The agitation has grown manifold; the Govt and farmers must resume talks to end the stalemate
The ‘Bharat Bandh’ on Monday led to hue and cry in various parts of the country as the farmers called for a nationwide strike against the three contentious farm laws passed just about a year ago. Farm leader Rakesh Tikait claimed that it was a success. He said it was okay if the public experienced a “little inconvenience”, let one day be in solidarity with farmers who have been experiencing troubles for the last 10 month which looks good on paper. The farmers’ movement has received international attention and Monday’s protest, too, was covered by international media. It worked as a deterrent on the Government’s image-building drive. Tikait had also tweeted to US President Joe Biden, urging him to “focus” on the farm laws ahead of PM Modi’s US visit. The farmer unions had previously staged a high scale Mahapanchayat early in September when thousands of pro-farmers charged towards Karnal’s Mini Secretariat to stage a gherao which unsettled the BJP Government. Tikait is scheduled to address another Kisan Mahapanchayat in Chhattisgarh’s Gariaband district on Tuesday. But the question remains whether the more antagonistic approach with protests like the Mahapanchayat and now the ‘Bharat Bandh’ would actually work in favour of repealing the farm laws or would they make matters worse?
The UP Government had on Sunday announced an increase in sugarcane’s State Advised Price (SAP) by `25 per quintal for all the three varieties of the crop to woo farmers in view of the Assembly polls due next year. However, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s bid was not received well as Tikait called the hike a “big joke on farmers”. The Assembly polls in multiple States are scheduled for 2022 and the farmer outfits seek to build pressure on the Centre. The BJP Government has more on Stake and now that the Prime Minister has returned from the US after attending strategically important meetings, a “small” dialogue with farmers can follow for the sake of peace in the country. The Centre also must realise that simply changing the CMs won’t do. The Opposition parties, willingly or unwillingly, are likely to fuel the ‘movement’ at least until next year’s polls. The need to address the contentious farm laws issue is a critical one which has grown from a ‘bandh’ in Punjab in September last year to a near-total ‘Bharat Bandh’ on Monday.
(Courtesy: The Pioneer)
The scare of the third wave may not be pressing but the need for precautions does not wane
The debate in India is slowly but surely shifting from the next wave to the no wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether it is empty rhetoric or for real, the country is certainly in a mood to break the shackles of lockdown but with safety precautions still in place. The faster pace of vaccination has much to do with the buoyed spirit as also the consistently reducing number of fresh cases in States, save a few. There is palpable relief as people are finally in full pursuit of economic activity. Only the educational institutions have not fully re-opened across the country. Children under 18 are yet to get vaccinated and there is worry about infection stalking them outside their homes. Schools are now offline in some States, but attendance is quite low in private schools. The people and the authorities are gearing up for the festival season that begins next month: The people to shop and enjoy, the authorities to prevent the season from turning into a super spreader. A serosurvey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research in Odisha between August 29 and September 15 showed that at least 73 per cent of the State’s population and over 93 per cent of health workers have developed antibodies against the virus. Also, no marked difference was found in post-vaccination seroprevalence in rural and urban areas and no difference in antibodies in men and women.
The results are encouraging. Given the massive vaccination exercise, the presence of antibodies, and the absence of new variants or mutations of the virus, scientists are willing to stick their necks out to say that the next wave may not be national but will be made up of local waves. Their logic is that the majority of the Indian population may by now have protection through vaccination or natural infection and that the presence of new cases indicates sustained transmission at the district or State levels which are witnessing local waves. If so, the challenge before the Union and State Governments is that much more. They claim to have the infrastructure ready to deal with a new wave. Simultaneously, they will have to prepare for a post-pandemic situation. The vaccination process has to be completed. The vaccination of children has to begin. The question of a booster dose for the infirm and people with comorbidities has to be settled. Serosurveys have to be conducted at timed intervals. Fresh testing must continue to identify the presence of new variants. As of now, the WHO has two variants of interest — Mu and C.1.2. The former, first identified in Colombia, has the potential to evade antibodies. Even if a new wave does not strike, India will have to throw itself into the global race to develop a new generation of vaccines that fully blocks transmission. That is the only way to affect a closure to the saga of this virus.
(Courtesy: The Pioneer)
Unlike the banking giants, the cooperative movement has been a success in India. They have been sturdily playing a seminal role
Along with the recent Cabinet expansion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has introduced a Ministry of Cooperation. Earlier, on a visit to Amul Dairy at Anand, he had called this the third way; the Prime Minister probably meant limited corporations, partnerships/proprietorships and now also cooperatives.
Why are cooperatives, or cooperative institutions, important? One, they enable the direct participation of people in entrepreneurial activity. Two, the trust of the beneficiaries. The cooperative movement commands trust even in the developed West. An International Labour Organisation (ILO) report says that during the 2008 global financial crisis, cooperative banks reported only seven per cent of the total losses and write-offs in the Western banks. In contrast, banking giants like the Lehmann Brothers suffered huge meltdowns. Cooperative banks form 20 per cent of Europe’s banking system. More than 60 per cent Americans trust the country’s credit union banks, as compared to commercial ones.
The Cooperative Society Act was enacted in 1912. The Anand Milk Union Limited, which today is a global Indian brand by the name of Amul, was started in 1946, under the direction of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Cooperative societies are working from New Zealand in the east to the US in the west.
But it is in India they have a seminal role to play. Let us take the saga of Amul, the country’s best known and most successful cooperative institution. Under Sardar Patel’s initiative, dairy farmers of the then Kheda district of Gujarat organised themselves to form a dairy cooperative in order to directly undertake sale and processing of milk collected from member dairy farmers of the district.
Amul has made a world of difference, to not only India’s dairy farming, but also the country’s socioeconomic life. Figures tell this story like nothing else. During the two decades between 1950 and 1970, milk production grew by a bare one per cent annually; per capita availability of milk actually decided by an equivalent percentage in the same period. Various State Governments in the decade of the 1960s tried different strategies to develop dairying, including establishing dairies run by their own departments. Cattle colonies were set up to enhance milk production, but were concentrated in urban areas and not in the milk sheds or cattle grazing zones.
It was Operation Flood implemented by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), which revolutionised dairy development in India. Beginning in 1970, the NDDB replicated Amul’s successful model. Here, individual farmers are joined in village-level dairy cooperative societies (DCS), which in turn are joined in State-level marketing federations. The Amul pattern in each state has decentralised milk production by small milk producers, milk procurement by village-level dairy cooperative societies, centralized milk production by district-level unions and marketing of milk and milk products by the State federations.
Primary milk producers govern this entire federal cooperative structure to ensure that the higher tier organizations cater to the lower tiers and the gains at all levels flow back to the milk producers in significant measure. The Anand model enabled Operation Flood, making India the world’s largest producer of milk at more than 100 million tonnes annually, valued at `900 billion per year.
Milk today reaches more than 750 towns and cities of the country through the National Milk Grid Network. The number of women’s cooperatives has grown significantly. The cooperative model has empowered them in ways that were inconceivable decades ago. Women dairy cooperatives, with further branching out into animal husbandry, are another success story of this movement.
The cooperative movement has seen one of its great successes in Maharashtra and Karnataka, particularly the former. In Maharashtra, the cooperative movement has been embraced by the States’ rural and urban folk alike.
It has also spawned across-the-board success in the production of sugar and in the banking sector. In rural Maharashtra, it is cooperative banks that hold the sway and are the preferred banking institutions to deposit money. The cooperative movement in this State has also morphed into the political sphere. The sugar cooperatives in the State have become the prima donna of political influence and power.
One cannot also deny that many cooperative banks have floundered or are struggling. This is because they have shied away from professionalising their management. Instead, many have opted for what is sometimes derisively referred to as the “Lalu model of management”. In other words, family members or cronies have been appointed in the top decision making posts. But this does not diminish the importance of the cooperative movement.
But to come back to the third way; namely, the cooperative approach can enable a farmer of even a couple of hectares of land-holding, or his urban counterpart, to be a partner in entrepreneurship. The apex cooperative and its management need to be honest as well as imaginative. Depending on the product, it can be a manufacturing or a marketing exercise, while the cooperatives at the field level would supply the input, like milk in the case of Amul. It is a marvellous idea for a country with a large population and comparatively little land. The proprietorship/partnership model is the second way for the middle rung of entrepreneurs, while the first way is of the limited company model.
(This is part of an ongoing series on India making multi-dimensional advancement across States and nations).
(The writer is a well-known columnist, an author and a former member of the Rajya Sabha. The views expressed are personal.)
(Courtesy: The Pioneer)
The overall political, security and economic situation appear to be deteriorating in Pakistan day by day. Pakistani vernacular media gives a clear perspective on the prevailing trend and also brings out the pathetic state of affairs in various provinces as far as callousness on the part of the government is concerned.
One hardly comes across any positive news or developments that could enhance the mood of the people in Pakistan. Most papers over the last few days have reported vandalising the statue of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in a hand grenade attack by miscreants at Marine Drive in Gwadar.
The statue collapsed as a result of the attack and the Baloch Republican Army apparently claimed responsibility for the attack.
Meanwhile, according to the 'Express Daily' tribal and political leaders in Balochistan held a meeting to deride the government for lack of focus and attention on the province.
They mentioned that the province was being deprived of all basic amenities and was being treated in a "step-motherly way". Extremely poor infrastructure, shortage of water and electricity has brought down business and trade to the lowest level. They demanded action by the government to reverse the situation or else people's angst would show up in the form of large-scale protests.
Pakistan has also been marred by mass-scale corruption including in sensitive security related sectors. The daily Islam reported on September 27 that members of the Senate Committee on Interior released a report on the issuance of 'fake' identity cards to terrorists and defunct organisations besides foreigners in Sindh.
The Federal Investigating Agency (FIA) mentioned that as per the report, several Afghan nationals have been arrested carrying ID cards issued by NADRA (Karachi). The FIA indicated that more than 50 percent of the NADRA staff were involved in corruption. Significantly, the report claims that Al Qaeda member Abdullah Barooch had received ID cards from NADRA more than twice. The FIA claimed that in one case an identity card was provided to an Indian national.
The report goes on to mention that in Karachi, there is a large number of people who have been issued ID cards. In the backdrop of these developments, Chairman NADRA claimed that a serious investigation has been launched on the fake ID issue and 12 officers of NADRA have been arrested and several suspended.
The Sindh Express of September 27 reported that Jalal Mahmmod Shah, a Sindh nationalist leader and Convener of the Sind Action Committee, who has been protesting against illegal detentions in the province, claimed that only the hunger strike part of the protest was over, but the stir would continue.
He was protesting against the arrest of certain activists of Sindh Action Committee who were detained under false charges against them. Shah also mentioned that the Supreme Court should take note of land grabbing of Sindh plots/lands and other resources in the name of mega projects and then reselling the same land to make a profit.
He mentioned that Sindh Action Committee will hold a hunger strike on October 1 and 2 in Hyderabad and carry out protests across Sindh on October 10.
Hunger strikes, security lapses, terror attacks, kidnappings by state apparatus etc form the news pattern virtually on a daily basis. With Pakistan claiming to be pursuing a strict rule of law mechanism when it comes to national security and dealing with terror entities, it comes as a surprise that the Karachi NADRA office has been issuing ID cards to people all across including Al Qaeda leaders.
With the situation being fluid in neighbouring Afghanistan one cannot rule out the possibility of a large number of members of various terror entities having acquired Pakistani ID in the last few months. Pakistan support to Taliban, formation of Taliban government with ISI support is likely to prove disastrous for the nation in the coming few years,
Public Interest Litigations have ensured against derailment of the rule of law and benefited the socially vulnerable sections
Efficient implementation of law is a pre-requisite for a stable and peaceful society and democracy is the torch bearer for a vibrant people-centric governance. The democratic fabric of a nation compliments the jurisprudence in ensuring the lawful governance. Over the years judicial activism through the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has ensured that the derailment of the rule of law is prevented and the socially vulnerable sections of the society have immensely benefited.
The PIL concept was introduced by Justice PN Bhagwati. It refers to litigation undertaken to secure public interest and created an opportunity of justice to socially-disadvantaged groups and provided relaxation on the traditional rule of locus standi. Ever since its enunciation in 1980s, the judiciary has used it for the course correction of executive's functions and several landmark judgements have provided reliefs to affected citizens.
However, in India of late a serious problem of misuse of law is cropping up and threatening the jurisprudence. This writer has been a witness to such misuse of law both by the common citizens as well as people in power. He has recently written a book "Quest for Civility-an insight into Indian Babudom" on the misuse of power by people in authority.
The trigger for this article came from a newspaper report about challenging the appointment of Rakesh Asthana as the Delhi Police Commissioner under a PIL filed by a few non- government organizations opposed to the present dispensation at the Centre. Asthana has challenged it as misuse of law.
Now let us discuss it how his appointment was made and under what rule. The AllIndia Service officers IAS, IPS and IFS (forests) are recruited by the Union Government and it is up to the sweet will of the government to utilize them anywhere in the country or abroad in public interest. They can be granted extension in service or transferred from one cadre to the other if need be, depending upon their service records and the opinion of the government. Such action of the Central is absolutely within its power and cannot be challenged. The government will have its reasons for the appointment. Some officers may have their reasons to be disappointed with the decision. If affected officers had gone to the Central Administrative Tribunal it would have been justified and the case could have been decided on merit. However, how could an unaffected party challenge the power of the government? If the country allows such wastage of time on things based purely on ulterior motives or at the instigation of political leaders to regularly bring such matters in courts it would put the entire country's administration as well as security to peril.
There are many other instances of misuse of powers, however, which need the attention of Supreme Court, High Courts and lower courts as well as legislatures. Crimes against women are attracting the attention of the judiciary with stringent provisions but surveys had shown that most of the provisions of section 354 of IPC and the Dowry Prevention Law (Section 498A/ 406 of IPC) are the most misused provisions of law in India and yet no modifications seem to have been made in it. The provision, enacted to protect the dignity of a woman, has become a widely misused weapon by them and is used to harass and blackmail their husband and his family. Once an FIR is filed under 498A/406 (IPC) it becomes a tool in the hands of the police to harass the husband and all his relatives named in the FIR without even preliminary investigation.
According to a survey conducted by Fight against Misuse of Dowry law, 98 per cent of the cases filed under section 498A are false. One senior officer of Ladakh is facing a false dowry case and his father, a retired senior officer of 71 years, is running from pillar to post. Similarly, section 354 is routinely used to harass men deliberately to settle property and other disputes. More than half of such cases ultimately prove false and no real punitive action is taken against the complainant.
The country needs to bring in a law to prevent misuse of law. If a case is dismissed, the complainant and others involved in the investigation and tendering of false witnesses must be punished. Only then the country's judiciary as well as the police and other agencies would be spared such wastage of time and at the same time the law protecting citizens would be implemented well.
(The writer is Chairman of Centre for Resource Management and Environment. The views expressed are personal.)
(Courtesy: The Pioneer)
India has a range of bilateral discussions lined up on current issues of interest
The United States is hosting the first in-person summit of QUAD leaders in Washington and perhaps beginning of a new era of cooperation on what the White House termed as “demonstration of the priority of engaging in the Indo-Pacific, including through new multilateral configurations designed to focus on 21st century challenges”. The centrality is the realigning of the partners' foreign policiesto Indo-Pacific coordination on shared targets. This roughly translates into keeping a sharp eye on Chinawhich is trying to defy international legal orders; therefore, a global consensus on the South China Sea is emerging. India's focus during the QUAD summit will be tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and future cooperation, climate change issues,and an open Indo-Pacific region that allows equal and fair access for nations to prosper. During the first, virtual meeting of the QUAD leaders in March, 2021, a commitment of one billion vaccines by 2022 was made. The leaders may also talk about additional relief and assistance measures for poor countries as a goodwill gesture. On the QUAD sidelines, a working group of senior representatives from member countries will focus on cyber security,secure supply chains infrastructure,and work towards finding a common language on emerging technologies including artificial intelligence. The global pandemic has ensured all digital economies around the globe, not to mention the QUAD members, need to find a common thread on defining paradigms for next-generation technology growth and collateral threats. The world industry facing acute shortage of semiconductor chips and other critical digital hardware components understand the importance of working with reliable trusted partners. United States, Australia, Japan and India are critical levers of the huge digital engine driving this technology towards a prosperity dream. One of the best outcomes from the QUAD summit could be for the leaders to come out with a paper on destinations and targets for this digital highway. This in itself could be one the key success stories for QUAD.
The last aspect on which most of the countries from the quadrilateral can make announcements would be on securing clean targets and achieving goals on climate change. The US envoy on climate John Kerry's visitto India a few days back was a firm commitment towards achieving time bound targets. The US offered assistanceto India for quickly reaching its renewable energy targets of 450 GW by 2030. Currently India's environment and climate change portfolio is held by ruling party heavy weight Bhupendra Yadav, who enjoysthe blessings of the senior leadership. The only challenge for India on this green path could be about assuming more green responsibilities at international forums while trying to attract investments. That is where the will of the domestic government and the organizational skills of the current minister will come for test. Finally on the sidelines of QUAD, Prime Minister Modi and his external affairs minister will hold a whole range of bilateral talks on current issues of interest. The India-US discussions and theoutcome notes would the most watched as this would be first in-person meeting between the President of the US and the Indian Prime Minister. Narendra Modi shared a visible sense of bonhomie with Joe Biden's predecessor Donald Trump. The same optics may not be repeated but Biden is unlikely to disappoint his counterpart. Afghanistan's safety, security and upholding of human rights in central Asia would definitely feature as key topics during the bilateral. The hurried exit of the US from Afghanistan has placed many fringe players such as India in a spot in the Central Asian theatre. Every major player in the region including China, Russia and Iranis trying to recalibrate its position with regard to Afghanistan.
(The writer is a policy analyst. The views expressed are personal.)
(Courtesy: The Pioneer)
The NCAER recently undertook a study on cooperative agro-processing and identification of institutional financial lacunae in the cooperative movement
The cooperative movement in India has regained focus after the Union Government recently created a Ministry of Cooperation to provide a separate administrative legal and policy framework for streamlining the cooperatives. The move is expected to cascade the movement down to the grassroots level for facilitating the growth of a people-based economic development model. It envisages an environment that would enable 'sahkar se samriddhi' (prosperity through cooperation) and promote 'ease of doing business' for cooperatives through various proactive measures, including the development of Multi-State Cooperatives (MSCs).
The genesis of the current movement can be traced to the enactment of the Cooperative Credit Societies Act by the British in 1904. Subsequently, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru gave it a fillip by integrating cooperatives into the Five-Year Plans. His vision of “convulsing India with the cooperative movement…to make it, broadly speaking, the basic activity of India, in every village as well as elsewhere, indeed to make the cooperative approach the common thinking of India” was a precursor for the establishment of cooperative societies especially in rural India, thus laying the foundation for the largest cooperative movement in the world.
The institution of cooperative marketing societies by the National Development Council (NDC), coupled with the passage of the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act by the Parliament in 1984 enhanced the importance of the movement. By definition, therefore, cooperative societies were envisioned as a combined agglomerate of persons voluntarily coming together to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.
It was anticipated that the cooperative movement would largely be concentrated in the agricultural sector, playing a significant role across operations spanning production, distribution, and consumption. Two of the most conspicuous success stories emerging from the implementation of this model were the White Revolutionand the Green Revolution. As per data from the National Dairy Development Board, in 2019-20, dairy cooperatives had procured 4.80 crore litres of milk from 1.7 crore members,while selling 3.7 crore litres of liquid milk per day. Farm sector experts point out that cooperatives have also positively impacted post-harvest processing, storage, transportation, trade, and input procurement for a range of activities in the agricultural sector.
The movement has reportedly fostered 5.03 lakh cooperatives, a membership of 210 million, and a network stretching through the entire breadth of rural India, while accounting for 46.31 per cent of the total agricultural creditand 23.5 per cent of the total fertiliser production across the country. These milestones have been achieved through the institution of 21 national-level, 361 State-level, and 2,572 district-level cooperative federations in the country. Hence, every sphere of national and local economic activity has literally been brought under the ambit of the cooperative movement.
But is the picture as rosy as these statistics apparently indicate? Rumblings of discontent among farmers, in particular, and the farm sector, in general, suggest that the contribution of cooperatives to actual growth in the agricultural sector is significantly lower than expectations. Despite the need for substantial investments in the form of plant, machinery, tools, and equipment in farming, the outcomes reflect low capital and low productivity linkages, along with the need for augmenting an under-performing marketing infrastructure.
In order to identify the ground-level roadblocks and suggest measures to overcome them, the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) recently undertook a study on cooperative agro-processing and identification of institutional financial lacunae in the cooperative movement with special attention on the role of the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). The NCAER study, covering 304 cooperative units in Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, and West Bengal, found that marginal and small farmers sell a major part of their agricultural commodities to private traders, which prevents them from reaping the profits of their produce even during a bumper harvest. Their small quantity transactions translate into meagre cooperative shares and weak bargaining power in the market. Lack of adequate storage facilities also compromises the processing of paddy, grains, and fruits and vegetables, which, in turn, adversely impacts the shelf life of products and compromises employment outcomes. Further, the study showed a decadal decline in the share of agro-processing in the total value of the manufacturing output from 32.31 per cent in 2000-2001 to 22.9 per cent in 2011-12.
The NCAER estimations, based on analysis of the 70th Round unit-level data from the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), also highlight the need for providing cooperative support for marketing penetration and storage to smallholders, who constituted 86 per cent of the total share of landholdings in 2015-16, according to the Tenth Agricultural Census. In this context, NCDC, which has been at the forefront of the cooperative movement in the country, can offer pivotal support to the agriculture sector through the development of sustainable supply chains linking farmers to processing centres and markets. Critical funding from NCDC towards cooperative sector schemes comprising fisheries, dairy and livestock, water conservation, micro irrigation, agricultural insurance and credit, among others, constitutedover 49 per cent of the cumulative lending for the period 2008-13. Yet the corporation is not being offered concessional finance under priority sector lending. Compelled to source its funds from the market, NCDC faces constraints in offering loans to cooperatives at competitive rates, which has a deterrent impact on post-harvest agricultural activities.
An assessment of the capacity utilisation of the surveyed units revealed that nearly 34 per cent of them were under-utilising their capacities in the range of 25 to 75 per cent, due to various reasons, such as inadequate supply of products for processing, shortage of skilled manpower, funds crunch, lack of demand, and non-availability of advanced machinery. In addition, most States exhibit poor urban and rural representation of self-help groups and cooperatives in the sphere of foodgrain disbursal under the Public Distribution System (PDS) through the network of Fair Price Shops (FPS). Notwithstanding the policy for issuance of FPS licences to women's self-help groups, village panchayats, urban local bodies, and cooperatives, the combined percentage of their FPS presence in India is merely about 26 per cent, with the rest going to private individual ownership.
It is obvious that despite its monumental potential, the cooperative model in the country is facing numerous policy hurdles. Since the administration of cooperatives has traditionally fallen under the purview of the respective State governments, the establishment of a Central Ministry to oversee their functioning may also have certain political repercussions and revive the national debate on collaborative federalism. The immediate priority before the new Ministry, therefore, is to revamp the nation-wide cooperative strategy to ensure access to cost-effective institutional sources of credit, capital equipment, and state-of-the-art technology for producers, especially in agriculture. Another vital mandate for it would be fulfilment of the fundamental objective of cooperativesof lifting the illiterate and unskilled workers out of poverty by providing them comprehensive infrastructural and marketing support for livelihood. There is no denying the fact that cooperatives have always signified viable solutions even in a failing market. It remains to be seen if the renewed political and economic focus on cooperatives can actually metamorphose into a truly people-based movement at the grassroots level, to usher in prosperity through people's participation.
(Saurabh Bandyopadhyay is Fellow and Anupma Mehta is Editor at NCAER. The views expressed are personal.)
(Courtesy: The Pioneer)
The SC insists that females be given the chance in Nov itself to take the NDA entrance exam
The National Defence Academy (NDA), the cradle for grooming boys to become officers in the three Services since 1954, will for the first time welcome women cadets. The Supreme Court has prodded the Government to allow female candidates to appear for the NDA exam in November this year. The Government had told the apex court that women can take the examination in May next year. However, the court, saying women’s hopes cannot be belied, ordered that they be allowed to take the test in November. Determined to have gender parity, the only tri-Services training institute in the world, the NDA, was engaged in creating suitable infrastructure for women cadets since early this year. While there is no issue with academic curriculum, the authorities are taking meticulous care in finalising the outdoor training and physical fitness parameters for the females. Physical training includes basic combat drills besides endurance, so far customised for only male cadets. Then there is the issue of fixing standards for physical and medical criteria for females. The male candidates who clear the written exam and interview have to pass the medical test to become eligible for joining the NDA. The test also comprises specified weight and height.
Aiming to induct women cadets in a short time, the NDA is working overtime to fix these standards regarding outdoor training and medical exam. The effort is to ensure that training standards remain top class while formulating parameters for them. The Government had submitted in the apex court that any dilution of physical training and service subjects of firing, endurance, field craft and living off the land for women cadets would impact the battle worthiness of the armed forces. The three Services chiefs had visited the NDA in August to review the infra creation progress. With changing times, female officers are serving with distinction in various wings of the IAF, Navy and Army. In fact, at least four women IAF officers are currently undergoing the final stage of their fighter jet flying training. Similarly, women officers are flying helicopters and transport planes. The Navy has also allowed women to serve on warships when they are seaward-bound. It means they will sail like their male colleagues for months together. Of course, the Navy has created suitable living bunks and other related infrastructure on the warships.
(Courtesy: The Pioneer)
WHO’s revised air quality levels are in tune with the times. India must implement these quickly
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has revised air quality levels for six pollutants, including the particulate matter (PM). Coming after 2005, they cut down the existing acceptable threshold limits by half, prodding countries like India to improve their air quality without losing time. Pollution in Indian cities is far above even the existing limits at present. The new rules render the situation worse. Of particular interest are the PM guidelines. The average PM 2.5 (respirable pollution particles) concentration cannot be higher than five micrograms per cubic metre. However, the existing level is 10. For PM10, the threshold is brought down from 20 to 15. The world organisation said the revision was necessary as pollution is growing in developing countries engaged in large-scale urbanisation and economic development. The guidelines are welcome and need to be implemented. Recent studies show air pollution is reducing life expectancy in Indian cities by six to 10 years. It is time for India to implement big-ticket anti-pollution reforms. A national pollution survey is called for, to assess the meteorological and geographical changes impacting polluting levels. In cities situated in valleys, emissions tend to stay longer, adding to pollution problems. In cities like Delhi with flat terrains, the meteorology impacts in dispersing air pollution. Studies of air movement over urban areas help authorities know about pollution patterns necessary for anti-pollution planning. In the time since 2005, Delhi, for example, grew from being a city to the National Capital Region of Delhi, covering an area of over 55,000 square km.
Townships, satellite centres and industrial zones have come up with IT and industrial clusters. The population and number of vehicles have grown several times. Adding to the city’s pollution is the new element of trans-boundary pollution with emissions originating outside the city by way of traffic from Gurgaon and Noida. Industries in the northeast and northwest sectors contribute to the problem. The expansion of Delhi has increased demand for energy from domestic, industrial and transport sectors. Air pollution emissions naturally increased along with those of sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. Over one-third of Delhi suffers from respiratory problems. The last time was 1998 when Delhi implemented low-emission reforms. The public transport vehicles switched to CNG and that alone made a difference. Hundreds of heavy industries were either shut down or relocated, their energy systems upgraded. India’s national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), revised last in 2009, are up for another revision in 2022. The study being conducted for updating the standards should take into account the latest WHO thresholds. Common sense measures are also called for. Vote bank politics cannot encourage stubble burning by farmers in Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh. Similarly, motorists should be made to realise that apart from exhaust fumes, brake dust also causes pollution.
(Courtesy: The Pioneer)
Ever since it became a sovereign nation, Pakistan has been ostensibly ‘helping’ the US to actually further its own interests in the region
The US is keenly looking into the role Pakistan played in Afghanistan after its war against Taliban and terrorism following the attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon on September 11, 2001. This was revealed by US Secretary of State Tony Blinken to angry US lawmakers who were protesting against Pakistan’s “duplicitous” role in Afghanistan. Among others, Congressman Bill Keating, Chair, House Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee, said that apart from the ISI’s strong ties with the Haqqani network, Pakistan created the Taliban and helped it regroup in 2010. He bemoaned that the Pakistan PM celebrated the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul.
Pakistan started following a duplicitous policy towards the US soon after it came into existence in August 1947. In 1952, when the West was engaged in its efforts to contain Communism, Pakistan opted for the American bloc (and arms) purportedly to fight the expansion of Communism but actually to strengthen its muscle against India. Some years later, then Pakistan President Gen Ayub Khan said that the arms were “not to be kept wrapped”. These were actually used against India in the 1965 and 1971 wars even though given only to fight the expansion of Communism, if the need arose.
The erstwhile Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1979 had added to Pakistan’s strategic importance. It exploited the development dexterously to continue its special relationship with the US despite clear signs of duplicity and formal breakup of the Soviet Union in 1993. The US had turned Pakistan into a ground for Mujahideen fighting against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and a conduit for arms and funds to equip them with weaponry. Pakistan diverted a part of these arms to perpetrate terror in Kashmir and to train, equip and indoctrinate Pashtun students from Afghan refugees in Pakistan. The radicalisation programme started under then Pakistan President Gen Zia-ul Haq and was meant to address the ethnic divide because of which Pakistan had failed to have full sway in Afghanistan. Apart from fomenting terror in Kashmir, Pakistan’s main aim was to create Taliban Islamic Movement to acquire leverage in Afghanistan and to establish a commanding position, especially vis-a-vis India. But despite clear indications, the US appeared to connive with Pakistan’s ulterior motives to foster its own geopolitical and other interests.
The Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989 and the US too faded from the scene after ensuring that Pakistan had established its influence on the Mujahideen. After Soviet withdrawal, a civil war ensued in Afghanistan. Interspersed by its army, Pakistan introduced the Taliban militia in this civil war in November 1994. After wreaking havoc on hapless Afghans, the militia gained power in September 1996. With Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden already present there and declaring jihad against the West, Afghanistan turned into a bastion of terrorism. Pakistan, with calculated use of terrorism as a tool of its State policy, had already become the epicentre of terrorism. India continued to caution the world, both in the UN and outside, about these dangers to world peace. In an article on October 2, 1999, titled “International Drive To Fight Terrorism”, the writer criticised the narrow American approach towards the Pak-Taliban nexus but the US did not heed the warning. Obviously, the ground had been laid for the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Following the horrifying attacks, the US waged a war against the Taliban. The public opinion in Pakistan was that its Government shouldn’t join this effort. When criticised for aligning with the West, then Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf reportedly stated that had he not done so, America might have taken action against Pakistan, too. He was aware that their duplicity had begun to be noticed. The Taliban was soon removed from power. But, years later, Pakistan resumed helping the Taliban regroup. It turned into a haven for terror attacks on Afghanistan. Pakistan’s duplicitous attitude prompted former US President Donald Trump to say in 2019: “The US has foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 bn in aid over the last 15 years and they have given us nothing but lies and deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools.”
Obviously, now the inevitable has happened. Despite a positive sign or two, the Taliban’s resurgence poses a serious threat to peace. Radicalisation has been the main factor behind the Taliban’s rise. The challenge can be met by promotion of liberal Islam and Sufism. Though this section is a miniscule minority, Sufism has an eternal appeal and, with the passage of time and through encouragement, it can turn into a potential challenge to radicalism and extremism. As mentioned by this writer on October 8, 2016, in the article, “Islamic Radicalism and Sufi Islam”, Russia, like India, too was hit hard by Jihadi terrorism in Chechnya. But after dealing with the situation strongly, it encouraged liberal and Sufi Islam to root out the remnants of Jihadi terrorism. If Russia could do it, the rest of the world can also do it. For survival and the betterment of mankind, the world powers must desist from turning terrorism into a geopolitical issue.
(The writer is a journalist, former IIS officer and producer. The views expressed are personal.)
(Courtesy: The Pioneer)
Rattled by the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, several neighbouring countries have joined hands to kickstart joint anti-terrorism military exercises to maintain regional stability and also check the readiness of their forces.
While the Peace Mission-2021 multilateral exercise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member countries is being held at the Donguz training ground in the Orenburg region of South West Russia, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) member states have also announced a series of large-scale exercises on the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border.
Meanwhile, in the faraway suburbs of Ulanbaatar, the annual joint Russian-Mongolian military exercise Selenga-2021 kicked off at the Doityn Am training ground today.
The CSTO members Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan announced last week that Exercise Search-2021, Echelon-2021, Interaction-2021 and Cobalt-2021 will be held according to a single plan - to jointly counter the security threats emanating from the territory of Afghanistan.
Moscow announced today that the first military echelon with military equipment and servicemen of the motorized rifle unit of the Eastern Military District stationed in the Republic of Buryatia crossed the state border of Russia and Mongolia at the railway checkpoint of the village of Naushki to participate in Selenga-2021.
"The Selenga exercise is aimed at combating international terrorism. During the exercise, the military personnel of the two countries, using various tactical techniques of modern combat, eliminate mock illegal armed formations," said the country's defence ministry.
In total, around 1500 servicemen from Russia and the armed forces of Mongolia will take part in the event which will continue till October 5.
In Orenburg, the joint military anti-terrorist command and staff exercise between the SCO member states will continue till September 25. It is being attended by representatives of eight countries - India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Just around the same time, the crews of the missile formation of the tank army of Russia's Western Military District, equipped with Iskander operational and tactical missile systems, are returning to their permanent deployment point after successful missile launches during the joint strategic Russian-Belarusian exercise Zapad-2021.
Besides units and divisions of Russia's Western Military District, military contingents of Armenia, Belarus, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, as well as a representative of the military delegation of Sri Lanka, had attended Zapad-2021 exercise held at the Mulino training ground in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
"The Zapad-2021 exercise showed that we can create powerful interspecific groups in a short time, plan military operations in any direction, stop any aggression, bring any enemy to reason and sober up with a decisive blow," said Lieutenant General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, Russia's Deputy Defence Minister.
About 200 thousand people, more than 80 planes and helicopters, up to 760 units of military equipment, including more than 290 tanks, more than 240 guns, multiple launch rocket systems and mortars, up to 15 ships were involved in Zapad-2021.
The recently-held, ongoing and future military exercises make it amply clear that this time around, leaders of Asia agree that the current security situation in Afghanistan seriously undermines security and stability in the region and the world.
"I would like to emphasise once again that the escalation of violence and conflict in Afghanistan in the 1990s could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe and worsen the lives of its people, as well as to the fact that this country remains a centre of international terrorism," said Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon while addressing media with Iranian President Seyed Ebrahim Raisi in Dushanbe last week.
There is certainly a lot more to come in the coming days.
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