He debuted with Jhalli Anjali and has experimented with different roles. MUSBA HASHMI speaks with ZAAN KHAN about his new show Hamari Bahu Silk and acting journey

• What is your role in Hamari Bahu Silk?

I play Naksh Parekh, a 22-year-old photographer. My grandmother wants  me to give up photography and take over the family business of catering services.

• How easy or difficult was it to get into the shoe of the character?

I had to work hard to get into the skin of the character. I am a Pathan  and my character is a Gujrati. I had to learn to speak Gujrati and bringing in that accent which was a challenge for me. To get it correct, I spent time with my Gujrati friends so that I could learn the language and get my accent correct. I didn’t want to sound fake. Also, I had to learn photography. I weighed 82 kg when I was offered the role. I had to look like a 22-year-old so I shed 15 kg in one month. It was difficult. A lot of preparations went into it. It was like a learning process for me.

• Did you always want to be an actor?

No, I never wanted to get into acting. I wanted to become a singer. I was clueless about acting. But it happened all of a sudden. I was in my third year of engineering and I was going home during the vacations. On my way, I saw a film shooting going — it was for Satyagraha. Ajay Devgn and Amitabh Bachchan were shooting and I was excited to see them. I stopped there for some time. Some of my friends were line producers on the sets. Suddenly, one of them came to me and asked if I was comfortable in standing behind Ajay for a scene. I told them that I have never done acting and they said that all I had to do was was to stand behind him. It went on for 10 minutes and then they offered me to go with them for 10-15 days as they needed those same group of boys for other scenes. I went for it. On my second last day on the sets, I met Prakash Jha sir and they asked me if I was comfortable in reading out dialogues. The positive thing in me is I am confident. I don’t get anxious. Then, he offered me a role — Vicky. This is how I got into acting.

• How has your journey been thus far?

Mumbai has been extra kind to me. I still remember when I first came to Mumbai in 2014. Within two weeks I got my first show as a lead — Jhalli Anjali. It aired on Channel V. I have seen both highs and lows. I got a bit distracted in between my career and lost my focus on acting. But, I managed somehow and started focusing on my work again.

• What kind of roles attract you?

I love challenges. Any role that would challenge me as an actor, I would love to do that. I have played a lot of different roles. From a simple and innocent boy —Dhruv in Jhalli Anjali to a negative one — Kunwar Jeewan Singh in Ek Tha Raja Ek Thi Rani. I love playing different characters. I love to enhance my craft (acting) and as long as I am getting to do it, I would love to play any role.

• Apart from acting, what keeps you busy?

I love playing football. I love to eat. I read a lot in my free time. I am a family man, I visit my family once a month.

• What else is there in the pipeline?

I am concentrating on this show. I am very clear in my mind that till the show is running, I will only focus on it.

Writer: Musba Hashmi
Courtesy: The Pioneer

Several committees and commissions have emphasised the importance of the mother tongue medium. It is to be seen what comes of it in the final education policy

The report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the 21st Century was released at the session of the International Bureau of Education (IBE) in Geneva on October 2, 1996. The chairperson of the commission, Jacques Delors, very clearly summarised the essence of global consultations and the   future vision of global education in the 21st century. For individual national contexts, he unequivocally stated: “Education in every nation must be rooted to culture and committed to progress.” The report begins with Delors’s Preamble entitled, ‘Education: The Necessary Utopia’ and says it all in the first sentence: “In confronting the many challenges that the future holds in store, humankind sees in education an indispensible asset in its attempt to attain the ideals of peace, freedom and social justice.”

The report has been deliberated upon globally for over two decades; it has received global appreciation and has impacted policies and implementation strategies internationally. Its articulation of four pillars of education  — learning to know, learning to do, learning to be and learning to live together — has received admiration from common folks to seasoned academics alike. In the first quarter of the 21st century, who would not appreciate the fact that education “is not a miracle cure or magic formula” but one of the “principal means available to foster a deeper and more harmonious  form of human development and, thereby, to reduce poverty, exclusion, ignorance, oppression and war.” India, known for its economic, social, cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity, is committed to transform its education system to achieve social cohesion and religious harmony and strengthen unity in diversity. But its education system has to encompass a very sensitive canvas. Its three-language formula, accepted in the mid-1960s, is yet to be implemented fully in letter and spirit.

Its national policy on education was last revisited in 1992. After more than a quarter of the century, in 2019, the Kasturirangan Committee submitted the draft National Education Policy (NEP) to the Government for finalisation of a new education policy. The preparation of this report was preceded by a national consultation process spread over four years. The draft NEP is open for inputs and suggestions from every quarter before finalisation. It is interesting that widespread fresh consultations have generated demands for further extension of the time limit for submission of suggestions beyond July 31, 2019.

Yes, people are concerned about education, its quality, utility and capacity to achieve total personality development. While there is no limit to improvements in the presentation of such reports, one has to begin implementation at some point. The NEP, 2019 mostly consists of formulations that deserve support of all and active involvement of academics as well as scholars, who are unconstrained by ideological bonds and narrow political considerations.

The draft report attempts at giving a comprehensive view of national expectations and aspirations fully synchronised with international trends and requirements: “The vision of India’s new education system has accordingly been crafted to ensure that it touches the life of each and every citizen, consistent with their ability to contribute to many growing developmental imperatives of this country on the one hand and towards creating a just and equitable society on the other.” To achieve such an objective, the issue of ‘language’ and ‘medium of instruction’ will become relevant.

For obvious reasons, the British were not interested in educating Indians in their mother tongue. They needed obedient and loyal educated people who would despise everything that was Indian — be it culture, history or heritage. This could best be achieved by “delinking Indians from India.” The best and easily available tool was to develop fascination for English language and all that was Western and, hence, admirable. Under severe burden of learning an alien language, where was the time for children as also parents’ inclination to realise the importance of learning the mother tongue? It was  rather interesting that within hours of the presentation of the report to the Human Resource Development Minister and its simultaneous uploading on the Ministry’s website, certain vested interests attempted to create an unsavoury conflict in the minds of people, raising the issue of the so-called imposition of Hindi on non-Hindi speaking States. It must go to the credit of the Ministry of Human Resource Development that within hours of the issue emerging on the national scene, it issued a clarification that the Government has no intention to impose any language on any set of people unwilling to learn it. In fact, ever since the three languages formula was accepted by the Government and a commitment made to the nation, none of the Union Governments ever tried to impose any language hegemony.

The issue of mother tongue medium has once again been comprehensively addressed in the draft NEP, 2019. It is a universally accepted fact that initial education must be provided in the mother tongue of the child. It is also a known that children in the age group of 2-8 years are extremely flexible in learning multiple languages.

The NEP report acknowledges: “Language has a direct bearing as the mediator in all cognitive and social capacities, including in knowledge acquisition and production. The science of child development and language acquisition suggests that young children become literate in (as a language) and learn best through (as medium of instruction) their ‘local language’ ie, the language spoken at home. It is interesting to note that the committee uses two terms — mother tongue and also the language spoken at the home.” One can cite an example that will indicate the farcical levels of fascination for English medium schools in India, particularly among those who can afford paying exorbitant fees in privately managed “public schools.”

A young professor, working in a national academic institution in Delhi, sought transfer to his home-town in Bengaluru to look after his octogenarian in-laws, who had no other support. The request was accepted and the family shifted to their home place “happily.” Their two kids — 10 and 12-year-old — got admission in a public school without any difficulty. However, their grandparents could communicate in Kannada only and the children were made monolingual, meaning they could speak English only. One had the occasion to ask the young parents how it was beyond comprehension that children were totally alien to Kannada. The response was very truthful and also revealing: “We decided to speak only English in our home and family conversation, even guests were requested accordingly. All this to ensure children acquire greater fluency in English — it was all for their bright future and to make their life easier to get a green card.” If highly educated people are so charmed by English medium and English language, none will be surprised to find the mushroom growth of English medium schools in villages and towns.

The growing fascination for English as the medium of instruction from day one onwards in schools is not new. It has a historic legacy. The language policy adopted by the British in India included every trick of the trade to wean Indians away from their culture and heritage and language was the first tool. One cannot ignore how Mahatma Gandhi analysed this fascination very early in his life.

On February 4, 1916, Gandhiji raised the issue of language and referred to the insight he had gathered from some Poona (now Pune) professors, who assured him “that every Indian youth, because he reached his knowledge through the English Language, lost at least six precious years of life.” On July 5, 1928, he made a very touching statement on the medium of instruction, which deserves to be re-read and examined in the context of language learning and policy formulation. In fact, more than the policy-makers, it is the parents who should be aware of the harm being inflicted on the children by forcing children to learn English at the cost of mother tongue language: “The foreign medium has caused brain fag; put an undue strain upon the nerves of our children; made them crammers and imitators; unfitted them for original work and thought; and disabled them for filtrating their learning to the family or the masses. The foreign medium has made our children practically foreigners in their own land.”

In his opinion, among the many evils that the British imperialists imposed on India and its people, the imposition of a foreign medium was the greatest.  He fervently wanted India to shake itself free from the hypnotic spell of foreign medium; sooner the better. Sadly enough that was not to be. Practically every commission and committee appointed in the post-independence period accepted and emphasised the importance and necessity of the mother tongue medium but things have gone from bad to worse. We have reached a stage when Governments, having failed to look after schools properly, have allowed their credibility to touch the nadir. The failure to maintain the mother tongue medium, Government schools are now being covered under the plan called school merger. People understand the real position. It will be interesting to see what emerges on the language front and the issue of medium of instruction in the final national education policy.

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

Writer: JS Rajput

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Syama Prasad Mukherjee was thoroughly grounded in Indian ethos which actuated his political choices. Throughout his political life, he prioritised ideals over positions

It is a truism that occasion produces the leader. One of its telling examples would be Dr Syama Prasad Mukherjee (1901-1953), independent India’s first Minister of Industry and Supply and founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1951. His 118th birth anniversary is being observed today (July 6). A qualified barrister by training, his passion was education, academics and Indian culture. A Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University at a mere 33 years — the youngest ever in India — he would have preferred to spend a lifetime in the hallowed portal of goddess Saraswati. However, the perilous political situation in undivided Bengal in the late 1930s compelled him to pursue active politics. Over the ensuing 14 years, he came to occupy an important place in national politics. He had become a symbol of new national aspiration when he passed away prematurely at the age of 52.

The party he co-founded, viz, the Jana Sangh, on the eve of India’s first general elections, felt orphaned at his untimely death. It had anyway put up a modest showing in the election. But it was the purity of his vision that impelled the party to increase its tally and mass base at every successive election from 1957 to 1977. It was the largest constituent that formed the Janata Party Government (1977-1979) and later took shape in its new avatar, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

But it is not for the sake of partisan politics or even his individual political brilliance that we remember him today. His parliamentary career was as brief as six years between 1947 and 1953. But what sets him apart and makes him a stuff of remembrance is not his characteristic brilliance but the principles he lived and died for. He gave up his Cabinet rank in protest against Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s response towards the plight of the Hindu minority in East Bengal (erstwhile East Pakistan) in 1950. Three years later, he laid down his life to uphold the status of Jammu & Kashmir as inalienable and an integral part of India. Conscience always outweighed authority in Dr Mukherjee’s plan of action.

Education ran in the veins of Dr Mukherjee. His father, Sir Asutosh Mookerjee (1864-1924), five-term Vice Chancellor of the Calcutta University, had turned the institution into a constellation of talent. Sir Asutosh was deeply imbued with the Indian ethos and wanted his son to do post-graduation in Bengali literature. Dr Mukherjee, having graduated in English literature with flying colours, chose to switch over to Bengali for post-graduation. He promoted serious research in Indian history from an Indian standpoint, opened the university’s first museum of Indian history, culture and archaeology and invited foreign universities to send their students to study Indian civilisation, culture and Sanskrit.

Apart from promoting serious research in Indian history, he also initiated a course in Islamic culture and history. Breaking the convention, Shri Mukherjee invited Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore to deliver the convocation address in Bengali for the first time in 1937. He also strongly believed in inculcating patriotism and love for the motherland among the students as also promoting our culture and civilisation.  In September, 1939, he came in contact with Veer Savarkar and joined the Hindu Mahasabha. Soon afterwards, Dr Mukherjee was appointed its working president, which necessitated him to travel all across the country. Even Mahatma Gandhi welcomed his decision.

The Hindu Mahasabha years gave Dr Mukherjee the opportunity to demonstrate his leadership qualities, oratorical skills and organisational abilities. His first meaningful contact with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) happened during that time. “I see in this organisation the one silver lining in the cloudy sky of India”, said Dr Mukherjee while addressing the Swayam Sevaks in Lahore in 1940. His relationship with the RSS became his capital when he founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh 11 years later.

Impressed by his nationalistic outlook, Mahatma Gandhi insisted that Dr Mukherjee be included in the first Union Cabinet headed by Pt Jawaharlal Nehru. In spite of his reservations to be part of a Congress-led Government, he joined the Cabinet following the advice of Veer Savarkar.

As India’s first Minister of Industries and Supply, he piloted the industrial policy and laid the foundation for industrial development in the country. He believed in encouraging the private sector while creating a strong public sector base in the country.

He never hankered after power and placed the interests of the country above everything else. He had quit the Nehru Cabinet in protest against the Liaquat–Nehru Pact, which sought to protect the rights of minorities in India and Pakistan following the attacks on Hindus in East Pakistan. Dr Mukherjee wanted exchange of population and property at governmental level as a solution.

The Bharatiya Jana Sangh was proof of Dr Mukherjee’s farsightedness. The sapling planted by him, with the benefit of time, has today grown into one of the world’s largest political parties. Dr Mukherjee, the unofficial leader of the Opposition, was in no mood to rest on his plumes. In a short span, he emerged as one of the tallest parliamentarians and his speeches used to be heard with rapt attention by one and all.

Soon, he found the issue of fuller integration of Jammu & Kashmir close to his heart. He advocated the concept of One Constitution, One Flag and One Prime Minister for the country, saying “Ek desh mein do vidhan, do pradhan, do nishan, nahi chalenge” (Two constitutions, two heads of states, two flags in one country is not acceptable to India).

He lent his support to the movement of Praja Parishad, founded by Pandit Prem Nath Dogra, for fuller integration of the state with India. He visited the state once in 1952 when he had spoken to Sheikh Abdullah and Pandit Dogra. When his extensive correspondence with Pandit Nehru and Sheik Abdullah on the subject failed to break the deadlock, he decided to visit Jammu again to lend support to the satyagraha there.

But this visit, started on May, 8, 1953, was about to prove the last ever journey in his life. He was arrested on May 10, 1953, by the state police for entering Jammu & Kashmir without permit. He was flown to Srinagar and confined to a small cottage near Nishat Bagh, where he spent the last 40 days of his life as a prisoner before he died in a hospital under mysterious circumstances.

Following his death, Dr Mukherjee’s mother, Jogamaya Devi, wrote to Pandit Nehru seeking an impartial probe, which, however, was not accepted. In her reply to the condolence message sent by Nehru, she wrote, “I am not writing to you to seek any consolation. But what I do demand of you is justice. My son died in detention — a detention without trial”, she stated. On his birth anniversary, the best tribute to Dr Mukherjee would be to inculcate the values of nationalism and patriotism among the younger generation and to strive for protecting our culture, traditions, civilisational ethos and the unity and integrity of the country.

(The writer is Vice President of India)

Writer: M Venkaiah Naidu
Courtesy: The Pioneer

Dastango Nusrat Ansari, through Dastan Alice Ki, presents Alice in a way that she is a dreamer and digs her own path through her struggles rather than being seen as an escapist. By Team Viva

Imagination has no restrictions. Who would know this better than Lewis Carroll? When Alice stepped through the looking glass one summer afternoon and fell down a rabbit hole, a tale replete with mystery, magic, twisted poetry, rhymes, confusion and logic came to the fore, where rabbits could talk and caterpillars would smoke hookah.

As artists Nusrat Ansari and Ainee Farooqui present the classics — Alice in the Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass — through the art of dastangoi, Nusrat explains how the duo brought out Alice’s story’s essence through the art form. She says, “Dastangoi has been picking up a lot recently. It’s written in a way that it naturally brings out the essence of a story. It is such a natural art form that it stays alive within the audience too as much as the performers.”

She says the art form involves a lot of improvisations and voiceovers, since this time they had kept it very interactive as well. But how? Nusrat explains with an instance, “When Alice has to guess the age of the queen, she tries to transfer the questions to the audience. So this way it is interactive. And it was so good to see that the audience was also actively participating in giving the answers and making the guesses.”

The artist says that such classics remain timeless and ever-relevant, and hence are narrated time and again. Hence, while Carroll’s classics had been penned in the 19th century, they remain relevant and ever-engrossing even today.

There are multiple interpretations of a character. When it was first presented by dastangos Poonam Girdhani and Ankit Chadha, they had their own interpretation of her, she says. Chadha had once said that the reason he chose Alice’s stories to begin their work for children is because her adventures are tilismi (magical) in nature, and the flavour of fantasy is similar to what they find in traditional dastans. Nusrat says, “My understanding and interpretation of Alice is that she is a very smart woman and one of those who knows that they are smart people. Even though she is being called an escapist and a lonely person, I see her as someone who finds her own way through her struggles, is a dreamer and believer, and has vivid ideas and imagination. She is a strong woman who can find out her ways.”

The dastan, based on Carroll’s classics, starts with Alice entering the fantasy land and discovering the world through the looking glass. After her size changes multiple times, Alice begins her journey on the chessboard to become a queen.

Talking about how the art form has evolved over the years, which had lost its charm among the audience in the late 1920s and brought back to life by Mahmood Farooqui during 2005. “People were amazed by what they saw and wanted to continue it after that. They saw it as an art form and an engaging form of storytelling.”

This is the first time, she says, that the classic is being presented even to the adults when it is mostly labelled as children’s tales or literature. “We did not just focus on children but kept in mind the adult audience too. And even they were equally engaged throughout.”

Writer: Team Viva
Courtesy: The Pioneer

Sumeet Vyas has romanced Kareena Kapoor Khan, played goofy roles in web series and  is now looking forward to portraying Ram Jethmalani in The Verdict: State Vs Nanavati. By Siddhika Prajapati

He has no second thoughts while answering any of our questions. Nor does he hesitate or fumble. He is quick and smart while at the same time has an air of of detachment around him despite the recognition that he has been getting for his work of late. Actor Sumeet Vyas, who has been seen across different platforms — films, TV and web series — is devoid of any regret or guilt about his life or the kind of work that he has done.

It is the actor’s confidence and self-conviction that has got him so far. Vyas is set to play an intense role in Ekta Kapoor’s forthcoming web series, The Verdict: State Vs Nanavati, which is  a switch from the goofy roles that he has been portraying recently. He took it up as it was a long time since he found a story which offered something different as he had been getting roles that were similar to TVF’s Permanent Roommates. So when the show’s director approached him to play lawyer Ram Jethmalani, he was surprised and overwhelmed at the same time.

Based on the famous case where  KM Nanavati, a much-decorated naval officer shot his wife’s paramour, it has had cinematic outings in the past too, including Yeh Raastey Hain Pyar Ke (1963), then Achanak (1973) and the most recent one being Rustom, starring Akshay Kumar. The case in 1959 put the spotlight on Jethmalani, who was the prosecution lawyer while the public sympathy lay with Nanavati who was supported to the hilt by fellow Parsi Russi Karanjia’s tabloid, Blitz. Nanavati was eventually declared not guilty by a clearly partisan jury vote of eight to one.  The larger outcome of the case was that the jury system in India was scrapped forever.

The actor says that there is a method to choosing any role. “I agreed to take up this character as I was bored of doing those ‘nice guy’ roles. I wanted to play someone with characteristics that do not define me in real life. Also, the story at its core is so powerful that any actor would want to take up the opportunity.”

It is the first time that Vyas is being seen portraying a layered role unlike the linear characters that he has been seen in, be it in Tripling or Official CEOgiri. When it comes to preparing for any role, the actor doesn’t believe in getting into its depth as this would affect his personal life. “I don’t believe in living the character. Once the shot is done, I immerse myself in my life. It’s very important for me and for my process of preparation to disconnect from the character once I have wrapped up the role,” he elaborates.

The Veere Di Wedding actor accepts that playing a real-life character, especially someone as dynamic as Jethmalani, was a huge responsibility. He read his biography and watched video tapes as a part of his homework for the role. He adds, “It’s very important to me to know exactly where the character is coming from. I don’t apply my personal logic into the character’s behaviour or the motives behind his action. I prefer to be natural without stressing too much.”

Talking in-depth about the character, the Parched actor says, “For any actor, the complexities of each character are an interesting aspect to scrutinise. No one can completely understand  someone as multi-dimensional as Jethmalani. Neither I nor anyone can term him unfair or even reasonable. Thus, it’s an intriguing experience to play him on screen.”

The actor is one of the reasons we’re glued to YouTube. Back in 2016, he made us notice him with his substantial role in the film Parched, but it was his portrayal of the character Mikesh/Micky in TVF’s Permanent Roommates that garnered eyeballs.

Meanwhile, Vyas does not believe in comparing the digital platform with the silver screen. “As an actor, I personally, don’t find any difference. I will invest the same amount of efforts in the film which I would put in any other medium. The only difference is the platform through which the story is conveyed,” shares the actor.

According to the TVF star, web shows can never replace cinema. He agrees that it has emerged with new opportunities and its market is expanding. But cinema has its own essence. “Cinema has a vast reach whereas web series are quite personal. One can enjoy the film with family but series offers one the freedom to experience it alone,” he adds. Vyas has also written Yashraj’s web series Bang Baja Baarat, which was again a huge success among youth.

Besides acting and writing, Vyas has directed plays. He joined theatre at 17 which helped him grow up as an actor. “The content and the people with whom I work with satisfy me while choosing any project. For me,  the medium is inappropriate. Whether it’s for stage, web or silver screen, I make sure that it has to improve me as a person. So, what I enjoy and what I don’t is the process which makes me decide on taking up any project,” Vyas says.

The show is expected to release by the end of this month.

Writer: Siddhika Prajapati
Courtesy: The Pioneer

Filmmaker Benoy K Behl says that there is a dire need of introducing and promoting yoga in all branches of education, medicine and even workplace to create an atmosphere of harmony and oneness. By Chahak Mittal

We live in a world torn by strife, violence, confusion, drug abuse and a medical system, which is too commercial and exploitative. And one of the best answers to the problems and ills of the modern world is yoga, believes filmmaker and historian Benoy Krishen Behl.

Today, the ancient science of yoga has perhaps become more relevant than it was ever before. The first step towards world peace is the creation of peace within each person. It is through the transformation of individuals that the world would be changed. Each person should grow in the understanding of his true self and develop compassion. This would lead to more harmony within families and groups, in society and finally in the community of nations. The world would become more joyous and peaceful.

Through a 52-minute documentary film, shot in 26 cities and regions across 11 countries over five years, he is set to showcase a voyage of discovery, capturing the poetry and grace of yoga and of the world of nature. The film has interviews with leading medical practitioners, who speak in objective and scientific terms about the positive benefits of yoga, and with leading exponents as well as with academicians and students of the field.

Talking about how he chose the locations across the globe, he says, “These were decided to cover a broad range of the practice of yoga. It began with India, its birthplace. And then shot across East and West Coast USA, as these are some of the places where yoga is extremely popular. To show spectacular seascapes and beautiful backgrounds, we also shot in Bahamas and Costa Rica. We also wanted to show how yoga is proving to be extremely beneficial in areas ravaged with strife and conflict and hence, we shot in Brazil. There, the practice has proved to be useful even in jails and juvenile rehabilitation homes. We shot in dense jungles in Colombia. Other shooting locations were China, Japan and Vietnam to show the spread of yoga in  Asia.”

Behl calls these five years of shooting as a “long labour of love,” which has also been a wonderful experience for him “to shoot with and capture the finest yoga asana practitioners and the beauty of nature.”

The filmmaker has been through some unforgettable experiences of meeting some of the “gentlest, kindest and the most generous people in the world.” From hearing the chants of Sanskrit bhajans across the globe at various ashrams every day, he and his team also went to some of the most dangerous and violent cities in the world like Medellin and Cali in Colombia, where yoga is being used to heal the scars of violence. He shares that often the camera had to be kept hidden while in taxis and on the streets. “However, local escorts accompanied us for safety at all times,” he says.

Behl says that making and conceptualising the documentary came very easily and “naturally” to him, as it has been 43 years in practising and researching about the ancient art of India that led him to make a film on the subject. “All Indian philosophy is yoga. It is all about achieving the final knowledge of our oneness with all that is around us, through meditation. Through yoga, we calm ourselves and see that we are less affected by the noise and distractions of the world around us. That is the purpose of yoga, it takes us to a state where the ever-changing perceptions around the world do not assail our consciousness. It represents a state when the constant fluctuations of the mind have been stilled, in which we may be able to direct our consciousness in a search for what is true and lasting,” explains he.

For someone who has been travelling around and researching about yoga since so many years, how has he witnessed the world around him change in terms of its understanding and recognition of yoga? He says that over the years, yoga has become extremely popular around the world and today “even modern hospitals in countries like India, Germany and USA have started taking the benefits of yoga seriously. The initiative of the Prime Minister of India in having an international day of yoga declared by the UN has gone a long way to give the practice its true place in modern international society.”

Yoga has a vision which symbolises oneness in all that there is around us, believes Behl, who says that there is a dire need of introducing and promoting yoga at more branches of education, medicine and even workplace to create an atmosphere of harmony around.

He says, “It is a vision of a great harmony and works towards integrating and joining us with the eternal reality.” However, one obstacle on this way of unity, he adds, is our ego. “Our ego makes us look at ourselves as separated individuals, with limitless desires. This leads to an endless chase towards them. We are never able to attain satisfaction and are constantly restless. We remain trapped in the noise and clamour of the materialistic world.”

He feels that such a vision of life should be introduced at all levels of education and at the workplace and it goes far beyond just the medical system. “It not only prevents disease, but as well covers all aspects of life.”

He believes that yoga not only enables us to understand ourselves better but also puts us on the driving seat for our own health. It is the study of consciousness, understanding one’s body, emotions, mind and beyond that, the true self.

Writer: Chahak Mittal
Courtesy: The Pioneer

It was patience and persistence that helped Millind Gaba make it big. By Team Viva

He swayed millions of heart with his new single Zindagi Di Paudi and is riding the crest of success. But it has not been an easy ride for Millind Gaba despite having roots in the industry. He shares “I imbibed music since childhood because my father is a music producer and has been a part of the industry for the last 35 years.” He says when he  stepped out for a job, no option other than music was open to him as he was not good at sports or academics. Moreover, he too was determined to make a mark in the industry. He adds, “My family was happy to see me continuing the legacy. They made me aware about the intricacies and uncertainties of the field.” He was taught to strike a balance between success and failures even before he stepped into the world of music.

Initially, though it was music production that he ventured into. But his heart lay in singing and he often requested producers to allow him to perform for free but they did not comply. “All I wanted was a chance to prove myself but I was always rejected as they felt that I was a child,” he says. Along with music, he was  keen to act as well. Here too, he faced so many rejections that he started questioning his destiny. The only thing which kept him going was his patience.

He wanted to make  his music the talk of the town, which ultimately did happen in 2014 when he sang, Daru Party. “It turned out to be a game changer. I won appreciation and recognition everywhere. It gave me the opportunity to perform and connect with people from all walks of life all over India.”

The excitement in his voice is palpable when he talks about how he performed four roles in his song Four Men Down which was inspired by Mann behka in Ghajini where Aamir Khan played 11.

Gaba has been partial to Punjabi songs and he has sung most of his numbers in the language. He says, “I am a hardcore Punjabi. After singing in Hindi, I decided to switch to my mother tongue to make people aware of my Dilli wali Punjabi.” He shares  that he has an inclination towards Bhojpuri.

An allegation that has dogged Gaba often is that of his lyrics being sexist in nature. However he counters and talks about the double entendre that he finds implicit in the songs of past, “People have started questioning the lyrics now. In the past there were songs like Aao huzoor tumko baharo mei le chalu and Aaj ki raat mere dil ki salaami le le.’ Aren’t these sexist? Kaun leta hai raat mei salami? Tell me? These songs were never questioned. Songs can be interpreted according to our intentions. I don’t pay attention to all this as I feel songs are made for entertainment. The ones I sing were created as dance numbers to enjoy. Listen, dance, enjoy, go back and sleep. I am not giving you any advice or suggestions through my songs”

Talking about  his recent release, Zindagi Di Paudi he says, love inspired him to sing it. He had not sung any love song by far so he thought this was a good one to show his versatility. He showcased his acting alongside his music skills through it. He expressed his happiness over the success of the song and also that it had struck a chord with boys. “I had hoped that the song would have this effect,” he says.

While choosing a song he makes sure that it syncs with his personality as he is well aware that he can’t  portray a gangster or even a negative role. His favourite actor is Ranveer Singh. “I can identify myself with him especially when he is on the stage. He has a volcano of energy.” He also admires Aamir Khan for his acting and professionalism and wants to work with him.  His list of favourite singers include Hariharan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Sonu Nigam.

Besides being a music addict, he is a travel junkie. His next song is a lively friendship anthem with his friends. Besides this, he will also share the screen with Tulsi Kumar soon.

Writer: Team Viva
Courtesy: The Pioneer

Saimi Sattar reckons Neena Gupta has remained timeless despite the passage of decades. 2018: She was seen as the middle-aged Priyamvada Kaushik whose pregnancy is the cause of much consternation for the entire family. She won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress for her realistic  portrayal.

Flashback to 1999 and Saans, where she portrayed the character of the wronged wife who refuses to play martyr. The serial, which she also directed, was path breaking for the way it depicted the woman who, though much in love, refused to break down into histrionics that are the norm even now on television.

Go back even further to 1982 when she portrayed he role of Abha in Gandhi and capped it the very next year by swinging around in a crane along with Pankaj Kapoor, Satish Kaushik and Satish Shah in the iconic Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron as Priya.

The decades might have changed but Neena Gupta has held steadfast in the industry with her nuanced performances, howsoever small, that made a mark. But she is hungry for more. “For both actors and directors, this is a golden time. There is so much variety in films and then there is web which means that there are so many platforms. It doesn’t matter what the format is for it is acting. I wish I was younger when I could do much more. But even then, it is fantastic.”

Any other actor might have decided to quietly fade away given the controversy that she unleashed when she decided to be a single parent, but then Neena is made of sterner stuff. And this has paid dividends as the society and the industry has changed offering content that she is in sync with. “One reason is society and women are changing. How many middle aged women are going to the gym now? Earlier they wouldn’t have even heard of it. The second reason is the platform. Web series have seasons. If you did a TV serial, we were stuck for two years where actors even with smaller roles get noticed. The whole scenario has changed,” she points out.

Moreover the lines between arthouse and commercial cinema have blurred. “Badhaai Ho is an arthouse film but a commercial hit, which didn’t happen earlier. That’s the change. It is a mainstream film done artistically and is at the same time, realistic,” she says.

Her latest venture is Adi Sonal one of the six parts of the omnibus, Shuruaat Ka Twist. “The director Heena D’Souza came to me with the story and I really liked the subject and that’s why I agreed to do it. It is the story of a middle class household with a husband, son and daughter-in-law. The beautiful undercurrent of a relationship between me and the daughter-in-law which is subtle and which you don’t realise till you see the end forms the crux of the story,” says Neena. Describing the character further, she says, it is like one of those typical housewives who spend the entire day wearing a night gown with a chunni. “She is just doing her duties the way she has been taught. The end comes as a surprise,” she says.

While choosing her roles there are several things that she keeps in mind. “The whole script and the role should excite me. The other things that I look out for are the directors and the cast,” says Neena.

While she has worked with stalwarts like Pankaj Kapur, Naseeruddin Shah and more, acting with the younger lot of actors has been a learning process too. “They are so hardworking and disciplined. There is no generation gap. We were like friends and had so much fun. In between shots, we could talk about just anything. We discussed our problems. I learnt a lot from Ayushmann and the way he chooses his role,” she says.

She also feels that the industry has changed the way it treats women. “The industry is more professional. Women are more respected. Male actors are much more decent and directors now are more open to suggestions,” she says.

She elaborates further about the difference between directors of yore and the younger ones. “While working with Subhash Ghai or Shyam Benegal, you were to scared to give a suggestions. While these directors are not a walkover, they are ready to take suggestions if it improves the quality,” she says.

A National School of Drama alumnus, she feels that the place has influenced her in varied ways. “I am very committed and disciplined. I work hard and don’t mind giving several takes. I don’t argue and I respect the director’s decision,” says the actor who just turned 60 but defies the norms agreeing.

She is philosophical about the experiences that she has had in life. She points out that, “I’ve come to the conclusion that everything that happens comes to some use someday. Even me talking to you will be of use some day. Maybe you ask something and I will think that I’ve never thought of it that way. So whether it is NSD or Mumbai or my parents, they’ve influenced me a lot but how and where it will be of use, I don’t know.”

Looking ahead, she has a pilot ready for her iconic Saans, “I am looking for a platform,” she says.

When one wonders about the state of Indian television, she is quick to retort. “Why should we bother about TV being caught in a bind when we have such amazing content on other platforms. They must be having an audience. It must be selling times. When it won’t sell, they will change too,” she says.

When one asks Neena, who lived and studied in Delhi, about her favourite places in the city, she retorts, “I am a Mumbai person. But I like to eat at Nathus. I love to roam around in Connaught Place and shop at the emporiums in Baba Kharak Singh Marg. I often went to shop for chudis at Hanuman mandir. Now, when I come back I go for my walks to Lodhi Garden and visit India International Centre.”

However, there are some things about the city that she doesn’t like. “Dust,” she says emphatically and adds, “Unprofessional and poking your nose in each others affairs.”

When you talk about Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, she is categorical, “I don’t think one should remake such a film.” Yes, just the way it is difficult to imitate the amazing grace that she has about her persona.

Writer: Saimi Sattar

Courtesy: The Pioneer

It is true that Jawaharlal Nehru was for his time, a modern person. But he could not convert modernisation into a mass movement as Modi has

The return of Mr Narendra Modi with a generous mandate for the second time makes it necessary to go into the rest of the phenomenon. When he was elected in 2014, there were experts who felt that the people had voted with their feet. Even tolerant Indians could not take the gargantuan corruption presided over by the financially honest Dr Manmohan Singh. Being entirely new to Delhi and Central politics, Modi was looked upon as a parvenu, who would play out his time rather like a cricket nightwatchman. With demonetisation, many a veteran of the Lutyens establishment was astounded. Actually, if an economy is to be modern, it cannot indefinitely run on two sledges, white and black: the latter had to be eventually eliminated. This did not make the veterans more sympathetic to Modi. Instead, in order to condemn demonetisation, they innovated and created a new expression— “informal sector” — for the Black economy.

The GST was originally initiated by the Manmohan Singh government and yet when the Modi government introduced it, the tax was repeatedly criticised by Singh’s party, the  Congress. Modi’s Pakistan policy was frequently denounced until Balakot. However, that he was the first Indian leader to be invited to address the British Parliament and to be asked for an exclusive lunch by Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace evoked no compliment from the honourable Opposition. Instead, the Prime Minister was accused of destroying institutions. In short, Mr Modi remained a parvenu in the Lutyens circle, who hoped he would be marginalised in the just held general election. In order to make sure that he does not return to power, the Congress president called him a thief on an average three times a day. Unfortunately for the Congress president and his party, the people of India decided otherwise.

Why have the people of India chosen Mr Modi for a second term in the face of the most furious opposition that any prime ministerial candidate has ever faced in independent India? Every political party in the opposition had one common programme and that was to remove Modi from power. Such a unanimous opposition agenda was last seen in 1977 against Indira Gandhi’s Emergency. But the masses of India perceived Narendra Modi as the first leader who had risen from the soil and loved his motherland more than everything else, including his own mother, whom also he loves. The people who have faith in him have not been disappointed. He has ruled for the last five years and convinced us that he has worked for the people and the country and not for himself. No previous prime minister could be tested on this touchstone. Do not think that this faith and sentiment are confined only to the Hindus; they extend to quite a number of Christians, Muslims and others, in whose veins run similar blood. Others, including many a Hindu, whose bodies reside in India but whose souls yearn for overseas, are not for Modi.

Narendra Modi is a moderniser of the country and within it. It is true that Jawaharlal Nehru was for his time, a modern person. He did think of building irrigation dams, factories that could build advanced machines, starting Indian Institutes of Technology as well as Management, giant steel plants and so on. When he became Prime Minister, the country was give or take, living in the 19th century. That India could catch up and become contemporary was not part of our thought medium. However, while Nehru did build numerous temples of modernity in a dominantly agrarian society, he did not bring about a revolution in the minds of the people that they needed to modernise and in turn, could put their shoulder to modernising the country. In other words, he could not convert modernisation into a mass movement.

Rajiv Gandhi was brought up in a contemporary environment and had spent time in England. He then learnt to fly aeroplanes; then a transport medium of the latest variety. He understood machines and certainly chose more or less the best passenger aircraft in the Airbus. An equally good choice was the Bofors artillery gun, if we overlook for a while the financial scandal attached to it. Gandhi, as it were, grew up parallel with the growth of the computer and could operate the electronic machine with aplomb, and he did try to introduce its use in government institutions. But before he could go far, he lost the 1989 election and went out of power. In any case, he might not have been able to go very far because he could not motivate men with the same aptitude he could move machines. Before we move to another prime minister, we should not forget to record that millions of telephones were installed in India during Rajiv Gandhi’s time.

Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, compelled by dire financial circumstances as he stepped into power, did bring about an economic revolution. From a party wedded to a socialistic pattern of society, it had now no choice but to overturn it into promoting laissez faire. In short, he embarked on a path of economic liberalisation as a step towards globalisation. Atal Bihari Vajpayee took liberalisation forward to some extent. His main contribution, however, was introducing the construction of modern highways, which can be considered a step towards modernisation.

To come back to Narendra Modi, he launched modernisation along with preaching its importance; of all places, from the ramparts of the Red Fort in his first Independence Day speech. He began with according  importance to society with the slogan Swacch Bharat. Even earlier, his election campaign theme of 2014 was development, which willy-nilly implied modernisation. “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas” clearly implies participation of all for the purpose of progress.

One of the first steps Modi took after becoming Prime Minister was to abolish the Planning Commission with the help of a Cabinet resolution. This was possible because Nehru had set up the Commission by a Cabinet decision. Such a Herculean economic step was taken without going to Parliament, perhaps because Nehru was apprehensive that the comparatively conservative members of the Constituent Assembly might not approve of such a commission. After all, national planning was introduced by the Soviet Union in the name of Gosplan. Incidentally, one of the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet economy was the excessive powers assumed by Gosplan.

As the years went by, the Yojana Bhavan in India began being misused for manipulating power over the States. Money was allotted generously, provided the State Government toed the Central government line. Whether the money allocated was used or misused depended on the State Government. The Planning Commission’s work ended with sanctioning the year’s Plan expenditure. The Finance Ministry disbursed the money. Thereafter, implementation and monitoring were entirely the State’s function. In the bargain, there was over-expenditure, misuse of funds and inflation. With the abolition of the Commission, inflation has come down quite remarkably.

Many reforms were introduced, especially keeping the poor people in mind. It is not that the previous governments had not thought of them, but a large chunk of the money earmarked was kept back by middlemen. As Rajiv Gandhi in his time had said, only 15 per cent reached the poor person. Mr Modi’s policy has been to ensure that all poor people should have their own bank accounts, wherein monies due to them can be remitted directly. All in all, it would be fair to say that through the last millennium, India experienced popular badshahs and hateful nawabs, benign rajas and cruel ones and the British rulers. But Narendra Modi is the first one who truly belongs to the soil of India. A 12-year-old schoolgirl discussing Modi was quoted saying that the measure of love is what one is willing to give up for it. And Modi intends giving himself to India.

(The writer is a well-known columnist and an author. Views expressed are personal.)

Writer: Prafull Goradia

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Why Varun Gandhi? BJP RSS mission beyond Modi Shah era will be determined by the choice of young leadership available with the party in the next decade. Varun Gandhi who has carved a niche for himself beyond his haloed family can be the answer; off course along with the top young leadership of the party namely UP CM Yogi, Maharastra CM Devendra Fernavis, Anurag Thakur, Smiriti Irani and others. Today he has expressed complete faith and appreciation for the current leadership of the party and surprisingly, he is critical of the present Congress leadership. According to him, there is absolutely no match for Narendra Modi leadership in the country and he has expressed confidence that Prime Minister Modi will guide BJP to stupendous victory in GE 2019.

BJP leader and youth icon Varun Gandhi is a sitting Member of Parliament for Lok Sabha from the Sultanpur constituency and likely to be renominated from Pilibhit parliamentary constituency soon. He is also member of Bharatiya Janata Party and was inducted into Rajnath Singh’s team in March 2012 as General Secretary. Though Varun Gandhi is a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family but he has carved out an independent identity in the national politics with tremendous hard work and strategic vision. Varun attended Rishi valley School and Modern School C.P. New Delhi and the British School, New Delhi where he ran for a position on the student council. Varun earned Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Economics from University of London. Varun Gandhi was first introduced to the Pilibhit constituency by his mother during the 1999 election campaigning. Maneka had been a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) since earlier but she and Varun formally joined BJP in 2004. Varun Gandhi campaigned for the party in the 2004 elections, covering over 40 constituencies. In an interview to Stephen Sackur in BBC’s HARDTALK in October 2005, Gandhi answered questions about the reasons behind his political affiliation and defended his father as someone who had helped revive the industrialisation of India by starting Maruti Udyog and whose strategy helped the Congress party’s comeback after the first ever non-Congress Janata Party government following an electoral routing for the Indira Gandhi-government after Emergency, among many other things.

In the 2009 general election, the BJP decided to field Varun Gandhi as its candidate from the Pilibhit constituency instead of his mother Maneka Gandhi. He won the seat by receiving 419,539 votes and defeated his nearest contending candidate, V.M. Singh, by a margin of 281,501 votes. The victory was the strongest of any of the four Gandhi family candidates in the election: his mother Maneka Gandhi, aunt Sonia Gandhi and first cousin Rahul Gandhi. The security deposits of all other candidates, including those of V.M. Singh of the Indian National Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Ganga Charan Rajput were forfeited. A case was filed against Gandhi for allegedly making a provocative speech about Muslims, at a meeting at Dalchand Mohalla area of Pilibhit, however he was acquitted by in court in the matter. On 5 March 2013, a Pilibhit court acquitted Gandhi in the second hate speech case registered against him during the 2009 Lok Sabha election campaign. In March 2013, Rajnath Singh appointed Varun Gandhi as the national general secretary of the BJP. He became the youngest ever general secretary of the party. In May 2013, Varun Gandhi was made in-charge of the BJP’s affairs in West Bengal. In June 2013, Gandhi requested Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to call an emergency all party meeting in view of the calamity in Uttarakhand in which thousands of people had died. He suggested a number of steps like contribution from MPLADs fund, forgoing of three months’ salary by MPs and tax incentives for corporate and individuals for help. He has said that he spoke to many MPs and all of them were ready to contribute. He said that the Speaker should act as a catalyst and coordinate the action plan. In July 2013, Gandhi handed over a cheque of Rs 1 lakh from his salary account to family members of former Jan Sangh Member of Legislative Assembly late Bhagwati Prasad, who died at a government hospital after prolonged illness and age-related complications. The former MLA had to spend over an hour on the floor of an emergency ward before doctors at the hospital realised he was an ex-MLA and was subsequently given medical attention. His family didn’t even have money to perform the last rites after his death. Varun said he came to know about Prasad only after his death. Describing the late MLA as a model of honesty, he said it was hard to find an honest leader like him. In August 2013, newspapers reported that Gandhi was the only MP in the country who had spent cent per cent of his MP Local Area Development Fund (MPLAD) before stipulated time. According to official sources, Varun Gandhi used his funds for the development in education, health and infrastructure activities. His proposals were worth more than the entire MPLAD fund thus ensuring the entire amount of 25 crore was spent during his tenure as a Member of Parliament. His political aides stated that he submitted the proposals on time and also employed his personal team to monitor the use of money.

In September 2013, Varun Gandhi accused the Samajwadi Party-led Uttar Pradesh government of pursuing the politics of appeasement, and said that its mistakes would lead to its collapse, after it denied permission to Varun Gandhi’s rally in Agra just two days before it was scheduled to take place. He denounced Rahul Gandhi’s infamous outburst against the controversial ordinance against convicted lawmakers, and said that it was an insult to the Prime Minister, who was abroad at the time, and therefore also disgraceful to the nation. He also said that if the Prime Minister had any dignity left, he should resign immediately upon his return to the country, on the day of Rahul Gandhi’s outburst. In March 2014, he said that he holds no ill-will against Rahul Gandhi and won’t campaign against him during Lok Sabha Election.In February 2014, Gandhi kick started his campaign for election 2014 in Sultanpur. He gave an emotional speech to an enthusiastic crowd in Kadipur, and said that he had come to Sultanpur to fulfill his father’s dreams. In May 2014, Gandhi defeated Amita Singh from Sultanpur in Lok Sabha 2014 elections.In March 2016, he introduced the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in Lok Sabha.

In August 2011, Varun Gandhi strongly pitched for the Jan Lokpal Bill. Gandhi offered his official residence to Hazare to hold his fast, after Hazare was denied permission by the government. When Hazare was jailed, Gandhi offered to table the Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament.On 24 August, he went to Ramlila Maidan as a common man to support the cause of Anna Hazare, becoming the first politician to openly support the anti-corruption cause. He  writes articles and policy papers for several national dailies and magazines in India, such as The Times of India, The Hindustan Times, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Asian Age, The Hindu, Outlook, The Pioneer among others. He writes the largest syndicated column in the country covering 21 newspapers – including Malayala Manorama, Lokmat, Hindustan Times, Rajasthan Patrika, Punjab Kesari, Amar Ujala, Sandesh, Bartaman, Sakshi – reaching more than 200 million readers. Gandhi wrote his first volume of poems, titled The Otherness of Self, at the age of 20, in 2000. His second volume of poems, titled Stillness was published by Harper Collins in April 2015. The book became the bestselling non-fiction book, selling over 10,000 copies in the first two days of its release. In 2018, he released his book on the Indian rural economy titled The Rural Manifesto: Realising India’s Future through her villages. The book sold over 50,000 copies in ten days of its release.

BJP MP Varun Gandhi has called for change in India’s political system, including the right to recall elected representatives and more representation for women, saying people should have a greater say in democracy. He said people are less aware about the selection of their elected representatives, and choose them based on caste, religion and region, which is not the way to take the country forward.

Varun Gandhi highlighted varied issues faced by the Indian farmers: Agrarian issues have always been at the forefront the Indian electorate, as a majority of our rural population is still is largely dependent on agriculture. However, decreasing landholdings (average landholding size is 1.13 hectares, decreased marginally from 1.41 hectares in 2000, a far cry from the global average of 3.7 hectares), rising input prices, unsustainable water usage, inadequate energy access and failure to take any advantage of economies of scale make farming an increasingly difficult proposition with time. Post 1991, agriculture has grown at 1% on average, while industry has grown at 8% – we have built our economy on the backs of distraught peasants. Policy apathy and policy inefficiency have adversely impacted farmer condition over a long term. Perhaps it’s time for a re-look at our national priorities.

Inadequate marketing reforms are an important reason for dwindling farm incomes. The challenge is that the farmer loses out in both good and bad times. In bad times, crop failures lead to rural debt and in good times, it leads to drop in prices. Our increased focus on groundwater extraction, essentially a symptom of inadequate irrigation, has led India to top the list of countries with maximum freshwater withdrawals, with water availability declining by 70% since independence. Free or cheap electricity for running pumps have led to reduced investments in our agricultural mechanization, whilst contributing to the financial burden of State Electricity Boards, which in turn remain ill-equipped financially to undertake transformative initiatives in our energy transmission and distribution. Our agri-procurement policies have incentivized farming of water-intensive crops in regions with limited groundwater availability and facing risk of aridity.

Farm loan waiver is essentially an emergency measure. It remains a short term, stop-gap arrangement till credit culture improves alongside rising farmer incomes. Let us consider few figures – indebted farm households have increased from 25 percent in 1992 to 52 per cent in 2016. The average debt of an agricultural household stands at Rs 1.04 lakh, whereas the average monthly income stands at Rs 8,900 – thus, average debt is roughly their annual in
come. Nearly 70% of India’s estimated 90 million agricultural households end up spending more than their earnings, thereby being caught in a spiral of ever increasing debt. In such times of economic desperation, a farm loan waiver is needed to provide immediate relief.

Non-farm diversification is typically an important pathway for empowering especially landless labourers and marginal farmers, helping them overcome the land constraint for growth while offering sustainable income that can provide capacity to absorb external farm shocks and provide capital for agricultural investment. Most of rural non-farm income is associated with urban migration, with most village youth working as labourers in nearby towns and cities. Among non-farm income sources, livestock and construction incomes are a broad-based critical component. The recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee pertaining to distribution of ceiling surplus and wasteland shall help our landless and small/marginal farmers.

Varun Gandhi is likely to be elected in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections and he will definitely play extremely vital role in the next government. Today BJP has formidable leadership in Narendra Modi and BJP is building up gen next leadership with an intention to dominate the national politics. Varun is the front runner for handling the command from the present leadership. Surely with his experience of parliamentary life, young leader will be the key to the macro level planning of BJP RSS think-tank.

Prashant Tewari Editor-in-Chief in conversation with Varun Gandhi M.P.: Inputs from Prakhar Misra Political Editor Opinion Express.

* VARUN GANDHI’S INTERVIEW WILL BE PUBLISHED IN OPINION EXPRESS NEXT ISSUE. 

The tragic end of the Congress’ greatest intellectual leader, PV Narasimha Rao, can never erase the contribution he made to redefine the journey of a modern, powerful India

Most of us visualise PV Narasimha Rao as a frail old man but he was a firebrand activist during his youth, engaging in guerrilla-type insurgency to topple the Nizam of Hyderabad. The angry young man subsequently rose to become the Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy. Rao’s calibre and competence can be equated with Jawaharlal Nehru’s gold standards in politics. The tale of perhaps India’s two best Prime Ministers is contradictory yet fascinating. Nehru and Rao did not have much in common except that both were intellectuals. Nehru’s intellectualism was shaped by Harrow, Cambridge and Lincoln’s Inn; by Bernard Shaw, Russell and the Fabians. He probably dreamt in English. The title of his book, The Discovery of India, is a disarming confession of his need for discovering the land of his birth. Rao’s intellectual centre, on the other hand, was India. Unlike Nehru, his knowledge of Sanskrit was profound. He was a man of learning, a scholar, a linguist and a thinker of the first order. His roots were deep in the spiritual and religious matrix of India.

Click to watch video : BharatRatna4 PV Narasimha Rao | Opinion Express TV

Rao was a man of the soil. From humble social origins, he rose to become the ninth Prime Minister from 1991 to 1996. As a teenager, he was part of the Vande Mataram movement in the Hyderabad of the late 1930s. Rao was a polyglot — aside from his mother tongue, Telugu, he had excellent command over several other languages — nine Indian and six foreign. His political career was shaped by his involvement in India’s struggle for independence. His early mentors included Nehru and Indira Gandhi. He was the most trusted advisor to the latter, having impressed her with his intellectual prowess. Former Law Minister HR Bharadwaj acknowledged that Indira Gandhi always depended on Rao’s intellect to navigate her Government’s policies and party’s machinery. She appointed him the country’s Foreign Minister in 1980. This gave him a big break. With his penchant for picking up languages, Rao fitted snugly into the high-flying world of international diplomacy despite being a teetotaller and a vegetarian. In 1986, Rao, as Human Resources Development Minister, formulated the National Policy on Education on his newly-acquired word processor in six months. However, he was unable to push for funds to implement the ambitious policy, which included the Navodaya schools.

By the summer of 1990, Rao was preparing to retire from public life and had packed his bags to move home to Hyderabad when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by LTTE sympathisers. Suddenly, circumstances catapulted Rao into the country’s top job. His ascendancy to the Prime Ministership was politically significant in that he was the first holder of this office from a non-Hindi-speaking region, the South. Rao was supposed to collapse soon — if not under his advancing age, then from pressure from multiple sources. Instead, he lasted the full five-year term, turned the economy around, brought normalcy to Punjab and stamped his authority by virtually pushing detractors to the wall to be the real centre of power in the Congress. How did he manage this feat? What led to the transformation of a timid party worker more willing to follow than lead as a decisive head of Government? How did the change of heart from a Left-leaning protectionist to a free market champion happen? What techniques did he apply to have his way in a party that largely had little regard for him? This happened in a year of multiple changes and challenges. India and the world were in turmoil and grappling with change, the historical significance of which was not immediately understood by many.

Similarly, we hold Rao in high regard for his Right-wing, pro-capital reform measures for opening up the economy to liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. But he was a fierce advocate and practitioner of socialism when he was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. His bold reforms for redistribution of land to the poor and downtrodden as also his strict enforcement of the land ceiling Act created such a strong backlash from established big landlords that Indira Gandhi had to take him back from State politics as a Minister in the Union Cabinet and declare President’s rule in Andhra Pradesh for some time. So it is extremely wrong to paint Rao as a Right-wing politician just because he was an architect of economic reforms.

The economic crisis of 1991 was the consequence of a political impasse India found itself in. A series of political and economic events of 1980s came to a head around 1990-91. India was on the verge of defaulting on its external payments obligations, with foreign exchange reserves dwindling rapidly as oil prices went up, exports went down and non-resident people began withdrawing their deposits in foreign currency accounts in India. While this situation can, in part, be attributed to unexpected and extraneous factors like the Gulf War of 1990-91, the difficulty was almost entirely on account of political brinkmanship and populism. The responsibility for the events that combined to push India to the brink of default must lie with Rajiv Gandhi, VP Singh and Chandra Shekhar and it was left to Rao to arrest the slide and clean up the mess. The credit for understanding the seriousness of the situation and acting in time goes to him alone.

Adopted to avert the impending 1991 economic crisis, the reforms progressed furthest in the areas of opening up to foreign investment, capital markets, deregulating domestic business and altering the trade regime. His Government’s goals were to reduce fiscal deficit, privatise the public sector and increase investment in infrastructure. Trade reforms and changes in the regulation of foreign direct investment were introduced to open India to foreign trade while stabilising external loans. Rao chose Manmohan Singh for the job: An acclaimed economist, he played a central role in implementing these reforms. The impact of these changes may be gauged from the fact that total foreign investment (including foreign direct investment, portfolio investment and investment raised on international capital markets) in India grew from a minuscule $132 million in 1991-92 to $5.3 billion in 1995-96. Rao began industrial policy reforms with the manufacturing sector. He slashed industrial licensing, leaving only 18 industries subject to licensing. Industrial regulation was rationalised.

Rao, who held the Industry portfolio, was personally responsible for dismantling the Licence Raj, as this came under the purview of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. For this, he is often called the “father of Indian economic reforms” although his own party refuses to acknowledge it. He was, in fact, the author of the most radical shift in India’s economic policy since Nehru’s famous Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956. Nehru’s resolution had declared that India would strive to establish a “socialistic pattern of society.” In 1991, Rao moved away from that pattern to unleash private enterprise.

Rao increased military spending and set the Indian Army on course to fight the emerging threat of terrorism and insurgencies as well as Pakistan and China’s nuclear potential. It was during his term that terrorism in Punjab was finally decimated. It is said that Rao was “solely responsible” for the decision to hold elections in Punjab, no matter how narrow the electorate base would be. Rao’s Government introduced the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, India’s first anti-terrorism legislation.

He even strengthened diplomacy, making overtures to Western Europe, the US and China.  Way back in1992, he decided to bring into the open India’s relations with Israel, which had been kept covertly active for a few years during his tenure as a Foreign Minister. Israel got to open an embassy in New Delhi. He ordered the intelligence community in 1992 to start a systematic drive to draw the international community’s attention to Pakistan’s sponsorship of terrorism against India and not to be discouraged by American efforts to undermine the exercise. Rao initiated the ‘Look East policy’ with three objectives in mind, namely to renew political contacts with the ASEAN member nations; to increase economic interaction with Southeast Asia in trade, investment, science and technology and tourism; and to forge strategic and defence links with several countries of Southeast Asia. He decided to maintain distance from the Dalai Lama in order to avoid aggravating Beijing’s suspicions and concerns and made successful overtures to Tehran. The ‘cultivate Iran’ policy was pushed through vigorously by him. These policies paid rich dividends for India in March 1994, when Benazir Bhutto’s efforts to have a resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva on the human rights situation in Jammu & Kashmir failed, with opposition by China and Iran.

In spite of significant achievements in a difficult situation, the Indian electorate voted out Rao’s Congress party in the 1996 general elections. Soon, Sonia Gandhi’s coterie forced Rao to step down as party president. Receding into forced oblivion, he died on December 9, 2004. But the Congress insulted a loyalist even in his death, simply because he didn’t figure in the dynastic paradigm of the party. It is alleged that the closest aides of Sonia Gandhi ensured his body was not allowed inside the AICC building and moved to Hyderabad. The grand old party ignored the debt it owed to the “Brihaspati (wise man) of Andhra Pradesh.” On multiple occasions, Sonia praised contributions of all Congress Prime Ministers except Rao in her various speeches. Even today, the Congress leadership shows extreme reluctance to acknowledge the role played by Rao to bail the Indian economy out of a severe crisis.

Rao was India’s first “accidental” Prime Minister and a path-breaking one. He took charge of the national Government and restored political stability; assumed leadership of the Congress, proving that there was hope beyond the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty; pushed through significant economic reforms; and steered India through the uncharted waters of the post-Cold War world. While the Congress has distanced itself from him, the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi has acknowledged his contribution in nation-building.

A simple man, Rao deployed Chanakya like tactics and strategies in dealing with the minority status of his Government, winning over support at times through questionable means. He was a man of simple tastes but with a complex mind.

Vinay Satpati, his biographer, has done an admirable job of putting up the thought process of the original “accidental Prime Minister” and the good and bad which came from that accident. In the end, though, the good is so overwhelming that the bad must take a back seat. To quote Sitapati, “His legacy lives on…his half-burnt body continues to glow.”  To sum up PV in a line, “he had Pandit Nehru’s intellectual capacity and Sardar Patel’s administrative calibre.”

(The writer has worked closely with the late Prime Minister of India; is Editor-in-Chief of Opinion Express and a columnist with The Pioneer) 

Writer: Prashant Tewari

Courtesy: The Pioneer