The Government of India’s mega project of building 3381 kilometers of Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) passing through nine states, where goods trains have their own rail tracks separate from passenger trains, has the potential to revolutionize transportation in the Indian economy. This will make transportation cheap, fast and more accessible to industry and agriculture. Combining slow freight and fast passenger trains is complicated and leads to traffic congestion as freight trains have to make way for faster passenger trains. The freight railroad sector in the United States offers interesting insights into the impact of such a project on the economy. Railways are a government-run monopoly in India and so are the freight trains. Therefore, a comparison with the United States which has several privately run freight railway companies may be an unlikely one, but still offers interesting parallels. America’s freight network is universally recognized as among the best in the world and has served the nation as its transportation lifeline for over 40 years. After years of regulation, The Staggers Rail Act of 1980 took a major step towards deregulation by freeing rail fares and giving railway companies the freedom to charge market rates, enter into contracts with clients and manage the railroad networks independently. This move reinvigorated the freight railway sector in the United States. The freedom to run their business as they saw fit led to dramatic improvements which included a sharp rise in traffic and productivity and a fall in freight costs. Productivity rose by 172?tween 1981 and 2010, rates fell by 55% and the share of the freight market, measured in ton-miles, rose steadily to 43%, among the highest in rich countries. The average horsepower of the locomotives has risen by 72% since 1990 and the introduction of lighter stronger freight wagons such as those made of aluminum has led to higher energy efficiency lifting the ton-miles per American gallon of fuel from 332 to 457(The Economist: “High-speed Railroading https://www.economist.com/briefing/2010/07/22/high-speed-railroading). This sector has been sucking costs out of supply chains, so much so that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway purchased $34 billion stock in 2009 in Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) which is, one of the seven main freight railways
The most interesting aspect has been the phenomenal growth in “intermodal traffic” in the US, which refers to containers or truck trailers loaded on flat railcars, which are carried by rail to the train station nearest to the final destination, and simply rolled off to complete the final stretch of the journey by road. The number of such shipments saw a staggering increase from 3 million in 1980 to 12.3 million in 2006. Big truck companies see the merit of putting trailers on flat wagons for long distances and using roads only for local pickup and delivery. In addition, freight trains, some of which can be a mile long, can carry on an average as much load as 280 lorries can and these factors together can help curb traffic congestion. A case in point is the special freight rail expressway, the Alameda corridor, which opened in 2002 to link ports to important national rail routes, bypassing hundreds of level crossings that caused huge traffic jams. The “Roll on Roll off” service of the Indian railways which was first introduced by Konkan Railway in 1999 is a similar innovation where trucks are loaded through a ramp provided at the dead end of a loop on wagons that have been suitably modified to allow trucks to pass over them. This mode of transport can insulate prices of foodstuffs from the rise in diesel prices. The Government’s “Gatishakti” platform which aims to develop multimodal connectivity in an integrated and coordinated manner can help in seamlessly and efficiently developing intermodal traffic in India leading to fall in road congestion, significant savings in diesel and a reduction in carbon footprint. The reduction in transportation costs can enhance India’s export competitiveness as logistic costs constitute 14-15%, which is twice that of international levels (Economic Times, February 1, 2023).
Dedicated Freight Corridors can give a huge impetus to productivity in industry and agriculture by connecting geographically diversified markets and facilitating the transportation of critical inputs, raw materials and finished products. The single biggest cargo transported through this mode in America is coal as more than 70% is transported by rail. This highly efficient and fast mode of transportation has facilitated the efficient functioning of private “cash” grain markets in the US such as the Minneapolis grain exchange which trades several premium varieties of wheat. These markets provide a setting where buyers and sellers meet to discuss a transaction publicly or privately. The buyer and seller determine the price, quantity, quality and specific place and time of delivery. For instance, samples of grain already loaded into railcars and ready for sale are made available to the buyer for viewing in the morning business hours. After the deal is concluded, grain is moved to the specific location by rail. The buyer pays for the grain and the seller conveys the title upon delivery. Such cash transactions cover grain that is on hand, grain scheduled to arrive at a specific time, or grain that is ready for shipment from rural locations. The sellers of cash grain may be represented on the floor by an agent or broker who charges a commission for his services. Buyers of cash grain may be exporters or grain processors such as milling companies. The three farm bills introduced by the BJP government and subsequently withdrawn amid protests envisaged the setting up of such agricultural markets in the near future outside the APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) network without the intermediation of middlemen. For example, big food processing companies such as Britannia, Kissan and PepsiCo could enter into contracts with local farmers for delivery of wheat, fruits, vegetables and even dairy products to their factories using multimodal transport using both rail and road networks thus reducing wastages, cutting transportation cost and helping curb food inflation by eliminating middlemen.
(The writer is a Research Scholar at DAV University, Jalandhar)
Last year Indian Air Force Chief said that Pakistan is changing its strategy and had indicated a new developing strategy which is denoted by “Triple R”. The triple R here means rearticulate, reorganize and relocate. The changing military strategy of Pakistan is a result of certain geopolitical changes or opportunities which began forming after Taliban takeover last year. However, with FATF's exit recently, It may solidify and New Delhi has to push up its guard to deal with changing Pakistan’s conventional and unconventional mixed gameplan.
The Changing Strategy
There is not one regional or global level development but multiple developments spined in the past year which kept the matchstick burning in Islamabad. The first one is the fall of Kabul. Islamabad saw Kabul's fall as an opportunity to attain strategic depth against India. Second growing Pak-China nexus. Since the past year since the pandemic has begun and China’s exercising provocative and aggressive maneuvers at the borders to create pressure on the other front which Pakistan saw as an opportunity to create two-front tensions for India. The growing Pak-China cooperation had also resulted in breaking some defense-related deals with Pakistan like Submarines and drones[ii]. Few instances of build-up in the PoK like infrastructural and military are also some visible signs of Pakistan China increasing cooperation[iii] and Pakistan’s intent to grow its capabilities with the help of China. Third is the recent exit of Pakistan from FATF which would be instrumental in giving some financial openings to Pakistan’s deep state. Things would be worse if gets added with the Chinese flavor of cooperation. Nepal elections have concluded, and though the present PM Sher Bahadur has emerged as the winner but K.P Sharma’s deceitful political tactics may complicate things while forming and stabilizing the government and that might not be good news for New Delhi.[iv] As an obvious implication, crisscrossing of proxy dealings and terror funding viz-a-viz Nepal would surely get a boost. China’s political lobbying would also get a good opening in Kathmandu. The recent appointment of Asim Munir as Pak Army chief who is called “Mulla General” because of his radical approaches moreover, he is a straight arrow who knows how to sharpen the tip of the knife and hence New Delhi has the watch the Af-Pak region with more caution. Both hostile neighbors, one is freed from long-standing shackles and the other is patiently waiting to assert its political and military charm. Islamabad’s comfortable repositioning and Beijing’s wait for an opportune moment is something for which New Delhi has to watch out in the coming time. At the global level, the Central Asian region would again come under Pakistan-China strategic considerations to squeeze New Delhi’s footprints. Earlier, Islamabad’s regional and global syncing with China was disrupted with a series of sanctions and watch on Pakistan which was further at least to some extent still is complemented by its own issues at home. However, by freeing a tied hand, Islamabad would soon create something out of its franklin monster menu and revamp defunct unconventional and conventional machines against India. Perhaps, it would have consonance with what the IAF chief last year said about the “Triple R strategy”. The Triple Rs- Rearticulation, Reorganize and Relocation becomes a key here for Pakistan to revamp its military and operational postures against India especially involving China factor in it. It is also imperative to understand what exactly this acronym means:
Decoding Triple R
The Triple R stands for Rearticulation, Reorganization, and Relocation
Rearticulate- ReRearticulatehe the older conventional and unconventional strategies with new defense deals and military equipment to increase and upgrade operational capabilities against India. Given the fact that the Chinese are increasing their strategic acumen in the Central Asian region with Russia which would eventually exacerbate Pak-China diplomatic friendhood in the Central Asian region to squeeze New Delhi’s rapid efforts of increasing diplomatic influence in the Central Asian region. On the unconventional front- Pakistan may increase their attempts to weave out new terror outfits in deep inside or clandestine locations in Afghanistan against India(a part of strategic depth strategy), revamping terror modules and making new ways for crisscrossing borders for infiltration and subversion purposes. Pakistan would not leave any stone unturned in articulation, especially in its terror networks and covert operations. Small-scale attacks in Jammu&Kashmir are quite visible in the recent past. Though, given some contradictory or adverse developments in Af-Pak region- Taliban and Pakistan army faceoff along with TTP threat, Islamabad may approach with caution that might delay some plans but cannot be ignored at New Delhi’s end.
Reorganize- After rearticulating its conventional and unconventional arms, Pakistan will look at to reorganize its military presence at the borders. Strategically, Pakistan seems to have begun with it by starting a new airport at PoK which may have involved some reorganization work of the military or strengthening of military presence along with terror outfits. It can be said that Infrastructural developments may see a rise in the coming time.
Relocate- Relocation works parallelly with reorganizing work. As indicated above that Pakistan may weave terror outfits, it is possible that Pakistan’s relocate its terror camps near or deep inside Afghanistan or scatter them deeper to avoid detection. Relocation also involves the relocation of military assets near borders which may involve Chinese military assets to gain strength at the war and operational fronts.
Pakistan’s Revival Exercise And A Chinese Trap
Pakistan’s exit from FATF is most likely put Pakistan in a revival exercise with China’s backing. This exercise indicates that Pakistan would not leave any stone unturned in re-establishing the sync with China and playing diplomatic circus at regional and global levels especially against India. Islamabad more or less would now concentrate on reviving and re-strengthening the military structure. Pakistan a few days back made some strong choices of bringing Asim Munir as Pakistan Army Chief, this makes the picture slightly clear that Pakistan will go on to make some more choices which is absolutely hard. Islamabad would also start rapid efforts in making its military and national security apparatus capable to capitalize on possible opportunities emanating from the current geopolitical landscape. The indication is also towards possibilities of serious threats emanating out from Pakistan’s re-strengthening exercise at the unconventional front because Pakistan uses an unconventional front maximum against India. The recent clash at Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh indicates that China is planning to lock India in a protracted conflict inspired by Mao’s strategic thinking at the borders to hinder its resources capitalization and utilization at a juncture where India has assumed immense strategic significance and G-20 is at New Delhi’s doors, here Beijing also aims to disturb India’s external and internal strategic environment. In such circumstances, New Delhi has to develop a long view of the strategic realities of a Chinese trap and Pakistan’s nefarious intentions to flare up the cross-border terrorism post their FATF exit. It is now required to boost all fronts(conventional and unconventional) increasing the number of fleets and military equipment and defence procurements to make our war capabilities superior and strong. Maybe New Delhi has begun spreading its vigilant web across the South Asian region and deploying effective deterrence and combative countermeasures to thwart the Chinese trap, the recent visit of R&AW Chief to Sri Lanka to caution and discuss security and strategic issues especially on the issue of Chinese research ships which are most likely meandering in the Indian Ocean which led to the postponement of our ballistic missile test. This indicates at the New Delhi’s part that New Delhi has started its heavy brainstorming to counter a slightly relaxed Pakistan and impatient China.
Owing to their self-claimed tag of being progressive and inclusive, institutions across the country have been successful in effortlessly ignoring and in a way promoting discrimination against caste minorities.
The blatant denial of institutional murder carried out along the lines of caste discrimination has been diverted to place the blame on the students for “lacking merit” and being unable to cope with academic pressure. This argument is in addition to that of reserved category students “taking up” seats that the general category students “deserved” and the former’s presence would depreciate the institution's education quality.
With students being forced to decide to end their lives, one can, without the need for statistical evidence, assume the heights of harassment the students faced and are still facing.
The statements and legal actions, although negligible, taken in this regard are absurdly inconsistent with the reality, with the very recent case of a bright prosperous medical intern committing suicide due to caste discrimination, adding how despite multiple FIRs being lodged, the student received no legal assistance and protection.
In accordance with a pan-India pilot survey conducted in 2023, with respondents belonging to these reputed elite institutions, survey results depicted the presence of discrimination either faced by the respondent personally or them witnessing their peers face such discrimination from general category students as well as faculty.
One respondent remarked how “ English proficiency is a huge issue, because allegations of lack of merit are put against SC/ST students. Classroom discussions where reservations are blamed for "brain drain" and lack of quality institutions is another thing that is normalized” while another respondent pointed out to the “progressive inclusive” hypocritical attitude of general category students and their “Use of certain words, certain connotations, having a savarna savior complex by being "okay" with reservation.”
Therefore there are two kinds of responses that are prevalent with respect to and in response to caste discrimination in institutions:
On one hand, we see the denial of any discrimination, which is what is more evident and quantifiable since the negative can be argued when cases of Dalit student suicides are brought up, and on the other hand, we see extreme normalisation of caste discrimination (especially in states such as West Bengal), where brahminical hegemony is so intrinsically woven into the ambits of the society that instances of caste discrimination and oppression are not only ignored but consciously practiced in everyday situations down to the very use of language that more often than not, contains casteist slurs.
As several pieces of literature has pointed out, there has been a consistent existence of the “included inconsistency” and the “graded distribution” of privileges, opportunities and experiences.
In a similar manner, Dalit students, although being given the opportunity of being a part of an elite institution, are deprived of the same experiences that an upper caste student gets very invariably. As Ajantha Subramanium pointed out in her book, Caste of Merit, when general category students score bad grades, the response is they were merely “having fun” whereas if a reserved category student got the same grades, they are blamed for not having the “required merit” and intellectual competence to do well. Thus the former have the privilege of having the obvious “inherited merit” whereas the latter is forced to prove their merit at every turn.
Similarly, there have been instances of Dalit students being denied access to certain campus facilities, them facing unequal treatment from faculty and peers alike and also being shamed for their mere presence on campus as they are tagged as being undeserving, publicly shaming them for their academic ranks and subjecting them to negative attention, etc all while ignoring the reality of what general category individuals think “merit” (the core point of contention) to be - inborn representation of intelligence- whereas in reality merit is actually an outcome- of economic capital, access to resources, family support, ability to care, primary education access and quality and so on - which is denied in India’s ‘historically privileged, dominant caste’ run unjust society.
In a report published by The Wire, the Ministry of Education on March 15, 2023, presented data in the Rajya Sabha concerning student suicides. The report unveiled that across the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), there were a total of 61 suicides between 2018-2023. Additionally, with 2500 IIT Roorkee students opposing OBC reservation (2006) - highlights the true social dynamics that exist and the discriminatory attitudes of the students.
Yashpal Jogdand, a professor at IIT-Delhi, whose work focuses on social identity, social psychology of caste, and stigma and well-being among marginalized groups suggests that members of the upper castes are generally aware of caste-related injustice and violence, but their response is usually ambivalent because of the sense of disruption to their worldview - this he had mentioned during an interview conducted by Scroll.
The fault lies not in the Dalit (students), but in their perception of the upper castes.
Jogdand goes not further in the interview to rightly point out the two pillars/determinants that qualify an individual as a human being: meaning and recognition by others. As the argument of this article follows, Dalit students are deprived of these two basic yet fundamental human markers when they are wrongly stereotyped as meritless and inferior, whether monetarily, socially, or intellectually.
Efforts to address the issue of caste-based discrimination in educational institutions have been ongoing, with initiatives such as SC/ST grievance cells or other academic support provisions and institutional mechanisms being established for addressing this issue, these efforts are only scratching the surface with institution’s ‘lacking the will to implement’ this corrective measure in full.
As Yashika Dutt, author of ‘Coming Out As Dalit’ has rightly pointed out how although “untouchability has been illegal since 1950… cacasteistsound ways to continue unchecked in insidious ways”. Thus, if institutions truly want to be diverse and inclusive as they claim to be, the first place to start would be to shift the narrative from falsely criticizing Dalit students to correcting the casteist mentalities as that is what is truly “diluting the reputation of the institutions.”
It was the afternoon of 23 February 2023, a contingent of Punjab Police, with lathis in their hands, was standing behind barricades outside the Ajnala Police Station in the Amritsar district of Punjab, facing a huge crowd, many armed with Kirpans. The crowd was also carrying the Guru Granth Sahib in a bus. And walking among this crowd, surrounded by armed men with rifles, was Amritpal Singh Sandhu, who is being seen as the new face of the resurging Khalistan demand in the country.
Within minutes, the crowd broke the barricades and using the bus as a shield soon attacked the police. Amritpal and his supporters occupied the police station for the next several hours and left only on the assurance that his aide, Lovepreet Singh would be released who was arrested on charges of kidnapping and assault.
This incident created big headlines in the media. The K-word surfaced everywhere. Equations started to be drawn between Amritpal Singh Sandhu and Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. It is being said that this is the repetition of the 1980s and is the resurgence of the Sikh separatist movement.
But why are such demands surfacing again? And who is this guy— Amritpal Singh? To understand the current situation, we must have a look at the very roots of the Sikh separatist movement in the country.
Militant Identity of the Sikhs
The idea of Khalistan started coming up in the 1920s but even before that Sikhs had developed a firmly militant identity due to persecution by the Mughals. The militancy was fostered, especially under Guru Gobind Singh who in 1699 established a special group called 'Khalsa'. Sikhs who chose to be baptised into the Khalsa dedicated themselves utterly to their faith. Guru Gobind Singh created and initiated the Khalsa as a warrior with a duty to protect the innocent from religious persecution.
Though not all Sikhs became baptised members of the Khalsa, Sikhism as a religious tradition generally accepts the legitimacy of violent resistance in the face of repression of faith. Sikh identity gradually became tied up with the Khalsa identity and its militancy.
Before the Independence
In the early years of British rule in the country, Sikhs had proven their loyalty to the British, particularly as soldiers of the British Indian Army. But this loyalty started to wane away due to several things like the Rowlatt Act, Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, issues regarding separate electorates, etc. Several Sikh leaders wanted a separate Sikh State along the lines of Pakistan but that could not happen. Instead, Congress gave them assurances that after independence the political aspirations of the Sikhs would be honoured.
Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966
After the Constitution came into being, many Sikh groups claimed they were not granted the autonomy they had been promised. Thus, in the 1950s the 'Punjabi Suba Movement' started gaining momentum. Although the demand was for a state on a linguistic basis, it was seen to have religious overtones as the demand was mainly from the Sikhs in Punjab. The Central Government was not ready to create states on religious grounds, although, in 1966 it conceded to dividing Punjab on 'linguistic lines' into the Sikh-majority Punjabi-speaking Punjab and Hindu-majority Hindi-speaking Haryana. Chandigarh became a Union Territory and acted as the shared capital of the two states.
But this did not completely satisfy the demands of the Sikhs. Many didn't like the idea of sharing Chandigarh with Haryana and wanted Chandigarh to be completely a part of Punjab. Another problem was that some Punjabi-speaking districts went to Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, they wanted those too to be included in Punjab.
Sikhs not “Hindus”
Another major contention was that the Constitution included Sikhs under the definition of “Hindus”. This was a major reason why when the Constitution came into being, Shiromani Akali Dal rejected it. It is because Sikhs have often been seen as a part of the larger umbrella of Hinduism. But the Sikhs feel that they are a separate religion and not just a category of Hindus. They do have various similarities with Hinduism but that does not make them Hindus.
The same thing happened when the Hindu Code Bills were brought in the 1950s. There too, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains were included under the definition of “Hindus” and these laws also governed the people of those three religions.
Anandpur Sahib Resolution
In Punjab politics, there were two major parties tussling for power—? Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress party. The dilemma for the Akalis was that despite being a strong advocate of the Sikh culture and religion, they never enjoyed the full support of the Sikhs. Its rival, Congress, had been more effective in state politics. Concerned with their declining popularity and lack of unity within the party, the Akali Dal came up with the Anandpur Sahib Resolution in 1973. This declaration addressed the economic concerns of Punjab along with the religious and ethnic demands of the Sikhs. This resolution was not secessionist in content but called for greater autonomy for Punjab. There were 3 major demands in this resolution—?
This resolution didn’t play any important role initially and was forgotten but would later go on to become the foundation of Akali Dal’s future agenda as well as for Sikh separatism.
On the other hand, Congress under Indira Gandhi played a major role in undermining the Akali Dal. Indira adopted a highly authoritarian approach and centralised power in the country. The Emergency created anti-Congress and anti-Centre sentiments in Punjab. In 1980 nine states whose governments were unfavorable to Indira were placed under President’s Rule. Punjab was one of those states where the Akali Dal-Jana Sangh government was dismissed.
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale
It is believed that in order to split the Akali Dal’s vote bank, Congress in the late 1970s started cultivating the religious leader Jarnail Singh Bindranwale as an alternative. Bhindranwale was the leader of a prominent orthodox Sikh institution—? Damdami Taksal. He sought to promote the conservative aspects of Sikhism and emphasised the stringent following of religious doctrines. But why Jarnail Singh? What was special in him that Congress felt he could be helpful? The answer is his immense popularity.
Green Revolution
In the 1960s the Green Revolution was introduced, resulting in a great increase in the production of food grains and Punjab was its biggest beneficiary leading to great prosperity in the state—? this is what we've been generally taught. But there’s a darker side to it too.
The Green Revolution was successful initially because of government subsidies and support prices. However, this could not continue indefinitely and with the rising cost of fertilizers and pesticides, small farmers were the worst hit. Also, the increase in productivity could not be sustained because the new varieties created new ecological problems by reducing genetic diversity and affecting soil and water systems.
And whatever gains Punjab earned from the Green Revolution weren’t distributed equally among various sections and regions of the state. This led to the growing numbers of marginalised poor peasants, who could neither reap the benefits of the land nor find employment in the industrial sector because the industries in the state remained underdeveloped.
River Water Dispute
Punjab had a long grievance against the Central government regarding the distribution of water from the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers. The three rivers flowed through Punjab but through an elaborate canal system water was being diverted to drier areas of Haryana and Rajasthan. In the wake of the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966, the Centre decided that Punjab would get only 23% of the water and the rest would go to states like Rajasthan and Haryana. This was felt as unfair and instilled a sense that the Central government is having discriminating tendencies against the Sikhs.
Such factors added to the deepening sense of alienation and growth of separatist sentiments among the Sikhs. And at this very time, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale started gaining popularity. His popularity grew especially among the poor farmers of Punjab’s rural areas. These poor people had lost all hope in the political class, who were mainly big landlords, and they felt more connected with Bhindranwale, who was from a small farmer family. They saw in him their leader who could be their voice.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he toured across Punjab to spread his teachings. He appeared at a time when leaders were not engaged in the community. He started to hold courts to settle disputes and addressed social grievances. He preached to the young Sikhs, encouraging them to return to the path of the Khalsa, to abstain from drugs and alcohol—? the two main practices which were badly affecting rural society in Punjab. As a social reformer, he denounced practices like the dowry and encouraged the reversal of the Green Revolution. These along with his remarkable ability as a preacher helped him gain enormous popularity.
The Out-of-Control Genie
Bhindranwale was considered Congress’ masterstroke, however, as his popularity grew he started playing both Congress and Akali Dal against each other. And Congress soon realised that the genie it had unleashed refused to go back in its bottle.
Remember the Anandpur Sahib Resolution?
That resolution got revived in 1981 when Akali Dal and Bhindranwale came together. Akalis because they wanted to grab power from the Congress in Punjab and Bhindranwale because he was interested in the dominance of Sikhs in the state. Together they launched the ‘Dharam Yudh Morcha’.
Bhindranwale started directing his anger against the Centre regarding issues like Chandigarh’s inclusion into Punjab, distribution of river waters, etc. He believed that the Centre only served the interests of the Hindus. So he also started targeting Hindus in Punjab. He used offensive language against Hindus in his speeches.
“He exhorted every Sikh to kill 32 Hindus to solve the Hindu-Sikh problem.”
—?Khushwant Singh, author
He advised the Sikhs to acquire firearms to defend themselves. He also organised ‘killer squads’ in each village to eliminate the “enemies” of Sikhism. Violence in Punjab escalated with attacks on policemen and political figures becoming common. Many Hindus fled their homes due to fears of getting killed. Not only Hindus but Nirankari Sikhs were also being targeted by the followers of Bhindranwale as they were considered “fake Sikhs”.
Why Hatred against Hindus?
Okay, but from where the Hindus came into the picture? Why did Bhindranwale target the Hindus? And what Hindu-Sikh problem?
The thing is that the very foundation of this separatist movement was that Sikhs have a separate identity and they are different, especially from the Hindus. And whenever the Sikhs of Punjab felt marginalised or discriminated against by the Centre, it was seen as the Hindu Government oppressing the Sikhs (Bharat being a Hindu-majority country).
Another reason was language. Although this should be a separate article in itself, still I’ll explain the thing in short. After the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966, Punjabi-speaking Hindus remained in Punjab. But many Hindus in Punjab started resonating more with the rest of the Hindi-speaking Hindu population of Northern Bharat rather than Punjabi-speaking people. Why did that happen? It was because, in the minds of many Hindus, ‘Punjabi Suba’ became “Sikh Suba” as there was a great emphasis on Punjab being the state of the Sikhs. And as Sikhs wished to be seen as separate, the Punjabi Hindus also got concerned about their identity.
Apart from this many Hindu organisations like RSS strongly believed in the idea of Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan. This was promoted aggressively and somehow it played well in Punjab. Lala Jagat Narain, the founder and editor of the Hindi newspaper Punjab Kesari, was a staunch opponent of the Punjabi Suba Movement and especially the Khalistan movement. Narain through his newspaper had urged Hindus in Punjab to disown Punjabi as their mother tongue. He was killed by the supporters of Bhindranwale in 1981 for writing against the Khalistan movement.
All such things played a significant role in encouraging the communal divide between Hindus and Sikhs in Punjab, and further added ghee to the fire of separatism in Punjab.
Operation Blue Star and its Aftermath
Shaken by the scale of violence, President’s Rule was imposed in Punjab in 1983. Bhindranwale and his armed supporters had taken refuge at Akal Takht in the Harmandir Sahib complex (Golden Temple complex). He was being supported and accommodated by the Akali Dal.
After negotiations failed, Indira Gandhi rejected the Anandpur Sahib Resolution and armed forces were called upon to remove Bhindranwale and his supporters from the temple complex. On 1 June 1984, Operation Blue Star was launched and the fight continued for 10 days. At last, Bharatiya forces neutralised Bhindranwale and his supporters and gained control of the temple complex. This attack resulted in huge civilian and military casualties. And not just lives, the structure of the Akal Takht, the highest spiritual and political authority of the Sikhs, suffered heavy damage because of the attack.
The Sikh community all over the world was outraged by this action of the government. They felt that it was an attack on their holiest shrine, on their religion.
In the eyes of a simple Sikh farmer, the soldiers were invaders, and Bhindranwale and his supporters were protectors of their religious place.
4 months later on 31 October 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. This, in turn, resulted in a violent organized massacre against the Sikhs all over the northern part of the country and especially in Delhi. Independent sources claimed 8,000-17,000 Sikhs were killed across the nation. More than 50,000 Sikhs fled their homes across northern Bharat to take refuge in Punjab which they not only saw as a safe haven but also a place they could call their own.
“Jab bhi koi bada ped girta hai, to dharti thodi hilti hai.
(When a big tree falls, the earth shakes.)”
Then PM Rajiv Gandhi justified the massacre at a public rally.
To our minds, the story ends here. But the real phase of militancy in Punjab started now.
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale became a martyr in the minds of a large number of Sikhs. Bhindranwale did die but his ideas remained. Attacks by the Khalistani terrorists intensified both in the country and abroad. In 1985, Air India Flight 182 was bombed, killing 329 people. Former Chief of Army Staff, General Arun Shridhar Vaidya who led Operation Blue Star was assassinated in 1986. Punjab CM Beant Singh was assassinated by a suicide bomber in 1995. In March 1986, Khalistani terrorists again occupied the Golden Temple Complex which necessitated another action known as Operation Black Thunder. Several cases of mutinies by Sikh soldiers were also reported.
Due to several military and police actions, the Khalistan movement in the country became extremely weak by the mid-1990s. But it was through sustained political negotiations and peacebuilding policies that the government was able to gain the confidence of the people of Punjab.
Wait. There is no happy ending yet.
Many Khalistani leaders are still operating from foreign countries like the US, UK and Canada. And now it seems that these people got a representative within Bharat—? Amritpal Singh Sandhu.
Amritpal Singh Sandhu
Amritpal is a 29-year-old guy who comes from Jallupur Khera village in the Amritsar district. In 2012 he went to Dubai. His social media shows him often taking up issues concerning Punjab but he never had much traction before 2019 when he came out in support of the farmers’ protest against the now-repealed Farm Laws. He became part of the protests, especially the strand of the movement associated with Deep Sidhu. Amritpal defended Deep Sidhu on social media, especially after the actor was arrested and most political parties and farmer groups shunned him following the 26 January 2021 Red Fort violence where Nishan Sahib was hoisted at the Red Fort.
Deep Sidhu started an organisation called ‘Waris Punjab De’ in September 2021. This organisation was originally floated as “a pressure group to protect and fight for rights of Punjab and raise social issues”. During the launch event in Chandigarh, Sidhu described it as an organisation that would “fight for the rights of Punjab against the Centre and raises voice whenever there will be any attack on the culture, language, social fabric and rights of Punjab”. Sidhu also added that his front would only support the party that talks of Punjab and its rights. Eventually, he supported the radical pro-Khalistan party SAD (Amritsar) of Simranjit Singh Mann and also campaigned for them ahead of the 2022 Punjab Assembly Elections.
After the sudden death of Deep Sidhu in a car crash in February 2022, a letter was published by ‘Waris Punjab De’ on 4 March 2022 declaring Amritpal Singh as the organisation's leader. Amritpal returned to Bharat from Dubai and became a baptised Sikh with long hair tucked into a blue turban, a long flowy beard, a steel bangle on his wrist and a kirpan hanging from his waist, looking very different from his old photos with trimmed hair and beard and no hint of the religious preacher’s look that he puts on now. In September 2022 he took over as the head of ‘Waris Punjab De’ and a ‘dastar bandi’ ceremony was held at Rode, the ancestral village of Bhindranwale. The ceremony was attended by thousands raising pro-Khalistan slogans.
Amritpal started tapping the followers of Deep Sidhu. He moved around Punjab, meeting several Sikh political and religious leaders and seeking their support. He also asked the young Sikhs to join the Khalsa.
Amritpal calls Bhindranwale his “inspiration”. He dresses like Bhindranwale and copies his mannerisms. Similar to Bhindranwale, he also preaches orthodox Sikhism. He has been travelling across the State, promoting ‘Khalsa Vaheer’— a traditional religious procession preaching Sikhism to youth and encouraging them to shun drugs.
He blames the Central government for the issues the Sikh community faces. He says that be it the farm laws, the water crisis in Punjab, the drug menace, migration of people from UP and Bihar into Punjab, arrest of political dissidents, and undermining of the Punjabi language are all part of a "silent genocide" of Sikhs.
Since his ‘dastar bandi’ Amritpal Singh has been calling for violence and urging secession and separatism, openly espousing the cause of Khalistan on all platforms. He also moves around with heavily armed Nihang Sikhs.
Interestingly, many within the pro-Khalistan sphere are a little distrustful of Amritpal Singh. This is mainly because the older guard understands the plot of state agencies and they don't trust new people easily.
But why is he getting so popular? There are two major reasons for that— Economic and Political.
The economic condition of Punjab
While preparations were going on for the presentation of the National Budget of 2023, noted economists from Punjab urged the country’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to take urgent steps to revive the growth momentum in the Punjab economy, as the State has transitioned over the years from being “debt-stressed” to “debt-trapped”.
In recent times, Punjab’s agricultural growth has been very slow. But Punjab still depends on agriculture which contributes to about a quarter of its GDP. Punjab had seen immense growth in its industrial sector in the past but since the Economic Liberalisation in 1991, the industrial growth has slowed down. According to the Economic Survey of 2021-2022, Punjab ranked among the worst in terms of unemployment.
“The first thing that Punjab had to do was to promote free markets and competition, through which the private sector would grow, and offer well-paying jobs. But the politicians themselves became industrialists and marred competition in the state. Investors feared spending in Punjab due to this.”
—?Lakhwinder Singh Gill, ex-professor at Punjabi University’s Khalsa college in Patiala.
The people of Punjab are not interested in doing low-paying industrial jobs, which is why industries rely on migrant workers from UP and Bihar. And due to this, many Punjabis look for employment opportunities in other states or even foreign countries.
However, despite the economy in tears, the state government has been making populist policies by promising freebies and making almost no fundamental changes to the existing structure of economic development.
What has Amritpal done regarding this?
He endorsed the concept, “Punjab is for the Punjabis” and jobs should be reserved for locals. He is encouraging the Punjabi Sikhs to join him and leave evils like alcohol and drugs, in return he would provide them with jobs and education.
Political Vacuum in Punjab
The Punjabi society has been suffering from long-standing socio-economic crises like unemployment, drug addiction, and religious and political crises. A section of society has lost faith in the traditional political parties, like Akalis and Congress, to tackle these issues. And the biggest beneficiary of this vacuum has been AAP which swept to power with a record mandate in the 2022 Punjab Assembly Elections. However, now certain signs show that the people are not too happy even with the Aam Aadmi Party. Then there is a perception of the Bhagwant Mann government being controlled by AAP’s Delhi leadership.
Some loss of faith is visible in the fact that the protesters in the state are maintaining a distance from the political parties. Whether it is the protest against the Farm Laws or any other protest, political parties have not been welcomed anywhere.
“Politics is all about meeting the aspirations of the people. When it does not happen, people find ways to express themselves in one way or another. Amritpal’s rise reflects it.”
—? Baljit Balli, senior journalist and Editor of Babushahi.com
Because Punjab is suffering from deep political, social and economic crises, the extremist ideas of Amritpal are gaining some attention when he raises these concerns. Similar things also happened in the 1980s.
Endnotes
At a time when the country is being branded as a "Hindu Rashtra", there is bound to be a sense of alienation in the other communities, they will feel sidelined. The same is the case when attempts are made for the imposition of Hindi. It creates fear and insecurity among various communities regarding their identity, language, culture, traditions, etc. Yes, Hinduism being the majority religion will reflect in various aspects of life in this country but overtly emphasising that ignoring the diversity of the country, gives way to demands like Khalistan.
What I’m not able to understand is why does the strongman-imaged Modi Government seem to be so casual about Amritpal’s prominence? There have been no overt signs of discomfort at his growing popularity.
“How can a person who lived in Dubai for many years suddenly surface in Punjab and project himself as a leader of the entire Sikh masses, besides interpreting the Sikh history, culture and ethics in his own way?
People can’t be easily swayed by this sentiment since they have seen the past repercussions. Those days are still fresh in the minds of Punjabis, particularly Sikhs and the state’s political class.”
—? Manjit Singh, ex-professor of Sociology at Punjab University in Chandigarh.
Yes, it is right that drawing parallels with Bhindranwale may seem like fantasization at this stage, but to deny any similarity would be foolishness.
It was the afternoon of 23 February 2023, a contingent of Punjab Police, with lathis in their hands, was standing behind barricades outside the Ajnala Police Station in the Amritsar district of Punjab, facing a huge crowd, many armed with Kirpans. The crowd was also carrying the Guru Granth Sahib in a bus. And walking among this crowd, surrounded by armed men with rifles, was Amritpal Singh Sandhu, who is being seen as the new face of the resurging Khalistan demand in the country.
Within minutes, the crowd broke the barricades and using the bus as a shield soon attacked the police. Amritpal and his supporters occupied the police station for the next several hours and left only on the assurance that his aide, Lovepreet Singh would be released who was arrested on charges of kidnapping and assault.
This incident created big headlines in the media. The K-word surfaced everywhere. Equations started to be drawn between Amritpal Singh Sandhu and Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. It is being said that this is the repetition of the 1980s and is the resurgence of the Sikh separatist movement.
But why are such demands surfacing again? And who is this guy— Amritpal Singh? To understand the current situation, we must have a look at the very roots of the Sikh separatist movement in the country.
Militant Identity of the Sikhs
The idea of Khalistan started coming up in the 1920s but even before that Sikhs had developed a firmly militant identity due to persecution by the Mughals. The militancy was fostered, especially under Guru Gobind Singh who in 1699 established a special group called 'Khalsa'. Sikhs who chose to be baptised into the Khalsa dedicated themselves utterly to their faith. Guru Gobind Singh created and initiated the Khalsa as a warrior with a duty to protect the innocent from religious persecution.
Though not all Sikhs became baptised members of the Khalsa, Sikhism as a religious tradition generally accepts the legitimacy of violent resistance in the face of repression of faith. Sikh identity gradually became tied up with the Khalsa identity and its militancy.
Before the Independence
In the early years of British rule in the country, Sikhs had proven their loyalty to the British, particularly as soldiers of the British Indian Army. But this loyalty started to wane away due to several things like the Rowlatt Act, Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, issues regarding separate electorates, etc. Several Sikh leaders wanted a separate Sikh State along the lines of Pakistan but that could not happen. Instead, Congress gave them assurances that after independence the political aspirations of the Sikhs would be honoured.
Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966
After the Constitution came into being, many Sikh groups claimed they were not granted the autonomy they had been promised. Thus, in the 1950s the 'Punjabi Suba Movement' started gaining momentum. Although the demand was for a state on a linguistic basis, it was seen to have religious overtones as the demand was mainly from the Sikhs in Punjab. The Central Government was not ready to create states on religious grounds, although, in 1966 it conceded to dividing Punjab on 'linguistic lines' into the Sikh-majority Punjabi-speaking Punjab and Hindu-majority Hindi-speaking Haryana. Chandigarh became a Union Territory and acted as the shared capital of the two states.
But this did not completely satisfy the demands of the Sikhs. Many didn't like the idea of sharing Chandigarh with Haryana and wanted Chandigarh to be completely a part of Punjab. Another problem was that some Punjabi-speaking districts went to Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, they wanted those too to be included in Punjab.
Sikhs not “Hindus”
Another major contention was that the Constitution included Sikhs under the definition of “Hindus”. This was a major reason why when the Constitution came into being, Shiromani Akali Dal rejected it. It is because Sikhs have often been seen as a part of the larger umbrella of Hinduism. But the Sikhs feel that they are a separate religion and not just a category of Hindus. They do have various similarities with Hinduism but that does not make them Hindus.
The same thing happened when the Hindu Code Bills were brought in the 1950s. There too, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains were included under the definition of “Hindus” and these laws also governed the people of those three religions.
Anandpur Sahib Resolution
In Punjab politics, there were two major parties tussling for power—? Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress party. The dilemma for the Akalis was that despite being a strong advocate of the Sikh culture and religion, they never enjoyed the full support of the Sikhs. Its rival, Congress, had been more effective in state politics. Concerned with their declining popularity and lack of unity within the party, the Akali Dal came up with the Anandpur Sahib Resolution in 1973. This declaration addressed the economic concerns of Punjab along with the religious and ethnic demands of the Sikhs. This resolution was not secessionist in content but called for greater autonomy for Punjab. There were 3 major demands in this resolution—?
This resolution didn’t play any important role initially and was forgotten but would later go on to become the foundation of Akali Dal’s future agenda as well as for Sikh separatism.
On the other hand, Congress under Indira Gandhi played a major role in undermining the Akali Dal. Indira adopted a highly authoritarian approach and centralised power in centralized The Emergency created anti-Congress and anti-Centre sentiments in Punjab. In 1980 nine states whose governments were unfavorable to Indira were placed under President’s Rule. Punjab was one of those states where the Akali Dal-Jana Sangh government was dismissed.
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale
It is believed that in order to split the Akali Dal’s vote bank, Congress in the late 1970s started cultivating the religious leader Jarnail Singh Bindranwale as an alternative. Bhindranwale was the leader of a prominent orthodox Sikh institution—? Damdami Taksal. He sought to promote the conservative aspects of Sikhism and emphasised the stringent following of religious doctrines. But why Jarnail Singh? What was special in him that Congress felt he could be helpful? The answer is his immense popularity.
Green Revolution
In the 1960s the Green Revolution was introduced, resulting in a great increase in the production of food grains and Punjab was its biggest beneficiary leading to great prosperity in the state—? this is what we've been generally taught. But there’s a darker side to it too.
The Green Revolution was successful initially because of government subsidies and support prices. However, this could not continue indefinitely and with the rising cost of fertilizers and pesticides, small farmers were the worst hit. Also, the increase in productivity could not be sustained because the new varieties created new ecological problems by reducing genetic diversity and affecting soil and water systems.
And whatever gains Punjab earned from the Green Revolution weren’t distributed equally among various sections and regions of the state. This led to the growing numbers of marginalised poor peasants, who could neither reap the benefits of the land nor find employment in the industrial sector because the industries in the state remained underdeveloped.
River Water Dispute
Punjab had a long grievance against the Central government regarding the distribution of water from the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers. The three rivers flowed through Punjab but through an elaborate canal system water was being diverted to drier areas of Haryana and Rajasthan. In the wake of the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966, the Centre decided that Punjab would get only 23% of the water and the rest would go to states like Rajasthan and Haryana. This was felt as unfair and instilled a sense that the Central government is having discriminating tendencies against the Sikhs.
Such factors added to the deepening sense of alienation and growth of separatist sentiments among the Sikhs. And at this very time, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale started gaining popularity. His popularity grew especially among the poor farmers of Punjab’s rural areas. These poor people had lost all hope in the political class, who were mainly big landlords, and they felt more connected with Bhindranwale, who was from a small farmer family. They saw in him their leader who could be their voice.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he toured across Punjab to spread his teachings. He appeared at a time when leaders were not engaged in the community. He started to hold courts to settle disputes and addressed social grievances. He preached to the young Sikhs, encouraging them to return to the path of the Khalsa, to abstain from drugs and alcohol—? the two main practices which were badly affecting rural society in Punjab. As a social reformer, he denounced practices like the dowry and encouraged the reversal of the Green Revolution. These along with his remarkable ability as a preacher helped him gain enormous popularity.
The Out-of-Control Genie
Bhindranwale was considered Congress’ masterstroke, however, as his popularity grew he started playing both Congress and Akali Dal against each other. And Congress soon realised that the genie it had unleashed refused to go back in its bottle.
Remember the Anandpur Sahib Resolution?
That resolution got revived in 1981 when Akali Dal and Bhindranwale came together. Akalis because they wanted to grab power from the Congress in Punjab and Bhindranwale because he was interested in the dominance of Sikhs in the state. Together they launched the ‘Dharam Yudh Morcha’.
Bhindranwale started directing his anger against the Centre regarding issues like Chandigarh’s inclusion into Punjab, distribution of river waters, etc. He believed that the Centre only served the interests of the Hindus. So he also started targeting Hindus in Punjab. He used offensive language against Hindus in his speeches.
“He exhorted every Sikh to kill 32 Hindus to solve the Hindu-Sikh problem.”
—?Khushwant Singh, author
He advised the Sikhs to acquire firearms to defend themselves. He also organised ‘killer squads’ in each village to eliminate the “enemies” of Sikhism. Violence in Punjab escalated with attacks on policemen and political figures becoming common. Many Hindus fled their homes due to fears of getting killed. Not only Hindus but Nirankari Sikhs were also being targeted by the followers of Bhindranwale as they were considered “fake Sikhs”.
Why Hatred against Hindus?
Okay, but from where the Hindus came into the picture? Why did Bhindranwale target the Hindus? And what Hindu-Sikh problem?
The thing is that the very foundation of this separatist movement was that Sikhs have a separate identity and they are different, especially from the Hindus. And whenever the Sikhs of Punjab felt marginalised or discriminated against by the Centre, it was seen as the Hindu Government oppressing the Sikhs (Bharat being a Hindu-majority country).
Another reason was language. Although this should be a separate article in itself, still I’ll explain the thing in short. After the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966, Punjabi-speaking Hindus remained in Punjab. But many Hindus in Punjab started resonating more with the rest of the Hindi-speaking Hindu population of Northern Bharat rather than Punjabi-speaking people. Why did that happen? It was because, in the minds of many Hindus, ‘Punjabi Suba’ became “Sikh Suba” as there was a great emphasis on Punjab being the state of the Sikhs. And as Sikhs wished to be seen as separate, the Punjabi Hindus also got concerned about their identity.
Apart from this many Hindu organisations like RSS strongly believed in the idea of Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan. This was promoted aggressively and somehow it played well in Punjab. Lala Jagat Narain, the founder and editor of the Hindi newspaper Punjab Kesari, was a staunch opponent of the Punjabi Suba Movement and especially the Khalistan movement. Narain through his newspaper had urged Hindus in Punjab to disown Punjabi as their mother tongue. He was killed by the supporters of Bhindranwale in 1981 for writing against the Khalistan movement.
All such things played a significant role in encouraging the communal divide between Hindus and Sikhs in Punjab, and further added ghee to the fire of separatism in Punjab.
Operation Blue Star and its aftermath
Shaken by the scale of violence, President’s Rule was imposed in Punjab in 1983. Bhindranwale and his armed supporters had taken refuge at Akal Takht in the Harmandir Sahib complex (Golden Temple complex). He was being supported and accommodated by the Akali Dal.
After negotiations failed, Indira Gandhi rejected the Anandpur Sahib Resolution and armed forces were called upon to remove Bhindranwale and his supporters from the temple complex. On 1 June 1984, Operation Blue Star was launched and the fight continued for 10 days. At last, Bharatiya forces neutralised Bhindranwale and his supporters and gained control of the temple complex. This attack resulted in huge civilian and military casualties. And not just lives, the structure of the Akal Takht, the highest spiritual and political authority of the Sikhs, suffered heavy damage because of the attack.
The Sikh community all over the world was outraged by this action of the government. They felt that it was an attack on their holiest shrine, on their religion.
In the eyes of a simple Sikh farmer, the soldiers were invaders, and Bhindranwale and his supporters protectors of their religious place.
4 months later on 31 October 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. This in turn resulted in a violent organised massacre against the Sikhs all over the northern part of the country and especially in Delhi. Independent sources claimed 8,000-17,000 Sikhs were killed across the nation. More than 50,000 Sikhs fled their homes across northern Bharat to take refuge in Punjab which they not only saw as a safe haven but also a place they could call their own.
“Jab bhi koi bada ped girta hai, to dharti thodi hilti hai.
(When a big tree falls, the earth shakes.)”
—then PM Rajiv Gandhi justified the massacre at a public rally.
To our minds, the story ends here. But the real phase of militancy in Punjab started now.
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale became a martyr in the minds of a large number of Sikhs. Bhindranwale did die but his ideas remained. Attacks by the Khalistani terrorists intensified both in the country and abroad. In 1985, Air India Flight 182 was bombed, killing 329 people. Former Chief of Army Staff, General Arun Shridhar Vaidya who led Operation Blue Star was assassinated in 1986. Punjab CM Beant Singh was assassinated by a suicide bomber in 1995. In March 1986, Khalistani terrorists again occupied the Golden Temple Complex which necessitated another action known as Operation Black Thunder. Several cases of mutinies by Sikh soldiers were also reported.
Due to several military and police actions, the Khalistan movement in the country became extremely weak by the mid-1990s. But it was through sustained political negotiations and peacebuilding policies that the government was able to gain the confidence of the people of Punjab.
Wait. There is no happy ending yet.
Many Khalistani leaders are still operating from foreign countries like the US, UK and Canada. And now it seems that these people got a representative within Bharat, Amritpal Singh Sandhu.
Amritpal Singh Sandhu
Amritpal is a 29-year-old guy who comes from Jallupur Khera village in the Amritsar district. In 2012 he went to Dubai. His social media shows him often taking up issues concerning Punjab but he never had much traction before 2019 when he came out in support of the farmers’ protest against the now-repealed Farm Laws. He became part of the protests, especially the strand of the movement associated with Deep Sidhu. Amritpal defended Deep Sidhu on social media, especially after the actor was arrested and most political parties and farmer groups shunned him following the 26 January 2021 Red Fort violence where Nishan Sahib was hoisted at the Red Fort.
Deep Sidhu started an organisation called ‘Waris Punjab De’ in September 2021. This organisation was originally floated as “a pressure group to protect and fight for rights of Punjab and raise social issues”. During the launch event in Chandigarh, Sidhu described it as an organisation that would “fight for the rights of Punjab against the Centre and raises voice whenever there will be any attack on the culture, language, social fabric and rights of Punjab”. Sidhu also added that his front would only support the party that talks of Punjab and its rights. Eventually, he supported the radical pro-Khalistan party SAD (Amritsar) of Simranjit Singh Mann and also campaigned for them ahead of the 2022 Punjab Assembly Elections.
After the sudden death of Deep Sidhu in a car crash in February 2022, a letter was published by ‘Waris Punjab De’ on 4 March 2022 declaring Amritpal Singh as the organisation's leader. Amritpal returned to Bharat from Dubai and became a baptised Sikh with long hair tucked into a blue turban, a long flowy beard, a steel bangle on his wrist and a kirpan hanging from his waist, looking very different from his old photos with trimmed hair and beard and no hint of the religious preacher’s look that he puts on now. In September 2022 he took over as the head of ‘Waris Punjab De’ and a ‘dastar bandi’ ceremony was held at Rode, the ancestral village of Bhindranwale. The ceremony was attended by thousands raising pro-Khalistan slogans.
Amritpal started tapping the followers of Deep Sidhu. He moved around Punjab, meeting several Sikh political and religious leaders and seeking their support. He also asked the young Sikhs to join the Khalsa.
Amritpal calls Bhindranwale his “inspiration”. He dresses like Bhindranwale and copies his mannerisms. Similar to Bhindranwale, he also preaches orthodox Sikhism. He has been travelling across the State, promoting ‘Khalsa Vaheer’— a traditional religious procession preaching Sikhism to youth and encouraging them to shun drugs.
He blames the Central government for the issues the Sikh community faces. He says that be it the farm laws, the water crisis in Punjab, the drug menace, migration of people from UP and Bihar into Punjab, arrest of political dissidents, and undermining of the Punjabi language is all part of a "silent genocide" of Sikhs.
Since his ‘dastar bandi’ Amritpal Singh has been calling for violence and urging secession and separatism, openly espousing the cause of Khalistan on all platforms. He also moves around with heavily armed Nihang Sikhs.
Interestingly, many within the pro-Khalistan sphere are a little distrustful of Amritpal Singh. This is mainly because the older guard understands the plot of state agencies and they don't trust new people easily.
But why is he getting so popular? There are two major reasons for that— Economic and Political.
The economic condition of Punjab
While preparations were going on for the presentation of the National Budget of 2023, noted economists from Punjab urged the country’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to take urgent steps to revive the growth momentum in the Punjab economy, as the State has transitioned over the years from being “debt-stressed” to “debt-trapped”.
In recent times, Punjab’s agricultural growth has been very slow. But Punjab still depends on agriculture which contributes to about a quarter of its GDP. Punjab had seen immense growth in its industrial sector in the past but since the Economic Liberalisation in 1991, the industrial growth has slowed down. According to the Economic Survey of 2021-2022, Punjab ranked among the worst in terms of unemployment.
“The first thing that Punjab had to do was to promote free markets and competition, through which the private sector would grow, offer well-paying jobs. But the politicians themselves became industrialists and marred competition in the state. Investors feared spending in Punjab due to this.”
—?Lakhwinder Singh Gill, ex-professor at Punjabi University’s Khalsa college in Patiala.
The people of Punjab are not interested in doing low-paying industrial jobs, which is why industries rely on migrant workers from UP and Bihar. And due to this, many Punjabis look for employment opportunities in other states or even foreign countries.
However, despite the economy in tears, the state government has been making populist policies by promising freebies and making almost no fundamental changes to the existing structure of economic development.
What has Amritpal done regarding this?
He endorsed the concept—? “Punjab is for the Punjabis” and jobs should be reserved for locals. He is encouraging the Punjabi Sikhs to join him and leave evils like alcohol and drugs, in return he would provide them with jobs and education.
Political Vacuum in Punjab
The Punjabi society has been suffering from long-standing socio-economic crises like unemployment, drug addiction, and religious and political crises. A section of the society has lost faith in the traditional political parties, like Akalis and Congress, to tackle these issues. And the biggest beneficiary of this vacuum has been AAP which swept to power with a record mandate in the 2022 Punjab Assembly Elections. However, now certain signs show that the people are not too happy even with the Aam Aadmi Party. Then there is a perception of the Bhagwant Mann government being controlled by AAP’s Delhi leadership.
Some loss of faith is visible by the fact that the protesters in the state are maintaining a distance from the political parties. Whether it is the protest against the Farm Laws or any other protest, political parties have not been welcomed anywhere.
“Politics is all about meeting the aspirations of the people. When it does not happen, people find ways to express themselves in one way or another. Amritpal’s rise reflects it.”
— Baljit Balli, senior journalist and Editor of Babushahi.com
Because Punjab is suffering from deep political, social and economic crises, the extremist ideas of Amritpal are gaining some attention when he raises these concerns. Similar things also happened in the 1980s.
Endnotes
At a time when the country is being branded as a "Hindu Rashtra", there is bound to be a sense of alienation in the other communities, they will feel sidelined. The same is the case when attempts are made for the imposition of Hindi. It creates fear and insecurity among various communities regarding their identity, language, culture, traditions, etc. Yes, Hinduism being the majority religion will reflect in various aspects of life in this country but overtly emphasising that ignoring the diversity of the country, gives way to demands like Khalistan.
What I’m not able to understand is why does the strongman-imaged Modi Government seem to be so casual about Amritpal’s prominence? There have been no overt signs of discomfort at his growing popularity.
“How can a person who lived in Dubai for many years suddenly surface in Punjab and project himself as a leader of the entire Sikh masses, besides interpreting the Sikh history, culture and ethics in his own way?
People can’t be easily swayed by this sentiment since they have seen the past repercussions. Those days are still fresh in the minds of Punjabis, particularly Sikhs and the state’s political class.”
— Manjit Singh, ex-professor of Sociology at Punjab University in Chandigarh.
Yes, it is right that drawing parallels with Bhindranwale may seem like fantasization at this stage, but to deny any similarity would be foolishness.
The writer's views are personal, editorial support the views hence it is published.
The dictatorial Xi's China is the biggest global jailer of journalists with more than 100 behind bars, according to a press freedom group, as President Xi Jinping’s government tightened control over society.
PRC Xi’s government also was one of the biggest exporters of propaganda content, according to Reporters without Borders. China ranked second to last on the group’s annual index of press freedom, behind only neighbour North Korea.
The ruling Communist Party has tightened already strict controls on media in China, where all newspapers and broadcasters are state-owned. Websites and social media are required to enforce censorship that bans material that might spread opposition to one-party rule. The model is unique since the West is critical of human rights abuses yet the internal rebellion is far away within the country.
In a tactical shift of setting up historical perspective right, "Gandhiji's death had magical effect on communal situation in the country", "Gandhi's pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity provoked Hindu extremists" and "Organisations like RSS were banned for some time" are among the portions missing from the class 12 political science textbook for the new academic session.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), however, claims that no curriculum trimming has taken place this year and the syllabus was rationalised in June, last year. As part of its "syllabus rationalisation" exercise last year, the NCERT, citing "overlapping" and "irrelevant" as reasons, dropped certain portions from the course including lessons on Gujarat riots, Mughal courts, Emergency, Cold War, Naxalite movement, among others from its textbooks.
A text reading, "Communal Politics began to lose its appeal" in reference to the time after Gandhi's death in 1948 was also removed from the textbook. The rationalisation note had no mention of excerpts about Mahatma Gandhi. "The entire rationalisation exercise was done last year, there is nothing new that has happened this year," NCERT Director Dinesh Saklani said.
A note by NCERT on its website reads, "In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was felt imperative to reduce the content load on students. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 also emphasises reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with a creative mindset. In this background, the NCERT had undertaken the exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes and all subjects".
"The present edition is a reformatted version after carrying out the changes. The present textbooks are rationalised textbooks. These were rationalised for the session 2022-23 and will continue in 2023-24," it adds.
Among the reasons cited behind the choice of dropped subjects during rationalisation are – content based on genres of literature in the textbooks and supplementary readers at different stages of school education; for reducing the curriculum load and exam stress in view of the prevailing condition of the pandemic; content.
Subjects easily accessible to students without much interventions from teachers and can be learned by children through self-learning or peer learning and content that is "irrelevant" in the present context were also dropped from the curriculum.
An official from the education ministry, who did not wish to be identified, said the new curriculum framework as per the NEP is still being worked out and the new textbooks as per the updated curriculum will only be introduced from the 2024 academic session.
The ruler of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has made a significant move by appointing his son, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as the crown prince of Abu Dhabi. This strategic decision places Sheikh Khaled as the second-in-line to the leadership of the major OPEC oil-exporting nation, bypassing older and more experienced royals in the process. The Al Nahyan ruling family, among the world's wealthiest, has a net worth of at least $300 billion, with complex holdings analyzed by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The UAE holds about 6% of the world's proven oil reserves and boasts substantial sovereign wealth funds.
This generational shift in leadership dynamics, favoring a son over a brother, mirrors a trend seen previously in Saudi Arabia with the ascent of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In Gulf monarchies, power transition pathways may involve brothers, cousins, and sons.
Sheikh Khaled, aged 43, has been groomed for leadership through his membership in the influential Abu Dhabi Executive Council and the primary national security body since 2016. His extensive experience in positions related to oil, the economy, and governance aligns with the broader pattern of state centralization and the consolidation of ruling lines seen within Gulf monarchies.
Sheikh Mohammed has also expanded the roles and responsibilities of powerful siblings, further solidifying the family's influence. Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the current UAE national security adviser, and Sheikh Hazza have been appointed deputy rulers of Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Tahnoon, recently named chairman of the $790 billion sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, wields substantial behind-the-scenes influence in shaping the UAE's security policy and is a key figure in Abu Dhabi's business landscape.
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, named the UAE's vice president, is a well-known figure both within and outside the country. He owns Manchester City Football Club, serves as chairman of the central bank, Mubadala Investment Co. and holds leadership positions in various UAE-based firms.
Sheikh Khaled, the newly appointed crown prince, has not only been integral to the UAE's security establishment but has also demonstrated a keen interest in information technology, particularly in nurturing talent within the sector. He currently heads Abu Dhabi's executive office, a crucial supervisory body in the emirate's government.
This new generation of leaders will face critical challenges, including navigating the UAE's energy transition and achieving its 2050 net-zero target, a significant commitment among Gulf crude producers. They will also work to maintain the UAE's position as the Middle East's business and tourism hub, even amidst growing competition from Saudi Arabia. The decisions made by Sheikh Mohammed and his family, known as the Bani Fatima, will shape the future of the UAE's political and economic landscape.
Innovation, which is advancement over an existing product or idea, is a prerequisite for continuous improvement. But a disruptive innovation shakes up an industry once in a while. Disruptive innovation in business is not a new concept. It took birth in 1995 when it was proposed by one of the world’s leading thinkers on innovation Christensen along with his co-authors.
However, over the years, this concept has been misunderstood. It has generally been misapplied to a situation where the industry norms are shaken up and existing players stirred. And here’s where the catch is. Originally, Christensen ideated the concept of disruption, more like a David and Goliath situation– a smaller company with fewer resources successfully challenging an established business.
Established businesses in their effort to retain their existing majority target customer base, focus mainly on improving their present products or services and largely ignore other market segments. New entrants that sense this gap provide products or services lucrative to the overlooked segments.
While the established businesses do not pay heed to these new entrants, they slowly make inroads into upmarket, providing the same products or services to the majority customers whilst retaining their earlier advantage–lower prices. Once these mainstream customers embrace the new products or services, in large quantities, one can say disruption has occurred.
According to Christensen, potential for disruptive innovations arise because established businesses ignore both low-end and new markets. In an attempt to be more profitable, established businesses concentrate on providing mainstream customers with high quality products and services and commit resources in upgrading, enhancing and perfecting their existing products and services, all the while ignoring the low-end market. Sensing this opportunity, new entrants foray into this gap by using a low-cost business model. A low-end disruptor snatches the market share in this segment and pushes the established businesses upmarket. Additionally, disruption can occur by creating new markets where none existed, by developing new products for consumers, at a lower price and an acceptable quality. Arrival of personal computers, and later smartphones are perfect examples of new-market disruption.
The first computers, known as mainframes, were huge and very expensive. With costs as high as $2 million and size as big as to fill an entire room, computing technology was out of bounds for the common man. With the invention of the personal computer, a small and affordable piece of machine, a new market segment of individuals was created.
Over the years, with continuous improvement in its capabilities, a humble personal computer made the mainframe computers virtually obsolete. The next step in new market disruption is the emergence of smartphones, which are creating disruptions at two levels. One, the ability to use the internet in a phone at a fraction of cost of a personal computer is making usage of personal computers less necessary. Two, smartphone photograph taking capabilities are set to disrupt the digital photography industry.
However, over the years, the above concept has been misused by many who have not given serious thought to the notion itself. Internationally, Uber has been touted as a disruption. It uses mobile applications to connect consumers who need rides with drivers who are willing to provide them. Founded in 2009, the company has enjoyed fantastic growth and is still expanding. It has reported tremendous financial success, with funding rounds and soaring valuation. No doubt, Uber has transformed the business of transportation.
But has it brought about disruption? For disruption to happen, a company has to target an overlooked customer base and provide the right fit of product or service, usually at a lower cost. Uber connected the end users, i.e., customers used to taking cab services, to service providers. So, Uber did not fulfill any of the two conditions to become a disrupter – firstly, it did not bring the market segment that did not use cab services into its fold; and secondly, cab and taxi services were definitely not a new market. Finally, there is no threat to the car industry from Uber.
A well-known quote prevalent in Silicon Valley “disrupt or be disrupted” says it all. All businesses are continuously looking for opportunities to become disruptors with new innovative ideas, products or business models. But only a few are able to become disruptors. Disruptive innovation transforms complex and expensive products or services into simple and reasonable options. Although very time-consuming and enormously risky, creating disruption shakes up the existing established products and services by pushing the boundaries of any industry.
( Hima Bindu Kota The author is an educator, Article syndicated via The Pioneer )
Subhash Chandra Bose: A question of, by, and for the conscience of the people of Bharat.
Do not we the people of Bharat would like to enlighten ourselves with a book telling us about the post-1945 life of Subhash Chandra Bose but no conjectures of the same and guess what; the book is published by and endorsed by the government of Bharat? With this in mind let us traverse the realities.
The personas that have fought for the freedom of their respective countries have always been used by their descendants to reap international mileage and public support at home.
The political history and present state of affairs of any country shows how the present politicians use the past politicians to convince people that if the people lhad liked the past politicians then they have to love the present politicians because the present politicians are the replication of the past ones.
We find that our Subhash Babu and I will not use the title Netaji because Subhash Chandra Bose may be a leader to the world but to us, he is our Father, son, and brother respectively, and at the highest level, our Martyr and henceforth I shall call him as our Babu.
We find that Subhas Babu was eccentric, he was eccentric and unconventional to the Congress propagation of independence through the prism of non-violence however Mr. Gandhi did direct the Bharatiya Soldiers to fight for the British in the second world war and also directed out of rhetoric to Jews and Britishers that let Germany slaughter even your women and children.
Subhas Babu lived, as he is not living today, a life of adventure, adventure for sake of Bharat not for his pleasure. Now, we do not have any official declaration on his life post-1945 even after the finding of the Mukherjee commission that Subhash Babu did not die in a plane crash. Yes, many files have been declassified but they do not draw a convincing picture of the post-1945 life of Subhas Babu.
Our Babu has become a subject matter of many films namely Bose: Dead/Alive and Gumnami and such films have negated the plane crash theory and even made our Babu remain alive till 1985. I do not want to delve into what is termed as conjecture about the life period of our Babu post-1945. Instead, I ask the following questions:
Why shall not the post-1945 life of Subhas Babu, if any, be declared by the government? The government says such disclosure will affect the sovereignty, integrity, and foreign relation of Bharat with other countries.
Now, why not then does the government defines what kind of consequence regarding sovereignty, integrity, and foreign relation will follow post-disclosure?
We have the official secret Act which prohibits the government's servants and citizens to disclose secret information not permitted by law for disclosure but such disclosure is been prohibited for anti-typing, therefore you cannot disclose the information of our Bharat to our enemies.
So, therefore does not such non-disclosure by the government show that the information about the post-1945 life of Subhas Babu is a piece of information that we do not want our enemies to know?
Now does such non-disclosure also show that our enemies are interested to know about Subhas Babu for destroying us?
Who are those enemies?
Or
Will the brand of Congress and Gandhi be in jeopardy if the post-1945 life of Subhas Babu is disclosed as they were the influencers in India when the alleged 1945 plane crash happened and the alleged demise of Subhas Babu/Gumnami Baba took place in 1985?
One may argue that if that be so, then the BJP party in power would have disclosed the post-1945 life of Subhas Babu exposing the Gandhi family and the congress.
The answer is that such disclosure will affect the brand of the Mahatama of Gandhi which the BJP also sells to spread peace and secularism.
Therefore it appears that disclosure of the post-1945 life of Subhas Babu will be detrimental to the image of Bharat. But should not we expose that Bharat which suppressed her most valiant freedom fighter? Should not Bharat be punished who made the life of Subash Babu deleterious?
If Subhas Babu has lived after 1945, then he had lived with Pain. It is alleged that Gumnami Babi used to say his coming to the Public will be detrimental to Bharat. However, the record shows that our Subhas Babu has not been declared a war criminal by the allied powers.
The Right to Information Act gives u the right to know however at the same time it upholds the Official Secret Act thereby allowing the government to hide information from the public.
I am been told we shall not dig out the past which can affect our present. Yes, it appears that the post-1945 story of our Babu will affect our present and perhaps may be detrimental to the same but cannot we inform our present of the falsities of the past?
We have to decide, the Bharatiyas have to take a decision. The game of majority prevails in the Parliament and we shall call upon the parliament that we will not physically harm anyone after getting the true state of affairs of Subhas Babu's life but we shall inform our present about the true National life of our Past.
Social Justice that I understand includes the Right of the People living in the society to know the history of the society which I argue can be upheld if a social engineer like Subhas Babu is been made known to the public page by page and inch by inch. Mind u the INA comprised people of every sex and religion.
‘Democracy conceives the rule of the majority but sometimes it forgets to emphasize the conscience of the majority and here in the case of Subhas Babu, the conscience of we the people of Bharat wants to know not like the phrase the nation wants to know’.
Views expressed by the writer are personal.
The next great war may come out of some damned foolish thing in the South China Sea or the East China Sea. Alliances are as old as civilisation. Older, actually: almost every hunter-gatherer band that anthropologists have studied, from the New Guinea highlanders to the Yanomamo in the Amazon, made alliances with other groups to try to protect themselves.
But they often also ended up fighting people they had no quarrel with. ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’ is the usual logic that the alliances are built on, but people tend to overlook the fact that alliances also mean that ‘the enemy of my ally is my enemy too.’
Right now, the various regional alliances that already exist seem to be consolidating into a single all-embracing alliance system. It was that kind of system that made the First World War happen, and we probably don’t want to see that happen again.
Only three years ago there was only one big alliance in the world: the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), founded in 1949, victorious in the Cold War, and more recently an alliance in search of a new role. Almost everybody in Europe and North America belonged to it.
Apart from that, the United States had bilateral alliances or alliance-like arrangements with a number of countries in the Middle East (Israel), East Asia (Japan, South Korea and perhaps Taiwan) and Oceania (Australia and New Zealand).
Three of the world’s biggest countries, China, India and Russia, had no military alliances worth talking about. Unless you think that the China-North Korea, India-Bhutan and Russia-Armenia alliances count.
It was, in other words, a loosely-coupled world: something could go really bad in one part of the planet, and countries in other regions would not necessarily be dragged into it.
The shift began with rising concern in the Asia-Pacific countries and the United States about the irresistible rise of president-for-life Xi Jinping to supreme power in China. The response to that was the Quad, formally the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue: the US, India, Australia and Japan.
Founded in 2017, it began as just a talking shop, but after bitter clashes between Indian and Chinese troops on the Himalayan frontier in 2020 India came fully on board, participating in the first joint naval exercises with the other three Quad members in 2020.
Then came AUKUS, an alliance uniting the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, with the initial task of arranging for Australia to get a fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines. It was transparently designed to challenge China’s territorial ambitions in the South China Sea.
This pretty well completed the architecture for an ‘Indo-Pacific NATO’ whose members would account for about a third of the world’s GDP. The original NATO members account for about 45 per cent of global GDP (although the US and the UK are being double-counted in this reckoning).
While China’s more belligerent style under Xi certainly accounts for the speed at which a counter-balancing alliance took shape in the region, the equal and opposite reaction to this enterprise was the announcement of a “no limits” partnership by Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in early 2022. All this happened before Russia invaded Ukraine again in February of last year (having done it once already in 2014).
You can see how everybody was reacting in large part to moves by the other ‘side’, and why Xi backed off quickly from his ‘no limits’ partnership with Russia once he realised how obsessed Putin was with his Ukraine legacy project.
Nevertheless, the game is now afoot, and it will be hard to stop. Germany announced that it was doubling its defence budget last February; Japan said it would do the same last month. China is rapidly expanding its armed forces despite a failing economy, and Russia’s growing derangement is hard to ignore.
All the planners and analysts insist that they have it under control. We shouldn’t worry that we are living through a high-speed replay of the creation of the entangling alliances that dragged everybody into the First World War. This is a different time.
My problem is that I can’t see what is so different about this time. Outside the specific and well-contained war in Ukraine, there are no great issues of principle at stake, and none of the great powers is planning to destroy or subjugate any of the others. (Ukraine is not a great power, so that doesn’t count.)
Count Otto von Bismarck, first Chancellor of the newly united German Empire, remarked in 1878 that “One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans.” As it did, in 1914, once all the alliances were in place.
The next great war may come out of some damned foolish thing in the South China Sea. Or the East China Sea, for that matter.
Gwynne Dyer’s new book is The Shortest History of War, Article Courtesy The Pioneer
India and Japan have common objectives in forging military agreements beyond military exercises and trade
China poses an active threat to the countries of the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. By avoiding contact warfare, it wishes to avoid heavy casualties and the associated international repercussions, especially the tag of a 'war initiator'. Hence, its strategies of wolf warrior diplomacy and salami slicing aim for a fait accompli, i.e., situations in which the revisionist power can revise the current system without a direct confrontation.
Xi Jinping's ‘China Dream’ encompasses "informatised local wars" with disruptive technologies of artificial intelligence (AI), unmanned systems, and directed-energy weapons. Thus, adopting an 'Integrated Network Electronic Warfare' blends computer network attacks and electronic warfare. This dominance is seen as a force multiplier in the capabilities of the PLA.
For this purpose, China has adopted a leapfrog approach in making advancements in non-kinetic physical directed energy weapons (DEW), which could be a future game changer. A plethora of DEW platforms, such as targeted high-powered lasers and wave emitters or particle beam waves, enhance Beijing's electromagnetic warfare capabilities. DEWs can disable the satellite sensors and jam automated signal and communication systems.
Washington's Defence Intelligence Agency Report, Challenges to Security in Space (2022), assessed that Beijing owns "multiple ground-based laser weapons of varying power levels to disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites that include a currently limited capability to employ laser systems against satellite sensors". Thus, it has the capability to produce reversible and non-reversible effects against the space systems of its adversaries.
Beijing's Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) satellite fleet, which has doubled since 2018, stood at 250 systems in 2022. These satellites allow the PLA to monitor and map the maritime and terrestrial bodies in the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and the Korean peninsula. At an international level, Russia and China are leaving no stone unturned in implementing their "no limits partnership" and jointly continue to develop and test their ASAT weapons in their military exercises. Given the technological developments related to the PLA, East and South Asia's overall balance of power has been disturbed.
In East Asia, Japan is trying to stand up against the Chinese threats to what it calls "the most severe and complex security environment since World War II". It understands that it is becoming crucial to counter China at two fronts simultaneously, i.e. first, to counter its naval expansion along with its numerical superiority, and second its expanding scope of electromagnetic warfare.
Consequently, the change in Tokyo's strategic stance on Beijing from an economic partner to an active military threat has given the leadership strategic clarity of its security requirements and policy formulation. By 2026, Japan intends to deploy Lockheed Martin's Tomahawk and Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff missiles at several bases. On the other hand, it is also going ahead with its military-civil integration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, aiming to develop a surface-to-ship guided missile.
Moreover, Japan has contemplated a possible Chinese electromagnetic attack that can disable power grids and other critical military assets like jet aircraft even before hostilities are initiated. It has incorporated the new technologies under "multi-domain defence force" for "cross-domain operations". For its immediate need, Japan has plans to deploy an Electronic Warfare unit to Yonaguni, Okinawa prefecture, to enhance its analytical and data collection capabilities.
From an international political perspective, Japan has rapidly moved beyond the partnership domain and entered formal institutionalised security cooperation. Thus, it is no longer in the stage of a 'reluctant realist'. The foundations laid by late PM Shinzo Abe are now reaping fruits which make Japan more secure and allow it to stand up against the Chinese threat.
Two crucial developments last year are much appreciated. First, Japan and Germany agreed to set up a "legal framework to facilitate joint activities between Japan's Self-Defence Forces and the German military". With agreements in place for intelligence-sharing mechanisms and promoting transfers of defence equipment and technology, interoperability between Japan and Germany would be a welcome step.
Second, Japan signed a bilateral security agreement with Australia that encompasses "practical cooperation and interoperability" in the emerging domains. These areas include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance… advanced defence science and technology, defence industry and high-end capabilities".
Although 2023 has just begun, Japan is already in action. The recent Japan-UK Reciprocal Access Agreement for "cooperative activities" will expand the narratives of a "free and open Indo-Pacific", thereby having profound consequences for the region. Also, the US-Japan agreement for "exploration, science, and research" in deep space has provisions for joint activities between the two countries in various areas such as space operations and technology, space transportation, safety and mission assurance.
Against the above backdrop, there are important messages for India, as it also faces an aggressive China on the land and in the maritime domain. A possible Sino-Pak collaboration, apart from challenges from the sea, can make the situation for India worrisome. Thus, it is time for India to come out of its reluctant approach and initiate dual-use critical technologies agreements with credible partners like Japan, France and Germany.
India should not be left behind in institutionalising multi-faceted security agreements. Although there are unsaid similarities in the objectives of Quad and the AUKUS, a very different approach shouldn't make the geographical contours of Quad more vulnerable to the Chinese threat. Needless to say that Galwan and Tawang skirmishes have demonstrated that the future of the India-China relationship does not seem to be stable at all, thereby posing multiple tactical as well as strategic challenges for the country.
India and Japan have common objectives in forging military agreements beyond military exercises and trade. Various dimensions of security agreements, such as joint research and production of technologies in the electromagnetic spectrum, increase the interoperability between the two forces, apart from developing cyber offensive mechanisms that can bring stability and peace in the Indo-Pacific order.
China, in future conflicts, will provoke either of the two countries at one point in time and would naturally expect stability at the other international border. Thus, it becomes essential to frustrate China in its own game; hence, Indo-Japan defence relations need to be boosted.
(The author is Associate Professor in Central University of Punjab, Bathinda)
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