Of late, there is a rumour doing the rounds between Raisina Hill and Tilak Marg. Twittering birds have it that the age of retirement of Supreme Court of India judges is to be increased to 67 years, not immediately but come a couple of months. This will fall during the tenure of Justice U.U. Lalit who by seniority is expected to take over as the Chief Justice of India (CJI) on August 27, 2022. Dehors the increase, Justice Lalit would have had two months in the august office; come the amendment, his tenure goes on to November 2024. This alteration in age would affect every successor notably Justice D.Y. Chandrachud who will see delay in his ascension from November 2022 to November 2024. All in all, quite momentous for court watchers. Also momentous for political watchers since the next Lok Sabha election is due by May 2024. Much therefore hangs on age, especially the looks of the Court.
Fallout is competition
However, there are more important aspects relating to the retirement age of judges on which reform may be hung, and some of these go far deeper than a mere biennial increase. For one, it is high time that we did away with the disparity between the retirement ages of High Court and Supreme Court judges; High Court judges now retire at 62 and Supreme Court judges at 65.
There is no good reason for this difference. It is not as though grey cells of High Court judges decline dramatically after 62 or those of Supreme Court judges shine glowingly for three years thereafter. Judges, like other men and women of law, are professionals who have long working spans and are capable of good useful work well into their 60s. Age does not wither them easily. The obvious negative fallout of a differential retirement age simply is intense pressure and competition to make it to the top court and thus get three more years. If this is done away with, several judges of mettle would prefer to be Chief Justices and senior judges in the High Courts exercising wide power of influence rather than being a junior judge on a Bench of the Supreme Court. There is good work to be done in the High Courts, and we need good men there.
Needed, a culture of service
But let us not stop there, and instead move to consider what happens to Supreme Court judges after their tenure in the Supreme Court. Several focus on arbitrations and amass considerable fortunes with high fees and multiple sittings. Indeed, some say that they make more money in one year of arbitration than in their entire judicial careers. A minority of judges devote themselves to public service; sadly, this is a very small minority. Another lot are appointed to various constitutional posts and tribunals and commissions. It would be worthwhile reform to create a cadre of public service for retired judges and from this pool make appointments to the constitutional and statutory posts and special assignments. Such judges should receive the full pay and the facilities of a judge of the Supreme Court for life. Obviously they should be barred from arbitrations; it should further be provided that if any judge is unwilling to be a part of the cadre and instead wishes to pursue arbitrations post retirement, then senior positions on the Supreme Court such as the membership of the collegium ought not to be available for them. We should have a culture of public service for senior judges, and those who do not fit in such culture should not be a part of senior ranks.
Serve equally
It is generally assumed that the seniormost judge of the Supreme Court should be the Chief Justice of India, but we may pause to consider whether this is what the law mandates, and whether it is wholly wise. As to the first, the Constitution mandates no such thing. Article 124 merely states that the President will appoint every judge of the Supreme Court, and this includes the Chief Justice, and each of these judges shall hold office until they attain the age of 65 years. The requirement about appointing the seniormost judge to be the CJI is a sleight of hand devised in the Second Judges case (1993) and the consequent Memorandum of Procedure which is an obvious and naked usurpation of the President’s power and a blatant attempt to rewrite the Constitution. It has no constitutional legitimacy. As to wisdom, public purpose is better served by ensuring that the judges of the Supreme Court during their entire tenure are not swayed by their expectations or aspirations to the higher office of CJI, and do not on that account calibrate their views or pause before judgement. Human frailties are human frailties, and judges are no exception much as they may consider themselves to be. There are sufficient examples in India’s judicial history of aberrational judicial conduct with the Holy Grail in view, as also refusing to hear contentious cases which may provoke the executive red or orange light. Indeed, there is no good reason why any one particular person should have a vested interest in the top job, and we are better served by eliminating such expectation. Let all serve equally under the constitutional throne for the entire length of their tenure.
Choosing a leader
Who then shall beprimus inter pares , the first among equals? For the court needs a leader. Go back to the Constitution again; among its catchpool for judges of the Supreme Court are judges of the High Court, senior advocates and distinguished jurists. For argument’s sake let us take the first. Since we want to keep serving sitting Supreme Court judges inviolate from all but the purest influences, let us say that when a serving CJI retires, his successor should be the best reputed Chief Justice of a High Court who has proved himself worthy both in judicial office as well as administrative leadership and has those qualities of heart and head which mark a good leader. Do not forget that M.C. Chagla and P.V. Rajamannar, two of our most eminent judges, retired as Chief Justices of the Bombay High Court and the Madras High Court, respectively. The appointee should have a clear three year term — not the truncated weeks and months that some CJIs now get. But he should not function as theprimus super pares as many CJIs nowadays do — calling the shots and having their unfettered way. He should instead function in a true collegiate manner, especially in regard to the roster of allotment of cases, especially the sensitive ones, and appointments to the Supreme Court and High Courts and other important matters of judicial and administrative importance. Such a combination of CJI so chosen working with senior ranking colleagues will make collegiate functionality both a natural course and an imperative necessity.
Lest that anyone should think that this is an idea coming from outer space, this is invariably followed in making the appointment of the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Only five of its 17 Chief Justices served earlier as an Associate Justice, the rest came fresh to the Court. It is part of a system designed to relieve excessive power and pressure.
Sriram Panchu is Senior Advocate, Madras High Court. E-mail: srirampanchu@gmail.com
Artificial intelligence (AI) is more present in our lives than ever. From predicting what we want to see as we scroll through social media to helping us understand weather patterns to manage agriculture, AI is ubiquitous. AI algorithms can also be partially credited for the rapidity with which vaccines were developed to tackle COVID-19. The algorithms crunched complex data from clinical trials being undertaken in all corners of the world, creating global collaborations that could not have been imagined even a decade ago.
Issues in AI
But AI-related technology cannot be said to always be beneficial. The data used to feed into AI often aren't representative of the diversity of our societies, producing outcomes that can be said to be biased or discriminatory. For instance, while India and China together constitute approximately a third of the world’s population, Google Brain estimated that they form just 3% of images used in ImageNet, a widely used dataset. Similarly, there are problems emerging in facial recognition technologies, which are used to access our phones, bank accounts and apartments, and are increasingly employed by law-enforcement authorities, in identifying women and darker-skinned people. For three such programs released by major technology companies, the error rate was 1% for light-skinned men, but 19% for dark-skinned men, and up to 35% for dark-skinned women. Biases in facial recognition technologies have led to wrongful arrests. These challenges are not surprising when we look at how AI is developed. Only one in 10 software developers worldwide is a woman. These women come overwhelmingly from western countries.
These issues are of particular importance to India, which is one of the world’s largest markets for AI-related technologies, valued at over $7.8 billion in 2021. Indeed, the National Strategy on Artificial Intelligence released by NITI Aayog in 2018 highlights the massive potential of AI in solving complex social challenges faced by Indian citizens across areas such as agriculture, health, and education, in addition to the significant economic returns that AI-related technologies are already creating.
To ensure that the full potential of these technologies is reached, the right incentives for ethical AI governance need to be established in national and sub-national policy. India has made great strides in the development of responsible and ethical AI governance, starting with NITI Aayog’s #AIForAll campaign to the many corporate strategies that have been adopted to ensure that AI is developed with common, humanistic values at its core.
However, until recently, there was no common global strategy to take forward this importance agenda. This changed last November when 193 countries reached a groundbreaking agreement at UNESCO on how AI should be designed and used by governments and tech companies. UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence took two years to put together and involved thousands of online consultations with people from a diverse range of social groups. It aims to fundamentally shift the balance of power between people, and the businesses and governments developing AI. Indeed, if the business model of how these technologies are developed does not change to place human interests first, inequalities will grow to a magnitude never before experienced in history; access to the raw material that is data is key.
Countries which are members of UNESCO have agreed to implement this recommendation by enacting actions to regulate the entire AI system life cycle, ranging from research, design and development to deployment and use. This means they must use affirmative action to make sure that women and minority groups are fairly represented on AI design teams. This could take the form of quota systems that ensure that these teams are diverse or the form of dedicated funds from their public budgets to support such inclusion programmes.
The Recommendation also underscores the importance of the proper management of data, privacy and access to information. It establishes the need to keep control over data in the hands of users, allowing them to access and delete information as needed. It also calls on member states to ensure that appropriate safeguards schemes are devised for the processing of sensitive data and effective accountability, and redress mechanisms are provided in the event of harm. All of this takes enforcement to the next level.
Additionally, the broader socio-cultural impacts of AI-related technologies are also addressed, with the Recommendation taking a strong stance that AI systems should not be used for social scoring or mass surveillance purposes; that particular attention must be paid to the psychological and cognitive impact that these systems can have on children and young people; and that member states should invest in and promote not only digital, media and information literacy skills, but also socio-emotional and AI ethics skills to strengthen critical thinking and competencies in the digital era. This is all critical for ensuring accountability and transparency of AI-related technologies, underpinning a strong rule of law that adapts to new digital frontiers.
In a number of countries, the principles of the Recommendation are already being used in AI regulation and policy, demonstrating their practical viability. Finland provides an example of good practice of this regard, with its 2017 AI Strategy. This was the first of its kind in any European country and demonstrated how governments can effectively promote ethical AI use without compromising the desire to be on the cutting edge of new technologies.
A common rulebook
The new agreement is broad and ambitious. It is a recognition that AI-related technologies cannot continue to operate without a common rulebook. Over the coming months and years, the Recommendation will serve as a compass to guide governments and companies, to voluntarily develop and deploy AI technologies that conform with the commonly agreed principles it establishes – similar moves happened after UNESCO’s declaration on the human genome set out norms for genetic research. Second, it is hoped that governments will themselves use the Recommendation as a framework to establish and update legislation, regulatory frameworks, and policy to embed humanistic principles in enforceable accountability mechanisms. To accompany countries in the realisation of the full potential of AI and with the aim of building the institutional capacity of countries and all the relevant stakeholders, UNESCO is in the process of developing tools to help them assess their readiness in the implementation of the Recommendation and identify, monitor and assess the benefits, concerns and risks of AI system.
With this agreement, we are confident of putting AI to work where it can have the most impact: hunger, environmental crises, inequalities and pandemics. We are optimistic of having built the momentum for real change.
Gabriela Ramos is the Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, UNESCO, and Ritva Koukku-Ronde is the Ambassador of Finland to India and Bangladesh
Transforming one of India’s metro gateway airports into a hub airport deserves consideration as the aviation market puts the novel coronavirus pandemic behind it and passenger demand surges.
Today, India is the third largest domestic aviation market in the world, next only to the United States and China. Consumer confidence in air travel has helped the industry recover faster than anticipated. Some airports have already breached or are close to matching the traffic demand seen before the pandemic.
Besides, in view of the surge in passenger demand, India’s airport operators have planned investments upwards of Rs. 90,000 crore to enhance capacity over the next four years or so.
To boot, the conditions are just right for building a hub airport.
The concept
What exactly is a hub airport?
A hub airport is one served by a multitude of airlines, connecting several airports through non-stop flights.
Historically, airports were designed keeping the requirements of the origin/destination passenger in mind. This meant operating separate arrival and departure terminals.
Over time, better space-utilisation concepts led to the construction of a common passenger terminal with arrival/departure flows segregated on different floor levels. This spawned a new segment of passengers — transit flyers, who use the airport only to connect flights.
A typical hub airport operates on the concept of waves. A wave of incoming flights arrives and connects with another wave of outgoing flights that departs an hour or two later. ‘Hubbing’ allows for the maximum combination of flight pairs and a wider choice of destinations and frequencies for connecting passengers.
Importantly, while an aspiring hub looks at attracting foreign airlines to widen the number of direct point-to-point connections, it thrives on airlines nestled (based) at that airport, which dedicate more resources, aircraft, crew, manpower and infrastructure, and are enablers of growth. Some global examples are (Hub airport/Home airline): London/British Airways; Frankfurt/Lufthansa; Atlanta/Delta Airlines; Dallas/American Airlines; Singapore/Singapore Airlines; Paris/Air France; Dubai/Emirates; Chicago/United Airlines; New York/American Airlines and Delta Airlines; Hong Kong/Cathay Pacific.
Why it is a win-win for all. A hub creates economies of scale for the airport and airlines alike.
The airport benefits from increased direct connectivity with other airports and more revenue opportunities due to increased passenger footfalls. Improved passenger throughput has a knock-on effect on the wider airport ecosystem, such as aero and non-aero service providers at the airport, including cargo and ground handling, fuelling, retail and duty-free, vehicle parking, aircraft maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO), and fixed-base operation (FBO) services at the airport.
Airlines, on their part, get to serve city pairs that are otherwise economically unviable for non-stop flights.
Frequent fliers and business travellers get greater choice and flexibility with flights, destinations, and service frequencies, as well as lower ancillary costs, such as avoiding the time and cost of an overnight stay.
A force multiplier
From the government’s perspective, an airport acts as a force multiplier with economic activity, jobs and employment, investments, business, trade, commerce, tourism, culture, and benefits other sectors of the economy. It is well established that the creation of one job in the aviation sector affects the creation of up to six jobs in allied sectors, such as tourism and hospitality.
All this propels the economic and social development of the city and its inhabitants, too.
Let us look at considerations for a hub airport in India. There are three basic requirements for becoming a major airport hub, whether domestic or international, i.e. sufficient local consumer demand; good geographic location, and necessary infrastructure to support high-volume traffic. In India’s case, the first two requirements are largely addressed and the focus is rightly on addressing the third requirement.
An India perspective
In the context, here is a look at the favourable factors, impediments, and opportunities.
In considering the factors in favour: India has the largest diaspora, or transnational community, at 18 million people across all six continents and regions (based on the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division – Report on International Migration 2020); India is located on busy international air corridors that connect Europe, Africa, and the Middle East with Asia, making it ideal for a transit hub and alternative/diversion/fuel stop/technical stop; being the fifth-largest economy in nominal GDP terms (IMF World Economic Outlook Database April 2019) and the seventh largest by land mass, India can support development of more than one hub airport; airport business in India is largely monopolistic, with no competing airport in the same urban area; airport development in India is a regulated business with minimum downside risk for investors; airport tariff determination under the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India is a robust, fair, and transparent process
Let us consider the impediments. There are capacity constraints at major airports because of a lack of landing slots, especially during peak hours; the Airports Authority of India Act (AAI), 1994 constrains the AAI/airport operators from commercially exploiting available land for non-aeronautical activities; a ‘high cost-low fare’ operating environment and increased competition hurts airline balance sheets and financials, which hurts the growth of airports; India has 34 operational international airports, yet smaller international airports are either completely left out or have very limited scope in starting international flight operations; rationalisation of duties and taxes, such as bringing aviation turbine fuel under the ambit of goods and services tax, will enable airlines to reduce costs and emerge financially stronger, thereby benefiting airports
And, finally, the opportunities. There is a need to develop inter-modal connectivity (rail/road – air) and logistics support infrastructure (warehousing) as a part of the future airport master plans to fully exploit potential with cargo and freight; aspiring hub airports can partner with tier-2 and tier-3 airports in their catchments; airports can broaden their revenue base by developing allied service capabilities, such as cargo handling, aircraft MRO and FBO.
Jagannarayan Padmanabhan is Director and Practice Leader – Transport and Logistics, CRISIL Infrastructure Advisory
The Union Cabinet has cleared a mega auction of radio spectrum in various bands for commercial mobile services. Based on the recommendation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the government is planning to auction spectrum in the sub-GHz bands of 600, 700, 800 and 900 MHz; in the mid-bands of 1,800, 2,100, 2,300, 2,500 and 3,300 MHz, and in the high-frequency band of 26 GHz. The total spectrum to be auctioned is about 72 GHz, compared to about 2.2 GHz put on the block last year. The cumulative reserve price — and hence the potential revenue accrual to the government at reserve prices — is about Rs. 4,31,605 crore compared to about Rs. 3,90,000 crore last year. However, the realised value in last year’s auction was just about 20% of the reserve price at Rs. 74,000 crore, with the 700 MHz and 2,500 MHz band not being sold. While the 2021 auction could be considered a failure from the auctioneer’s point of view, will the auction scheduled for this month be successful? There are many factors that determine the success of spectrum auction.
Reserve price
The first is the reserve price. Our research on a cross-country spectrum database shows that the reserve price significantly and positively correlates with the winning bid price. However, a higher reserve price also inhibits bidders from bidding for more spectrum blocks, resulting in lower amounts of spectrum sold. If the quantity effect is more than the price effect, it results in reduced revenues for the government exchequer, as it happened in 2021. The government has accepted TRAI’s recommendations on the reserve process across different bands, which is less than what was specified for the respective bands last year. Though some of the bands are high-priced compared to other countries, the average price of the new bands such as 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz, at $0.02 and $0.0004, are in line with international prices on per MHz per pop basis. However, the evolving heterogeneity within each of the 22 LSAs (licensed share access) makes it difficult for the bidders to ascertain the true value of the spectrum given the reserve prices. Hence, the uncertainty in the winning bid prices.
Second, the willingness to pay by the telcos depends on their position vis-à-vis Over The Top providers who are providing substitute services such as Voice Over Internet Protocol; and capturing a greater mind share of customers while remaining relatively invisible to government regulators. However, the erosion of the position of telcos vis-à-vis OTTs in the context of their relationship in the overall digital value network of devices, connectivity and apps could result in a lower willingness to pay.
The 5G capable networks provide massive Machine Type Communication, and Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications that are likely to be adopted on a large scale by enterprise users in manufacturing, healthcare, and utilities. These requirements can be fulfilled by the licensed telcos by building captive non-public networks (CNPN) or leasing/ sharing the allotted spectrum to the enterprises. However, TRAI has recommended that apart from these options, the firms can directly lease spectrum from the government for building their own CNPNs, which is proving to be a thorn for the telcos. This is where telcos should lead from the front by forging alliances with managed service providers to augment their enterprise offerings, which in turn will result in a demand for 3.3 and 26 GHz bands in the auction.
What can we expect?
In our research on spectrum auctions held across countries, we found that reserve price and the number of bidders in the auction have a positive effect on auction. Both these factors have been reduced from the past auctions. In fact, the number of bidders in 2016 auction was seven compared to three now. Hence, we expect the winning bid prices to decrease accordingly. However, our analysis shows that the total quantum of spectrum put on auction has a negative effect on winning bid prices. Since the quantum of spectrum in this auction is about 35 times more than last year, including the new bands in 600 MHz, 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz, we expect that it will have substantial negative effects on spectrum prices. On the other hand, abolition of annual spectrum usage charges for all spectrum procured in this auction and the deferred payment option incentivises bidders to be active in the auction.
In last year’s auction, out of a total of 141 offerings, all the 108 sold were at reserve prices. We don’t expect much deviation this year either. So, once again, the reserve price is expected to dominate the minds of bidders in the months to come.
V. Sridhar is Professor at IIIT Bangalore. Rohit Prasad is Professor at Management Development Institute, Gurugram
After the Congress’s dismal performance in the Kerala Assembly polls last year, when it secured just 21 of the 140 seats, the party’s Central leadership decided to replace the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, Mullappally Ramachandran, who was perceived to be inefficient, and the Leader of the Opposition, Ramesh Chennithala, who was accused of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.
But now things have changed for the party, with Kannur MP K. Sudhakaran at the helm of the KPCC and V.D. Satheesan as the Leader of the Opposition. The new leaders have been able to galvanise the rank and file and set the rickety organisational apparatus in order to an extent.
The Congress’s organisational capabilities were on show during the Statewide protests it launched against the SilverLine rail project. The new leadership’s political acumen was reflected in the decision to field two women for crucial positions: Jebi Mather for the winnable Rajya Sabha seat and Uma Thomas for the Thrikkakara Assembly seat, which was left vacant when her husband P.T. Thomas passed away. Despite the CPI(M)’s political and organisational might, which was on full display during the Thrikkakara bypoll, the Congress won by a record margin. The victory not only provided a psychological boost to the party, but also consolidated the hold of the Sudhakaran-Satheesan duo in the Kerala unit.
Perhaps this victory has also emboldened the duo to persistently seek the resignation of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who has been accused of gold smuggling and money laundering by Swapna Suresh, one of the prime accused in the gold smuggling scandal that had rocked the first Pinarayi regime.
But questions are also being raised about the confrontationist strategies adopted by the Congress leaders. Political observers see the unprecedented act of three Youth Congress workers boarding a domestic aircraft carrying Mr. Vijayan and shouting slogans as a grave misadventure. The CPI(M)-led LDF government responded to the incident by slapping attempt-to-murder charges on the three Youth Congress activists. There is some irony in the CPI(M)'s outrage over the aircraft incident. In 2013, the then Congress Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, had suffered injuries when some protesters who were part of a CPI(M) agitation over the solar scam threw stones at his car.
Nevertheless, a section of old- timers in the Congress feels that the strategy has backfired and given the LDF an advantage even as an in-flight video showed LDF convener E.P. Jayarajan pushing two of the Youth Congress activists who had raised slogans against the Chief Minister. On the other hand, the majority of the rank and file, particularly younger members, feel that the State leadership is infusing new life into the party.
Unlike in the past, the Congress leadership has no intention of letting go of the issue easily. Congress MP Hibi Eden demanded to know from the Union Civil Aviation Ministry and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation why an FIR was not registered against Mr. Jayarajan. Mr. Satheesan shot off a letter to the IndiGo Airlines Associate Vice President seeking action against the airport manager of the airlines for submitting to the local police station a “fake and frivolous” report on the protest.
With no election in the near future, the State Congress is witnessing an organisational churn like never before. With the Congress slowly trying to regain strength, the BJP, which had all along been claiming that it was thede facto Opposition, stands merely as yet another Opposition party protesting against Mr. Vijayan. The other key goal of the Sudhakaran-Satheesan duo will be to re-establish the Congress’s hegemony within the UDF.
biju.govind@thehindu.co.in
The Union Cabinet last week cleared the decks for the first auction of radio spectrum to facilitate the roll-out of 5G telecommunication services. The Department of Telecommunications promptly issued a 159-page ‘Notice Inviting Applications’, detailing the specifics of the auction including the frequencies that would be up for bidding starting on July 26, and their reserve prices. The speed with which the Government has moved — from the initial announcement in the Union Budget to the telecom regulator’s recommendations, and finally notification of the auction — has been commendable and shows its keenness to ensure India is at the relative vanguard in the adoption of the potentially ‘transformative’ technology. The Government has underscored that its primary motivation is to boost digital connectivity, a laudable objective given that the rapid growth of wireless telephony has perceptibly helped improve the delivery of services such as mobile banking, online education and telemedicine. The rub, however, is in the details. While most of the specific frequency bands that telecom providers consider optimal for the introduction of 5G services have been made available, including in the sub 1 GHz range, a C-Band frequency of 3.3 GHz, and the higher 26 GHz, the Government’s decision to set the reserve price for the spectrum based on the regulator’s recommendations reveals a prioritisation of revenue over the industry’s long-term health. Even considering that an option for a staggered annual pay-out of the licence fee over its 20-year term has been provided, the price is still high.
This is particularly so when one considers the level of financial stress that has shrunk the sector to a near duopoly, and forced the surviving operators to resort to tariff increases to protect their viability and ability to make future investments. With 5G’s adoption for the various possible end uses that leverage machine-to-machine communication such as IoT, smart agriculture, smart homes and others that bank on reliability, including smart grids and autonomous vehicles, still in its relative infancy even in advanced economies, the technology is yet some years away from scale-based economic viability. The relatively small size of the market for just faster downloads of videos and games, especially at a higher cost, makes it near certain that service providers will take an ultra-cautious approach both to bidding for spectrum and in rolling out services. The Cabinet’s decision to allow bids for starting Captive Non-Public Networks that would enable individual companies to run private networks within the isolated confines of the enterprise has also roiled the pitch. It is hard to imagine the urgency to open up 5G for this niche application, particularly as it further undermines the economics for traditional telcos. India must be conscious of the challenges and opportunities of 5G services, and ensure that the technology caters to the largest sections of the population and not remain a deliverer for a high-value but limited, premium segment.
Bilateral Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) are often deemed an after-thought, added as an appendage to Tests and ODIs. The hype and the arc lights are reserved for glamorous domestic T20 championships like the Indian Premier League (IPL) or the Big Bash. But since this is a year that features the ICC Twenty20 World Cup later in Australia, teams need matches under their belt as part of the build-up. The recently concluded T20I series between India and South Africa fits into this template even if the climax under whimsical Bengaluru skies ensured a stalemate at 2-2. Trailing 0-2 after the first two encounters, India did well to win the next two and draw level before rains threw a damp curtain in the last fixture at Bengaluru with just 3.3 overs being bowled. Essentially India was not with its first-choice squad as captain Rohit Sharma and former skipper Virat Kohli were rested after a poor run in the IPL. The duo is in England along with a few other players, training for the fifth Test of last year’s series that paused after four clashes following a COVID-19 scare. To make it worse for India, K.L. Rahul, appointed interim skipper, was also ruled out with an injury, and Rishabh Pant had to step into the hot seat against the visiting South Africans.
Temba Bavuma’s men fired in the initial games. Be it a healthy 211 in Delhi or a meagre 148 in Cuttack, the Proteas chased without fuss and India having rested spearhead Jasprit Bumrah for the series, failed to stem the flow of runs. Fortunes changed at Visakhapatnam with India defending 179 for five as its bowlers found their restrictive zones. Parity was restored at Rajkot with India seizing the contest by 82 runs. Seen as a dress rehearsal for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup, this series was an opportunity to test both youngsters and seasoned players. Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya did well while Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shreyas Iyer could have done better. Dinesh Karthik, at 37, blitzed a strike rate of 158.62. Among the bowlers, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal had their moments. Pant was middling with the bat, perhaps captaincy weighed him down. Coach Rahul Dravid and the selectors have got a few pointers about the T20 national squad. Meanwhile it is time to slip on the whites for the pending fifth Test against England at Birmingham from July 1. India leads at 2-1 but much water has flowed down the Thames. The visitor has a new captain and coach in the Rohit-Dravid combine while on the opposite side, Ben Stokes has taken over from Joe Root. Change is in the air.
Budapest, June 21: The Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s visit has stirred the highest ambitions in Hungarian women. The Hungarian Prime Minister, Mr. Jeno Fock, told Mrs. Gandhi during the talks yesterday that his wife had been badgering him for not doing enough for the uplift of Hungarian women. When Mr. Fock related to his wife the various measures being taken by the Government, Mrs. Fock retorted: “but when will a woman become Hungary’s Prime Minister?” Mr. Fock replied: “That can only be when I quit.” The two delegations burst into laughter as Mr. Fock related this piece of conversation. Like Czechoslovakia, Hungary is faced with shortage of manpower. To solve this problem, it gives many fiscal inducements to those who are prepared to have more children. Despite social security measures, the preference in both the countries is only for small families, with not more than two or three children. Mr. Fock told Mrs. Gandhi when Hungary recognised Bangladesh how Pakistan first snapped its diplomatic ties and later restored them. The Hungarian Prime Minister said: “We recognised Bangladesh on January 26. Immediately, Pakistan broke off its diplomatic relations. Privately, they whispered we should not take it seriously. Soon enough they restored the ties.” Faced with problems of generation gap as elsewhere in the world, the Hungarians have brought down the voting age from 21 to 18. Anyone above 18 can also stand for elections to Parliament, a unicameral legislature.
Presidential Polls
The Congress-I is believed to have decided to field the Home Minister, Zail Singh, for the presidency against the combined opposition nominee, Hiren Mukerjee, a veteran parliamentarian and scholar. Though an hour-long meeting of the central parliamentary board of the Congress-I unanimously approved the choice of Zail Singh, it was decided that the formal announcement to this effect would be made by the Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. Most members at the CFB-I meeting rejected the opposition suggestion for a consensus candidate. Mukherjee’s name was approved by the representatives of ten opposition parties after two separate meetings.
The Israeli Invasion
Israeli tank guns, heavy artillery and naval gunboats unleashed a non-stop bombardment of suspected Palestinian positions and mainly Lebanese residential areas in encircled West Beirut in apparent retaliation for the ambush of an Israeli patrol. The Palestinian Liberation Organisation said that “a heavy artillery bombardment supported by naval gunfire” continued through the night and the morning, causing “many Palestinian casualities”.
A district collector who unearthed large-scale corruption in a Maharashtra employment scheme and started taking action against the culprits, has been summarily transferred to an obscure place. Arun Bhatia, the young collector of Dhulia district, who detected 42 cases of irregularities in the multi-crore Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS), was two days ago ordered to quit his post by the Chief Secretary, PG Gavai, according to Mantralaya sources. Under EGS, jobs are given to rural landless and small farmers. Unlike other government schemes, there are no middlemen or contractors here.
A team of experts at the Australian National Dictionary Centre in Canberra has been hard at work, poring over a database of words and phrases that have special significance for the country’s history, as they update their national dictionary. Phrases such as “loose unit” and “mad as a cut snake” are being bandied around and those like “story custodian” or “battler” are being rescued.
The attempt at decolonising language is part of an ongoing process of reclamation and repatriation of languages the world over. There is a unique ownership of English in countries such as India, Pakistan, or those in the Caribbean islands and the New World, that has resulted in a wealth of original literature acknowledged by international literary prizes. The lack of esteem once associated with pidgins — patois that developed out of interactions between colonisers and indigenous communities — is now on the wane.
At the heart of this process is an essential recognition of the fact that in its role as the stepping stone to identity and culture, language is the canvas for power play. It is language that acts as a currency of power — remoulding, reinforcing, subverting or invisibilising dialects till they moult beyond recognition. While early policies in Australia had dealt a death knell to many indigenous languages, linguistic biases often work insidiously, shaping tongues covertly over generations till they become a socialised phenomenon. In recognising and rescuing those communal experiences lost to time and policies, the good people at the Australian National Dictionary Centre are attempting to right a historical wrong. That may be hard yakka, hard work, but that’s defo gnarly — definitely awesome!
This editorial first appeared in the print edition on June 22, 2022 under the title ‘Rescuing words’.
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Over the past few years, much of the discussion on public finances in India has revolved around the fiscal stress at the level of the central government. However, state government finances have also been under pressure. Their space to manoeuvre has been restricted by slowing revenues, a rising share of committed expenditure and higher outgoes on subsidies. Unless the GST Council decides otherwise, they will witness a further fall in revenues once the compensation period draws to a close. A recent study by economists at the Reserve Bank of India notes that 10 states — namely, Punjab, Rajasthan, Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana — have the highest debt burden. Of these, the five most fiscally stressed are Bihar, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal. All these states have a debt to GSDP ratio in excess of 30 per cent.
A high debt level translates to higher interest payments. According to the report, the share of interest payments in revenue receipts exceeds 20 per cent for most of these states. Coupled with allocations for pension and administrative payments, the share of committed expenditure for these states is at least 30 per cent of revenue expenditure. With such a large share of their expenditure firmly earmarked, it restricts the fiscal space to spend on more productive avenues. States have also ramped up spending on subsidies. While a distinction needs to be made between merit and non-merit subsidies, politically motivated decisions such as providing free electricity or waiving of outstanding utility bills, profligate from a fiscal view, will aggravate the stress, and distort the functioning of the market. The failure to turn around the financial position of power distribution companies and opting out of the new pension scheme — Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have recently done so — will only exacerbate the situation.
Over the past few years, some states have also been pushing part of their borrowings off budget, circumventing their ceilings. While there is little clarity on the extent of these obligations, the central government has now taken cognisance of this. It has recently asked states to bring on its books all off-budget borrowing undertaken over the past two years. This will bring about much needed transparency in state finances, revealing their true level of indebtedness. Alongside, states also need to take measures to shore up their revenues, reduce non-merit subsidies, and bring down their debt to more manageable levels.
This editorial first appeared in the print edition on June 22, 2022 under the title ‘Note to states’.
It is no accident that my first two bilateral visits as Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister of Australia are to Japan and India.
The case for Australia making India a priority is unassailable: Australia must strengthen its understanding of and engagement with the world’s soon-to-be most populous nation and a deeply consequential power.
Our world — and our region — faces the most serious strategic confluence of events since the end of the Second World War: Intensifying strategic and geo-economic competition, the return of war to Europe, growing climate risks, and enduring pandemic impacts, all of which are driving inflation and supply chain shocks. Countries which share common values and interests must work together with resolve to shape our economic and strategic environment so that it continues to support our collective security and prosperity.
My visit this week to New Delhi and Goa is based on that conviction, and the commitment by the new Australian government to place India at the heart of Australia’s approach to the Indo-Pacific and beyond. India’s economy, manufacturing capabilities and talent ensure it will play a key role in securing supply chains and restarting post-pandemic growth. Its military has the capacity and capability to respond to natural disasters, help stabilise an uncertain region and contribute to an effective balance of power. And its technological and scientific capabilities are gateways to a cleaner and more sustainable world. Most of all, India’s people have the optimism, the commitment to democracy, the drive and the goodwill to make our region safer, freer and better.
Ours is a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership full of practical, tangible actions that strengthen ties and benefit the region. We are among a very small group of countries to hold annual leaders’ summits and biennial 2+2 talks involving foreign and defence ministers. Today, our defence forces are undertaking more complex activities together, such as in Exercise Malabar with the US and Japan. Last year, Indian military officials observed our Exercise Talisman Sabre, and I have renewed the invitation for India’s forces to participate fully in future iterations of this exercise. We coordinate closely on maritime domain awareness. This year we have deployed P-8 surveillance aircraft to each other’s territories for joint patrols. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to see these capabilities in action, flying alongside dedicated Indian P-8 personnel.
Australia has also committed to a package of partnership initiatives in our update to the India Economic Strategy. The update includes a five-year action plan for the Australian Government to achieve the long-term ambitions set out in the landmark 2018 India Economic Strategy to 2035. It also includes new bilateral cooperation that spans the full breadth of the relationship. These include opening a Consulate-General in Bengaluru in 2023 to tap into India’s technology and start-up hub, and a joint Australia-India Centre of Excellence for Critical and Emerging Technology Policy, also in Bengaluru. In Australia, we will open an Australia-based Centre for India-Australia Relations to propel and strengthen our community, institutional and business ties — including through a suite of new Maitri (mateship) scholarships, fellowships, and partnerships.
India and Australia have great potential to cooperate on climate and sustainability. As we do on ethical critical mineral and resource production, cutting-edge renewable technology research and development, skills and education, waste and the circular economy, business, investment, and advanced manufacturing. Our government is focused on making Australia a renewable energy superpower, and we want to see India emerge as a clean technology manufacturing powerhouse.
As our bilateral relationship deepens, we must begin to work more together with others in the region. We see enormous potential in the Indian and Pacific oceans, where we each have vital interests in combating climate change, illegal fishing and people smuggling and responding to humanitarian crises and natural disasters. India and Australia have shown that when we work in partnership, as in the wake of Tonga’s devastating underwater earthquake, we are greater than the sum of our parts. Right across the Bay of Bengal, we are responding to the needs of our partners, including through connectivity, trade and energy, and maritime partnerships in the East Indian Ocean.
Australia and India take our commitments to our regional partners seriously. India has assisted Sri Lanka through its current economic crisis. Australia is doing the same, contributing approximately Rs 270 crore (AUD 50 million) in Official Development Assistance to support health services, and economic recovery.
As I have discussed with many of my new counterparts, Australia has a vision for an open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific region. It is a vision for a region that is more integrated rather than divided, where trade and investment flow freely based on agreed rules and treaty commitments, where disputes are resolved through dialogue in accordance with international law, and where a strategic culture that respects the rights of all states, big and small, prevails. It is a vision that we share with partners like ASEAN, and partners like India.
Australia’s vision for the region’s peace and stability is for these principles, not against any one power. But it is not just words. It is backed by investment, authentic partnership and action. Whether through joint activities with like-minded countries, or our support of regional and multilateral architecture, Australia is ensuring the region has options and balance.
Australia’s interests don’t just align with India’s, they are inextricably entwined. Expect this relationship to grow and prosper, our cooperation to deepen. This might be my first visit as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, but it will certainly not be my last.
This column first appeared in the print edition on June 22, 2022 under the title ‘Our entwined values and interests’. The writer is Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister
Communication is a critical element of monetary policy. In the current inflation targeting (IT) regime, the resolution adopted by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and published on the RBI’s website on the day of the monetary policy meeting is an important channel of communication with the public. Yet there seems to be a gap between what the MPC says and what the RBI does.
Under the IT regime, the most important role in communication belongs to the MPC, consisting of three external members, three RBI representatives, and chaired by the governor. By law, this is the highest monetary policy-making body in the land, tasked with deciding monetary policy changes at regular intervals. These changes are then communicated through formal statements, with the discussions underlying these decisions also being published, so that the public can understand why the MPC decided the way that they did.
During the first few years of IT from 2016 to 2018, the process worked quite well. On the days of policy announcements, the governor and his deputies would participate in a press conference to answer questions from the media. But otherwise the focus was squarely on the MPC, especially its statement, from which the public used to glean important information about the monetary policy strategy — that is, why the repo rate was or was not changed.
From 2019 onwards, however, things began to change. The RBI began to release a separate governor’s statement on the day of the monetary policy meeting, presenting an inflation outlook and even explaining the decision taken by the MPC. The rationale for this statement was unclear: At best, it has overlapped with the MPC statement; at times, it has seemed somewhat different, making it difficult for the public to understand what the policy strategy really was.
Consider the MPC statement following the June 8 Monetary Policy Review. The MPC highlighted inflation concerns, and voted in favour of raising the policy repo rate. On the same day, a governor’s statement issued by the RBI mentioned that the central bank will also remain focussed on orderly completion of the government’s borrowing programme.
The issuance of two such different statements can lead to confusion, especially as lowering inflation and lowering government bond yields are contradictory policy objectives.
This is an example of how, over the past few years, a communication gap seems to have opened up between what the MPC has been saying and what the RBI has been doing, thereby potentially eroding credibility of the IT framework. This communication gap will need to be closed in order for the RBI to become successful in bringing inflation back to its 4 per cent target level.
Why is communication so critical? There are many reasons. But let’s focus on just one, namely the ability of the central bank to influence inflation expectations. If the public believes the central bank is committed to keeping inflation under control, then it will act accordingly. Firms will moderate their price increases, fearing that large price rises will make them uncompetitive. Meanwhile, workers will accept moderate wage increases, while investors will accept low interest rates on their bond purchases. With everyone acting in this way, it will be easier for the central bank to ensure that inflation indeed remains low.
Of course, spikes in commodity prices will inevitably cause inflation to surge from time to time. But if inflation expectations are well anchored, then it becomes relatively easy for the central bank to ensure that inflation returns to the target level before too long.
The most important task of the MPC, enshrined in the RBI Act (Amended), 2016 that introduced IT, is to decide the repo rate, since this has long been the lynchpin of India’s monetary policy framework. Ever since the early 2000s, policy had aimed to keep overnight money market rates in a corridor, with the lower bound established by the reverse repo rate and the upper bound by the repo rate. Since the width of this corridor was fixed, once the repo rate was decided, the reverse repo rate was automatically determined, and market overnight rates adjusted accordingly.
But during the Covid-19 pandemic, the RBI constantly adjusted the reverse repo rate even as the MPC kept the repo rate unchanged, meaning that the fixed width of the corridor was lost, and the MPC lost any role in determining interest rates. Accordingly, the remit of the MPC and indeed the credibility of the entire IT edifice was called into question.
In addition, the RBI introduced a number of new policy instruments, again outside the remit of the MPC. During the pandemic, it brought in the GSAP programme through which it pre-commited to buying a certain amount of dated government bonds in order to control their yields. It then introduced variable reverse repo auctions, and more recently, replaced the reverse repo rate with the long-dormant standing deposit facility rate, the rationale for which was not explained in the MPC statement. Unlike developed country central banks like the Bank of England for example, all unconventional monetary policy announcements were kept outside the MPC statement thereby raising questions about the role of the committee in deciding monetary policy actions at a crucial time like the pandemic.
Lastly, the RBI has been intervening in the foreign exchange market to manage the rupee. Forex interventions by definition influence the domestic monetary base and inflation. Yet the MPC in its monetary policy statements does not discuss either the exchange rate dynamics or the forex interventions. Just as it does not discuss the RBI’s interventions in the bond market to lower the yields.
The net result of all these actions is a potential loss of both clarity and credibility. There appears to be a growing rift between what the MPC says and what the RBI does. And with the proliferation of policy instruments, it is no longer clear to the public how the policy stance should be measured — or what the monetary policy framework is.
In its latest two statements, the MPC indicated that policy would now be focusing on bringing India’s inflation rate under control. If the RBI is going to be successful in this endeavour, the first step must be to close the communication gap, by reintroducing a simple and clear policy framework and restoring the central role of the MPC.
This column first appeared in the print edition on June 22, 2022 under the title ‘What MPC says, what RBI does’. The writer is Associate Professor of Economics, IGIDR, Mumbai
In the nationwide uproar over Agnipath, one matter has received little attention: The way the scheme has been linked to educational programmes. These programmes have not been spelt out. They are being defined on the go, as part of an unfolding package to assuage public anxieties. This is the time to voice some concerns to take into account as the programmes crystallise.
The need for such educational support cannot be questioned. Disbanded Agniveers will require training for whatever work they take up subsequently. The point at issue is the nature of the training, and how it meshes with the education system generally. We must also recognise that leadership, discipline, team spirit, etc., while worthy traits of character that the forces might inculcate, do not constitute concrete skills or qualifications. For that, we must resort to the broader, and sadly messier, general education system.
Two major plans have been mooted. First, those joining after Class X can proceed to a Class XII certificate through the National Institute of Open Schooling. It is unclear whether this will happen during their tour of duty or afterwards. Realistically, it can only be the latter. The idea is unexceptionable, even if relatively few 21-year-olds will enrol for a certificate that their peers obtained at 18.
The question relates to the content of the programme. This will apparently consist of “customised courses that are not only current but very relevant to their area of service”. This is less than illuminating. Does it mean the “area of service”, namely military service, that they have left behind? It seems superfluous to repeat or extend that training, which would hardly help them in future civilian life.
If, on the contrary, it means the services the Agniveers will now take up, those will surely be too varied for “customised courses”. The most beneficial plan would be to focus on mainstream general education: Languages, mathematics, natural and social sciences, alongside practical skills like computation and accountancy. These are precisely what the Agniveers will have missed out on: They can now make good that deficit.
What might trouble us is the imprecise and clichéd phrasing, suggesting the matter has not been thought through. It raises the disquieting possibility that in practice, this certificate might be seen by both recipients and authorities as a handout. This seems a very real danger with the other proposal, of a special three-year degree programme mooted by the University Grants Commission jointly with the Indira Gandhi National Open University. Here, 50 per cent of the credits will derive from the “skill training received by [Agniveers] during their tenure in the defence establishments”. The earlier objections apply more strongly here. How, within the civilian education system, would they enhance those skills to degree level? Or would the six-month in-service training be mechanically converted to credits for the notionally separate three-year course? And again, where would such skills be applied in civilian life?
The proposal follows some disquieting trends already present in our academic system. It also sets a precedent for more ad hoc measures, perhaps with less momentous cause. The new National Educational Policy prescribes an open-ended four-year undergraduate programme. The relevant section (chapter 11) of the policy document is a cascade of high-sounding clichés defying any thrust towards a focused and integrated curriculum. The first three years’ courses are multifarious, not to say scattered and diffuse. After three years, the student can exit with a Bachelor’s degree; after four, with a “multidisciplinary” Bachelor’s degree, or one “with research”.
This implies a distressing dilution of standards. Multidisciplinary research in any true sense is an especially rigorous exercise: A mishmash of courses in separate subjects over a single year cannot equip a student for it. Nor can a year’s undergraduate project work prepare her for intensive research within a single discipline. Yet the UGC’s latest edict declares this four-year Bachelor’s course to be sufficient training for doctoral research, including “multidisciplinary” research.
Even this model, it seems, will be diluted further for the Agniveers’ supposed benefit. Reserving 50 per cent credits for “skill training” as above, the other 50 per cent will be divided among “a wide variety of subjects” covering humanities and professional fields including astrology (jyotish) but not, amazingly, the basic sciences or technology. The only degrees mentioned in the press release are B.A. (various streams) and B.Com. (One wonders about Agriculture, one of the listed subjects.)
If this is the best we can offer our Agniveers by way of higher education, we will be shortchanging them. Perhaps that is the idea, to turn the degree into an undemanding formality, a kind of sop for disbanding them. That would be a poor tribute to their abilities and motivation, and poor provision for their future. Our youth, both Agniveers and the rest, deserve better.
The writer is professor emeritus, department of English, Jadavpur University
Why did Prime Minister Narendra Modi, out of the blue, mention Abbas Ramsada, who lived for a while in the Modi household as a child because his father, Miyanbhai, passed away prematurely and the family was finding it tough to ensure that Abbas could continue school education? The question is important because Modi does not habitually refer to personal interactions with Muslims. His last public encounter with a Muslim that made it to the headlines was in 2011 and does not evoke pleasant memories.
Back then, he refused a skull cap offered by a Muslim cleric. His action during the Sadbhavna campaign announcing his arrival as a prime ministerial contender was applauded by supporters and criticised by adversaries. It cemented his position as a polarising figure, which contributed immensely to his rise. After becoming PM, Modi has held occasional private but publicised meetings with Muslim representatives and sent chadars during festivities to a dargah or two. In September 2017, he accompanied then-Japanese premier Shinzo Abe to Ahmedabad’s 16th-century Sidi Saiyyed mosque. It was Modi’s first-ever public visit to the architectural marvel, evidence of the historical fruition of Gujarat’s multiculturalism, and marked an important turn in his political career.
Is it sheer coincidence that the timing of the mosque visit with Abe – a few months prior to the Gujarat assembly election – is somewhat similar to his revelation about Abbas, also before polls are due in the state?
Since he was Gujarat’s chief minister, Modi has positioned himself as a firm believer in the “sabka doctrine”, the principle formulated by Lal Krishna Advani – “development of all, appeasement of none.” The PM’s reference to Abbas was made on his blog, a platform which played a crucial role in creating the Modi cult. Because other digital and social media platforms are available to him, Modi rarely blogs now – the last time was in October 2021, to mark India’s Covid-19 vaccinations touching the 100 crore mark. This latest blog, titled ‘Mother’ (Ma and Mata in Hindi and Gujarati, respectively) marked a personal watershed in Modi’s and his mother’s life – she entering the 100th year of her life. The over 4,000-word blog was mainly devoted to sketching her life, mentioning hardships, her resoluteness in the face of adversity and her spirit to battle it out to provide for her children. His mother is presented as extending complete support for his choices in life and his image as a selfless leader was fortified through these references.
No action of Modi is without a purpose. A direct reference to Abbas, as evidence of his family’s affability towards a young Muslim boy battling through a difficult phase in life, would have appeared incongruous. The character was thereby introduced in the blog to substantiate Hiraben’s portrayal as a person who “would find happiness in other people’s joys.” No direct suggestion is required — the blog mentions several of his mother’s attributes that Modi picked up, for readers to draw the inference that he too draws delight and a sense of fulfilment from the happiness and well-being of people. Modi’s father too is depicted as a caring elder who brought home his friend’s son and provided warmth and support when the latter was vulnerable. Hiraben is also said to have prepared the boy’s favourite dishes during Eid, thus highlighting her (and the family’s) respect for others’ faith.
Each of these details seeks to establish that Modi’s upbringing was not in an Islamophobic family. Instead, taking care of a Muslim in distress was part of his familial values. It is a different matter that the episode with Abbas took place in 1973, by which time Modi had left home and become part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Modi would probably have had no, or very little, interaction with Abbas because he was a classmate of his younger brother, Pankaj. This is not mentioned and it is suggested that Hiraben showering love and care “like she did for all of us siblings”, was endorsed by Modi.
The existence of Abbas and his association with the Modi family has been in the public domain since early 2014 when Sudesh Verma, a journalist turned BJP leader, wrote a biography lavishing praise on Modi and mentioned this episode. Yet, in the past eight years, Modi has not spoken or written about this. Few will fail to note that this mention has been made against the backdrop of the controversy arising out of suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s comment on the Prophet.
It is natural to ask if Abbas has been introduced into the public discourse to project Modi as having grown up with inclusive values. If this is the case, then who is the effort directed at? Enraged Islamic nations and their regimes, or motor-mouths within the BJP?
But will this exercise help the BJP or Modi to fulfil either objective?
No global leader, certainly not from the nations that hauled up New Delhi for Sharma’s and her colleague’s comments, will alter or form their views about Modi based on well-choreographed repostings of a tale from the past. Likewise, it is difficult to imagine the BJP rank and file abandoning overnight the vocabulary of hate and prejudice that they have been trained to use over the past eight years.
Instances of senior BJP leaders using objectionable language are well known and available aplenty in the public domain. The Abbas tale may have “trended” and created a splash for the man, now in Australia, and also added to the ongoing project to publicise Modi’s “softer side”. But beyond that, it will do precious little for Modi and his government.
The writer is an NCR-based author and journalist. His latest book is The Demolition and the Verdict: Ayodhya and the Project to Reconfigure India.
The Agnipath scheme is passing through its first fiery test. Potential recruits for the Indian military are burning trains and buses, and it is tragic to see that the debate on the new scheme has passed on from television channels to a contest on the streets. With the three services announcing the recruitment schedule beginning this month, it is hoped that the angst among the youth is soon dissipated. However, considering the controversy surrounding the scheme, there is undoubtedly a requirement to conduct a reasoned analysis of this initiative.
Let me start by saying there is little doubt that the military requires restructuring, particularly the 1.2 million-strong army. A leaner military would lead to manpower cost savings that could be utilised for modernisation and technology adoption. The Agnipath scheme is designed to reduce salary and pension expenditure, although the government is reluctant to admit that this is the primary factor behind its decision.
There are two competing narratives about Agnipath. The first terms the scheme as “transformative” and “a new idea of a new era” that would have a “positive impact on the human resources management of the armed forces”. The second narrative, voiced mainly by military veterans, warns that the scheme will erode the ethos of the military and blunt its winning edge. Both narratives take an extreme position, and as usual, the truth lies somewhere in between.
The advantages of the Agnipath scheme have been brought out in the briefing held on June 14. It would lead to a more youthful and technically-adept military force. By picking only 25 per cent of Agniveers for permanent absorption, the military will get the best people to form the core of the junior leadership. After serving for four years, the Agniveers will go into civil society “where they can contribute immensely towards the nation-building process”.
There are also challenges. What is the ideal mix of Agniveers and permanent soldiers in an army that faces both external and internal threats daily? What would be the motivation level of Agniveers, a majority of whom know that they will be out of the military after four years? Is a six-month training period sufficient for soldiers, many of whom would be straight away pitched into life-and-death situations along the borders or in counter-terrorism operations? Would the military’s attractiveness as a career reduce, leading to a dilution in the quality of recruits?
While the military leadership says that it is cognisant of these challenges, it is not entirely sure how these issues will play out in the future. The Agnipath scheme is a complete change in the human resource management process, and its implications cannot be accurately forecast. Perhaps some of us are overstating the challenges but caution is required when the stakes are measured in terms of the quality of the military efficiency. It is therefore suggested that the scheme be put through a testbed before its final adoption.
The first four years of the Agnipath scheme should be devoted to assessing the new system’s impact on the military’s operational capability. Our primary concern should be that the ethos and effectiveness of the military are not diluted. Everything else is secondary.
A four-year period involving approximately 1,80,000 Agniveers may appear to be a somewhat excessive exercise, but anything less may not yield the correct results. We must go through one complete life cycle of Agniveers to fully understand how they will fit into different roles, from combat to logistics to technical services. Each of these roles requires different skills and adaptation to different conditions. The four-year period would also enable an accurate assessment of how successfully the retiring Agniveers can transition to a satisfactory second career.
After four years, the military should conduct a comprehensive review of the Agnipath system and present its findings to the government. As stated earlier, the focus should be on assessing if there has been any dilution in operational effectiveness. Thereafter, the government should be open to changes, including major modifications to the system, where required. If all works well, the scheme can be genuinely termed transformational.
How responsible should the government be towards the welfare of retiring Agniveers? There is an argument that the sole focus of militaries is to win battles. If short-term soldiers are required for that, so be it. Recruits join on a voluntary basis and are aware of the terms of service, and the military is not an organisation meant to prepare people for future jobs.
This view could have some merit but it misses the larger relationship between a soldier and the state. There is a mutual obligation between the soldier and the nation that is often referred to as the “military covenant”. A soldier prioritises the nation’s needs above his own, including putting himself in harm’s way in the pursuit of his duties. In return, the nation promises him dignity, respect, and terms of service that will provide him and his family with appropriate compensation for his sacrifices. This should be the guiding principle even for soldiers who leave service, and the nation must respond to their needs.
The Agnipath scheme has the approval of the government and the three service chiefs. The anger on the streets has forced the government to make some accommodative changes and announce measures for post-retirement employment of the Agniveers. However, it is also clear that the scheme will be implemented.
The onus to make the scheme a success lies primarily on the shoulders of the younger military leaders who command units and sub-units. They must strive to ensure that military professionalism remains at the highest level. At the same time, the political leadership must also understand that there is a uniqueness to those who serve in the military.
A US Army Research Institute for Behavioral and Social Sciences report says, “When the chips are down, there is no rational calculation in the world capable of causing an individual to lay down his life. On both the individual and collective levels, war is, therefore, primarily an affair of the heart. It is dominated by such irrational factors as resolution and courage, honour and duty and loyalty and sacrifice of self.” That spirit must not be lost.
The writer retired as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Indian army’s Northern Command
The one opposition coalition experiment that held off BJP is in peril, and Shiv Sena’s and the Maharashtra MVA government’s troubles are made worse by the fact that both his party and wily players in the coalition seemed clueless when Eknath Shinde’s rebellion became apparent. Note that Maharashtra’s home minister is from NCP, and given how the police-politics equation works, a good question to ask is whether Sena got an alert from NCP that 20-odd MLAs are decamping for BJP-governed Gujarat. Sharad Pawar always likes to, and frequently manages to, stay on top of the game, no matter how Maharashtra politics plays out. As the drama over MVA’s future starts playing, and if BJP makes a determined bid for government formation, Pawar’s role may become interesting.
Uddhav Thackeray’s relatively good record as an administrator and MVA’s seeming stability against a BJP that outwitted opposition parties in other states had probably hidden his realpolitik weaknesses. That MLC polls saw cross-voting so soon after Rajya Sabha polls was proof of poor party management. That the MLC fiasco was reportedly thanks to a disaffected Shinde speaks even more poorly of Uddhav and his confidantes’ political antennae. Up against a relentless and ruthless BJP, which sees Maharashtra as a prize denied to it, Uddhav and MVA needed to be far more vigilant. Whatever Shinde’s grouse – Sanjay Raut and Uddhav’s son Aaditya have both been mentioned in reports – Sena should have addressed it given his influence in Thane and surrounding cities like Mumbai and Kalyan-Dombivli. He’s also a player to be reckoned with in high-stakes BMC, Thane municipal elections. CMs must always be mindful that in relying on backroom operators like Raut, they don’t end up upsetting influential vote-getters like Shinde.
Sena’s best-case scenario of course is to court Shinde back. If that as-of-now-unlikely outcome doesn’t materialise, MVA’s future and even the chances of its very existence as a coalition look bleak. BJP has nothing to lose – even if MVA survives, it will do so as a less secure entity – and Maharashtra to gain. The most interesting medium-term question is whether BJP and Sena will politically remarry, each choosing to forget how much it hated the other after the divorce. The danger there for Sena is permanently becoming a BJP B-team. There are no easy options for Uddhav.
In choosing former Jharkhand governor Draupadi Murmu as its presidential candidate, BJP has sent a strong political signal that opposition parties failed at, while nominating veteran politician Yashwant Sinha. If elected – there’s little doubt given NDA’s edge over the opposition in the electoral college – Murmu will be only the second woman to grace the post and the first Adivasi. She is also qualified for the post, having served as an MLA and minister in Odisha before gaining a measure of national attention as Jharkhand governor. Her Odisha roots should also help bag the BJD vote, which should be enough to seal her win.
Women continue to be poorly represented in Parliament and legislatures despite being nearly half the population. So the choice of a woman for India’s top constitutional post does have great salience. While Adivasis get reservation in Parliament and assemblies according to their proportion in the population, measures to address their social and economic marginalisation remain a work in slow progress. Murmu could become a president who inspires many women and people from weaker sections, but for that she will also have to shed the characteristic reticence that recent presidents have been known for.
BJP’s knack for killing many birds with one stone has come to the fore again. In the forthcoming assembly elections in Gujarat, Murmu’s candidature may woo Adivasis to the BJP fold. In Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, the Adivasi vote had deserted BJP in assembly elections. Women are now a key voting bloc in Indian elections and BJP has, through welfare schemes, political appointments to key government posts and legislative enactments, reinforced its outreach. Having outclassed the opposition with exemplary signalling, BJP must now focus attention on the economy so that more Indians can follow the trail blazed by the likes of Draupadi Murmu.
Foreign portfolio investment (FPI) outflows from the Indian stock market have reached $39 billion in the past nine months, including June, as the interest rate differential with advanced economies narrowed and investors switched attention to commodity-producing nations during an upcycle.
The India exposure of FPIs is affected both by its speed in raising interest rates as well as its dependence on imported energy. The US Federal Reserve has increased its policy interest rate by 1.5 percentage points since the beginning of its monetary contraction earlier this year. In comparison, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised rates by 0.9 percentage points. India also imports 85% of its crude oil and 45% of its natural gas. The oil and gas import bill, netted for exports of refined petroleum, climbed to $113 billion in 2021-22, from $63.5 billion in 2020-21 and $92.7 billion in 2019-20. Brent crude averaged $71 a barrel in 2021; RBI's latest projection for the Indian basket is $105 a barrel in 2022-23.
The net FPI outflow of $32 billion in the last nine months exceeds by a wide margin the cumulative net outflows over the decade to 2019-20. The Indian equity market has managed this degree of reversal mainly because of the rise of a new segment of retail investors that is channelling a bigger chunk of household savings into stocks. The number of demat accounts in the country grew 63% in 2021-22 to 89.7 million. Net inflows by retail investors in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) cash market segment have reduced the dominance of FPIs in trading turnover. Their holdings, too, are now matched by local mutual funds and insurance companies.
Surging domestic retail investments have stretched valuations of Indian stocks, and a correction due to FPI outflows would, at some point, draw in value investors. The flight of capital could slow as the Fed's rate hiking trajectory eases, by which time the demand contraction in the US may make commodity producers less attractive to investors.
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Air pollution is a stubborn problem requiring strong policies backed by a stronger willingness to change. The 2022 Air Quality Life Index released last week finds that contrary to perceptions, air pollution in South Asia rose in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. Poor air quality is reducing life expectancy by an average of five years. Aggressive and across-the-board action is necessary. As a first step, GoI must make the targets set under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) legally binding, committing state governments and local authorities to result-oriented action.
Average annual particulate pollution has increased by 61.4% since 1998. Since 2013, about 44% of the world's increase in pollution can be attributed to India. GoI recognises the hazard of air pollution and its impact, but its actions are neither strong nor fast enough. NCAP targets reducing particulate pollution by 20-30%, relative to 2017 levels, by 2024. Another misconception is that air pollution is a seasonal problem.
It is not, the same way disease is not always evident as symptom. Addressing the problem requires an airshed approach identifying pollution sources and reducing pollution at these sources. It will require making improved material resource efficiency integral to the economy. Measures that use resources for longer periods and reduce waste in the system will directly impact air quality. Actions such as improved public transport and higher renewable energy use can direct things the right way.
Pollution is one of three environmental crises impacting the world. Improving air quality in India and South Asia would improve life expectancy, life quality and productivity. It is critical to India's development agenda and plans to spur its economy.
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In one of the worst episodes of flooding in India’s ecologically critical Northeastern (NE) region, five states -- Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh -- have been badly affected. The deluge and landslides have killed at least 100 people, displaced thousands, affected livelihoods, destroyed properties and expensive infrastructure worth crores, and inundated national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. Excessive rainfall and flooding in the Northeast have also inundated vast stretches of Bangladesh, with troops deployed to evacuate stranded people.
While Assam, the worst affected state, is one of the most flood-prone in India due to its intricate network of rivers and their tributaries, scientists say this year’s event shows the irrefutable footprint of the climate crisis. Studies have shown that the Himalayan region’s rainfall patterns have been changing, leading to unpredictable weather. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that the moisture convergence with Bay of Bengal winds was high since the Southwest Monsoon entered the Northeast. The abundance of moisture heated the eastern Himalayas, bringing heavy to extremely heavy rainfall during the first half of June. In a normal year, the Northeast records heavy spells for five to seven days in a month. But this time, it rained heavily for 15 days. The intensity and frequency of such natural disasters will increase further, affecting lives, livelihoods, irrigation, food and water security, and industries.
But the excessive rainfall is not the only reason for such flooding. The obstruction of the natural flow of water in India and China, Nepal, and Bhutan through dams, barrages, and embankments, deforestation and mining in the hills, the destruction of wetlands, development activities on river banks, and unplanned urbanisation have all contributed to rivers losing their navigability. These reasons also made managing floods all the more difficult. Unless corrective actions on both the infrastructure and climate crisis fronts are taken urgently, the region will continue to pay a heavy price every year in a climate-hit era.
In two months, it will have been five years since the Supreme Court (SC)’s landmark judgment that laid down the right to privacy as a fundamental right for Indian citizens. But the ruling has not helped efforts to draw up a law to protect the digital privacy of Indian citizens. For 58 months, a draft legislation has bounced between committees, the government and Parliament, being redrawn and redrafted several times – each iteration arguably more controversial than the last.
The first version of the proposed law was drawn up by a committee headed by retired SC justice BN Srikrishna in July, 2018 after a month-long stakeholder consultation. The second iteration was when the government first brought it to Parliament more than a year later, at the end of 2019. This version was criticised for giving the government excess authority to authorise its agencies to circumvent privacy protections – eventually triggering a debate in Parliament where members forced it to be sent to a joint parliamentary committee (JPC). It was at this stage that the proposed law languished the longest – more than two years. On December 16, 2021 – the JPC, having undergone an overhaul after some members were inducted, finally presented its report to even more controversy. In contention was how it gave the government unbridled prerogative. For instance, it authorised the government to exempt any agency from privacy safeguards for most State function activities, and provided an even broader immunity for “national security”. Experts and dissenters within the JPC said this version, which also sought to cover non-personal data, would give agencies more power to surveil citizens than before. This newspaper reported earlier this week that officials are planning to hive off provisions related to non-personal data and bring in the bill afresh in the monsoon session.
The lack of a law not only means that entities, private or public, are not required to take proactive steps to protect sensitive personal information of the public, but also that when a person’s privacy is violated, the only recourse lies in the courts. At a time when arguably all facets of an individual – personal, economic and social – are on digital domains, the abuse of personal information carries the risk of several harms. At its worst, this can lead to identity theft, and at the least, it can allow scammers to clear out bank accounts – a crime that is far from being uncommon today.
When the Supreme Court decriminalised homosexual sex between consenting adults in 2018, it signalled some important things. Through this decision, it unequivocally established that queer people were not to be treated detrimentally because of their queerness. Indeed, not only were their sexual actions outside the scope of criminal law, queer people (belonging to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual community or LGBTQIA+) had all the rights that others took for granted. Fairness, the court reasoned, was the beacon that all just, free societies aspired toward. It was as much for queer people to expect as it was for others. The court based its reasoning on fundamental rights that are at the heart of the Constitution — the rights to life and liberty, privacy, health, dignity, free speech and expression, and equality.
While doing so, it made two articulations: One which received little coverage, the other which was an easy headline that made the front page. Both are interconnected. When hearing the latter in court that day, I was mystified: Why does “history owe an apology” to the queer community, I asked myself. If anything, society owes us an apology — for the unacceptance, often revealed in outright contempt. Yet, the court implicitly recognised this derision through its direction to the State — to “ensure that this judgment is given wide publicity through the public media… at regular intervals, and initiate programmes to reduce and finally eliminate the stigma” against queer people. Further, and “above all, all government officials, including and in particular police officials… be given periodic sensitization and awareness training of the plight” of queer persons.
So, where are we today, almost four years since that ruling? It is highly questionable whether the State has obeyed the directive of the Supreme Court. Yes, two years have passed in grappling with an unprecedented health challenge. But have wheels been set in motion to ensure that the court’s judgment is conveyed in full to State actors — agencies, police, bureaucrats including ministry and municipal officials, health workers, and all those who run this nation and its innumerable parts? Is it any easier for a queer man to go to a police station in a small town or big city in India to lodge a complaint of violence or harassment by local goons? Are sensitised personnel available on helplines to cater to the needs of trans and other gender non-conforming people when they are subject to unrelenting hate by members of their family? To be sure, this was the reality for many queer people during the Covid-19 lockdown. For them, it was a lockup.
Indeed, with no way out at such times, queer people went through tyrannies that have been little reported. In Delhi, one helpline received 60 distress calls during the lockdown from queer women and men about “house arrests”, and physical and emotional violence meted out by family members. Their ordeals included constant surveillance and restrictions from accessing their own mobile phones. This is data from one helpline in Delhi over three months, about people who were aware of its existence. Multiply it manifold, and you can get an idea of the scale of repression.
Other queer persons were forced to undergo "conversion therapy" by their families to comply with heterosexist expectations. This "therapy" should be called out for what it is — torture. To be sure, in 2021 when a lesbian couple approached the Madras High Court seeking protection against interference and violence by their families, the court didn't just step in to aid the women, but also directed the National Medical Commission (NMC) to take steps towards the prohibition of conversion therapy. Earlier this year, the NMC informed the court that an expert committee constituted by it has decided to classify such a practice as "professional misconduct" by the medical fraternity and directed its ethics board to act against those who practice them. The NMC was directed to circulate this decision throughout its national network so that it was conveyed to the farthest reaches.
This is undoubtedly progress. How was it precipitated, you may ask. It occurred due to the initiative of the judge in an unprecedented move. He underwent a sensitisation session with a therapist trained in providing queer-affirmative care, and held a consultation with the queer community, which helped him gain a holistic understanding of sex, gender, and sexuality. It was then that he applied his mind to the legal issues presented in the case, in a refreshingly informed and sensitive manner.
But why should it take a single judge’s enterprise, or a single litigation to trigger such momentum? Especially when the Supreme Court has been explicit in its directive. It could be argued that nothing is a given, everything must be fought for, particularly for the marginalised. The fact is, queer people and communities have been demanding change for decades now. That is precisely how decriminalisation occurred — through the relentless efforts of several people over many years. Still, there is inertia from the government. No attempt has been made by the State to unequivocally condemn conversion therapy.
In another instance, where systemic change can be easily instituted, little has been done: On a representation by trans and intersex persons, medical practitioners and organisations, while the Delhi Commission on Protection of Child Rights issued an advisory to the NCT government to ban medically unnecessary, sex-selective surgeries on intersex infants and children, adoption at a national level has not occurred.
These are a few but very real and immediate rights concerns for queer people in the country. There are many others. Violence is all too familiar for queer people who are non-conformists. Legal recognition of queer people’s rights in everything from rental accommodation to pension schemes, and non-discrimination to self-determination of binary gender identities is denied. While legal change is critical, it goes hand-in-hand with social change. For that, the State and society have an obligation to fulfil.
Vivek Divan is qualified in queerness and the law, heads the Centre for Health, Equity Law & Policy, ILS Pune, and works at the intersection of rights, health and sexuality
This is part of a special HT Premium series, spanning personal essays, reportage and analyses, to mark Pride Month
The views expressed are personal
With problems mounting on the economic and foreign policy fronts and barely five months to go before the crucial 20th Party Congress in November, Chinese President Xi Jinping has redoubled efforts to bolster his image inside China. His control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee (CC)’s powerful propaganda apparatus is facilitating his efforts to portray himself as the Chinese communist leader who made “original” contributions to Chinese communism and is steering the country through difficult times. Equally, if not more, important is his firm grip on the security apparatus and the important CCP CC organisation department that maintains dossiers on CC members and is involved in their postings and promotions.
Contrary to recent rumours that Xi has lost ground, yielding space to Premier Li Keqiang, the official media has continued to feature the Chinese president more frequently and prominently than any other CCP leader. In fact, Li had announced on March 11 that he will be stepping down as premier at the 20th Party Congress.
Since mid-May, China’s official media publicised seven public appearances by Xi, including at the centenary celebrations of the Communist Youth League (CYL) on May 11. The official People’s Daily has consistently given Xi prominence and the Guangming Daily has been bolstering Xi’s communist credentials. On May 23, China’s authoritative news agency, Xinhua, launched 50 episodes of online short films on Xi.
Lured by the prospect for advancement and confirming that Xi is very powerful, senior provincial party cadres are lining up to pay obeisance to Xi and his “qualities of leadership”. The plenary meeting of the 13th CCP Guangdong Provincial Congress under the stewardship of its party secretary Li Xi on May 22, for example, declared that Guangdong “was able to write a new chapter in the reform and development of the new era under the complex and severe situation” only because “the authority of Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Communist Party of China, has been established as one and the final word!” Politburo member and party secretary of Guangdong, Li is in Xi’s camp and is an aspirant for elevation to the Politburo Standing Committee and the job of vice-premier, if not premier.
Similarly, the Guangxi Daily (May 18) reported that the third plenary meeting of the 12th CCP Committee of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, held in Nanning on May 17, emphasised to its cadres that they must “always support the leader, defend the leader, follow the leader!”
Separately, a report in Hong Kong’s politically neutral Chinese language newspaper Ming Pao on May 23 claimed that the 20th Party Congress would designate Xi as “lingxiu” in addition to the “core” of the CCP. Mao Zedong was the last Chinese communist leader to be called lingxiu, a reverential term for “leader”. The Politburo, at its first meeting after the 19th Party Congress, had in a statement said: “General Secretary Xi Jinping is the party’s well-deserved lingxiu, supported by the whole party and loved and esteemed by the people.”
More than a dozen political and military leaders had used the title to refer to Xi during the Party Congress, reflecting a consensus among the party elite to place Xi Jinping above all his predecessors, except Mao.
Xi has also used the security apparatus to guard against surprises and reinforce his position. During Covid-19 in 2020, the Chinese Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, a think-tank of China’s ministry of state security, observed there was a global surge in anti-China sentiment because of the pandemic and forecast a bleak economic outlook for the coming year. A PLA Daily article echoed these views and highlighted that the United States (US) could use China’s tense domestic situation to fan social upheaval and provoke social conflict. Sensing the spreading dissatisfaction, including in senior party echelons, Xi set up the “Safe China Construction Coordinating Small Group” in April 2021 to “prevent and crack down on activities that endanger the political security of the country”. Reports indicated that it was also decided to increase monitoring of top leaders and “get them used to working and living under monitoring”.
If US-China relations don’t deteriorate into a clash in the South China Sea or over Taiwan, major obstacles to Xi securing a third term at the upcoming 20th Party Congress could emerge only from within the CCP. While discontent within the CCP echelons is evident, it is uncertain whether the “elders’ would risk opposing Xi.
Jayadeva Ranade is former additional secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India and is presently president, Centre for China Analysis and StrategyThe views expressed are personal
While the Gyanvapi Masjid feud is pending in the courts, calibrated efforts are on to reduce it to an issue involving a mere interpretation of the law (Places of Worship [Special Provisions] Act, 1991), an avoidable property dispute between two warring groups, or part of a diabolical plot by unscrupulous elements to stoke communal fires to meet their political ambitions.
This obfuscates a complex civilisational issue. Throwing the 1991 Act in the face of those fighting to reclaim the ancient Shiva temple — one of the holiest of Hindu shrines — is a cheap joke, given the fact that the Constitution has been amended over 100 times to date. In 1971, privy purses (guaranteed by the Constitution) were abolished by Indira Gandhi for political expediency; and in 1986, Parliament, dominated by Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress, overturned the Supreme Court judgment in the Shah Bano case to placate fundamentalist Muslims. In the recent past, what happened to the acts related to agriculture? The Narendra Modi government was forced to withdraw the farm laws, following a massive agitation.
In the Gyanvapi case, Hindus are not struggling for a piece of land. For millions of devotees, this is not a political issue — but one of faith, coupled with their desire to retrieve self-respect, identity, and a part of a long-drawn civilisational war that started with Muhammad ibn Qasim subjugating Sindh in 712. The 1,200-year-old incursion is still relevant because the official website of Pakistan, traces the country’s origins to Qasim’s victory.
Why did Islamic invaders come to India? Not just for the loot. Their more dominant motive was to earn religious merit by killing or forcing kafirs (infidels) to convert and by demolishing their places of worship. Muhammad of Ghazni invaded India multiple times in the 11th century. According to the Tarikh-I-Sultan Mahmud-I-Ghaznavi (History of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni): “…at the time he was going to break Somnath, a band of Brahmans appealed to the nobles (saying): ‘If the Sultan will not break this idol we will pay so much into the State treasury’.” The Sultan’s candid response reveals the intent of invaders: “…if I do this thing, people will call me Mahmud, the idol-seller, and if I break this, they will call me Mahmud, the idol-breaker. Now it is better that both in this world and the next they should call me the idol-breaker, not the idol-seller.”
The 1,200-year-odd history of Islamic invasions against India is replete with such instances. In the 12th century, Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji, reduced centuries-old universities, including Nalanda, Vikramshilla and Udaygiri, to ashes and rubble. He didn’t do so for pillage. Faith was his inspiration.
Three arguments are forwarded to absolve Islamic invaders of their sins.
First, they adopted India as their home and didn’t carry the loot back to where they came from. Second, the wars between them and local Hindu rulers had no religious angle for a number of Hindus fought for Muslim kings and the Hindu rulers too had Muslims in their armies. Third, there are several instances of Muslim rulers giving grants for the repairs/maintenance of Hindu temples — underlining their non- communal and generous character.
Stretch this argument a bit further, and we reach an absurd proposition: The British were not colonisers. The British empire in India was largely run by Indians, but that didn’t make it either Indian or in the interest of Indians. But the British stole India’s wealth and went back to their homeland with the loot. The Islamic rulers didn’t, so runs the argument.
Before the Mughals, most invaders returned home with pillaged wealth, followed by trains of infidel slaves. The Mughals stayed back and perpetuated Islamic rule, which continues to colonise one-third of erstwhile India to date, in the shape of Pakistan and Bangladesh, where non-Muslims have little right to life or dignity. A random grant by an Islamic invader for maintenance or repairs of a temple cannot whitewash the character of their rule, which was essentially iconoclastic.
According to Benjamin Walker, “People are still people, and they make their decisions based on their life experiences and their beliefs. You really can’t divorce the two. It’s important to fight against stereotypes and oversimplifications in very complex people.”
It’s against this intricate backdrop, one has to view the Gyanvapi controversy. Oversimplification or the use of cliches to trivialise the issue will not help.
Interestingly Gandhiji, answering a reader in Young India (February 5, 1925), wrote: “The question of mosques built on another’s land without his permission is incredibly simple. If A is in possession of his land and someone comes to build some things on it, be it even a mosque, A has the right at the first opportunity of pulling down the structure. A building to be a mosque must be duly consecrated. A building put up on another’s land without his permission is a pure robbery. Robbery cannot be consecrated. If A has not the will or the capacity to destroy the building miscalled mosque, he has the right of going to a law court to have the building pulled down.”
The Gyanvapi matter is pending in the court. The core issue is: Was the mosque built over a temple? If yes, what next? Gandhi-ji had the answer.
Balbir Punj is a former Member of Parliament and a columnistThe views expressed are personal
The spate of first information reports (FIRs) filed against suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokeswoman Nupur Sharma and expelled spokesperson Naveen Jindal for their remarks on Prophet Mohammed have revealed, once again, that Indian free speech law is not based on any coherent set of principles, but instead, is an easy weapon to be wielded in service of offended sentiments.
When it comes to speech about religion and religious figures, the Indian Penal Code (IPC) prohibits two kinds of expression. The first — Section 295A — is an anti-blasphemy law: It punishes hurting the sentiments of religious believers through offensive or insulting speech. The blasphemy law was introduced into the IPC 100 years ago in response to rising communal tensions between Hindu and Muslims in north India, and ever since — both before and after Independence — it has been weaponised to punish critique of religion(s), mockery and satire, and religious jokes (that may or may not have been made). By taking the hurt feelings of religious believers as the basis for criminalising speech, Section 295A is an example of what is called the heckler’s veto, ie, it leaves free speech at the mercy of those who choose to take offence, and hands them the power to shut down speech not only for themselves, but for everyone else as well.
It is trite to say that in a democratic society, no subject — including that of religion — should be off the table when it comes to scrutiny and critique. This includes speech that is distasteful, uncivil, or bullying. The response to this kind of speech is not the blunt hand of the law (which, sooner or later, will be turned upon dissidents and non-conformists), but the force of moral and ethical criticism.
There is one exception to this rule, and that is the case of hate speech. Hate speech is not speech that targets a religion or a religious figure per se, but speech that targets a group of citizens by virtue of their (e.g., religious) affiliation and calls for discrimination against that group, or their exclusion from mainstream social life (for example, through boycotts). Countries around the world prohibit hate speech because it conflicts with another, crucial democratic value: That of equal concern and respect for all individuals and groups in society. Not only this, it is by now a well-documented historical fact that hate speech leads to both discrimination as well as violence against its target subjects. Examples include, for instance, anti-Semitic speech in early 20th century Europe, and hate speech by Hutus against Tutsis leading up to the Rwandan genocide.
The IPC prohibits hate speech under Sections 153A and B. However, these sections are clumsily worded, and fail to capture the essence of hate speech. Section 153A, for example, focuses on prohibiting “disharmony” or “enmity” between different sections of society. As is evident from its language, Section 153A is concerned not so much with guaranteeing equal respect and concern to all members of society, but rather with preventing group outrage. Once again, this leads us back to the dangerously subjective world of the blasphemy law, where the entire focus of the law is on the subjective feeling of the individual or group that claims that speech has caused it offence.
While analysing these provisions, the Supreme Court has noted, on more than one occasion, that the purpose of laws against hate speech is to combat discrimination and exclusion and ensure equality. However, the wide gap between this interpretation and the actual text of the provisions ensure that they continue to be misused at all levels of the police and the judiciary.
The case of Sharma and Jindal is a good example to illustrate the inadequacy of our free speech laws. Mocking religion or religious figures is something that can be questioned or criticised (especially if powerful figures use religious insults as a way of bullying others), but it should not be legally prohibited or penalised. This is because blasphemy laws — that wall off religious criticism per se — are inconsistent with the founding values of modern democracies; and hate speech laws are based upon the crucial distinction between criticising or mocking religion, and inciting discrimination or violence against people because of the religion they follow.
However, until there is clarity in Indian laws and jurisprudence, these different cases will continue to be grouped under the unwieldy Sections 295A and 153A of IPC. These provisions cannot distinguish between the dissenter and the hatemonger, between the uncivil and the illegal. Indeed, the failure to draw these distinctions only dilutes the provisions, and makes it more difficult to effectively define and prosecute actual and dangerous hate speech (of which we have seen a lot recently).
The only long-term solution, therefore, is to repeal the blasphemy law, stop prosecutions for religiously offensive speech, and focus on articulating a clear definition of hate speech, backed by social consensus. Without that, it is clear that Indian free speech law will remain unequipped to handle the modern public sphere in a democratic society.
Gautam Bhatia is a Delhi-based advocate The views expressed are personal
The story of how a mysterious bleeding disease in cattle in North America led to the development of a rat poison, which ended up being one of the most prescribed drugs in medical history is absolutely incredible. One of the early patients prescribed this rat poison was American President and World War II hero, Dwight Eisenhower.
I have a fascination with how drugs are discovered and how they work. In an earlier column, I recounted how a mouldy muskmelon found by Mary Hunt at an American market in Peoria, Illinois became the source of much of the world’s penicillin, years after its discoverer, Alexander Fleming, gave up hope of using the mould as a practical drug.
But the story of the discovery of a blockbuster drug that has helped patients around the world by preventing pulmonary embolism, deep-vein thrombosis, and stroke is so fantastic that it is hard to believe. A series of events had to occur in a precise order with the main characters playing key roles.
Let me start at the beginning, since this is a story that's best told in chronological order. I’ll reveal the name of the drug in due course.
In the 1920s, in the prairies of North America, farmers noticed that their healthy cattle were suddenly dying of internal bleeding. No one could fathom the cause, but to the farmers, it was a catastrophic problem. These farmers had already been squeezed by the economic hardships of the Great Depression and the loss of cattle amounted to a loss of livelihood.
Two veterinary pathologists, Frank Schofield and Lee Roderick, cracked the mystery. What was happening was that cattle were consuming sweet clover hay that was damp and had become a breeding ground for certain kinds of moulds. In times of prosperity, perhaps damp hay with mould would not be given to cattle, but there was a shortage of other available high-quality feed.
The two pathologists called the bleeding disease the “sweet clover disease”. The only way to save afflicted cattle was by providing them with fresh hay that was uncontaminated or by performing blood transfusions.
A decade after the original outbreak of sweet clover disease, a Wisconsin farmer named Ed Carlson travelled nearly 200 miles in the middle of a blizzard, with one of his dead cows in the back of his truck, to an agricultural experimental station. Carlson had lost a number of his prized cattle in the preceding months. Searching around that night, Carlson found one office building open. It was a serendipitous turn of events that would change the course of medical history.
Carlson deposited a milk can with cattle blood, a hundred pounds of sweet clover, and his dead cow in front of Carl Link, a research scientist who was in his office that night. The blood in the milk can came from a cow with sweet clover disease and so it would not clot.
At the time, scientists knew that the bleeding disorder in cattle was caused by moulds in contaminated hay, but they did not know how it occurred. Link sent Carlson back without much hope, but shortly after, he and his colleagues devised experiments using plasma from rabbits to test clotting with various compounds isolated from contaminated sweet clover hay.
The work was arduous, and it took Link and his colleagues six years to finally be able to figure out the substance in the hay that was causing the bleeding. What the researchers found is a natural substance called coumarin was becoming oxidized in the mouldy hay to become dicoumarol. There was an enzyme in the fungus that was causing coumarins to become linked to form this dicoumarol, and it was this anticoagulant which was causing cattle to bleed to death.
A few years later, while Link was recovering from the after-effects of an earlier infection of tuberculosis, he got the idea of using dicoumarol as a rat killer. His bright idea was that rats that swallowed dicoumarol would die from internal bleeding. But the practical use of dicoumarol as a rat poison was somewhat limited. Dicoumarol proved to be unsuitable for the task, so his team started to work on variations of coumarin.
It's worth pointing out that the development of the rat killer was funded by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), which held the rights to the patent for dicoumarol. The acronym WARF would soon become part of the name of the most suitable rat killer found by the team.
A list of 150 different compounds was created. Number 42, which was most suitable was named warfarin. (Fans of Douglas Adam’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy will nod at the coincidence, since Adam has pointed out that “42” is the answer to life, the universe, and everything). And in 1948, warfarin was promoted as a rat poison.
In 1951, a US army soldier tried to kill himself by taking multiple doses of warfarin. He fully recovered after being treated with vitamin K. It is then that researchers began to realise the full potential of using warfarin, not as a rat killer, but as an anticoagulant drug.
Warfarin had significant advantages over other anticoagulants in use at the time since it was highly soluble in water and could be used as an oral drug. Its effects could also be reversed with vitamin K.
In 1955, after US President Dwight Eisenhower suffered a heart attack, he was given the rat poison, warfarin. He’s certainly not the only patient who benefitted. What started as a quest for farmers to save their dying cattle led to one of the most popular anticoagulant drugs in history. Many patients have benefitted from treatment with warfarin ever since.
Anirban Mahapatra is a scientist by training and the author of a book on COVID-19. He’s writing a second popular-science book
The views expressed are personal
When the Supreme Court decriminalised homosexual sex between consenting adults in 2018, it signalled some important things. Through this decision, it unequivocally established that queer people were not to be treated detrimentally because of their queerness. Indeed, not only were their sexual actions outside the scope of criminal law, queer people (belonging to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual community or LGBTQIA+) had all the rights that others took for granted. Fairness, the court reasoned, was the beacon that all just, free societies aspired toward. It was as much for queer people to expect as it was for others. The court based its reasoning on fundamental rights that are at the heart of the Constitution — the rights to life and liberty, privacy, health, dignity, free speech and expression, and equality.
While doing so, it made two articulations: One which received little coverage, the other which was an easy headline that made the front page. Both are interconnected. When hearing the latter in court that day, I was mystified: Why does “history owe an apology” to the queer community, I asked myself. If anything, society owes us an apology — for the unacceptance, often revealed in outright contempt. Yet, the court implicitly recognised this derision through its direction to the State — to “ensure that this judgment is given wide publicity through the public media… at regular intervals, and initiate programmes to reduce and finally eliminate the stigma” against queer people. Further, and “above all, all government officials, including and in particular police officials… be given periodic sensitization and awareness training of the plight” of queer persons.
So, where are we today, almost four years since that ruling? It is highly questionable whether the State has obeyed the directive of the Supreme Court. Yes, two years have passed in grappling with an unprecedented health challenge. But have wheels been set in motion to ensure that the court’s judgment is conveyed in full to State actors — agencies, police, bureaucrats including ministry and municipal officials, health workers, and all those who run this nation and its innumerable parts? Is it any easier for a queer man to go to a police station in a small town or big city in India to lodge a complaint of violence or harassment by local goons? Are sensitised personnel available on helplines to cater to the needs of trans and other gender non-conforming people when they are subject to unrelenting hate by members of their family? To be sure, this was the reality for many queer people during the Covid-19 lockdown. For them, it was a lockup.
Indeed, with no way out at such times, queer people went through tyrannies that have been little reported. In Delhi, one helpline received 60 distress calls during the lockdown from queer women and men about “house arrests”, and physical and emotional violence meted out by family members. Their ordeals included constant surveillance and restrictions from accessing their own mobile phones. This is data from one helpline in Delhi over three months, about people who were aware of its existence. Multiply it manifold, and you can get an idea of the scale of repression.
Other queer persons were forced to undergo "conversion therapy" by their families to comply with heterosexist expectations. This "therapy" should be called out for what it is — torture. To be sure, in 2021 when a lesbian couple approached the Madras High Court seeking protection against interference and violence by their families, the court didn't just step in to aid the women, but also directed the National Medical Commission (NMC) to take steps towards the prohibition of conversion therapy. Earlier this year, the NMC informed the court that an expert committee constituted by it has decided to classify such a practice as "professional misconduct" by the medical fraternity and directed its ethics board to act against those who practice them. The NMC was directed to circulate this decision throughout its national network so that it was conveyed to the farthest reaches.
This is undoubtedly progress. How was it precipitated, you may ask. It occurred due to the initiative of the judge in an unprecedented move. He underwent a sensitisation session with a therapist trained in providing queer-affirmative care, and held a consultation with the queer community, which helped him gain a holistic understanding of sex, gender, and sexuality. It was then that he applied his mind to the legal issues presented in the case, in a refreshingly informed and sensitive manner.
But why should it take a single judge’s enterprise, or a single litigation to trigger such momentum? Especially when the Supreme Court has been explicit in its directive. It could be argued that nothing is a given, everything must be fought for, particularly for the marginalised. The fact is, queer people and communities have been demanding change for decades now. That is precisely how decriminalisation occurred — through the relentless efforts of several people over many years. Still, there is inertia from the government. No attempt has been made by the State to unequivocally condemn conversion therapy.
In another instance, where systemic change can be easily instituted, little has been done: On a representation by trans and intersex persons, medical practitioners and organisations, while the Delhi Commission on Protection of Child Rights issued an advisory to the NCT government to ban medically unnecessary, sex-selective surgeries on intersex infants and children, adoption at a national level has not occurred.
These are a few but very real and immediate rights concerns for queer people in the country. There are many others. Violence is all too familiar for queer people who are non-conformists. Legal recognition of queer people’s rights in everything from rental accommodation to pension schemes, and non-discrimination to self-determination of binary gender identities is denied. While legal change is critical, it goes hand-in-hand with social change. For that, the State and society have an obligation to fulfil.
Vivek Divan is qualified in queerness and the law, heads the Centre for Health, Equity Law & Policy, ILS Pune, and works at the intersection of rights, health and sexuality
This is part of a special HT Premium series, spanning personal essays, reportage and analyses, to mark Pride Month
The views expressed are personal