Several factors such as rising sea levels, climate change, shifting clay soil, and coastal erosion, – are threatening  and real in the city, but the city needs some actionable plans to get out of the worse situations.

If you had given Thailand the go-by for your holiday plans as an overexposed hotspot, revise the idea and make some new memories while you can. What’s tipping the new Government is the recent forecast suggesting Bangkok’s steady erosion by the sea and the doomsday effect eating into the spine of the tourism economy. It may sound scary but all those gigantic skyscrapers, racy nightlife, palaces, floating markets may just fade into obscurity like the mysterious lost city of Atlantis. While much of the metropolis is immersed under below sea level, the World Bank Report says that nearly 40 percent of the Thai capital will be underwater by 2030 due to changing weather patterns. Seas around the Gulf of Thailand are rising by four millimetres each year, which is beyond the global average, setting off alarm bells. This warning ironically comes in the middle of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that is being held in the city till September 9. In a fresh effort to flesh out the Paris Agreement, around 200 delegates are meeting to limit fossil fuel emissions. The city has progressed a lot in terms of greenhouse emission reduction efforts in the past two years but through this conference, Bangkok aims to pull down the numbers by an additional 20 to 25 per cent. Such is the seriousness that civil society, activists, commoners and students alike gathered at the Chulalongkorn University to offer suggestions on climate change mitigation. These proposals will be sent to the UNFCCC and finally reach delegates attending the conference.

Previous summits have only seen global powers or conglomerates talk of climate change as a real issue impacting everyday lives but this is for the first time local people have wrested their chance to be heard. Coastal erosion and  rising sea levels are not the only problem. Bangkok’s exploding population of 10 million and an overused tourist economy have meant a rapacious and illegal use of groundwater, something that is affecting the stability of sub-soil and vacuumising it, increasing the chances of a cave-in. As micro-climate aberrations happen all round, sudden cloudbursts and flooding could be menacing challenges for Bangkok, which in the worst monsoon-induced floods in 2011 had been submerged barring the business district. As the city sits on a flood plain, it cannot wait for policy and the Thai Government’s priority would be to set up adaptive and pre-emptive measures like restoring the city’s old canals as outlets, sinking dykes, downsizing city quarters and relocating offices to higher ground.

Writer: Pioneer

Courtesy:  The Pioneer

If the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple is so challenging for Muslim leaders who emphasize on treating it as a land dispute, keeping in mind the interest of national unity, it is better to think about restoring the Mathura and Kashi temples instead.

Several Opposition leaders have objected to resorting to Parliament if the courts are unable to decide soon on the Ram Janmabhoomi issue. Muslim leaders are unfortunately not magnanimous enough not to quibble about the site as a land issue despite knowing that it is a much greater issue of ‘faith’ — most Hindus solemnly believe that Lord Ram was born there. Fair enough. So, as  a believer in national amity, this writer will attempt to look for an alternative solution to the issue of symbols of the Hindu faith being accorded their place in our national life. Neither the Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura nor the Gyanvapi mosque next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Benaras suffers from any such issue of ‘land dispute’.

The Idgah built adjacent to the Krishna Janmabhoomi site is an ordinary structure which came into being during Aurangzeb’s reign and is used by a few namazis on Fridays. Underneath the mound, whereupon existed the Krishna Mandir, is now the Janmabhoomi dera, which is as modest a structure as a garage. In his book, Mathura: A District Memoir, FS Growse of the Bengal Civil Service has recorded his exhaustive survey and research about Braj Bhoomi. He was overwhelmed by the vandalism that inflicted the area repeatedly and wrote in a heartfelt manner although he was far from his home in England. To quote him: “Thanks to Muhammadan intolerance, there is not a single building of any antiquity, either in the city or its environs. Its most famous temple, that dedicated to Kesava Deva, was destroyed in 1669, the eleventh year of the reign of the iconoclast Aurangzeb. The Idgah erected on its ruins is a building of little architectural value.” Mahmud of Ghazni was, however, the first iconoclast to vandalise Mathura. That was in 1017 AD, about which Growse wrote: “If anyone wished to construct a building equal to it, he would not be able to do so without expending a hundred million dinars, and the work would occupy 200 years, even though the ablest and experienced workmen were employed. Orders were given that all the temples should be burnt with naphtha and fire and levelled. The city was given up to plunder for 20 days. Among the spoils are said to have been five great idols of pure gold with eyes of rubies and adornments of other precious stones, together with a vast number of smaller silver images, which when broken up, formed a load for more than 100 camels. The total value of the spoils had been estimated at three million rupees; while the number of Hindus carried away into captivity exceeded 5,000.”

To go back to Aurangzeb, over two centuries after the desecration, Growse felt that of all the sacred places in India, none enjoys a greater popularity than the capital of Braj, the holy city of Mathura. For over nine months, festival follows upon a festival in rapid succession and the ghats and temples are daily thronged with new troops of way-worn pilgrims. So great is the sanctity of the spot that its panegyrists do not hesitate to declare that a single day spent at Mathura is more meritorious than a lifetime passed in Benares. All this celebration is due to the fact of its being the birthplace of demi-God Krishna.

Today, Balkrishna is worshiped in a little room which appears like a servant quarter attached to the back of the Idgah. Pathos can be experienced by any visitor, whether a devotee or otherwise. To paraphrase William Shakespeare, not all the scents of Arabia would suffice to wash away the sins of Ghazni and Alamgir at Mathura. And since it is not possible to claim back what was destroyed long ago, the return of the Idgah and the shuddhi of Krishna Janmabhoomi or the birthplace of Krishna, is the only viable alternative.

Coming to Benaras and the Kashi Bisheshwar temple, for the sake of impartiality, it is best to again rely on an Englishman, Reverend Matthew Atmore Sherring of the London Missionary Society, who resided mainly in the holy city between 1852 and 1880. He toured the whole area repeatedly and surveyed the scene from a religious point of view. In his book, Benares: The Sacred City of the Hindus, Sherring referred to Al-Beruni, who is one of the important sources of medieval Indian history. He came to India with Mahmud Ghazni who reached as far as Benaras during his ninth incursion into India. Some decades later, Muhammad Ghori, after defeating the Kannaujian monarch  Jaichand, marched to Benaras where he was reported to have destroyed many Hindu temples. Thereafter came Aurangzeb, who changed the name of the city to Muhammadabad. The temple of Bisheshwar was systematically demolished by him. The large collection of deities, stored on a platform called the court of Mahadev on the northern side of the temple, were found from the debris. As recorded by Sherring, extensive remains of this ancient temple were still visible and they formed a large portion of the western wall of the mosque which was built upon its site by the bigoted oppressor. Evidently, the former temple was much larger than the present one, which is really small for a shrine as important as this one.The new temple was built at the behest of Rani Ahilyabai Holkar long after Aurangzeb’s desecration.

Sherring explained that the demolition of temples was not inspired merely by hatred for idolatry or by greed for loot. It was also driven by a desire to humiliate the Hindu community. How does one explain the fact that the masjid built by Aurangzeb just had to be bang next to the Gyanvapi or the well of knowledge? The mosque, built by Aurungzeb on the foundations of the old or original Bisheshwar temple, is of interest not for its own sake — notwithstanding its lofty appearance, it is a structure without any striking architectural beauty in its own right — but on account of the ancient remains with which it is associated and from the materials used in its construction.The mosque is altogether composed of the remains of an ancient temple of large dimensions and elaborate workmanship. The high pillars, moreover, on its northern face, have been transferred from the same spacious building. These remains are Hindu and it is unquestionable that the edifice, which was destroyed in order to make way for the mosque, was an old temple of Bisheshwar. An excellent ground-plan of this temple, prepared from a minute examination of the extant remains, was drawn by James Prinsep and published by him in his Views of Benares. There is no doubt that the Bisheshwar temple stood on this site and was destroyed by Muslim rulers who transferred its stones into their own mosque. The neighbouring temple bearing this name the Hindus built was for the purpose of perpetuating the worship of Bisheshwar. Between the mosque and the temple of Bisheshwar is the famous Gyanvapi or Gyan Kup, well of knowledge in which, as Hindus believe, Shiva resides.

What greater evidence is necessary for the Government to exercise its sovereignty and take over these edifices which were part of the invaders’ loot and once India’s pride? Not doing so would be tantamount to an act of omission committed by a semi-sovereign power. It is clear that in terms of statesmanship, leaders of the Muslim community would endear themselves to all Indians if as a grand gesture they give up the space occupied in Mathura and Benaras for the temples their to be restored. The Government, for its part, should receive such an offer with open arms. There’s no land dispute here.

As an aside, an interesting reverse example of wise politics was displayed by then Punjab Premier Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan in Lahore in 1938. The High Court gave a verdict that the Shaheedgunge Gurdwara should remain with the Sikhs although it had once been a mosque. The Muslim League wanted the Hayat Khan Government to appeal to the Privy Council. But he rejected the idea on the ground that by the same logic, Muslims would have to give up hundreds of mosques and dargahs, including Ajmer Sharif. So it was best to let the principle of adverse possession prevail. Regrettably, after the Partition there was no such wisdom and the Gurdwara was violently taken over by Muslims.

(The writer is a well-known columnist and an author)

Writer:  Prafull Goradia

Courtesy: The Pioneer

In order to handle the transportation needs of steadily increasing population, rapid transit systems and effective transport system such as the Metro-rail and the Bus Rapid Transit, are both essential.

A thriving public transport system is the hallmark of all world cities and bustling metropolises. In fact, a well-developed mass rapid transportation system is one of the key benchmarks to decide the liveability index. However, in India aspiration is inversely proportional and as it is poised to be home to many smart cities and its urban infrastructure sprawls out into satellite and hubs, the share of public transport is expected to go down to 25 to 35 per cent by the end of the year. Concurrently, the use of private vehicles, including two-wheelers, has grown 8 to 10 per cent annually between 2014 and 2017, the period that has been surveyed. So why does our public transport system fail to become a democratic and smart choice of travel? Part of the reason is the lack of bus fleet, poor complementarity of multi-mode travel, the rapid development of metro network in many cities and the affordable acquisition of vehicles which guarantees a certain door-to-door ease of travel and a sense of identity. But the consequences of such volumes have been too toxic in terms of the pollution overload and Delhiites have been its worst victims. Yet India’s other cities are all too quickly being sucked into the same conundrum as Delhi in the absence of an adequate bus fleet or the low priority given to replenishing it. For a circular megapolis like Delhi, the bus numbers are currently less than half of the requirement of a 11,000-strong fleet. The Delhi Government is in a legal tussle over provision of mixed use land for a depot but the tardy progress on that count has meant that more vehicles are out on the roads and the total transport corridor has been further shrunk to accommodate entrants.

The Delhi police has claimed that it plans to decongest Delhi on key corridors by 2020 but without a suitable balance of public and private transport, no traffic management system would work in the end. Although cities like Mumbai and Kolkata have been traditional adherents of a public transport system, they are facing newer connectivity challenges as they extend radially. Yet, knowing the dangers of overcrowding and congestion, we still do not have proper incentives to use public transport, like a multi-modal city card that Singapore has. Neither is there a disincentive in the form of steep parking fees in congested public spaces. Most importantly, there is an urgent need to prioritise linkages between multi-modal transport systems and last mile connectivity as part of urban policy. Besides, the use of public transport is good for your health as it involves walking an additional 8 to 33 minutes per day!

Writer: Pioneer

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The provision of public services—such as health care, education, sanitation and criminal justice—is a key task for government. When Government delivers all the basic requirements of people, it can easily attain consumer satisfaction and votes.

The Delhi Government for all its limitations must be complimented in its effort to touch the lives of residents day in and day out. Its showcase programme of delivering a host of services to the doorstep of the Capital’s residents is now on the verge of fruition and set to be rolled out from 10 September. Chores like paying taxes, applying for various welfare schemes and obtaining crucial documents like driving licenses, birth/death/marriage/income/caste certificates are some of the most concrete forms of the Citizen-Government interface Services are, therefore, crucial in shaping trust and perception. And it goes without saying that with growing needs and vaulting aspirations not to mention a desire for accountability from those we elect to govern us, citizens expect transparent, accessible, and convenient delivery of services as well as redressal of grievances. In an era of digitisation, online portals have come as a boon for Governments willing to use technology in the public interest and credit must also be given to the Central Government under Narendra Modi to have pushed back Luddite tendencies and promoted this approach in a big way as part of a best-practice template for governance. The AAP Government in Delhi has been innovative in applying its mind to focus on the service-delivery mechanism.

The Delhi Government’s emphasis on a customer-centric approach in designing a mechanism to get about a hundred services delivered to the doorstep of the citizen at a minimal cost of Rs 50 can, if properly implemented, become a good governance landmark in India. Under the scheme, assistants or mobile sahayaks would be  provided all necessary equipment like cameras, biometric devices, printers etc would be at service of the citizen at his or her doorstep to complete all formalities for which they had to otherwise stand in long queues, often requiring to skip work for the day, in order to visit Government offices. The delivery of various certificates and licences will also be at home. Naturally, services for which physical presence is necessary, for example a driving test for a driving licence, will still involve going to the RTO but all the accompanying formalities will be online and the licence itself will be delivered home if so desired. For the initiative to have the desired result, though the administration needs to work very hard on creating an ambient governance atmosphere. An important component of customer satisfaction is feedback. Although the Delhi Government has planned for a customer care service portal, it must make sure that it is prompt to respond and ensure redress; unattended phone calls, for example, would sound its death knell. It also important to not just collect feedback but also analyse and act upon it. For the scheme to truly touch the lives of citizens it must penetrate into the deepest pockets of the Capital and not remain limited to a few VIP areas. The administration will also have ensure coordination between its various departments which are notorious for graft, protecting turf and inefficiency. Transforming service delivery to the citizen is not an easy task but to have even attempted it is an excellent portent.

Writer & Courtesy: The Pioneer

Before indulging in any spontaneous decision making, Brits need to look into their own prison crisis.

Of all the fugitives from Indian law, the maximum number have chosen the UK as their place of refuge primarily because the British establishment and law courts have exhibited a marked reluctance to deport absconders to India citing the terrible conditions of prisons here. Well, perhaps it’s time for the Brits to look within before they indulge in any further unsolicited pontification. For, Britain’s own prison crisis is, it has emerged, one of staggering proportions. Understaffing, overcrowding, lack of funds and the rampant use of drugs and violence in UK prisons has left many unnerved. But the drug problem is by far the biggest and has made a mockery of the whole notion of doing time.

Zombie drugs such as ‘Spice’ have pushed many prisoners to the brink. This drug mimics psychoactive substances of cannabis but due to its harrowing effects has now made its entry into the same category as cocaine and heroin. These drugs have gained a strong foothold inside British prisons and has resulted in many jails becoming breeding grounds of squalor and violence. There has been a massive increase in the UK’s prison population and no other public institution has deteriorated as much as their prisons. According to the Howard League for Penal Reform, assaults on staff are up 40 per cent. UK Ministry of Justice figures show that in the 12 months to September 2017, 28,165 incidents were recorded (an increase in 12 per cent) over the previous 12 months and of these 7,828 were assaults on prison staff. During the last quarter of 2017, assaults rose to a staggering average of 86 a day and on average there were 24 physical attacks on officials each day. Rampant drug use too has aggravated unhealthy conditions amongst inmates. In a survey of a quarter of prisons in the UK, the National Offender Monitoring System in England and Wales stated that it had found obtaining drugs in custody was very easy. Under the influence of drugs, inmates are found to have indulged in sexual assault and violence not to mention bullying almost routinely. Given the above, perhaps Vijay Mallya and others like him may feel Indian prisons, for all their shortcomings, may not be as bad as British ones.

Writer: Pioneer

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The women’s commission chairperson Rekha Sharma recommended that the government should abolish the system of confession as it puts at risk the safety and security of women in the context of the case against four Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church priests who had allegedly sexually abused a woman parishioner by blackmailing her using her confession secrets. Leaders and believers of Christian denominations in which the sacrament is being practiced went up in arms against the proposal calling it part of a plot to oppress the minorities. Even leaders of the ruling party BJP like George Kurien, vice-chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities, came out openly against the recommendation.

Even moderate Church leaders like Father Paul Thelekkat, former spokesman of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, lashed out at Sharma by saying, “The tradition of Confession has been there in churches across the world, even in Saudi Arabia. This is the first time such a proposal is being heard. It is stupid, unfortunate… What else to say?” The clergy’s fear was that a campaign against Confession if allowed to gather momentum could lead to a situation akin to the one of Triple Talaq.

However, nobody cared to look into the spirit and purpose of the proposal — though it is certain that the Government is unlikely to consider it seriously anytime in the near future.

“There are certain things in the Church for which the clergy is unable to provide a logical answer. Why should wine containing alcohol be there for Masses? The issue of Confessions is far more crucial. Can the church leaders guarantee that Confession secrets would never be misused by lust-ravaged and power-driven priests? They can’t. The issue in the Orthodox Church is just an example,” said Lonappan, a laity in Thrissur.

Moreover, there are legal issues involved in the case of Confession, says Lonappan, adding that it was only in July an Australian Archbishop was sentenced to one-year detention for concealing child sex abuses in the Church. “Is it proper and morally correct, even in the eyes of God, for a priest, his deputy, to keep a secret like this forever just because he had come to know of it in Confession?” He also pointed out that there was no mechanism in the Church to prevent misuse of Confession secrets.

As per the law, it is an offence on the part of any person to fail to report a crime that has come into his knowledge. Political leaders have been arrested in Kerala for merely failing to report to the police their alleged knowledge about conspiracies against opponents.

“Unfortunately, Section 39 of the CrPC which requires everyone to report his knowledge of a commission of or intention for crime does not include the rape, coming under Section 376 of the IPC. So, a priest can argue that he need not report such a crime which he had come to know of through a Confession,” Lawyer DB Binu, noted Kochi-based RTI activist, says.

Again, Binu points out, there are Supreme Court guidelines regarding crimes relating to sexual abuse. The head of an institution should necessarily report a sexual offence committed within his workplace. “Here also, there can be escape routes for a priest who comes to know of such a crime. What if the crime which he has come to know through a Confession has not been committed in the Church premises?” he asks.

Writer: Pioneer

Courtesy: The Pioneer

As the Krishna Janmashtmi festival is around the corner, temples across the nation are full of life with bhajan concerts by celebrities, Bhagwat Kathas, and innovative Jhakis. The reporter Sangeeta Yadav will give you an insight of the grand celebration.

Devotees of Lord Krishna are on a temple run for Janmashtami celebrations. From cultural programmes like Bhagwat katha recitation, plays and bhajans to beautiful dresses and jewellery, expensive idols, mesmerising flower decorations and innovative jhakis. The festival brings spiritually fulfilling moments for people from all communities who make Janmashtami a grand affair. Something similar you will get to see at Iskcon Temple in Kalkaji this year which is expected to get a footfall of six lakh people.

“At Iskcon across the world, we kickstarted Janmashtami celebration a month in advance. In the first week of August, we have Bhagwat katha and discourse with the devotees about Lord Krishna. We have a shobha yatra in which the deities are taken around the temple locality. This time, we have bhajan singer Vinod Aggarwal to play at Iskcon Kalkaji, and we are also doing a theatrical play. From Kalkaji Metro Station to Iskcon temple, there will be beautiful jhakis showcasing the life and times of Krishna. These are crafts models and photo exhibitions,” Yudhistir Govinda Das, director, communications, Iskcon India, tells you.

Talking about what has been planned for the day, Das says: “We are observing Janmashtami on September 3 and will continue the celebration on Tuesday. The first aarti will be done at 4:30 am on Monday, then 8:00 am, 12:30pm, and other different artis leading up to 10:30 pm for abhishek and mahaaarti at midnight. Throughout the day, four different dresses will be offered to the Lord Krishna which have been designed by a Delhi-based designer from Roshan’s Boutique who also designs for the king and queen of Morocco.

“At 10:30pm, we will have an abhishek ceremony which will go on for one hour, followed by maha aarti. We use panchamrita which includes milk, curd, honey, sugar water and ghee. Then we have five varieties of fruit juices that will be offered. There will be different kind of flowers to offer. All the devotees coming to the temple will have  the opportunity to bathe Laddoo Gopal,” Das says.

Since a lot of devotees sponsor and volunteer for various services, the budget for the festival doesn’t go up. “The total budget for Janmashtami celebration is `30 lakh. The dresses are an offering by the designer who is doing this for the last four years. Even the jhankis and the security arrangements are sponsored by the devotees. The idols remain the same. Only the dresses, jewellery and flower decoration changes. All over the vicinity and inside the main hall, we will have 5,000 kg of national and international flowers for decoration,” Das says.

Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir, which is also constructing the world’s tallest temple in Vrindavan, will have singer Kailash Kher singing popular bhajans on September 2 at 6pm followed by Maha Abhishekam at 10 pm and Maha Aarti at 12 am on September 3. The special highlights are chhappan bhog, navposjak darshan, jhulan utsav and maha prasadam.

Coin it

Gift your loved ones a unique 3D silver coin that has baby Krishna made of 100 gm pure silver minted in Switzerland and has 50 crystals around it. Designed by Alok K Goyal, CEO, AG Impex, these first-of-its-kind 3D coins have a baby Krishna statue sitting on a silver leaf.

“The coin has a statue of baby Krishna sitting on the leaf which is a very popular picture that reflects the time when Vasudev had placed Krishna atop a leaf while he was smuggling him from jail to another place. Since he was carried in a small cane basket, we got its box custom made from Malda. The coin was minted in Switzerland with the help of holo technology. To make this coin moisture and dust free, we got a special capsule made and imported from Czechoslovakia. It comes with a certificate of authenticity made on a silk scroll,” Goyal says, adding that he has also made pure silver 3D coins of Ganesha and Tiriputai Balaji.

It is not just a collectable piece. One can shop with this coin in the Republic of Chad.

“It is a limited edition legal tender commemorative coin minted issued by Republic of Chad for 10,000 Francs. They have been officially issued as a currency and one can purchase goods worth 10,000 Francs in the Republic of Chad. Because the market price is high, one can exchange the product. This makes it very unique and special. It costs Rs 29,000 inclusive of GST,” distributor Rohit Mohan Pugalia, founder of Head Ya Tail, e-commerce portal, tells you.

Idol to marvel

Sandalwood, clay, bronze, brass, teak or black metal, name it and  the stores will have Lord Krishna idols in different shapes, sizes and colours ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 25,000 made by thousands of artisans from UP, Haryana, Chandigarh and Rajasthan. But if you wish to bring home a masterpiece, Spanish luxury brand Lladró has launched a new baby Krishna idol this year sitting on the leaf which has been handmade in Lladró’s workshops in Valencia, Spain.

“It is beautifully decorated with a combination of glossy and matt porcelain with glazes and various parts finished in gold.  The colour combination is perfectly used in depicting the jewels. The bansuri in Krishna’s hand is made of gold-plated brass. Making Lladro pieces is a competitive process because we work in porcelain and the master sculpture works in clay model, plaster and mould. A very detailed process goes into it and takes nine months to a year.  Each piece comes with an insurance which is free of charge under the Lladró Assurance Programme,” Nikhil Lamba, director, Lladro India, tells you.

It is available across eight Lladro boutiques in India and costs Rs 80,000 a piece.

Writer: Sangeeta Yadav

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Simultaneous expansion of the scope of strategic partnership with Israel and efforts towards improving human development indices at home should be India’s priority.

In 25 years of full diplomatic contact between India and Israel, bilateral trade between the two nations grew from $200 million in 1992 to 5.02 billion in 2017. The figures exclude defence purchases. Over the past two years, mutual visits of Indian and Israeli Heads of State has resulted in several agreements but the one that should be the most exciting is on innovation and entrepreneurship. An ‘Israel-India Bridge to Innovation’ program was held from July 23-27 in India. Both nations are working together for the setting up of dozens of centres of excellence across India. Israel and India would be opening an innovation fund, under which the two countries will contribute four million dollar each annually for a period of five years to develop India’s innovation and human capital capability. Israel is fast becoming India’s innovation and human capital development partner.

It is critical for India to create opportunities for youth that can drive economic growth through innovation and entrepreneurship. India can learn a lot about the art and science of developing human capital from Israel.

Both nations should expand the scope of strategic partnership and work towards improving India’s human development index (HDI), which places Israel in the category of “very highly developed” among the top 20 nations. Israel spends five per cent of its GDP on innovation alone. This says something about its focus on people development. Israel today is home to eight of the top 500 world universities. Technion Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute and York Institute for Entrepreneurship figure among the best entrepreneurship development institutes in the world. The World Happiness Survey 2016 indicated that nations that emphasise people development are doing economically well. Israel’s high ranking on that scale is a living example. Israeli human capability development emphasises on soft skills, inquisitiveness, exploration and use of technology. This is an area where India can work closely with Israel to scale up its people’s capability towards sustainable economic growth.

Israel offers an interesting learning perspective in building human resource capacity, using a combination of training and technology. The exposure to Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) at the age of 17 years is ground for potential entrepreneurship development. The idea is to give the recruits an overview of all major IDF branches so that they understand both technology and military needs. The connection between technology, people skills, innovation and resource optimisation is particularly fruitful. It provides the students a broad range of knowledge that gives them critical ability for analysis and problem-solving.

The 2017 NASDAQ-listed Fortune 500 startups report indicates that a large number of the listed CEOs have an IDF background. Every major technology organisation has a research and innovation centre in Israel to take advantage of the country’s talent. Training develops a cultural ecosystem of quality, discipline, health and fitness on which innovation is nurtured. This is achieved by handing them mission after mission with progressively minimal guidance, thereby enhancing their ability to think and act. Assignments range from the mundane to the strategic, from organising small conferences to penetrating a telecommunication network of a live terrorist cell. This ability to work on cross-disciplinary solution to military problems plays a vital developmental role. This diversity of experience and knowledge plays a key role in making the Israeli youth adaptable to change and drive enterprise innovation. Israel focused on developing human resource capability instead of focusing on ‘scoring and passing exam model’. It has evolved its own human resource development model based on its national priorities and needs to solve its problems.

In recent years, a large number of Indian scholars have opted to do research in Israel, and almost 10 percent of the foreign students in Israeli universities are Indians. India’s ability to create quality leaders at different levels for different spears will play a crucial role in India’s geopolitical standing. Quality of our talent pool will define our geopolitical standing.

India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development projects stated that this year, the number of youth in the age group of 15-29 in the workforce is 153 million. This number would rise to 156 million in 2020 and to 158 million by 2025. Defence industry in India will emerge as one of the major employers requiring diversity of talent and skills. Of the 14 million people that enter the workforce every year, barely two million are formally and professionally trained. A huge upgrade in skilling is an obvious requirement and Israel is a good option for India to collaborate for developing Indian talent. The current system of education, especially at the school and college levels, is not helping the youth to be more inquisitive, build a higher level of Emotional Quotient and develop social intelligence, and most importantly, a culture of discipline and patriotism.

During his India visit, Prime Minister Netanyahu had talked about a “T square concept” collaboration between Indian talent and Israel’s technological knowledge, pointing towards a great opportunity for both nations to work together to assist in the field of research and setting incubation lab for startups. Israel’s assistance in i-create in Ahmedabad is a right step in this direction. India’s human resource development approach needs to shift from passing exams and scoring marks to creative learning, by creating an ecosystem of analysis and problem-solving. An extensive focus on scoring marks and passing exams is a deterrent for developing the ability to think and analyse. The new ecosystem should include sporting activity, basic military training and inter-state student exchange programmes. Such exposure transcends social, economic and regional disparities, creating a pool of young talent to fuel national growth.

There is a joke that a terrorist organisation once sent camel dung to the Israeli Prime Minister as gift to humiliate him. Netanyahu, when he got the gift, sent a return gift. It was a computer chip with a note saying “any leader can only gift the best his people produce”. India and Israel are democratic countries with common strategic interests. They must collaborate for innovation and entrepreneurship development to play a vital role in shaping the world.

Writer: Anirban R. Banerjee

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The BJP’s talks on the importance of cow protection don’t hold water. Only unbiased actions on the ground would make a significant difference.

A few weeks back, while commenting on the repeated instances of alleged mob killings by vigilantes in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, Gyan Dev Ahuja, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Rajasthan, said that India is a country which respects mothers and birth-givers, like the cow and any “misbehaviour” with the mother will not be tolerated. He then went on to state that while terrorists kill two to five people, slaughtering of cows hurts sentiments of several thousands and, therefore, the killing of cattle is more heinous an act than terrorism.

In this week’s column, I would like to examine whether the BJP actually tows the strict line that its MLAs and MPs keep parroting; or is this just another instance of the party milking a holy animal purely for political points at the cost of both human and bovine lives.

As opposed to the story that the BJP keeps peddling of how the holy animal of million of Hindus is under threat, Indians have always recognised the importance of the cow as a sacred animal. The importance of the cow is obviously evident from a religious point of view, wherein sacred texts such as the Vedas and Puranas talk about its importance. It’s significance is reflected in India’s agrarian roots too.

The cow, which provides milk and dung has always been admired and revered by Indian farmers. This respect is also reflected in the Constitution, wherein the framers of our Constitution recognised the importance that has been accorded to the cow and included Article 48 in the Constitution, which states: “The state shall endeavor to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle.” In furtherance of this objective, several States, therefore, passed laws banning cow slaughter and India’s Supreme Court, in 1958, upheld state laws banning the slaughter of cows.

Therefore, India has a well-documented history of adopting a respectful approach towards the cow. Then came the BJP in 2014 with its bells and whistles approach: The typical ‘shouting from the rooftops but clueless about on the ground reality’ approach to politics, which the BJP is now infamous for. The BJP constantly harps about the importance of the cow and accuses other political parties of being inconsiderate towards them and, therefore, showing a lack of respect for religious beliefs of millions of Hindus. They followed up this allegation by setting up gaushalas to show the rest of us just how deeply the BJP cared about the protection of the cow. Unfortunately, for the BJP, talk is cheap. To implement meaningful change, one requires to show effort, will and persistence of action, something that the BJP has absolutely failed to do and, therefore, we can add this to the list of  jumlas of the BJP.

An indicator of the BJP’s inclination to actually improve the state of the cow in the country is the current state of

gaushalasin various States ruled by the party. The fact is that almost all gaushalas barely receive Government support. These gaushalas instead are primarily privately managed by volunteers, and are usually funded by religious trusts that rely on donations.

There are close to 450 gaushalas in both Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, and while the BJP talks about protection of cows, officials, while talking about State-run gaushalas, have called them “slaughter houses without machines”. This because gaushalas suffer from a severe lack of funds and personnel. This leads to a situation where thousands of cows are dying in abysmal conditions because of diseases, starvation et al. In Jalore (Rajasthan), for example, in the month of July 2017, 700 cows died in gaushalas due to incessant rains and the trust, which operates a number of these gaushalas, alleged that the State Government offered no help. Similarly, in Hingonia gaushala in Jaipur, close to a 1,000 cattle die on an average in any particular month. There are innumerable other examples of such deaths occurring in gaushalas around the country, about which the BJP has done absolutely nothing.

The irony here is tragic. Because when Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched on ‘the suspicion’ of hoarding beef, Sakshi Maharaj, a five-time MP from Unnao, commented that they are ready to kill and get killed for cow protection. These deaths of cows in gaushalas, however, are a matter of record. A penny then, for Sakshi Maharaj’s views on these deaths.

The problem is further exacerbated now since there are stricter laws in place for cow slaughter. Therefore, a number of cows are being released into the cities where civic bodies are unclear about how to deal with the menace and gaushalas are not in a position to accept any stray cows due to lack of funds and personnel. As per reports, in Delhi, for example, civic bodies had impounded close to 700 cattle in May alone. One can imagine the predicament, both civil bodies and operators of gaushalas face. They have to deal with ground realities while the BJP only talks about protection of cows with absolutely no follow through.

This approach towards the issue of cows is no different from the approach adopted by the BJP on other matters. The fact is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP miss no opportunity to score political points. This is evident from the numerous schemes that have been announced by the BJP, where more funds are spent on marketing the scheme rather than ensuring its actual implementation. Whether it is the Smart Cities Mission or the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana — all of the BJP’s schemes follow similar path. This was also evident after the death of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, where his own niece accused the BJP of making his death a political spectacle.

The issue of slaughter of cattle has always been sensitive due to religious significance of cows to Hindus, but this matter has become especially inflammable now because of an environment of hate and polarisation created by the BJP. While Prime Minister Modi says that the State should strictly deal with “cow vigilantes”, who mercilessly assault individuals on mere suspicions of cattle slaughter, it is obvious that either the BJP leaders do not listen to Modi or that these are just empty statements.

This is all the more apparent from a recent report in The Washington Post, where a vigilante on record says, “Earlier, there was a fear that the Government would arrest us, but now with the Yogi Government, we don’t have any fear.” This reckless disregard for the rule of law and fearlessness is a direct product of the hateful rhetoric of the BJP.

Even the recent floods in Kerala, where hundreds of lives were lost, was used as a political gimmick when Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, a BJP MLA from Karnataka, blamed the floods in Kerala on the consumption of beef by the people of Kerala. I wonder what Yatnal’s scientific explanations are for the 2017 floods in Gujarat then?

What will be interesting to see is whether these leaders of the BJP, who show such fervour in attacking individuals that harm cows, have a critical view of State Governments in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, where thousands of cattle die every year due to neglect and lack of state protection. My hunch is that such a reaction from the BJP will not be forthcoming. Therefore, it is apparent that unlike cow dung (which has use as fertiliser, a source of power generation et al), the rhetoric of the BJP serves no end other than to encourage hatred and division on the pretext of protection of a holy animal.

Writer: Ajoy Kumar

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The extent of unemployment staring graduates in the face in India is unsettling. It needs urgent attention as India has the largest young population in the world.

India has the world’s largest people in the age group of 15 to 29, referred to as the ‘youth’. As per 2011 census, youth of our country comprises around 28 per cent of the total population, and contributes about 34 per cent towards India’s national income. The country is going through a phase of transition due to which, the share of youth in the total population is increasing with an average age of around 29 years.

This ‘demographic dividend’ comes at a time when the rest of the world is ageing with average age of 29 years in the US; 46 years in Europe; and 47 years in Japan. It is often argued that if the ‘youth’ is properly skilled and absorbed in the labour market, it can contribute to higher economic growth. Hence, one of the most important concerns for our policy-makers and Governments is the expansion of quality education and employment opportunities at an adequate pace to reap the benefits of demographic dividend.

However, rising unemployment rate and other reasons for seething unrest among the youth in recent years has become a hot topic for discussions and debates. Because a large section of this segment comprises first-time voters, their anger will be big factors in the coming State and Assembly elections.

The Indian economy is now on the path of recovery and is placed among the six largest economies in the world. Several schemes of the Union Government for the promotion of youth employment, such as Skill India, Startup India, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana and other self-employment initiatives, are in the right direction.

On the contrary, a few recent reports suggest a disturbing trend of rising unemployment rate in our country. As per  a report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), as many as 18.3 million Indians were unemployed last year and this is expected to rise to 19 million by 2019. Data by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy for August  2017, revealed that India’s unemployment rate stood highest at 6.2 per cent in the last two years. On the one hand, joblessness among the youth is visible in the form of increasing participation in agitation, violence and other illegal activities across the country, on the other, a large number of youth applied for a few Government jobs in the last few years. Over 2.8 crore applicants applied for 90,000 jobs offered by the Indian Railways; two lakh applicants applied for 1,137 police constable jobs in Mumbai; 12,500 applicants applied for a peon job in Rajasthan Assembly, 25 lakh appeared for 6,000 group ‘D’ jobs in West Bengal. Many more cases like these can be traced.

The above figures point to the present unemployment situation among youth in the country. A large number of applicants for these low paid formal jobs were technical and professional graduates reveal high unemployment rate among educated youth.

Similarly, the annual labour bureau survey conducted in 2016 showed that one out of every sixth (16 per cent) youth, and one out of every third (35 per cent) graduate youth was unemployed. In particular, the unemployment rate among graduate women (47.8 percent) was significantly higher than their male (29.7 percent) counterparts, which is more evident in urban areas.

Further, unemployment among youth graduates across major State was highest in Himachal Pradesh (57.1 per cent), Jharkhand (48.6 percent) and Uttar Pradesh (47.7 percent), while lowest in Gujarat (8.2 per cent), Delhi (11.7), and Karnataka (13.7 per cent). This reflects that unemployment rate among graduates is more prominent in northern and eastern backward States, while less visible in highly industrialised and urbanised region of the country. The credit for high and low youth unemployment rate should be shared by the policies of respective State Governments’ than the Centre.

These facts clearly show regional inequality in the creation of enough jobs for the educated youth. To accelerate the process of job creation, different Ministries at the Centre as also the State Governments need to include job creation in all their programmes and policies.

Employment creation must be an integral part of their macro and other economic policies. The northern and eastern parts of the country have not been able to experience growth and employment creation as in western and southern parts. Such regional inequality needs to be corrected so that local youth are able to get employment in the regions itself.

If appropriate steps are not taken in the near future, the growing educated unemployed youth will become a curse for the country. Due to absence of job, they may get engaged in theft, violence and other illegal activities.

Writer: Balwant Singh Mehta

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Overcoming a number of hurdles, Sheedis of Balochistan and Sindh have an intriguing history that paved their path to becoming one of the country’s most prosperous and stable communities.

On August 13, during the Sindh Assembly inauguration session in Karachi, Tanzeela Qambrani, who is associated with the Left-liberal Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), became the first-ever Sindhi Sheedi woman to become a lawmaker in a Pakistani legislature. Sheedis belong to a community that has its ancestry entrenched in Africa. According to a 2003 feature by S Jayasuriya and R Pankhurst in Africa World Press, the word ‘Sheedi’ is derived from the Arabic word sahibi, which was used by the ancient Arabs for ‘respectable men’ of north Africa. Other etymologies trace it to the word ‘syedi’. Yatin Pandya and Trupti Rawal in their book, The Ahmedabad Chronicle: Imprints of a Millennium, write that the Sheedis first arrived in South Asia with the armies of Arab commander Muhammad Bin Qasim in 712 CE. They had joined Arab armies when the Arabs first conquered parts of Africa.

Even though today this community can be found in India and Sri Lanka, the largest concentrations of the Sheedi population is located in Sindh and Balochistan’s coastal areas in Pakistan. In his article, ‘Blacks of Pakistan’, K Kwekudee wrote that there are approximately 250,000 Sheedis living in Pakistan’s southern coastal areas, especially in Makran, Karachi and Badin. It is not known how many Sheedis accompanied Bin Qasim in the 8th century. But their population in the region greatly increased when, in the 16th century, Portuguese traders began bringing in slaves from Africa to be sold here to rich Muslims and Hindus of India.

Jeanette Pinto, in her 1992 book, ‘Slavery in Portuguese India’, writes that most of the early African slaves brought here by the Portuguese were from the Central African region and belonged to a large group of tribes called the Bantu. Pinto added that slaves, who managed to escape slavery, settled in various parts of India and a sizeable number travelled to Balochistan’s Makran coast, Karachi and other parts of southern Sindh. Here, they converted to Islam and became fishing folk or labourers. Some also joined the armies of Sindh’s 18th and early 19th century Talpur dynasty. Even though slavery was abolished by the British when they took the reins of power in India, 19th century British officer and author Sir Richard Burton, in his travelogues on Sindh, wrote that slaves in India were being brought in and sold even in the 19th century. According to Kwekudee, these batches of slaves were brought here from East African regions, especially Madagascar. In Makran, Karachi and other coastal towns of Sindh, these Sheedis too became fishing folk.

One of the largest concentrations of the Sheedis emerged in Lyari, one of Karachi’s oldest localities. They spoke Balochi but the language was tinged with many Swahili words. The Islam that they converted to was the indigenous strand of faith found in the sub-continent. It is a populist fusion of South Asian Sufism and rituals and beliefs adopted over the centuries from the region’s pre-Islamic faiths. For example, in Karachi, the Sheedis became devotees of Pir Mangu, who is a 12th-century Sufi saint who settled in an area of Karachi that had a sulphur spring and a large deep pond full of crocodiles. There are many folklores connecting the crocodiles to the Pir who passed away in the 13th century. Some ancient texts do hint about a holy man here who fed crocodiles. Burton, in the 19th century, wrote in detail about this legend and also witnessed a boisterous festival at the saint’s shrine here, participated by the ‘black people of Karachi’.

The crocodiles, Burton wrote, were fed animal meat and sweetmeats. The area by then had begun to be known as Manghopir. Over the years, archaeologists have found crocodile bones at the site of the shrine which are said to be thousands of years old. They believe that the reptiles were swept here by an ancient flood.

Some historians believe that the ritual of feeding the crocodiles was probably introduced by the Sheedis hundreds of years ago. They base this on what Marty Crump and Dante B Fenolio wrote in their 2015 book, Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog, Adder’s Fork and Lizard’s Leg: The Lore and Mythology of Amphibians and Reptiles. They wrote that, for centuries, people of Madagascar believed that crocodiles had supernatural powers. Thus, slaves brought here from the 16th century onward may have retained this belief when they came across the crocodiles of Manghopir. The Sheedis are mainly descendants of slaves brought to the subcontinent by Europeans from West and East African regions, mainly from the so-called ‘big lake area’ which is surrounded by countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Republic of Congo and Kenya.

Historically, the Sheedis in Sindh and Makran have remained working-class people and the areas they are concentrated in, such as Lyari, have suffered long bouts of violence, drug/alcohol addiction, poverty and crime. Politically, the community has been progressive. In Makran, the Sheedis have been voting for various Left-leaning Baloch nationalist parties and in Sindh mainly for the PPP.

However, due to deadly gang wars in Lyari that the PPP’s Provincial Government in Sindh failed to tackle, the area’s residents began gradually shifting towards various Islamic evangelical outfits that began to enter the area during the gang violence from early 2000s. Even though the radical Barelvi Islamic party, the Tehreek-i-Labbaik, managed to win two Provincial Assembly seats in Lyari during the recently concluded election, there is every likelihood that the area will continue to face the many economic, political and social problems that it has been facing for almost 200 years now.

But ever since the 1970s, many men from the Sheedi community (especially from Makran) have continued to find employment in the police department of the Kingdom of Oman. For decades, the police force of that country’s capital city, Muscat, has had large numbers of Sheedis from Pakistan. This has helped many men from this community to better their lot. They have managed to move to more expensive residential areas of Sindh and Makran and provide their children better education. However, about two decades ago, even those Sheedis who did not travel to the Middle East began sending their children to schools and then to colleges and universities. Consequently, they managed to transcend the many problems faced by the community and enter the country’s more prosperous and stable social and economic avenues. Tanzeela Qambrani is a stark example of this.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

Writer: Nadeem Paracha

Courtesy: The Pioneer