A public art project by Leena Kejriwal and Change.org asks a startling question about human trafficking.

Giant  black cutouts, all approximately 13 ft high, each representing an unknown girl from some remote part of India who has been trafficked for human consumption, are propped up against a bright afternoon sky at CP. They are faceless, nameless, expressionless, posing the silent question, “Where have they gone missing? Who has them now?”

“To me, it is not the black silhouette of a girl. It looks as if the sky has been cut out and a black hole looks through it rather menacingly, drawing in all the missing girls and sucking them into oblivion. There is a sense of loss for the ones who have lost their personality, their choices, their voices and their freedom. With approximately 5,000 drawings across the country and the globe, we want each cutout to ask one question, ‘Where does the demand for a million girls who disappear every year, come from?’ And I want to use these public installations to shake and stir us   into corrective action,” says Leena Kejriwal, the mastermind behind The MISSING public art project for which she has collaborated with Change.org.

Talking about art as a means of activism, Kejriwal says, “People have used all kinds of media to engage with the public. I feel art has been underplayed in influencing people to take a stand or at least spark off a talking point.” And instead of focussing on the number of young girls that are lost to trafficking, this display asks the question, who have them, who is feeding the demand of the sex trade? Amogh Lux of  change.org, therefore, created the hashtag #ChokeTheDemand. “Trafficking is demand-driven. Small acts like forwarding a rape joke can have a devastating impact in perpetuating the idea of the commodification of girls and women. Our Missing murals have a chat box that ask you to chat with it,” says Kejriwal. The deafening silence on the other side seems to have had an impact. “According to our internal surveys, around 75 percent of men said they would stop watching porn if that leads to trafficking,” she tells us.

Amogh, a communication designer, says, “I want to be an advocate of creativity; people don’t know how to measure artworks as a solution but the kind of impact and engagement you get is extremely powerful and that is something I am interested in investigating.” The wall art is mainly to engage urban India but he is holding a number of workshops in rural sectors, educating girls about safety, security and the need to earn a  livelihood and equip oneself for it. Amogh explains how the chat boxes before the installations add a personal effect to the story of the victims. “For example, one of the murals in Kolkata explains that the cost of chicken is more than the cost of a girl. Now, if I tell you millions of girls disappear every year, you consider it a statistic. But the chicken-girl ratio hits you differently.”

Both Kejriwal and Amogh are trying hard to get a conversation going on breaking down patriarchal constructs, be it about gender roles, cultural values and societal customs. For example, they believe that talk about menstrual hygiene, though fragmented, is coalescing into a healthy dialogue on respecting otherness and   the female voice. “I would not say that girls need to be their own bodyguards. We need to build a society where taboos are not hard to speak about.”

Nida Hasan, campaign director at change.org,  says, “Kejriwal’s work speaks for itself. Trafficking has so far been talked about in terms of traffickers and number of girls being sold. We haven’t spoken about the customers,  wondered who are these people who are forcing even 11-year-old girls into the sex trade? Who are fuelling the demand for pornography, even child pornography?”

After working with the Women and Child Welfare ministry, Kejriwal has toured three districts and holding workshops on how to be a “smart girl” and not just a “good girl.”  Kejriwal’s reasoning is simple. “Why wait for a girl to get trafficked to save her? We are shaping her mind, trying to teach her about the many choices in life that will keep her away from coerced and feudal decisions. It is not about feminism, it is about creating awareness of equality. It is about changing a society that believes a girl has to behave in a certain way and live by a code. MISSING is only trying to tell you, ‘Hey, you are a human being with equal rights’ and slowly making the girls capable of thinking right. We are teaching them to be aware of their  actions, even acceptance, and where they can lead. It is about pinching a social fabric that’s trying to sweep everything under it.”

This project began with the Kolkata chapter, Hunt for the Lost Durga, in 2017 and will be carried forward to Mumbai and Hyderabad, after completing the Delhi chapter in Connaught Place, Malviya Nagar and Vasant Kunj.

Writer: Shilpi Seth

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Taking into consideration Trump’s orders to stop oil imports from Iran, India must craft its oil import policies carefully to protect its interests with Iran.

In another of many policy reversals of the previous administrations, US President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran that was signed by his predecessor, Barack Obama. The immediate impact of such a decision was that Iran was squeezed of foreign investment as investors, particularly the Europeans, are frightened to take the risks. Further, the Trump administration has issued a diktat that all oil imports from Iran, including that by India, must be stopped from November 4 and countries failing to meet this deadline shall face the prospect of US sanctions. India is unwilling to accept such a diktat. Iran, a regional power, is not only key to oil supplies to India but also its gateway to Eurasia and Afghanistan.

In May 2018, when Trump announced that US would withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the multilateral agreement constraining Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief, little was perceived about the consequences the decision would entail. Trump called the Iran deal “decaying and rotten” but did not offer any specifics of how he would replace it or how he would restrain Iran from rebuilding its nuclear infrastructure should it choose to do so. Trump’s main aim was to target Iran’s energy, petrochemical, and financial sectors, which effectively took the US out of the agreement. But the European stakeholders — including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson — sensed the fallout of such a decision and rushed to Washington urging Trump to remain in the deal, but to no avail. This was despite the fact that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the organisation responsible for monitoring Iran’s compliance with the agreement, consistently found that it had abided by the deal since it entered into force in 2016.

What is most disturbing after the tension in the Korean Peninsula is Trump’s annulment of the nuclear deal with Iran signed by his predecessor in cooperation with other European allies. The US diktat to world companies to cut oil imports from Iran to zero by November 4 or face US sanctions is a new element in world diplomacy. This is worrying the European allies, who were part of the Iran nuclear deal. The US decision has already started adversely impacting some European companies. For example, French automaker Peugeot now has started viewing Iran as too risky a place to do business. For the US, the window between May 8 and November 4 deadline is the drawdown period when countries importing oil from Iran should start reducing immediately and bring to zero by November 4 deadline.

The move applies not only to Europe but also to India, China, and Turkey. Following this announcement, oil prices rose sharply, and depressed currencies of many countries (in India, rupee breached 69 a dollar mark), making imports of critical products more expensive. Iran is OPEC’s third largest oil producer, exporting two million barrels a day.

Britain, France, Germany, and the European Union as a whole strongly protested Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and vowed to protect their companies from “secondary sanctions”, which punish companies from other countries that engage in business with sanctioned sectors of the Iranian economy. The US, however, says that secondary sanctions are in place in Iran since 1996.

Trump seems to be needlessly interfering in Iran as his policy on the nuclear issue and sanctions have created domestic turmoil, leading to increasing street protests. The US State Department argues that “Iranians are basically fed up with the regime’s squandering of the nation’s wealth on not particularly productive or enriching ventures abroad”. While the rial collapsed in foreign exchange markets and the country’s economic woes worsened, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called for unity to cope with the new challenge the nation faces now.

The US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, was in India and in her meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged on cutting oil imports, but was politely told that it would be difficult for India to make any significant cut. India shall be unwilling to bend under the US pressure, as its relations with Iran range from the energy trade to connectivity projects, particularly the development of Chabahar Port, and cutting trade between the two countries could hurt India’s long-term interests.

Given that the Indo-US ties have warmed, it is unclear if Trump will unilaterally impose sanctions on India if the latter does not cut oil imports from Iran or give some waiver. There is a view in some quarters in the policy-making circles in India that the US is not threatening India over purchase of crude oil from Tehran. The US is already aware that India had already cut down its oil intake from the Islamic Republic to 6 per cent of the total oil it imports before the sanctions were lifted when Iran signed the deal with the US when Obama was in power.

Despite the fact that Iran is experiencing domestic turmoil over governance issue, Iranian leaders are seeking ways to defend the nation’s economy from the US sanctions. After Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal, which lifted most sanctions in 2015, the rial currency dropped up to 40 per cent in value. This prompted protests by bazaar traders usually loyal to the Islamist rulers. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has rightly said that the US sanctions were aimed at turning Iranians against the Government. Apart from the severe economic situation at home to the extent of even shortages of drinking water, Iran is increasingly finding it difficult to access the global financial system. It is not clear if President Rouhani’s counter-measures to withstand the sanctions can bring any succour and help bail out the nation from the negative impact of the sanctions.

Among the counter-measures that Iran is thinking is to attain self-sufficiency in gasoline production, look for potential buyers and ways of repatriating income in conformity with international law after the US sanctions take effect. Khamenei suspects that the US is acting with Sunni Muslim Gulf Arab states that regard Shi’ite Muslim Iran as their main regional foe to destabilise the Government in Tehran.

Iran’s fears seem to be genuine. For example, Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City and an ally of Trump, said in a speech he delivered at the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Paris on June 30 that Trump’s move will suffocate Iran’s “dictatorial ayatollahs”, suggesting the decision to reimpose sanctions was aimed squarely at regime change. It appears that with the increased fear of sanctions, major European companies have started leaving the country despite Europe’s vows to save the nuclear accord. Even the US National Security Advisor John Bolton had made similar observations in the same forum in May 2016 before he assumed the current office. However, Britain, France, and Germany — which signed the nuclear accord along with the US, Russia, and China — opine that the agreement prevents Iran from developing weapons-grade nuclear fuel.

As with Iran, Trump also has a problematic relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but despite that, a summit with him is scheduled for July 16 in Helsinki. Russia, too, faces sanctions over its annexation of Crimea some time ago. The truism, however, is that the US sanctions against Russia and Iran are backed neither by the UN nor the world community. Seen from this perspective, drawing India into this battle and coercing it to cut oil imports is neither justified nor legally valid. If India bends, it would risk breaking ties with its traditional allies. On its part, it would be against America’s interest to displease India as it needs it now more than ever before. Indian investments in Afghanistan assist the US in its effort to develop the nation. Secondly, India is the only country in Asia with the military and economic power to cope with the Chinese challenge and check its efforts to establish hegemony in the region, which is why military cooperation with India by the US could be of its interest. India should be careful not to allow itself to be used by the US against its traditional allies Russia and Iran.

If India bends to Trump’s diktat, it would be against its national interests. Russia is a time-tested friend of India, and has always stood by its side. Over 60 per cent of its military equipment is of Russian origin. With the example of the way Trump handled North Korea after exchanging diatribes against Kim Jong-un before meeting him in Singapore on June 12 and then praising him, India needs to be circumspect if it decides to review its decision to purchase S-400 from Russia, lest Trump’s change in direction could result in India spoiling its own relations with Russia and unable to restore the ties.

India’s economic and strategic interests are enmeshed with that of Iran’s. Seen to be a counter to China’s port development activities across Asia, such as in Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan, and recently in Djibouti, Indian interests and participation in the development of Chabahar Port in Iran provides India with multiple strategic benefits. Moreover, India signed an agreement with Iran after Rouhani’s visit to India when it agreed to increase its oil purchases from Iran. Supporting Trump’s call to stop this shall not only violate that agreement but could push Iran away from India and would damage its agreement on the Chabahar Port. China is in multiple conflicts with the US and the largest purchaser of oil from Iran is unlikely to accede to the US requests. If India succumbs to Trump’s demands, it would almost mean gifting the Chabahar Port to China.

So, what are then India’s options? Despite its growing proximity with the US, India needs to, as before, continue pursuing an independent foreign policy and not compromise with its national interests. As a first step, India should not sign the Communication, Compatibility, Security Agreement, underlining its disagreement with America’s unilateral policies.

In the meantime, with the announcement of the US sanctions against Iran, oil prices rose as significant volumes of crude oil from world markets were taken away coinciding with the increase in demand worldwide. Trump was quick to lash out at OPEC and warned that it is manipulating oil markets. The US put pressure on ally Saudi Arabia to raise supplies to compensate for lower exports from Iran. Saudi Arabia pumps around 10 million bpd and could raise output to 11 million bpd, but Trump wants Riyadh to increase production to 12 million bpd, something the kingdom has never done in the past. Rising gasoline prices could create a political headache for Trump. It remains to be seen if Saudi Arabia bails out Trump as it is the biggest producer of oil in the Middle East.

But the disturbing news is that India’s Oil Ministry has asked refiners to prepare for a “drastic reduction or zero” imports of Iranian oil from November as demanded by Trump. Does it mean that New Delhi is responding to a push by the US to cut trade ties with Iran and surrendering its autonomy to take policy decisions in conformity with its national interests? It is perplexing that while at the one hand, India says it does not recognise unilateral restrictions imposed by the US and only follows UN sanctions, it advises its oil refineries to prepare for a cut in imports and bring close to zero by the deadline given by Trump and look for alternatives.

India is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil after China and if India is forced to take action to protect its exposure to the US financial system, it could have huge implications for the region, besides jeopardising its ties with Iran.

It may be recalled that during the previous round of sanctions, India was one of the few countries that continued to buy Iranian oil, although it had to reduce imports as shipping, insurance, and banking channels were choked due to the European and US sanctions. But this time, the situation is not the same. Now while India, China, and Europe are on one side, the US alone stands alone on the other.

The question that arises is how effective is Trump’s diktat? On the surface, it seems to be working. Reliance Industries Ltd, the operator of the world’s biggest refining complex, decided to halt imports. Nayara Energy, an Indian company promoted by Russian oil major Rosneft, is also preparing to halt imports of oil from Iran from November. The company has already started cutting its oil imports from June.

This leaves open the question if there are options to find replacements to Iranian oil. Though Saudi Arabia is expected to boost oil production, as it has pledged a “measurable” supply boost, it remains unclear if that is the best alternative to outcast Iran from the oil market.

Iran is not done yet and is unlikely to give in so quickly. In honouring its ties with India, it has offered virtually free shipping and an extended credit period of 60 days. India does have the option of buying oil from Saudi Arabia or Kuwait to replace Iran, but it has to consider what economic values such choices offer. India would be happy with the assurance given by Haley in New Delhi that a trade war with India “wasn’t an option” for the Trump administration.

India, therefore, needs to craft its Iran policy carefully; a policy that protects its important strategic and economic interests with Iran, while at the same time, does not displease other stakeholders.

Dr Panda, former Senior Fellow at the IDSA, was until recently ICCR Chair Professor at Reitaku University, Japan

Writer: Rajaram Panda

Courtesy: The Pioneer

BJP won their last elections by full-majority UP votes. In this election, the greatest challenge BJP will face is to save it 73 seats. Out of the 73 seats, BJP has 71, whereas, 2 belong to Apna Dal, their alliance partner. UP will, therefore, be BJP’s first priority in this election.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has started the campaign for the next Lok Sabha Elections. Dialogue with the beneficiaries of different schemes of the Central Government through the NaMo App is part of the campaign. Along with that, his rallies and programmes for different States have been fixed. It is being said that PM Modi will visit Uttar Pradesh almost every month and address a big rally in some part of the State.

It was, after all, UP that had pushed the BJP into power with full majority. This time, the party’s greatest challenge is to save its 73 seats. Of the 73, the BJP has 71 of its own and two seats belong to its alliance partner, Apna Dal. That is why UP is the first priority in the BJP’s election strategy. Hence, the BJP and RSS have decided to give it their all in the State.

Recently, there was a coordination meeting between the RSS and BJP in UP, which was attended by Yogi Adityanath and other senior leaders of the party. It is possible that the RSS chief could have directed Yogi to hold the Kumbh Mela on a grand scale next year. The Central and State Governments are also gearing up for the event, which is expected to reap political benefits for the BJP.

Meanwhile, preparations are on for the rallies of PM Modi. In the last week of June, the PM went to Maghar where he inaugurated the Kabir Academy and addressed a rally. His next rally might be held on July 15. Modi is going to his own constituency, Varanasi, for two days, where he will address a gathering and announce sops for his constituency.

Some say Modi’s next rally will be held in Azamgarh — the old bastion of Samajwadi Party, and from where Mulayam Singh Yadav is presently an MP. Though he would probably not fight from here this time. This place is also significant for the politics of Purvanchal. So, in July, the PM might address a rally in Azamgarh. After that, Modi will go to Siddharthnagar in August. Till the elections are announced, Modi is expected to address a rally in UP every month.

CONG’S PRESSURE POLITICS

The Congress is playing pressure politics with the RJD in the same way the JDU is playing politics with its alliance partner, the BJP. In this game, leaders of the Congress and JDU are helping each other. It started when the Congress in-charge, Shaktisinh Gohil, invited Nitish Kumar to join the Mahagathbandhan. Nitish used this opportunity to put pressure on the BJP, but Tejashwi Yadav is well aware of this game and exposed it by directly opposing Nitish.

After that, the Congress leaders openly put pressure on the RJD. Former president of Bihar Congress, Shakeel Ahmad, advised Tejashwi not to use such words for Nitish. He also said that if the Congress leaders had given any statement about him, he must not retaliate by using harsh words against Nitish.

The real motive behind Ahmad’s statement was to tell the RJD that it had the option of Nitish also. In fact, the RJD leaders are using alliance partners other than the Congress as well. It has brought in Jitan Ram Manjhi’s party, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), but they are asking for five Lok Sabha seats. Meanwhile, the RJD is also in talks with the CPI and CPM. The RJD will leave at least three seats for them, and in this scenario, there is a chance that the Congress will get very few seats.

On the other hand, if the Congress goes with the RJD, Shakeel Ahmad’s ticket from Madhubani is also in danger. The last time, he was not able to fight from this seat. The Congress is putting pressure to get more seats than the RJD. In the last Lok Sabha Elections, the Congress had fought on 15 seats, and this time, the party is eyeing at least 12 seats. In this pressure game, the Congress has also included Gujarat’s Patidar leader, Hardik Patel.

NCP WANTS EQUAL SEATS

The alliance between the Congress and NCP is almost decided in Maharashtra, and both parties will fight together. This time, the NCP leaders are demanding a change in the old formula; they are not ready for the 26 and 22 seats formula. They say that the NCP had won more seats in the last elections, so this time, it must be given at least equal number of seats, if not more than the Congress.

In the last Lok Sabha Elections, the Congress was almost finished. Only two of its leaders — Rajeev Satav and Ashok Chavan — were able to make an entry into the Lok Sabha. On the other hand, four NCP leaders had emerged victorious in the LS polls. Recently, the NCP won the Bhandara-Gondiya seat in the byelections. Now, the NCP has five MPs, while the Congress has only two. That is why the NCP leaders are demanding equal seats.

The NCP wants both parties to get 24 seats of the total 48. And if any new partner joins in, both parties will share their seats in equal ratio.

The leader of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, Raju Shetti, has left the partnership of the BJP. The last time around, he had fought along with the BJP and Shiv Sena and had won. He is the leader of farmers and had left the hand of the BJP on the issue of farmers. Now, he will go with the Congress and NCP. The NCP might leave one seat for him from its own quota. If the BSP also comes along, the Congress could leave one seat from its quota.

SUSHIL FIRES NEW SALVO

Sushil Kumar Modi, the BJP leader and Deputy CM of Bihar, is on the offensive against Lalu Prasad and his son Tejashwi. The moment Nitish seemed to be inching towards the Mahagathbandhan again, Sushil Modi sharpened his attack on Lalu’s family. This must be noted that when Nitish was in the Mahagathbandhan, Sushil Modi exposed the hidden properties of Lalu, Rabri, Tejashwi, and Misa, and Nitish had made this the basis to leave Lalu’s side. When the BJP and JDU formed the Government, Sushil Modi went quiet. When the Congress leaders are trying to take Nitish into the Mahagathbandhan again and tension is rising between the JDU and BJP, Sushil Modi is targeting the Lalu family again. He has said that Lalu is the biggest zamindar of Bihar, giving details of the properties which were bought by the Government and later transferred on lease to Tejashwi. It is being said that such exposés are being done only to stop Nitish from changing his mind.

Writer: Hari Shankar Vyas

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Animals not be like humans but it doesn’t mean that they do not have right to share benefits of labour.

Looks like the Uttarakhand High Court is the biggest biosphere advocate there is and is laying down the rulebook for a compassionate balance of survival. For, after graduating rivers to “living entities”, the Court has now held that all animal life, on ground and in water, should have equal rights as human beings. In simple terms, it means that humans can no longer reference animals with or make them subservient to their needs. Instead, all creatures of the animal kingdom have as much of a right to a good life as humans do. With the exception of a New York court, which granted partial human rights to chimpanzees, such legal verdicts are rare considering that they question the theory of evolution itself, challenge the food-chain logic and leave a perplexing mess of defining what constitutes human-animal conflict.

Perhaps the Court’s intent was to make the point that as humans were on top of the food chain, only they could be appealed to for reason. While pets get a lot of human attention, other animals do end up getting mistreated and exploited as vagrants, milch and poultry resources or as transport carriers. And since they contribute to the human economy and gains, they should partake of shared benefits, is the logic. The Court’s ruling came in response to a petition seeking the vaccination of horses coming in from Nepal to prevent infectious diseases among native animals. For a State dependent on a tourist economy that peddles horse and mule rides, economics demands that their health and fitness levels be top grade. While owners have to be conscientious about the animals’ diet and not overwork them, the Court has also provided for societies of prevention of cruelty to animals at the district level and local infirmaries on the lines of primary health centres. With “over-tourism” stretching the State’s resources, flora and fauna have been greatly affected and the ruling, more than the funny memes it has spawned, factors in these serious conditions. Fish in the upper reaches of the Ganga, near Alakananda and Rishikesh, was dwindling at one time due to human depredation till the Ganga cleanup happened with the Swachh campaign. At one point, the elephant rides at Jaipur’s Amer Fort came under cloud because of the declining number of pachyderms; now, with a dedicated village where both owners and government are stakeholders and where elephants are taken care of according to rulebook, the rides are back. Perhaps we need laws for conscientious zoo-keeping and animal breeding too.  

Writer: Pioneer

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The media takes to opportunistic reporting by disparaging Modi whom it once projected as a demi-god and a cure for all ills. This is creating a cloud of delusion and confusion everywhere.

It is disheartening to watch heavily charged television debates these days. Overwhelming and tangible emotions against the current dispensation are evident in some circles. Media outlets appear to have honed their skills of selective reporting and lambasting the Narendra Modi Government.

A profound sense of anxiety seems to have enveloped a number of people who enthusiastically voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014. However alarming this may sound, one has every reason to dispel biases and forcefully argue that the doomsday scenario, which is unfolding so vividly in the media, is a myth and a marvelous creation; let us give them that at least.

In his book, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, Steven Pinker strenuously argues that violence has declined rapidly in the world. This is true for the short-run and the long-run. The crux of his argument is that human beings are vital assets for commerce, and without them, monopolies would not thrive. So it is in everyone’s (nation states) best interest to promote peace and not propagate violence.

Ironically, our perception and impression of violence seems to have risen exponentially due to unmitigated rise in media and communication. Think about it. New mediums we choose to make our platforms communicate are a source of information which can be circulated widely in a matter of minutes.  This is what seems to happening in India today. Reports of lynching are getting frequent, aren’t they? And if an outsider were to follow the Indian media for a week, he would conclude that we come second after the IS. But this is definitely not the case and we are a peaceful and tolerant country.

It is certainly not hard for a well- funded media channel to engage in selective reporting. Unfortunately, the debate in India is focusing around personalities and not on issues that need attention.  The case of the couple who furnished wrong information for their passports and then played the victim card was astonishing. But the media was quick to reprimand the BJP for it. One can argue that we are a more receptive society today and the entire brouhaha is the product of misaligned interests.

After the skyrocketing inflation which marked the United Progressive Alliance-II (UPA-II) era, people were desperately seeking an alternative. Expectations were high, and the BJP has performed spectacularly in many domains.

Unfortunately, and much to the benefit of the Opposition, the media is quick to create an uproar by reporting stories which portray the Government in poor light. The same media which projected a demi-god image of Modi and portrayed him as the panacea for our ills, is now looking for opportunities to denigrate him. This is translating into a palpable sense of delusion at a certain level. No Government has ever or will ever be perfect for everyone. That is simply democracy.

Recent debates about how we live in times of an ‘Emergency’ are simply ludicrous.  Do many people in this country suffer from selective amnesia? Have we forgotten the Congress era and its policies which brought India to the precipice? It would be foolish to ignore the benefits of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, National Health Scheme and rural electrification.

The pace of construction of roads has increased rapidly under the current Government.  Even the road from Jolly Grant Airport, Dehradun, which passes through the forest got built when Prime Minister Narendra Modi went there for the International Yoga Day.

Debates today must focus on the efficacy of specific policies and not on the acute failure of some. At times, well-crafted policies fail to achieve desired objectives.

One of the most banal arguments one can hear is the image of Modi as someone who is adept at marketing himself and the Government. Well, is it wrong for a leader to disseminate the work done by his party? Is it a failure to market India? People can misrepresent facts but the truth is that in today’s world every country is like a commodity, and therefore, a wise statesman must be able to market his country well to convince multi-nationals to invest. Let this not be considered a case of policy mismanagement.

His critics also spearhead the argument that by marketing Yoga Day, Modi emboldened the saffron brigade and revived Hindutva. This is again a laughable attempt at undermining his image. There have been repeated attempts to patent some yoga asanas by the so-called gurus in America and Europe.

So, as the Prime Minister of India, if he is reviving an ancient Indian practice, what really is the harm done? The public discourse reached a nadir recently when prominent networks began to question the validity of the story concerning a ‘Rajiv Gandhi’ type incident. The security of the Prime Minister is sacrosanct and it is certainly not an issue which should be dealt with in such a loose manner.

Media channels began to question the veracity of the letter recovered by the Pune police from the house of Rona Wilson. The Congress was quick to call it an ‘old tactic’ that Modi employs. Perhaps many people who engaged in this mudslinging are not familiar with the level of planning, intelligence gathering and execution which the Special Protection Group (SPG) uses to protect the Prime Minister. In his book, India’s External Intelligence: Secrets of Research and Analysis Wing RAW, Major General VK Singh enlightens the reader as to how a global tender to procure a frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) 800 MHz Digital System by the SPG had to be cancelled because the company in question — Motorola — used algorithms which were used for other devices in other countries. The Prime Minister’s security could not be compromised and the deal was cancelled in November 2003.

Intelligence agencies rely on human intelligence (HUMINT) and signals intelligence (SIGNIT) to gather threats and information. For most agencies, including the Research and Analysis Wing of India (RAW), 80 percent of the gathering is done by employing electronic means.

So, when the SPG says that there is a perceptible threat to the Prime Minister’s life, let us not make a mockery out of it like every other issue. They are not relying on the sole letter to issue such a notice.

Domestic politics apart, the man has made India and its diaspora proud on the world stage. Sure, the intricacies of international relations require further deliberation. But he is trying to create a mark for India in the world.

India’s foreign policy bureaucracy was initially reluctant to adhere to policy changes being announced by Modi, but slowly and steadily a visible change is apparent in the power corridors of Delhi. Surely, there are limits to the power we can project due to financial constraints but with the Indian economy registering a robust growth rate, all that will change in the future.

So what is our duty as well-read citizens? It is important to navigate the prevalent discourse which is laced with biases and vested interests. I think we all need to be mindful of that.

When someone gets trolled on twitter — like Sushma Swaraj did recently in the passport case — do some background research before arriving at a conclusion. The state of television debates is only going to nosedive as the General Election approaches. So in all this chaos, one has to make the right choice so that the best candidate wins.

Writer: Ishaan Saxena

Courtesy: The Pioneer

China has been expanding its boundaries to fulfil its dream of becoming the world’s most powerful nation. But the picture is not rosy. Resentment among the best of China’s friends is growing

Since the new Emperor sat on the throne in Beijing in 2012, the Middle Kingdom has steadily extended its influence in the periphery of the Empire. The CPC proclaims today: “The great rejuvenation of Chinese nation is an unstoppable historical trend that won’t be diverted by the will of any individual country or person.” The CPC has a dream: For its 100 years in 2049, it wants China to be the most powerful nation in the world. But if one looks at the Empire’s neighbourhood, all is not rosy and resentment has been created everywhere, even amongst China’s best ‘friends’.

Take Pakistan, whose friendship is deeper than oceans and sweeter than honey; according to The Tribune, the border trade with China through Khunjerab Pass resumed last week after a three month gap.  The reason? A traders’ strike against a Web-Based One Customs system newly introduced at the Pakistan-Xinjiang border. The newspaper explained: “The decision to end the strike took place during a meeting held in Gilgit under the supervision of the Army. Traders had blocked the strategic Karakoram Highway which is a part of the multibillion dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor project.” It is obvious that not everyone is delighted by the largesse of the all-weather sponsor, particularly  inhabitants of Gilgit-Baltistan and Baluchistan.

A similar phenomenon is happening elsewhere. Last month, The Washington Post published a long investigative piece on Sihanoukville, a new city of 90,000 inhabitants, which has been developed by China in Cambodia. The number of Chinese tourists doubled in a year to 120,000 in 2017, according to The Post: “Restaurants, banks, landlords, pawnshops, duty-free stores, supermarkets and hotels all display signs in Chinese. The Cambodian government has allowed extraordinary levels of Chinese investment…Thirty casinos have already been built, and 70 more are under construction.” The Blue Bay casino promotes itself as “one of the iconic projects of China’s One Belt, One Road initiative.” The smallest studios start at $143,000, while the most prized apartments cost more than $500,000. The Post continued: “With the exception of those working in the hotels and casinos, most Cambodians, whose average income is $1,100 a year, are seeing little benefit from this investment. And resentment is mounting.” It is the pet project of Hun Sen, the Cambodian Prime Minister, who has been ruling for the past 34 years, “his willingness to be embraced by China is most evident,” said the US newspaper.

As a result, serious tensions have appeared between the new landlords and the locals. As The Financial Times put it: “Cambodia is not alone in weighing the mixed blessings of Chinese investment, which elsewhere has been welcomed for its scale and relative lack of conditions attached. What is unusual about Sihanoukville’s transformation is that tension in the town has coalesced into a public backlash — unusual in a country where personal freedoms are fading.”

Vietnam, too, is caught between the generous Chinese investments and the nationalists’ demands to not bow to Beijing. The South China Morning Post reported: “Earlier this month…more than 1,000 workers went on strike at a Taiwanese shoe factory in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam, blocking a highway.” The workers were singing: “We don’t want to give any of our land away to China, not even for one day.” They protested against their own Government’s plan to set up three new special economic zones where foreign companies (read China) would be granted decades-long leases. Later the protests swept across Vietnam.

The Hong Kong paper said: “Police shut down protests in urban centres, and at times clashed with demonstrators, including in Binh Thuan province near Ho Chi Minh City, where protesters burned police vehicles and defaced Government buildings.…Production stopped at multiple Chinese — and Taiwanese — owned factories across the south of the country.” Hundreds of demonstrators had gathered, holding up banners shouting: “I love my fatherland — don’t let China lease our land.”

Already last year, Forbes titled a report as  “Violent Protests Against Chinese ‘Colony’ In Sri Lanka Rage On.” In January 2017, as the first brick of a Southern Industrial Zone was laid in Hambantota, violent protests erupted in the new port. It left more than 10 people hospitalised and many others were sent to jail. According to an  economic newspaper: “A group of demonstrators led by Buddhist monks from nearby Amabalantota took to the streets as the opening ceremony of the industrial zone took place. However, these protesters were met by mobs of Government supporters, who reputedly attacked them with clubs and fists. The monk-led demonstrators fought back by throwing rocks. The police, meanwhile, found themselves in the middle of the fray, using water cannons and tear gas.”

The reason for the protests was the handing over of the port to the Chinese; “the perceived loss of autonomy to a foreign power as well as the potential land grab that could be necessary to build the 15,000-acre industrial zone.” One can wonder if Nepal has thought of this aspect of the Chinese ‘generosity’. Last month, Prime Minister KP Oli visited Beijing and told Xinhua that Nepal attached great value to its relationship with China “which has always respected its sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence”. During the visit, it was announced that China would build a railway connecting Tibet with Nepal. It was one of several bilateral deals signed during the Nepali Prime Minister’s visit. The rail link will connect the Tibetan city of Shigatse to Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, via the border port of Kyirong. According to a Chinese official website, the two sides further signed 10 other agreements involving technology, transportation, infrastructure and political cooperation.

Nepal has also inked a $2.5 billion deal with China’s state-owned Gezhouba Group to build a hydropower facility in the west of the country. The China Daily quoted Li Keqiang, the Chinese Premier, saying: “China would also like to work with Nepal to build a ‘cross-Himalayan connectivity network’ through aviation, trading ports, highways and telecommunications.”

It sounds good, especially in Kathmandu,  but as I was finishing writing this piece, a Twitter message came in saying, “A Chinese rubber factory in Talgar, Kazakhstan, burned by locals today.” Talgar is located some 20 km from Almaty, the Kazakh capital. Here too resentment is growing. The moral of the story: There is no free meal and a nation like Nepal will sooner or later realise this, even if the Chinese dishes are appetising to start with; in fact the Indian food may be less tasty, but it definitively leaves less hangovers.

(The writer is an expert on India-China relations and an author)

Writer: Claude Arpi

Courtesy: The Pioneer

National Fertilisers Limited (NFL) has adopted many villages in India, and they are promoting the use of compost to enrich the soil. In addition to offering all products and services to farmers in India, NFL wants to protect the environment.

As maintaining soil health has become crucial for a sustainable green cover, the National Fertilisers Limited (NFL) is aggressively promoting the use of  compost in its adopted villages and in the process lending impetus to the Swachh Bharat campaign. Calling the product City Compost, its chairman and managing director Manoj Mishra says the company is offering the lowest price in the industry to give an opportunity to farmers for using it widely. Excerpts from an interview:

What is your plan to implement and promote use of City Compost?

NFL is offering the lowest prices in the industry for City Compost so that farmers at least try it out.  The company also undertook a three-year project under CSR at 10 adopted villages in Madhya Pradesh and Haryana to promote the benefits and use of City Compost. In addition, 43 villages were adopted in its marketing territory to demonstrate the benefits of its use. As a result, we sold around 2660 MT of compost in the year 2016-17 and 11695 MT of compost in the year 2017-18. However, we have set an ambitious target to sell around 20,000 MT of compost in 2018-19.

Can you share the highlights of financial year 2017-18?

The year 2017-18 was a record year for the third time in a row for NFL when the company set new records of production and sale of urea. The company recorded the best-ever urea production of 38.10 lakh MT with 118 per cent capacity utilisation, highest-ever sale of 43.09 lakh MT of fertilisers and highest ever turnover of Rs 8,928 crore. With these efforts, the company recorded a profit of  Rs 335 crore in 2017-18, the best in the last 15 years. This is despite keeping an amount of Rs 246 crore aside as provision for higher ceiling of Gratuity and Pay Revision of employees. Otherwise, the profit figure would have crossed a new high of Rs 500 crore. Neem-coated urea has become increasingly popular among the farmers because of its higher yield and anti-pest qualities. In compliance with the government’s policy, NFL is producing this variant of herbalist urea at all its plants.

How do you plan to make NFL more responsive to the needs of farmers?

We were primarily a urea manufacturing company. After adoption of “NFL Vision 2020-21”, we forayed into the marketing of other fertilisers like DAP, MoP, NPK, Bentonite sulphur, bio-fertilisers, city compost, seeds and agro-chemicals. We are offering bio-fertilisers in three strains and promoting their use by organising regular trainings to farmers. The company is also providing certified quality seeds to farmers through its own seed multiplication programme. We have opened 100 model retail outlets or Kisan Suvidha Kendras in our territory for providing all types of products and services to farmers at one place. The company is getting regular feedback about the demand of new products and is planning to add such products in its product line in the future.

What is your non-urea product bouquet?

NFL has steadily transformed from a single to a  multi-product company. Apart from fertilisers, the non-urea business of NFL has almost doubled in 2017-18 with import of 4.59 lakh MT of fertilisers (DAP, MoP, NPK). NFL has commissioned its own Bentonite Sulphur plant in Panipat in December, 2017, with an annual capacity of 25,000 MT. The seeds and agro-chemical business of company are also picking up. This non-urea segment has significantly helped NFL in increasing the profitability as the income from this segment increased to 15 per cent in 2017-18 from a mere one per cent in 2014-15.

What are your new plans for Direct Subsidy Benefit to farmers?

NFL has procured and deployed point-of-sale (PoS) machines at retailers’ points for implementation of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in its territory. The company has trained retailers for use of these machines. NFL will work closely work with the Government in a similar manner when the next phase of DBT is implemented.

How far has the Ramagundam project progressed?

The Ramagundam joint venture project is progressing satisfactorily and is likely to start commercial production by the end of the financial year. The plant will have a capacity to produce 12.72 lakh MT urea per annum. Since NFL will be marketing Ramagundam urea under its brand name, the company has strengthened its marketing network in southern states. NFL is also providing its HR expertise to the JV by supplying experienced technical manpower in addition to recruitment and training of fresh manpower of RFCL.

Writer: MANOJ MISHRA

Courtesy: The Pioneer

With the assembly elections for three major states around the corner, the parties have initiated their poll sops, making larger than life promises. Will the nation figure out who is right for them?

Assembly elections for the three major States of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan scheduled for later this year to be followed by the General Election in early 2019 evoke very different reactions in the rulers and the ruled. The regular or garden variety of citizen is busy working hard to earn a living and will, perhaps, only apply her/his mind to issues shortly before exercising that one right s/he knows is the most powerful tool in a democracy — the right to vote. But political parties scrambling for that vote have a different take. Whether in the BJP or in the Congress, think-tanks have apparently done their research and are ready with policies which they feel will gain traction among the electorate. In a sad commentary on what our rulers think of us that sops top the list of both parties.

The Congress has apparently decided on the basis of a combination of empirical evidence and echo chamber generated data that unemployment rates, especially among the youth, are going to be a major issue in the forthcoming elections. Especially, as it believes the problem is one which the Narendra Modi Government has not been able to tackle effectively. Let us assume the Congress is right for the purpose of this argument. So, what is its solution? Unsurprisingly, it is the dole. The plan is that the state will provide a job guarantee — Back to the USSR! — to all educated youth in the 18-30 age bracket and if the Government fails to provide them a job commensurate with their qualifications, it will disburse a ‘respectable’ monthly allowance on the lines of provided in European countries, i.e. the dole. Scarily, the Congress policy planning unit is studying the MNREGA pattern before it finalises this scheme presumably in time for the forthcoming elections. The contours of this alternative employment-generation plan with a ‘youth focus’ are clear: Government as mai-baap will be back with a bang with the politics of patronage and rent-seeking built into the system. The cumulative effect of this approach, quite apart from the distortions such heavy-handed state intervention will introduce to the ability of the Indian economy to generate growth and employment in a free market paradigm, is likely to be disastrous. The Congress System which was dismantled by the 1991 reforms, is readying for a comeback by the looks of it. The ruling BJP, has its own demons to battle, however. Its go-to response, too, has been to guarantee crop prices for farmers, especially paddy, coarse grain and pulses cultivators at a cost to the exchequer of Rs Rs 15,000 crore. Now, nobody is arguing that an agricultural sector in deep crisis and farmer distress should not be addressed and the MSP of 1.5 times the input cost — though nobody can say how this cost will be calculated and/or can be uniform — promised by the Government in the Budget should certainly be paid. But how about simultaneously bringing the farm sector/agricultural income into the income tax net and spending the revenue thus accruing to the Government to at least part-compensate for the MSP spend? Naturally, sharecroppers and small landholders should be exempted just as there is an I-T exemption limit for others who earn very little. But those in a poll sop state of mind won’t be receptive to such suggestions.

Writer: The Pioneer

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The ruling party has been using surgical strikes to master the art of politicization, which prides itself on its commitment to the military and national security. By launching a new video of the same, the party is doing what it does best – politicize!

It is unfortunate that the already politicised issue of surgical strikes against terror camps in PoK was revived through a video clip, 20 months after the event. It triggered a tsunami of competitive nationalism among ‘loyal to Government’ TV channels, a bitter battle of words between the BJP and the Congress and sporadic criticism by military experts. It would have been better to let sleeping dogs lie. It will, however, be useful to recall two of the many epochal statements made by the BJP president Amit Shah following the surgical strikes. First, that it was the first time in 68 years that Indian troops crossed the LoC. Second, the party would take the issue of surgical strikes to the people.

The LoC has been crossed many times in the past covertly for similar raids. Our political class is severely deficient in military history, strategic thinking and political direction of operations and war. They rely on the generalist civil service, making it the blind leading the blind. Surgical strikes, and later Doklam, were used by the Government during the elections for political gains, particularly to showcase the strategic acumen of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

I was among the seven military veterans who were briefed by Army chief Dalbir Singh and DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh on the morning after the surgical strikes. Those facts do not require repetition. The video clip is authentic but for a layman, difficult to decipher. It could have been taken out of any Sylvester Stallone movie. Even before going public, the DGMO displayed exceptional civility in informing his Pakistani counterpart immediately after the last commando was back home that the target of the strikes was not the Pakistan Army but terrorist launch pads. He added that there were no plans for further strikes. This was Incredible India. Pakistan helped by denying the strikes altogether and called the video clip ‘farcical’. Fortunately, this prevented retaliation and escalation for which India was unprepared. The rest is folklore.

This was not the first time a raid/raids were carried out covertly. Yes, it was the first time multiple and coordinated raids were executed across the LoC and the Army, instead of maintaining silence and secrecy, was asked by the Government to go public for the first time ever. According to the Army, the operation was in retribution for the terrorist attack at Uri. Contrary to claims then that the surgical strikes as also the demonetisation that followed would deter Pakistan’s cross-border terrorism, the spin now is that it was primarily a revenge attack. What happened in the past were silent raids — including exchanging body parts of military personnel. I have witnessed such mutual bestiality since 1957 on both sides of the PirPanjal range. The ground situation changed significantly after the rigged elections of 1987 when the seeds of insurgency were sown.

Today, even the military community is divided over the merits of releasing the video clip. The disclosure can be viewed as a force multiplier for the forthcoming Assembly Elections but anyone who questions the military utility of the strikes is considered anti-national. Further, it does little to cheer the military whose modernisation woes have been publicised by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence chaired by BJP military veteran, Maj Gen BC Khanduri. The Government’s latest charade is of the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft 2.0 (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force.

About marketing the strikes, as pledged by Shah, full marks to him and Modi’s team for their superb advertising skills. The surgical strikes were first milked in Lucknow by former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at public rallies in October-November 2016. I was with the Army in Central Command Lucknow and was, therefore, privy to Parrikar’s operations. Posters and hoardings blanketed Lucknow as never before. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, also in town, was clouded by BJP event managers. What was striking was that for the first time, posters and banners carried pictures of the DGMO, Lt Gen Singh flanked by Modi, Shah, and Parrikar. This depiction was gross politicisation of the Army and the General who is today the Northern Army Commander.

This was not all. A few days later, Modi arrived in Lucknow at a public felicitation at the grand Sheesh Mahal.

BJP and RSS leaders indulged in grandstanding, talking up Modi as the conqueror in chief and presenting him with the mace of conquest. This Army-reflected glory was lapped up by the BJP brass as Parrikar narrated stories of how he had injected in the Army the great Hanuman spirit. In every election since Uttar Pradesh, surgical strikes have found a mention, including in Karnataka where Modi’s scriptwriters got their history of the Kodava Generals Cariappa and Thimayya completely wrong. Once again, Modi is denigrating the Congress and politicising the Army for votes.
However modest, surgical strikes were morale boosters. For the common man, it meant India was not always going to turn the other cheek. In that sense, it lifted the morale of the people but it did nothing to stop Pakistan from fighting its proxy war even more violently. After the victory in the 1971 war, Indira Gandhi was deified as Durga and Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw as the key architect of victory. On June 27, a day after Modi tore into the Congress for the Emergency, was Manekshaw’s 10th death anniversary. Except for Meghna Gulzar, who is making a film on the iconic Manekshaw, no one spared a thought for him.

The BJP prides itself on its commitment to the military and national security. It considers OROP as its crowning glory. But having squeezed the Army for maximum political advantage, it has done little for modernisation, enhancing capacities, defence reforms, and status vis-à-vis civilian services. The strategic utility of a 2-km deep incursion is questionable. Last Saturday, a Citizens Conclave in New Delhi pledged to safeguard the Constitution, the judiciary, civil services and the armed forces. A military veteran noted that the armed forces and civil services are pandering to those in power. The reverse is also true. The political class must not forget that the armed forces are secular, apolitical and professional. Once-in-68 years military operations must be game-changers and never politicised. National interest must not become synonymous with winning elections.

(The writer, Ashok K Mehta, is a retired Major General of the Indian Army and founder member of the Defence Planning Staff, currently the revamped Integrated Defence Staff)

Writer: Ashok K Mehta

Courtesy: The Pioneer

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi is urging muslims to vote along religious lines. What does he have in mind?

Was it to boycott other community candidates or to get more Muslims into legislative chambers or was it to avenge the takeover of Nizam’s State by New Delhi in 1948? Because his grandfather, Abdul Rashid was the right-hand man of Kasim Razvi who headed the Nizam’s unofficial roughnecks called the Razakars.

My earlier impression was that educated Muslim leaders must think before they articulate in public. This view somewhat faded recently after I read a book, Pathway to Pakistan, by Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman, the leader who succeeded Muhammad Ali Jinnah as the president of the Muslim League. Despite being a staunch follower of Jinnah, Khaliquzzaman stayed back in India, to begin with, and headed the League.

Khaliquzzaman corresponded with Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the mastermind of the Great Calcutta Killing in August 1946. On September 10, 1947, he wrote to Khaliquzzaman, strategizing for Muslims who were left behind in Hindustan. He recommended that they should continue to hold fast to the two-nation theory but at the same time have cordial relations with the Hindus.

They should form themselves into strong pockets or clusters which would enable them to survive better and be culturally benefited. He did not favour population transfer; although he confessed that he had not anticipated Bengal to be partitioned and be reduced to Muslims becoming a minority in West Bengal.

He strongly felt that their co-religionists had been let high and dry to shape their own destiny without any homeland. Neither Suhrawardy nor Khaliquzzaman betrayed any enthusiasm for the two-nation theory which was injurious to the left behind Muslims. Yet as Leaguers, they had to swear by it.

Nevertheless, both the leaders appeared earnest and dedicated to the welfare of the left behind Muslims, and yet both of them packed their bags long before and landed in Pakistan: Suhrawardy to become the Prime Minister and Khaliquzzaman to take over as the successor of Jinnah as party president.

Since Owaisi is ideologically a bird of the same feather, could he also be a comparable acrobat? Politically, Muslims vote for Muslims makes no sense in the Indian electoral system either at the Parliamentary or the Assembly; level except perhaps for the fact that it would enable his own party to field more candidates.

Finally, has Owaisi considered the reaction of non-Muslims to his proposal that Muslims should vote for Muslim candidates? Should Hindus, for example, vote for only Hindu candidates? What would then be the profiles of the legislatures? Does he not know that Jinnah and his colleagues had demanded an exchange of populations?

In 1946, Dr Rajendra Prasad published a book, India Divided, wherein he responded to Jinnah that those Muslims who could not go to Pakistan should reside in Hindustan as aliens on the strength of visas and Jinnah had promptly confirmed his agreement on a reciprocal basis. If accepted by the Nehru Government, what would have been the status of Owaisi? Was not the Partition a final settlement: Pakistan for Muslims and Hindustan for the rest?

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

Writer: Prafull Goradia

Courtesy: The Pioneer

One of the grimmest chapters in the history of India, many events led to the Emergency. The least we can do is learn something from it.

A courageous judgement on electoral malpractice indulged in by the Prime Minister to win her Lok Sabha seat in the 1971 General Election was delivered on 12 June, 1975, by Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha of Allahabad High Court. It had the potential to reveal the inner strength of Indian democracy to the world. Everyone, except a few, experienced a sense of pride in the autonomy of the judiciary and the vision contained in the Constitution. But the sense of elation was short-lived. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi did not submit her resignation in the wake of her conviction, nor even even after humiliating and debilitating restrictions were imposed on her on 24 June by Justice Krishna Iyer of the Supreme Court. What followed next was a sordid saga of unashamed mutilation of the Constitutional provisions by a coterie around Indira Gandhi. The Emergency lasted for 21 months starting June 25, 1975, to March 21, 1977. India was converted into a state ruled by a couple of persons who could incarcerate anyone without caring for the rule of law.

Though apparently everyone was scared, uncertain and apprehensive, slowly stories of heroic action by young and old alike began to emerge. India had tasted democracy, internalised it; and even an illiterate Indian was aware of his/her rights for which the leaders of the freedom struggle had made every possible sacrifice. The Emergency was imposed at a time when traditional respect for political leaders had begun to fade; those in power had become self-centred and drifted away from the welfare of the people. For the informed Indian, the manner the Emergency was declared was shocking.

The Prime Minister was in such a terrible hurry that she had no time for even a formal Cabinet Meeting before going to the President. And what a supportive President, who was supposed to be the defender of the Constitution! He accepted the recommendation without blinking an eyelid. The Cabinet ‘met’ at 6 a.m., just in time to hear that the Emergency had been proclaimed. And it is said that the Cabinet consists of Ministers in which the Prime Minister is only the first amongst equals. One wonders why all or even one of them did not protest. They just meekly acquiesced.

All three major organs of democracy were under test by Indira Gandhi. The Legislature emerged in poor light. The judiciary could not emerge as the defender of law and the Constitution. Not much was expected from the bureaucracy as they always have a defence: We are not policy-makers but implementers. While Justice Sinha and also Justice Iyer kept the flag of the judiciary flying, there was too much of disappointment in store when a five-Judge Bench of the apex court examined what is known as the ADM Jabalpur case. In his brilliant analysis of the Emergency in the volume, Emergency: Indian Democracy’s Darkest Hour, veteran journalist A Surya Prakash writes: “The case was decided on 28 April 1978. Four Judges — AN Ray, MH Beg, YV Chandrachud and PN Bhagwati – held that no citizen had the right to move a writ of habeas corpus in light of the presidential order of 27 June 1975 or to challenge detention as illegal.” Of the three judges, Justice Beg went so far as to praise the ‘maternal’ attitude of the Government. He said: “We understand that the care and concern bestowed by the state authorities upon the welfare of the detenus, who were all well-fed and well-treated, is almost maternal. Even parents have to take appropriate preventive action against those children who threaten to burn down the house they live in.” This probably was the biggest joke inflicted on the people of India and their Constitutional rights and will be read with profound sadness even when other details about the dreaded Emergency are forgotten.

Here too, however, there was a ray of hope for the future. The fifth judge on the Bench, Justice HR Khanna, was the only one who dissented as he found no merit in the case as presented by the Government. This was courage personified in the days when every Indian, irrespective of his station in life, was unsafe under a tyrannical dispensation. Justice Sinha was the original hero. Justice Khanna brought hope to the masses, inspired the young in the judiciary and in the process sacrificed his right to become the CJI. When superseded, he did the most dignified thing: He tendered his resignation. His contribution in sustaining the dignity of the judiciary shall be remembered with respect and admiration.

On the people’s front, none should forget how an underground movement was organised by the young throughout India. Several leaders went underground, forgot their political differences and organised the younger lot successfully, as well as educated the masses in what was at stake if the mutilators of democracy were not thrown out of power. The media was fully gagged by Sanjay Gandhi and Vidya Charan Shukla, people had evolved their own systems to gather information. Who could forget the courage and sufferings of Ramnath Goenka and others who stood like rocks against attacks on media?

The manner in which the censors did their work during that period will remain a dreaded memory in the minds of many. The resistance to all this and the coterie behind it would not have been possible but for the cementing presence of JP. He was the trusted leader of the people, he became courage incarnate. A life lived in selfless service of the motherland, he shall continue to inspire young generations in times to come. He followed Gandhian ideals in letter and spirit. Unfortunately, those who learnt their politics at his feet were swept away by power and perks. They did not learn the lesson that the Emergency taught us. But lessons must be learnt. Indira Gandhi’s return to power cannot justify her imposition of the Emergency. India cannot ignore the darkest period of its democracy. It cannot forget how the offspring of the Prime Minister could become a power centre without accountability. Dynasties have debilitating, destructive tendencies. These have no place in dynamic democracies.

Some would not like any mention of the Emergency in textbooks. That indeed is an amazing view of history and the lessons it offers for future generations. Why should young Indians not know how the implications of suspension of fundamental rights, including the right to life, were interpreted by the then Attorney General Niren De before a Bench of the Supreme Court? Justice Khanna wrote in his autobiography that his colleagues — normally very vocal about human rights — were sitting tongue-tied listening to De. Justice Khanna asked him what the remedy was “If a police officer because of personal enmity killed another man?” The Attorney General’s response shall remain an eye-opener for the Indian judiciary: “There would be no judicial remedy in such a case so long the Emergency lasts”. Can anyone ignore, forget and not learn from it?

Before June 25, 1975, teachers throughout the country were articulating the principles of democracy and the salient features of the Constitution with a sense of pride. Students were rehearsing to participate in ‘mock Parliaments’. But Indira Gandhi’s coterie was rewriting the principles of democracy for the “person, family and the dynasty”. India will never allow a repeat.

Thousands were already in jail, most of them unaware of why they were there. Within days of the Emergency, people gathered that the country was being run by Sanjay Gandhi and a couple of people around him. Stories of citizens being forced to undergo sterilisation became the talk of the town. A sense of fear gripped practically every household. At a rough estimate, victims of the ‘Sanjay Sterilisation Effect’ could be more than 70 lakh men. Imagine what a devastating impact it would have created on the person himself, at least five immediate family members and a further 10-15 close relatives. Think of families in which young unmarried persons were also forcibly subjected to this cruelty. In addition to these victims, the number of persons detained during Emergency under MISA and the Defence of India Act reached a staggering 1,11,000. Officials were given instructions to complete the quota of arrests and sterilisations ‘anyhow’, and no one was in a state of mind not to obey. No Indian should suffer such ignominies in future and, hence, must know everything about the dark days of Emergency. The description of democracy in Indian textbooks would always remain deficient if the learner is not educated through the example of Emergency on how a functional democracy is to be sustained and strengthened against diabolical onslaughts.

(The writer, JS Rajput, is the Indian Representative on the Executive Board of UNESCO)