Six airbags could be mandatory in your car soon, here’s why that’s a great thing: எட்டு பயணிகளை ஏற்றிச் செல்லும் வாகனங்களுக்கு குறைந்தபட்சம் 6 ஏர்பேக்குகளை (காற்றுப்பைகள்) கட்டாயமாக்குவதற்கான வரைவு அறிவிப்பிற்கு அரசாங்கம் ஒப்புதல் அளித்துள்ளது.
“8 பயணிகளை ஏற்றிச் செல்லும் மோட்டார் வாகனங்களில் பயணிப்பவர்களின் பாதுகாப்பை மேம்படுத்தும் வகையில், குறைந்தபட்சம் 6 ஏர்பேக்குகளை கட்டாயமாக்குவதற்கான வரைவு ஜிஎஸ்ஆர் அறிவிப்பிற்கு இப்போது ஒப்புதல் அளித்துள்ளேன்” என்று மத்திய சாலைப் போக்குவரத்து மற்றும் நெடுஞ்சாலைத் துறை அமைச்சர் நிதின் கட்கரி வியாழக்கிழமை (ஜனவரி 14) ட்வீட் செய்துள்ளார்.
குறிப்பிட்ட காலக்கெடு எதுவும் குறிப்பிடப்படவில்லை என்றாலும், இந்தியாவில் உள்ள அனைத்து வாகன உற்பத்தியாளர்களும் தாங்கள் தயாரிக்கும் ஒவ்வொரு மாடலின் அனைத்து வகைகளிலும் குறைந்தபட்சம் ஆறு ஏர்பேக்குகளை நிலையான உபகரணங்களாக வழங்க வேண்டும் என்று அமைச்சர் நிதின் கட்கரி கடந்த ஆண்டு ஆகஸ்ட் மாதம் வலியுறுத்தினார்.
தற்செயலாக, இந்த ஜனவரியில் அனைத்து வாகனங்களிலும் இரட்டை ஏர்பேக்குகள் (ஓட்டுனர் மற்றும் பயணிகள்) கட்டாயமாக்கப்பட்டது. முன்னதாக, ஜூலை 1, 2019 முதல் அனைத்து பயணிகள் வாகனங்களுக்கும் ஓட்டுனர் ஏர்பேக் கட்டாயமாக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.
ஆறு ஏர்பேக்குகளில் முன்மொழியப்பட்ட ஆணையின் கீழ் எந்த வாகனங்கள் உள்ளன?
முன் மற்றும் பின் இருக்கைகள் இரண்டிலும் அமர்ந்திருப்பவர்களுக்கு “முன் மற்றும் பக்கவாட்டு மோதல்களின்” பாதிப்பைக் குறைக்கும் நோக்கத்துடன், கூடுதல் ஏர்பேக்குகள் ‘M1’ வாகனப் பிரிவில் கட்டாயமாக்கப்பட உள்ளது.
முன்மொழிவின்படி, இரண்டு பக்க அல்லது பக்க உடற்பகுதி ஏர்பேக்குகள் மற்றும் இரண்டு பக்க திரைச்சீலை அல்லது டியூப் ஏர்பேக்குகள் ஆகியவை அனைத்து பயணிகளையும் உள்ளடக்கும் வகையில் கட்டாயமாக்கப்படும்,
‘எம்1’ வாகனம் என்றால் என்ன?
அரசாங்கத்தின் ஹோமோலோகேஷன் விதிகளின் கீழ், வாகனங்கள் பரந்த வகைகளாகப் பிரிக்கப்படுகின்றன. பயணிகளை ஏற்றிச் செல்வதற்குப் பயன்படுத்தப்படும் குறைந்த பட்சம் நான்கு சக்கரங்களைக் கொண்ட மோட்டார் வாகனங்களை ‘வகை M’ உள்ளடக்கியது. மேலும், ‘எம்1’ என்ற துணைப் பிரிவு, “ஓட்டுனர் இருக்கை உள்பட எட்டு இருக்கைகளை உள்ளடக்கிய, பயணிகளை ஏற்றிச் செல்லப் பயன்படுத்தப்படும் மோட்டார் வாகனம்” என்று வரையறுக்கிறது.
எனவே, இது திட்டவட்டமாக, இந்தியாவின் சாலைகளில் உள்ள பெரும்பாலான பயணிகள் வாகனங்களை திறம்பட உள்ளடக்குகிறது. சுஸுகி ஆல்டோ அல்லது ஹூண்டாய் சான்ட்ரோ போன்ற நுழைவு நிலை ஹேட்ச்பேக்குகள் தொடங்கி டொயோட்டா இன்னோவா அல்லது கியா கார்னிவல் போன்ற பல பயன்பாட்டு வாகனங்கள் வரை. இந்த வாகனங்கள் பெரும்பாலும் தனியார் பயன்பாட்டிற்காகவும், சில வணிக பயன்பாட்டிற்காகவும் பயன்படுத்தப்படுகின்றன.
ஹோமோலோகேஷன் என்றால் என்ன?
ஹோமோலோகேஷன் என்பது ஒரு குறிப்பிட்ட வாகனம் போக்குவரத்துக்கு தகுதியானது என்று சான்றளிக்கும் செயல்முறையாகும், மேலும் நாட்டிற்குள் கட்டமைக்கப்பட்ட அல்லது இறக்குமதி செய்யப்படும் அனைத்து வாகனங்களுக்கும் அரசாங்கத்தால் நிர்ணயிக்கப்பட்ட குறிப்பிட்ட அளவுகோல்களுடன் பொருந்த வேண்டும்.
மத்திய மோட்டார் வாகன விதிகள் வகுத்துள்ளபடி, உமிழ்வுகள் மற்றும் பாதுகாப்பு மற்றும் சாலைத் தகுதி ஆகியவற்றின் அடிப்படையில் இந்திய சந்தையின் தேவைகளுக்கு வாகனம் பொருந்துகிறதா என்பதை உறுதிப்படுத்த சோதனைகள் மேற்கொள்ளப்படுகின்றன.
வாகனங்களுக்கு ஏன் அதிக ஏர்பேக்குகள் தேவை?
ஸ்டீயரிங் வீல், டாஷ்போர்டு, முன் கண்ணாடி மற்றும் ஆட்டோமொபைலின் பிற பகுதிகளுடன் தொடர்பு கொள்ளாமல் இருப்பதன் மூலம் ஏர்பேக்குகள் மோதலின் தாக்கத்தை மென்மையாக்குகிறது.
ஏர்பேக்குகள் உண்மையில் வாழ்க்கை மற்றும் இறப்பு பற்றிய கேள்வி: அமெரிக்க தேசிய நெடுஞ்சாலை போக்குவரத்து பாதுகாப்பு நிர்வாகம் (NHTSA) 1987 முதல் 2017 வரை, அந்த நாட்டில் 50,457 உயிர்களை முன் இருக்கை ஏர்பேக்குகள் காப்பாற்றியது என்று கூறுகிறது.
சாலைப் பாதுகாப்பில் இந்தியாவின் சாதனை உலகிலேயே மிகவும் ஏழ்மையானதாக உள்ளது, மேலும் பாதுகாப்பு அம்சங்களை வழங்குவதில் இந்திய கார்கள் பிரபலமாக பின்தங்கி உள்ளன.
இந்தியாவில் செயல்படும் கார் தயாரிப்பாளர்கள் உட்பட, பிற உலகளாவிய சந்தைகளில் உற்பத்தியாளர்களால் வழங்கப்படும் கார் மாடல்களுடன் ஒப்பிடும்போது இது மிகவும் தெளிவாக தெரிகிறது. உலகளாவிய சந்தைகளில் அதே கார் மாடலை விற்பனை செய்யும் நிறுவனங்கள், இந்தியாவின் விலை குறைப்புச் சந்தையில் அறிமுகப்படுத்தும்போது சில முக்கிய பாதுகாப்பு அம்சங்களைக் குறைக்கத் தேர்வு செய்கின்றன.
முன்மொழியப்பட்ட ஏர்பேக்குகள் ஆணையை செயல்படுத்துவதில் என்ன சவால்கள் இருக்கக்கூடும்?
முக்கிய சவால்களில் ஒன்று விலை நிர்ணயம் ஆகும்: மேலும் ஏர்பேக்குகள், சந்தையின் பட்ஜெட் முடிவில் உள்ளவை உட்பட, வாகனங்களின் விலையை தவிர்க்க முடியாமல் அதிகரிக்கும்.
நுழைவு நிலை காரில் முன்பக்க ஏர்பேக்கின் விலை பொதுவாக ரூ. 5,000 முதல் ரூ. 10,000 வரை இருக்கும், மேலும் பக்கவாட்டு மற்றும் திரைச்சீலை ஏர்பேக்குகளின் விலை இருமடங்கு அதிகமாகும். இந்தியாவில் ஆறு ஏர்பேக்குகளை வழங்கும் பெரும்பாலான கார் தயாரிப்பாளர்கள் டாப் எண்ட் மாடல்களிலும், ரூ.10 லட்சத்திற்கு மேல் விலையுள்ள வகைகளிலும் மட்டுமே வழங்குகிறார்கள்.
உற்பத்தியாளர்களால் சுட்டிக்காட்டப்பட்ட மற்றொரு கவலை என்னவென்றால், பல நுழைவு-நிலை கார்கள் குறிப்பாக இந்தியா போன்ற சந்தைகளுக்காக வடிவமைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன, மேலும் கூடுதல் ஏர்பேக்குகளை நிறுவுவது, பாடி ஷெல் மற்றும் உட்புறப் பெட்டியில் மாற்றங்களைச் செய்வது உட்பட கணிசமான மறு-பொறியியலை உள்ளடக்கியது.
உற்பத்தியாளர்களால் குறிக்கப்பட்ட மற்ற சிக்கல் நேரத்துடன் தொடர்புடையது. இந்திய ஆட்டோமொபைல் துறை தற்போது கடுமையான BS6 உமிழ்வு விதிமுறைகளுக்கு மாறுகிறது, மேலும் புதிய கார்ப்பரேட் சராசரி எரிபொருள் பொருளாதாரம் அல்லது CAFE விதிமுறைகளை செயல்படுத்துகிறது, இவை இரண்டும் செலவு தாக்கங்களைக் கொண்டுள்ளன.
அப்படியானால் இங்கு முன்வைக்கப்படும் வாதம் என்ன?
நுகர்வோர் தாங்கள் செலுத்துவதைப் பெறுகிறார்கள் (அதாவது பட்ஜெட்டைப் பொறுத்து அவர்களுக்கு கிடைக்கிறது) என்று உற்பத்தியாளர்கள் வாதிடுகின்றனர், மேலும் பட்ஜெட் பிரிவில் உள்ள சில வாங்குபவர்கள் மட்டுமே பாதுகாப்பான காருக்காக அதிகம் செலவிட விரும்புகிறார்கள்.
மாருதி சுஸுகி இந்திய கார் வாங்குபவர்களின் விருப்பங்களை பட்டியலிட்டது. இது வாங்கும் இடத்தில் செய்யப்பட்ட விசாரணைகளில் இருந்து காலப்போக்கில் அட்டவணைப்படுத்தப்பட்டது. அதில் ஏபிஎஸ் (ஆன்டி-லாக் பிரேக் சிஸ்டம்) மற்றும் ஏர்பேக்குகள் போன்ற பாதுகாப்பு அம்சங்கள் குறைந்த எட்டாவது இடத்தில் இருந்ததை கண்டறிந்தது, அதே நேரத்தில் ஏர் கண்டிஷனிங், பவர் ஜன்னல்கள் மற்றும் சென்ட்ரல் லாக்கிங் போன்ற வசதிகளுக்கான தேவை மிக அதிகமாக இருந்தன.
வேகன்-ஆரின் டாப் வேரியண்டில் டிரைவர்-சீட் ஏர்பேக்குகள் வழங்கப்பட்டன, ஆனால் நுகர்வோர் மத்தியில் ஆர்வம் இல்லாததால் மாடலைத் திரும்பப் பெற வேண்டியிருந்தது என்று கார் நிறுவனத்தின் நிர்வாகிகள் சுட்டிக்காட்டுகின்றனர்.
எதிர் வாதம் என்ன?
பாதுகாப்பு நிபுணர்கள் மாற்று கருத்தைக் கூறுகிறார்கள். இரட்டை ஏர்பேக்குகள், ஏபிஎஸ் மற்றும் பின்புற வைப்பர்கள் போன்ற பாதுகாப்பு அம்சங்கள் காரின் விலையில் ரூ.25,000 வரை மட்டுமே சேர்க்கும் என்று அவர்கள் கூறுகிறார்கள்.
இவை கட்டாயம் இல்லாததால்தான், கார் உற்பத்தியாளர்கள் இந்த அம்சங்களை டாப்-எண்ட் கார்களில் மட்டுமே வழங்குகிறார்கள், மேலும் அவற்றை மற்ற அம்சங்களுடன் இணைத்து, அதன் மூலம் வாகனத்தின் விலையை ரூ. 1.20 லட்சம் அல்லது அதற்கு மேல் அதிகமாக்குகிறார்கள்.
இதன் விளைவு என்னவென்றால், இந்திய கார் வாங்குபவர்கள் இந்த அத்தியாவசிய பாதுகாப்பு அம்சங்களைக் கொண்ட ஒரு மாடலை இழக்க நேரிடும்.
உலகில் மற்ற இடங்களில் ஏர்பேக்குகள் பற்றிய விதிகள் என்ன?
யுனைடெட் ஸ்டேட்ஸில், அனைத்து கார்களிலும் சட்டப்படி முன் இருக்கை ஏர்பேக்குகள் தேவை.
ஆனால் பெரும்பாலான கார் தயாரிப்பாளர்கள் மாடலைப் பொறுத்து ஆறு முதல் 10 ஏர்பேக்குகளை வழங்குகிறார்கள், இது முதன்மையாக அரசாங்கத்தின் தேசிய நெடுஞ்சாலை போக்குவரத்து நிர்வாகம் மற்றும் நெடுஞ்சாலை பாதுகாப்புக்கான தனியார் காப்பீட்டு நிறுவனம் போன்ற ஏஜென்சிகளின் விபத்து சோதனை முடிவுகளில் அதிக மதிப்பெண் பெறுவதற்காக வழங்கப்படுகிறது.
தலையைப் பாதுகாக்கும் பக்கவாட்டு ஏர்பேக்குகள் இல்லாத எந்த வாகனமும் இன்சூரன்ஸ் இன்ஸ்டிட்யூட்டின் பக்க விபத்து சோதனையில் சிறந்த மதிப்பீட்டைப் பெற்றதில்லை.
1984 ஆம் ஆண்டு ஏப்ரல் 1 ஆம் தேதிக்குப் பிறகு தயாரிக்கப்பட்ட கார்களில் டிரைவருக்கு ஏர்பேக் அல்லது சீட் பெல்ட் தேவைப்பட வேண்டும் என்று அமெரிக்க அரசாங்கம் அதன் ஃபெடரல் மோட்டார் வாகன பாதுகாப்பு தரநிலை 208 (FMVSS 208) ஐ 1984 இல் திருத்தியது.
ஏர்பேக் அறிமுகம் தேசிய நெடுஞ்சாலை போக்குவரத்து பாதுகாப்பு நிர்வாகத்தால் அறிமுகப்படுத்தப்பட்டது, பின்னர் 1997 இல் பயணிகள் வாகனங்கள் மற்றும் இலகுரக லாரிகளுக்கு கட்டாயமாக்கப்பட்டது.
1998 ஆம் ஆண்டில், FMVSS 208 ஆனது இரட்டை முன் ஏர்பேக்குகள் தேவை என்று திருத்தப்பட்டது, பின்னர் இரண்டாம் தலைமுறை ஏர்பேக்குகள் கட்டாயமாக்கப்பட்டன.
வட அமெரிக்காவிற்கு வெளியே உள்ள சில நாடுகள், யுனைடெட் ஸ்டேட்ஸ் ஃபெடரல் மோட்டார் வாகன பாதுகாப்பு தரநிலைகளுக்கு பதிலாக, சர்வதேசமயமாக்கப்பட்ட ஐரோப்பிய ECE வாகனம் மற்றும் உபகரண விதிமுறைகளை கடைபிடிக்கின்றன.
ECE ஏர்பேக்குகள் பொதுவாக சிறியதாக இருக்கும் மற்றும் அமெரிக்காவில் வழங்கப்படும் ஏர்பேக்குகளை விட குறைந்த சக்தியுடன் உயர்த்தப்படுகின்றன, ஏனெனில் ECE விவரக்குறிப்புகள் பெல்ட் கிராஷ் டெஸ்ட் டம்மீஸ் அடிப்படையிலானவை.
ஐரோப்பாவில் விற்கப்படும் ஒவ்வொரு புதிய காரும் முன் மற்றும் பக்க ஏர்பேக்குகளுடன் பொருத்தப்பட்டுள்ளன. ஐரோப்பிய ஒன்றியம் மற்றும் யுனைடெட் கிங்டமில், புதிய கார்களில் ஏர்பேக் இடம்பெறுவதற்கு நேரடி சட்டத் தேவை இல்லை. ஆனால், மீண்டும், பெரும்பாலான மாடல்களில் குறைந்தது 4-6 ஏர்பேக்குகள் பொருத்தப்பட்டுள்ளன, முதன்மையாக க்ராஷ் டெஸ்ட் விதிமுறைகளுக்கு இணங்கவும், பாதுகாப்பு எண்ணிக்கையில் அதிக மதிப்பெண் பெறவும்.
கடந்த 1949ஆம் ஆண்டு முதல், இந்திய ராணுவ தினம் ஜனவரி 15ஆம் தேதி கடைப்பிடிக்கப்படுகிறது. இந்நாளானது, ஜெனரல் கே.எம் கரியப்பா, ஜெனரல் எஃப்.ஆர் ராய் புச்சரிடமிருந்து இந்திய ராணுவத்தின் முதல் இந்திய தளபதியாக பதவியேற்ற நாளைக் குறிக்கும் வகையில் கொண்டாடப்படுகிறது.
சனிக்கிழமை(ஜனவரி 15) நடைபெற்ற கொண்டாட்டத்தின் போது, அணிவகுப்பு மற்றும் ராணுவத் தளபதி ஜெனரல் எம் எம் நரவனே உரையாற்றினார். அப்போது, இந்திய ராணுவத்துக்கு புது வடிவ சீருடை அறிமுகப்படுத்தப்பட்டது.
இந்த சீருடை இந்திய ராணுவத்தில் உள்ள 12 லட்சம் வீரர்களுக்குப் பேஸ் வாரியாக கிடைக்கும் வகையில் ஏற்பாடு செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளது.
ராணுவத்தின் சீருடை ஏன் முக்கியம்?
எந்தவொரு ராணுவப் படைக்கும் சீருடைகள் மிகவும் தனித்துவமான அடையாளம் காணும் அம்சங்களில் ஒன்றாகும். சீருடை பொதுமக்களை ராணுவ வீரர்களிடமிருந்து வேறுபடுத்துவது மட்டுமல்லாமல் வெவ்வேறு ராணுவ வீரர்களிடையே, ஒற்றுமை, இணக்கம் மற்றும் ஒழுக்கத்தை உருவாக்குகிறது.
புதிய சீருடையில் என்ன மாற்றங்கள்?
2008 முதல் பயன்பாட்டில் உள்ள பழைய சீருடையுடன் ஒப்பிடும்போது, புதிய போர் சீருடையில் முக்கிய மாற்றங்களானது புதிய உருமறைப்பு வண்ணக்கலவை, டிஜிட்டல் பிரின்டிங் ஆகும்.
இந்த புதிய உருமறைப்பு வண்ணக்கலவை சீருடை மஞ்சள் மண் நிறம், பச்சை மற்றும் ஆலிவ் ஆகிய பழைய நிறங்களைக் கொண்டிருந்தாலும், டிஜிட்டலாக வடிவமைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. மாறுபட்ட தட்பவெப்ப நிலைகளிலும், காடு, மலை, பனிக்காலங்களில் பணியாற்றும் வீரர்களுக்கு உகந்ததாக இந்த ஆடை இருக்கும் வகையில் வடிவமைக்கப்பட்டது.
புதிய சீருடையில் பயன்படுத்தப்படும் துணியின் சிறப்பு அம்சங்கள்?
இந்த புதிய டிஜிட்டல் சீருடையின் துணி, அதை இலகுவாகவும், உறுதியானதாகவும், அதிக சுவாசிக்கக்கூடியதாகவும், வீரர்கள் பணியமர்த்தப்பட்டுள்ள வெவ்வேறு நிலப்பரப்புகளுக்கு உகந்ததாகவும் வைக்கிறது.
அதில் பருத்தி மற்றும் பாலியஸ்டர் விகிதம் 70:30 ஆகும், இது விரைவாக உலரவும், ஈரப்பதம் மற்றும் வெப்பமான நிலையில் அணிய வசதியாகவும், எடை குறைந்ததாகவும் இருக்கும்.
ராணுவத்தின் கூற்றுப்படி, இந்த புதிய உருமறைப்பு போர் சீருடை துணி 15 சதவீதம் இலகுவானது மற்றும் தற்போதைய சீருடைக்கு எதிராக 23 சதவீதம் அதிக வலிமை கொண்டது. மேலும், நீண்ட மணிநேர பயன்பாடு மற்றும் வசதியை அனுமதிக்கின்றன.
சீருடையின் புதிய அம்சங்கள்?
புதிய சீருடையில், பழையதைப் போலல்லாமல், ஒரு போர் டி-ஷர்ட் மற்றும் அதன் மேல் ஒரு சட்டை உள்ளது.
இந்த சீருடையில் மேல்சட்டையை ராணுவத்தினர் கால்சட்டைக்குள் சொருகிக் கொள்ள வேண்டிய அவசியம் இல்லை. வெளியே தொங்கவிட்டுக்கொள்ளலாம்.
புதிய ஜாக்கெட்டில் மேல் பாக்கெட்டுகள், வெர்டிக்கல் ஒப்பனிங்குடன் கீழ் பாக்கெட்டுகள்,பின்புறத்தில் கத்தி வைத்திட இடம், இடது ஸ்லீவில் ஒரு பாக்கெட், இடது முன்கையில் ஒரு பேனா ஹோல்டர் மற்றும் மேம்பட்ட தரமான பட்டன்கள் உள்ளன.
கால்சட்டைகள் எலாஸ்டிக் மற்றும் பட்டன் மூலம் சரிசெய்யக்கூடிய வகையில் வடிவமைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. இதில், இடுப்பு பகுதியில் இரட்டை அடுக்கு அம்சம் உள்ளது. அதே போல், தொப்பிகளின் சுற்றளவு அட்ஜஸ்ட் செய்யக்கூடிய வகையிலும், ராணுவத்தின் லோகோ முந்தையதை விட சிறந்த தரத்தில் இருக்கும் வகையிலும் வடிவமைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது..
முதன்முறையாக, இந்த டிஜிட்டல் பிரின்டிங் சீருடையில் பெண் வீராங்கனைகளுக்கு வசதியாக இருக்கக் கூடிய மாற்றங்கள் செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளன.
சீருடையை வடிவமைத்தவர் யார், ராணுவத்திற்குத் தேர்ந்தெடுத்தவர் யார்?
புதிய சீருடை வடிவமைப்பு செயல்முறை ராணுவத் தளபதி ஜெனரல் நரவனேவால் இறுதி செய்யப்பட்டாலும், ஜெனரல் நரவனே ஜனவரி 2020 இல் பொறுப்பேற்பதற்கு முன்பே தொடங்கப்பட்டது. ராணுவ டிசைனை தேர்ந்தெடுப்பது ராணுவத் தளபதிகளின் கூட்டு முடிவாகும்.
இந்த சீருடை ஏழு பேராசிரியர்கள், மூன்று மாணவர்கள் மற்றும் இரண்டு முன்னாள் மாணவர்கள் அடங்கிய நேஷனல் இன்ஸ்டிடியூட் ஆஃப் ஃபேஷன் டெக்னாலஜியில் (NIFT) 12 பேர் கொண்ட குழுவால் வடிவமைக்கப்பட்டது.
comfort,climate,camouflage and confidentiality ஆகிய 4C-ஐ அடிப்படையாக கொண்டு ராணுவத்துடன் ஆலோசனை செயல்முறை மூலம் சீருடை உருவாக்கப்பட்டது.
NIFT ஆல் ராணுவத்திற்கு பிரத்யேகமாக வடிவமைக்கப்பட்ட ஐந்து விருப்பங்களில் இருந்து இந்த துணி தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டது. அதேபோல், வடிவமைக்கப்பட்ட 17 விருப்பங்களில் இதனை ராணுவத்தினர் தேர்ந்தெடுத்துள்ளனர்.
துணி, உருமறைப்பு வடிவங்கள் மற்றும் வடிவமைப்புகளுக்கு சிறந்த வல்லுநர்கள் ஈடுபடுத்தப்பட்டனர். தொடர்ச்சியான ஆலோசனை செயல்முறை மூலம் முன்மாதிரிகள் தயாரிக்கப்பட்டன.
புதிய சீருடை சந்தைகளில் கிடைக்குமா?
இந்த புதிய ராணுவ சீருடைகள் வெளி சந்தையில் விற்பனைக்கு வராது. அரசு அங்கீகரிக்கப்பட்ட கடைகளில் மட்டுமே இதை பெற முடியும்.
வெவ்வேறு சைஸில் சீருடை தயாரிப்பதை கன்ட்ரோல் செய்யும் வகையில், புதிய சீருடை ஒரு டஜன் தைக்கப்பட்ட நிலையான அளவுகளில் சீருடைகள் வருகிறது.
சீருடைகள் அவற்றின் தனித்துவத்தை பராமரிக்க பார்கோடு மற்றும் க்யூஆர் குறியிடப்பட்டுள்ளது. மேலும் புதிய சீருடை, ஆயுத தயாரிக்கும் அமைப்பு அல்லது ராணுவ கேண்டீன்களில் கிடைக்கக்கூடும்.
ராணுவம் தனியார் மற்றும் பொது நிறுவனங்களுக்கு சீருடைகளை தயாரிப்பதற்கான டெண்டர்களை வெளியிடவுள்ளது. சீருடைகள் படிப்படியாக பணியாளர்களுக்கு வழங்கப்படும்.
ராணுவத்தின் அனைத்து சீருடைகளும் மாறுகிறதா?
போர் சீருடை மட்டும் மாற்றப்பட்டுள்ளது. அமைதிப் பகுதி சீருடை,சடங்கு சீருடைகள் என அழைக்கப்படும் ஆலிவ் கீரீன் உட்பட பல சீருடைகளை ராணுவம் கொண்டுள்ளது.
The sudden stepping down of Dilip Chenoy as Secretary General of FICCI in October last year appears to have been due to differences between him and the Commerce Ministry over the Indian pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2021. FICCI was in charge of the Indian display. Although the pavilion had in fact one of the highest footfalls at the Expo — probably because of the large Indian population in Dubai — it lacked the sophistication, high tech and imagination of some of the other countries’ pavilions. The Indian enclosure showcased its themes, Ayodhya, Yoga and Ayurvedic medicine, in a humdrum conventional fashion. Chenoy’s defence that FICCI’s hands were tied since it had to refer every small decision to the PMO — even formulating the logo took months — hardly helped his case. His deputy Arun Chawla was appointed Director General with immediate effect.
Fast Back-Track
Within 10 days of refusing to renew the FCRA licence of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity because of “adverse inputs”, the Home Ministry restored the same. “We never thought it would happen so fast,” an MoC staffer admitted. Prominent NGOs such as Commonwealth Human Rights Watch and Oxfam appear to have been permanently denied access to foreign funding, while even organisations like the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam, Shirdi Saibaba Sansthan and Ramakrishna Mission, are still waiting for their clearances. The speed with which the MoC matter was overturned appears to be linked to Pope Francis’s visit to India. During his meeting with Prime Minister Modi at the Vatican in November, the Pope expressed a desire to visit India soon. (The last time a pope visited India was in 1999.) The government hoped it could squeeze in the Pope’s visit before the Goa Assembly elections in February. Unfortunately, the upsurge in Covid cases in Goa makes an early papal visit unlikely.
Meeting Deadline
Despite the scepticism, the first phase of the Central Vista Project, the re-modelling of the India Gate lawns, will meet the January 26 deadline. The grass has been replanted, even if the lush carpet effect will be visible only after winter end. Bridges have been constructed over the water channels. The jungle of wires which obtrude at every Republic Day parade will move underground through special manholes. The new light poles will have CCTV cameras, flags and other paraphernalia unobtrusively clamped on. Collapsible bleachers will replace the old wooden stands for onlookers.
Joint collaboration
It is an unusual partnership. BJP politician and Central minister Bhupender Yadav has co-authored his book The Rise of the BJP with Ila Patnaik, an economist and academic in the social sciences. Patnaik, who worked earlier for the Finance Ministry, says she came in touch with Yadav initially when he was on the parliamentary standing committee which cleared the draft of the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, and she has remained in regular touch ever since. After the 2019 electoral win, both felt it was a great idea to explore the possibility of collaborating on a book on the BJP. For Patnaik, a big bonus was that she had access to the party’s extensive archival sources. For a younger generation, it may come as a revelation that politics was not as sharply polarised in the last century as it is today. Several founders of the Hindutva movement were originally from the Congress stock. The founder of the RSS, Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, was a member of the Congress Seva Dal. The second Jana Sangh president, Mauli Chandra Sharma, also started his career in the Congress and embarrassed his new party by switching back to his old one when Pandit Nehru offered him a plum post. The third Jana Sangh president, Raghu Vira, was a Congress Rajya Sabha member earlier.
Undiplomatic tweet
Did veteran diplomat Atul Keshap quit the US Foreign Service because he had an inkling he would be appointed president of the US India Business Council (USIBC) or had he earlier fallen out of favour with Washington? In September last year, Keshap, as stop-gap US ambassador to India, had tweeted that he had met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to discuss its social welfare schemes. Within days, Keshap was transferred back to Washington and another charge d’affairs appointed. He was not involved in preparations for Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the US later that month. As earlier US envoys have met RSS sarsanghchalaks without any censure, the Biden government’s displeasure could have been because Keshap did not maintain a discreet silence, but felt it necessary to tweet the news.
Last week an SMS from the COWIN portal informed me that I was eligible for my booster shot. Why it is called a ‘precautionary’ shot only in India beats me. Anyway, off I went and got my precautionary whatever and can report that everything went off perfectly. Within minutes of the needle being removed from my arm, I got a message telling me that the COWIN app had recorded the new jab. I have to say that I was impressed by both the efficiency and speed. And, admit to being impressed with the mature way the Prime Minister is handling the Omicron wave. It is reassuring that he appears regularly on TV to advise people not to panic.
He has come a long way from that time two years ago when he thoughtlessly ordered the most brutal lockdown in the world. And fuelled the innate superstitions of Indians by asking us to beat thalis and light diyas to drive Covid away. Those were bad ideas. They encouraged voodoo doctors and covidiots who believed that bathing in cow dung would save them. He is doing much better this time. May he now desist from plastering public places with ‘thank you Modi’ posters.
My booster shot caused a robust reaction from my immune system and laid me low and it is that has put me in a reflective mood. It is in said reflective mood laced with strong paracetamol that I write this week’s column. Indulge me as I reflect on Indian democracy. I have said more than once in this column that I believe that the greatest advantage we have over our old enemy China is democracy. But I also agree with Winston Churchill that, ‘The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.’ It is my misfortune to need to have conversations with the ‘average voter’ daily on Twitter. They are usually unpleasant exchanges, but I am obliged to have them because in these isolated times I need to hear virtual chatter from the public square.
So, I dedicate some amount of time every day to trawling through the tweets of twitterers who appear to believe that it is their primary purpose in life to attack those who write in the much reviled ‘mainstream media’. The tweets I read every day range from vicious, abusive and ugly, to idiotic, ignorant and insane. They come from both sides of the divide in these politically polarized times.
Let me say here that the Gandhi Dynasty’s more passionate supporters sound as unhinged in their tweets as Modi bhakts and the point they both make most often is that I ‘hate’ Modi or that I ‘hate’ Sonia Gandhi. As a veteran political analyst, I feel it is my duty to educate them while I am in current reflective mood. A political columnist has no choice but to critique what politicians say and do, just as a film critic’s job is to critique films and a book reviewer’s job is to review books. Only the clinically insane would accuse film critics or book reviewers of hatred being their prime motivation. So why should political analysts be charged with hatred?
The other point made often in the attacks on me is that I criticise Modi because I am a ‘leftie’ and a ‘libtard’. I am certainly a liberal. I despise autocrats and autocracies. But leftie I am not. I blame Nehruvian socialism for most of our economic problems and have in this column always opposed the licence raj. It might surprise Modi’s devotees to know that I believe he is nearly as socialist and statist as Nehru and this worries me. When I supported him in the first couple of years of his first tenure, it was in the hope that he would move away from welfarism towards free markets. When demonetisation happened, I realised that he had not outgrown the RSS school of economic thought. It is not one that produces economic thinkers or economists. So, seven years on, we are still on the statist path laid out by Nehru, and this means it will take a very, very long time for India to become an economic superpower.
From the political chatter I pick up daily in the public square of social media, I gather that Hindutva is extremely popular. Expressing hatred of Muslims is now absolutely acceptable. And religiosity is celebrated. Every time Modi allows TV cameras to follow him into the sanctum sanctorum of temples to record every moment of the ceremonies he performs, there are ecstatic tweets about how he has made us ‘proud to be Hindus for the first time’.
There is no question that he has changed the political discourse and made religion more important than anything else. And he is being faithfully emulated by formerly ‘secular’ political leaders. They also make sure that cameras record their visits to temples. The one thing that unites devotees of Modi and the Dynasty is a deep hatred for criticism of their political heroes.
The Congress party has, since Nehruvian times, done its best to crush critics but where they were once circumspect, they no longer are. In my reflective, paracetamol-induced mood I find myself reflecting on why our revered political leaders have not yet noticed the damage their followers are doing them on social media. They do more harm to their political heroes than any critic could.
Early into the New Year, Pope Francis took a swipe at those who prefer to raise pets instead of children: “Today… we see a form of selfishness. We see that some people do not want to have a child. Sometimes they have one, and that’s it, but they have dogs and cats that take the place of children.” To be fair, the Holy Father isn’t the first to lob the word “selfish” at the child-free. The S-word is the most-hurled epithet at those who choose not to have children, even when they are physically capable of birthing and/ or nurturing them. This is especially so if the person making that choice is a woman — because how can she deprive her partner of the joys of fatherhood and her parents and in-laws of the delights of grandparenthood? That the decision to be child-free, due to the complex burden of internalised social expectations, may weigh heavy on a woman even when she is convinced of her decision is, apparently, not deserving of sympathy.
It’s much easier for a woman these days to make that decision, though: she has greater financial — and, therefore, real — independence, there is little stigma attached to putting off marriage till later (but not to choosing to stay unmarried), she is recognised for achievements beyond the maternal, and it’s accepted that she will find meaning in things that have nothing to do with the raising of small humans (all of this, of course, only applies to women from the privileged sections of society).
And, yet, the motherhood question looms large, primarily because a child-free woman over a certain age remains an object of curiosity in our society. Everyone and their uncle thinks nothing of asking such a woman why she doesn’t have a child, the implication being that she would better have another almost-as-good justification for her existence. How many men have had to answer this question, one wonders (I suspect we can all make a reasonable guess).
In fact, there are many reasons why women, including myself, decide — sooner or later — not to have kids. Yes, some of these reasons would traditionally be considered “selfish”: we value our independence and the ability to just up and leave when we want to, we don’t want to spend a good chunk of our hard-earned money on childcare for a minimum of 18 years, we don’t want to bear the awful pain of childbirth and the still greater pain of navigating a world that is simply not designed for women with children (can we talk about free childcare and creches at the office, liberal maternity benefits including legal protection from employers who prefer to lay off pregnant women than having to sanction maternity leave?).
Then there are the reasons that, because they are transmitted from the moral high ground, are deemed more acceptable: we’re already feeling the effects of a planet that is hurtling towards ecological disaster, so do we really want our childrent to suffer the very near future of regular heat and cold waves, forest fires and devastating floods?
Or, coming at the same climate and environmental anxiety from a different angle — having a child adds massively to one’s carbon footprint, so isn’t it a bad idea to have one? And a new one: The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that we could be just one pathogen away from annihilation — is that the kind of world into which we want to bring children?
Personally, though, I believe women shouldn’t even attempt to explain. What we choose to do with our bodies, our time and our resources is nobody’s business but our own. In this, I take as my model the central character in Herman Melville’s story Bartleby, the Scrivener, and tell anyone who asks, “I would prefer not to”.
National Editor Shalini Langer curates the ‘She Said’ column
It was intended to be a shining star on the North sky to illuminate Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and to be admired from far away Goa and Manipur, all states going to elections soon. However, it turned out to be a shooting star, dazzled for a few hours on January 7-8, and vanished before the day was over.
The NSO’s First Advance Estimates (FAE) of National Income, 2021-22, were released on January 7. The centrepiece of the press release was the number 9.2 per cent. The NSO underlined that the estimated GDP growth at constant prices of 2021-22 (9.2 per cent) was against the contraction in 2020-21 (-7.3 per cent). According to the government’s spokespersons, we will wipe out the decline in 2020-21 and record a growth of approximately 1.9 per cent over 2019-20. If that were proved to be true, I shall be the happiest person. (The World Bank’s estimate is 8.3 per cent.)
Alas, the celebration will be premature. GDP at constant prices in 2019-20 was Rs 145,69,268 crore. In 2020-21, owing to the pandemic, the GDP had declined to Rs 135,12,740 crore. It is only when the GDP crosses the number of 2019-20 can we say that the decline has been wiped out and we are back to where we were at the end of 2019-20. According to the NSO, that outcome is likely in 2021-22; according to many observers it is not likely. The scepticism has deepened after the resurgence of Covid-19 and its new variant.
Running to Stay
Let’s look more closely at the FAE. According to NSO, the GDP will exceed Rs 145,69,268 crore by a small amount of Rs 1,84,267 crore, or by 1.26 per cent. That is, statistically, an insignificant amount. If any one thing goes wrong, the projected excess output will vanish. For example, if private consumption dips marginally or exports to a few markets are disrupted or investment lags slightly, the ‘excess’ will vanish. The best we can hope for is that, in 2021-22, the GDP at constant prices will equal — and not fall short of — Rs 145,69,268 crore. Achieving that number will mean the level of output of India’s economy will, after two years, be the same as it was in 2019-20 — thanks to the pandemic and incompetent management of the economy.
There is no merit in the boast that India is, or will be, the fastest growing economy in the world. The GDP fell steeply, therefore the climb looks spectacular. If the GDP had fallen more steeply, the climb would have looked more spectacular! In the two years that India’s economy will record (-)7.3 per cent and (+)9.2 per cent, leaving the GDP flat, China is estimated to have recorded rates of +2.3 per cent and +8.5 per cent. So, which country’s economy has grown and which country is indulging in vain boasts?
Average Indian poorer
The NSO’s numbers also show that the average Indian was poorer in 2020-21, and will be poorer in 2021-22 too, as compared to 2019-20. Also, he/ she spent and will spend less in the two years than he/ she spent in 2019-20. The per capita income and per capita consumption expenditure at constant prices in the three years are:
There are also other worrying indicators. Despite appeals to augment substantially government expenditure, the Government Final Capital Expenditure (GFCE) was only Rs 45,003 crore more in 2020-21 than in the previous year. Similarly, it will be only Rs 1,20,562 crore more in 2021-22 than in the previous year.
Investments are also limping. Gross Fixed Capital Formation in 2021-22 will move up a tad (Rs 1,21,266 crore) over the level achieved in 2019-20, totally insufficient in a pandemic-hit economy.
Reality Check
Among the people, however, there is more conversation about prices of gas, diesel and petrol than about the GDP. There is concern about unemployment. According to the CMIE, the urban unemployment rate is 8.51 per cent and the rural unemployment rate is 6.74 per cent. The reality is grimmer: many persons who hold a ‘job’ are disguising their unemployment. There is concern about prices of essentials like pulses, milk and cooking oil. There is concern about the education of children: in rural India and poor neighbourhoods of urban India, children have received no teaching during the last two years. There is concern about security: most mixed communities in the states of north and central India are like a tinderbox fearing the spark that will start a conflagration. There is concern about hate speech, digital abuse, trolls and crime, especially crimes against women and children. There is concern about the pandemic and the new variants.
The rulers do not care about the real concerns of the people. They have taken the high road to fight election battles. On the road, they are laying foundation stones, opening unfinished bridges, inaugurating empty hospitals, claiming that ‘80 per cent will fight 20 per cent’, and coining a slogan a day. It is surreal. The boast that India is the fastest growing economy is also surreal.
(Written by Rosalind O’Hanlon)
The month of January is a particularly special time in the long history of popular struggle for education in India. On January 3, we celebrate the birth anniversary of Savitribai Phule, the lion-hearted pioneer of education for women and the socially marginalised, whose name now graces one of Maharashtra’s premier universities, Savitribai Phule University in Pune. On January 9, we salute what tradition marks as the birth anniversary of Savitribai’s fellow pioneer teacher in Pune, Fatima Sheikh.
Much of their history — particularly that of Savitribai — is now familiar to us. But it is still difficult to think of this pair without a thrill of wonder at their courage and breadth of vision. For, when the power of colonial rule was at its mid-19th century height, and the hold of conservative attitudes amongst many communities was yet to be seriously challenged, these two women stood forth to argue the case for education as a right that all should enjoy, not only the privileged few. And they did so not in one of the great cosmopolitan centres of colonial India, but in the city of Pune, the old headquarters of the 18th century regime of Maharashtra’s Brahman Peshwa rulers, and still in the mid-19th century, very much a bastion of social conservatism.
Many elements of their stories are now well known to historians. As the wife of Jotirao Phule, the great social reformer and campaigner against casteism, the young Savitribai joined her husband in establishing schools in Pune for girls, Dalits and other disadvantaged communities. Jotirao’s friend, Mian Usman Sheikh, a fellow resident in the city’s busy trading quarter of Ganjpeth, made space in his own home for the first such school, established in 1848. Savitribai and Usman Sheikh’s sister, Fatima, took on the work of teaching a small group of girls there, with the help of an American missionary based in Ahmednagar.
Other schools for Dalit and Bahujan children followed. The two women worked tirelessly, not only in the classroom, but going house to house in the city to promote the work of their schools, and to persuade reluctant families that they might safely send their children there. Such a stunning challenge to the conservative social norms of the city naturally drew opposition. The women faced a barrage of stones, mud and name-calling as they went about their work. Faced with such public disapproval, Phule’s father felt he had to ask the couple to leave the family home. Once again, Usman Sheikh came to their rescue. He offered them a place to stay in his own house, where the pair lived until 1856, when a temporary illness forced Savitribai to return to her own family home in Naygaon near Satara.
Owing to the labour of many researchers in the field, we know much about Savitribai’s subsequent life and career. But Fatima Sheikh remains a much more elusive figure. She did not leave any writings that have survived, and as a Muslim woman, she did not benefit from the energy of generations of Dalit and Bahujan scholars seeking to preserve her memory. Her name is now rightly celebrated, and a brief mention of her life features in Maharashtra’s Urdu school textbook, and in the textbooks of Bal Bharati. But much of the direct evidence of her life has been lost.
Fortunately, though, we do have a contemporary photograph of her, reproduced in this column. Although it is widely available on the Internet, most images that circulate of Fatima — and indeed of Savitribai herself — are modern artists’ impressions. But the photograph does deserve closer examination, and in fact can tell us quite a lot about Fatima, her circumstances and her role as a teacher. We can date it to the 1850s, when the technology of the daguerreotype was just beginning to make photography more widely available in India. We know that Phule himself and his progressive co-workers were familiar with the possibilities of early photography, since early images of a young Jotirao still survive.
The photograph here shows Savitribai and Fatima sitting side by side. Savitribai looks directly into the camera, while Fatima — possibly a little less comfortable with the technology — is looking away. The two women are dressed in strikingly similar saris, plain in colour, with simple and strong borders. This suggests that they wished to present themselves as professional teachers, clad in the same simple but dignified uniform. Their saris are tied in the ‘modern’ nivi style, popularised during the colonial era as women ventured more into public life and required a modest style of sari drape to cover arms and legs. Their pose is very much that of professional partners and co-workers, accustomed to working as a team and with a quiet poise in their presence.
Standing behind them is another very interesting presence, giving us further clues to the life of the household. Watching the two women, but also herself gazing directly into the camera is what looks like an older female figure. She is dressed in a traditional white khimar hijab, designed to cover the upper body of a Muslim woman. It may be that this photograph was taken during the Phule family’s stay in the house of Sheikh, and that the older woman was a senior family member — but one who nonetheless also wished to appear as a member of this group of early professional educators.
Perhaps — and here one speculates — she may have been another member of the Usman household, who helped make it a welcoming refuge for Savitribai and her husband. Two little girls sit at the two women’s feet. From the marking on her forehead, the child on the left seems to be from a Hindu background. The little girl to the right, on the other hand, looks to be wearing a child’s version of the khimar hijab. These two children clearly echo the main message of the photograph, of solidarity in the cause of women’s education that reached across the boundaries of age, social background and religion.
The photograph brings us just a little closer to Fatima, and her friendship with Savitribai. We salute both.
The writer is Professor, Indian History and Culture, University of Oxford
GoI will reportedly come up with a fresh package in the budget to support MSMEs. Rising commodity prices, problems in accessing credit and payment delays have accentuated the financial distress of MSMEs that have borne the brunt of the pandemic. Steps such as the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) offered by banks to MSMEs to repay loans following the pandemic have helped. MSMEs also need equity support. They get only about 15% of their credit from banks, with the rest coming from shadow banks and informal sources at a high interest cost. So, these businesses need infusion of non-debt capital (read: equity) that they needn't service till they turn around.
GoI's fund of funds was meant to infuse over ₹50,000 crore in equity to invest in MSMEs. Apparently, MSMEs are wary over questions being asked (by investors) about their books, especially since most of them are proprietorship firms. GoI should have a dialogue with MSME promoters, but the need is to ensure swift equity infusion. The equity can be regained once the operations of these companies stabilise as the economy recovers. Buying equity stakes in MSMEs will help formalise the sector and enable these firms to access credit at much cheaper rates.
All outstanding public sector dues to MSMEs should be cleared. Although all companies with a turnover of ₹500 crore have to register on TReDS (Trade Receivables Discounting System), an online factoring platform that links buyers, suppliers and financiers, many are either not registered or don't use it. TReDS' purpose is to put an end to the use of monopsony power of large buyers vis-a-vis small buyers and help ease the working capital shortage of MSMEs. So, failure to register or use the platform must be declared an offence.
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In a 2005 interview, T N Seshan stated, 'Good government is not an accident. It needs skilful work.' What the former chief election commissioner held true for governance also holds true for the 'superintendence, direction and control' of holding elections. One day before the Election Commission (EC) announced an extension to the prohibition of all electoral gatherings to January 22, 'hundreds' gathered outside the Samajwadi Party (SP) office in Lucknow flouting EC guidelines - not to mention Covid norms. The EC had stated that its rules banning election gatherings under the Representation of the People Act would 'complement... the mandate of the Disaster Management Act'. In effect, district magistrates must use either rulebook, 'whichever is more stringent', to ensure that the EC's word is taken seriously.
An FIR has reportedly been registered against SP supporters who had gathered on Friday at the 'virtual rally', ironically making the whole point of 'virtual rallies' during the third wave redundant. This won't do if the EC is to be taken seriously. Holding the district magistrate responsible, as the EC had announced, for breach of EC rules must be followed up visibly. The EC making its intent clear with action is not just about maintaining Covid protocol for the sake of public health, but also about protecting the sanctity of the electoral institution itself. Whataboutery, already evident in SP's Uttar Pradesh chief subsequently suggestion that the EC is targeting his party, while allegedly turning a blind eye to the political gatherings of another party, must be nipped in the bud.
If the EC has now extended the ban on electoral gatherings, then it should ensure that it has its district officials do their intended job without fear or favour. To not do so - or to not have the wherewithal to do so - will not just risk other stakeholders testing the efficacy of the EC's words, but it will also seriously chip away the institution's ability to act as a robust, independent entity, going much beyond upholding pandemic measures.
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On December 17, 2021, Union minister for environment, forest and climate change, Bhupender Yadav, introduced the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2021, in the Lok Sabha. The bill amends the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, the most comprehensive legislation for protecting India’s biodiversity. Any changes to this law will have profound implications for India’s conservation policies.
However, this is not the first time that changes in the Act have been introduced. In 2002, the Act was amended to constitute the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) under the chairmanship of the prime minister. NBWL was earlier known as the Indian Board for Wildlife, but had no statutory status.
This time around, substantive changes have been introduced in the wildlife Act. In addition, a new chapter has been added to make the original Act compliant with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. This multilateral treaty aims to regulate the international trade in animals and plants.
While this is a positive step, it is not the only change suggested in the amendment bill. A series of other prominent changes have been introduced. For example, the bill allows for commercial trade in elephants. This is problematic. Asian elephants have long been used in religious and spiritual activities; they work for forest departments and are often tourist attractions. Thus, the demand for live elephants in captivity is high. Wild Asian elephants are taken from forests, often illegally, to maintain captive populations to meet the demand.
Environment lawyer Ritwick Dutta, who has examined the wildlife Act amendments in detail, warns that this section effectively gives legal sanctity to commercial trade in live elephants. It is very difficult to discern whether the animal being traded was born in captivity or caught from the wild. This could affect wild populations of elephants.
The executive director of the Wildlife Trust of India, Vivek Menon, had hoped for an amendment in the Act that would legalise elephant corridors or give them habitat protection from linear infrastructure such as roads and railway lines. Such a change could have been a more positive step for wild elephants.
There is another contentious portion in the amendment bill on declaring a species as vermin. Once a wild animal is declared vermin, it can be traded, killed or maimed. But the law is silent on the process by which a species is declared as vermin. Section 29 in the amended Act adds that “bonafide use of drinking and household water by local communities shall not be deemed prohibitive under this Act”. While the intent is good, there is no clear definition of “local communities”. Was this clause included to allow projects such as the linking of river Ken and Betwa that will lead to the submergence of parts of the Panna Tiger Reserve? Or allow water to be transported from National Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary for providing drinking water to Sawai Madhopur?
The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2021, has been sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Technology, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, chaired by former environment minister Jairam Ramesh. He is expected to share the suggestions of the committee by March 2021. It is up to the minister to accept or reject the changes suggested by this committee.
Even as this process is undertaken, one cannot help but wonder if the amendment bill has lost out on an opportunity to help conserve India’s rich biodiversity. For example, declaration of corridors, better management of India’s marine protected areas, greater scope for encouraging scientific research, upgradation of the schedules to include species recently discovered or rediscovered (such as the Purple frog) could have been more progressive ways for conservation.
Bahar Dutt is an environment journalist and associate professor, Shiv Nadar University
The views expressed are personal
The battle for Uttar Pradesh (UP) has thrown up unforeseen twists and turns. The coalition led by Samajwadi Party (SP) leader, Akhilesh Yadav, has now taken on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) head on, and brings back to mind the old Mandal versus Kamandal battle.
Chief minister (CM), Yogi Adityanath, contesting from Gorakhpur, is trying to propagate the message that the saffron party should be given credit for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Earlier, deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya added to the BJP’s religio-political mix by raising the issue of Mathura. Later, the CM joined in asking whether Mathura could be left out if a grand temple could be built in Ayodhya and the Vishwanath corridor in Kashi was opened by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi himself. The message is clear, the BJP is going into the election on a plank largely comprising religion and development.
Official figures show that to date 4.3 million poor people have been given houses in UP; 150 million are getting five kg extra foodgrain per unit per month. The BJP has promised 450,000 full-time jobs and 350,000 contractual jobs; 2.5 million people have also been given jobs under the One District One Product scheme. Under the Saubhagya scheme, 14.1 million houses have been given free electricity connections and 16.7 million have got free gas connections. The state government claims that arrears of ₹1.5 lakh crore have been paid to sugarcane farmers so far.
But is this enough?
The farmers’ movement is a new factor in the political mix. When the PM announced the repeal of the three farm laws, the farmers and the Opposition felt that they could take advantage of related issues like inflation and unemployment. The Opposition has been stressing that the employment figures given by the government are inaccurate. This has led to a new electoral narrative taking shape.
BJP dissidents and Opposition leaders have been saying that the government is anti-Brahmin. Yogi Adityanath has personally worked hard to ensure that there are no corruption allegations against him. But this has not addressed all the problems. Swami Prasad Maurya, Dara Singh Chauhan, Dharam Singh Saini and 11 BJP Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) resigned on the grounds that the government was anti-Dalit and anti-backward castes. They have been dismissed as opportunists, but it cannot be denied that five years ago, the same leaders were used by the saffron party to win the state elections. The judicious use of a mix of the “Muzaffarnagar model”, 2013, in western UP and the most backward castes paved the way for the saffron party’s route to success in the 2017 and 2019 elections.
The farmers’ movement and now the defection of party leaders have changed the political narrative. Akhilesh Yadav is trying to woo the most backward castes; he already has the support of the Muslims and Yadavs. If the most backward castes weigh in with him, he has a fighting chance now.
Akhilesh Yadav has done all this on his own. Earlier, his father Mulayam Singh Yadav and his uncles played a significant role. Now he is the undisputed leader of his party, a status his father once enjoyed. Akhilesh Yadav has deftly joined hands with his uncle Shivpal Yadav, who was his political rival until recently, even when the latter refused to merge his party with the SP. Akhilesh has learnt the art of headline management which explains why the BJP ministers and MLAs were asked to resign one by one, ensuring constant media coverage.
But, is this enough for him to win the election?
This question cannot be answered right now. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and its leader Mayawati appear unruffled. The party has already distributed more than 70% of its tickets. Its performance will play a major role in the formation of the next government. In the Congress party’s first list, of the 125 people, 50 are women. Among them is the mother of the rape victim of Unnao and an anganwadi worker from Shahjahanpur. This is certainly healthier than the religion and caste equations, but does not seem to be too popular with the rank and file, and four out of seven Congress MLAs have switched sides so far.
No one should make the mistake of assuming that the BJP will not be able to form the next government. With the CM’s clean reputation, the backing of the PM, a well-oiled organisational machine and abundant resources, the party is in a fairly advantageous position. But, it has to work to keep its house in order.
The renowned poet Jigar Moradabadi once wrote about Ishq (love), Ik aag ka daria hai aur doob ke jana hai (it is a river of fire and you have to drown to find it). Politicians know this only too well come election time.
Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan
In recent years, several cross-currents impacted by the communications revolution, the mushrooming of social media platforms and the spread of the pandemic in its various manifestations, have affected lifestyles at all levels. During the ongoing pandemic, online activity allows for an alternative way of living, working and providing goods and services. While we extol the virtues of digital platforms, we lose sight of the India that is deprived and is feeling isolated. Connectivity is largely for those already connected and far removed from those who feel disconnected.
The digital divide has affected our children the most. Education in the digital mode poses several challenges. In this context, it is important to understand what a classroom space means for a child. It is not meant only to test the child’s memory or performance in examinations, but has a far more pivotal role to play in the child’s upbringing.
That space allows for opportunities and dialogue to appreciate the wealth of diversity the classroom represents. The values of life, important to the child’s onward journey, are to be learned through discourses in that social space where the teacher guides. An absence of such interactions creates loneliness and even depression. Learning away from the classroom deprives the child of the space needed for his essential development needs. A class is not just a space for transmission of knowledge, but is transformational in ways other than the accumulation of knowledge. It allows for bonding and learning from others. These bonds, if nurtured, have societal implications. It is a space where the student questions and articulates freely. It allows the students to share knowledge fundamental to the learning process. All these are absent in the virtual space.
Literacy and education are two different concepts. Literacy involves the basic skills to learn. Education requires the wherewithal to become responsible members of society. Digital education may make us literate but may not ensure that our children grow up educated.
Most of our children have lost years of schooling, deprived of interactions in the classroom, and missed out on the guidance of their teachers. A large majority had little access to the internet, and without smartphones, could neither access data nor connect with their schools. Schools and colleges across the country have been shut since the end of March 2020 with the imposition of the nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Many schools and colleges are yet to reopen fully. Meanwhile, online classes and examinations have become increasingly common.
The push towards online classes and the use of digital technology in primary, secondary and higher education predates the pandemic. But it has garnered greater attention due to pandemic-induced curbs on physical meetings and classes. While the National Education Policy (July, 2020) projected digital learning as the game changer and encouraged its adoption, the policy unwittingly fuels the digital divide because of a lack of digital infrastructure and access to technology devices (the internet): 27% of children do not have access to smartphones and laptops to attend classes in virtual mode (NCERT 2020); 84% of teachers reported facing challenges in delivering education digitally with close to half of them facing issues related to the internet (Oxfam, 2020). This digital divide leaves around 80% of our children outside the digital learning process.
This digital divide has also impacted our girl students adversely, although this gender discrimination has not been fully assessed. This can lead to higher risk of girls permanently dropping out of school. Considering our traditional biases, families possessing a single smartphone are likely to prefer their sons to access digital classes.
The complexity of access to education must also be understood in the context of its impact on the marginalised. For example, only 12% of Scheduled Tribes, 16% of Scheduled Castes, 22% of Other Backward Classes have access to the internet. The figure for general category students is 39% (NSSO Education Survey 2017-18). This reflects the inequality in distribution of digital technology across social groups. According to the U-DISE (Unified District Information System for Education), only 35.1% government schools have access to functional computers (2016-17). Overall, the percentage of schools with functional computers is, in fact, down from 42.1% (2012-13) to 36.8% (2016-17). Obviously, the government has failed to digitally equip the new schools established. So much for its digital revolution.
Overreliance on technology and online programmes is both impractical and unproductive. That 80% of children from marginalised backgrounds would even be excluded from the limited benefits of learning through digital mode is evident from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Knowledge, not skills, can be acquired digitally. Experiments in the lab are needed for physics and chemistry. We can’t produce engineers with knowledge about machines, without the skill to design and operate them. Knowledge can be delivered and learned. Skill needs experimentation and experience, which cannot be delivered online. Online education producing graduates without skills impacts employability, which is why only one-fourth of engineers in India are truly employable.
We need to restore the classrooms as soon as possible. Online learning can never be a substitute. It can enable students to access information. While online learning should not be discarded altogether, its benefits should be availed within the environment of the classroom. That is where children blossom and discover themselves.
Kapil Sibal is a former Union Cabinet minister
The views expressed are personal
Who will win a majority in the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh (UP)? The question, which is animating all those who inhabit the universe of Indian politics is important — for the outcome will determine the fate of over 200 million citizens, affect inter-caste and inter-religious ties in the heartland, illustrate whether the political theatre remains governed by the hegemony of a single party or is opening up, and shape national politics in the run-up to the 2024 general elections. And, in this particular case, the result will also affect leadership dynamics within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the future.
Notwithstanding all the speculation, the answer will only be known on March 10, for, as the late Pranab Mukherjee once said, one can only understand an election after it is over. The state’s social landscape is fragmented and the interplay between micro and macro factors in each constituency is hard to judge. The practice of Indian political parties, the science of Indian psephology, the discipline of Indian political science, and the craft of Indian political journalism, for the most part, has been unable to keep up with changing voter preferences. That makes it more challenging to answer the question with any certainty.
What we now know, however, is that the poll result will be shaped by four decisions that UP’s voters take in the course of the next month.
One, will voters choose their legislator, or vote for the party irrespective of the nature, calibre and background of the prospective legislator? In the last five elections in UP (encompassing both assembly and Lok Sabha polls), voters largely decided to pick the party. That is why the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 2007, Samajwadi Party (SP) in 2012 and the BJP in 2014, 2017 and 2019, swept the polls comfortably.
This is not to suggest that candidates didn’t matter — they added or subtracted votes for their respective formations. But at the core of it, voters decided that having their preferred party or leader in power in Lucknow or Delhi was more important than the quality of the legislator or parliamentarian representing their constituency, even if this often meant voting for candidates who did not particularly inspire them. This is also the reason why there have been fairly decisive verdicts in UP in the past 15 years (since 2007), breaking the trend of fragmented verdicts of the preceding 15 years (from 1992 to 2007).
In 2022, if the pattern holds, neither ticket distribution nor the trend of constituency-level community leaders switching from one party to another will make a substantial difference — and either the BJP or the SP will walk into the Lucknow Vidhan Sabha with a comfortable majority. If this trend breaks, then the individual candidate will once again become more important, the local will prevail over the regional, and a clear decisive verdict may be elusive.
Two, what will constitute a more important memory for voters belonging to non-dominant sub-castes within the broader Other Backward Classes (OBC) category — now widely referred to in UP’s political vocabulary as non-Yadav OBCs? Will their voting preferences be shaped by what many of them saw as Yadav domination between 2012 and 2017, and political exclusion, or will it be shaped by what they perceived as Thakur domination between 2017 and 2022 and the lack of promised political empowerment?
The BJP is hoping that the anger against the SP, Narendra Modi’s own identification as belonging to an OBC sub-group, the government’s welfare schemes, and the improvement in law and order (often code for keeping Yadav and Muslim “criminals” in check) will be enough to keep the wider non-Yadav groups with the party. The Lodhs, after Kalyan Singh’s death, have not showed any sign of moving away from the BJP; with Anupriya Patel, the party hopes to continue to have Kurmi support in Purvanchal; Sanjay Nishad’s support helps with the Nishad vote base; and Keshav Prasad Maurya, the party hopes, will be able to offset the loss in optics caused by Swami Prasad Maurya’s defection among the Maurya and Shakya communities. The BJP’s organisational machine is also banking on its ability to reach out to the small caste groups scattered across constituencies through direct outreach.
The SP, recognising its fatal flaw was the politics of Yadav chauvinism, is working on two strategies. One, to offset the anger, Akhilesh Yadav is promising to be more inclusive and proportionate when it comes to power-sharing — while alleging that the upper-caste controlled BJP failed to meet the ambitions and aspirations of backward groups and merely used them. Two, it is making an effort to downplay Yadav leadership — the fact that Krishna Patel, Anupriya Patel’s mother, chaired a meeting of the SP and its allies was a symbolic message to Kurmis; the SP is conceding leadership to the Jats, led by Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Jayant Chaudhary, in west UP, it has given Om Prakash Rajbhar an important place in its coalition; it made a big splash, focusing on caste identity, of the OBC entrants from BJP on Friday; and its ticket distribution will probably reflect greater social diversity than in the past.
Three, how will Dalit voters in UP respond to the most serious electoral crisis faced by India’s most successful Dalit party? There is now a widely held belief that after four successive electoral setbacks (2012, 2014, 2017 and 2019), and an inability or unwillingness to hit the streets and revive her direct connect with voters, Mayawati’s political prospects are grim. But the BSP, despite these setbacks, has maintained a broad vote share of around 20%. This has come largely from its supremely loyal Jatav base, but also a smattering of votes from other Dalit sub groups (even though there has been a larger shift among non-Jatav Dalit communities towards the BJP).
In 2022, as the BSP stares at a crisis, will Dalit voters — including even its core Jatav voters — begin shifting towards other parties? And if this shift happens, will it happen towards the SP or the BJP? Could the BJP offset its possible losses among OBC sub-groups with an addition of Dalit votes? Or has the perception of increased atrocities against Dalits eroded the BJP’s growing appeal? The Dalit vote is of course heterogeneous, but given the focus on the OBC vote, which is even more heterogenous, there is a gap in how much we know about the churn among the most marginalised.
And finally, while it is often suggested that the outcome will hinge on whether a Hindu voter in UP will vote as a Hindu or on the basis of his caste, the binary is flawed and does not capture the new political reality enough.
The question is this: Has the majoritarian political order created by Yogi Adityanath — through executive fiat, administrative decisions, political representation, legislation, extra judicial means, and everyday rhetoric — pleased Hindu voters across castes so much that they are willing to ignore all other grievances to support the BJP? Or are there limits to such policies and politics?
This question will determine not just UP’s outcome but the future of Indian politics.
letters@hindustantimes.com
Last week, the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change released the India State of Forest Report 2021 (ISFR-2021), by the Forest Survey of India. According to ISFR-2021, the total forest and tree cover is 80.9 million hectares — 24.62% of the geographical area of India. Compared to the 2019 assessment, there has been an increase of 2,261 sq km in the total forest area and tree cover.
While this is welcome news, there are some points of concern. One, India is not adding to the dense forest (with tree canopy density of 70% or above) and the country has more forest cover with tree canopy density in the range of 10% to 40%. Two, the Northeastern states have lost 1,020 sq km of forest in the last two years and there has been a decadal decline in forest cover across the 52 tiger reserves and the lion conservation area (Gir). Three, there has been an increase in forest loss in the Himalayan states. Four, India reported 345,989 forest fires (November 2020-June 2021), the highest recorded for this period. For the first time, ISFR maps the impact of the climate crisis on forests and estimates that by 2030, 45%-64% of Indian forests will be affected by it.
Forests are the biggest terrestrial carbon reservoirs, but become a source of CO2 and other greenhouse gases if they are destroyed. As India mulls changes to the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, to accommodate development projects, the report provides a picture of the challenges, and what could be the impact of destroying pristine forests that are critical to meet India’s Nationally Determined Contributions on creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has extended by a week the moratorium on events, rallies and roadshows by political parties in five poll-bound states. The poll watchdog has, however, made a concession to the parties, allowing indoor meetings with a maximum of 300 people or 50% of the capacity of the hall, as per guidelines prescribed by the disaster management authorities of the respective states. ECI put the onus of following Covid-19 norms and the code of conduct on political parties, and said fresh instructions on campaigning will be issued after a review on January 22. The decision was taken after ECI held separate virtual meetings with the health ministry, and the chief secretaries, health secretaries and chief electoral officers of the five states.
With Covid cases surging across the country, this is a welcome move. Elections in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh are less than a month away and politicians are eager to canvas for votes. Political activity has also picked up, with parties starting to declare candidates and leaders hurling jibes at each other. But this cannot be prioritised over the urgent need to safeguard public health. The second wave of infections last year, and the five-state elections that coincided with it, taught the country that unmasked rallies and cramped political meetings can quickly become superspreader events. Both ECI and political parties have been more responsible this time around, but continued vigil is required to ensure that the Omicron variant doesn’t wreak havoc on the countryside and burden medical infrastructure.
As India enters the home stretch of the election season, the focus must be on prompt and uniform action against any violator regardless of political consideration. Indoor meetings can be risky, and, therefore, authorities should monitor such events to ensure Covid norms are strictly followed, the audience and speakers masked, the premises sanitised and adequate distance maintained. If outdoor rallies are allowed at some point — and large gatherings should only be permitted once Covid-19 cases are under control — they need to adhere to the protocols as well. For any decision on relaxing campaign restrictions, ECI needs hard data and scientific expertise. The five states, therefore, cannot let up on testing and Covid-19 control measures. An event by the Samajwadi Party last week showed that monitoring by local authorities can be far more effective. No slackening can be permitted in the fight to overcome the third wave.