American actor Richard Gere on Wednesday cut cake in Dharamsala to mark the occasion of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama's 87th birthday and said "once in a millennium, maybe in two millennia, such a person, such a human being as the Dalai Lama emerges and he is a Tibetan".

The birthday was celebrated at the Tsuglagkhang temple, the main Buddhist temple close to His Holiness official palace at McLeodganj, where Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur took part virtually as the chief guest.

Making a clear-cut departure from the policies of the successive governments of 'making distance' of sorts from the Tibetan spiritual leader by extending greetings to him for the second consecutive time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his greetings.

In a tweet, the Prime Minister wrote: "Conveyed 87th birthday greetings to His Holiness the @DalaiLama over phone earlier today. We pray for his long life and good health."

Beijing regards the Dalai Lama, who is based in the northern Indian hill town Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, as a "separatist". It is sensitive to him meeting international leaders, attending official functions or visiting places at the invitation of the Indian government.

Thousands of Tibetan exiles and foreigners on Wednesday morning joined in the birthday celebrations of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who inaugurated the Dalai Lama Library and Archive here.

Large crowds began to assemble since morning at the Tsuglagkhang temple for the birthday celebrations.

The Dalai Lama, revered by the Tibetans as a 'living god', attended the prayers held at the hilltop temple.

The special guest, Richard Gere, also spoke to the gathering amidst the presence of Penpa Tsering, the Sikyong or head of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), by saying, "Tibetans, you should be proud" since "once, not in a lifetime, once in a millennium, maybe in two millennia, such a person, such a human being as the Dalai Lama emerges and he is a Tibetan".

"His Holiness is not going to be here forever, he is going to leave this body at some point, therefore, we can't rely on the Dalai Lama to carry all of us. We have to carry each other, and it's going to happen soon enough that that reality hits us. It's up to the Tibetan people to carry the weight of your freedom, the weight of your truth, the weight of your possibilities, and the weight of your vision."

"Hence in that context of knowing, we all have to step up," said the actor, while recollecting his first visit to Dharamsala 40 years before as well as his experiences during the conferment of Noble Peace Prize to His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1989 where His Holiness talked about the mankind's responsibilities towards the earth and its environment.

The 87th birthday celebration at the Tibetan main temple also saw a wide variety of folk dance performances from various communities.

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu were among the political leaders who greeted the Dalai Lama.

Puri described the Dalai Lama as a "long standing friend of India" and the "Bodhisattva of Compassion", and said in a tweet, "His quest for world peace & non-violence is an inspiration for humanity."

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, who virtually attended the celebration as chief guest, lauded His Holiness' contributions in making Dharamsala known to the wide world through preservation of Tibetan religion and cultural heritage in the host state.

The guests of the event jointly cut the ceremonial cake after the chief guest's address.

Acknowledging the celebration of the birthday with the Dalai Lama and the inaugural of the new Dalai Lama Library and Archive prior to the official ceremony, CTA President Penpa Tsering highlighted the inability to celebrate His Holiness' birthday inside Tibet despite Tibetan in Tibet's wishes due to unabated restrictions by the Chinese government.

Born on July 6, 1935, at Taktser hamlet in northeastern Tibet, the Dalai Lama was recognised at the age of two as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso.

He fled Tibet after a failed uprising against the Chinese rule in 1959, basing his government-in-exile here that never won recognition from any country.

India is home to around 100,000 Tibetans.

Indo-pacific, the term used in the natural sciences to study marine biology, zoology and oceanography, has made a resurrection in geopolitical discourse in the last couple of decades. The term ‘Asia-Pacific’ is used for the states around the Pacific Ocean formed Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a 21 member intergovernmental organisation is perhaps the only multilateral institution representing Asia-Pacific that is predominant an economic conceptualisation rather than a security one. However, with the rise of two economic powerhouses (India and China) in the Asian continent and increasing assertion of China in the region, the concept, Asia Pacific was broadened geopolitically to include states around the Indian ocean with a focus on India and hence Indo-Pacific (a 24-nation regional framework) have gained traction recently entailing politico-economic and security dimension. New Delhi was brought into the turf by Tokyo and Washington to counterbalance Beijing. Though the concept still evolving exhibits a paradigm shift in power from the West to the East. 

The terms get its force from the expanding role of China, India and the US in the region. The western nomenclature of India as a South Asian nation and China being East Asian somehow blurs the picture of how geopolitics unfolds in the Indo-pacific region. SAARC, a dysfunctional South Asian regional forum marred by India and Pakistan’s mutual antagonism, has made South Asian countries move to what is often informally attributed as SAARC minus Pakistan, i.e. BIMSTEC comprising India Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan in 1997. Furthermore, with saturated markets in the West, India actively pursued the ‘Look East’ policy. These two developments have made the ‘South Asian’ region drifted towards the Indo-Pacific.

Why the Indo-Pacific? First, it covers a vast diversity that envelopes Southeast Asia, South Asia and the littoral nations of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific that are the emerging economic powerhouses. Second, the rise of China, its outward assertion in the region e.g. the South China Sea has augmented the geopolitical tensions between the US and China. Third, though China is expanding its influences across the oceans, Indo-Pacific remains a significant home turf. The US and EU, to mitigate substantial trade imbalances and the growing politico-economic clout of Chinese over Asia and Africa, have now aggressively pushed trade and investments as per the set norms by international organisations. From the human rights violations in Xinjiang to flouting labour laws in Chinese factories and violation of intellectual property rights by the Chinese companies, the West is pugnaciously following a hyphenated approach linking economic to socio-political dimensions in trade. China has retorted citing the dominant world view and economic systems heavily dominated by Western values; its excoriation of western liberal democracy stands testimonial to it.  

In 2019, the US Department of State officially stated that the US “is and always will be an IndoPacific nation … nations (around) face unprecedented challenges to their sovereignty, prosperity, and peace”. Eyeing on the Indo-Pacific, the US through its ‘Blue Dot Network’ (BDN), intends to serve as a globally recognised seal of approval for major infrastructure projects, assessing whether sustainable and not exploitative, thus promoting market-driven, transparent, and financially sustainable infrastructure projects. It does not provide public funds or loans for infrastructure development like the BRI. Instead of countering the mammoth quantitative investments of the BRI, BDN persuades to gauge the quality of investments. Furthermore, the US has passed a law titled ‘Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act’ to ban all imports of goods manufactured in China’s Xinjiang province citing human rights abuses against the Muslim Uyghur community.

As Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOE) play a predominant role in trade and investments, the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) intends to create a level playing field for EU investors by “laying down very clear rules on Chinese state-owned enterprises, transparency of subsidies, and prohibiting forced technology transfers and other distortive practices” as per the European Commission. The EU leadership also stressed conditions on climate change, political imbroglio in Hong Kong and human rights violations in Xinjiang province before the promulgation of the EU-China CAI.

With all such antagonism by the EU and the US, Indo-Pacific becomes of paramount importance in China to diversify its imports in view of its expanding domestic economy and sustain its transcontinental multi-trillion-dollar project, the Belt the Road Initiative. The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee’s development proposal on the long term objectives popularly known as the Vision 2035 aims to develop megacities that will help foster more robust regional trade and investment partnerships with ASEAN and developing economies around the world.

The main products that the United States exported to China, for instance, in 2019, are electrical machinery and appliances, vehicles and aviation equipment forms approximately 40% of the total share of imports from the US the dependency of which China plans to reduce through their China Vision 2035 centring around “new industrialisation, IT application (and) urbanisation”. China’s indigenously developed Comac C919 (though with imported engines), a narrow-body aircraft, is touted as a competition to most popular aircrafts American’s Boeing 737 and Europe’s Airbus 320. COMAC’s C919 plane has already received 1000 provisional orders primarily by Chinese airliners, with Chinese flyers almost tripling over the next two decades. With governments around the globe aggressively pushing for Electronic Vehicles (EV), China tops the charts as it has 44% of all the EVs globally, though Europe leads in the sales followed by China.

In 2018, the General Office of the State Council of China forwarded the notice of the Ministry of Commerce and other departments issuing new import guidelines stating to “actively explore the import resources of countries along the “Belt and Road”. The departments were directed to actively pursue the expansion of imports through the diversification of sources. According to the World Bank and UNCTAD data on imports by China, the imports from the US are witnessing a constant decline, i.e. 8.51 % in 2016, and post new import guidelines; it fell to 5.96% in 2019 with a slight increase to 6.6% in 2020. However, imports from East Asia and the Pacific from 38.7% in 2016 to a steep jump in 2017 at 45.2%, 43.8% in 2018, and a marginal decrease at 42.3% in 2020. According to China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC), the total trade from 2014-2019 between China and BRI member countries have registered an annual growth rate of 6.1 percent, making China the biggest trading partner with 25 BRI countries. The total trade stood at the mammoth US $1.34 trillion in 2019.  

The rise of China challenging the US’s influence premised on the discordant visions for Asia and the world, the convergences have seemingly turned into a competition with a surge in myriad multilateral politico-economic forums, particularly regarding the Indo-Pacific. Recent geopolitical developments have made us think of regions in larger units like Indo-Pacific instead of South Asia, East Asia and South-East Asia. Interestingly, however, though the region of power assertion is expanding, an array of inter-governmental alliances and forums playing out are getting fragmented and smaller with forums like RCEP, ASEAN, ARF, BRICS, SCO, BIMSTEC, APEC, QUAD and CRIP.

Interestingly, the US and China are the top two trading partners of India, respectively. Despite the geopolitical standoff and anti-China rhetoric, the Sino-India trade continues to soar by more than 70% year-on-year to over $48 billion in the first five months of 2021. India ought to tread cautiously in tagging along with the US as a counterweight to China. Given the intensive trade with the two antagonistic global players, India must chalk a strategy that does not hurt itself economically. The US and China are aggressively employing their resources, forging myriad alliances to checkmate each other assertions over Indo-Pacific.

Beijing has made a new move to counter the increasing influence of the US and India with a possibility of CRIP (China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan) depicting a de facto emerging strategic alliance of authoritarian regimes as a counter to the QUAD that aims to ensure free and open Indo-Pacific and is touted as ‘Asian Arc of Democracy’ depicts the belligerence with which US and China are dealing with. With the host of multilateral organisations coupled with global powers, the Indo-Pacific is emerging as a region with complex power dynamics as traditionally in multi-polar world different actors struggle to preserve and extend their spheres of influence. As the sports stage sets for claiming the top spot at the Tokyo Olympics, the geopolitical turf sets in the Indo-Pacific for the great-power game, a renewed competition for a sphere of influence in the years to come.

Courtesy: ORF / IANS 

Lack of political sense, over emotional attachment to religion, surging religious extremism in the community, and most of all, by not recognizing the enemy within who always stops the community from being progressive, Muslims in India pushing them backwards.

India is essentially a nation of diversities. Unity in diversity caters to the essence of the golden dignity of its composite culture. Since the Vedic period, the inclusion of internal and external ideas in the composite culture has been the specialty here, so assimilation of any cultural diversity is accessible and achievable in India. In this context, religious associativity has also been one of these characteristics, a striking example of this can be seen in Sufism, where the golden amalgamation of Islamic monotheism and some of the characteristics of Indian religions took place and resulted in the successful emergence of a syncretism religious ideology, but in recent times, over the years, India's cultural diversity is getting transformed into cultural disparity, due to which there is a loss in harmony among people as well as a negative effect on cultural characteristics.

No one expected what happened on Friday, June 10. The incident put a big question on the political sense of Muslims in this country. In many parts of the country Muslims came out on the streets in large numbers after the Friday prayers (Jumme ki Namaj), and what happened then again gave strength to the politics of polarization in this country. There were sloganeering, stone pelting, arson, police firing, lathi-charge, and the picture changed very fast. There were violent demonstrations across the country. An atmosphere of hostility and terror was created. But one thing to note here is that such violent demonstrations have only reinforced the ulterior motives of the vested groups (both religious and political).

By the end of the day everyone started condemning the violence that was orchestrated in the name of protest. The anger that was for Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal until the day before the protest, suddenly turn towards the rioters and their supporters. In the process of extremism of the minorities, those citizens who have no association with BJP and its ideology also change their opinion in support of Nupur Sharma. Now people have started raising their voices in her support too. Posters were put up and pamphlets were thrown in support of her in some towns in the country.

Well, after Nupur Sharma’s controversial remarks about the Prophet in the TV debate, her statement was condemned by people from all corners of the country. The matter was about the Prophet of Islam, so it is natural that protests were made in other countries of the world as well. Qatar was the first to protest. After this many Islamic countries expressed disapproval of the statement and a few even summoned an Indian envoy to their country. The ruling BJP succumbed to the pressure, first issued a statement and talked about the equality of all religions, and then suspended Nupur Sharma and expelled Naveen Jindal from the party. Subsequently, she issued an apology, saying that her intention was not to hurt anyone. However, the question arises that when the Islamic countries have consented to the BJP’s action on Nupur Sharma, then why did the protest in India not stop? Obviously, some people want to create unrest in the country for their political purpose. At the same time, people who are spreading violence in the name of protest in the country knowingly or unknowingly are nourishing the dirty divided politics of these political parties.  

But everything is political these days and this is normal in a democracy. And there lies the biggest failure of the Muslim minorities in this country. The common people of the community having little political sense get carried away by emotions without considering their advantages and disadvantages. Every now and then the religious leaders bring new illusory things in the name of faith which is regressive and against modernity and the values of the contemporary age of science and rational thinking. It is said that if your din (religion) is hindered by your education, then decline the education. In the name of safeguarding Islam, its culture and practices, they advocate gender inequality, do not support women education and women in jobs.

The immoderation of anything is not good. A peaceful protest that turns violent is bad. A criticism that crosses the limits of freedom of speech is also not right. Intellectuals are of the view that such incidents are outcome of intolerance in the religion and are the biggest obstacle to the national integration of India, as this ideology emphasizes the essential unity of one’s own community against other communities. Thus such events promote belief in orthodox principles, intolerance and hatred towards other religions, leading to the division of society. Time and again the incident on Friday, June 10, proved that lack of political sense, over-emotional attachment to religion, surging religious extremism, and most of all, by not recognizing the enemy within who always stops the community from being progressive, Muslims in India pushing them backwards. When there is a say “excess of anything is bad,” the truth is that no one is ready to acknowledge extremism in the religion. It can’t be christened spiritual extremism as there’s no place of extremism in spirituality. The problem is imbibing religion madly. The community has to take ownership of this issue and remain vigilant. This problem can’t be solved by the government and law enforcement agencies alone. Only responsible Muslim leaders and organizations can address the real issue of extremism.

In today’s time, religion is used by various political parties to fulfill their political benefits. Communalization of politics as a process increases the intensity of religious violence in the country along with promoting communalism in India. The lack of value-based education in Muslim youth makes them fall into the words of anyone without thinking and blindly imitate.

Social media plays an important role in promoting communalism due to the rapid spread of fake news in the country. Audio-visual dissemination of riots and violence through social media instigates the violence much easier and faster. These dehumanizing graphic depictions of violence add to the general public’s hatred of other communities. Instead of adhering to journalistic ethics and neutrality, most of the media houses in the country appear to be particularly inclined towards one or the other political ideology, which in turn widens the social divide.

Factors such as unequal level of development, class division, poverty, and unemployment etc. create a sense of insecurity among common people. Owing to the feeling of insecurity, people lose faith in the government, as a result, various political parties, which are formed on communal lines, are resorted to by the people to fulfill their needs and interests. Due to a lack of trust and mutual understanding between the two communities, a sense of fear, suspicion, and danger arises in them. So many are of the opinion that education, prosperity, modern thinking, and new initiatives will take the Muslims in India forward.

Like other such incidents in past, this one will also be subsided. The political graph of some people and parties will go up. Some religious leaders and organizations will create wealth. But no one knows how long the rioters against whom cases have been registered by the law enforcement agencies will remain trapped in this. They will be named and shamed in public, penalized, their houses will be bulldozed. Moreover, such violence traps innocent citizens too, brings loss of life and property, promotes vote bank politics, and affects social cohesion. It causes serious damage to religious harmony in the long run. It also affects constitutional values ??like secularism and fraternity. In such cases, the families of the victims have to bear the brunt the most, they have to lose their homes, loved ones, and even means of livelihood. It presents a challenge to the internal security of the country as the citizens of the country are involved in both the instigators and victims of such violence.

When the view expresses that only responsible religious leaders and organizations can address the real issue of religious extremism in the country, there is no intention of disregarding the responsibilities of the government and law enforcement agencies absolutely. The law enforcement agencies need to be well equipped and local intelligence networks need to be strengthened to prevent such incidents. Peace committees, including notable citizens and religious leaders from the community, can be set up to work together to spread goodwill and remove the feelings of fear and hatred in the people’s minds. Value-based education should be imparted to the common people and especially the youth of the community, so that they do not fall prey easily into anyone’s words. In addition to scientific and rationality in curriculum, there is also a need to emphasize value-oriented education, focusing on the excellence of children in schools and colleges based on the values ??of non-violence, peace, secularism, compassion, and humanism.

Finally, strong laws are needed to stop repeating such incidents in the future. Although there are Sections in IPC and special laws such as UAPA, NSA, PSA, etc. are there and applied, depending upon the facts of the case, by law enforcement agencies, that is not enough to desist the perpetrators of such acts. The existing criminal justice system should be reformed to provide speedy trials and adequate compensation to the victims.

The Preamble to the Constitution of India describes maintenance of 'unity and integrity of the nation' as its prime objective. Reference to India being a Union of States is for defining the pattern of governance that the Constitution was to lay down in its text. It is strange that the world's largest democracy born in 1947 could not - for reasons of internal politics - define the 'idea of India' in spite of this country's deeply inclusive civilisational past and allowed the concept to remain vague, debatable and uncertain in terms of the nationalist values it was supposed to invoke amongst its citizens. Citizens of a free nation had every right to connect with their collective recall of history that inculcated in them a sense of oneness rooted in the shared happy and unhappy memories.

The political complexities flowing out of the traumatic division of India on communal lines built into the process of Independence itself and the approach of the Congress as the first ruling party of India, of presenting the democratic dispensation here as a contrast to Islamic Pakistan by 'disowning' any cultural heritage of the Hindu majority in India, created an amorphous kind of polity that was to open the way for putting the Muslim minority on a special footing for its numbers. All of this produced an unnatural environment for governance that seemed to run against the first democratic principle of 'one man one vote' followed in India from day one of the enforcement of the Indian Constitution in 1950.

Our Constitution was inherently secular in as much as it drew no lines amongst the citizens in providing equal opportunities and equal protection of law to them but the Congress -apparently out of a sense of political insecurity - amended the Preamble in 1976 to introduce the adjective 'secular' for the State primarily to retain the loyalty of Muslim minority for the party. With the gradual but steady rise of BJP as a democratic party, Indian politics was clearly marked by a growing consciousness among other parties that in a situation of the acute divide of the majority community due to politics of caste, language and region, the solid support of the Muslim minority was the only possible match-winner in elections. There was no going back on this realpolitik which produced a competition among non- BJP parties in the advocacy for the 'Muslim cause'

Early on, a narrative of majoritarianism, authoritarianism and anti- minority bias was built against Modi government by the opposition groups in concert with anti-BJP lobbies at home and abroad. The country has currently become prone to the politics of communal violence. India is only too familiar with the communal problem that afflicted this country for decades after Independence primarily because the Ulema and the elite guiding the minority community continued with their policy of projecting religious identity into politics, to claim a share of power on that basis and in the process got the 'secular' parties ruling then, to humour the Muslim minority in every possible way for its electoral numbers. The anti-Modi political parties in concert with leaders of the minority community are selectively responding to cases of communal violence - blaming it all on the present leadership at the Centre. This is the same psyche that led them even to absolve Pakistan of any share of responsibility for perpetrating faith-based terrorism in Kashmir. They have run out of ideas on how to politically contest Modi's leadership - Prime Minister Modi's rapid rise as a world leader on the strength of the handling of international relations by him, was perhaps propelling the opposition to start running him down on the domestic front more and more.

Politics of condoning violence is a cause of great concern from the point of view of national security. Law and order is a state subject and therefore in any case of communally motivated violence-regardless of which side provoked it- the focus has to be on the accountability of the state government- not on settling scores with the Centre. The time has come for the state governments to live up to their autonomous role of preventing any mass violence with rigorous measures. Since communally sensitive Police Stations were already identified there should be no laxity on the part of the state Police in taking comprehensive preventive measures there- the DM and SP should be held directly responsible for ensuring the same. The Centre has a certain responsibility of monitoring the performance of officers of IAS and IPS- who were recruited, trained and allotted to states by it- and this should be put to effective use at this juncture.

Unlike other crimes, communally motivated violence tends to get prolonged producing a cycle of action and reaction, makes it easy for the agents of the external adversary to dig in their heels and adding to the vulnerability of other sensitive areas. Serious notice has to be taken of the brazenness of Pakistan in declaring in its recently announced National Security doctrine that the 'pro- Hindutva policies of Modi government had put the safety of India's Muslims in jeopardy'. While the former Prime Minister of Pakistan- Imran Khan- put India-Pakistan relations in the Hindu-Muslim framework, his successor - Shehbaz Sharif - has done no better by talking of Kashmir as the core issue between the two countries and alleging that 'Kashmiri's blood was turning the valley red'. Pakistan's game of causing internal destabilisation in India by instigating communal conflicts here is in the open now and the Intelligence set up of this country has the added challenge of detecting agent provocateurs recruited by ISI for that purpose. There is learning from the experience of recent years when communal militancy proved to be the route for the rise of terrorism and the spread of radicalisation. Indian Mujahideen (IM) emerging out of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) proved the point.

At present the internal security scene in India is potentially disturbed because of the revival of the historical disputes India had inherited in 1947 - mainly revolving round the destruction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya, Kashi Vishwanath temple at Varanasi and the Krishna Janamsthan temple at Mathura. Construction of mosques there in an apparent pursuit of the Islamic mandate of subjugating idol worshippers during the Mughal period of Indian history and earlier - provoked strong Hindu sentiments on the issue that even took the form of a national movement. To stall that, the Narsimha Rao government in its wisdom passed the Places of Worship Act in Parliament in July 1991 putting a lid on the disputes at Varanasi and Mathura while exempting Ayodhya from its application. An Act of Parliament can always be contested before the higher judiciary and this is happening now in regard to the 1991 legislation.

The question is whether the Hindu's sense of continued hurt due to a dark chapter of Mughal history justified corrective action in Independent India and whether it was logical for the leadership of the minority community here to identify itself with the doings of a bigoted ruler like Aurangzeb? Both Hindus and Muslims - at least the bulk of the latter represented by Deobandis- had condemned the colonial British rule in India. Why was then this divergence in responding to the infamous site of the earlier Muslim invadors? It is possible that the Partition of India forced in the name of Islam, made the leaders of Indian Muslims cling to any links that religion provided to them with these outside rulers and with Pakistan. This, however, will only aggravate the situation. Exclusivism of a religion that led it to 'reject' other faiths, had to be first worked on by the community's own leadership. The impression of faith-based separatism had to be remedied so that an inevitable backlash resulting from it could be minimised.

By voluntarily showing an approach of accommodation towards the mass sentiment of Hindus in respect of these particular places of worship that connected with the Hindu Gods, Muslim leaders could have demanded that a closure be put on these unhappy historical memories and thus helped to take the country beyond them, on to the path of 'development for all'. People of all communities after all had the same concerns of the common man regarding livelihood and betterment of his children. This, however, may not necessarily happen considering that many of the Minority leaders for their own narrow politics had even questioned the word 'nationalism' and went to the extent of interpreting the gesture of saluting the national flag and standing up during the national anthem as an imposition on Muslims.

Unless good sense prevails, the country will be in for an uncompromisingly tough response of the State against mass violence on communal lines. Projection of religious identity into politics is bad enough but asserting the exclusivism of faith in the socio-cultural sphere is equally harmful for communal harmony. In any case, the democratic sovereign State where the political executive did not carry a denominational stamp, had in the final analysis, the locus standi to intervene effectively even in a situation of religious conflict - in the wider public interest.

Disturbances on the domestic front are attracting attention at a time when India has emerged as a major voice in international relations and the leadership of Prime Minister Modi is on the rise at the global stage in giving a push both to conflict resolution and economic development. New initiatives to take India's relations forward, particularly in our neighbourhood -with Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Mauritius - have complemented Modi's foreign policy and added to India's stature notwithstanding the hostile attitude of the Sino-Pak axis towards this country. Internal trouble makers working in league with India's adversaries have to be put down with a sense of urgency because no democracy could function with problems of domestic violence at hand. It needs to be mentioned here that India's policy on Ukraine-Russia military conflict had worked well - guided as it was by the nation's enlightened self-interest, considerations for world peace and impartiality towards both sides. A UN-sponsored body of interlocutors including those from India could help with multi-prong negotiations to work out a framework of possible agreement in which concerns of both parties and their supporters would be squarely addressed. This is the need of the hour judging from the fact that India held its ground on the issue even at the recent Quad summit at Tokyo.

(The writer is a former Director Intelligence Bureau)

The recently announced recruitment scheme by Modi government - Agnipath-the path of fire – as planned employment of 45000 to 50000 persons in the age-group 17.5-21 years in the Indian defence sector per annum actually guarantees a secure job for 25% of candidates for 15 years and the remaining 75?ndidates will receive jobs for 4 years only. The move is projected to be inspired by the US Défense model but has invited a strong protest by the aspiring youth, mainly in Northern states, and opposition political parties. According to the scheme, 75% of army men will be compelled to leave with Rs. 1.2 million in hand after completing four years of service. This is in continuation to the informalization of work, with no social security after 4 years. It is interesting to see that even the most glorified and sacred armed force known for patriotism, is not left untouched from contractualization, the process which has even created insecurity in the life of retired army personnel. The scheme is opposed by aspiring youth across the country and expressed their concern by protesting and damaging public property in disgust.

After the protest, however, the central government or defence ministry is compelled to provide a relaxation of 2 more years in the age bar for the jobs from 21 years to 23 years due to no recruitment in the last two years due to Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, different reservation/quotas are announced by the central and state governments for the retired Agniveers, to pacify the protest. The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is filed in the Supreme Court, against the implementation of Agnipath scheme by sharing that it will cause ‘serious injury’ to citizens and is followed by other PIL against the violence in the protest and is asked for taking strong actions against the protestors in the affected states- Bihar, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Haryana, Rajasthan and Telangana.

The three-armed forces, Army, Navy and Airforce had to call a press conference and denied withdrawal from the scheme instead reducing the average age from 32 years to 26 years by citing the case of the US, where 27 years of average age is there for the defence personnel with the expansion of technology upgradation and advancement in having a relatively younger army. It was announced that the recruitment would start from 24^th June, 2022 and the protesters would be debarred from the recruitment.

Informalizing Armed forces

The scheme is aimed at promoting informalization and reducing public funding especially in the revenue expenditure, like pensions and other social security allowances in the policy framework of neo-liberal economics. The scheme is thus a litmus test amidst ongoing recessionary and stagflation pressures for Indian youth and opposition political parties who are fighting against the diversionary tactics of the ruling government. These strategic developments can be understood in the light of earlier promises, and lower growth and number of employment generation in Defense followed by the condition of constitutional assured reservation in the public sector undertaking (PSU). The scheme is projected as a political move as there was no progress of providing 2 crores per annum jobs as promised by Modi in 2014, rather there has been an increasing unemployment rate in 2018 as compared to the last 45 years.

Launching Agnipath Scheme amidst Rising Unemployment

Despite secondary evidence of the deteriorating condition of employment ever since the initiation of economic reforms in 1990s, the vulnerability of the poor has intensified under Modi regime and worsened in the Covid-19 pandemic times.  According to CMIE data, the unemployment rate and labour participation rate during the recent quarter January-April, 2022 especially in the five states (Bihar, UP, Haryana, Rajasthan and Telangana) have been highest unemployment rates and youth unemployment rates and is thus reflected in the extent of the protest against the Agnipath scheme.

The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) publishes four important parameters of the labour conditions are : (i) Unemployment Rate- This rate estimates the unemployed  persons who are willing to work and are actively looking for a job expressed as a per cent of the labour force, (ii) labour force participation rate- this rate is the ratio of the labour force to the population greater than 15 years of age and (iii) Greater Unemployment Rate (GUER)- the rate is the sum of the unemployed who are willing to work and are actively looking for a job and the unemployed who are willing to work and are not actively looking for a job, expressed as a per cent of the greater labour force and (iv) Greater Labour Force (GLF) consists of persons who are of 15 years of age or more and are either of the following three categories: (i) employed (ii) unemployed and are willing to work and are actively looking for a job and (iii) unemployed and are willing to work and are not actively looking for a job. The unemployment rates (UR) of these PIL sought direction states are: Haryana (25.67), Bihar (15.28), Rajasthan (26.98), and Telangana (8.58), Uttar Pradesh (3.33), reflecting higher unemployment rates in these states except UP.  The reality of the unemployment rate in UP can be examined by the labour force participation rate (LPR), which has been the lowest at all-India level, which is only 33.40% reflecting that people have withdrawn from seeking of jobs due to the highest unemployment and underemployment in UP. So, the lower unemployment rate captures a shallower aspect of the reality, as a willingness to work in terms of the lowest labour force participation rate in the state has drastically declined The labour force participation rates (LPR) in these respective states: Haryana (41.04), Bihar (35.21), Rajasthan (44.58), Telangana (52.43), Uttar Pradesh (33.40). The labour force participation rates (LPR) in urban areas are: Haryana (40.36), Bihar (35.85), Rajasthan (44.76), Telangana (40.17), Uttar Pradesh (33.61), as shown in Figure 1.

The states with greater effective unemployment rates (GUER) are: Haryana (27.56), Bihar (17.56), Rajasthan (33.38), Telangana (8.18), Uttar Pradesh (9.29). The GUER include the number of seeking for employment into the unemployed persons number, which captures willing to work but not getting employment. At the all-India levels, these three respective rates are: UR (7.43), LPR (39.71) and GUER (10.79).

Source: Figure constructed by the authors using data of CMIE (2022).

Youth Unemployment: Reserved Army

The youth unemployment rates in UP in the age groups of 15-19, 20-24 and 25-29 years are 12.88%, 17.46% and 8.08% respectively (Figure 2). In these respective age groups, the greater unemployment rates are 72.70%, 31.93% and 11.31%, reflecting the highest greater unemployment rate in 15-19 years but suddenly declines in next two age groups due to hopelessness in the poor and vulnerable conditions of unemployment (Figure 3) 

Source: Figure constructed by the authors using data of CMIE (2022).

In Bihar, the URs in these respective age groups are: 77.69%, 70.39% and 31.14% and the corresponding GUERs are 83.32%, 73.97% and 31.66% reflecting poor conditions of unemployment. The rate of decline in the URs and GUERs across the age groups are higher in UP than Bihar reflecting poorer conditions of unemployment in UP in terms of people are withdrawing from seeking jobs, which is hiding behind the lower average unemployment rate in UP than Bihar.

Source: Figure constructed by the authors using data of CMIE (2022).

In Rajasthan, the URs are 95.40%, 82.07% and 17.16% and GUER are 97.67%, 83.42% and 18.16% respectively. In Telangana, the respective URs are 76.52%, 18.15% and 6.43% and GUER are 76.63%, 18.15% and 6.48%. The respective URs in Haryana are 96.76%, 83.89% and 28.38% and the corresponding GUERs are 97.87%, 84.17% and 28.71%.   In Telangana, the URs in these age-groups are 76.52%, 18.15% and 6.43% and respective GUERs are 76.63%, 18.15% and 6.15%, not much difference between the URs and GUERs showing relatively better conditions of employment in Telangana. The gap between the URs and GUERs in Haryana, Bihar, Rajasthan and Telangana in comparison to UP reflects greater vulnerability of jobs in the state. Thus, the more vulnerability of UP unemployment and underemployment conditions can be understood from three perspectives: (i) Lowest LPR; (ii) highest decline in the GUER across the groups from 15-19 to 20-24 and to 25-29 in UP as compared to other four states, (iii) highest gaps between the URs and GUERs in UP as compared to the other four states.

Conclusion

The above discussion unfolds the reasons for calling Agnipath as Agnipriksha for the aspiring youth and the central government. The unrest among youth due to the already higher unemployment rate across India but more specifically in the five states is examined in the light of unemployment situation across the states. Since the employment situation is grimmer in the northern states - Bihar, UP, Haryana, and Rajasthan, the native youth has expressed their anguish by violently disrupting public property. However, the central government is trying to pacify the movement legally and via taking defence departmental measures. Further, the Indian government is making provisions for the reservation in state and centre police, railway, education and other departments/ministry.  Like the central open university- Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) too has announced to offer a 3 years’ degree for the four-year retired army men. The protestors however need to learn from the peaceful protest by the farmers in the past where they fought and won the political battle, otherwise movement built may be dissolved by the Indian state in the name of preserving law and order. The aspiring youth however is unaware of the deep-seated neoliberal agenda of informalizing every possible social sector resulting in destabilizing India’s future and is unable to understand the hidden agenda of reducing the fiscal accountability in Défense sector under the neo-liberal policy framework from the present 50% budget of pensions and other social security system of Rs. 2.5 lakh crores out of total Rs. 5.25 lakh crore in 2022-23 (GOI, 2022). It is foreseen that After witnessing the socio-political scenario of growing unrest, there is a fear of having greater unrest amidst growing unemployment.

Narender Thakur and Vaishali, University of Delhi

Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana on Tuesday said India can be chosen as a favoured investment destination due to the independence of its judicial system and for giving paramount importance to the rule of law.

The Chief Justice, in the presence of Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, also said that pendency of cases is a major issue in India and in the absence of infrastructure and sufficient number of judges commensurate with the increasing workload, the problem is intensifying.

Delivering the inaugural address at the conference on 'Arbitrating Indo-UK Commercial Disputes' at Mansion House, London, he said: "Apart from ease of enforcement, another advantage for choosing India as a favored investment destination is its judicial system. Both the legal systems in India and the United Kingdom are known for giving paramount importance to the rule of law."

Chief Justice Ramana added that both nations share a similar legal culture, where courts are known and respected as independent institutions. "Apart from this, the investors would be entering into a common familiar legal field as both nations follow the common law system. Laws on important issues are often convergent between both nations," he said.

He said there is no denying that the pendency of cases is a major issue in India and the reasons for this include growth of the Indian economy, population, rising awareness about rights etc.

"In the absence of infrastructure and a sufficient number of judges commensurate with the increasing workload, the problem is intensifying. This is why I have been strongly advocating for transforming and upgrading the judicial infrastructure in India, as well as filling up of judicial vacancies and augmenting the strength," he said.

He pointed out that after he became the CJI, "in addition to filling up 11 vacancies in the Supreme Court, the Collegia could secure the appointment of 163 Judges to various high courts. 23 more recommendations are pending with the government".

The CJI added that the Central government is yet to transmit another 120 names received from various high courts to the Supreme Court Collegium. "I have been reminding the government to expedite the process so that the remaining 381 vacancies can be reduced considerably. I am hoping for some forward movement in this regard," he said.

He said another way of reducing the burden of pendency is to promote and popularise other means of dispute resolution, such as arbitration or mediation, adding that he has been a strong advocate of dispute settlement mechanisms that do not require litigants to face traditional litigation. He said the presence of international arbitration centres will not only boost India's global position as an investor-friendly nation but also will facilitate the growth of a robust legal practice.

"Personally, I think it is the era of Institutional Arbitration and Mediation in India. To catch up to the developed world, world-class arbitration and mediation centers need to be set up and promoted. Individual arbitrators and mediators would have an opportunity to support, and develop these institutions, while also becoming empanelled," the CJI said.

He said different state governments in India are taking active steps in establishing International Arbitration Centres, keeping in view global trends.

"The aim is to set up professionally-run arbitration and mediation institutions in India along the lines of the LCIA or the Singapore International Arbitration Centre. This is in line with the recommendations made by the Srikrishna Committee to the Government of India in 2017. Ultimately, the presence of modern infrastructure, with a global outlook, will attract both domestic and foreign parties to seek resolution of their disputes," he added, while thanking FICCI and the Indian Council of Arbitration for hosting this event and inviting him to inaugurate it.

A group consisting of 15 retired judges of various high courts, 77 retired bureaucrats and 25 retired armed forces officers have issued an open statement saying that 'unfortunate and unprecedented comments' were made by a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Surya Kant and Justice J.B. Pardiwala, while hearing a petition by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, which has sent shockwaves in the country and outside.

The statement said the observations, simultaneously relayed by all news channels in high decibel, are not in sync with the judicial ethos and by no stretch, these observations, which are not part of the judicial order, can be sanctified on the plank of judicial propriety and fairness.

"Such outrageous transgressions are without parallel in the annals of the judiciary. Nupur Sharma sought access to the justice system before the highest court as that court alone could consider a grant of relief being sought. The observations that have no connect jurisprudentially with the issue raised in the petition, transgressed in an unprecedented manner all canons of the dispensation of justice," said the statement.

It added that such observation, perceptually there is the virtual exoneration of the dastardliest beheading at Udaipur in broad daylight. "The observations also graduate to the most unjustifiable degree that this was only to fan an agenda... In the annals of the judiciary, the unfortunate comments have no parallel and are an indelible scar on the justice system of the largest democracy," said the three-page open statement.

The officers' said Sharma was de facto denied access to the judiciary and in the process, there was an outrage on the Preamble, spirit and essence of the Constitution.

"The observations, judgmental in nature, on issues not before the court, are crucification of the essence and spirit of the Indian Constitution. Forcing a petitioner by such damning observations, pronouncing her guilty without trial, and denial of access to justice on the issue raised in the petition can never be a facet of a democratic society", added the statement. Sharma had moved the top court seeking clubbing of FIRs, registered in various parts of the country, into one FIR at Delhi in the matter connected with her remarks against the Prophet Muhammed.

The statement said the allegations constitute only one offence for which separate prosecutions (FIRs) were launched and Article 20 (2) of the Constitution prohibits prosecution and punishment more than once for the same offence. "Article 20 falls under Part III of the Constitution and is a guaranteed fundamental right. The Supreme Court in a number of cases including Arnab Goswamy vs. Union of India (2020) and T.T. Anthony vs. State of Kerala clearly laid down the law that there can be no second FIR and consequently there can be no fresh investigation in respect to the second FIR on the same issue. Such action is violative of fundamental rights as guaranteed under Article 20(2) of the Constitution", it said.

"Such an approach of the Supreme Court deserves no applause and impacts the very sanctity and honour of the highest court of the land", it added.

The coordinators are Justice P.N. Ravindran former judge of Kerala High Court, and Anand Bose, former chief secretary, Kerala

Doctors’ Day is celebrated on different dates across the world, which is an interesting fact. The date varies by country, depending on the commemorative event used to mark the day. The special day is observed on July 1 in India and it’s organised by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) annually. The first time this day was established was in 1991 and ever since annually, National Doctors' Day is celebrated across the country. The day also coincides with the birth and death anniversary of the physician and second chief minister of West Bengal, Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy.

International Doctors Day: In 1953, the Pan American Medical Confederation agreed to commemorate December 3rd as “International Doctors’ Day” as a tribute to all medical professionals, in memory of the Cuban doctor Carlos J. Finlay, who discovered that Aedes aegypti was the transmitter of Yellow Fever. The theme of National Doctors Day 2022 is ''Family Doctors on the Front Line''. The theme is dedicated to doctors and healthcare workers who have unquestioningly and selflessly assisted us and our families in our dire need of help. For several years, the government and non-government healthcare organisation have celebrated National Doctors’ Day to raise awareness of the contributions of doctors. It is truly said, "God cannot be seen, but the contextual profile of God can be seen in the faces of doctors who save us and help us live better lives."

Tribute to Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy (BC Roy)

Doctor’s Day honors Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, a renowned doctor and West Bengal's second chief minister, whose birthday and death anniversary fall on the same day. Doctors’ Day is celebrated not only to honor Dr Roy, but also to recognise everyone in the medical field for their indefatigable efforts and dedication to patients.
Major Contributions: Dr BC Roy MRCP FRCS (1 July 1882 – 1 July 1962) was not only a dedicated physician but also an educationist, philanthropist, freedom fighter and statesman who served as Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1948 until his death in 1962. He is often considered the maker of modern West Bengal due to his key role in the founding of several institutions and the cities Durgapur, Kalyani, Bidhannagar, and Ashoknagar. He is one of the few people in history to have become both a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and a Member of the Royal College of Physicians. In India. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour on 4 February 1961. 
  
Birth and Education: Dr Roy was born on 1 July 1882 to a Bengali family in Bankipore in Patna, where he studied at Patna Collegiate School in 1897, and obtained his I.A. degree from Presidency College, Calcutta. He completed his undergraduate studies at Patna College, where he obtained a B.A. degree with honours in mathematics. After graduating with his bachelor's degree, he applied to undertake postgraduate studies at the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology and at the Calcutta Medical College. His application was accepted by both institutions and he chose to attend the latter to study (June 1901) to study at Calcutta Medical College. While at medical school, came upon an inscription that read, "Whatever thy hands find to do, do it with thy might These words became a lifelong source of inspiration for him. Further, with a plan to enroll at St Bartholomew's Hospital, he left for Britain in February 1909. Being an Asian student he got admission to the Course only after 30 admission requests. He completed his studies in two years and three months, and in May 1911 became a member of the Royal College of Physicians and a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons simultaneously. He returned back to India in 1911 for a medical Job in India and Contribution to Medical Education: After his return, Dr Roy joined the Provincial Health Service. He exhibited immense dedication and hard work and would serve as a nurse when necessary. In his free time, he practiced privately, charging a nominal fee. He taught at the Calcutta Medical College, and later at the Campbell Medical School (now NRS Medical College) and the Carmichael Medical College (now R.G. Kar Medical College). 

He made contributions to the organisation of medical education. He played an important role in the establishment of the Jadavpur T.B. Hospital,  Chittaranjan Seva Sadan, Kamala Nehru Memorial Hospital, Victoria Institution (college), and Chittaranjan Cancer Hospital. In 1926, the Chittaranjan Seva Sadan for women and children was opened in by Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy In 1942, when Dr Roy was serving as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta fearing Japanese invasion, he acquired air-raid shelters for schools and college students to have their classes in, and provided relief for students, teachers and employees alike. In recognition of his overall efforts, the Doctorate of Science was conferred upon him in 1944. 

Important Quote in Lucknow University (Lucknow): Dr Roy believed the youth of India would determine the future of the nation. He felt the youth must not take part in strikes and fasts but should study and commit themselves to social work. While delivering the Convocation Address at the University of Lucknow on 15 December 1956, Dr. Roy said: My young friends, you are soldiers in the battle of freedom-freedom from want, fear, ignorance, frustration and helplessness. By a dint of hard work for the country, rendered in a spirit of selfless service, may you march ahead with hope and courage...Firm Belief in Healthy Body: Dr Roy believed that Swaraj (the call to action for India's freedom) would remain a dream unless the people were healthy and strong in mind and body.

Relations with Mahatama Gandhi: Dr. Roy was both Gandhiji's friend and doctor. When Gandhiji was undertaking a fast in Parnakutivin, Poona in 1933, Dr. Roy attended to him, Gandhiji refused to take medicine on the grounds it was not made in India. Gandhiji asked Dr. Roy, "Why should I take your treatment? Do you treat four hundred million of my countrymen free?" Dr. Roy replied, "No Gandhiji, I could not treat all patients free. But I came... not to treat Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, but to treat "him" who to me represents the four hundred million people of my country." Gandhiji relented and took the medicine. Entry into Politics and his contributions: In 1925, Roy began his political career. He ran for elections from the Barrackpore Constituency as an independent candidate for the Bengal Legislative Council and defeated the "Grand Old Man of Bengal," Surendranath Banerjee. Though an independent, Roy voted with the Swaraj Party (the Parliamentary wing of the Congress in the 1920s). As early as 1925, Roy tabled a resolution recommending a study of the causes of pollution in Hoogly and suggested measures to prevent pollution in the future. 

Roy was elected to the All India Congress Committee in 1928. Roy efficiently conducted Civil Disobedience in Bengal in 1929. This prompted Pandit Motilal Nehru to nominate him Member of the Working Committee (CWC) in 1930. The CWC was declared an unlawful assembly by Ruling Britishers and Dr. Roy along with other members of the committee was arrested on 26 August 1930 and detained at Alipore Central Jail. During the Dandi March in 1931, many members of the Calcutta Corporation were imprisoned. Congress requested Roy to remain out of prison and discharge the duties of the Corporation. He served as the Alderman of the Corporation from 1930–31 and as the Mayor of Calcutta from 1931 to 1933. Under him, the Corporation made leaps in the expansion of free education, free medical aid, better roads, improved lighting, and water supply. He was responsible for setting up a framework for dispensing grant-in-aid to hospitals and charitable dispensaries. 

A stint as Chief Minister of Bengal: The Congress Party proposed Roy's name for Chief Minister of Bengal. Roy wanted to devote himself to his profession. On Gandhiji's advice, however, Roy accepted the position and took office on 23 January 1948. Bengal at the time had been torn by communal violence, shortage of food, unemployment and a large flow of refugees in the wake of the creation of East Pakistan. Roy brought unity and discipline among the party ranks. He then systematically and calmly began to work on the immense task in front of him. Within three years law and order were returned to Bengal without compromising the dignity and status of his administration. One of his famous Quotes as Chief Minister of Bengal: We have the ability and if, with faith in our future, we exert ourselves with determination, nothing, I am sure, no obstacles, however formidable or insurmountable they may appear at present, can stop our progress... (if we) all work unitedly, keeping our vision clear and with a firm grasp of our problems. The government of India decorated Dr. BC Roy with Bharat Ratna on 4 February 1961 for his immense contribution to the nation.

Death: On 1 July 1962, his 80th birthday, after treating his morning patients and discharging affairs of the State, he took a copy of the "Brahmo Geet" and sang a piece from it. 11 hours later Roy died. After he died, his house was converted into a nursing home named after his mother, Aghorkamini Devi. He had also constituted a trust for his properties at Patna to carry out social service, with eminent nationalist Ganga Sharan Singh (Sinha) being its first trustee The B.C. Roy National Award was instituted in 1962 in Roy's memory and has been awarded annually since 1976. The award recognizes excellent contributions in the areas of medicine, politics, science, philosophy, literature and arts. The Dr. B.C. Roy Memorial Library and Reading Room for Children in the Children's Book Trust, New Delhi, was opened in 1967. Today, his private papers are part of the Archives at the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, at Teen Murti House, Delhi

Column Writer

Prof Dr Vivek Gupta, MD,DM,FACC,FESC,FSCAI,FAPSIC,FEAPCI,FIEIC,FCSI,FICC,FIC (France)
Senior Interventional Cardiologist, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi and Chairman Indo European Course on Revascularization (IECR), Chairman Indo European and American Conclaves

Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, the billionaire realtor and industrialist, and Chairman Emeritus of the venerable Shapoorji Pallonji Group, passed away at his home here late last night, official sources said here on Tuesday.

He was 93 and is survived by his sons Shapoorji and Cyrus P. Mistry -- latter who was in the limelight for the huge corporate tussle with the Tata Group a few years ago, and two daughters, Laila and Aloo -- the latter wedded to Noel Tata, half-brother of Ratan Tata.

The Shapoorji Pallonji Group is renowned in the realty and engineering sectors and constructed several landmark buildings like the RBI headquarters, SBI, HSBC, Grindlay Bank, Hongkong & Shanghai Bank and others in south Mumbai, besides other major infrastructure projects.

The Group had also produced the iconic Hindi film, K. Asif's 'Mughal-E-Azam' (1960), then the most expensive one and till date it reigns among the top popular movies of Bollywood.

The verdict in the bypolls to the two Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh -- Azamgarh and Rampur -- is no doubt out, but the results actually throw a surprise in the performance of BSP's Guddu Jamali, who could be termed as a striking 'winner or killer'.

Shah Alam a.k.a. Guddu Jamali, the BSP candidate in Azamgarh, walked away with 2.66 lakh votes, ensuring the defeat of SP candidate Dharmendra Yadav who got 3.04 lakh votes.

The BJP emerged the winner with Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua getting 3.12 lakh votes.

Clearly, Jamali's vote share ensured SP's defeat and also proved that he is the biggest vote puller when it comes to the Muslim votes in Azamgarh.

The Jamali factor is now being cited as an example of SP president Akhilesh Yadav's political short-sightedness and lack of vision.

If sources are to be believed, Jamali was 'insulted' by Akhilesh earlier this year during the Assembly elections.

After quitting the BSP in November last year, Guddu Jamali had met Akhilesh Yadav who reportedly promised that he would be given a ticket for Azamgarh in the Assembly polls.

A Samajwadi Party leader said on Monday, "Thereafter, Guddu Jamali tried several times to meet Akhilesh Yadav, but was not given an appointment. An upset Jamali joined AIMIM in a huff and contested the Assembly polls on AIMIM ticket. He got over 36,000 votes from the Mubarak Assembly constituency."

BSP president Mayawati made the rare gesture of calling back Guddu Jamali and offered him the ticket form Azamgarh for the by-elections.

Mayawati's intention was clearly to defeat the SP and regain lost ground among Muslims, which she has done and Jamali worked overtime to avenge the humiliation that he had faced because of Akhilesh.

Guddu Jamali, despite ranking at the third position, can be termed as a 'winner' of these by-elections.

He is now being seen as one of the most popular Muslim leaders in the state.

If sources are to be believed, other opposition parties are already trying to keep an eye on Guddu Jamali and win him over to their side for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

"Any party that manages to get Jamali to its side, can be assured of one seat in the next general election. His popularity is at an all-time high," said a political analyst.

Guddu Jamali has obtained an MBA degree from New Port University of California and happens to be one of the richest candidates in the state.

According to the details given in the affidavit submitted for nomination, Shah Alam has movable and immovable assets worth Rs 162 crore. While his wife Shaheen's movable and immovable assets worth Rs 31 crore.

In the age of knowledge ushered in by the IT revolution, success in business is mandated on the corporate entity being well-informed about the environ around and committed to knowledge-based decision making -- the latter being the new hallmark of leadership, different from the past in as much as no one could claim any more to be a leader mainly on the strength of 'inheritance' or personal 'charisma'.

The Covid disaster disrupted not only the flow of relevant information from outside needed by businesses, but also the internal processes of communication and evaluation of where did the organisation and its manpower stand in the scheme of things.

In the new age, 'competitiveness' has acquired a global dimension because the use of information or data could enable a 'smart' player to score over a bigger rival in a 'borderless' market -- this challenger could be operating out of any place on the globe.

Corporate houses, therefore, are investing a great deal on establishing a system that would guarantee access to information about the external factors impacting business -- such as political environ and the contours of policy making by the government, law and order management, state of economy, including the quantum of 'demand', socio-cultural preferences and discordance, if any, and technological advancement existing in the identified geography.

A basic principle of information gathering is to take stock of what is already known within the organisation, before proceeding to tap the external sources for any specific requirement.

Internally available information -- it was realised -- is a resource not to be missed out. 'No one knows everything but everybody knows some thing' -- this is a corollary of the age of knowledge, and the corporates rightly realised the importance of tapping the 'tacit' knowledge all employees carry with them that did not become available for the cause of the organisation only because the latter did not build a system of garnering it.

The term Business Intelligence is now being used for a wide variety of information gathering arrangements -- perhaps without an adequate understanding of the difference that exists between the words 'Information' and 'Intelligence'.

Information can be defined as any 'intelligible fact or data that tells you something you did not already know' -- this clearly grades people on the scale of being well-informed since in a specific context someone would be 'better informed' than the other and thus would have a competitive edge.

Intelligence is by definition information that tells you 'what lies ahead. It is thus clear that all intelligence is information but all information is not intelligence. Between two 'peak performers' who have the same knowledge of the past and a matching capability of handling all matters in the present, the only thing that would put one ahead of the other is intelligence or insight into the future.

What lies ahead is either a set of 'opportunities' or a cluster of 'risks' and both of these are crucial for business advancement. Intelligence is also described as 'information for action' and clearly no business organisation would sit on the information of intelligence value that gives a clue about an attractive option of profitable growth or an impending danger on the horizon.

In the new age we live in, instant communication and borderless sharing of information have made prompt 'action' a prerequisite for success and made 'time' a new resource adding on to the earlier three -- 'finances', 'man power' and exclusively owned 'information'.

The prolonged Covid crisis that created the hybrid work environment made human resource management far more challenging and added to the difficulties of tracking demand, supply chain and level of productivity.

The function of Business Intelligence (BI) faces difficult tasks of building the information base, setting new parameters for data analytics and helping the process of reviewing the business plans.

Covid no doubt acted as an equaliser for businesses -- big and small -- but it certainly put a premium on corporates that had already adopted technology for globalised operations while at the same time it made manufacturing business a far more tedious proposition.

A lot of technology-based systems of internal management, performance evaluation and human resource deployment are already in operation, but in the Covid environment the real challenge facing Business Intelligence is updating and consolidating data and carrying out a meaningful analysis of the same in order to help maximisation of business performance.

The problem of data analytics in Covid times entailed tapping of new information sources like social media, digital platforms and electronic news channels -- in a situation of diminishing 'direct' human outreach.

Information obtained through direct human interaction yielded intelligence that was basic to business studies carried out earlier.

Business Intelligence output has now become more of a test of competent analysis that would provide an 'insight' into the future -- earlier BI was mostly engaged in the collation of raw data to identify business trends in general.

The Business Intelligence unit today must grasp the significance of Albert Einstein's famous saying that "Imagination is more important than knowledge".

Only a human mind has the ability to look beyond what the available facts or data mean in the present to read into what could happen in the period ahead. A standing example in this context is the 9/11 Commission report that faulted CIA for not showing enough imagination in handling the available information to the effect that some suspects taking training in a flying club on the US soil were interested only in learning how to take off but not in the technique of 'landing'.

The use of the human trait of 'imagination' has a bearing on the rising expectations from Artificial Intelligence(AI) or Machine Learning as the tools for Business Intelligence.

AI no doubt multiplies the capacity of the organisation to analyse data from newer angles and derive benefits from that in such areas as the handling of human resources, maintaining productivity and what is extremely important in Covid environment, identifying the points of 'course correction' for quick action.

Business Intelligence, however, will always be a cross between technology application and interpretation of social conduct of the people in a given environment -- that the latter would always be a function of the human mind should never be forgotten. The fundamental point to remember is that both 'business' and 'intelligence' are all about human activity.

The word intelligence has traditionally been associated with the domain of national security, but in today's world, the importance of intelligence extends to all business and professional enterprises whose success in gaining an edge over their competitors depends on their ability to discern the 'roadblocks' and 'breakthroughs' of the future and act on the intelligence that is made available to that effect.

The need to know and know quickly is the key factor today for undertaking any purposeful initiatives since Covid has created uncertainties and a lack of stability in every sphere of business.

There has to be a process of decision-making that fits in a rolling business plan catering to a changing scenario. Earlier, a vast amount of information was available in the public domain by way of publications, online databases, media, conferences and findings of think tanks.

Major corporates across the world established an intelligence division often in the name of planning cells or research units to churn out 'insights' through a comprehensive analysis of the open-source information.

In a situation where human outreach is curtailed, any in-person interaction or online feedback has become more valuable since information garnered from that can be presumed to be the proverbial tip of the iceberg indicating a larger phenomenon.

Analysis will have to be nuanced and imaginative and not rigid about the parameters applied in earlier normal times. Merits of good analysis -- using only reliable data, keeping it free of personal bias and not tweaking the readings to please the 'masters' -- will, however, always hold.

A lasting impact of Covid hardships on business is that it has made progress of an enterprise more dependent on customer's real satisfaction with the product or service quality, reduced the scope of making quick profits through less than honourable means and enhanced the concept that the individual is at the centre of all productivity even in these times of supremacy of technology.

It is the technological base on which home delivery businesses like Amazon have flourished, but they have also enlarged their human employment, dispelling apprehensions that technology, including its emerging component of AI, would lead to unemployment.

Covid has speeded up the movement of socio-economic life towards a new normal and this is an 'evolutionary' shift that would come to stay. The importance of upskilling, reskilling and multi-tasking will be realised, flexibility in the workplace without detriment to productivity will intrinsically promote work-life balance and the cause of a harmonious technology-social equation will be buttressed. BI has to cope with these transformative factors.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) led to the generation of a huge amount of data ushering in the importance of data analytics that could see the 'invisible' components in the data not clear to humans themselves.

This would certainly continue to help the organisation but Business Intelligence has to go beyond that to correlate technology with society's responses to identify any new directions of business operations.

In the Covid times, this became doubly important. Analysis of data for the sake of analysis is an empty exercise beyond a point -- businesses need applied intelligence all the time -- and the corporate leadership therefore must have an ongoing evaluation of the Business Intelligence function in the enterprise.

A directionless BI can neither set the course for a future strategy nor can it work for internal reforms like optimal use of manpower, changed yardsticks of performance measure and cost-effectiveness of operations. Setting the goals for BI and owning its deductions is what a successful business organisation must do to keep up its competitive advantage.

(The writer is a former Director of the Intelligence Bureau. The views expressed are personal)