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Empowering Youth Voice
'Every Muslim should be a terrorist': Zakir Naik
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Editorial Dear Readers,
Zakir Naik is neither a representative of Indian Muslims nor a personification of Indian secularism. He is a bully who thrives on misinformation and sectarianism, and represents everything that is wrong with blind religiosity. He is an able manipulator and a serial liar whose popularity relies heavily on his recitation of the holy texts and their own hapless unintelligence.
Welcome to the August 2016 edition and thanks for your interest in our magazine. We always try to keep you updated with news/views/latest trend and exclusive happenings around the world. Inside this edition, you will find the latest developments and news from PSU's plus all the regular columns and features. There is no dearth of hate-mongers in our world. They are all bent on dividing the masses to achieve their own individual goals and they come in many kinds – political, cultural, ethnic, linguistic etc. But probably the most dangerous hate-mongers are the religious ones. Unlike the political ones who are accountable to the electorate and the media, the religious fundamentalists who preach hate and division hold themselves accountable to their personal god/s and their own interpretations of their holy texts. These religious hate-mongers have existed since the dawn of civilization and have wrecked havoc on every demographic and State. Even today, in spite of secularism and irreligion being on the rise, we have one too many religious fanatics working against the tide of human progress. Naik has time and again stressed that the Quran accurately describes many scientific phenomena (all the while calling biological evolution “unproven conjecture” which scientists support just because it goes “against the Bible”). It is easy to see how Naik can be a nightmare for feminists and secularists – or anybody capable of even a little rational thinking. And it is not difficult to see how he can easily prey upon the uneducated and ill-informed. Naik is an influential televangelist because of his sheer excellence at manipulating facts, igniting discord, courting controversy and embracing sensationalism. He is famed for his knowledge of the Quran and even other religious texts, often quoting verses from the holy texts by heart. But when it comes to making rational arguments, one needs more than religious knowledge. One also needs unbiased evidence and a great deal of logic. Any neutral observer of Naik can easily conclude that he lacks both of them. In the aftermath of the recent terror attack in Dhaka, Bangladesh, it came to light that some of the terrorists were inspired by Naik’s ideologies. This was not particularly surprising given the high popularity of Naik’s Peace TV in Bangladesh. Following the revelation, there have been repeated calls to take action against Naik’s hate speeches (and let’s not mince words here – his speeches qualify as hate speech). The Union MoS for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju has said that “Zakir Naik’s speech is a matter of concern for us. Our agencies are working on this.” Naik is already banned from making speeches in the United Kingdom (UK) and Canada. UK Home Secretary Theresa May (who is predicted to become Prime Minister later this year) said the following on denying Naik entry into the UK: “Numerous comments made by Dr. Naik are evidence to me of his unacceptable behaviour.” Naik’s lawyer called May’s decision “barbaric and inhuman”, citing the ban as an attack on free speech. Zakir Naik is neither a representative of Indian Muslims nor a personification of Indian secularism. He is a bully who thrives on misinformation and sectarianism, and represents everything that is wrong with blind religiosity. He is an able manipulator and a serial liar whose popularity relies heavily on his recitation of the holy texts and their own hapless unintelligence. Kushwanth Singh aptly said that Naik’s audiences “listen to him with rapt attention and often explode in enthusiastic applause when he rubbishes other religious texts.” Naik is an expert in the politics of division. Which is why we need to actively rebuke Naik and other personalities like him. Zakir Naik, Yogi Adityanath, Sakshi Maharaj – they are all part of the ilk who work hard to create discord and initiate conflict. Whatever the term “anti-national” may mean, these individuals certainly qualify to be termed as “anti-nationals”. They are threats to our democracy and to our future as a stable nation. Whether hate speech should be banned – or whether hate speech should be punished – is a matter of crucial debate. What is not a matter of debate is that agents of division like Zakir Naik should be rebuked and condemned by Indians from all walks of life. We look forward to strengthening the conversation with all readers through our social media platforms on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. See you next month.
Jai Hind
Vol-2; Issue-9 August 2016
Empowering Youth Voice
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5
News in Brief
Wrestler Narsingh Yadav fails dope test, Rio participation doubtful
National Anti-Doping Director General Navin Agarwal confirmed that, Narsingh's ‘B’ sample tested positive for a banned steroid. Barely 10 days before the start of the Olympics, India suffered a huge embarrassment as 74kg freestyle wrestler Narsingh Yadav failed a dope test conducted by NADA, a development which has cast doubt on his participation in Rio Games. National Anti-Doping Director General Navin Agarwal confirmed that Narsingh’s ‘B’ sample also tested positive for a banned steroid. He appeared before a NADA disciplinary panel. “Yes, he (Narsingh) tested positive for a banned steroid. His ‘B’ sample was also found to be positive. Narsingh was personally present when his ‘B’ sample was opened,” NADA DG said. “He appeared before a disciplinary panel yesterday. The panel sought for more reports regarding the matter. We will proceed further and I am hoping that the panel will proceed quickly. Till then we will have to wait,” he added. Asked if Narsingh will miss the Rio Olympics, Agarwal said, “It is too early to comment in that regard. We will try to complete the whole thing quickly. I cannot speculate on that.” Interestingly, Narsingh was selected for the Rio Olympics in controversial circumstances as double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar had also staked his claim to represent the country in 74kg freestyle. But Narsingh was favoured as he had earned the Olympic quota in the World Championships last year. Narsingh had to fight a lengthy legal battle with two-time Olympics medallist Sushil, also in the same category, to get the chance to compete for India at the Olympics. (Agencies)
Indian students join global bandwagon to develop smart gloves Indian students join the bandwagon of using technology to turn gestures into voice. After college students from Ukraine, New Zealand, Malaysia and Washington, now four students from Amrita School of Engineering in Bengaluru have come up with a smart glove that can recognise commonly used sign language in India and translate it into voice. The students call the smart glove MUDRA. Developed by Abhijith Bhaskaran, Anoop G Nair, Deepak Ram and Krishnan Ananthanarayanan, MUDRA glove can be worn like any other riding glove. Once worn the glove recognizes hand gestures in all possible directions and angles using flex resistors, accelerometer and gyroscope. The corresponding output is transmitted as speech through inbuilt speakers. The glove can currently recognize numbers from 1 to 10, and gestures frequently used by Indians corresponding to words such as morning, night, goodbye, thank you, etc. “We have used combination of finger gestures and hand movement to help detect and understand an action. We have prefeed 70 words that correspond various actions in the glove. This can be extended further as well,” said, Anoop Nair. Initially, the team intended to use a camera device, but as it proved to be bulky and expensive they shifted to flex technology. Each
20 killed, 160 wounded in Kabul explosion At least 20 people have been killed and 160 wounded in a powerful explosion on Saturday in Kabul's Shia Hazaras where a minority crowd had gathered to protest over a power line. Thousands of demonstrators had gathered to demand that a multi-million-dollar power line pass through their electricity-starved province of Bamiyan, one of the most deprived areas of Afghanistan with a large Hazara population. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the blast, but it comes in the middle of the Taliban's annual summer offensive, which the insurgents are ramping up after a brief lull during the recent holy fasting month of Ramazan. (Agencies)
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August 2016 New Delhi
flex sensors costs the team Rs 750, the team has used 10 flex sensors,an accelerometer and an gyroscope taking the total cost to Rs 7,500. The camera device version of the same glove would have costed the team a minimum of Rs 70,000. A prototype of the glove which was built in 16 weeks is being testing at the Amrita Robotics Research Lab. Students say the most difficult part of the glove which is also their final year project was the design as the glove. “The design of the glove was crucial as a stiff hold was required on the fingers. A range of values was calibrated precisely for each specific position of the finger and the rest was filtered out. This was a time consuming activity and had to be be very accurate,” said, Abhijith Bhaskaran, a team member. The team is looking to raise funds so that there can be mass production of the gloves and make it commercially available. The cost of the glove which is called EnableTalk is estimated to be $150 which would be around Rs 10,000. (Agencies)
India's first contribution to UN Trust Fund India, one of the largest troopcontributing countries in UN peacekeeping operations, has contributed USD 100,000 to a trust fund set up for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers, becoming the first country to make a contribution to the fund. The United Nations Department of Field Support (DFS) announced that India provided USD 100,000 for the Trust Fund in Support of Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. This is the first contribution to the Trust Fund the Secretariat has received, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters here yesterday. India has historically been one of the largest troopcontributing countries in peacekeeping operations and is currently ranked as the second largest contributor of military and police personnel. “With this contribution, the Government of India has illustrated its
strong commitment to our victim-centred approach in addressing sexual exploitation and abuse by UN civilian and uniformed personnel. We are extremely grateful for this contribution,” UnderSecretary-General for Field Support Atul Khare said in a statement. The contribution of India, the transfer of withheld payments and commitments from Norway and Cyprus will be utilized to develop a plan for use of the funds in this first year of the Trust Fund’s establishment. No Indian peacekeeper faced any allegations of misconduct as the UN received 44 allegations of sexual abuse in all peacekeeping and special political missions so far in 2016. (Agencies)
‘This is not called sleeping’ Rahul Gandhi was captured on camera, with his head lowered and eyes closed during the proceedings of Lok Sabha but Congress leaders asserted that he was not snoozing. Congress leaders on rushed to their Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s rescue after he was attacked by members of the Parliament for sleeping when the House was debating the recent atrocities against Dalits in Gujarat. “He was not sleeping, how can someone sleep amidst the kind of uproar made in the Parliament. It’s so hot outside, when we go inside, we just close our eyes for a few seconds, that does not amount to sleeping, there are bigger issues to worry about than these petty matters,” said Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury. BSP supremo Mayawati has earlier hit out at Rahul Gandhi for dozing off, asserting that it showed his lackadaisical attitude towards the sensitive matter. "When the discussion was going on in the Lok Sabha on the matter, Rahul was sleeping, so you can understand his attitude towards the issue and see how serious he is towards atrocities on Dalits," Mayawati told the media here outside the Parliament. Further hitting out at the Congress for trying to gain political mileage by chiming in at the last minute over the Dalit issue, she said that the grand old party had joined the party according to their own convenience. (Agencies)
IAAF ordered to ban Russians from Games at any cost: Isinbaeva The International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) actions suggest the organisation had got orders from “somebody” not to allow any Russians at any cost at the Rio Olympics, two-time Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbaeva said on July 17. The IAAF earlier rejected applications from all Russian athletes for participation in international competitions, including the Rio Olympic Games starting on August 5, except for long jump athlete Darya Klishina, who is trained outside Russia, reports Tass. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, had received a filed lawsuit from the Russian Olympic Committee against IAAF in defence of 68 national track and field athletes wishing to participate in the 2016 Summer Games. The hearings are due July 19, and the verdict
will be announced no later than July 21. “Athletes from other countries count days to opening of the Olympic Games, while we — to decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Where the global athletics is going to, and when will this all be over. Nobody replies,” Isinbaeva wrote
on Instagram. “For the first time, over the 20-years’ career in sports, I have to confirm in the court the right to participate in the Games,” the 34-year-old added. The three-time world champion continued: “I feel sorry for our young and promising athletes, who already have been deprived
of the right to participate in the global completion this year.” “I have a feeling, IAAF got an order — not to allow at any cost. Alas.” TASS learned on July 16 that USADA (US Anti-Doping Agency) head Travis Tygart is set to demand from International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach that the Russian Olympic and Paralympic teams be suspended from taking part in the Games. The decision should be taken not later than July 26, Tygart says in his draft letter, obtained by TASS. The WADA Independent Commission led by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren is expected to release a report on doping manipulations at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi. In the meantime, Tygart says in his draft letter that McLaren’s probe has confirmed the state has been patronizing the system of doping in Russia. (Agencies)
New Delhi August 2016
7
Business Updates Govt invites bids for NBCC stake sale
The Centre has invited bids from merchant bankers to carry out stake-sale in public sector construction company NBCC India. The Centre intends to disinvest 15 per cent paid-up equity capital (nine crore shares each of face value Rs 2 each) of NBCC out of its shareholding of 90 per cent, through offer for sale of shares by promoters through the stock exchanges. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management under the Ministry of Finance on Friday came out with an RFP (request for proposal). “The government is also considering allotting shares to eligible and willing employees of NBCC at a discount of 5 per cent to the issue/discovered price (lowest cut-off price) up to a maximum of 0.75 per cent of the OFS size subsequent to completion of the transaction under OFS. The employees will be eligible to apply for shares up to Rs 2 lakh only. “Merchant bankers/selling brokers will be required to render such assistance as may be required in this connection,” as per the Government’s notification.
DDA mulls to bring next housing scheme completely online
From "application to refund", the DDA is mulling making its next housing scheme a completely online affair to reduce the long queues of flat aspirants at its headquarters. "Yes, talks are going on to make the next DDA housing scheme fully online. Last time we had received over 10 lakh applications, both online and offline, but this time we are thinking of making it totally online," a senior DDA official said. Delhi Development Authority is slated to come out with its next housing scheme in December. As per recent reports, about 11,000 flats are to be offered under Housing Scheme 2016. Sources said, a large chunk of these may include flats surrendered by owners to DDA, which works under the Urban Development Ministry. Former DDA Vice Chairman Balvinder Kumar had in January 2015, however, said the "new scheme would be much larger than the 2014 project, and will include at least 24,660 LIG flats." The government last week said, over 40 per cent of the houses allotted by the DDA under its Housing Scheme 2014 have been surrendered or cancelled with some allottees complaining about the size of the flats and locality. "The DDA has informed that out of 25,039 flats for draw of lots in the Housing Scheme 2014, 10,653 flats have been surrendered or cancelled," Minister of State for Urban Development Rao Inderjit Singh said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. "We are in talks with certain vendors for upgrading our infrastructure to handle the expected increase in traffic, but nothing finalised yet. But, we are technologically capable of handling the online rush," he said. The draw of lots for 10,08,985 applications, the highest in DDA history, was held on November 25. For the first time the urban body had also webcast the draw process. The flagship Housing Scheme 2014 offered 25,040 flats across categories, with prices ranging between Rs 7 lakh and Rs 1.2 crore. In 2014, the online response was so massive that the DDA's official website crashed soon after the launch. The one- bedroom apartment flats were offered in Dwarka, Rohini, Narela and Siraspur areas. "We would upgrade our technical infrastructure but the number of applicants are likely to be less this time round as not everyone has online reach. But, we will equip our set up so as to handle the augmented traffic," he said. "From in line (queues), we want to bring people online," the official said.
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August July 2016 2016New New Delhi Delhi
Startup Village ranked India's best incubator
Startup Village, the country's first public-private partnership business incubator, has been named India's best startup incubator. Startup Village is ranked number one in a first-of-its-kind comprehensive ranking by the India edition of Entrepreneur Magazine of the 100 best startup incubators in India (25 across sectors and 75 sector specific), a release said. Last week, Startup Village entered its second phase with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan launching the online platform SV.CO that aims to provide a fully digital incubation framework to five million students in 3,500 engineering colleges across the country, it said. "SV.CO is the next big iteration of Startup Village, to give a world class student startup ecosystem to all 5 million engineering students India, who will build the future of our nation," Startup Village chairman Sanjay Vijayakumar said. India's leading startups Ola, FreeCharge, Tally, FreshDesk and Citrus Pay are already supporting student startups through SV.CO. "The PPP model of Startup Village gives its tremendous ability to create deeper impact and it has been changing the whole culture of student entrepreneurship across the nation," said H K Mittal, head of the National S&T Entrepreneurship Development Board. More than 50 startups have graduated from Startup Village's Physical and Virtual Incubation Programme and eight startups from Digital Incubation. Sixty startups collectively raised funds to the tune of Rs 46.53 crore (Rs 465 million) during or after the 6-month incubation programme. Since 2012, Startup Village has supported nearly 590 physical and virtual incubatees in Kochi and 200 in Visakhapatnam. “It is a great honour for Startup Village to be named the country’s best incubator just as it gears up for even bigger challenges in its search for a billion dollar campus startup," said Kris Gopalakrishnan, Infosys co-founder and chief mentor of Startup Village.
Aurobindo Pharma to step up product launches in US
Indian pharmaceutical major Aurobindo Pharma Limited, which has crossed $2 billion revenue mark in FY16, is planning to step up the momentum this year by increasing the number of launches in the US market as it aims to reach $3 billion in revenues in next two years. Even though Aurobindo had launched as many as 28 products in the US market in the previous year, it has carried forward 7 ANDA final approvals received during the year for the launch in the current year. In a clear hint at targeting more revenues from the US, which now contributes half of the company's total income, Aurobindo management told the investors in a recent analyst call that it anticipates to have an additional 30-40 product approvals that would all be launched during the current year itself. This comes on top of the the seven fourth quarter approvals, which include some of the key products that the company is planning to launch in the first quarter of this year. In response to a question on Aurobindo's bigger launch plans, Aurobindo USA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Robert Cunard said every product stands on its own so they have been evaluating the proposed launch of those products in terms of prioritisation to bring them to the market place. The company management says its intention was always to continue to fill out the full portfolio as they see that breadth of line is a key part of their value offering to the customers .The company as on March, 2016 has filed 398 ANDAs on a cumulative basis, out of which 251 ANDAs were approved including 36 tentative approvals and balance 147 ANDAs are under review by the USFDA, according to the company.
PSU Watch MK Mishra is Gov Nominee Director of UBI
Madnesh Kumar Mishra, Joint Secretary, Department of Financial Services has been appointed as Government Nominee Director of Union Bank of India.
Utpal Bora assumes charge of OIL CMD
NTPC bags three Corporate Communication Awards
Utpal Bora has taken over the charge of Chairman and Managing Director of Oil India Limited (OIL) on Monday. Bora has a rich and varied experience of over 33 years in the E&P Sector. He served in various capacities at ONGC, including OVL, in activities related to artificial lift, well completion, testing, well control, reservoir management, crude transportation/ quality assurance for refinery receipt, work over operations of onshore and offshore fields, planning and technical cell. At OVL he was specifically engaged in framing of policy directives and its implementation, co-ordination with national oil company of Venezuela, PDVSA under projects like Petrocarabobo and San Cristobal. His latest assignment was as Executive DirectorAsset Manager of ONGC’s Mehsana Asset. Bora took over as Asset Manager, Mehsana on October 1, 2014 where he was leading a team ofabout 2300 engineers and technicians to sustain production from brown fields with about 1800 operating wells, 07 drilling & 20 work over rigs, about 80 exploratory and development wells drilled per year and 38 surface installations.
NTPC has bagged 1st Prize of SCOPE Corporate Communication Excellence Awards 2016 in the Category of “Brand building through inclusive Growth initiatives”, 2nd Prize in the Category of “Best Internal Communication Programme ” and Consolation Prize in the Category of “Crisis Handling” at the Corporate Communication Summit organized by SCOPE in New Delhi today on 21st July, 2016. Shri Saptarshi Roy, ED to CMD & ED (Corporate Planning and Corporate Communication) and Shri P.K Sinha, GM(Corporate Communication) received the award from Shri Sudhir Chaudhary, Senior Editor & Business Head of Zee News and Padma Shri Dr. K.K. Aggarwal, in the presence Shri Nirmal Sinha, Chairman, SCOPE & CMD, HHEC; Dr. U.D. Choubey, Director General, SCOPE amidst other dignitaries.
AK Khachi is Govt Nominee Director of PNB
Anil Kumar Khachi, Additional Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Union Ministry of Finance has been appointed as Government Nominee Director of Punjab National Bank.
Six Directors inducted in NBCC (India) Ltd
NBCC (India) Ltd has appointed Ashok Khurana, Maj. Gen. Tajuddin Moulali Mhaisale, C Subba Reddy, C R Raju, Rajendrasinh G Rana and Sairam Mocherla as Independent Directors of the company.
Kamini Balram promoted as SBI GM
Kamini Balram has been promoted to the grade of General Manager in State Bank of India (SBI).
Hanumantharayappa appointed Chairman, Central Silk Board
K M Hanumantharayappa has been appointed as Chairman, Central Silk Board (CSB), Bangalore for a period of three years.
Palaniappan ceases to be on NCL Board
NS Palaniappan, IAS, has ceased to be on the board of Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited as Director. The company has informed NSE that NS Palaniappan, IAS, consequent on his superannuation, had relinquished as Director on the Board of Directors of the Company with effect from July 6, 2016.
Govt to revive units of BVFCL, FCIL, HFCL
The Government has decided to revive units of fertilizer PSUs BVFCL, FCIL and HFCL. These are Namrup-IV unit of the Bhramaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited (BVFCL), Ramagundam, Talcher, Gorakhpur and Sindri units of the Fertilizer Corporation of India Limited (FCIL) and Barauni unit of Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Limited (HFCL).
PESB selects SB Bhide for HOCL CMD
SB Bhide has been selected as the Chairmancum-Managing Director of Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited (HOCL) at a Public Enterprises Selection Board meeting. Bhide is currently posted as Director (Technical) in HOCL and is also holding an additional charge of the CMD.
Ashok Leyland to set up plants in Kenya
Hinduja Group flagship company Ashok Leyland has firmed up its plans to strengthen overseas presence as part of its vision to garner one-third of revenues from exports. The company is planning to set up an assembly facility in Kenya, Bangladesh through a partner and also expanding its UAE unit. According to the sources, the company has firmed up their plans to set up assembly plant in Kenya with a plan for investment. The company is mulling for 3,000 units plant with an investment of not more than $5 million.
SAIL supports Dharambir Singh to Rio Olympics
ONGC improves its brand valuation – 7th in India
ONGC has strengthened its brand position, climbing from 10th position last year to 7th this time. According to a recent study conducted by consultant Brand Finance, ONGC ($3.4 billion) has secured the 7th rank among top 10 most valued brands of India. The improvement in the oil major’s brand index comes with a bigger cheer this time. There has been an aggressive competition for places in top 100 brands. Emerging brands in e-commerce, telecommunications and technology and banking services are particularly competitive. Considering the turbulent world oil scenario, India’s national oil company (ONGC) has all the reason to be happy at this latest brand score card. Among the public sector turf, ONGC settles at the 3rd position among Indian top public enterprises of the country, following two retail-space peers. Brand Finance values brands on several factors. Apart from financial metrics, the future prospects are also evaluated in a competitive context to assign brand strength indices. "Reputation is a measure of the effectiveness of transmitted belief about attitudes showcasing respect" says the Chief Spokesperson of India's Most Reputed Brands.
The Minister for Steel, Chaudhary Birender Singh conferred the SAIL logo and felicitated Rio Olympics athlete Dharambir Singh, in New Delhi. The Minister of State for Steel, Vishnu Deo Sai, Secretary Steel Aruna Sundararajan and Chairman SAIL, P.K. Singh and senior officers of the Ministry of Steel were also present on the occasion. Chaudhary Birender Singh, while felicitating the Olympic (200 meters’ sprint) athlete said, “We are proud that the largest contingent of Indian athletes is participating in the Rio Olympics this time and Haryana State has contributed more than 23 athletes in the contingent of around 105 players.” Expressing confidence on sprinter Dharambir, the Steel Minister said, “we have full hope on his performance and wish him the very best for a great performance. SAIL has decided to support Dharambir singh along with wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt for the Rio Olympics. We will extend all support to him and look forward to a great performance in the Rio Olympics.” Chaudhary Birender Singh also felicitated his mentor and coach and physical instructors who are responsible for the performance of the sprinter in the training. The Minister of State for Steel, Vishnu Deo Sai felicitated the Olympian by presenting a shawl to Dharambir Singh. This encouragement and sponsorship from SAIL to the members of Indian Rio contingent is in tune with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi extending his wishes to the Indian Olympic contingent.
New New Delhi DelhiAugust July 2016 2016
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Cover Story
Why Zakir Naik is
dangerous? Dr Zakir Naik, the preacher who is said to have "inspired" the terrorists who blast in Dhaka's cafe. Dr Zakir Naik found himself in the eye of the storm after reports surfaced that at least two of the Dhaka attackers were "inspired by his preaching about Islam." Rohan Imtiaz, one of the suspected attackers of the terror attack carried out in Holey Artisan Bakery cafe, is said to have posted a message on Facebook quoting Naik prior to the attack. In this light, Minister of State Kiren Rijiju said, "We have to have evidence to produce before court for arresting him." NIA added, "There may be many who follow such a preacher, but that cannot make a case against such a person."
The many controversies
During a meet at the University of Melbourne in 2004, while arguing that Islam is the only religion that offered women true equality, Naik had said the more "revealing Western
dress" women wear, the more susceptible they become is to rape. In 2010, UK Home Secretary Theresa revoked his visa and banned Naik from entry the United Kingdom and Canada, after he was scheduled to speak in London and Sheffield. Naik has openly spoken against the theory of evolution, calling it to be "only a hypothesis, and an unproven conjecture at best." Speaking on apostasy, Naik's had said "there is no death penalty for apostates in Islam, until the apostate starts to preach against Islamic teachings; then he can be put to death." Regarding other religions, Naik argued: "how can we allow this (building of churches or temples in an Islamic state) when their religion is wrong and when their worshiping is wrong?" In 2012, the Indian governmentbanned the Peace TV channel from airing in the country. The New York Times also reported that the Mumbai police had barred Naik from holding conferences on the grounds that "he stirred controversy." One of Naik's most controversial remarks was when he said he "would not criticise Osama bin Laden." He said, "If bin Laden
Who is Dr Zakir Naik?
Dr Zakir Naik is a Mumbai-based Islamic preacher and televangelist, and the founder of the Islamic Research Foundation. He also heads a "comparative religion" channel called Peace TV. A trained medical doctor, the 50-year-old Islamic cleric has made it to the headlines plenty of times earlier with several controversies regarding his teachings. With his speeches and teachings, Naik has garnered over 14 million followers on Facebook and around 200 million viewers of Peace TV, which runs in Urdu, Bengali, Chinese and other languages. Naik is a self-proclaimed follower of the late South African preacher Ahmed Deedat. Walking in Deedat's footsteps, Naik gave his speeches in English and used technology to reach out to his followers.
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August 2016 New Delhi
Cover Story is fighting enemies of Islam, I am for him...if he is terrorizing America - the terrorist, biggest terrorist - I am with him." Then, he went on to say: "Every Muslim should be a terrorist. The thing is that if he is terrorizing the terrorist, he is following Islam. Whether he is or not, I don't know, but you as Muslims know that, without checking up, laying allegations is also wrong." In his defence, Naik later said, "I tell the Muslims that every Muslim should be a terrorist.... What is the meaning of the word terrorist? Terrorist by definition means a person who terrorises. So in this context every Muslim should be a terrorist to each and every anti-social Speaking on 9/11, Naik said on Peace TV in July 2008: "it is a blatant, open secret that this attack on the Twin Towers was done by George Bush himself." He confidently stated that "even a fool will know" that the 9/11 attacks were "an inside job." Naik is also said to be in support of the idea of Muslims having the right to sex with their female slaves.
Speaking on Dhaka attackers being 'inspired by him'
In his interview to The Indian Express, Naik condemned the ISIS. "By using the name Islamic State, we are condemning Islam...They are the anti-Islamic state of Iraq and Syria that has killed innocent foreigners. The name is given by enemies of Islam."Regarding the perpetrators of the Dhaka terror attack being inspired by his teachings, Naik said he was not shocked that they knew him. "The largest percentage of my Facebook followers are from Bangladesh. 90 per cent of Bangladeshis would know me, including senior politicians, philanthropists, common men, students and more. 50 per cent would be my fans. Am I shocked that the attackers knew me? No." "Such a person would be a hardcore fan of Prophet Muhammad. Does that mean Prophet Muhammad told him to kill people?" Naik asked, adding that the Quran explicitly states that when a person kills another, of any religion, "it is as though he has killed the whole of humanity". However, he clarified he does not "endorse their methods," adding that, "Such a person would be a hardcore fan of Prophet Muhammad. Does that mean Prophet Muhammad told him to kill people?" Naik also declared that when a person kills someone, "it is as though he has killed the whole of humanity".
ZAKIR NAIK’S CATCHING THEM YOUNG, SAY COPS Controversial preacher's Mazagaon school under govt scanner
T
By Munish Pandey
he Mumbai Police report says Naik's Islamic International School 'brainwashing' students, urging parents to keep kids away from 'un-Islamic environment' The Mumbai Police, in their report on the controversial preacher Zakir Naik, have raised "serious concerns" over the kind of education imparted to students at his Mazagaon school, called the Islamic International School. The report, which has been forwarded to the chief minister's office and the Home Ministry, said there was enough
material in the syllabus to indicate that the school was not only "brainwashing" students into rejecting other faiths, it also urged them to convert people to Islam. The state government ordered a probe against Naik, who allegedly inspired Daesh terrorists in Dhaka and members of its Hyderabad module, to know whether he was a threat to the society. Legal experts said that at best, he could be booked for hurting religious sentiments. The school angle, however, could lead to serious trouble for Naik, Mumbai Police sources said. The police investigation said the school, which also has a branch in
His other fans
Sources say the chief of Hyderabad module of ISIS, Ibrahim Yazdhani, was deeply influenced by Naik, having watched his speeches on a local television channel. Afghan-American Najibulla Zazi, the terror suspect accused of conspiring to bomb the New York subway in 2009, was also said to be a fan of Naik's teachings. Another of his followers were Dr Kafeel Ahmed, who attacked the Glasgow airport in 2007, and the 7/11 serial train blasts accused Rahil Sheikh n
Courtesy: India Today
New Delhi August 2016
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Cover Story Chennai, and which, according to its website, is "conceived, planned, and developed by Dr Zakir Naik", asks Muslims to stay away from non-Islamic schools. The police report, running into 71 pages, quoted from the school's literature to highlight how it aimed to 'insular' students. "Societal influences upon a child should be analysed critically. An un-Islamic environment can result in the corruption of a virtuous Muslim's Islamic understanding, upbringing and values. It is therefore recommended that Muslim parents educate their children in an Islamic school to prevent them from falling prey to the bad influences and immorality prevalent in society," the report quotes the school's literature as saying. "Some of the school's literature, which is also available on its website, is highly controversial and objectionable, and could produce indoctrinated individuals," a senior police officer said. The officer pointed to a paragraph on the school's introduction on its website, which says the school aimed to look after its students' needs even in 'afterlife'. The paragraph, according to the officer, talks about Naik's visits to 'Islamic' and 'other' educational institutions worldwide to grasp their approach towards Islamic orientation, teaching methodology, curriculum implementation and
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The state government ordered a probe against Naik, who allegedly inspired Daesh terrorists in Dhaka and members of its Hyderabad module, to know whether he was a threat to the society. management. "The pragmatic insights gained from these meetings and latest research and learnings on effective education strategies help in the continuous improvement and development of IIS, to be contemporary and Islamic... to fulfill the students' educational needs for
August 2016 New Delhi
this duniya and the Aakhirah' (hereafter)," the paragraph reads. State Education Minister Vinod Tawde said that he was aware of the Mumbai Police report, and was awaiting instructions from the Home Ministry. "The police report has been submitted to the Home Department. We will decide the course of action based on the Home Department advice," he said. The school management denied all allegations. A senior functionary of the school said, "The curriculum of the Islamic International School is a combination of modern academics and Islamic studies. Nowhere does it promotes any kind of extremism." Messages sent to Naik remained unanswered. However, his aide Mansoor Shaikh from the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) said, "The IRF is not privy to the police report." In a separate communication,
"Some of the school's literature, which is also available on its website, is highly controversial and objectionable, and could produce indoctrinated individuals" the IRF said, "Allegations against Dr Naik are false and baseless. Dr Naik firmly believes in promoting peace and harmony and has been doing that for decades. The IRF is a research body that promotes greater awareness of Islam and its tenets. Dr Zakir Naik is an expert in comparative religion and has been conducting well- researched talks on Islam and other religions across the world." n
Cover Story
ISIS's
Plan
to Terrorize India Sumitha Narayanan Kutty
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Sumitha Narayanan Kutty is an Associate Research Fellow with the South Asia Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore.
he attack in Dhaka earlier last month and the news of twentyodd “missing” Indians who possibly joined Islamic State have sparked a vigorous discussion on India’s preparedness to take on the threat posed by ISIS. These incidents have led to more questions than answers on the group’s presence, appeal and capabilities in the Indian subcontinent. This piece is a preliminary attempt to engage with some critical questions that shape how Indian security and intelligence agencies assess and address this threat in the short-to-medium term. What place does India have in Islamic State’s operational strategy? Where do competing regional organizations targeting India, like Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), lie in Islamic State’s universe of friends and foes? And how significant are the linkages between Islamic State and India’s most
important homegrown terror outfit, the Indian Mujahideen (IM), today?
“Go Big, But Stay Home”
With the group taking heavy losses in its own territories in Iraq and Syria, its spokesperson Abu Muhammad al-Adnani’s message in May encouraged “lone wolves” to pursue targets within their home countries. The call was not for all believers to head over to the expanding “khilafah” (caliphate) as per usual, but urge them to prove their allegiance by staying exactly where they were and inflict pain locally. The spate of attacks since June, namely in Istanbul, Dhaka and Medina, are in sync with this shift in narrative. As Islamic State gets more and more desperate, we will see more such attacks.
Is India ready to manage this shift?
The approach now greatly depends on (1) our understanding of Islamic State’s operational strategy for India, (2) whether Lashkar-e-Taiba and Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent are competitors or collaborators with Islamic State, and (3) in
what ways India’s most active, indigenous terror group—the Indian Mujahideen—is contributing to Islamic State’s agenda.
India in ISIS’s Operations Manual
At the global level, Islamic State’s messaging concerning India focuses on Kashmir. Probing deeper by examining the recruitment video targeting India and interviews with its regional leaders in its mouthpiece Dabiq, ISIS makes threats against Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, and declarations to avenge atrocities against Muslims in Mumbai, Gujarat and Assam, along with highlighting the group’s all-encompassing hatred for the “cowworshipping, pagan” Hindus. As a territorial entity, Islamic State organizes its domain under “wilayat” or administrative divisions. So far, the group has declared one such division in the Indian subcontinent—Wilayat Khurasan, consisting of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Apart from this provincial unit, the group’s magazine Dabiq regularly features operations and fighters from a second area, simply termed Bengal (i.e., Bangladesh)
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often branded “the Khilafah’s soldiers in Bengal.” There is no specific mention of a separate administrative unit or chieftain operating from within India as yet. Thus, in ISIS’s scheme of things, India lies vulnerably sandwiched between Wilayat Khurasan in the west and Bengal’s fighters in the east. Such a scenario facilitates guerilla attacks inside India from both sides. In an interview to Dabiq in April, the “amir” (chief) of the Bengal faction laid out his twostep strategy for India. The first stage would require both Wilayat Khurasan and the fighters in Bengal to create “a condition of tawahhush [fear and chaos]” with the help of “existing local mujahidin.” The second stage would involve gaining territorial control of India, but only after “first getting rid of the ‘Pakistani’ and ‘Afghani’ regimes” in order to exploit their conventional capabilities. Now, the second and final phase seems a very, very tall order. However, the first one— colluding with local elements to create chaos—is quietly underway. Before exploring these indigenous elements, it will prove useful to study Islamic State’s attitude towards two major South Asian terrorist groups that target India: Lashkar-e-Taiba and Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.
no real authority” in the pages of Dabiq. As one expert recently commented, Islamic State’s “special ire for Muslims” is what sets it starkly apart from its competition. Ironically, its closest competitor shares this sentiment. A senior AQ operative in an interview to the AQIS magazine Resurgence (summer 2015 edition) slammed Islamic State for “being built on falsehood . . . working for its own interests at the expense of the greater interest of the Ummah.” The subcontinental manifestation of AQ—Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent—is also viewed by Islamic State as colluding with Pakistan. As seen in Dabiq: “In India, they [AQ] are the allies of the nationalist Kashmir factions whose advances and withdrawals are only by the order of the apostate Pakistani army.” It is also important to note here that unlike LeT, AQIS has yet to prove itself a credible threat in India. Hence, unlike in the Middle East or Afghanistan, plans to manipulate the rivalry between ISIS and AQ is not an idea worth investing in just yet.
Contempt for AQIS and LeT
It is well-established that there is no love lost between Islamic State and Al Qaeda. Its leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is firmly branded “a leader with
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When it comes to LeT, Islamic State also demonstrates strong contempt for the group and its handlers, the Pakistani army and intelligence service. In an interview with Dabiq, the chief of Wilayat Khurasan minces no words in criticising the “apostate factions and agents” of Pakistan. Mentioning LeT by name, he then shares his disapproval of how the group’s members “proceed in accordance with the orders of the Pakistani intelligence.” The Kashmirfocused group’s lack of control over any territory is also viewed as a huge negative by Islamic State. It would be worth examining how and, more significantly, where this rivalry between ISIS and LeT could play out. Some discussions predict its likelihood in parts of eastern Afghanistan.
An ISIS Feeder Group: Indian Mujahideen– Linked Faction Returning our attention to the indigenous terrorist elements most active within India, Indian Mujahideen has topped this list ever since its rise to notoriety in 2008 with a slew of
strikes across the country. The trajectory of this local entity, it now seems, is directly linked to the future of Islamic State in India. IM is proving to be a successful feeder for Islamic State. More specifically, a certain splinter group of the organization: Ansar ut-Tawhid fi Bilad al-Hind (Supporters of Monotheism in the Land of India), or AuT. This faction broke away from IM due to its growing frustration with its bosses (the Bhatkal brothers, Riyaz and Yasin) and their Pakistani handlers in the ISI. Eager to gain combat experience, its members left Pakistan for Afghanistan, ultimately reaching Islamic State. Their story was confirmed by one of the Indian fighters featured in the propaganda video. The leader of the group, Shafi Armar (alias Yusuf al-Hindi), was based within Islamic State and, until his alleged death by a U.S. airstrike in April, led not only the recruitment of Indian fighters but also directed attacks within India through local modules. This second stream of local operatives organized themselves as Junud-ul-Khalifa-eHind (Soldiers of the Indian Caliphate), or JKH. This group was set up under Armar’s orders once it became increasingly difficult for large groups of Indian fighters to travel to Iraq and Syria unidentified. Mapping this local landscape leaves us with a few questions. For instance, who are the key figures guiding Indian recruits since Armar’s alleged death in April? Secondly, how complete was AuT’s falling-out with the Pakistani intelligence service? Would an “alliance of
Cover Story convenience” still prove useful to the India-based JKH?
The Threat Is Local
The counter-war in India has to now be prioritized against Islamic State, the ideology, rather than Islamic State, the territorial entity. This demands a quick shift in the strategies already employed by security agencies in Indian states as well as the central government. The principal focus should revolve less around the few “misguided” citizens who primarily engage online and proceed to the Middle East, and more strongly around the Indian operatives who choose to hang behind, using existing virtual and offline networks to create chaos in the homeland. A secondary focus should remain on intercepting those returning from the “Khilafah,” better trained to orchestrate an attack inside India. In the sole propaganda video that Islamic State has released targeting India, one of the six featured jihadists vowed to return to avenge atrocities committed against Muslims. As Islamic State loses territory in Iraq and Syria, desperate fighters returning home to continue the struggle is a very real possibility. In time, this would also indicate a change in the dominant profile of the average ISIS recruit inside India—not the youngster plotting to head abroad, inspired by the caliphate’s way of life, but the one who is willing to do the groundwork and the heavy lifting to execute its ideology within India. This recruit is willing to patiently organize, plan and execute targeted strikes with a resolve more tenacious than the former. And these ISIS-inspired recruits continue to rely on local networks to survey targets and access weaponry and explosives. The focus very much remains on disrupting these networks while probing and mending grievances at home. It is thus essential that we not be swayed by Islamic State’s penchant for the spectacular and its seemingly unstoppable global rhetoric. The threat in India remains very much local, and its networks familiar. n
NIA busts another
ISIS module
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Gorky Bakshi
he explosives recovered from the house of one of the five Islamic State (IS) suspects, arrested from Hyderabad on Wednesday, could contain chemicals similar to the ones used by the Brussels airport bombers earlier this year, a senior National Investigation Agency (NIA) official said. Triacetone triperoxide (TATP), recovered from the house of Habeeb Mohammad, can be assembled from chemicals easily available in the market. Officials said it was the group’s leader, Mohammad Ibrahim Yazdani (32), who had tasked Mohammad to prepare the improvised explosive device (IED) at his house. Officials said TATP, most preferred by the IS, was used by the Paris suicide bombers in 2015.
Partially assembled device
Mohammad, a school dropout, who was dealing in computer hardware, had partially assembled the “high grade granule chemical” after experimenting on it in a large vessel, the official said. A large number of nails, probably meant to be used as shrapnel, were also recovered from his house, the NIA official said. Yazdani, an electronics engineer was the only one among the arrested men who was directly in touch with their handler in Syria. The handler, officials believe, is Shafi Armar alias Yousuf Al Hindi, a former Indian Mujahideen (IM) member who had fled the country after the 2008 serial bomb blasts. His name surfaced earlier this year when the NIA arrested 25 men for suspected IS links in a countywide raid in January. “Only Ibrahim Yazdani was in touch with the handler. We have reasons to believe that it is Shafi Armar, as during the chats which we have intercepted, he introduced himself as a resident of Karnataka who travelled to Afghanistan and joined the Ansar ul Tauhid (AuT). He also said that right now he is in Syria to work for the Caliphate,” said the NIA official. Yazdani, the official said, never spoke to Armar over the phone or ever had a video call with him. They interacted with each other through Telegram — a messaging app — the official said. “On the directions of his handler, Yazdani showed a You Tube video clip to Mohammad on methods to make the bomb,” said the official. Yazdani never shared any details about his handler with other members in the group and told them that the information would be given on a “need to know” basis. He did not even share any information about the handler with
his younger brother Ilyas Yazdani (24), who is among the five arrested. The accused had raised Rs 1.5 lakh through personal contributions and most of the money was used in buying explosives and weapons. “It was on the directions of the IS handler that Yazdani sent Mohammad and Ibrahim to Ajmer to procure weapons in June. They were asked to give Rs 65,000 to a contact in Ajmer but they never got the delivery of the weapon, the meeting were fixed by the handler,” said the official. They were then sent to Nanded in Maharashtra from where they procured two 9 MM pistols. Officials said that till now they have not been able to ascertain the source of Rs 15 lakh recovered from Yazdani’s house. “We recovered a lot of loose money receipts from his house. A notebook containing entries pertaining to financial transactions have also been found and we are scanning the details,” said the official. Though the group was under surveillance for the past three months, the immediate trigger for the arrests were the phone conversation between the accused which hinted that they were planning to carry out terror strikes at religious places and government buildings. The other two accused, Mohammed Irfan (27), a mechanic, and Abdullah Bin Ahmed Al Amoodi (31), a vehicle painter, were also part of the module. Six others detained for questioning have been released.
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ISI diverting US fund to promote terrorism, reveals former Afghan spy
Manvendra
A
ccording to the documents released by Rahmatullah Nabil, Islamabad ‘strikes only those insurgents who threatens its
interests'. An ex-Afghanistan spy has disclosed classified documents which reveal that the money provided by the United States Government to Pakistan military for fighting terrorism is being spent by the country’s spy agency, ISI, for promoting and supporting terrorism. According to documents released by Rahmatullah Nabil, former chief of Afghan Spy Agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Islamabad ‘strikes only those insurgents who threatens its interests’. According to the Tolonews, Nabil has claimed that the ISI systematically supports the terrorist groups while pointing out that Pakistan has for long been funding terrorist organizations, particularly the Haqqani network. According to one of the documents leaked by Nabil, an “official letter dated July 2014 from the central office of the ISI in Islamabad was sent to MI-422 office in Swaba, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in which it directed the office to thank that the people that succeeded in plotting the attack on Kabul Airport (now Hamid Karzai International Airport) and gave 2.5 million Pakistani rupees to for every one of the following: Haji Khalil Haqqani, Haji Hakim Woluswal, Qari Zahir Shah and Mawlawi
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Hakim. Moreover, the office was directed to donate 1.5 million Pakistani rupees to the families of those that were involved in the attack.” Reportedly, insurgents had attacked the Kabul International Airport a day before this letter was issued. According to another document, the ISI 945 office in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in an official note dated April 6, 2015 to the central office in Islamabad wrote, “Officials of 945 office, in a meeting with Toryalai, the head of the network and his co-fighters on April 5, 2015, were tasked to kidnapped and kill Afghanistan’s Shia leaders in Herat, Kabul and Farah. In addition, they gave 2 million Pakistani rupees to the participant in that meeting.” In the note, it was mentioned that 23 people from Toryalai’s group who were busy with military training in Cherat had completed their training. According to another document from regional
August 2016 New Delhi
office in Peshawar to central command center in Rawalpindi, a Pakistani colonel wrote, “I want to inform you that a meeting was held between Hafiz Gul Bahaduri of Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group with the commander of Afghan Taliban Maulavi Hamdullah. The main purpose of the meeting was to provide rented houses to leaders of Afghan Taliban in Hayat Abad and Tahkal of Peshawar who have been deployed from remote regions of Miran Shah. In addition, armored vehicles and guards should be provided to secure their lives and activities.” According to Nabil, thousands of Madrasas in Pakistan are only involved in brain-washing, terrorism and extremism. n
Opinion
HINDU'S LIVING IN
MUSLIM NEIGHBORHOOD
S
Dhwani Khanna tatistics don't lie, Hindus are being marginalized in Bangladesh. The reasons are very complicated and explaining them is beyond the scope of this article, so I'll try to address them as briefly as possible. After the partition in 1947, the demographics changed drastically on both sides of the border. From 25% in 1947, this dropped to 18.5% in 1961. Before the partition, most landowners were upper class Bengali Hindus, and they couldn't move overnight and so the demographic shift happened slowly. Many who did not want to leave, had to eventually because the then Pakistani government treated Bengalis (Muslims and Hindus alike) very poorly. So the Hindu population was reduced to half in that stage. After the independence, Hindus (who stayed back in Bangladesh) finally thought they would be able to live in
their homeland peacefully. However, after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a series of quick government successions including several military coups took place which caused the country to take a turn for the worse. Many people thought there is no future in this country and left. There was a major brain drain at that time, and most never came back. Since India is the closest neighbor, many educated middle class Hindus also
left for India. This and the migration during 1971 really broke the backbone of Bengali Hindus in Bangladesh. In 1971, the war of independence started and this caused over 10 million refugees (mostly Hindus, since they were the main targets) from this region to go to India. Although official data says only 1.5 million stayed back in India, the original number is thought to be very high, upwards of 5 million. So this was another blow to the
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Uttar Pradesh
The big fight for UP 2017 elections Hindu population. However, the biggest driver of immigration of Hindus today is economic reasons. So it's easier for them to move to India than to move to Dhaka and look for jobs. All it takes is a small bribe for the border guards on both sides, and around a couple of thousand rupees to get a ration card and then you're safe. Bangladesh had a tumultuous history and both Hindus and Muslims suffered. Having said that, the biggest changes occurred before the 1990s, when the country was in a state of turmoil and disarray. If you look at the recent numbers, you'll see that the rate is decreasing which is a good thing. If I remember correctly, the latest survey showed a Hindu population percentage of 9.6% in 2010, so this is the first time the percentage showed an increase. Hindus are starting to feel safe and with the current government (which is generally considered more secular and has a strong minority support), hopefully this trend of migration will stop. Hindus are contributing significantly to the growth of Bangladesh. We may be Hindus or Muslims or Christians or Buddhists, but before that, we are Bangladeshis. n
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Amit Kumar
W
hile the country has just seen off a solid round of elections in big states this year, come 2017, it's the big one by every measure. Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state and one that ticks all the boxes in a high-energy, high-stakes political battle, goes to the polls. It's a cliché to suggest that the next election looming in the near future is poised to be the most interesting ever, but the one coming up in UP will make good on that claim. For starters, it is by all accounts the most crucial election since the Modi-led conquest of 2014. Crucial not because it's more significant than elections in other states – which it is in terms of numbers and implications – but because it will serve as a barometer for a vastly refreshed field of play. In many ways, the UP election will settle many questions: for the incumbent Samajwadi Party, for a seriously troubled Congress, but, most of all, for a Bharatiya Janata Party that needs a win to shore up credibility and consistency – something it has had wrested from it post-2014 in the conclusive defeats in Delhi and Bihar. With 70 Lok Sabha seats from UP in the 2014 election, the BJP cannot afford to lose face.
August 2016 New Delhi
And coming as it does just two years before the 2019 general election, the UP result could prove a prescient and psychologically significant barometer of things to come. The dynamics of power in the BJP party structure have changed so profoundly in the last 24 months that the prospect of musical chairs ahead is as good a bet as any. Hectic parleys and negotiations have now begun at the BJP HQ in Delhi. Top sources indicate that the following four names are in the field of play, before the PM and Amit Shah make a final decision. In order of seniority in government and party:
Rajnath Singh
Currently Union Home Minister and the MP from Lucknow, Rajnath would appear a 'safe' choice. The top brass of the party looks favourably upon Rajnath being the CM candidate for 2017. Sources say that even though Rajnath himself is not sure of his prospects, he is a leader that checks all the boxes for the job. A Rajput born in a farmer's family, he's a veteran lawmaker from the state, and has always represented UP. Rajnath's closeness to the RSS doesn't hurt his prospects either. But having served as CM in 2000, the possibility of not getting the numbers the second time
around scares him – he believes there's too much risk for him personally.
Smriti Irani
Currently Union Textile Minister, she lost Amethi in 2014 to Rahul Gandhi in one of the most heated battles of the election. Fiery, strong-willed and a woman leader admired massively by the middle class and by younger voters, Smriti will be banking on her rocksolid relations with PM Modi to secure her projection as a CM face in UP. Controversies within her domain aside, Smriti has usefully demonstrated he ability to weather tough times and hostility from within the party. Her fearsome stance on the Gandhis is still seen as one of the most visceral and powerful within the BJP. But given the unvanquishable matrix of caste in the state, Smriti doesn't check enough boxes – she simply doesn't fit the bracket of castes in UP. Second, despite it being a token prestige battle that served to unnerve the Congress and the Gandhis, her loss in 2014 to Rahul Gandhi is still a loss. Most importantly, Smriti is not from Uttar Pradesh. Smriti's supporters will be quick to remind you, however, that neither is PM Modi. And he's an MP from Varanasi.
Yogi Adityanath
A consistently controversial leader in UP for the BJP, Adityanath manages to stay visible no matter what. A mahant and
a devout saffron-wearing Hindu with a record for communally charged speeches and comments, Adityanath is angling hard to be the BJP's CM face. He's popular in the Gorakhpur area, but his baggage and readily hostile stance on a range of issues make him controversial for a party that's trying to turn down the gas on its many hot potatoes.
Feroze Varun Gandhi
One of the BJP's youngest leaders, he is little seen in the usual bustle of the Delhi stage and national media, preferring to keep a low profile. When he isn't in Delhi attending Parliament, he's usually touring in UP. And make no mistake – he has had an eye fixed on the possibility of fronting the BJP's campaign for UP in 2017.
In many ways, the UP election will settle many questions: for the incumbent Samajwadi Party, for a seriously troubled Congress, but, most of all, for a Bharatiya Janata Party that needs a win to shore up credibility and consistency For starters, his farmer outreach programme has been well received at a time of agrarian crisis in the state.
Varun also has a progressive liberal approach that's visibly at odds with his party's markedly right wing approach – he'll be hoping that means he attracts those outside the core vote base of the BJP too. To top off the positives, Varun has managed to be marked favourably in regional newspaper surveys. The negatives, as it turns out, are just as significant. Whether ideological or a personality clash, Varun's relations with both PM Modi and Amit Shah aren't exactly warm. The crowd numbers controversy (where Varun reportedly said that media reports of the numbers at a Modi rally were exaggerated), his praise of his cousins in the Congress and a general sense that he is detached from party work definitely go against him. The BJP is holding its campaign committee/national executive meet in Allahabad on June 12-13 in the run up to the state elections of 2017. More decisions will be firmed up in the next fortnight. The battle for UP is a matter of honour for the Prime Minister. His election-winning prowess already slowed by significant defeats, he needs a strong result in UP to re-conjure the idea of a Modi wave and get that crucial, if inscrutable, ball rolling towards 2019 once more. Bihar 2015 was a wake up call for the BJP. Assam 2016 was a major shot in the arm. But Uttar Pradesh 2017 will be the ultimate post-2014 test for Modi and his party. n
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national
GST – A game-changer for India Prakash Chawla
T
he 122nd Amendment to the Constitution will go down in India’s politicaleconomic history as a watershed, as it is about to give the country the most progressive tax reforms till date in the form of Goods and Services Tax (GST) which should make life easier for the trade and industry and more importantly reduce the cost of goods and services for the consumer, without compromising on the revenues of either the Centre or the States. In fact, the GST should lead to a tax buoyancy and push to the Gross Domestic Product between 1-1.5 per cent with clearance of the cob web of taxes. The excitement among the industry, trade and investors is justified. By a single measure, India would move up the World Bank ranking of ease of doing business by several notches. It is true the GST Bill has been pending for over a decade but the fact that the NDA Government has been able to build a wide political consensus on, what has been the most contentious issue, has conveyed a huge positive signal to the rest of the world that India enjoys a broad political support for the economic reforms, crucial for over a billion people.
What is GST?
It is a plethora indirect taxes which contribute to bulk of revenues of the states and just about half of the tax kitty of about Rs 16 lakh crore of the Central Government. While direct taxes like the personal income tax concern a small fraction of the population, the indirect taxes affect every Indian. Since the indirect taxes are on consumption , rich and poor , both have to pay the same amount. Presently, the Constitution gives mandate to the Centre and the States to levy indirect taxes ranging from excise duty, customs, service tax. Valued Added Tax or sales tax, entertainment tax, octroi, entry
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tax, purchase tax, luxury tax and different surcharges. Both the Centre and the States have their own official machineries to collect these taxes. But for Central excise and VAT, most of the taxes get calculated on a base which itself has been subjected to taxation at some or the other stage of manufacturing value chain. So, it is a tax on tax making goods and services rather expensive for the ultimate
where the taxes like excise and Central sales tax are levied on manufacturing at the factory gate or on inter-state movement of goods, the GST involves taxation at the destination level. This could mean gains for the consuming state and loss for the manufacturing state. This is why the state with a good manufacturing base like Tamil Nadu was opposed to the GST and consuming states like Bihar,
consumer while making life hard for the trade and industry. The most visible example of inefficiencies of the system can be seen at inter-state borders with long queues of trucks being subjected to different kind of tax inspection and payment of octroi and entry tax, blocking traffic on the highways for hours together. With the roll out of the GST, expected from April 1, 2017, all these taxes would be subsumed into a single tax for the consumer. The Centre would levy and collect Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST), and States would levy and collect the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) on all transactions within a State. The input tax credit of CGST would be available for discharging the CGST liability on the output at each stage. Similarly, the credit of SGST paid on inputs would be allowed for paying the SGST on output. Services and goods would be subjected to taxes only on value addition at each stage, thus bringing down the overall tax burden for the consumers.
West Bengal and Odisha favoured the same. But, the GST Bill provides for fully compensating the losses to the states for five years. The earlier provision of additional one per cent levy for the losing states has now been done away with. Impact on inflation Analysts feel that in the short term, there could be some impact on prices of services which now attract an average service tax of around 14 per cent only at the Central level. However, in the case of manufactured products like automobile, the standard GST could be much lower than the combined present effect of excise and state levies. However, in the medium to long term, this should play out. On the whole, GST should be anti-dote to inflation and would thus be people-friendly along with trade /industry friendly. It would also bring in a lot of unorganized sector of the economy within the mainstream.
From manufacturing to destination
As against the present system
August 2016 New Delhi
GST Rate
There would be about three rates – Standard rate in the form of X which will cover bulk of the items , X-minus for the items of mass consumption and
X-plus for the luxury goods or the so-called “sin goods’’. In the Constitutional Amendment, there is no mention of the GST rates, which would be decided by the GST Council comprising of Union Finance Minister as the Chairman and Finance ministers of the states. Any decision of the GST Council would require three-fourth approval of the Council. The states would have two –third of the voting powers and the Centre one-third. The Congress Party has demanded a ceiling of 18 per cent on GST standard rate while the government is called upon to ensure the revenue neutral rate (RNR). Any major deviation from RNR could be counter-productive either for inflation or for fiscal prudence. Getting the right RNR both for the Centre and the states would be a major challenge.
Left out
Petroleum products and alcoholic beverages have been left out of the GST, for now, on concerns of the states which feared these major revenue heads could not be bargained for. For the sake of wider political consensus, these heads have been left for the future reforms.
What Next?
After approval of Parliament, the GST Bill would go for ratification by at least half the states. The process is expected to be completed very soon. Afterwards, Parliament will have to again pass two enabling bills – one for the Central GST and the other for the Integrated GST. Besides, the state legislatures will have to pass the enabling law of State GST. In the meantime, work on the central IT backbone being prepared by a non-profit organisation is being done on a war-footing for the possible roll out from the next financial year. n * Prakash Chawla is a senior journalist and commentator. He mostly writes on political-economy and global economic issues.
national
Power Packed Reforms Get Global Recognition Anupama Airy
C
onsidered to be the backbone of any economy, India’s power sector has never witnessed reforms as it has in the past two years. Not that reforms in the power sector were not talked about in the past but they somehow failed to take flight and remained just that- a collection of perfectly placed words on paper. May 26, 2014- Narendra Modi led NDA government assumed charge and that was the last day of silence in the power corridors. Ever since, the Indian power sector has been bustling with activity. Within days of new government taking over, Piyush Goyal the new Power Minister announced a host of flagship schemes that eventually have changed the face of India’s power sector.
Global Agencies Laud Power Reforms
Today, the reforms in the power sector are being recognised by global agencies be it the World Bank or the ADB or for that matter international rating agencies like the Standard & Poor (S&P) or Fitch. During a recent visit, the group president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim congratulated the government for its reform initiatives and announced over $one billion support for India’s solar power projects. Two years back the power sector was an area of top concern with the domestic as well as international funding and rating agencies. Yet here we are two years later, talking about the very same power sector and those very same agencies but with a difference. A difference of leadership and vision. One, which has replaced all questions and concerns with an optimistic outlook.
However this task wasn’t easy. It took a great deal of new reforms and initiatives which is what we must examine in detail. Until 2014, the country’s entire focus was on power generation without similar work being done on the transmission and distribution side. And even with the focus on generation, fuel scarcity -- both coal and gas --led to investments and projects getting stranded and bank finances getting stuck. Banks were unwilling to lend and investors did not want to invest in the power sector. Depleting financial health of state distribution companies resulted in poor offtake of power thus leading to massive power outages across the country. To put it simply, the power sector was in chaos. When the NDA government assumed power, it came to terms with the actual hay wire state of the power sector. However, the Power ministry soon swung into action and announced sure shot initiatives to stabilise the tumbling power sector. The first such initiatives, was announcing a few flagship programs like the 24x7 Power For All plan. The road wasn’t smooth. The first hurdle came their way when they realised that most of India’s state distribution companies (DISCOMS) that purchase electricity from generators, were facing massive financial issues and were unable to either procure sufficient power for the customers they serve or upgrade their age old distribution networks that needed modernisation. At the same time, it was also realised that with power being a concurrent subject, no scheme could be forced upon any State and had to be an optional one. But at the same time if it is made lucrative enough, it will see active participation of the States. This led to the launch of UDAY
or the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana for the financial and operational turnaround of the State Distribution Companies in November 2015. UDAY provides the ailing Discoms with a clear roadmap and opportunity to become profitable in the next 3 years. Presently, despite the scheme being an optional one, as many as 20 States have given their consent to join of which, 13 States, viz, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Bihar, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh have already signed MOUs with the Central Government.
Energy Efficiency Measures
The story of reforms initiated by the government would be incomplete if one did not touch upon the success of energy efficiency measures. As energy saved is energy generated, the unassuming strides that have been made by this government through energy efficiency measures is anybody’s guess. The state-owned Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) that did around 6 lakh LED bulbs a year is today doing close to Rs 8 lakh bulbs a day—a record of sorts by any standards. ‘Affordable LEDs for All' programme, being led by EESL, involves replacement of incandescent lamps/CFL bulbs with LED bulbs to save energy and reduce the bills of customers.
Empowering Rural Areas
Another innovative scheme of this government has been the distribution of SIM enabled mobile phone connected smart energy efficient agricultural pumps to farmers and replacing the age old agricultural pumps. These smart agri pumps give
Indian farmers the advantage to sit in the comfort of their homes and operate pumps through mobile phones. Distribution of energy efficient fans, tube lights and Air conditioners are some other initiatives by EESL. Empowering its people especially those staying in the rural belts has been recognised as the topmost priority by the Prime Minister. In his address to nation on Independence Day, PM announced a plan to electrify the remaining 18,452 unelectrified villages of India within 1000 days i.e. by 01st May, 2018. Power Ministry has decided to take this project on mission mode and put in place a strategy for electrification of villages almost a year ahead of the deadline set by the PM. Today, 8,681 villages have already been electrified till date (3rd July, 2016) and out of remaining 9,771 villages, 479 villages are uninhabited, 6,241 villages are to be electrified through grid, 2,727 villages to be electrified through off- grid where grid solutions are out of reach due to geographical barriers and 324 villages are to be electrified by State Govt own. In order to expedite the progress further, a close monitoring is being done through Gram Vidyut Abhiyanta (GVA) and various actions are also being taken with the state Discom, identifying the villages where milestone progress are delayed. The ideas, initiatives and promises of the government seemed too good to be true in the beginning but as time as has gone by these dreams have transformed into reality and if this is the way things are looking now, this author can only imagine what the final outcome would be and all she wants to say is, “I like what I see”. n *Anupama Airy is a senior freelance journalist and a regular contributor of Articles on Energy Sector.
New Delhi August 2016
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feature
Garam Chai, it is India’s
lifeline M
Jinender Madan
y best friend in my office is probably the shy, young canteen boy who gives me a cup of tea exactly at 11 in the morning every day. Till he comes and pours the tea in my cup, I can’t bring my brain to operate to its fullest capacity. Once I see him, I feel at peace and energised. Well, I am not alone in my obsession with tea. There are many across India who can’t think of starting their day without a cup of tea. Or, many cups of tea. For many, many years, lots of things in India happened over tea. But there was no glamour attached to it. It was a part of life but not a lifestyle statement. Many from my generation grew up with the song ‘Sayad meri shaadi ka khayal..Isi liye mummy ne meri tumhe chai me bulaya hain’ (perhaps there is marriage in the mind, that is why my mother has called you for tea). Chai can be easily called India’s lifeline. From railway platforms to swanky living rooms of India’s rich and neo rich, chai is omnipresent. To understand tea, you have to understand the emotions that come with it in that little cup. One of the most endearing memories of growing up in India is the train chugging along the country’s vast terrains and entering into a station where the cries of ‘chai, chai garam’ almost embraces one with a deep sense of love and affection. Nothing comes close to sharing a cup of tea with your friends. And let us be honest, chai always tastes better with a bit of harmless gossip. Some years back, when I used to visit my friend in Mumbai (she always came to receive me at the station even though the train used to arrive at 4.30
22
in the morning), we used to sit together cozily in her living room with two cups of tea in our hands and discuss in utter seriousness who’s sleeping with whom in Bollywood and who’s giving whom a rough time. Chai is more/less like India. There are many layers to discover. So, when you want to save a little money, you go for the cutting chai. Where else in the world you will get this unique ‘cutting chai’ (for those who are uninitiated, cutting chai is a glass of tea that’s divided into two). What’s more romantic than watching the lashing rains with a cup of garam chai and a plate of pakoda (vegetable fritters). And if you love your share of ‘spice’ in your life then nothing is more welcoming than a cup of ‘adrak chai.’ With ginger and pudina (mint) added to your tea, you can be as efficient as the Chinese machine. Chai has different avatars (forms) in different parts of India even though there’s a thread that runs through it. The English might give their ‘bed tea’ a miss but the Punjabis do not. Every time I stay at my Punjabi friend’s house, her domestic help wakes me in the morning up with a cup of bed tea. Needless to say, the tea comes with an overdose of milk and sugar. In Gujarat where even dal comes with a generous sprinkling of sugar, the less it’s said about the sugary chai, the better it is. Chai here in Gujarat is much savoured with khari biscuit, maska bun, khakhra and ganthia. In India’s intellectual city Kolkata (no other city can boast of this tag), people can spend hours and hours at addas (informal meetings) and over cups of tea argue endlessly over Mamta Banerjee and Dibaker Banerjee. But there’s a new competition to our humble chai now. Swanky coffee shops with wifi connection have become a part of urban
August 2016 New Delhi
landscape. From ‘make-ups’ with nervous giggles, job interviews, business deals to break ups— lot is actually happening in the sanitised air-conditioned coffee shops. Suddenly cappuccino, cafe latte have become part of urban dictionary. Sipping frothy coffee with a smiley carefully done has become a sign of ‘being cool.’ Smartphones and a cup of cappuccino is the sure shot way to show off your cool quotient. Now where does the humble chai actually figure in? Well, the chai has got a makeover. Urban India has now moved beyond those karak chai, adrak chai or overboiled sweet chai. It’s now time for peach tea, apple tea, green tea. Exotic is mainstream now. With new money showing its ugly face at every nook and corner of the street, the chai has to keep pace too. And make way for not that ordinary garam chai that comes in a kullad. There’s less masculinity about tea. I feel, there’s tenderness about tea. Tea is like a love story taking its own time to evolve. It’s not in a hurry to prove itself to the world, unlike coffee. Trapped in a bone china cup that arrives on your table even as the blaring music of Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’ shows a slice of globalisation penetrating India, it’s a little bit on your face. Maybe it has got to with the fact that now in urban India coffee has suddenly become a lifestyle statement. Every now and then friends, colleagues and acquaintances say, “Let’s meet over coffee.’ A time will soon come when people will say, ‘Let us make love over coffee.’ Do I see any threat to our good old chai? No, not really. To have chai is politically correct now. We have a ‘chaiwalla’ Prime Minister now (Mani Shankar Aiyer you can eat your own words). And yes, hopefully we will have lots to discuss over a cup of tea. You know, chai pe charcha (discussion over tea)? n
personality
Never give up “LEADERSHIP IS SOMETHING THAT COMES NATURALLY TO ME"
Mandira Raut Thapa
I
n a world where most people are concerned just about themselves and their families, there are a few individuals who view the bigger picture. These individuals are constantly exploring ways to contribute to the welfare of the entire society. They believe in hard work, determination and possess a never give up spirit. They go the extra mile to help those in need. Mandira Raut Thapa is one such individual. She is the Founder, President of Utsah Nepal, a social venture that works
actively for women and youth empowerment, community development and agricultural reform. Utsah Learning Centre, a sister company of Utsah Nepal, provides a platform for the youth to learn the nuances of public speaking, debating and other various life enhanching skills. She was also the Director of Leadership Academy for two years and the Producer of Today’s Youth Asia television shows that promote youth activism, ethics, empowerment and positive change. Her work experience and training has
given her knowledge, skills and exposure to start her own organisation. Thapahas been recently appointed as the Secretary of the International Women’s Association of Radio and Television (IWART) Nepal chapter, that works as a platform for women journalists. Utsah Nepal has collaborated with a radio station and at the moment, she is involved in production and presentation of the motivational show, ‘Utsah’. Her programmes concentrate on uplifting the status of youth and women in the Nepali society and shedding light on social issues such plaguing our society today. She works toward guiding youth to convert their dreams into concrete realities for their better future and the overall prosperity of the nation. Thapa says, “Leadership is something that comes naturally to me. Early in life I started to write articles, organise events, attend and conduct leadership trainings. I liked that my voice was being heard and my opinions were respected and well received by the public.” She adds, “I was the school Head girl and always believed that I had good leadership qualities. However, success does not come easily; everyone has to work hard for it. And, so did I.” She had participated in the Indigo Humanities Week 2007 in South Korea and in ‘Conflict Resolution’, a workshop with women leaders organised by JBK Institute for Peace and Justice (University of San Diego) in 2007. She was also the youth speaker at ‘Women Building Peace’ organised by International Women’s Association of Radio and Television (IWART) in 2007. Moreover, she has also been a part of the ‘International Visitor Leadership Programme’ of US Department of State Bureau of Educational & Cultural Affairs in 2009 and was a speaker at
the ‘Indigo Youth Book Fair 2010’ in South Korea. She believes that anyone can reach great heights of success if they are trained well and if the aspire to do so.
In a society where women are mostly expected to take care of the household Thapa has reached the pinnacle of success professionally. She says, “Life is all about turning your vision into action. Always Thapa shares, “It is extremely important for every individual especially women to stand on their own feet. Education and training enhances creativity and intellectual capacity of a person.” She further adds, “The work and social activities I am involved in liberates me. I am passionate about empowering employees and teams I work with. We can move ahead only if the people we work with are happy and content. Many people do not understand this and work solely to out do others, this should change. Although being competitive has its own benefits collaboration and cooperation is what the world today requires the most,” she says. In a society where women are mostly expected to take care of the household Thapa has reached the pinnacle of success professionally. She says, “Life is all about turning your vision into action. Always love what you do and continue doing it until you get your desired results.” n Courtesy: Himalayan Times
New Delhi August 2016
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Entrepreneur
Prem Ganapathy The Dosawala Barkha
P
rem Ganapathy, was stranded at the bandra station,when the person accompanying him left him and ran away. Prem had no local acquaintances or knowledge of the language. Out of pity, a fellow Tamilian guided him to a temple and appealed worshipers to contribute money for his return ticket to Chennai. Prem refused to go back and decided to work in Mumbai and started cleaning utensils in a restaurant. He appealed to his owner, to let him become a waiter as he was class 10 pass. The owner refused, because of regional politics and Prem bided his time till a neighbor hood dosa restaurant opened and offered him a job from a dishwasher to a tea boy. Prem became a huge hit with the customers because of his excellent customer service, initiatives and relationship and brought business Rs. 1000 daily which was almost 3 times as compared to other tea boys. The life was good. A customer made him an offer. He was planning to open a tea shop in Vashi in Mumbai. He
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He got passionate and invented a variety of dosas with Chinese style like American Chopsuey, Schezwan Dosa, Paneer chilly, Spring roll dosa etc. The 108 types of Dosas in his menu gets him a lot of publicity. wanted Prem to be his 50 – 50 partner where the owner would invest the money while Prem would run the shop. The shop started doing brisk business
August 2016 New Delhi
when the owner became greedy. It hurt him to share 50 % of the profit with Prem and he threw Prem out replacing him with an employee. Prem was made of a different material and he was never going to be defeated. He took a small loan from his uncle and with his brother, opened his own tea stall. Unfortunately the neighbourhood residents objected. He then started a hand cart but that also did not work out. He found a spot and set up a south Indian stall. He did not know a thing about dosas and idli but learnt by observation, trial and error. The dosa stall was a huge hit and flourished during the 5 years from 1992-1997. But why was the tiny dosa stall
was was so successful in spite of competition from ubiquitous eateries prevalent in Mumbai. According to Prem it was its hygiene, proper appearances of the waiters and fresh ingredients which stood out as a difference. He saved a couple of lakhs of Rupees and instead of heading home he took the biggest risk of his life and opened a new shop near Vashi station and named it as Dosa Plaza. His Chinese plaza next to the Dosa Plaza flopped miserably and was shut down in 3 months. Undaunted, Prem realized some lessons from it. He applied those lessons in making Chinese cuisine in his dosas which worked very well. He got passionate and invented a variety of dosas with Chinese style like American Chopsuey, Schezwan Dosa, Paneer chilly, Spring roll dosa etc. The 108 types of Dosas in his menu gets him a lot of publicity. A chance encounter with a customer who was part of the team setting up a food court in a mall in New Bombay advised him to take a stall at the food court and again Prem was ready and willing to grow and expand. His vision was to grow by better offerings and better customer service. He also went to ad agencies to create the brand identity including the logo, brands, menu card, waiters dress etc. He started getting a lot of offers for franchising and had to find out the meaning of franchising and its modus operandi. Dosa Plaza currently has 26 outlets and 5 of them are company owned. It has 150 employees and a turnover of 5 crore. All the branches are connected and networked and there are training managers and proper manuals to maintain standard and uniform product and services. Merit is the only criteria; all the employees regardless of the caste or region are treated equally. They are loyal and have grown with the company. The original team of cooks which was the part of the first Dosa venture is still with Prem. Currently he is also getting enquiries from US and Europe for franchisees. n
Entrepreneur
S
Barkha
he quit her job as a HR professional in a leading telecom company to do something on her own. The food for thought on doing some thing came, literally, via the tummy route in her case. In a matter of days, Radhika Arora was on the road to success with her own business enterprise - a food cart. Having yearned for homemade food made by her mother while she lived in a PG (paying guest) accommodation here, Radhika decided to take a shot at providing home-made food to other professionals like her. Her idea and the food cart, #Maa-kaPyaar, were born. "When I was working here, I had to depend on the tiffin service and outside food for all meals. I really used to miss the food that my mother made back home in Ambala. It was then that I decided to quit my job and start providing home-made food to professionals and others," Radhika, who has done her Masters in Business Administration (MBA), told. For Radhika, her corporate work address now is a colourful '#Maaka-Pyaar' food cart that she has put up in Mohali's Phase 8 industrial area. Her peak operational time is just about two-to-three hours daily during lunch time. With the traditional home food - from rajma-chawal and kadi-chawal to chana, bhindi (okra) and a few other home-like food items, Radhika's business enterprise was a runaway success with techies and other professionals from nearby offices enjoying her meals. "Hats off to this girl for taking the risk of starting a business from the roadside after quitting her job. Her food is so much home like. Her success can be seen from the fact that all food is finished within two hours daily," Akshay Ahuja, a young engineer who has launched his Robotics World start-up to train students in the technique. Akshay and his team of young engineers are regulars at Radhika's food cart. For Radhika though, there was no red carpet rolled out when she started her food cart. She had to face the same "on-the-street"
An MBA and her '#Maa-ka-Pyaar'
food cart in Chandigarh)
Hats off to this girl for taking the risk of starting a business from the roadside after quitting her job. Her food is so much home like. Her success can be seen from the fact that all food is finished within two hours daily," Akshay Ahuja
hardships from local authorities that others face on a daily basis. Every afternoon, dressed in a bright orange T-shirt and jeans, Radhika, accompanied by her assistant, Pradeep, and another helper, brings the food cart to a designated location here to serve home-made food in an absolutely clean environment. "We prepare food for about 70 plates. All of it gets finished daily. I am happy to be providing homelike food to others," said Radhika, who herself does not like to cook
and has engaged a full-time cook to prepare her dishes. Though there are other roadside eateries around the place where Radhika operates, and she faces tough competition, her food cart is quite unique. "My investment in this enterprise was around Rs one lakh. I got the cart designed, painted it myself and even put up accessories to make it look distinct. The name #Maa-kaPyaar came from my mother's home-cooked food," the young entrepreneur said. Coming from a business family in Ambala in Haryana, 45 km
from Chandigarh, Radhika says that her parents were unsure on how she would do business from the roadside, especially being a girl. Her father owns a gas agency there and her brother is part of that business. "However, their apprehensions were over when they saw me operate here. My mother comes and stands with me here sometimes. My family has been quite supportive," she said. Having stepped into her own business world, Radhika is already in an expansion mode. "I am planning to have a food cart in Chandigarh IT Park area very soon," she said excitedly. n
New Delhi August 2016
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amazing facts
26
August 2016 New Delhi
Health
5 Foods that can help slow down your ageing
A
geing is a natural phenomenon which everyone has to go through, but consuming dark chocolates or blueberries can help slow down the process with better results, says an expert. Vikas Jain, fitness and health connoisseur at Anytime Fitness Gym, has shared a list of five super foods that can actually make a difference to our body system. Olive oil: It is a good source of MUFA (monounsaturated fatty
acids) and omega 3. A serving of olive oil will give you the daily dose of healthy fats. Cooking in olive oil damages the structure of olive oil and it converts it into a saturated fat. Olive oil is also excellent source of polyphenols which are strong antioxidants which are needed to balance the free radicals. Broccoli: Broccoli is a good source of Vitamin C and also dietary fibers. It belongs to the edible green plant in the cabbage family. It is rich in beta-carotene and selenium. These ingredients
make it a perfect super food. Dark chocolate: Dark chocolate with high cocoa content can actually be very beneficial. It contains minerals like iron, copper, magnesium, manganese, potassium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium. It is also an excellent source of antioxidants, which will help us prevent the damage done by free radicals. Cocoa beans, from which chocolate is made, have a higher antioxidant capacity than any other food, and the high concentration of antioxidant
flavanols in cocoa beans helps reduce inflammation of the skin caused by exposure to UV light. Yogurt: It is an excellent source of protein and calcium. It helps us to prevent from muscle and bone loss. Also it provides us with billions of good bacteria in our stomach. These bacteria help us to break down our food and also help us to get rid of toxins. Make sure to have at least two servings of yoghurt, for best results take it at room temperature. Red wine: Red wine if taken in moderation is an excellent anti-ageing drink. Red wine contains a compound called resveratrol, which contributes to a lot of health benefit. White wine doesn’t have as much resveratrol as red wine because resveratrol is found primarily in the grape skins. Some researches have shown red wine to slow down the cellular ageing. If taken in moderation it is really helpful. The antioxidants and nutrients in red wine can help prevent heart disease by protecting the arteries and the lining of blood vessels. Males can have two glasses of wine per week and females can have one glass wine per week. (Agencies) n
Kundalini Yoga A way to experience the divine
T
he Kundalini energy can be
described as a powerful form of ‘Chi’ or ‘life energy’ in the form of a ‘sleeping serpent’ that upon being awakened leads to a deep feeling of enlightenment and bliss. Dr. Soorya Kaur, a Delhibased yoga practitioner, nutritional expert and follower of the Yogi Bhajan School on Kundalini Yoga says, “Kundalini in its basic definition is yoga of awareness. It is concerned with inculcating in its practitioners various breathing postures that serves to increase and better the lung capacity while strengthening the nervous system and making it adept at receiving the flow of energy which is generated when the practitioner is engaged in meditation.” The human body is composed of many systems but it is the nervous system which makes the body and core components perform
optimally. It serves as the primary mode of understanding impulses and emotions that one experiences. If Kundalini is the life energy present in the body then Chakra points are the containers present in the body to sustain and act as a channel for the energy that travels from the base of the spine up till the crown of the head. Kundalini Yoga taps the dormant power in this system by awakening the Chakra Points that serve to increase awareness, blissfulness and understanding of the human body in its entirety both spiritually and physically. The Chakra Points in Kundalini are traditionally understood to be seven in number, depicted in increasing order below: Muladhara or Root Chakra located at the end of the spinal column. It deals with survival and is blocked by fear.
Svadishthana or Sacral Chakra located at the tail bone or the pubic bone. It deals with pleasure and is blocked with guilt. Manipura or Fire Chakra located just below the rib cage. It deals with willpower and is blocked by shame. Anahata or Heart Chakra located in the centre of the chest close to the heart. It deals with love and is blocked by grief. Vishuddha or Sound Chakra located at the throat region near the spine. It deals with truth and is blocked by lies. Ajna or Light Chakra located directly behind the centre of the forehead. It deals with insight and is blocked by illusion. Sahasrara or Crown Chakra located slightly above the top of the head. It deals with cosmic energy and is blocked by earthly attachment. But before practicing Kundalini Yoga, one needs to be away from smoking and drugs since they are
an obstacle to the natural flow of energy. Exercise in the form of asanas is also beneficial to prepare the body to receive the flow of energy particularly padmasana or the lotus position, the vajrasana or diamond position amongst others that stimulate and strengthen the nervous system. Moreover Kundalini Yoga can be practiced by anyone with a deep resolve and focus, to reap the benefits of the natural energy that flows in the body. “Kundalini yoga can be practiced by three to five year old kids as well under proper guidance though the lessons would be introductory in the initial stages with more intricate lessons as the time progresses,” mentions Dr Kaur. Kundalini yoga doesn’t turn oneself into a superhuman, as one might believe, but as one naturally is programmed to be. (Agencies) n
New Delhi August 2016
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Rio Olympic
28
August 2016 New Delhi
Kids Zone Barak Obama
SPOT THE difference
after
before
Crossword
Across
1. “Drat!” 5. Demoiselle 9. Asparagus unit 14. The America’s Cup trophy, e.g. 15. “Mi chiamano Mimi,” e.g. 16. Dawdle 17. Perlman of “Cheers” 18. Atomizer output 19. Be bombastic 20. Grades five through eight (2 wds) 23. Back street 24. Glut 28. “Malcolm X” director 29. Curb, with “in” 33. More inexplicable 34. Representations of Mary mourning Jesus 36. Dog command 37. 1973 triple crown winner 40. Live wire, so to speak 42. Hungarian 43. Aimless
46. Rich soil mixture 47. Bean counter, for short 50. Childhood disease with red spots 52. Diamond stat 54. Contiguous 58. Burning 61. ___ vera 62. Box office take 63. Brownish gray 64. Absorbed 65. Sean Connery, for one 66. Moth larva that spins tent-like webs 67. “Trick” joint 68. Beach shades
SCRIBBLE PAD
Down 1. Skin-related 2. For some time 3. Bug 4. Mark 5. Charades, e.g. 6. Western blue flag, e.g. 7. Reduced instruction set computer (acronym) 8. Carpenter’s machine 9. Butt of jokes 10. Railway coach with reserved seats (2 wds) 11. Victorian, for one 12. “A jealous mistress”: Emerson 13. “The Catcher in the ___” 21. Type of poem, e.g. an ode 22. “___ moment” 25. Brawl 26. Beauty 27. “... ___ he drove out of sight” 30. Always, in verse 31. Any thing 32. Area of South
Africa 34. Submarine’s viewing device 35. Kind of palm 37. “Buona ___” (Italian greeting) 38. Scandinavian shag rug 39. Poets’ feet 40. Beaver’s work 41. “___ to Billie Joe” 44. Blossom 45. Big ___ Conference 47. Invertebrates’ posterior intestines 48. Igneous rock formed below the earth’s surface 49. Holdings 51. Utter 53. Anxiety 55. Brio 56. Catch, in a way 57. Allocate, with “out” 58. Absorbed, as a cost 59. Joke 60. Big galoot
Send us events/happenings/ wishes/and news around you to get publish in Beyond India
beyondindia2014@gmail.com New Delhi August 2016
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food and drink
5 instant smoothies that are
a must try
A lot of people like smoothies. But few people make them at home. Because think of all the measuring, the effort, the mess. It doesn’t have to be that way. Pick a few of these recipes, hit the grocery store, then make “smoothie packs” for the whole week by placing measured-out ingredients for each smoothie in a plastic bag. When you need to be refreshed, pull a bag out of the freezer, dump its contents in a blender, and YAY. The below recipes are perfect because they only have three ingredients each and they use frozen fruits and veggies so you can skip the ice. You can freeze your own fruits and veggies if you’re not happy with the frozen stuff from the grocery store. You can even freeze the almond milk or coconut milks in ice trays, if you really want to impress someone.
2. Green Day
4. Not Easy Being Green Green Apple + Spinach + Ginger How to: Place 1 green apple (with skin, cored, and cut into chunks), ½ cup frozen spinach, ½-inch piece peeled, fresh ginger (cut into small pieces), and ½ cup water into a blender. Blend until smooth. Serves 1. Extras: Blend in ½ of an avocado or fresh lime juice.
Kale + Pineapple + Yogurt How to: Place ½ cup frozen kale, ½ cup frozen pineapple, ½ cup plain kefir or pourable plain yogurt, and ¼ cup water into a blender. Blend until smooth. Serves 1. Extras: Add a pinch of cayenne pepper to freak this one out.
5. Bananarama
1. Strawberry swing Strawberry + Yogurt + Shredded coconut How to: Place 8 frozen strawberries, ½ cup plain kefir or pourable plain yogurt, and ½ cup shredded, unsweetened coconut into a blender. Blend until smooth. Serves 1. Extras: Spark it up with 2 tablespoons rolled oats, pinch ground cinnamon, 2 tablespoons flax meal, or protein powder.
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August 2016 New Delhi
3. Caribbean Queen Mango + Yogurt + Chia seeds How to: Place 8 pieces frozen mango (about ¾ cup) and ½ cup coconut milk into a blender. Blend until smooth. Then add 1 table spoon chia seeds and pulse just a few times to combine. Serves 1. Extras: You can add ground nutmeg, protein powder, or 2 tablespoons shredded, unsweetened coconut.
Banana + Peanut butter + Cocoa powder How to: Place 1 peeled frozen banana, 2 tablespoons peanut or almond butter, 2 tablespoons cacao powder, and 1/3 cup water into a blender. Blend until smooth. Serves 1. Extras: Throw in protein powder, 2 tablespoons shredded, unsweetened coconut, a handful of raw almonds, pinch ground cinnamon, or 2 tablespoons rolled oats.
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Bollywood
Alia Bhatt Opens up About her Link-ups with Varun Dhawan and Arjun Kapoor Alia Bhatt is on a high after the video ‘Genius of the Year’ made by comic group All India Bakchod and directed by Shakun Batra was appreciated by one and all. The video also features Karan Johar whose question on Koffee with Karan had led to a series of jokes on her IQ and General Knowledge
level. But Alia believes Karan, who directed her in her debut film Student Of The Year is her mentor and prefers to turn to him for advice over her father filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt. On a recent appearance on Zee Cafe's Look Who’s Talking with Niranjan with Niranjan Iyengar, the 21-year-
old confessed that she shares her concerns about career, life and love with KJo, said a source. "I prefer calling Karan (Johar) over my father for advice on my films. I even go to him for concerns related to relationships as my father thinks no man will ever be good enough for me," Alia said
'Please Stop Taking Pictures!': Jaya Bachchan
A
ccording to a report Jaya Bachchan recently lashed out at the paparazzi. She allegedly told off photographers at Narsee Monjee's annual festival,
Umang. At the event she sternly told the paps to, "Please stop taking pictures! I hate it because the bulbs flash right in my eyes. These are basic manners, which Indians have to learn. Just because you have a camera and a mobile, you have the freedom of taking anyone's picture any time, without asking for permission! This is basic education that all colleges, schools and parents at home should teach their children." Reportedly, she then announced that she wouldn't resume the chat till the photos had stopped, putting her microphone aside and turning away from the audience. She added, "It's very annoying. I am trying to chat here and you are sitting right in front of me clicking right into my eyes. I hate indiscipline." Agencies
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August 2016 New Delhi
on the show. She also spoke about her fear of plants, as well as about her reported link-ups with Arjun Kapoor and Varun Dhawan. To that, she said: “Two good looking people are bound to get attracted to each other, who knows I may or may not have taken it forward.” Agencies
Dhanush to Star in a Hollywood Flick With Uma Thurman! South Indian heartthrob and actor par excellence Dhanush is headed to Hollywood. The actor has bagged a role in celebrated director Marjane Satrapi’s next film The Extraordinary Journey Of The Fakir Who Got Trapped In An Ikea Cupboard. As per a report in the Times of India, Satrapi reveals, "As I was watching various Indian movies, Dhanush became the most obvious choice — his intelligence, his killer smile, his ability to enter fully into the skin of any character he played (and I can go on and on forever) made me confident that he was the one." Revolutionary Iranian writer and director Marjane Satrapi’s film, which will be shot in India, Paris, Morocco and Italy, will feature Dhanush as Aja, who is a conjurer from an artists colony in India. The film begins with his secret journey to Paris.
'Really Excited To Work With Vikram': Kajal Aggarwal Actress Kajal Aggarwal, who has been teamed up with Vikram for the first time in a yet-untitled Tamil actioner, considers it an honour. She says she's excited to start working with him as she admires his work. "I'm super excited. I really admire Vikram's work and I'm looking forward to working with him. The story and my role are fabulous. I'm really energised about this project," says Kajal. To be directed by Anand Shankar, the film also features Priya Anand. Kajal has completed shooting for Dhanush-starrer Tamil romanticdrama Maari, and has started working on a yet-untitled Tamil-Telugu bilingual with Vishal. She also has a Hindi project with Randeep Hooda in offing.
Did Deepika Padukone Announce Her Price Hike Too Soon? A few months back, Kangana Ranaut had allegedly claimed that she was the highest paid actress in Bollywood. She had reportedly stated that she makes Rs 11 crore per film. Soon afterwards, there were reports doing the rounds that Deepika Padukone was charging over Rs 12 crore for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s next film Padmavati. Allegedly, this was the highest that any Bollywood heroine had ever charged for a film. But now that Padmavati has apparently run into trouble with its lead hero, Ranveer Singh allegedly opting out of the film, there is speculation about when the period drama will start and which studio will fund the project. With the film allegedly in trouble, was it wise to announce Dippy’s fee even before the cast had been finalised? Was it peer pressure or being a part of a big Hollywood project, the reason behind making this announcement? Agencies
'Sushant Who?': Salman Khan Previously, there were reports doing the rounds that Jacqueline Fernandez and Sushant Singh Rajput will be coming together for an action film, which will be co-produced by Salman Khan and Karan Johar. But, according to a report in Mid-day, when Salman was recently asked about casting Sushant in the project, he simply said, "Sushant who?" But looks like Bhai was just kidding and all is well between the two as Jacqueline reportedly confirmed that she is indeed teaming up with Sushant for the film under Sallu's banner. She was quoted saying, "It is an interesting script and I will start working on it soon. There will be a lot of action scenes and I am looking forward to it." Apparently, this will be the first installment of an action series and will be helmed by Tarun Mansukhani of Dostana fame.
New Delhi August 2016
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Movie review
Movie Review: Rustom DIRECTOR: Tinu Suresh Desai STARRING: Akshay Kumar, Arjan Bajwa, Ileana D'Cruz and Esha Gupta RATING: 2.5 stars
N
Nikita
eeraj Pandey’s films are tricky because they manipulate you to root for the criminal, cheer for the illegal. Despite slight guilt, I found myself cheering for Naseer’s character in A Wednesday because the director played on our anger, our vague sense of resilience. Naseer goes against the law and yet the writing, the direction of the film made him look like a hero. Even in Special 26, the robberies are so deliciously committed with a cocker of a climax at the end that you feel like the head cheerleader of the robbers’ team minus the pompoms that is. I know it’s not fair to compare (but inevitable too), Rustom lacks the empathy of A Wednesday or the intrigue of Special 26. The film has all the right ingredients to make a flavourful, masala crime thriller. A naval commander kills his wife’s lover and surrenders. There is infidelity, power, national level secrecy and a murder. Alas, the film loses zing in its telling. The first half comes straight to the point but gets too filmy in the whole process. There are slow motions and jarring background score that ruin the buildup instead of creating one. The heroine dramatically drops her back in shock and looks more like Roli from Sasural Simar Ka than Rustom’s Cythia. I half expected a mother-in-law to show up in garish make-up or someone to turn into a snake or a makkhi. It’s this Ekta Kapoor kind of characters that rob the film of all seriousness it deserves. Sample this: There is Esha Gupta with a resting bitch face. She is forever seductive in the movie. She gasps and pouts while lighting a cigarette.
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She gasps and pouts while driving. She even gasps and pouts as she stands in the witness box in the court. She is so pointlessly seductive that she looks like a deo model than the part she plays. Sadly, barring Pankaj Malhotra and Kumud Mishra, rest of the cast doesn’t work too. Ileana D'Cruz looks fragile and beautiful, but fails to leave much impact. Akshay Kumar plays a Parsi officer with a strange I-am-trying-my-best-not-to-sound-Punjabi accent. He completely loses the character, especially in English lines. The Punjabi gabru in him refuses to leave. The moment he would say, ''That’s all, your honour,'' I almost heard a silent burrrraaah at the end of it. However, there are some brilliant scenes in the movie. A one-shot interrogation scene at the police station (that they sadly broke into two cuts) is done so well. It not only gives insights into the case but also builds the required tension. Also, in another scene Akshay Kumar and
August 2016 New Delhi
Pankaj Malhotra come face to face across a game of chess. Though the analogy is done to death, but parallels between the queen on the chess board and Rustom’s wife make for interesting wordplay. The film has humour that sometimes works, sometimes fails. Four hundred people dead in a train accident that earns the newspaper some 13,500 copies sale is an interesting ode to current generation’s obsession with YouTube hits, Facebook likes and shares, even at the cost of some insensitive pictures or posts. There is a brief scene where a street vendor starts selling Vikram towels inspired by Vikram (Arjan Bajwa) who died in a towel that never came down. He says, ''Lijiye Vikram Towel, marne par bhi nahi girta.'' But humour attempted in the second half of the movie tends to get too repetitive and irritating. A newspaper publisher reprimanded by a judge for his provocative headlines, again, is a subtle hint at modern times’ intolerance but decibel levels hit their unbearable peak when the courtroom scenes turn into some sort of a scream fest. Sachin Khedekar and Usha Nadkarni scream so much that Arnab Goswami sounds like Manmohan Singh. Even the choice of characters in the jury panel that comprises a Punjabi and a South Indian is contrived and a forced attempt at silly humour. I loved the detailing in the film. They have created an almost perfect world of 1960s. The naval ships, the furniture, the sets, even that Godrej fridge in the kitchen, everything in the film is detailed so well. Rustom despite having an interesting plot tries to play safe, please everyone and resorts to Bollywood formulae of forced humour and even more forced insipid songs.
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