As the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway moves towards manifestation, will it become one of India’s master showpieces?
The old National Highway 8, now numbered NH48 as part of the Golden Quadrilateral, the link between Delhi and Mumbai, India’s two largest cities and economic centres, has been around for years and constantly getting upgrades. Yet, the proliferation of towns on the highway as well as industrial zones, from Gurugram and Manesar in the north to Silvassa and Vapi closer to Mumbai, has meant that the highway is now clogged with both commercial and private vehicular traffic. There is a need for a proper access-controlled expressway that can allow for fast movement between the two cities, bringing down transit times to a day or less, especially with newer generation heavy vehicles. This is vital as despite the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for trucks moving between the two cities, there are huge jams thanks to traffic and poorly managed toll booths.
In fact, alongside GST and the gradual introduction of the ‘FastTag’ automatic toll collection system, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari are working wonders on India’s roads, the arteries of the nation. The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway though is not just a road — it is just a small part of the massive industrial and commercial corridor being envisaged between the two cities. Parts of the Dedicated Freight Corridor of the Indian Railway have already opened that will link factories in north India to the deep water ports of Gujarat and Maharashtra. This new Expressway will serve like a fast-charging cable and will supercharge the economy. However, the Roadways Ministry and Expressway Operator must ensure a few things are done properly. The first is to see there is no rampant overloading of trucks, which damages India’s roads. In addition, a proper access controlled highway needs to be just that; there are far too many instances where access-control has not been respected with villagers treating the road like a local right-of-way. A high-speed Expressway is just that, and while safety norms have to be maintained, the movement of slower vehicles has to be restricted for overall safety. India’s roads are a mess and running with blood because of the nonchalance with which we all tend to drive. Policing has to improve in cities with the help of technology as is happening in Delhi right now on the Ring Road, where cameras will start a system of automated red-light jumping fines and eventually automated speeding fines. China has already done that on all its major expressways. Also, while work on this particular Expressway has moved forward, much work remains to be done to ensure India gets a proper network of similar ones across its length and breadth.
Courtesy & Writer: Pioneer
Both India and Pakistan must avoid serious conflict that will hardly help either country. Better sense must prevail. True progress will happen when Pakistan starts to wind up the terror factory operating on its land
The military disaster of 1971 forced the Pakistani establishment and its military, which runs the country for all practical purposes, to face up to the fact that they could never win a conventional war against India. If Pakistan was to avenge humiliation and cut India down to size, it had no choice but to fight through proxies and bleed India through a thousand cuts.
This idea must surely have germinated from its successful employment of Islamic militants — the forerunners of the Taliban — to oppose the rule of the Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) that had deposed former President of Afghanistan Mohammed Daoud Khan in what came to be known as the Saur or April Revolution of 1978. It was this Pakistani-fomented insurgency that finally led to the Soviet intervention and occupation of Afghanistan in December 1979.
Incidentally, while conventional wisdom would have us believe that it was the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that came up with the idea of using militants to fight the Soviets, facts show that it came to the party much later and only added its considerable resources to the techniques perfected by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence in the use of irregulars for its own ends.
Thus, from the early 1980s, Pakistan commenced its support for secessionist elements within India that were involved in fighting against the state. First, the Khalistan Movement and subsequently, with greater success, in Jammu & Kashmir. It clearly had advantages as there was credible deniability and the economy of effort with the dirty work being done by proxies, keeping the Indian security forces tied down and finally, the most important of all, creating fear and anxiety within the general population that impacted every aspect of our democratic way of life.
There is, of course, one major disadvantage of using proxies. They tend to have a mind of their own and often times, respond inappropriately or work at cross purposes to what its mentors may be wishing to achieve. The Pulwama suicide attack falls in this category. There have been numerous statements over the past four years that have made it clear that Pakistan prefers to deal with Indian Governments run by the more “liberal and secular” parties, compared to having to deal with the more conservative, Hindutva-driven Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). With elections around the corner and with the BJP facing the very real likelihood of a serious decline, if the recent State elections were any indication, it would have been in Pakistan’s best interest to maintain a low profile.
Masood Azhar, the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) supremo, obviously had a different view. Not only did his organisation carry out the suicide attack that led to the death of 44 CRPF jawans but also went on to take credit for the action. Thus, in one thoughtless act, he not only destroyed the Pakistan Government’s attempts at deniability but also made Imran Khan’s call for India to provide credible evidence infructuous.
Most importantly, the timing of the devastating attack left the Modi Government with little choice but to respond overtly and with speed, if it was to still retain any hope of doing well at the hustings. There was also a possibility that if India responded in an effective manner to the outrage, the Government’s stock would go up rapidly and that would enhance Modi’s reputation and chances of return to power, just as the earlier cross-border strike helped the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh elections. This could hardly have been to Pakistan’s advantage and in the event the attack was facilitated by the Army, then General Bajwa has certainly made a serious miscalculation.
Regardless of the number of casualties that the Indian Air Force’s attack on terror camps deep inside Pakistan may have caused, the very fact that the Indian Government displayed the intent to take on terrorists inside Pakistan has clearly changed the narrative prevalent for the past four decades. It has also shown up Pakistan’s repeated threats of a nuclear riposte as sheer hyperbole and bluster.
More importantly, the initiative has finally shifted in India’s favour along with world opinion, which has had enough of Pakistan’s duplicitous behaviour. Moreover, any escalation above a perfunctory retaliation, which was to be expected to assuage domestic opinion, by Pakistan would destroy the fig leaf of deniability it has used over the years. Crucially, it would force their military into a direct confrontation, something that the proxy war waged by them over the years allowed them to avoid.
In this context, one can only hope better sense will prevail and we will be able to avoid serious escalation of the conflict, which can hardly help either side, given the huge challenges we face in lifting vast swathes of our population out of the twin evils of poverty and illiteracy.
However, it must be emphasised that true progress will only occur as and when Pakistan starts to wind up the jihad factory it has built over these years. In any case, the Indian cross-border raid cannot be a one-off affair and we must be willing to do all that it takes to neutralise the jihadi network and its vast army of financiers, managers and facilitators.
Finally, while all our attention may be taken in dealing with the issue at hand, the fact as to what led to the Pulwama attack must not be lost sight of. For this serious lapse on the part of our intelligence services, it is imperative that heads must roll. There have also been clear indications that despite increasing numbers of militants being neutralised in the Valley, the Army and other security forces were being increasingly marginalised, especially in south Kashmir, because of popular discontent.
They had consequently lost their ability to dominate the countryside, thereby losing out on intelligence. These aspects continued to be ignored by the Central Government and the military hierarchy. Little thought was given to the necessity for reviewing either counter insurgency strategies or tactical procedures and the leadership continued to be swayed by tactical successes with little attempt to resolve the growing disillusionment and radicalisation within the population, especially the youth. This must certainly change.
(The writer is a military veteran, a consultant with the Observer Research Foundation and Visiting Senior Fellow with The Peninsula Foundation, Chennai)
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Writer: Deepak Sinha
The Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has surprised everyone by announcing an interim dividend of 40 per cent for fiscal 2018-19, which amounts to about Rs 279 crore. With this move, the company has maintained its impeccable track record of rewarding investors by uninterruptedly paying high dividends for over four decades. Significantly, with this, BHEL has paid the highest total dividend in a single year, in the last 5 years.
Atul Sobti, the chairman and managing director of BHEL, in the presence of Dr AR Sihag, Secretary, Department of Heavy Industry (DHI), presented a cheque of Rs 176 crore towards the interim dividend for the year 2018-19 on the equity (63.17 per cent) held by the Government of India, to Anant G Geete, the Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.
Accelerating its growth momentum, BHEL has reported a surge in revenue and profitability up to the third quarter of FY 2018-19. The company has delivered a resilient performance due to adoption of strategic initiatives like diversification into new business areas (higher-rating electric locomotives, solar equipment and projects, enhanced offerings for nuclear primary side, e-mobility product and solutions and railway electrification and so on), accelerated project execution and cost control and resource optimisation measures, resulting in significant progress in enhancing profitability and productivity.
Courtesy & Writer: The Pioneer
Satyendra Jain, the Minister of Home, Government of Delhi, recently handed over 28 newly procured vehicles for officers of Delhi Fire Service (DFS) at the Connaught Place Fire Station in New Delhi. The minister also distributed 1,358 newly-procured full-body type-B fire proximity suits. Purchased at a cost of approximately Rs 50,000 per unit, the suits are a great addition to the life safety of firemen. This will not only boost their morale but also put them at par with their international counterparts and bring out a visible change.
The Minister assured that the government is committed to make the DFS, a leading fire service across the globe and bring a change in the perception of the common citizens. He announced that there will be no dearth of funds for the DFS and the government is in the process of procuring robotic arms, drones, remote controlled fire fighting machine and other specialised fire fighting equipments for the DFS.
He further stressed on development of sports facilities for the staff and officers in order to maintain health and fitness. He open heartedly appreciated the work done by the fire fighters in saving life and property at various fire incidents. The Director, Delhi Fire Service, Dr GC Misra assured that DFS will be more effective in the operations and continue to give the best services to the citizens of capital city.
Courtesy & Writer: The Pioneer
As cash is essential for the smooth operations of businesses, one should focus on improving cash management and develop strategies to combat emergencies.
When it comes to business operations, be it small or large scale, cash is always the king. Whether a business is thriving or struggling, effective cash flow management is essential. In fact, for many businesses, it’s the key to survival. The importance of cash can be understood from the fact that over 60 percent of businesses that fail are still profitable, but they have to shut the shop as they run out of cash.
On overusing the working capital, a business can witness a cash crunch that can prevent payments to its suppliers, purchase of raw materials and salary payments to its employees. Delay between the time when a business pays to its suppliers and when money is received from the customers is the problem. This requires effective cash flow management to survive and grow. Therefore, maintaining a level of working capital, that allows a business to make it through crunch times and continue operating the business, is crucial. Simply put, cash flow management means delaying outlays of cash as long as possible while encouraging customers to pay as quickly as possible.
So, what is cash flow? It’s basically the movement of funds in and out of one’s business. Typically, businesses track cash flow either weekly, monthly or quarterly. Essentially, there are two kinds of cash flows: A positive cash flow occurs when cash entering into the business from sales, accounts receivables and so on is more than the amount of cash leaving the businesses through accounts payable, monthly expenses and employee salaries. A negative cash flow is just the opposite situation and occurs when the cash outflow is greater than incoming cash. This generally means trouble for a business.
It is not possible, however, to look at the profit and loss statement (P&L) and get a grip on cash flows. Many other financial figures feed into factoring cash flows, including accounts receivable, inventory, accounts payable, capital expenditures, and taxation. Effective cash flow management requires a laser focus on each of these drivers of cash in addition to profit or loss. Rules of accounting define profit simply as revenue minus expenses. However, a smart business owner understands the fact that whether one earned profit or not is not the same as knowing what happened to your cash. An astute businessman should know when the business will become profitable, not because it will affect the cash flow — because it won’t — but because it gives one an early goal to strive for and a ready-made target for projecting future cash flow. Negative cash flow and negative profits make for a grim combination. Focus your efforts on managing cash flow with an eye towards reaching that moment when you realise your first profits.
Since cash flows are very important for the smooth running of any business, one should always focus on improving and managing cash flow and develop strategies to manage problems:
Short-term financing: This type of business financing such as a line of credit can be used to make emergency purchases or to bridge the gap between payables and receivables. Many banks issue business credit cards that can be used to pay vendors.
Long-term financing: Large asset purchases such as equipment and real estate should usually be financed with long-term loans rather than with working capital. This allows a business to spread payments over the average life of the asset.
Speed up recovery of receivables: The main mantra of any business should be to bill early and collect quickly. To guard against late payments, bill as early as possible and make those invoices as clear and detailed as possible. Instead of waiting until the end of the month, generate an invoice as soon as the goods or services are delivered. For big orders, one can consider progressive invoicing while the goods are manufactured or services delivered. It’s easy to lose track and then neglect to follow up on an overdue account. Experience shows that the longer one remains out of contact with a customer, the less likely he/she is able to recover the amount owed. One can even incentivise customers who pay their bills rapidly by offering discounts.
Liquidate cash tied up with assets: Does your business have equipment that is no longer in use or inventory that’s becoming obsolete? Consider selling it to generate quick cash. Idle, obsolete and non-working equipment takes up space and ties up capital, which can be used more productively. Equipment that has been owned for a longer period will usually have a book value equal to its salvage value or less. So, a sale might result in a taxable gain. Excess inventory can quickly become obsolete and worthless as customer requirements change and new materials are introduced. Consider selling any inventory, which is unlikely to be used over the next 12 months, unless the costs to retain it are minimal and the proceeds from a sale would be negligible.
Delay your payables: This may sound obvious but is often neglected. Unless there’s a worthwhile incentive to pay early, figure out how late you can pay your vendors without risking late fees or harming your relationship. This keeps the cash in your account and out of your vendor’s until it absolutely has to be there.
Identify business risks and prepare in advance: There are many risks involved in running a business. Serious challenges should be expected at some point in the future. You need to consider a number of scenarios such as “What if a big order suddenly comes in?” “What if a big order is cancelled?” or “What if that important client goes missing while still owing me money”? This kind of risk analysis should become a part of the cash flow budgeting process.
Monitor inventory efficiently: Analyse inventory movement to determine which items are selling and which ones are duds that soak up working capital. Try to keep inventory levels lean so that working capital isn’t tied up unproductively and unprofitably.
Always keep buffer money: Once the break-even point is found, one must ensure that the business has enough cash to fund working capital needs. It’s advised to keep three months worth of outgoings in the bank for a rainy day. That may be a thing of the past but if that’s the case, make sure you have a buffer of some sort, either personal funds available or an overdraft or revolving credit facility.
Implement better systems to manage cash flow: Many businessmen procrastinate to invoice customers. Some do not invoice as soon as they deliver the product or services or do it just at the month end. Many do not even know how much is owed to them by their customers or how much they owe to suppliers.
If you are one of them, it’s time to start implementing an efficient process to manage cash flow. You can use a simple spreadsheet or an accounting software. But its important to have some systems in place.
Cut costs, control cash outflows: The best way to control cash flow is to stay on top of expenses. When we start making profits, we often tend to ignore cost-cutting opportunities. Unmanaged outflow could be a silent business killer.
Do not focus on profit but on cash flow: It has been found that 90 per cent of SMEs do not have a cash flow plan from day one, despite having forecasts of profit margins for years ahead. This is a common reason for early business failure. If cash flow is in order, profit will be in order. A lot of businesses do not make it past six months. They might have been a profitable business eventually but they need to have good cash flow to survive.
Young businesses should work with reliable, quick-paying clients initially, even if it means smaller clients and slimmer profits margins. Small business owners should learn one principle early in the life: Cash is king. Building and keeping an adequate stockpile of cash provides maximum opportunity and flexibility to any business while enabling its owners to sleep soundly at night.
Without cash, profits are meaningless. Many profitable businesses on paper have ended up in bankruptcy because the amount of cash coming in doesn’t compare with the amount of cash going out. Firms that don’t exercise good cash management may not be able to make the investments needed to compete, or they may have to pay more to borrow money to function.
(The writer is Assistant Professor, Amity University)
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Writer: Hima Bindu Kota
As 800 US colleges drop the SAT/ACT as a necessary qualification, Abhishek Singhal tells aspirants if the exam is still valid.
The Chicago University recently announced that international students are no longer required to report SAT or ACT scores. Over the years, many other universities have also eased the SAT requirements, and we expect that, in another 3-5 years, it would mostly be done away with by most institutes.
As it is, SAT/ ACT scores are not an important criterion when it comes to admissions in top universities in US. While most universities say that they do not have a recommended range of SAT scores and many good universities have varied SAT/ACT scores among their successful student applicants, going down to even extremely low scores like 1200/1600. Plus, SAT is one among the many parameters that a university judges an applicant upon. A case in point is MIT, among the most rigorous selection process. The MIT engineering applicants get selected from a range of criterion ranging from a research project, makers’ portfolio, humanities and art portfolio, academics over a four-year time horizon, SAT/ACT scores, co-curricular and extracurricular activities including leadership positions, sports and athletic ability, etc. All of them (and some more) coalesce to create the unique story for each of the applicant which gets you in. Clearly, SAT is a very small portion of this story and as such should not be over-emphasized. Chicago University’s decision is just another validation of the point that is veering US universities away from generalised tests like SAT/ACT.
There are some definite advantages of a generalised test score like SAT/ACT for a university. Clearly, not all boards or marking philosophies are similar. IB, A levels, different boards corresponding to countries/States — there are so many variations that it is extremely hard for someone to assess a student on a common yardstick. In such a scenario, generalised test scores provide a ready escape and give universities a common way of assessing a person’s academic capability. To that extent, as a common platform to assess students across variety of parameters, SAT/ACT scores remain a meaningful mechanism.
However, SAT/ACT testing suffer from the same problems that any test suffers from. It captures a student’s performance on a given day which may not capture his potential/capacity correctly because of a number of reasons. Poor or exceptional test taking ability (not potential), it being a bad/good day, the test itself are amongst the many variables that leave the outcome from the test circumspect and indicative at best! Universities are cognizant of this and a blip in the form of SAT/ACT performance on a given day as opposed to a different story in your overall academic profile would not get undue weightage. Additionally, SAT/ACT allow you multiple opportunities to improve your score so the performance on a given day would not determine your future.
An entrance system which is holistic has anyways been assessing performance and potential across a range of parameters for a very long period of time. Giving the assessors one less variable (SAT/ACT scores) would not impact their ability to judge. A good example is the ability of the same assessors to validate the narratives and applications of ‘home-schooled’ students. In these cases, application-assessors don’t have access to much of standardized data that any normal school students have. Despite that they have been able to successfully assess and roll-out offers to many of these students. In fact, Stanford, Cornell and many of the top IVYs have rolled out record number of offers to home-schooled students. Again, this is clearly indicative of the fact that schools will judge your capability with or without SAT/ACT scores.
Many of our students have been very adventurous with their SAT scores. Some of the flat-out refused to take the SAT tests – one of them shared the link of the business that she had created (a 5 MM $ business at the time of her application), another posted the code of a successful algorithm that he had sold to Airbnb. In each of these cases (and many more), the application was extremely powerful (notwithstanding the lack of SAT/ACT scores.) Consequently, these students received admits from some of the top universities including Stanford, Cornell, UPenn, MIT and Princeton.
Apart from Engineering, if you look at Economics and Design applications, the relative value of SAT/ACT scores become increasingly clear. While it can be argued that in the case of design applications, there is an art portfolio that gives a sense of the student’s capability; that is not the case with Economics/Business applications. Most students do not take subject SATs and while many still take the general SAT/ACT, it seems counter-intuitive to think that SAT/ACT scores determine entry. More so, when many of the top scorers receiving as high as 1580/1600 were denied admission.
In summary, we posit that your narrative determines your entry to a university and not your SAT/ACT scores. These scores are value additive in so much as they (may) support your story but nothing more than that.
Our general advice, therefore is to focus on building your story — something which is more durable and harder than getting better SAT/ACT scores. That is what shall get you into a great university.
The writer is Co-founder, UnivAdmitHelp
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Writer: Abhishek Singhal
Kumbh mela presented as a sea of human faith in the panoramic studies of Artist Prashant Panjiar. By U Nair
The Kumbh Mela, also called “Pitcher Festival”, welcomes thousands of devotees who arrive at the confluence of the three sacred rivers or Sangam— the Yamuna, the Ganga and the Saraswati at Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prashant Panjiar’s panoramic studies present the Kumbh mela as a sea of human faith, unfettered by limitations only in search of their own nirvana albeit for a few moments. His Kumbh images from 2007 form one of the studies at the Kolkata International Photo Festival.
Vedic influences
“The Kumbh Mela is all about scale,” says Panjiar who has shot there ever since 2001. “It’s a massive enterprise where on certain days more than 10 million people at a time come to bathe in the holy waters of the Ganga, to wash away their sins and free themselves from the cycle of death and re-birth. A mini-tented city springs up on the banks of the river, the local government sets up a special administration, a massive police force is deployed, extra trains and buses are on a run.”
Throughout the days of the festival, pilgrims of different strata of society arrive from across India to bathe in the Ganga and partake of an accumulation of good karma, which they believe will contribute towards them breaking free from a cycle of reincarnation to ultimately attain their own nirvana, free of worldly concerns. Panjiar captures the opening day of this mela where 1.5 million pilgrims bathe together en masse.
Wandering minstrels
“Pilgrims, religious leaders, shopkeepers, merchants and wandering minstrels, stream in from all corners of the country. And then there are the sadhus, the rockstars of them all are the Naga Babas — stark naked, wild, irreverent, ascetics smoking hashish. They are raised as an army to protect the Hindu saints, they have become the centerpiece of the Kumbh, viewed with more awe than the religious leaders whose processions they grace,” explains Panjiar.
When you look at the pictures of multitudes in their own trance, replete with their own expressive echoes, you understand that Panjiar himself felt the gravitational pull of the earthly spectacle that distills everything that defines India. In these black and white images, you can sense the fervent drama and theatricality of Hindu worship and the medley of the many rituals that accompany singing, dancing and chanting of mantras.
Pilgrims’ hopes
“The majority of the pilgrims are poor people, who walk miles carrying their meagre belongings on their heads and shoulders, crossing the pontoon bridges, clutching on to a family member’s shawl or sari to avoid getting separated and lost,” says Panjiar.
“They will reach the river bank, camp out in the bitter cold night, cook their simple meals on cow-dung cake flames, prepared to bathe in the holy waters at the crack of dawn at the most auspicious moment. I saw transgenders singing songs for the naked Naga Sadhus in their camp, who in turn blessed the pilgrims milling around, while fellow travellers smoked hashish in an invocation to the God Shiva,” he adds.
And if you could ignore the loud and screeching announcements over the public address system, you would hear the sound of many different languages and dialects mingling in the air. A group of Kalpvasis (people who pledge to live and worship on the bank of the river for a month) freshly bathed in the river, heads shaved and draped in white, formed a tight circle in the crowd of 10 million people, to pray and sing to their God. It is India in its extreme diversity.
Cornucopia of ascetics
Prayagraj’s mela squeezes onto a floodplain where the Ganga meets the Yamuna. The first sight of its temporary tented city is simply unbelievable .
The mela draws tens of millions of pilgrims over the course of approximately 48 days to bathe at the sacred confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati river. The congregation includes ascetics, saints, sadhus, sadhvis, kalpvasis and pilgrims from all walks of life.
“For all its complexity and enormity, the Kumbh is actually about the simplicity of faith that drives this massive enterprise. It is about how every person is able to make a connection with his belief while being part of such a large noise. You don’t have to be a Hindu, or even a believer, to relate to that idea,” concludes Panjiar.
Whether he captures sunrise or sunset, it is the spirit and the fervour of the aarti that beckons us. Amid the ageless, ritualistic fire purification ceremonies, performed by Brahmin priests on plinths alongside the Ganga, the twirl of camphor lamps leave trails of fire in the blackness as the raucous sounds of souls filter through the night. An American priest who has become an ardent follower expresses his inner recesses. The Kumbh is many stories, many journeys and the power of the human spirit.
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Writer: Uma Nair
Indians are angry after the terrorist attack in Pulwama, but our raging emotions for the perpetrators or the martyred jawans are no excuse for abusing the people of Kashmir.
Most Indians would have childhood memories of Kashmiri embroidered shawls and carpets sold by Kashmiris on cycles and rickshaws. Growing up in Kolkata, Kashmiri shawl sellers were ubiquitous during winter, each carrying his big bag of surprises and calling door-to-door. Some of them had established enough rapport with their clients to serve them through to the next generation. Some found patrons, who recommended them to others. You would hardly find a family in Kolkata who hadn’t bought a piece of winter wear from these travelling salesmen. So much so that no bridal trousseau was ever complete without a pair of shawls at least.
Our man was Altaf, who beyond his pherans, namdahs, kehwa and spices, introduced me to the tales of the Valley, culture and art. Through the years that politics changed in his State and his rosy cheeks became sallow with worry, he never mentioned it or condoned it, always praying that Khuda would show the right way as violence wouldn’t get anybody anywhere and that there would always be the exploiter and exploited in an unequal world, no matter what the manifestation. Except saying that trade had been worst hit and without the houseboat business of his family, things were becoming tough for raising his girls, he never mentioned terrorism or separatism. All he said was the trips to the city cost money and he would cut down the frequency perhaps. His offerings did make it to my trousseau and he became too old to travel. So when news reports emerged that a Kashmiri shawl trader had been roundly thrashed by a mob after the Pulwama attacks in Bengal, I was shocked. Simply because Kashmiri businesses or people have never been ostracised there and had become a part of the melting pot. The only other time such targeting of communities happened was during the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. Kolkata lost a fleet of Sardarji taxi drivers as everybody went underground or returned home. The few businesses that remained were because some of them had not known any other home than the city. It took years for them to rebuild a circle of trust. And this for a community which is known for its contribution to national life in the most engaging way.
Yes a nation is angry with the biggest terrorist attack in Pulwama but our raging emotions for the perpetrators or the martyred jawans are no excuse for hitting back at Kashmiris simply because of their origins and push them further into a ghetto of national suspicion. Or just because they don’t subscribe to our idea of what Kashmir should be and challenge cardboard stereotypes of a problem that is so complex that politicians frankly do not want to unspool it. The status quo in the Valley has over the years given the latter an agenda and goal to chase but not solve it. We are looking for easy targets to avenge our guilt, frustration and inability to address the root of the problem. It is true that terrorist networks are indoctrinating and radicalising impressionable youth in the Valley — the number of local recruits is on the rise we are told — but nobody computes the bigger numbers of tormented young people who are migrating from the Valley to India’s many States for higher education, jobs and opportunities that will enable them to buy a new life in an aspirant India that’s not circumscribed by hate and violence. Young Kashmiris, with their natural scientific temperament and high performance index, can be a great demographic resource in fields of research and technology and are willing to stake their future on mainstream absorption. I remember a couple of young Kashmiri artists at the Kochi Biennale who were attempting a culture of engagement — sometimes recording their protest and desolateness, sometimes talking about civilisational heritage — through arts and installations. They shun the boom of the guns very decidedly. What news reports don’t highlight enough is that intelligence, harvested from willing locals themselves, have led security forces to the biggest crackdowns on militants in south Kashmir.
Our reaction and cooption efforts, therefore, will help them see us through another prism and break the stereotypes that they have grown up with. So hitting back at Kashmiri students, psyching them out with mob fury and chasing them out of their hostels and PGs will not only be counter-productive to put it mildly, it would insensitively push them to the worst decades of alienation, considering they took the initiative to break the mould. Even challenging the fear and doubts of their seniors and family, who are now staring them down with “I told you sos.” For once the old mould is re-sealed with new hatred and distrust, there’s no coming back. Particularly when the political establishment legitimises the chain reaction of “Kashmiris not for India”, through an irresponsible Governor tweeting about boycotting Kashmiri goods and its people and the government making no comment on this, too, as a national crisis but leaving it to the Supreme Court to take the lead. Extreme emotions beget extreme reactions and we cannot afford to let all Kashmiris rot simply because there are a few bad apples among them.
The story is not over with reportage of the latest hitbacks across 11 States. Or the now public apologies for them. It is in the insidious way that suspicion has crept into everyday lives, one that is becoming more a rule than the exception, that should scare us. Hate speech and inflamed passions ruled a residents’ whatsapp group in an upscale condominium complex in Noida. As worse versions of Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy’s remarks circulated among towers, residents forgot that there were Kashmiri owners among them, some of whom had sold their family house back in Srinagar to make good here and knew that tenancy had its own stigmas when it came to them. For all the self-serving cosmetic cultural assimilation of years, the residents had made their neighbours question their choices overnight through one brash act. Not only that, a temple was erected overnight in a cosmopolitan complex post-Pulwama to remind everybody that anybody opposed to majoritarianism was in essence a traitor to the national cause. An IT professional in Mumbai refused to send her children to school for two days simply fearing that barbs might fly their way as they had when she had just got them over from the Valley, their “otherness” being taunted by students. She remained tepid at her corporate workplace, careful that not a single word could be interpreted as sedition given the polarised simplicity of judging Kashmiris.
And if educational institutions in peaceful academic hubs like Dehradun indeed bow down to right wing hardliners, refusing to take in Kashmiri students, then we are equally guilty of closing our minds and creating enemies when there were none, who won’t need brainwashing or indoctrination simply because we sent them adrift. If it is happening in academia, believed to be seeking enlightened worldviews, then such revisionism should not have any place whatsoever there. But these are internecine biases that are working their own trellis of post-truths. Dangerously toxic to say the least.
Counter-insurgency has its own cost, the search and comb operations having left a deep scar across generations in the Valley. And given that Valley politicians swing like a pendulum between both Pakistan and India, feeding off each other’s imperatives, the people are left dangling in between. The connectivity of the train and telecom, which ought to have been pushed earlier, has helped in mainstreaming aspirations no doubt. Which is why countermeasures now must capitalise on this “exposed” constituency, allowing them a say in local affairs, panchayats and students in colleges. Till they are not empowered to make simple choices, there won’t be trust. And till there is mainstream acceptance of their human worth, there won’t be peace. For politicians will always be, as Altaf said, the exploiter of the waadi.
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Writer: Rinku Ghosh, Associate Editor, The Pioneer
Interesting action awaits Tamil Nadu given that Congress and the BJP are stitching alliances with DMK and AIADMK respectively, as both regional parties are having to battle contradictions. Well, Tamil Nadu is ready for the quinquennial Lok Sabha election which may take place in the month of April. With the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Congress announcing the formalisation of their alliance to fight the Lok Sabha election together, the line-up in the State is ready. The mahagathbandhan in the Dravidian land would be led by MK Stalin with the Congress, the Left, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Islamist parties riding piggyback on the shoulders of the DMK. Meanwhile, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has announced the mega alliance that features the Vanniyar-dominated Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The AIADMK is in talks with the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), led by former film star Vijayakanth and the Tamil Maanila Congress of GK Vasan, son of former Congress strongman, GK Moopnar.
Since all constituents in the DMK-led front are themselves struggling to stay afloat, they would be happy with whatever the DMK throws at them. The VCK, a fringe outfit led by Thol Thirumavalavan, has been out in the political wilderness since 2009. It has no representation in the Tamil Nadu Assembly since 2011 and its leaders have been losing successively since 2009. The communists are also facing uncertainty in the State after they failed to win at least a single seat either in the Lok Sabha or in the Assembly since 2014. But they claim that they are the ones who determine the future of Tamil Nadu.
Till the AIADMK succeeded in making deals with the PMK and the BJP, by allocating seven and five seats to them respectively, it was widely believed that the DMK was in for a big win in the Lok Sabha election. The AIADMK has been fretting and floundering since the passing away of party supremo, J Jayalalithaa, in December 2016. The group led by Sasikala (former aide of Jayalalithaa), popularly known as the ‘Mannargudi Mafia’, had walked away with one faction of the party while the official faction led by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami looked vulnerable, fragile and weak. While Sasikala had to surrender to the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru in February 2017, following a Supreme Court order which quashed the Karnataka High Court’s verdict that had acquitted Jayalalithaa, Ilavarasi and VN Sudhakaran in the disproportionate asset case, TTV Dinakaran, Sasikala’s nephew, emerged as the de facto leader of the AIADMK, much to the anguish of the cadre.
But within months, the Mannargudi clan was eased out of the AIADMK and Chief Minister Palaniswami slowly but steadily started taking control of the party and the Government. Though he is yet to emerge as a charismatic leader who could match the prowess of Amma (as Jayalalithaa is addressed by the cadre), Palaniswami has proved that he is not a pushover. As he completed two years in office on February 17, the small-time politician from the Edappadi village in Salem has tightened his grip over the party and Government apparatus.
Since day one of his swearing in as the Chief Minister, Palaniswami was under attack by Stalin, the Leader of the Opposition. The Income Tax and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raids on the offices and residences of Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar and his department heads, the gutkha scam, which led to CBI raids in the houses of top police officers in the State and the vigilance probe into the civil contracts given by the AIADMK Government to a cartel of contractors, successively added to the worries of the Chief Minister. Stalin had been claiming that the Government would not last for more than a month.
The DMK chief’s agony can be understood. The party has been out of the corridors of power in Chennai since 2011 and out of the Delhi power circle since 2013. It is a struggle for survival for him and his party. The 2014 Lok Sabha election saw a political tsunami with Jayalalithaa devastating the DMK in all 39 constituencies in Tamil Nadu. Interestingly, the Congress and the DMK fought the election separately with the latter forfeiting its security deposits in all constituencies except Kanyakumari, where the party finished second to the BJP. The DMK is facing a series of disadvantages from within as well as outside. The major issue hanging like a sword of Damocles over Stalin’s head is his own elder brother, MK Alagiri. Though Alagiri has been expelled from the DMK following the machinations of Stalin, the Madurai-based son of late M Karunanidhi is a force to reckon with in many pockets of Tamil Nadu. The media in the State has never been a fan of the blunt-talking Alagiri. If one has to know the influence wielded by Alagiri, all one has to do is to check the results of the 2001 Assembly election, which the DMK was widely believed to have won easily. Alagiri is a veteran expert in tilting the scales of electoral battles. Dayanidhi Maran and Kalanithi Maran, the grand nephews of late Karunanidhi, are running from court to court to derail the trial in the illegal telephone exchange case in which the brothers are the prime accused.
Then there are inherent problems. The DMK itself is a secessionist party as Stalin had declared in March 2018 that the idea of a separate Dravida nation was still alive in the constitution of the party. The presence of the Congress in the DMK camp itself is a contradiction because the latter is for the immediate release of all the seven assassins undergoing life imprisonment in the 1991 assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The other constituents in the DMK front have made it known that they would fight for the release of the seven assassins, leaving the Congress flabbergasted.
The AIADMK front, too, has contradictions and weaknesses. The PMK is in the forefront, fighting for exempting Tamil Nadu from NEET. M Thambi Durai of the AIADMK, who is the deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha, was against any kind of alliance with the BJP, which he describes as a communal party. Anwhar Raajhaa, the Muslim face of the AIADMK, has declared that he would fight against the triple talaq Bill till his last breath. It may sound interesting but the truth remains that Anbumani Ramadoss, the chief ministerial candidate of the PMK, had submitted a massive memorandum to Governor Banwarilal Purohit, listing nearly 30 corruption charges against the AIADMK Government. But the PMK and the AIADMK are strong alliance partners now.
Then there are issues like education. Tamil Nadu is the only State in the country which does not have a single Navodaya Vidyalaya, a public school concept introduced by the Rajiv Gandhi Government in 1986. Reason? Dravidian parties are against teaching of Hindi and Sanskrit in schools. What has happened is that students in Tamil Nadu have fallen behind in the standard of education because the State-level school syllabus is poor, compared to the quality of education in other standards. The children of Tamil chauvinist politicians learn Hindi and English in high-end schools. The non-teaching of Hindi in the State has created a sense of alienation in the minds of the people.
The split in the party and the absence of a powerful leader like Jayalalithaa has made the AIADMK vulnerable. TTV Dinakaran hopes that the Thevar community would vote for him, which would further weaken the AIADMK. But Palaniswami, who hails from the Vellala Gounder community, is confident that his brethren in south and south-west Tamil Nadu would stand with him because he is the first Chief Minister from this community. The inclusion of PMK was also not without reason. The Vanniyars are an influential lot in the districts — ranging from Tiruvallur to Kanchipuram, Velloor to Tiruvannamalai and from Viluppuram to Cuddalore. Though the PMK and the DMDK failed to win at least a single seat in the 2016 Assembly election, results show that they retained their vote percentage in the State, which fluctuates between five per cent to six per cent. The caste factor plays an important role in Tamil Nadu despite claims made by the Dravidians that theirs is a casteless society. The AIADMK was staging a ‘coup’ when it signed the deal with the PMK.
The DMK front looks formidable on paper, like the Brazilian team for the 2018 World Cup Football Championship. Stalin reminds one of Neymar, a paper tiger. The DMK president is a pale shadow of his late father Karunanidhi. Add to this the Periarites and Dravidian intelligentsia of Chennai, which has spread the ‘news’ that the DMK front would win all the 39 seats from the State. They also spread the news that the BJP high command was threatening the AIADMK for 20 seats. The allocation of five seats by the AIADMK, which was accepted by the BJP, demolishes a part of the falsehood spread by media and intelligentsia.
It is true that the AIADMK has failed in countering the propaganda by Dravidians. But by Tuesday, when the AIADMK-BJP-PMK alliance was announced, it had become clear that the DMK would not have a smooth sailing in the bout. The AIADMK looked like a party which would be outplayed by the DMK with a tennis score (40-0). But not any more. There is some interesting action in store as the AIADMK, the DMK and Dinakaran take to the field. To add to the glamour, there is Kamal Haasan, who thinks he is the greatest of all politicians. Let the game begin!
(The writer is Special Correspondent, The Pioneer)
Writer: Kumar Chellappan
Courtesy: Pioneer
For India’s to issue a befitting response to the Pulwama terror attack, we must exercise patience and inflict maximum damage at the most appropriate time
February 14, 2019, will go down in history as a day marred by the horrific images of a cowardly act of terror where more than 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers were killed in Pulwama. The suicide bomber, Adil Ahmad Dar, who has been identified as the culprit of this dastardly act, detonated close to 60 kilos of explosives near a convoy of CRPF soldiers. The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for this act of terror and it has been widely reported that the JeM has been supported and enabled by the Government of Pakistan. There is no denying the fact that this was a day of mourning for India but it is crucial that this incident also becomes an inflection point where India provides a befitting reply to its enemies and emerges stronger than before.
India then stands at the crossroads. While every Indian, I am sure, agrees that such acts of terror must not go unpunished and should be avenged, the question for us as Indians is: What constitutes a befitting reply? Is it a reply that is ill-thought out, reactionary and detrimental to India’s interests and values in the long-term or is it one where we emerge stronger and show the enemies of our country that while its enemies will try creating a divide through cowardly acts of terror, our country will continue to stand unafraid and unmoved. We must refuse to give up those values, which distinguish us from failed states that have long ago given up the ideals of a prosperous and democratic society.
I am just as angry and livid at the attack as any patriot but at a time like this, it is important to remember the words of Aristotle, who had said, “Anybody can become angry — that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose and in the right way — that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.” In this week’s column, I will attempt to show how India can show its enemies that not only is the country capable of taking hard decisions and demonstrate that these acts of terror will not be taken lying down but also that it will emerge stronger because of them.
Establish a Commission after such acts of terror: In the aftermath of 9/11, the US instituted the 9/11 Commission, which was an independent, bipartisan body consisting of not only Republicans and Democrats but also staff members, who were experts in various fields. The Commission was charged with preparing a complete report of the circumstances surrounding the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. The report examined the preparedness of the US and also provided recommendations to guard against such future attacks. It is imperative that with acts of terror such as the recent one in Pulwama, India responds similarly. As part of the 9/11 Commission report, the body examined the chronology of events on September 11, 2001, right from early 1999, when the hijackers prepared for the attack while living in Germany till the point when the planes had been hijacked by the terrorists. At each point in the chronology of events, the Commission submitted expert suggestions on how to plug each and every lapse that led to the 9/11 attacks. It is imperative that India draws a similar approach by constituting a commission of experts, which examines the chronology of events that ultimately led to the February 14 attack and debate this report in Parliament. Ultimately, this report should be made public since such a step will help heap public pressure and prevent such lapses in the future.
Strength from within first, then without: Terrorism’s short-term objective is to inflict pain and sorrow through violence, and while horrific, its long-term aim of creating an environment that thrives on hate and suspicion in the country is much more frightening and harmful. This terrorist attack seeks to achieve the same goal. We, as Indians, must not succumb.
While understandably, there is a lot of anger in our country over these attacks, some of the reactions to it are questionable and are, in fact, aiding our enemies. The first type of reaction is one that demands an all-out war against another nuclear power. Unsurprisingly, a number of these calls are from individuals, who have the luxury to opine without the threat of consequence. The more rational voices on the subject are typically from soldiers and members of the armed forces, who understand the cost of war and, perhaps, more significantly, the cost of rashness in a battlefield.
For example, if India does execute its response without adequate preparedness and at an inopportune time, it will run the huge risk of losing more brave soldiers, not because of an act of terror but due to brashness. Such an outcome is unacceptable. While desire for revenge is normal, it cannot be at the cost of reckless disregard for an Indian life. That outcome, in my opinion, is unacceptable. While there are always casualties in war, it is difficult to justify such casualties if they are a result of aggression.
The other type of reaction we have seen is the targeting of Kashmiris across India. This, too, is a response that cannot be justified and must be condemned. First, from a humane perspective, we must recognise that the minute we take out our anger on an entire community due to our pain over terrorist attacks, we lose humanity, something that distinguishes us from the cowardly terrorists, who attack India and what it stands for.
All of us, including all political parties, must come out clearly and unequivocally against this behaviour. We must recognise that such a reaction is what the forces, that seek to divide India, actually hope to achieve. Creating divides within the country so that we turn on each other makes any future acts of terror easier for our enemies. We must not allow the enemies of the country inflict that sort of irreparable damage.
An examination of acts of terror throughout the world shows that rarely if ever are acts of terror random acts of violence. Instead, they are thoroughly planned and ruthlessly executed. Therefore, in order to be truly effective, our response must also demonstrate our ability to be patient and cause maximum damage at the most appropriate time. While it may be easy to give in to our more basic demands for immediate revenge, I think we can demand better from ourselves and emerge stronger as a result of it.
(The writer is Jharkhand PCC president, former MP and IPS officer. Views are personal)
Courtesy: Pioneer
Writer: Ajoy Kumar
Bloody surprises are a staple when it comes to asymmetric warfare, like the one India faces in Kashmir. The fact that the enemy is theologically motivated has seen democratic discourse being pushed to the bottom of the barrel.
Cowardly, dastardly and desperate — these are some of the adjectives the Government uses when faced with surprise terrorist attacks on the armed forces. The recent deadly assault on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir, was no exception. Enthralled by cricket a little too much, we somehow expect the terrorists to behave as bowlers in a gentleman’s version of the game. They would allow the batsman the time to adjust his pads, gloves and helmet and take a comfortable position on the crease before the ball is thrown at him.
But in an asymmetric warfare, where surprise is of essence, there is little scope for such niceties. On April 6, 2010, in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh, a Maoist ambush had led to the death of 76 CRPF personnel. Similarly, in Jammu & Kashmir, the Indian Army and the paramilitary forces are involved in an unequal war against the terrorists. The rules of engagement in an unconventional war differ widely from those of conventional conflicts.
Even in conventional conflicts, the combatants prioritise results over rules. Elaborate rules were drawn on the eve of the Mahabharata war. They were based on the concept of providing level-playing field and fair play. But as the war progressed, rules were more honoured in breach than in observance. However, none would disagree that the Mahabharata war was about principles. Even Lord Krishna had to succumb to the law of karma, by a hunter’s arrow stuck in his heels, because he had at times instigated Arjuna to uphold Dharma by contravening Dharma (killing of Karna and Jayadratha). Even Duryadhana, in Souptika Parva, grieved about surreptitious killing of the sons of the Pandavas while in sleep. But can one expect Hafiz Saeed to bemoan the killing of 19 Indian soldiers in sleep at Uri brigade headquarters? This is because a very different worldview of war inspires terrorists.
Brigadier SK Malik (of Pakistan Army) described it elaborately in his book, The Quranic Concept of War (1979). Its foreword was penned by none else than General Zia-ul Haq, who modestly signed as the Chief of Army Staff, though already the President of Pakistan. Brigadier Malik, making a reference to the Battle of Badr (624 AD), observed, “The Quranic military strategy, thus, enjoins us to prepare ourselves for war to the utmost in order to strike terror into the heart of the enemies, known or hidden, while guarding ourselves from being terror-stricken by the enemy (P 58).” We have to remember that the organisation, of which the suicide bomber was a member, is called the Jaish-e-Mohammad, meaning, The Army of the Prophet of Islam. Little wonder that the bomber was inspired by that worldview as described by Brigadier Malik. His purpose was seemingly to strike terror in the heart of the enemy.
In Jammu & Kashmir, terrorism has been on the rise during the last few years. While there were 322 and 342 incidents of terror in the State in 2016 and 2017 respectively, in 2018, their numbers rose to 600. More terrorists were neutralised in the corresponding period — 150 (2016), 213 (2017) and 252 (2018). However, more security personnel were also killed — 82 (2016), 80 (2017) and 91 (2018). As per a reply given by the Minister of State, Home, in Lok Sabha recently (January 8), an estimated 300 terrorists are active in the State. Net infiltration across the Line of Control has gone up significantly over the last two years. Thus, despite the zero tolerance policy and Rs 80,068 crore provided to Jammu & Kashmir under the Prime Minister’s Development Package, 2015, the situation in Jammu & Kashmir has not improved. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in the North-Eastern States. While insurgency is on the decline in the North-East, it is on the rise in Jammu & Kashmir.
Nobody seems to have a clue about what would work in Jammu & Kashmir. On November 3, 2014, two car-borne youth were killed in Chattergam (district Budgam) in the outskirts of Srinagar by Army bullets. Driven by teenagers, the car apparently did not stop at the check post, making the Army suspicious. The outrage over the incident forced the Army to institute an inquiry into the incident. Nine soldiers were ultimately indicted for the killing. The Army was compelled to issue an apology over the incident.
A month later, on December 8, 2014, Prime Minister Modi in his speech at Srinagar took credit for the Army issuing an apology over the Budgam incident. He said that this was the first time that the Army had apologised. “Modi sarkar ka kamaal dekhiye…” It gave an impression that the Army is a habitual offender, whom no Government had the gumption to take to task before. The Budgam outrage forced the Indian Army to be guarded in its approach towards private vehicular movement. Had it been otherwise, possibly Pulwama could have been prevented.
The worsening of democratic discourse in the Valley is another cause for concern. The voter turnout was a meagre two per cent in the Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency bypoll in April, 2017, which was won by National Conference (NC) chief Farooq Abdullah. The re-polling in 38 booths actually proved worse than the actual bypoll, which had seen seven per cent voter participation, and, hence, was countermanded. The local body elections in October, 2018, saw voters’ participation in single digits, the poorest show in three decades.
The proliferation of Wahabi-controlled mosques in the Valley over the last 10-15 years has changed the nature of insurgency in Kashmir, traditionally influenced by a comparatively liberal Sufi version. The money for these mosques pours in from oil-rich Arab countries. They become a point of attraction for the Muslim youths. The Ministry of Home Affairs report on Kashmir (February 2017) recommended control of mosque, madrasa, print and TV media.
This is, however, not to negate the fact that religious identity is the fundamental shaper of conflict in Kashmir. Why else does the Muslim majority of the Valley, in contrast to Kashmiri Pandits, dislike parts of Hindu majority India even with Article 370 as a safeguard? Why were Kashmiri Pandits brutally assaulted and massacred until they decided to desert the Kashmir Valley on the sacred Shivratri of 1990? Why were their places of worship desecrated, idols stolen and destroyed? Why were Urdu posters, ‘Muslimon Jago, Hinduon Bhago, Jihad aaya’ (Muslims arise, Hindus quit, Jihad has arrived) plastered on the walls of Srinagar?
The return of the IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) in the Valley after a hiatus of a decade is a cause of anxiety. The solution to the Kashmir crisis, provided there is any reality, has receded from sight of late. The secession of Kashmir, on an Islamic plank, will make the position of Muslims in the rest of India vulnerable.
(The writer is an independent researcher. Views expressed are his personal)
Courtesy: Pioneer
Writer: Priyadarshi Dutta
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