lawful orders. The police maintain law and order — Mr Adityanath’s law and Mr Adityanath’s orders.

Let’s take the last pearl of police wisdom — the charges. There is no offence contained in Section 151 of the CrPC and hence no one can be ‘charged’ under that section.

Sections 107 and 116 of the IPC relate to abetment. They cannot be stand-alone charges. The charge of abetment has meaning only if the police name the person who was abetted or the crime that was abetted. No one in the police seems to have noticed this crucial lapse. The charge, as it stands, is ludicrous.

The only explanation can be that either the UP Police does not know the Constitution or the laws (meaning, ignorance) or the UP Police does not care a damn about the Constitution and the laws (meaning, impunity). Either explanation casts a dark shadow on the UP Police that has several officers of DGP rank. From high-ranking police officers to humble constables, they deserve a better reputation. More than anything, the 23.5 crore population of UP deserves a better police force.

Freedom is not swept away by a tsunami. It is eroded by the waves that relentlessly pound on its edges. Umbha (Sonbhadra), Unnao-1, Shahjahanpur, Unnao-2, NRC/CAA, Hathras and now Lakhimpur Kheri, can you see the waves?

It is important to both clamp down on terror via intelligence and vigilance and bring perpetrators to book and to reach out to the people of J&K, reassuring both minorities (Pandits, Sikhs, etc) as well as the majority that India will not be terrified or terrorised.

By definition, the main intention of terrorists is to spread fear among a populace, a sectarian backlash, another backlash against that backlash, and so on until until the people are fractured into hostile groups and national unity lies shattered. Over the last week, with five non-Muslim Kashmiris targeted and murdered, there is understandable fear in Jammu and Kashmir. To defeat the terrorists, neither must fear be allowed to drive Pandits or Sikhs out of Jammu and Kashmir or the Valley nor the violence by extremists permitted to poison the lives of normal people of any community. That calls for intelligent policing, level-headed isolation of the extremists from their target groups for solidarity or enmity and political commitment to unity of the people across the country.

Kashmir is no stranger to terrorism - whether of the 'full-scale' variety as witnessed in the 1990s, or of the subsequent, scattershot kind. The responsibility of the Indian State is to ensure that all citizens under its purview remain safe and vigilant against instigation, especially at a time when elements across the Radcliffe as well as the Durand Lines are self-confessedly itching to 'flip the terror switch on' in Kashmir again for their political benefactors. In the interconnected world we live in today, how India responds to machinations and actions planned in junta-controlled Pakistan and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan is vital.

For this purpose, it is important to both clamp down on terror via intelligence and vigilance and bring perpetrators to book and to reach out to the people of J&K, reassuring both minorities (Pandits, Sikhs, etc) as well as the majority that India will not be terrified or terrorised.

A stipulation that the minimum rate of 15% will not be increased at a later date, and another that small businesses will not be hit with the new rates helped Ireland join the pact.

India and other countries where global multinational enterprises (MNEs) operate, as well as countries like the US, from where companies relocate their headquarters to tax havens for the purpose of minimising tax payments, stand to gain from the radical overhaul of the global corporate tax system that has won support from 136 countries, and will now be presented to G20 leaders. Championed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to end base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS), the drive is expected to see national laws and global conventions crystallise in 2022 and come into force in 2023.

The agreement has two components, called Pillars. Pillar 1 gives countries the right to tax a portion of the profits of MNEs that have a threshold level of profit margin (profits/sales), 10%, and of global sales, ₹20 billion. A quarter of the profits above the threshold margin of 10% would be assigned to the countries where these MNEs make sales, regardless of whether they have a permanent establishment in those jurisdictions. In return, countries would have to abandon measures such as India's Equalisation Levy and France's Digital Tax, rough and ready attempts to tax such winners of globalisation. Around $125 billion of profits would be available for taxation, countrywise allocation still being worked out. Under Pillar 2, all countries will have a minimum corporate tax of 15%, to be levied on companies with a minimum turnover of ₹750 million, and collect around $150 billion in new revenues annually. Rightly, there has been some give and take.

A stipulation that the minimum rate of 15% will not be increased at a later date, and another that small businesses will not be hit with the new rates helped Ireland join the pact. If Ireland, which has a headline corporate tax rate of 12.5%, maintains status quo on the rate, the US can now impose a top-up tax on the parent entity headquartered there. Four countries - Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan and Sri Lanka - have not come on board - at least, as yet. An end to digital tax should persuade Republicans to support the pact in Congress in the US.

Reports of fierce jostling between Chinese and Indian troops in the east Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh stoked anxiety about a replay of the kind of violence and loss of life that ensued in Galwan in June 2020. But while the situation appears to have been defused, the incident shows, once again, the fragile state of India-China ties.

The latest People’s Liberation Army (PLA) intrusion in Tawang follows a similar incident at the end of August, when 100 Chinese troops crossed the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Barahoti area of Uttarakhand, which is part of the middle sector. Despite multiple rounds of talks between diplomats and military commanders over the last year, the situation at the contested LAC between India and China remains brittle. In recent months, both sides have increased their troop levels and firepower to a much higher level than was the practice in the pre-Galwan period.

Indian Army chief General MM Naravane has described the current military build-up by China in the eastern Ladakh region as a matter of concern, and cautioned that if this matter remained unresolved, then the LAC “will be in a kind of LoC (Line of Control) situation though not an active LoC as is there on the western front” (with Pakistan).

Intense military tension is unfolding in the run-up to October 20, a date which is deeply entrenched in the Indian military psyche as a reminder of the 1962 Chinese attack that took India by surprise; 59 years later, that war provides an instructive historical context at multiple levels in relation to Asian geopolitics and the larger global backdrop of great power competition.

The brief war of October 1962, when Chinese troops unilaterally crossed the disputed LAC and “surprised” Delhi, took place even as the United States (US) and the erstwhile Soviet Union were in a dangerous eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation in what is now recalled as the Cuban missile crisis. Beijing, it is argued, took advantage of this nuclear jostling between the superpowers to stun Delhi, and thereby strengthen Chairman Mao’s Zedong position in the domestic Chinese calculus. India was overwhelmed, and the higher defence management of the country, led by then Prime Minister (PM) Jawaharlal Nehru, was left in a shambles.

Despite the tenacity and gallantry of the Indian military in the face of overwhelming odds, India’s inability to either make the appropriate strategic assessment of Chinese intent or effectively deal with the aggression was all too visible. At the time, a distraught Nehru reached out to the US and the Soviet Union, and while there was indeed an offer of US assistance, for most part, India had to deal with the Chinese aggression on its own.

Almost six decades later, the rhythms of history can be discerned again but in a more variegated manner given the imperatives of technology, globalisation and the attendant geopolitical churn. India and China are yet to arrive at a modus vivendi on a seemingly intractable territorial issue, which, at its core, is a manifestation of major power contestation within the Asian grid. PM Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping have their own priorities as they steer their nations towards their 75th anniversaries of Independence — in 2022 and 2024 respectively.

China has now replaced the Soviet Union as the primary competitor to the US. With America having closed the Afghanistan chapter, the focus is now on Beijing. On October 7, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) announced that it would establish a China Mission Centre and change tack from the long-drawn-out war on terror to the new challenges confronting the US. The objective of the new centre was elucidated by CIA director, William Burns, as one that “will further strengthen our collective work on the most important geopolitical threat we face in the 21st century, an increasingly adversarial Chinese government.”

Yet, despite classifying the Beijing government as a “threat”, the US remains invested in the dialogue process, and Joe Biden and Xi will have a virtual summit meeting towards the end of this year. This follows an October 6 meeting between the US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese Communist Party politburo member and director of the office of the foreign affairs commission, Yang Jiechi (who, incidentally, also handles border negotiations with India).

While the texture of the US-China relationship will have implications for all the major powers, it is of heightened relevance for India and Russia — and their own bilateral relationship. Moscow today has a lower composite weight in the major power matrix, but is a critical swing factor in the US-China dyad, in much the same way that Beijing was during the Cold War when the primary strategic contestation was between Washington and Moscow. The India-Russia relationship has a history and resilience that is valuable to both nations. This may prove to be a constraint in the trajectory of the US-India bilateral.

China’s intimidation of Taiwan is illustrative of the inflexible resolve that Xi Jinping has brought to bear in the pursuit of territoriality. The Galwan experience and the rhythms of October 20, 1962 should serve as a wake-up call for PM Modi about the chicanery that he has to deal with along the LAC. India must be honest with itself.

Commodore (retired) C Uday Bhaskar is director, Society for Policy Studies

For several years now, admissions for undergraduate courses at Delhi University (DU) have seen remarkable cutoffs. For about 10 of the 94 courses in DU’s colleges, the cutoff in the first list this year was a perfect 100%.

Now, approximately 550 Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) students scored these high percentages. Assuming that at least half of them are interested in pursuing engineering or medicine, or prefer an elite private university, or go to study abroad — and assuming that all these 94 courses have a minimum intake of 30 students each — a back-of-the-envelope calculation tells us that only 250 CBSE students would be eligible for admission to their preferred courses in the first list.

But data also shows more than 700 students from the Kerala Board of Higher Secondary Education have scored 100% in their class 12 exam. It is, therefore, not a surprise that DU courses, especially with the 100% cutoffs, are being filled with students from the Kerala board.

Take an example. This year, for the political science (Honours) course at Hindu College, students were required to have a perfect score of 100% in their board exam. Of the 106 applications received on day 1, about 35 general category students, 63 Other Backward Classes (OBCs) students, four Scheduled Caste students, and four Economically Weaker Section (EWS) students scored a perfect 100%. This, when the department has about 45 sanctioned seats. Of these students, all but one were from the Kerala board.

There have been concerns about the absurdly high cutoffs. However, these discussions often move in the direction of replacing the current system of admissions with a pan-India competitive examination. This, many reckon, can create a level-playing field for students from different boards.

What defenders of a national-level entrance examination do not realise is the unevenness of the nature and structure of secondary school education in the country. The disparities in the higher secondary curriculum, and the variations in pedagogies at the regional and local levels, coupled with pervasive economic and social inequalities, suggest that the disadvantages of such a system would outweigh the supposed advantages.

It runs the risk of allowing only the entry of students from elite schools and well-to-do families. It also runs the risk of getting gratuitously muddled into federal disputes, as has been evident in the case of the NEET examinations for entry into medical colleges. Most importantly, a common entrance test also undermines the right of premier colleges to design innovative ways of assessing the capabilities of prospective students according to their inherent strengths.

Therefore, the only way forward is to design methods and policies that ensure a level-playing field, reward merit, and promote diversity. The prevailing guidelines for admissions issued by DU mandate colleges to admit all students who make it to the cutoff within the stipulated time period. They also direct colleges to consider students from the reserved category as part of the general category in case they have the percentage declared for the general students. This year, the department of political science at Hindu College may have 150-plus students, as the department will have to exceed its sanctioned strength to accommodate the mandatory numbers from the reserved categories.

This is why admission policies must involve experts in policymaking and execution. A closer inspection of the applications received from students of the Kerala board revealed that while their average score was 90-95% in their Class 11 exam, they all had a perfect score in Class 12. DU’s admission policy only considers marks for the latter, notwithstanding the fact that many state boards declare aggregated results of class 11 and 12 as the final results. If policymakers had looked into past experiences, allowed certain rational filters such as scaling or the need to obtain or arrive at equivalences between results of different boards by designing algorithms for the same, some of its most prestigious colleges and courses would have successfully been able to accommodate a diverse set of students.

Chandrachur Singh is an associate professor of political science at Hindu College, Delhi University

Friday’s announcement of the sale of Air India (AI) to the Tata group is a win for the government, a possible win for the buyer, and a definite win for consumers and India’s aviation business in general. It is a good deal for the government because, simply put, it no longer has to throw good money after bad. Sure, it has to deal with a pile of debt, but it also has AI’s land and non-aviation assets, and monetising them should help. It is also something the government should do right now — and strike while the iron is hot. And it has protected the jobs of all employees for a year, and also safeguarded their retirement benefits.

It is possibly a good deal for the Tata group because, free of much of its debt, AI, even in its present shape, may well turn in an operational profit. But it is overloaded with employees and its fleet is aging. The Tata group will also have to figure out how it restructures its two other aviation businesses, Air Asia India (a venture with Malaysia’s Air Asia) and Vistara (with Singapore Airlines). This will likely involve integrating some operations — IT, maintenance, ground handling, catering, cargo are all low-hanging fruit — while keeping some others distinct. It could even, at some point, require a complete merger of some businesses. Singapore Airlines will want to remain in the mix in some way, and the Tata group will likely want it to. The economic and operational possibilities of an airline consortium with one hub in Singapore and another in Mumbai are significant — and Tata may already be thinking along those lines. It helps that the Tata group is no stranger to large global acquisitions and partnerships that involve complex integration challenges.

There has been a rush of sentimental and nostalgic coverage of AI, and its association with the Tata group (it started life as Tata Airlines before being nationalised), but in business, there are no fairytale endings. There is no happily ever after. The end of the pandemic (which is in sight and expected sometime in 2022) could well result in a global aviation boom, but few businesses are as cyclical, investment- and service-intensive, and vulnerable to global economic and geopolitical developments as aviation. AI has a challenging flight ahead, but it will help that it is being piloted by a group that has repeatedly demonstrated that it has both the heart and the head for business.

On October 8, the Supreme Court (SC) said the National Green Tribunal (NGT) does have suo moto powers and can take up environmental issues on its own. Explaining the rationale behind the order, the SC said that given the fallout of the climate crisis, “where adverse environmental impact may be egregious, but the community affected is unable to effectively get the machinery into action, a forum created specifically to address such concerns should surely be expected to move with expediency, and of its own accord.” The court was considering a batch of appeals on whether NGT has the power to take notice of press reports or even seek a response from the State on preventing environmental damage without any application being filed before it.

This is a shot in the arm for NGT and citizens. But many believe that NGT is not performing to its full potential due to several reasons: First, the lack of adequate administrative support from the Centre to NGT; second, delays in appointment of experts; and, third, the over-dependence of NGT on regulatory bodies to implement its orders when it lacks a mechanism to track compliance. Writing on NGT, senior environmental lawyer Ritwick Dutta flagged another problem: There has been a steady decline in the quality of decisions from NGT, and most cases are dismissed on hyper-technical grounds or NGT’s refusal to adjudicate on the merits of the case.

It is unfortunate that a body as important as NGT, which is responsible for many landmark decisions and pushing concepts such as cumulative impact assessment into the policymaking process, is facing such hurdles. The SC order on NGT is welcome, but much more needs to be done to ensure that the tribunal becomes more than just a paper tiger.

It was the evening of October 4. I was driving to Delhi from Gajraula when we got stuck in a massive traffic jam. Suddenly, we heard an ambulance siren. The ambulance driver tried in vain to move ahead, flashing his lights and blowing his horn, but to little avail.

I got out of my car and requested the driver of the vehicle behind me to make way for the ambulance. He seemed preoccupied listening to music, but nodded. I tried to persuade the drivers of a few other vehicles as well. The ambulance was about 300 metres behind me and people watching the chaos tried to help. After considerable effort, we were able to get the ambulance moving. I cannot forget the helplessness on the faces inside the ambulance.

This was on a highway where thousands of vehicles pass every day, paying exorbitant tolls to the National Highways Authority of India. One of the conditions of the toll is that it would be the responsibility of the operator to keep traffic running smoothly. But when the police decide to block the road, who would listen to anyone else?

After a few inquiries, I found out that Rashtriya Lok Dal president, Jayant Chaudhary, had gone to Lakhimpur Kheri by this route a few hours earlier. He could not be stopped. But the ordinary citizen — in this case, a patient — was not afforded such courtesy.

At that time, I did not know that the chaos on the roads in Uttar Pradesh would continue into the following week. Top Opposition leaders wanted to go to Lakhimpur and Bahraich. The government was stopping them so that no more “unpleasant” incidents would take place. In this tug-of-war between the administration and politicians, it is innocent people who suffer the most.

Now, let’s come to the sad story of Lakhimpur. Every day, we see a new leader and a new video in the news. There are concerns about those who lost their lives and those who were injured.

But in the clamour to appropriate the farmers’ cause, real issues have not been addressed. This non-violent farmers’ movement, which has been going on for a year, has now witnessed a bloody incident that has aroused anger and passion. The people whose vehicles crushed the farmers were associated with Union minister of state for home, Ajay Kumar Mishra Teni.

The minister’s son is the main accused in this ghastly tragedy. In the beginning, he was absconding, but after repeated notices by the police, and receiving a reprimand from the Supreme Court (SC), he appeared before the police, six days after the incident (he has now been arrested). This is why the SC has expressed displeasure over it. The time has come to ponder whether politics is for the benefit of society or not.

Last year, when batches of farmers from villages in Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh were gathering at the borders of Delhi, the question arose of how long they would be able to sustain their movement. They have held their ground till today, in the face of inclement weather, a pandemic and various other problems. This has also created problems of mobility for people in the surrounding areas. The farmers are aware of this, and they have made efforts to ensure that the conflict between them and the government does not go out of hand. So far, they have been successful.

On January 26, when some so-called farmers tried to vandalise Red Fort, this confidence was shaken, but the farm leaders were able to convince everyone that this was the work of a handful of miscreants. People were willing to give farmers the benefit of the doubt at that time. It’s general belief that our peasants are anndatas and their sons secure our borders by blood.

It appears from the video of the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that the farmers were attacked first by vehicles, after which the mob turned violent. However, some videos and photos have also surfaced in which the image of Khalistani leader, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, was seen on the T-shirt of the young man carrying a stick. If these images are authentic, farm leaders should be on their guard. Such elements can derail the direction of their movement. After the incident at Red Fort too, this issue of wayward elements causing trouble was raised.

Let’s look back into history. Most of the non-violent movements created new precedents. Imagine what would have happened if there had been no retaliation in Lakhimpur Kheri. The whole world would have stood in favour of them. Even then, those who crushed the silent protesters would have deserved exemplary punishment.

I understand that it is not easy to stand by and see your own people mowed down by speeding vehicles. But violence in retaliation serves little purpose. Let us hope that farm leaders will see the merit of keeping the movement non-violent in the face of provocation.

Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan

The views expressed are personal