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When A Baby Is A Business Opportunity Scared middle-class India buys unwanted vaccines, some 15 of them, as big pharma helps doctors rake in the moolah with 30-300% mark-ups

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O Comment

Volume LVII, No. 16

The EC jokes

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Rajesh Ramachandran GROUP CREATIVE DIRECTOR R. Prasad DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR Sunil Menon POLITICAL EDITOR Bhavna Vij-Aurora WRITERS Satish Padmanabhan (Deputy Editor), Pranay Sharma (Senior Editor), Arindam Mukherjee, Lola Nayar, Qaiser Mohammad Ali (Senior Associate Editors), Zia Haq, G.C. Shekhar (Associate Editors), Bula Devi (Sr Asst Editor), Dola Mitra, Prachi Pinglay-Plumber, Minu Ittyipe (Asst Editors), Pragya Singh, Ajay Sukumaran, Naseer Ganai (Senior Special Correspondents), Priyadarshini Sen, Ushinor Majumdar (Special Correspondents), K.S. Shaini (Senior Correspondent) Stuti Agarwal, Arushi Bedi, Siddhartha Mishra (Correspondents) COPY DESK Giridhar Jha (Senior Editor), Sreevalsan Thiyyadi, Saikat Niyogi, Satyadeep (Sr Asst Editors), Martand Badoni (Sub Editor) PHOTOGRAPHERS Narendra Bisht (Photo Editor), Jitender Gupta (Deputy Photo Editor), Tribhuvan Tiwari (Chief Photographer), Sanjay Rawat, Sandipan Chatterjee, Apoorva Salkade, Amit Haralkar (Sr Photographers), S. Rakshit (Chief Photo Coordinator), J.S. Adhikari (Sr Photo Researcher), U. Suresh Kumar (Digital Library) DESIGN Deepak Sharma (Chief Art Director), Saji C.S. (Chief Designer), Sajith Kumar (Chief Illustrator), Leela (Senior Designer), Devi Prasad, Padam Gupta (Sr DTP Operators) DIGITAL Anoop George Philip (Executive Editor), Raman Awasthi (Project Manager), Suraj Wadhwa (Chief Graphic Designer), Praveen Upreti (Web Designer), Rama Dwivedi (Sub Editor), Sajith Kumar GM (Editorial Operations) Sasidharan Kollery LIBRARY Alka Gupta (Chief Librarian), Raj Kumar (Senior Library Assistant) BUSINESS OFFICE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Indranil Roy ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Shishir Saxena, Ramesh S. (Special Projects), Johnson D’Silva, Vidya Menon VICE PRESIDENTS Abraham Uthup, Meenakshi Akash NATIONAL HEAD (Special Projects) Archana Browne SR GENERAL MANAGERS Kabir Khattar (Corp), V. Sridhar (South) GENERAL MANAGERS Shashank Dixit, Siddhartha Chatterjee NATIONAL HEAD (Circulation) Anindya Banerjee HEAD BRAND & MARKETING Shrutika Dewan DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER Anuj Gopal Mathur ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGERS G. Ramesh (South), Vinod Kumar (North), Diwan Singh Bisht REGIONAL MANAGER Sonali Panda CHIEF MANAGERS Ashish Narang, Gunjan Gulati, Manju Pravin, Neetu Kanjolia, Shekhar Kumar Pandey SENIOR MANAGERS Debabani Tagore, Saurabh Sobti, Vikash Keshri MANAGERS Shekhar Suvarana, Sudha Sharma, Vinod Joshi ZONAL SALES MANAGER Arun Kumar Jha (East) DIGITAL Suhail Tak, Amit Mishra, Chirag Patnaik HEAD OFFICE AB-10, S.J. Enclave, New Delhi - 110 029 Tel: 011-33505500; Fax: 26191420 Customer care helpline: 011-33505562, 33505500 e-mail: outlook@outlookindia.com For editorial queries: edit@outlookindia.com For subscription helpline: yourhelpline@outlookindia.com For other queries: queries@outlookindia.com OTHER OFFICES MUMBAI Tel: 022-33545000; Fax: 33545100 CALCUTTA Tel: 033 46004506; Fax: 033 46004506 CHENNAI Tel: 42615224, 42615225; Fax: 42615095 BANGALORE Tel: 45236100; Fax: 45236105 Printed and published by Indranil Roy on behalf of Outlook Publishing (India) Pvt. Ltd. Editor: Rajesh Ramachandran. Printed at International Print-O-Pac Ltd, C 4-C 11, Phase-II, Noida and published from AB-10, S.J. Enclave, New Delhi-110 029 Published for the week of April 11-17, 2017 Released on April 08, 2017 Total no. of pages 76, Including Covers

T

HE Election Commission is not supposed to crack jokes about its constitutional mandate. The EC asking a political party to introspect over complaints of rigging is like the Supreme Court asking a petitioner not to litigate but to meditate. The Commission’s job is to hold elections and then to politely clarify doubts about the poll process. Mayawati, no doubt, made a mess of things by scooting after shooting from the hip about Electronic Voting Machines getting tampered with during the Uttar Pradesh polls. She did not wait for the counting to get over, nor did she work overtime to offer a shred of evidence to prove her claim. Every machine was tested in the presence of her representative and neither the supreme statuesque leader nor her followers made any complaints about the machines before the polls. Even on the day of the counting, she did not elaborate why she claimed the EVMs were rigged. It was clear that she was just a bad loser.

That is not the case with Arvind Kejriwal. He was offering reasons to claim that the machines were manipulated. They may not be good enough for the Commission, but he was making a pointed allegation that his party’s votes went into the Akali kitty finally, giving examples of certain booths in Punjab where his volunteers’ votes did not get counted. Earlier, during the Maharashtra local body polls, an independent candidate had claimed that his and his family’s votes went missing. Well, you can never be sure about your family. Even the wife might decide not to vote for you. And that is the strength of the secret ballot. But what about your own vote, where did it go? The Commission definitely has to account for that one missing vote.

Now, as if all these complaints were not enough, here is a bizarre story from the Chambal ravines of Bhind. When an EVM was taken out and tested, to be used for an assembly bypoll, only the BJP seemed to be getting all the votes, whichever button they pressed. This demo at the Ater assembly constituency suddenly lent credence to all the conspiracy theorists who tried to explain the BJP’s humongous victory in Uttar Pradesh. To add a twist to the tale, there were reports that the guilty EVM came from UP, of all places. And that is when the EC asked Kejriwal, the vipasana expert, to do some introspection about his party’s performance in Punjab. What next? Short “art of living” classes to rid us of all our bad karma and unwanted doubts?

Seriously, the EC has to establish beyond all doubts that its machines are tamper-proof. Also, Kejriwal has to demonstrate how a machine can be manipulated; after all he is a trained engineer from IIT, no less.

Post Script: This week we are introducing two novels to our readers. One, the latest from the resurrected Perumal Murugan: Seasons of The Palm, translated by V. Geetha. The other is a sensational debut by a non-resident Indian, Deepak Unnikrishnan.

He is interesting because we get to know about his attempt primarily from the rave reviews in The Economist and The Washington Post, proving once again that the cheap wine-cheap fiction literati around Lodhi Gardens are only about self-publicity.

Unnikrishnan’s Temporary People is not merely dystopic, it defies form and has no set tone either. Most of the times it is magic realism, at times prose, elsewhere a poem, then an illustration and painfully empathetic narrative, to be continued with distant news reports; all about the migrant’s experience in the Persian Gulf.

Rajesh Ramachandran

17 April 2017 OUTLOOK 3

navigator

Online EXCLUSIVE In a relief to lakhs of undertrials, Aadhaar may soon replace bail bonds

by USHINOR MAJUMDAR

INTERNATIONAL Neanderthal genome project raises surreal questions: What if we can resurrect lost human cousins?

by AROON RAMAN

GARB OF GOOD Women wait to get infants immunised in Allahabad 18 In-between Beneficiaries The rivalry between India and China in influencing neighbouring countries is bound to benefit the latter. And they’re looking forward to it.

26 New-found Mahatma Love The BJP gears up for a year-and-half celebration of Gandhi’s Satyagrah, which completes 100 years this month, in a calculated attempt to approriate his legacy

52 The Immunisation Sham

The number of injections your child gets for immunisation depends on the amount of money the doctor wants to make. Aiding the docs in this are private vaccine manufacturers.

OPINION India pretends Constitution is not linked to religion. But laws are inflected by upper caste Hindu customs.

by AAKAR PATEL

58 The Glow of A Spotlight The lonely, effervescent raga comes to an end. Kishori Amonkar bids adieu.

60 A Protege Of Film A knack for storytelling and faith in his craft gives a young Tamil filmmaker his debut hit 6 LETTERS 12 DEEP THROAT 64 BOOKS 72 TRENDING 74 DIARY Cover: R. Prasad; Photographs: Tribhuvan Tiwari, Sanjay Rawat

NATIONAL The government has given irrelevant answers to MPs’ questions in Parliament

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letters

A Gallery of Leaders NEW DELHI Rajiv Boolchand Jain:

India’s top business leaders, I felt like writing on what makes a great leader: A leader must be polite and warm, but must not be easily accessible to all. He should not be rude. Temper must be controlled in all situations. In an org­ anisation, the leader should try to keep in touch with everyone in the staff and make them feel that it is their own org­ anisation. For this, he must ensure that the employees grow with the organisa­ tion. If he/she is a believer, a leader should seek blessings from God from time to time. Most successful CEOs have these leadership qualities.

Outlook regularly brings out special iss­ ues on ‘best business schools’ and ‘best engineering/medical colleges’, now it has even come up with a special issue on the ‘50 greatest CEOs’ in India (50 Greatest CEOs Ever, April 10). I under­ stand that such special editions are necessary for the financial health of the magazine, but in the week that you publish such editions, the entire jour­ nalistic value of the magazine is com­ promised and reading pleasure goes for a toss. The majority of readers are not interested in this type of laudatory journalism. You should rather keep the special issues as supplements so that the editorial quality and news content of the magazine are not compromised.

LUCKNOW M.C. Joshi: Your

Comment, Our Great Captains, says that the jury didn’t want to rank the CEOs from one to 50. Instead, three categories were created—the ‘extraor­ dinary’, the ‘brilliant’ and the ‘great’.

The comment also clarifies that all that counted for listing these leaders was the transformational power of the indi­ vidual’s effort in creating wealth for the shareholders, generating employment and impacting the society at large by making lives better. Keeping your crite­ ria in mind, if I were to rank the truly extraordinary leaders from one to four, they would be—Dr Verghese Kurien of Amul, Brijmohan Lal Munjal (1923­ 2015) and Pawan Kant Munjal of the Hero Group, R.C. Bhargava of Maruti Suzuki and E. Sreedharan of Delhi Metro. Amul dairy products became ghar-ghar ki pasand, Hero Honda mo­ torcycles became ghar-ghar ki sawari, Maruti 800 fulfilled the middle class dream of owning a car and the Delhi Metro made the lives of commuters of the capital city very easy and provided an ideal model for other metropolitan

GOA M.N. Bhartiya: This refers to

April 03, 2017 cities to emulate. All these entrepre­ neurs greatly impacted the society.

They generated employment and cre­ ated wealth for shareholders as well.

PATTAMBI V.N.K. Murti: I want to congratulate the Outlook team for this wonderful special issue. Choosing the 50 greatest Indian CEOs ever can get quite tricky, as most of them come with their own extraordinary stories.

Although you described the process of selecting these CEOs and putting them in three categories of ‘extraordinary’, ‘brilliant’ and ‘great’, I still wonder as to how one would differentiate and put them under different categories.

Although one thing is clear, each of them had their own bridges to cross and they made a paradigm shift from the old world to the new. To minds aspiring suc­ cess, this issue will be quite inspiring.

ON E-MAIL Mahesh Kapasi

On reading your special issue about

your Comment about leadership in the field of business (Our Great Captains).

Most essential requisites for successful captaincy in all walks of life are univer­ sal. A real leader must be confident, free, fearless, honest and trustworthy.

He should be consistent and deter­ mined. Among the business stalwarts who made it to your list, Dhirubhai Ambani, going by his achievements, stands apart. His enterprise is not dynastic, he started from scratch. And besides his excellent visionary entre­ preneurship traits, his distinctive achievement was building up a broad­ base of shareholders for a strong and sustainable capital edifice. But he built his corporate empire by using, misus­ ing and even abusing the culture of crony capitalism. It is now open his­ tory, with even a Bollywood biopic, Guru (2007), having depicted his tac­ tics in some detail, which is testimony to the fact that in our society, the means are justified if they end in spec­ tacular success.

CHERTHALA, ALAPPUZHA

M.K. Somanatha Panicker: The pano­ rama of profiles presented in your spe­ cial issue will be inspiring for young

one-liner DEHRADUN Rakesh Agrawal

Not 50, there was just one greatest CEO in India ever whom the world knows as Mahatma.

6 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

INBOXED

letters entrepreneurs. Success is the consum­ mation of a series of sincere and calcu­ lated efforts. A lot of people put in great effort into tasks all through their lives, but the key to success lies in being focused. When you have a single target in mind, you can channelise all your energies towards achieving it. When a thought or an idea stirs you, it is time to act. Most successful people have undergone this experience.

GUWAHATI Mridul Bhattarai: The

special issue gave the reader some good insights into the world of the leaders of new India. But I feel that one very im­ portant name was left out from the list, that of former President and brilliant scientist Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. May I know, what is the reason for the same?

OMAN Ramachandran Nair: The

special issue on CEOs is quite informa­ tive and is filled with inspiring examples for life. However, I still feel that the top executives of the Indian corporate world are yet to truly embrace the chal­ lenges of the new world. One reason that comes to my mind is that compared

MILKMAN Amul’s Verghese Kurien

Rings of Saffron

SHELL COVE (AUSTRALIA) J.S. Acharya: There is no need to fret over the choice of Yogi Adityanath as UP CM even though he has appeared in several videos making hate speeches and has been named as an accused in several FIRs related to communal violence (A Yogi For New India, April 3). It only shows that the Indian political scene is never dull. He has never been ashamed of breaking the law and now he has been made the law. By picking him over others, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown his unconventional wisdom once again. The BJP, after all, had brought the ‘D word’ to UP—it’s just that they have made it clear that the D stands for divisiveness and not development.

to global standards, the quality of our products and services still falls short.

There is a reason why India is the out­ sourcing hub for the developed world. It is cheap labour, of course. The top CEOs of our country need to realise this and equip the workforce with adequate skills to hold their own in the global market. A lot of traditional perceptions about the Indian workforce have to change in order to make this possible.

NEW DELHI Lt Col (retd) Ranjit

Sinha: Outlook did a good job by com­ piling the list of the top leaders of the country. The personalities for the issue were indeed thoughtfully selected. I would like to mention the contribu­ tions of one person in particular—Dr Verghese Kurien, who put milk within the reach of all and put the country on the international milk map. Though he was a mechanical engineer by training, he was a visionary and in short, the fa­ ther of India’s milk cooperative move­ ment. The Anand Milk Cooperative (Amul), stands as testimony to his vi­ sion. Today, taking inspiration from

DECODING SARIN: THE KILLER GAS

Kurien, the government has created the NDDB and Mother Dairy. Out of all his achievements, Kurien should be re­ membered for one in particular—for saving farmers from the clutches of an unscrupulous system.

Temple Template UP MUMBAI Mahaveer Nerul: This refers to A Yogi For New India (April 3), your story on the new UP chief minister. BJP’s landslide victory in the UP polls was followed by the bold move of appointing controversial Hindu priest and MP from Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath, as CM. Almost immediately, Yogi left all his rhetoric behind and, apparently, on the briefing PM Modi, harped on the BJP’s development agenda. Critics hint the RSS is behind the Yogi’s appointment and not Modi, but the fact remains that he will lead the state along with two deputy CMs. SECUNDERABAD K.R.

Srinivasan: Despite his rabid Hindutva past, there’s nothing wrong in the BJP choosing Yogi Adityanath as the CM for

TEJ BAHADUR’S WIFE SPEAKS PLUS REPORTER DIARIES WEB COLUMNS BLOGS AND, YES, ALL THE NEWS

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8 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

letters UP. Since the party’s central leadership has appointed him, they will keep his moves under the scanner. Yogi is already exhibiting award winning credentials by acting like the PM during his early days in office in 2014—Adityanath cautioned bureaucrats to perform or perish and asked them to declare their movable and immovable assets. Hopefully, in his excitement to pass off as a development man, a burden hanging heavy on the rather foul mouthed orator (as his past speeches have shown), he will manage to keep fringe elements in UP at bay.

JAMMU Rajiv Chopra: UP’s caste

matrix has collapsed under the umbrella of Hindutva. I firmly believe Yogi will be working on the principles of equality and justice. None of the so­called secu­ lar parties have supported Muslim women on the abolition of triple talaq.

And the BJP and Yogi will use this hy­ pocrisy to their own benefit.

dan: This refers to your story on the Congress (Masters of Losses, March 27). A leader needs to be down to earth, at least in the eyes of party workers. If he acts like an unapproachable boss, the people will get rid of him and the party, and look for someone who can be approached and trusted.

NEW DELHI M. Kumar: The BJP

was able to defeat the SP and the BSP in Uttar Pradesh because of two factors—the Akhilesh­Mulayam tussle and because Mayawati is known not to have a clean administration record. As far as the Congress is concerned, it has miserably failed to evoke any faith in voters. Instead of attacking the BJP for its massive victory by alleging tamper­ ing of EVM machines, the Opposition leaders must do something about their own image. There seems to be no

PERTH (AUSTRALIA) Sanjiv

Gupta: We have so many sadhus, babas and yogis preaching on how to make India better. Now one has been intro­ duced into governance as well. It’s a reli­ gious development, indeed.

Down and Out

CHANDIGARH K.G. Raghunan­

10 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

Whose Captain?

NAVI MUMBAI C.K.

doubt left that PM Narendra Modi’s tall claims have mesmerised the majority of voters. He is now central to the BJP and in many ways, the party’s future depends on him. He has the ability to convince the masses about plans even when the statistics tell a different story.

Subramaniam: The various contro­ versies of ill­feelings between captains and players of the recently­concluded Test series between the Indian and Australian cricket teams will resonate for some time (Of Mind Games And Brain Fade, Mar 20). A captain has to imbibe many qualities to become a great leader. He has to have the nerve of a gambler, the patience of a monk and a mind­reading ability of a psychiatrist. Indian skipper Virat Kohli lacked the basic character to lead a team with temperamental players like Ishant Sharma. Instead of pacifying them on the field of play, the captain himself appears agitated all the time. This sets a bad precedent.

Despite being experienced, he behaved like a novice. Touring teams should be treated with a modicum of respect, but our skipper jumps up childishly at every opportunity in aggression.

Sure, he’s proud of himself and his team at winning six series on the trot, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to act arrogantly on the pitch!

Check on Check

CALICUT Krishnan Ramani: After a

BELGAUM Aditya Mookerjee: I

must confess I feel very positive with Yogi Adityanath becoming chief minis­ ter of UP. That’s because spirituality is incompatible with hate­mongering.

And even though Yogi is said to have made hate speeches in the past threat­ ning minorities with violence in the past, the Muslims of Gorakhpur have not complained of any harassment. And if they haven’t complained, who are we to judge the saffron­clad monk?

Hinduism or any other religion can be propagated only through love and devo­ tion. It will be enough if the Yogi follows the example of his predecessor mahants. Islam, too, is an expression of spirituality and many Islamic spiritual leaders have espoused the cause of goodwill and amity between Hindus and Muslims. Yogi will show Muslims due consideration and use the opportu­ nity to show that Hinduism is a religion that believes in spreading goodwill to non­Hindu faiths as well.

Protectors as Predators ON E-MAIL R.S.: Child trafficking and kidnapping young girls have inc­ reased in the country of late, but what is equally shocking is the role of netas in such ghastly crimes (House Of Flying Cots, Mar 20). Political clout has such a big role in the scheme of things that it even subverts the related judicial pro­ cess. It’s high time the civil society and the media took the initiative to cleanse the system of such ills. News reports on such crimes should be followed up as much as they should be reported.

DIRE STRAITS Congress leaders

ON E-MAIL P.S. Kaur: B.N. Roy

(Letters, Apr 3) challenges a letter by P.K. Hanspaul (Letters, Mar 20) for the latter having said—in response to Outlook article Xi Stoops To Conquer, Feb 27— that China got a UN seat due to the benevolence of Jawaharlal Nehru. Roy is right when he says People’s Republic of China became a member of the world body in only 1972, while Nehru, India’s first PM had died in 1964. But, that country had joined the UN way back in 1945 as the Republic of China. This invalidates Roy’s contention.

dominating show this domestic season, the Indian team is on top of the world with their emphatic series victory over the Australians. That they have negated the impact of consecutive loss in tosses, which can play a crucial role in how matches evolve, is also mentionworthy.

In the Dharamshala Test Rahane had a measure of the Australian side and the toss didn’t matter much. He could defend a small total with his pace­ cum­spin attack without Kohli’s overt aggression. In fact, he looked and felt a lot like former skipper Dhoni.

deep throat

UNHEALTHY CHOICE

Being the CM of a state that’s on the BJP’s radar as it seeks to expand its footprint over India can pose curious problems.

Especially if you don’t quite trust anyone in your party either and have good reason to fear an internal coup too. The health of the embattled chief minister, a veteran by now, is the subject of much discussion in political circles. No one is sure how serious the problem is. There are whispers that the CM has been advised to go to the US for treatment. But he doesn’t want to! Unless, of course, he can do a Laloo and hand over the reins of govern­ ment to either his sister or nephew in his absence.

PROBING TIME What remains of the Samajwadi Party government in UP, except for a still-simmering feud and odd posters, is a litany of complaints piling up at the Prime Minister’s Office. All manner of issues have been raised against the Akhilesh Yadav regime, some frivolous— and with the BJP now well-ensconced in power in both the state and the Centre, all complainants are taking a CBI probe for granted!

Officials at the PMO are sifting through the mountain of papers to assess their probe-worthiness.

One has to do with defence land having been allegedly taken over for private educational institutes in Mulayam Singh Yadav’s constituency. Another has to do with vanishing gold and other treasures of a royal family, all of which was meant to be state property.

AAP’S GOT A PLAN-B

The outcome in Goa has fin­ ally forced a rethink. A sec­ tion of the Aam Aadmi Party’s leadership in Delhi is said to be mulling over whe­ ther or not to contest the Gujarat polls later this year.

The question is: whose vote­ share would AAP likely cut into? In case joining the fray in Gujarat can trim down the Congress further and thus help the BJP, AAP might act­ ually prefer to stay out. So much for talk about AAP being the BJP’s B­team.

Some Congress leaders in Gujarat were considering joining AAP, but now they will have to wait until the latter makes up its mind.

OVERHEARD Following unfavourable pre-poll surveys for the RK Nagar bypoll, the two AIADMK factions have been trying to bury the hatchet, merge and reclaim the party’s original name and symbol.

12 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

IN & AROUND THE SUBCONTINENTAL MENU

SEPARATION BLUES FOR LANKAN TUSKER

S

RI Lanka has had a tradition of gifting elephants to cement bilateral rela­ tions with friendly nations. But a recent move to send a baby tusker to New Zealand as a goodwill gesture has kicked up a storm. Six­year­old Nandi was bequeathed to the Kiwis during the visit of former New Zealand prime minister John Key in Colombo last year. A team of vets from New Zealand subsequently came to Sri Lanka to prepare Nandi for her journey to the Auckland zoo. But animal activists in the island nation have risen up in pro­ test, saying it would be cruel to separate her from her family. They also assert that Nandi would find it difficult to adapt to the cold climate. The matter has since reached the court and Nandi’s departure has been put on hold, pending a final decision. “Sri Lankan elephants have strong family ties and to take a child is a sin,” a Buddhist monk and animal activist was quoted as saying.

SPICY GELS FOR SECURITY FORCES IN VALLEY

MONK TO LIVE HAPPILY HEREAFTER

FTER facing flak for using pellet guns on protesters in Kashmir, security forces are likely to be armed with another unusual weapon to deal with violent, stone­chucking mobs: a gre­ nade filled with a spicy jelly that causes irritation in the eyes after exploding. The grenade case will be packed with oleo­ resin, a semi­solid extract in a solution, mixed with the spicy gel. The spicy shells are said to be effective mob quellers. The plastic body of the grenade melts when it goes off, making it difficult to throw it back. The suggestion to use this came up during a recent meeting of the Union home ministry, which was convened in the light of the SC’s suggestion to consider measures other than pellet guns to contain mob violence. This, however, does not mean that pellet guns will disap­ pear. It will, of course, be used only if less lethal weapons prove ineffective.

HAT happens to a monk when Cupid strikes him? Matrimony, perhaps! Thaye Dorje (33) has given up his monkhood after marrying his ‘close childhood friend’ RinchenYangzom (36) recently in Delhi. Dorje, who has since childhood claimed to be the rein­ carnation of the Karmapa Lama—the 12th century leader of one of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism—says he has a strong feeling deep within his heart that his wedding will have a pos­ itive impact not only on him but also for the lineage. “Something beautiful, something beneficial will emerge, for all of us,” he says. Educated in India and Europe, Dorje will continue “as the lineage lama and as the Karmapa by offering teachings and blessings to stu­ dents around the world”. He has faith that his students will understand his wish to have kept private “this personal element of his very public life”.

A

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SCRAMBLE OF THE FAKE EGGS!

A

NITA Kumar, a Calcutta housewife, had the shock of her life when the eggs she bought from a friendly neighbourhood market spread out like plastic on the pan. To her horror, she found out that the shells were inflammatory too. The news of the fake eggs spread like wildfire, prompting the police to arrest the owner of the supplying agency. Altogether 96,000 samples were sent for lab tests, which were believed to have been “manufactured’ in Andhra Pradesh, which supplies 80 per cent of Bengal’s eggs. Experts say it’s is no rocket science. All you need are calcium carbonate, gypsum and sodium alginate to create the eggs, with dangerous chemicals like benzoic acid and mercury to create the yolk.

Illustrations by SAJITH KUMAR

14 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

A PROBLEM OF PLENTY

I

T’S a real problem of plenty that a Pakistani man has run into in recent days. Sardar Jan Moham­ mad Khilji is shocked to find out that the official registration form issued by the authorities for the ongoing census in his country has space for only 33 entries in the children’s column. The 47­year­old resident of Quetta has actually sired 38 kids and is wondering if five of his children would actually make it to the census figures for want of space

on the form. A medical technician by profession, Khilji incidentally has three wives. His eldest son is 14­year­old.

JUST MASK IT IN KATHMANDU

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HE pollution created by building and road constructions are a hazard to public health. Many wear protective masks.

But now, the Nepal Medical Association has advised people to use masks in Kath­ mandu. The NMA said the Kathmandu Val­ ley has been flooded with patients suffering from obstructive pulmonary diseases due to the near­constant digging of roads and laying of utility pipes, leading to an alarm­ ing rise in such diseases as common cold, bacterial tracheitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, throat allergies and asthma.

TOO MUCH MONKEY BUSINESS

I

T is a policeman’s duty to crack down on crime and criminals. But you don’t often hear of them going after monkeys, especially those that steal cellphones from foreign women. But such is the case in Sri Lanka. A 26­year­old British wom­ an lodged a complaint in Anuradhapura that her phone was stolen by a troup of monkeys. The

woman, a trainee nurse at the Anuradhapura Teach­ ing Hospital, told police that the monkeys broke into her room and made away with her cellphone worth Rs 50,000.

Initially, the spirited woman tried to give chase, but the primates proved to be much smart­ er and elusive, forcing her to seek the police’s help in utter desperation.

Doing It The Lahori Way

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HERE is often a tendency among sections in the developing world to fall back on foreign experts, especially those from the West, to find solutions to problems that are essentially local. But now, Pakistan’s Supreme Court seems to have intervened on one such occasion and asked the government as to why local problems cannot be resolved by experts from within the country.

“It is sad and painful aspect of the matter that we wait for some magician from outside to come and change the face of the country,” Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan of Pakistan’s Supreme Court said during a recent hearing on the suspension of work of the Lahore metro rail project.

Work on the metro’s ‘orange line’ had to be suspended following a ruling of the Lahore High Court as it felt the rail project threatened several heritage buildings in the city.

The Lahore government and several other agencies then conducted tests and concluded that the buildings were UNESCO safe. But the local court had wanted to other ideas and continued to susinspect the pend the metro project. heritage sites Meanwhile, the United Nations endangered by Educational, Scientific and Culthe metro. tural Organisation (UNESCO), which has declared Lahore’s Now, the Shalimar Gardens a world heritopinion of age site, got to know about the Pakistani controversy and sought permisexperts will sion to visit Pakistan to make be sought. an on-the-spot assessment. But their visa application in January was denied. Now, they have made a fresh application and want to visit Lahore this month.

“It was expected that work on the Orange Line project would remain suspended until someone could come and teach us how to protect and preserve our historical monuments,” Justice Khan observed.

According to the daily Dawn, apart from Shalimar Gardens, altogether 11 historical sites in Lahore, including the Gulabi Bagh Gateway, Buddhu ka Awa, General Post Office, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and Baba Mauj Darya Bukhari’s shrine were all being threatened by the metro rail work.

Justice Khan pointed out: “We ourselves are conscious that heritage buildings must be preserved and protected.” But he expressed surprise that the entire debate was sparked off only after the metro rail work had begun and not while encroachment of these buildings were taking place for years.

Whether suspension of the metro rail work remains or is lifted will be known in the coming days after Justice Khan delivers his final verdict. But it will be based on the opinion of experts who are Pakistanis, not outsiders.

17 April 2017 OUTLOOK 15

big bros bout

by Pranay Sharma

i

The Monk Who Stung A Hornet

t’S like a slow and tense tango, but with more partners than two. At the centre of the stage, shedding its dor­ mancy all of a sudden, is the tibet issue. Its reappearance as a factor in Sino­Indian ties has sharpened the focus on a long­pending boundary dis­ pute and reminded countries in the the Dalai Lama’s Arunachal visit worsens Sino­Indian ties, neighbourhood and beyond of the high as neighbours reap the benefits of their competing largesse stakes involved. But the Dalai Lama’s ongoing visit to Arunachal Pradesh and the strong Chinese reaction to it are not just a matter of some extra nee­ dle coming into bilateral ties. At a time when the two Asian giants are involved in a game of brinkmanship trying to ex­ pand their ambits of influence in South Asia and beyond, all regional players get pulled into the unfolding drama.

Yet, the Sino-Indian race for influence also offers opportunities, and challenges, for the neighbours, offering them tactical leverage to extract better bargains with both India and China to enhance investment opportunities. At the same time, there is also a creeping sense of worry on whether the thickening Sino-Indian rivalry, if left unchecked, could deteriorate into an armed conflict and drag them in, affecting their hard-won growth.

China, like it does elsewhere, has been investing heavily in South Asian countries to push through its One-Belt-OneRoad (OBOR) Initiative and the New Silk Route project. It has been pouring billions into infrastructure in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bangladesh, developing roads, highways, ports, cities and airports in a bid to string up and link important road and sea lanes in these Photographs: aP countries with its ambitious projects.

Over the past years, India too has been The Dalai Lama arrives at Thubchok Gatsel Ling monastery in Arunachal Pradesh making significant investments in neighThe best example may be seen in Bang- cially China, is the proposed agreement in bouring South Asian countries—maybe not on China’s lavish scale, but signifi- ladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s the area of defence. China and Bangladesh cantly more than what it had done in the April 7-10 visit to India. New Delhi’s ties already have a defence pact, under which past. In the process, it is these smaller with Dhaka have been growing steadily; Beijing has been supplying military hardneighbouring nations who are embroiled indeed, they have improved after Modi ware, including submarines and other in a classic scenario of ‘running with the became PM. Now, India wants to show- equipment, to Dhaka. India may not end hare and hunting with the hounds’—using case this as a model of good neighbourly up with a defence agreement, but even an the ongoing rivalry between the two asp- relations, something from which others MoU will reflect the growing confidence between the two sides. For Hasina, this iring powers to rake in the best deals. This in the region could also perhaps learn.

Over 30 agreements and MoUs are will require a delicate diplomatic balance has been the leitmotif in regional politics of late. “It is a reality we have to accept. likely to be signed during Hasina’s visit between the two Asian giants.

The Bangladesh PM’s visit, by all indiAll our South Asian neighbours are try- and a substantial Line of Credit is likely to ing to take the best advantage of the be offered by India to boost trade and cations, is likely to be a great success. situation and make the most of it,” says business ties. But what will be keenly But how will it affect, or rather be affecwatched by a number of countries, espe- ted by, the ongoing tension that has former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal.

18 OutlOOk 17 April 2017

suddenly filled the air? And how crucial indicated a shift in India’s stand on Tibet. should not be created around his ongoSo how should one read the ongoing ing visit to Arunachal Pradesh”, China a role will Dhaka continue to play?

Tibet, one could argue, is an old thorn in war of words that is emanating from seemed least interested in climbing back from its position. Hua Chunying, India’s relations with China. It had been India and China on the Tibet issue?

Arguably, a reaction from China to the the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperthe nub of the boundary dispute that had driven the two countries to war in 1962; in Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh son, pointed out that India had “obstisubsequent years, a series of Indian gov- was not totally unexpected. What was nately” gone ahead in preparing the ernments continued to use Tibet as an not expected, however, was the strident Dalai Lama’s visit to the “disputed part” issue, in an unspoken manner, in their note in its criticism of the Indian deci- of the India-China border, causing “serdealing with China. The salience which sion to allow the Tibetan spiritual leader ious damage” not only to China’s interthe Narendra Modi government accords to travel to the Northeast state that lies est, but also to bilateral ties. to it could be gleaned from the little- along the unsettled boundary between observed fact (which may not have gone the two sides—a region that China also He Chinese media was equally unsunnoticed in Beijing) that among the claims as its own as ‘south Tibet’. paring. “With a GDP several times Since the Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 regional heads of state he invited for his higher than that of India, military swearing-in in May 2014 was the prime and took refuge in India, he has visited capabilities that can reach the Indian minister of the Tibetan-government-in Arunachal Pradesh several times—the Ocean and having good relations with exile, Lobsang Sangay. Tibet, it was clear, last one being nearly nine years back India’s peripheral nations, coupled with when the Congress-led UPA govern- the fact that India’s turbulent northern was on the radar as a card.

Diplomatically for India, this state borders China, if China enghas not been a great week. First, ages in a geopolitical game with there was the African countries’ India, will Beijing lose to New statement, describing attacks Delhi?” the daily Global Times on African students in Greater asked in a comment.

Noida as “xenophobic” and “raShould India see this as a cial”. Then, out of the blue, the warning from China?

Donald Trump administration In the past, the Modi governdecided to break away from the ment has shown its ability to stated American position on moderate its Tibet policy, thoIndia-Pakistan relations by ofugh keeping it at the centre in its fering to mediate in bringing the dealing with China. While it had estranged neighbours to the allowed the US ambassador talks-table. Last of all was the Richard Varma to visit Arunaescalating tensions with China chal Pradesh—the first AmeriThe Bangladesh PM’s India visit is can envoy to have been accorded on the Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh. that privilege—it has also pulled likely to be a success. But Hasina Muddying the waters further, back on a number of occasions. will also have to strike a delicate Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema For instance, though Modi had balance between India and China.

Khandu made some remarks on met the Dalai Lama as chief Wednesday that raised doubts minister of Gujarat, he has not on whether there was a shift in India’s ment was in power in New Delhi. done so since assuming the premiership. position in accepting Tibet as an auton- Therefore, as he too acknowledged, the It also cancelled a meeting between the omous part of China. Arguing that the Chinese reaction to his visit was “nor- Tibetan spiritual leader and BJP presiMcMahon Line demarcates the bound- mal”. He also clarified that though he dent Amit Shah last year when Modi was ary between India and Tibet and not was one of the long-standing guests of to visit Beijing, keeping in mind Chinese China, Khandu said, “Let me get this the country, “India had never used me sensitivities. It had allowed a conferstraight, China has no business telling against China”. An irate China certainly ence of Chinese dissidents to be held in us what to do or not to do, because it is does not subscribe to that placid view. Dharamshala some years back, but had It summoned Indian ambassador Vijay cancelled the visas of some prominent not our next-door neighbour.”

Officially, India recognises Tibet as an Gokhale in Beijing to register its pro- dissidents after China protested. autonomous part of China. However, test against the Indian move and sugWill India again show the same wise since 2010, it had stopped reiterating this gested that India should stop the moderation and finesse in its Tibet polposition in joint statements with China, “wrong action”, “not hype sensitive iss- icy? If so, it could create the right atmosperhaps to register its protest on Beijing’s ues”, that instead “concrete steps” phere for a meaningful dialogue between lack of support on issues key to New Delhi. should be taken to safeguard growth in Chinese President Xi Jinping and Modi Khandu is an elected political leader in India-China relations. when they meet in Almaty for the SCO Though India argued back that “no Summit in June. The Dalai Lama’s visit India, but no diplomat. But the ministry of external affairs has so far not come out political colour” should be ascribed to won’t be forgotten, but quiet diplomacy with any statement to clarify whether his the Dalai Lama’s “religious and spiritual” in the intervening two months should remarks were an off-the-cuff response or activities and “artificial controversies muffle the early rumbles of a crisis. O

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17 April 2017 OutlOOk 19

J&K BYPOLLS

Islam Prop In New Poll Vault

PTI

ALOFT Ex-CM Farooq Abdullah at a joint party meet in Srinagar in March

of society. More so, when the contestant’s father, late chief minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah who founded the NC in 1932, had been a harsh critic of the Islamist outfit that has today lost much of its public clout.

Jamaat­e­Islami is no longer anathema for the NC. The Abdullahs—Dr Farooq and his Why are the Abdullahs wooing a faith­based outfit? ex-CM son Omar—have been calling this bypoll as an “ideological struggle”, raiscould well be Dr Abdullah’s last poll bat- ing the campaign pitch. In an April 3

by Naseer Ganai in Srinagar tle, observers believe. The former union speech, Dr Abdullah asked people not to HEN a flamboyant and sea­ minister, who headed the troubled bor- forget a crusade of justice Prophet Moses soned leader seeks vote der state five times, is contesting as the waged against Pharaoh and his armies. from a conservative organi­ candidate of his National Conference “Truth, justice and honesty will always sation, the political desper­ party in native Srinagar that goes to polls tide over suppression, brute force and ation seems obvious—how­ on April 9. Three days later is a byelection tyranny,” he said with reference to the prophet-messenger in the Quran. This ever strong the denial in Anantnag, also in the Valley.

Dr Abdullah’s electoral opponent is far plea for support of “our brothers in the comes. As two parliamentary byelec­ tions in his native Jammu and Kash­ less known: Nazir Ahmad Khan of the Jamaat” was made before an audience in mir draw close, senior politician Far­ Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ruling north Kashmir’s Kangan—an assembly ooq Abdullah is increasingly invoking the state. That has not stopped the NC seat that has remained with the NC for Islamic sentiments in a bid to woo the veteran, whose party is in alliance with the past half a century.

The scene contrasts with the party’s Jamaat­e­Islami that his iconic father the Congress, from wooing the Jamaat in a way, commentators say, is bringing pertinent stance just three years ago. In so famously detested all his life.

Six months short of turning 81, this back a political recluse to the mainstream 2014, NC leader Mustafa Kamal, younger

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20 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

J & K BYPOL LS The NC’s open support to the Jamaat, All of it when the Jamaat is headed by a brother of Dr Abdullah, dubbed the Jamaat as “another face of the PDP”. The moderate. Peacenik Ghulam Moha- which allegedly has a covert understand1999-founded party, he alleged, had been mmad Bhat, who now heads the organi- ing with the PDP, has made the organisaenjoying electoral support from the sation for a fourth time, is credited with tion a new power centre in Kashmir. The socio-religious organisation that was overturning the 1941-founded Jamaat’s Jamaat “seriously suffered” in 1979 when hard-line policy on Kashmir. A native of Pakistan PM Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was always at war with the NC ideology.

The Jamaat is seen as having one per- Sopore in northwest Kashmir’s Bara- hanged by the then military chief Zia-ulcent vote-base in the Valley. If so, why mulla district, he first occupied the post Haq, according to political commentator side with the outfit that has not con- in 1985—and is known mainly for delin- Zahid Ghulam Mohammad. “Those days, tested elections since armed insurgency king the Jamaat’s association with the we had an NC government in the state— erupted in the Valley in 1989? It is part region’s militant outfits. The Jamaat, and villages with Jamaat supporters, esof a renewed war against the Hindu which used to call for solution of the pecially in south Kashmir, were burnt; right wing led by the Rashtriya Swayam- Kashmir issue according to the UN reso- their orchids destroyed. That forced the sevak Sangh (RSS), claims Dr Abdullah. lutions and had favoured accession with organisation to alter it political course.”

“We have to come together to fight the Pakistan, currently focuses on socio- Now if the NC and PDP are fighting for RSS, lest our identity and honour will be educational work rather than engaging Jamaat support, it only shows how the two parties have shrunk and the Jamaat wiped out,” he cautions, calling out the in political issues.

If Dr Abdullah is now trying to motivate has grown, he adds.

Jamaat. “I am just one person, but I seek Academician Siddiq Wahid finds any your support so that we can all collec- the Jamaat to change its low profile it has tively fight against the RSS with courage.” gone into since 1998, the NC leader’s party’s bid to warm up to a faith-based Abdullah brings the recent Uttar Pra- language is—ironically—in sync with the entity as a sign of opportunism.

The Jamaat’s electoral entry was in desh assembly polls to buttress his argu- PDP when it was in the Opposition. Yet, ment that his electoral contest is a fight his open warmth for the Jamaat has sur- 1972, when Sheikh Abdullah was in jail. It for Muslim identity to which the Jamaat prised many, including the ruling party’s won five seats, but couldn’t repeat such a show in the 87-member assembly. ought to be a party.

In 1977, when the Jan Sangh was The BJP, which is in J&K a coaan ally of Islamist parties in J&K, lition partner of the PDP led by If the National Conference wants the Jamaat secured just one of CM Mehbooba Mufti, did not Jamaat to alter its low profile, it is the 19 seats it contested with 3.6 field a single Muslim candidate something the PDP also sought to per cent vote-share. in UP that has four crore Musdo when it was in the Opposition.

It was in 1998 that Bhat delims, Dr Abdullah reiterates. linked Jamaat with armed insur“The day is not far when god will gency that had gripped the state teach a lesson to those who have sold their conscience to remain in power Naeem Akhtar, who is a government since 1989 under the Hizb-uland for harassing as well as humiliating spokesman. “Dr Abdullah has been too Mujahideen. The move was a fallout of people for their own self-seeking ambi- long at the helm of J&K affairs and in the pro-government Ikhwan-ul-Muslimun driving seat of the state’s mainstream militia’s pan-Valley killing of a large tions,” he adds. politics to indulge in this kind of a dis- number of workers of the Jamaat, which HE Jamaat says Dr Abdullah’s course,” he tells Outlook. “He has aligned was perceived as a political force of the statements are of no significance. with every party in the country—from Hizb. Two years later, by the turn of the “He, like other pro-India parties, has the BJP and Congress to I.K. Gujral to century, Bhat succeeded in leading the been responsible for suffering and H.D. Deve Gowda. How can what is halal Jamaat for a second term by defeating miseries of Kashmir,” Zahid Ali, the or- (permissible under Islam) for him in Ashraf Sehrai, a close aide of hardline ganisation’s spokesman, tells Outlook. politics be taboo for others,” wonders separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani. Soon, The NC chief, by raising the spectre of Akhtar, in reaction to Dr Abdullah’s criti- in August 2000, Bhat endorsed a brief unilateral ceasefire the Hizb had annothe RSS in the upcoming bypolls, is try- cism of the PDP allying with the BJP. The two Lok Sabha seats of Kashmir unced. Three years thence, Nazir Ahmad ing to do what the PDP did during its 2014 J&K assembly poll campaign. That region fell vacant following the resigna- Kashani replaced Bhat after he comtime the party, led by Mehbooba’s father tion of Mehbooba from Anantnag after pleted his term. In 2004, Geelani parted Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (1936-2016), she got elected to the state assembly in ways with the Jamaat and formed the called itself as the only alternative to June last year and, later, on September Tehreek-e-Hurriyat.

Then, in 2008, the Jamaat took a stand stop the BJP’s “onslaught”, only to form 15, senior PDP leader Tariq Hamid a post-poll alliance with the saffron Karra quit the Srinagar seat in protest that contrasted with that of the separaparty and rule the state. Today, Dr against government forces killing civil- tists and Geelani. Sheikh Ghulam Hassan, Abdullah, while looking out for the ians protesting the July 8 shooting down who that time headed the organisation, Jamaat’s support, hopes that his appeal of young militant Burhan Wani. The stated that elections do not have any imwould be seen as a larger battle for “our PDP’s Anantnag candidate is Mufti Tas- pact on the Kashmir issue. Hassan, thus, very survival with dignity and honour”— saduq, who is the CM’s 45-year-old became the first leader in the Valley to beyond being an electoral fight between brother. He faces the NC-Congress delink polls and the vexed territorial conflict between India and Pakistan. O combine’s Ghulam Ahmad Mir, 58. two alliances in the state.

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22 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

Outlook Traveller Awards 2017

travel For the love of

The Outlook Traveller Awards celebrate the best hoteliers, the most sought-after destinations, the biggest names in the travel and hospitality industry and more. Come, applaud the highest achievers you voted for, and celebrate their success with us.

THE JURY ANKUR BHATIA Executive Director, Bird Group A strategic visionary, he is a pioneer in the travel industry, having brought the Amadeus Brand to India. He pioneered the group’s foray into hospitality with Roseate Hotels & Resorts.

SWAPNA LIDDLE Convenor, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Delhi chapter) Author of Delhi: 14 Historic Walks and Chandni Chowk: The Mughal City of Old Delhi, she did her PhD on 19th century Delhi. She has been conducting heritage walks in the capital for a long time now.

PRIYA PAUL Chairperson, Apeejay Surendra Park Hotels With many awards to her credit, she is the powerhouse behind The Park and Zone by The Park hotels. She is also the founding member of the World Travel and Tourism Council–India initiative.

CHHAVI CHADHA Founder, Bespoke A passionate travellerturned-entrepreneur, her forte lies in curating customised luxury experiences across the world and in India. Name a holiday and she designs it, giving it an absolutely personal touch.

Log on to outlooktraveller.com and vote for your favourite destinations

SIDDHARTH DHANVANT SHANGHVI Author & Honorary Director of SunaparantaGoa Centre for the Arts Author of the best-selling The Last Song of Dusk, he has contributed articles to the New York Times and TIME and loves photography.

JULIAN MATTHEWS Founder & Chairman, TOFTigers He has spent 15 years travelling across India, mainly through the forest sanctuaries to help in conservation.

Born and brought up in Zimbabwe, he was a nature safari tour operator for 20 years.

profile

the Shah of Political Chess

The political constellation on the ground and the signs in the sky are all working out for Modi’s general as he strives to close the gaps in India’s saffron map

by Bhavna Vij-Aurora

consult professionals anymore.”

Shah is believed to have learnt ast­ rology from Ahmedabad­based astro­ idway through the UP loger Shastri Niranjan Shukla. When assembly elections, when Shah was written off politically in 2008 Prime Minister Narendra following his imprisonment in the Modi made the kabrisSohrabuddin encounter case, Shukla, tan-shamshaan statement, who saw ‘Raj Yog’ in the horoscope, it was seen as an attempt to predicted that his rivals would perish polarise voters by highlighting minand he would be resurrected. “Shah ority appeasement and “bhedbhav” was so impressed that he decided to (discrimination) by the akhilesh study astrology from Shukla and is yadav government. Modi, who had now proficient in it himself,” says the been talking of development until Gujarat­based leader. then, had suddenly changed tack and Shah is surely not resting on his lau­ introduced religion into his camrels post the emphatic victory paign pitch. This is widely in UP. After ensuring the asc­ believed to have been done at ension of Yogi Adityanath as the behest of his party chief Amit Shah is a tough taskmaster.... the CM, Shah is now looking at amit Shah, who is said to have convinced Modi about the All his tough talking has earned him the 2019 Lok Sabha elections possible dividends. an abrasive image.... “It is impossible and focusing on the 120 con­ stituencies that the BJP has The PM’s statement was to fool him,” says a BJP leader. never won. From April 6, BJP’s made at a rally in Fatehpur on foundation day, to April 14, B.R. February 19, when votes for Ambedkar’s birth anniversary, the third phase were being polled. It became a talking point for the PM is at ease, knowing well that the all senior party leaders and ministers days to come as leaders of other parties party is in safe hands and complement­ have been told to fan out to these new kept raking it up. “The more the other ing his efforts.” According to him, the areas and establish a foothold.

As part of the larger picture, Shah has parties talked about it, the more the added advantage is that Shah under­ atmosphere got polarised, benefiting stands not just party management but shifted attention to states like Gujarat the BJP. It was a masterstroke by Amit also governance, having handled 12 cru­ and Himachal Pradesh where elections cial portfolios as Modi’s trusted lieuten­ are due at the end of the year, and to Shah,” says a senior party leader. those still eluding the BJP—Tamil Nadu, The anecdote not only highlights how ant in the Gujarat government.

On his part, Shah is certain that Modi Kerala, Telangana, Orissa and West closely Shah, 52, had studied the ground situation, but also the trust that Modi and the BJP are here to stay, ruling the Bengal. And with the first BJP govern­ reposes in him—trust built over an ass­ country for several years to come. “He ment in place in Manipur, he now wants ociation more than three decades long. dabbles in astrology,” reveals a party the party’s footprints in other north­ Shah was 17 when he met Modi for the leader from Gujarat. “He can prepare an eastern states too.

In most states, Shah doesn’t foresee first time at a shakha in Ahmedabad’s astrological chart and study the plane­ Naranpura, which he represents now in tary positions pretty well. In fact, he any major problem. Only Mizoram, the Gujarat Assembly. Modi was a pra­ is so confident that he doesn’t need to which has a near 90 per cent Christian

M

24 OutlOOk 17 April 2017

charak in charge of youth affairs in the state. “It is a bond that has only grown since,” says a party general secretary.

“If Modi ji has an idea, he knows Shah can implement it. Today that idea is Congress­mukt Bharat.”

Actually, more than the idea of a Congress­mukt Bharat, it is the dream of seeing BJP rule across India that is driving Shah. He believes Modi’s vis­ ion of India cannot be realised unless all the states are on board, and that can only happen with BJP governments in every state. “They are working in tan­ dem,” says the general secretary. “Modi

jitender gupta

least 25 people in a day and talks to a hundred others on the phone. He is straightforward, doesn’t believe in cushioning his words in niceties, doesn’t care what people think of him and can be pretty ruthless.”

Shah likes to quote freedom fighter, philosopher and spiritual reformer Aurobindo Ghosh on good govern­ ance: “A king should always try to take decisions that benefit the masses and not individuals.” This is believed to be part of a note Aurobindo had left for Shah’s grandfather, who was an admin­ istrator in the princely state of Mansa and had played host to the nationalist leader a century ago.

f

population, seems a bit out of reach.

“He is determined to breach that barr­ ier as well,” a Union minister tells Outlook. “Being a grandmaster of the elec­ toral chessboard, Shah is sure to find a way of seeing the lotus bloom there too.

In fact, nothing can satisfy him more than seeing saffron rule in the remote state.” Incidentally, Shah is known to be an accomplished chess player and was instrumental in introducing the game in Gujarat schools. He believed it would help students attain higher IQ levels.

Party leaders say Shah is a tough taskmaster. “He has this habit of tak­ ing the party workers by surprise and

asking them random questions during meetings, to which he cannot stand general answers,” says the minister.

“For example, if he asks about election preparations, he does not want ‘very good’ as an answer. He wants details of what exactly is happening on the ground. That’s why nobody wants to sit in the front row during meetings. It is impossible to fool him.”

No wonder all this tough talking has built an abrasive image of the party president. “It is true he doesn’t believe in durbars and has no time to pander to individual egos,” says the leader. “He is focused on his work. He gives time to at

LANKING Shah’s armchair are portraits of Chanakya and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who are among the historical figures he draws ins­ piration from. He recently asked for a compilation of Maratha history to read up on Peshwa Bajirao. “Napoleon is another leader he adores,” says an aide.

“He basically likes strong characters, who are decisive, self­made and stand for their beliefs. That’s why he pitched for Adityanath as UP CM.” While Shah is used to getting his way, many in the BJP are not happy with the change he has brought into the party’s culture. Veteran leaders such L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha, who were relegated to the Margdarshak Mandal, have been hinting at a “breakdown” in the party’s democratic structure. In the wake of electoral debacles in Delhi and Bihar, for example, the veterans complained about the party being “emasculated” and “forced to kowtow to a handful”—a not­so­veiled reference to Shah’s autocratic ways.

A senior leader, who thinks the BJP’s nature as a cadre­based party is chang­ ing, has a word of caution for Shah.

“Shah claims to have made BJP the largest in the world with 11 crore mem­ bers, but the question to ask is whether they are all voters,” he says. “They are probably not. The challenge is to turn these members into enthused workers.

The way things are, even old members are not happy. The victory in UP is seen as a victory of Modi and not the organ­ isation. The winning streak may con­ tinue, but the party will get weakened in the long run.” O

17 April 2017 OutlOOk 25

clAiming the fAther

Up for grabs mahatma

pti

the PM’s appropriation of Gandhi is helping the BJP shape a new political persona

by Zia Haq

c

ultural amnesia. It’s what makes historically ironic app­ ropriations possible. amid a violent anti­cow­slaughter campaign in many states, these words by Mahatma Gandhi have a prophetic ring to them: “How can I force anyone not to slaughter cows unless he is himself so disposed?

It is not as if there were only Hindus in the Indian Union. There are Muslims, Parsis, Christians and other religious groups here.” He said it during a prayer discourse on July 25, 1947.

The NDA government is all set to

26 OutlOOk 17 April 2017

launch a year-and-a-half-long com- against the British rule, rooted in a memoration to mark 100 years of the philosophy of upright moral courage Satyagraha movement, launched on and non-violent resistance. The April 11, 1917. Exactly a century ago to proposed Champaran celebrations are the day, the Mahatma started his inf- being called “Swachchagraha” or holluential Satyagraha (literally, ‘holding ding on to cleanliness. Gandhi will on to truth’) movement from Bihar’s come alive through his own writings, Champaran district. The celebrations speeches, video footages and phowill culminate in Gandhi’s 150th birth tographs in a country that has mostly anniversary in 2019, to be marked by a forgotten him. Cloud-based shows on bigger spectacle. It could hardly have Gandhian tenets, the civil disobedience escaped national attention. The BJP’s movement, gram swaraj—the concept embrace of Gandhi and national icons, of villages as vibrant and self-sufficient from Sardar Patel to Bhagat Singh and ‘republics’—should transfix viewers.

B.R. Ambedkar, is helping the party The celebrations will pan out from the first places where the Satyagraha movforge a new political persona.

Satyagraha was pivotal in the struggle ements occurred: Champaran in Bihar

saint’s trail Modi visits Gandhi’s bust in Johannesburg, south africa

“Modi is someone who is highly inspired deep. The RSS’s tenets, he argues, are

by Gandhiji’s ideals and he has emulated “very different from the proactive paciMahatma’s methods in mobilising peo- fism” Gandhi declared from Champaran. and Kheda and Ahmedabad, in Gujarat. ple for developmental programmes,” Yet, not appropriating Gandhi is not an Modi has constantly invoked the says BJP spokesperson G.V.L. Nara- option. “It’s for legitimacy.”

The Congress and the Left, however, Mahatma. It’s a break from the problem- simha Rao. Modi believes, he says, that atic relationship the early Hindu Right development is only possible by involv- appear to have long abandoned championing Gandhi. had had with Gandhi. The father of the ing the masses, just as Gandhi did.

The Congress claims it has never The view from political scientists is nation figures prominently in many of Modi’s initiatives for a ‘new India’. How that there are basic differences between steered away from Gandhi. “Gandhian Gandhian teachings and the tenets of thought and Congress are one. It is their does having Gandhi help?

The first photograph of Modi inside his the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (Right-wing) thinking that killed office suite, tweeted by his handle, (RSS), the BJP’s ideological parent. To Gandhi,” says party leader Randeep Nehru married showed him paying obeisance to a be sure, the Hindu Right has had to bear Singh Surjewala. framed portrait of the Mahatma, under- the stigma of assassinating the Gandhian values with modernity, Indira pinning the pious start of a new journey. Mahatma. Now after seven decades, is it Gandhi’s pro-poor policies, Rajiv Gandhi’s technological revolution that On October 2, 2014, Modi swept the road trying to make amends?

“With the exception of Nehru, the was great leveller and UPA’s rightsoutside the 150-year-old Balmiki Temple with a broom in the heart of Sangh has tried to appropriate the based policies were all manifestations of what Gandhi espoused, he says.

Delhi. It was Gandhi’s birthday On the other hand, Communist and a fitting occasion to launch Party of India (Marxist) MP Swachch Bharat, a campaign for Tapan Sen is open about the a filth-free India. Gandhi had Left’s quibbles with Gandhi. once said cleanliness was more “The BJP’s embrace of Gandhi important than Independence. is dubious. We have minced no The sheer symbolism worked. words about disagreeing with Bollywood actors, cricket icons, Gandhi’s economic prescrippoliticians, among millions, tion based on trusteeship that were seen wielding the broomincludes private capitalists. stick. Modi had fired the popular But, at the same time, we have imagination about Gandhi again. always been respectful of his A month before he kicked off humanism,” he says.

Swachch Bharat, Modi addrNishikant Kogle, a Gandhian essed a jubilant crowd at New Gandhi launched his Satyagraha scholar at Tripura University , York’s Madison Square on his US says Modi frequently evokes visit. Gandhi figured in that from Champaran, where farmers Gandhi’s memory because the speech too. There was a slip-up were forced by the British to grow Mahatma is inarguably India’s though. Modi mispronounced indigo instead of food grains. greatest icon around the world Gandhi’s first name as and also a unifying national “Mohanlal”. Unfazed, he went on symbol of a globalising Bharat. to underscore how Gandhi, an The BJP now has the largest share of expatriate “like you”, returned to India entire nationalist pantheon, from Gandhi to Patel to Ambedkar, among MLAs among all parties at 1,382 legisto serve his country.

Gandhi launched his Satyagraha from others. Ideological particularities, his- lators at an all-India level, the result of Champaran, where poor farmers were torical facts and political differences do a successful a political template struforced by the British to grow indigo, a not seem to matter in the process of ctured around economic transforlucrative dye, instead of food grains. incorporating these major figures into mation and nationalism.

According to Vajpeyi, championing Modi announced his government’s plans the BJP’s own legacy,” says Ananya to mark “100 years of the Champaran Vajpeyi, the author of Righteous Gandhi “is a way to counteract the RSS’s Satyagraha” in his last radio talk show, Republic: The Political Foundations of own ghettoisation and marginalisation Modern India. “These gestures of claim- vis-à-vis the Congress-led, secular idea Mann Ki Baat, on March 26.

“It was the Champaran Satyagraha that ing a Gandhi or an Ambedkar help to of India that has been the default and brought to the fore Mahatma Gandhi’s create a consensus and to usher the the dominant vision thus far.”

Ultimately, all this helps build a politiorganisational skills and his strong abil- Hindu Right into a national mainstream ity to gauge the pulse of Indian society,” of belief and opinion that has held sway cal consensus, says Vajpeyi. “The noise, the symbolism and the messaging are to the PM said in the show. Modi himself is since Independence.”

According to sociologist Shiv say that ‘we are no longer defined as the thought of as someone who knows that Visvanathan, the Congress looks “pris- Right, we are the mainstream, because ‘pulse’ of a changing India.

For the BJP, Hindutva ideologue V.D. tine” because of Gandhi. He doesn’t in India there is a capacious mainstream Savarkar and Gandhi coexist in harmony. think the BJP’s embrace of Gandhi goes of which you must be a part of.” O

17 April 2017 OutlOOk 27

EVM ROW

by Pragya Singh and Zia Haq

S

UDDENLY, the battle over electronic voting machines (EVMs) is at a feverish pitch. Whether they reliably record the voter’s choice has become a point of renewed debate now after one EVM in Madhya Pradesh allegedly registered only BJP votes. The machine was identified during a mock trial at a polling station, where it “malfunctioned” in full view of the media and representatives of political parties.

The EVM was to be deployed at an April 9 byelection to Ater assembly seat in Bhind district.

Such public demonstrations of EVMs are typically conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and its state chapter to reassure citizens that EVMs are easy to use and that every vote is safe.

The entire affair went horribly wrong on March 31. Predictably, that sent a signal of triumph to political parties that have been clamouring for a return to manual voting. The Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party enjoyed a sense of vindication, which is matched by the denunciatory tone—equal and opposite in vigour—of their critics as well as opponents.

The ECI reiterates the machines as safe, citing an India-specific reason: the EVMs are standalone, not connected to each other by wire or airwave, unlike the case with other countries. The poll body has also countered the more serious charge of EVMs being rigged. The machines cannot be pre-set to make a party win, it reassures, pointing to the wholesale adoption of a special new device.

Called ‘voter verifiable paper audit trail’ or VVPAT, it prints an accompanying slip that confirms the voter’s selection.

This, the ECI believes, will put an end to the growing scepticism.

The mock-vote in Madhya Pradesh, thus, has a nuance: it was meant to demonstrate the working of VVPATs— not EVMs. Now, this point has a twofold significance. First, those who are critical of EVMs ever since the Bhind episode are getting it completely wrong.

The errors, if any, were with the printer there and not with the voting machine.

“The VVPAT is just a printer. It doesn’t record a vote,” an ECI official explains.

“See, in Bhind, we just wanted to show how the VVPAT works, not how voting

28 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

Symptom of Transitional Hiccup, Is It? A pre-bypoll EVM demo went wrong, embarrassing the ECI. But it needn’t be proof of faulty machines. machines work.”

Whatever the truth, the matter holds great significance for voters and political parties. Indian democracy rests on the voting process—what seems like a periodic and seemingly mechanical act of casting votes is often the only actively democratic exercise by an Indian citizen.

Hence, the Election Commission has

taken the matter seriously, deploying a high-level team to monitor polls in the state. Bhanwar Lal, Andhra Pradesh’s chief electoral officer, is in Bhind to probe what went wrong at the trial.

The ongoing battle over EVMs has had its sour moments. A piqued EC, after repeatedly saying that EVMs are “tamper-proof”, chastised the AAP. In a rec-

MOCK TEST Saleena Singh, MP’s chief electoral officer, at Bhind

seconds—once the vote is cast on the EVM. After this, the printout automatically falls into a sealed box, never coming into the voter’s hands. Reason: in the event of a known EVM fault or dispute, the printouts can be counted to ascertain the electoral result. If the VVPAT can go wrong, the seeds of doubt get sown. Thus, this is one perception the ECI seeks to fight, repeatedly, clarifying that the Bhind was not a pattern but, possibly, an error under investigation.

ment officials get postal ballots, so should ordinary voters, he adds.

India is switching to VVPATs for the 2019 parliamentary elections, but getting over this transition will take time. “We have placed proposals before for requisite funds to replace older machines,” says Sudeep Jain, the director-general of the ECI, in Delhi. The original funding proposal, made in January 2014, was for Rs 3,174 crore. The subsequent NDA government has announced it will release Rs 2,000 crore. At 2013 prices, a VVPAT machine costs about Rs 20,000. Possibly, prices will change once the Goods and Services Tax is rolled out in July.

ent note, it called Arvind Kejriwal’s party, though not in so many words, a sore loser—alluding to the AAP’s performance below its own expectations in the recent Punjab Assembly elections.

Today, the EC’s trial in Bhind has itself become a subject of mockery.

Wealthy nations of the world still go by paper ballots. This, seen from the AAP’s eyes, is a hint at the unreliability of voting machines. Many other critics feel that rich countries, especially in Europe, even today prefer paper ballots to voting machines as they consider the manual exercise more trustworHE ECI, as a rule, also phases thy. They argue that insufficient out a voting machine after awareness about the EVM pit15 years of service. Thus, falls has led to the machine caparound 9.30 lakh voting turing the electoral territory in machines will expire between large developing societies.

2016 and 2019. This year, it is The EVM error at Bhind made supposed to replace a little over the state’s electoral officials una19 lakh machines. Around 33 GETTY IMAGES ble to control the narrative. For, lakh will be due for replacement the awkward scene unfolded next year and another 12 lakh by Political parties, led by Arvind before a large crowd of political 2019-20 so as to meet its target Kejriwal’s AAP, feel vindicated activists, onlookers and media (of complete replacement). that EVMs can be manipulated. persons. The other implication, The other option is to replace They want ballot vote to return. obviously, is that the VVPAT its14 lakh machines with a newelf might lose some credibility. generation EVM. Named ‘M3 The printer will be perceived, if type’, this variety ceases to funThe intricacies apart, some feel all isn’t ction if there is an attempt to tamper not as error-prone, as certainly not foolproof (though the ECI is still locating well with the system. “One should have with it. This will require over Rs 5,500 the right to choose how to vote—by paper crore. The choice, therefore, is between what exactly went wrong).

A VVPAT allows the voter to see whom ballot or EVM,” says Dr Anand Rai, the moving wholesale to VVPAT or to switch he or she has voted for. The slip it throws Vyapam scam whistleblower. “It’s not to the new kind of machine. That said, up records the name, serial number and about winning or losing. Many popular, the government has not provided for symbol of the candidate selected. The previously-successful leaders are losing such massive funding. slip can’t be taken home by the voter, but by massive margins. This trend is baffling.

The BJP recently won several ‘historic’ is visible through a screen—for seven I feel it is bad to not address it.” If govern- mandates, and the one in Uttar Pradesh

T

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17 April 2017 OUTLOOK 29

EVM ROW

PTI

ANGER A BSP-allied outfit holds an anti-EVM demonstration in Meerut

machines from one state to another. Our the attention of most EVM critics stays focused on it.

VVPATs, yes, they do travel.”

Critics of the EVM say it can be “pre-set” This particular VVPAT was not “wiped triggered the ongoing outcry. Will the clean” as it should have been, the officer to lead an election to an already-deterBJP bring VVPATs on all EVMs sooner, says. The rules do clearly specify that all mined verdict. “It isn’t that difficult to do despite the hefty price tag? “The ECI data in them should be erased before such programming, and ordinary voters has made many technical improvements they are used even in a demonstration. will never even suspect it,” says Dr Rai. and introduced administrative safe- Not having done so has caused a lot of “The kind of verdicts we are seeing— guards as a result of individual efforts by trouble. Nineteen state officials, includ- MLAs winning by margins of 90,000 some of us six years ago. VVPAT is one ing a very popular district magistrate, votes in assemblies with less than 2 lakh such contribution,” says party spokes- have been transferred out. If anything, voters, for instance. There’s something person G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, who this indicates the growing concerns unnatural, unbelievable in them.”

Even local-body elections, many say, wrote a 2011 book that was critical of about EVMs and the need to correct the has had surprising results: a Mumbai EVMs and their working. “Many senior public perception on the machines.

The Commission has faced many a candidate has said he got no vote—not BJP leaders at that time did not feel the strident allegation from Mayawati’s BSP, even his own. In Panchvati, also in Maneed for any safeguards,” he shrugs.

AAP and the Congress. Many surfaced harashtra, votes allegedly totalled more after candidates signed than the electorate number, leading to S for last month’s off on election results, vandalism in the town’s streets. In YeraBhind episode, the EC which were then decla- wada, 15 candidates including Manisha has clarified that the Officials could red by the ECI. Such a Mohite (NCP), complained about being machine used in that declaration, once made, declared winners, then losers—the contrial was only an appendage not control the ends the Commission’s fusion was attributed to a single EVM to the demonstration on narrative after jurisdiction on the mat- not having been counted. The ECI does how VVPATs work. Even so, the EVM demo ter. Disputes now have to not conduct panchayat or civic polls. that EVM was not, after all, that happened be tackled by the courts, These machines are beyond its dobrought from Kanpur in via formal election pet- main—but the battle is all about percepUttar Pradesh. “That’s just in public view. itions. No doubt, the tion. Battle-lines are being drawn both a rumour,” says the official. The ECI has a EC feels under siege, as to and from the public gallery. O “The EC does not move nuanced point.

A

30 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

Illustration by R. PRASAD

32 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

COVER STORY

VACCINE VENDORS’ GREED GONE VIRAL Immunisation is a nexus controlled by big private vaccine makers, mostly foreign, that decides your baby gets 15 shots more for the doctor to make money. Even if the vaccine is useless—not to talk of the huge mark-ups.

by Arushi Bedi

The IAP, the nodal private sector body, directly influences 10-15 per cent of all immunisation in India—and though that makes it seem limited in scope, this is only in terms of volHERE is no vaccine against the venal mind. No imm­ umes. In value terms, the market is almost as big as the stateunisation ever invented gives us a complete coat of run immunisation programme. And the IAP’s charter of immarmour. The law is only good enough to catch the unisation, followed by all private paediatricians, exists like a more obvious type of visible corruption. When it’s quasi-official model of healthcare to be aspired to by everyone. raised to a more abstract and institutionalised level, Immunisation via the public health agencies is a more regulawhere it forms the very operating logic of a system ted territory, but still the creeping influence on it is not hard to that surrounds you with good words, it simply becomes the divine—this is because the overarching coalition of global intnatural order of things. But once in a while, a crack dev­ erests that pulls the strings from remote boardrooms is the elops in the consensus and the light filters through. The same on the public as well as private sector (see story on p 40). evening of January 20, when the lonely dissenting voice of Healthcare is a transaction of trust. Immunisation is one of Dr Vipin Vashishtha was sought to be banished by the Ind­ the first steps in that transaction in an individual’s life. But the ian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP), was one such moment. field has become so grey that vaccines are being sold for disWhat showed through in that light was the entire unholy eases not even prevalent in India! Take yellow fever vaccines. architecture of India’s immunisation programme.

A well-known vaccine distributor in Delhi says some 2,000 The evening did not go well for Dr Vashishtha (see interview units of yellow fever vaccine are sold every month in India. on p 38), ex-convenor of the academy. In the late hours, his Yellow fever has zero incidence in India (or Asia)—while being fellow members had him thrown out unceremoniously from prevalent in Africa and Latin America—and the vaccine is only the IAP general body meeting. The reason: Dr Vashishtha had needed to be administered to individuals who travel overseas. blown the whistle on the silent collusion of interests between Each dose of the vaccine costs Rs 1,850 to the patient. paediatricians and vaccine manufacturing companies. It’s a For Dr Vashishtha, it’s been a nexus that enables these compalong battle against this tacit comnies—Indian and multinational— pact; the January 20 general body to push expensive vaccines into meeting was the last straw. It all the market, some of them not began in 2011, when he took over even answering to a real need. of Paediatricians decides which as the IAP convenor. The IAP, a The market is worth thousands of crores, and booming. And docvaccines are to be introduced—all national association of paediatricians, is responsible for making tors make unwarranted profits private doctors go by its charter. recommendations for new vacin the process, at the cost of the cines that enter the market: this And the nexus begins right there. unknowing public.

T

The Indian Academy

17 April 2017 OUTLOOK 33

COVER STORY offered to all children free of cost. becomes the benchmark adhered to by paediatricians across Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1945, paediatricians India. The government too consults it to update its own natiare required to maintain records of every vaccine dispensed onal immunisation programme. by them, to ensure only registered medical officers dispense The revelations made by Dr Vashishtha have now reached or prescribe such vaccinations. Outlook asked several paediParliament. On March 17, Dausa MP Harish Meena raised a atricians for such records but they were unwilling to provide starred question in the Lok Sabha on the subject. In his reply, them. Moreover, there is no government or non-governmenUnion health minister J.P. Nadda admitted the government tal authority where such records need to be submitted by paewas aware of the corruption within the IAP and had also diatricians. This unregulated scenario has opened a huge marreceived a complaint from a doctor in Karnataka on it. The ket for non-authorised doctors to sell such vaccines. government “does not endorse the recommendations” of the The biggest motivating factor here is the undue mark-ups IAP, Nadda added, and “all vaccines included in the Univeroffered to every intermediary. Studies suggest mark-ups can sal Immunisation Programme (UIP) are available free of cost range from 30-300 per cent. Outlook obtained several docuacross government health facilities.” Yet, no sign there of any ments from distributors and doctors laying bare the scale invmove to address the lack of regulations or of any inclination olved. Take the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, administo introduce a structure of guidelines. tered to prevent pneumonia. It India vaccinates over 27 million SANJAY RAWAT costs the parent Rs 3,800 per newborns every year—a 10 per dose. And the landed cost of the cent ratio means 2.7 million of vaccine, meaning the amount it’s them get vaccinated through the imported for, is only Rs 1,200 per private sector. Naturally, in urban dose. In other words, between disareas, the ratio is much higher. tributor and doctor, that’s a neat “Over 40 per cent of children mark-up of over 300 per cent. immunised in cities are taken to Compared to pharmaceuticals private hospitals,” says Pradeep and medical devices—which are Haldar, chairman, National Techneed-based, curative aids—the nical Advisory Group on Immunivaccine market operates on a difsation (NTAGI), the government ferent logic, because these are by body responsible for making sugdefinition preventive interventgestions for vaccines to be introions and irrational fear can be a duced into the country. factor. Often, the very existence The essential issue is the structure of the industry. Most vacunlike the state­run UIP, pushes a and supply of a vaccine can engineer demand. “Several new vaccines are sourced from foreign whole bouquet of vaccines, and cines are introduced in India that players with limitless resources. may or may not be required by all And they are willing to spread it without any empirical data to children. There is no objective around a bit among doctors and back their need or effectiveness. way to prioritise new vaccine intdistributors with a single agenda: roductions. Ideally, it should be to increase sales. Not only does guided by our local burden of disthis bring about huge price markease and needs. But companies push these vaccines just to ups, it also pushes ‘cash vaccines’—those that make big bucks earn higher profits and many paediatricians collaborate with but may not be the safest or the most needed for disease them,” says Yogesh Jain, founder of Jan Swasthya Sahayog and prevention. And when reputed bodies of paediatricians and a member of the National Health Mission steering group. other groups offer their stamp of approval, they are basically The mere awareness of a disease, whether prevalent in India acting as lobbyists—though in the guise of arbiters acting in or not, becomes a coercive tool for doctors to prescribe costly the name of public good. vaccines that might not be needed. The UIP takes into account geographical variations—the prevalence of Japanese encephaONSIDER this. The UIP, which is the government litis, for instance, is limited to certain states—and most vacprogramme targeted at immunising all children up to cines it prescribes are essential for the well-being of a child. age five against certain diseases, offers a range of six The private sector, though, pushes through a whole bouquet of vaccines across India. In addition, there are three more vaccines without any empirical data to back their need or state-specific vaccines. A private doctor, on the other hand, effectiveness. Dr Jacob Puliyel of St Stephens Hospital, New may offer you a range of 25 vaccines for your child! The costs Delhi, and a member of the NTAGI board, elucidates this with involved may seem tolerable for a lot of city parents eager the example of the pneumococcal vaccine. “The vaccine used to ensure a healthy baby; the volumes bring in the profits, to eliminate pneumonia targets only 10-13 strains of the diswhich are substantial. Dr Bakul Parekh, paediatrician and ease, which is known to have more than 100 strains,” he says.

IAP secretary general, says a parent can spend anywhere up “If you do the math, it means the vaccine is capable of preventto Rs 25,000-30,000 in the full course of vaccination for their ing pneumonia only in four out of hundred children,” he adds. newborn. Count also the consultation fee charged by doctors So how do such vaccines enter the Indian market to begin for every dose, for almost one visit to the doctor every month with? According to paediatricians, this happens through a till the child turns 12. Now compare this to the UIP, which is

The private sector,

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34 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

NO IMMUNITY FROM GREED The vaccine rip-off tale at a glance

Vaccines required according to the government `9,451 cr*

Government spending under UIP in 2017

1. BCG (Bacillus Calmette Guerin) (For tuberculosis) 2. DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus Toxoid) 3. OPV (Oral Polio Vaccine) 4. Measles 5. Hepatitis B 6. TT (Tetanus Toxoid) (for children in the 10-16 age group and pregnant women) 7. Pneumococcal (pneumonia) 8. Pentavalent vaccine (DPT+HepB+Hib) 9. Rotavirus (diarrhoea) 10. JE vaccination (in selected high disease burden districts)

2,000 units

of yellow fever vaccine are sold every month in India, which has zero incidence of the disease.

15

vaccines not essential but pushed by private practitioners

27 million

Number of children immunised every year

2.7 million

immunised in private sector 1. IPV (Inactivated polio vaccine) (Polio) (duplication) 2. DT (diphtheria and tetanus toxoids) (duplication) 3. Tdap (Tetanus and diphtheria toxoids and acellular pertussis) (duplication of DPT) 4. Typhoid (easily curable) 5. Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b) (meningitis) (duplicate) 6. MMR (Measles, mumps, and rubella) (duplication) 7. HPV (Human papillomavirus) (efficacy questioned) 8. Hepatitis A (easily curable) 9. Chicken Pox (easily curable) VACCINES UNDER SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES 10. Rabies 11. Influenza 12. PPSV23 (Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Vaccine) 13. Meningococcal (meningitis) 14. Cholera 15. Yellow Fever

well-oiled system of quid pro quo between vaccine companies and organisations responsible for recommending vaccines. “Most doctors depend on the recommendations given by organisations such as the IAP,” says Dr Vashishtha. And many IAP members, who chair discussions on what vaccine to recommend, have associations with companies who appease them through gifts and several other soft bribes, he adds.

Several doctors told Outlook on the condition of anonymity that once a certain vaccine is cleared by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for use in the country, representatives from different multinational vaccine companies visit doctors to push their products. This is done by offering not only extremely lucrative mark-ups on vaccines but also other incentives, like covering travel expenses to exotic locations for medical conferences and free samples of vaccines the company would like to promote. The IAP itself is almost completely

`25,000-30,000* Total cost of immunisation per child in private sector

`8,100 cr*

Total private practitioners market **

Doctors as Vendors The Mark-Up Story

Mark-ups in vaccines in private sector

30-300%

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine’s landed cost

`1,200 Maximum Retail Price

`3,800 Mark-ups, which include commissions to distributors and doctors

300%

*Figures are only estimates; **Private practitioner market = Total cost of immunisation per child x no of children immunised in private sector Source: ICMR

Graphic by SAJI C.S.

funded by private players, a look at their website confirms.

The organisation receives hefty donations to the tune of crores from several companies, both Indian and foreign. Online records show that, in 2016, IAP earned Rs 5.5 crore and yet did not show any profits in its financial documents.

A 2012 paper published in the Indian Journal of Medical ethics—titled ‘Financial incentives and the prescription of newer vaccines by doctors in India’, by Dr Rakesh Lodha and Anurag Bhargava—also records the mark-ups in newer vaccines. The common Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) conjugates vaccine, for instance, has an MRP of Rs 426 and is supplied to doctors at Rs 251, a discount of 69 per cent per dose for the doctor. The information for the paper was obtained through communication sent to a doctor by distributors. “The significant financial incentive being offered to doctors on dispensing newer and combination vaccines alters the nature of the re-

17 April 2017 OUTLOOK 35

COVER STORY and the effect was visible. Recommendations to include a vaclationship between doctor and patient and opens a wide area cine of a particular company, voted on unanimously, were of conflict of interest: the doctor benefits significantly by pretaken back by the then IAP president under the influence of scribing a particular vaccine whereas the benefit to the recipiDr Sachdeva, the current IAP president, Vashishtha alleges. ent may be marginal,” concludes the paper.

“A vaccine from the company Biomed was put in the schedWhen Outlook got in touch with Dr Bhargava, a professor ule after deliberations. Yet, under Dr Sachdeva’s influence, the at the Yenepoya Medical College in Mangalore, he said such recommendations carrying this vaccine were withdrawn. To mark-ups are commonplace within the industry. He attributes make matters worse, Dr Sachdeva also did not submit his conit to the shutting down of public sector vaccine manufacturers flict of interest form,” says Dr Vashishtha, adding that Sachin 2008. “The shutting down of PSUs manufacturing vaccines deva wished to promote a similar vaccine manufactured by the has allowed private companies to take advantage of a market company Bharat Biotech instead. An Indian company, Bharat without regulation or a cap on prices, which enables them to Biotech did not respond to Outlook’s queries despite several further push vaccines through high mark-ups,” he says. attempts. Bharat Biotech was also the principal sponsor of the The cold chain used in transport poses another issue. Most paediatricians’ conference at Bangalore and has paid over Rs vaccines need to be stored under controlled temperatures of 1.5 crore to the IAP. The same company allegedly distributed 2-8 degrees Celsius; exposure to temperatures above that can gold coins as freebies to doctors in the conference. spoil it. In the private sector, the cold chain is maintained by When Outlook got in touch with Dr Gambhir and Dr SachMNC suppliers themselves and the quality standards can be deva, they rubbished the allegations against them, stating the dubious. Walk into Bhagirath Palace in Chandni Chowk, home required declaration of conflict of interest had been duly subto one of the biggest drugs wholesale markets in Delhi, and mitted and yet they were being targeted by Dr Vashishtha. Dr you see vaccines being transported from trucks to individual Gambhir in turn alleged the IAP has several members who do shops without adequate refrigeration, breaking the cold chain. take grants and bribes from foreign organisations. “The influDr Davinder Gill of Hilleman Laboratories, a vaccine develoence of the foreign lobby is immense in the IAP. Several docper, says no real data is available on how much may have pertors take grants and bribes from such companies, including ished. “Wastage statistics are hard to get in the private sector. all-expenses-paid foreign trips.

No manufacturer makes such recThis corruption has been indusords public,” he says. trialised as many of these compaOne way of telling whether a nies use IAP as a front to recomvaccine is spoilt or not is the labmend such vaccines to the public els, which change colour if the offers no set regulations for for consumption,” he says. Dr Savaccine inside is spoilt, says Dr the administration of vaccines or chdeva too says the IAP takes sevGill. The system may have utility, grants as well as funds from especially in the cities, but smallfor controlling unneeded vaccines eral vaccine companies for the runer towns still face the threat of in the private sector. ning of the organisation—a clear spoilt vaccines being adminissignal of a conflict of interest. tered. Outlook sent a detailed The lack of guidelines and credquestionnaire to several compaible regulation, either at the organisation’s level or from the nies in this regard but got no response. We also got in touch government, is clearly the core issue. The immunisation with a distributor who, while requesting anonymity, admits subcommittee of the IAP has issued guidelines for the use of faulty vaccines could still be distributed in smaller towns and some vaccines—these may not be required by all children and villages via non-licensed stockists unaware of proper cold have been placed in the category of “vaccines to be adminisstorage methods. “In cities, if a vaccine gets spoilt, it’s usually tered after one-to-one discussion with the parents”, as there returned to the company but in smaller towns and villages, are insufficient epidemiological grounds for their routine adsuch vaccines slip through the systems and may be adminisministration. Yet, the guidelines remain vague and open to intered to patients.” terpretation and, given the significant financial inducements, one can fairly predict the eventual picture.

HE IAP and individual practitioners have been trying to The government too has no well-evolved guidelines for vacgrapple with the issues at some level. Several doctors who cines or code of conduct for those administering them. Accordattended the IAP’s annual medical conference in Bangalore ing to existing guidelines, a new vaccine can enter the country last year tell of how company representatives present simply through a study on 60 people presented to the DGCI, there distributed gold coins to doctors who bought a certain provided it’s licensed in any other country. There is no need amount of a new vaccine. To combat this problem of co-depefor firms to establish disease burden or even efficacy of the ndence creating undue advantage, the IAP has put in place vaccine. The health ministry simply offers no set regulations regulations for declaration of conflict of interest. “Each meetfor the administration of vaccines or for controlling unneeding for recommendation of vaccines under the IAP is first ed vaccines in the private sector. The strange thing is, no such reviewed by a committee and then voted upon,” says Dr Parekh. move towards an ombudsman-like role seems to be on the anvil Several high-level members attend such meetings, bringing either. This has left open a huge lacuna in a vital area of health in conflict of interest. Vashishtha says he has witnessed this delivery. On one side, the prices follow a kind of laissez faire. network first hand—while preparing the schedule for the 2016 And on the other, a huge country like India remains vague and recommendations, two doctors, Dr Anupam Sachdeva and Dr open-ended even about the list of vaccines actually required. O Ajay Gambhir, did not submit their conflict of interest forms

The health ministry

T

36 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

COVER STORY INTERVIEW A former member of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP), Dr Vipin Vashishtha was ousted from the academy for highlighting the nexus between physicians and vaccine manufacturers last year. The Bijnor-based paediatrician documented the rampant corruption and system of favours in an open letter addressed to all members of the academy. In an interview with Arushi Bedi, he lays bare the nexus and talks about how he is still under fire for raising questions. Edited excerpts:

‘PHARMA MONEY IS CORRUPTING PAEDIATRICS ACADEMY’

What made you blow the whistle on corruption in the medical fraternity?

I was convenor of the Committee of Immunisation in the IAP for six years. When I took over in 2011, there was no way to address the conflict of interest among the academy members. Some IAP members are on the advisory boards of big vaccine companies and many participate in CME (Continuing Medical Education) programmes organised by such companies and get honorarium.

According to WHO guidelines, members must declare such relations and also whether the physicians or any of their family members have received any cash or compensation in kind from vaccine-manufacturing companies.

So what happened?

The implementation of these guidelines was going quite well until 2015 but, in 2016, two members of the academy were inducted into the committee as chairman and nodal president. Taking advantage of their position in the academy, they started opposing the regulations on conflict of interest. The academy drafted its new immunisation schedule for the year on May 6, 2016. Certain recommendations find out what all had been going on in the academy in the past on the schedule were unanimously passed by the committee five to ten years in certain cases. Vaccine companies have huge and the regulatory board, and then uploaded on the official resources at their disposal and are trying to influence recomwebsite as per protocol. Such recommendations also need to mendations by offering favours to practitioners. They probe published in the Indian Paediatrics Journal, which goes mote their own agenda through doctors and their own KOLs to all members of the academy, so they can be implement(key opinion leaders). The letter also mentioned that such ed. Yet, with no authority to do so and without giving any companies were funding most academic programmes and reasons, the president of the academy stalled the process of CMEs. This raises the possibility of a nexus between the compublication for several months and, eventually, the recompanies and the doctors making profits on a quid-pro-quo basis. mendations were not published.

How does this nexus work?

Most practitioners across the country depend on It operates at various levels. One is the private sector, which these recommendations for their day-to-day vaccineis badly regularised or controlled. There are no government administration practices. These recommendations are also guidelines to control this sector even though it constitutes monitored by the government and NGOs to evaluate policy 10-15 per cent of all vaccine-related functions in the country. for the entire country.

The majority of vaccines, say around 80-90 per cent, are Who removed the recommendations from the website? distributed or supplied by the public health system, which is The recommendations can only be removed on the direction also not all clean. of the president. The two members I mentioned had asked The companies try to influence the recommendations by the then president Dr Pramod Jog to write to the board of the sponsoring various members of the academy to remove the recommendarecommending body and, in fact, directions. This has been the main conflict. tly offering them incentives in cash and What did you do after this happened? kind. Before the conflict of interest I immediately opposed it and sent many guidelines came into place, they used to e-mails to Dr Jog and other committee Vaccine companies have huge decide who the participants at a panel members. When nothing happened, I discussion on a particular vaccine would wrote an open letter to all 24,000 memresources at their disposal. bers in December 2016. This letter was They try to influence the IAP’s be, what should be the subject of the discussion and even which vaccines leaked by one of the recipients and was recommendations and should be recommended. all over the media the next day. promote their own agenda by Has there been a change in practices What did you say in your letter? offering favours to doctors. since the new rules were put in place?

I had asked for a proper investigation to

“

38 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

SANJAY RAWAT

has also approved these guidelines recently. Such alliances with the vaccine companies are clear grounds for suspension of medical licence.

There was also news of you being manhandled by the academy members at the conference.

What happened there?

At the paediatrics annual conference in Bangalore held in January, while the executive board meeting was going on, the president suspended me from the academy and debarred me from participating in the general body meeting because of my letter and its media coverage. I wanted to present my findings and defend my case, but got no opportunity. How can an office-bearer facing serious allegations of violation of conflict of interest be the same person to take this decision? The suspension order was sent to me on e-mail just a few hours before the meeting. When I started to put my point forward in the meeting, they manhandled me and threatened me with more physical assaults. This was on the night of January 20.

The next morning, I went to the police station and lodged an FIR against these people, which I later withdrew in good faith.

How have other doctors reacted to this incident?

After the incident, I received support from all over the country. Several paediatricians have boycotted the activities of the academy. The current office-bearers have also been boycotted. States such as Kerala and UP have passed resolutions to look for members with any conflict of interest and not Things have improved since 2011. But vaccine companies take part in the activities of the academy until these issues still sponsor trips of certain members and pay for their are resolved. In the last two months, the activities of the travel. They pay for both work and leisure—and someacademy have been stalled. times payments are made on a monthly basis. They have Many doctors have also called my suspension illegal. The also been known to sponsor medical practitioners’ foreign questions I raised in the open letter sent to the association conferences. Some physicians have tried to undermine the had around 16-17 issues that are yet to be addressed. recommendations of the body by distancing themselves What is your next course of action? from the issue. Contrary to what the IAP committee on The battle has to be fought on two fronts—the personal and immunisation is recommending, these physicians have the organisational. On the personal front, I am going to floated their own recommendations and guidelines, which approach the Medical Council of India (MCI) on the code of seem more in consonance with those of the vaccine compaethics. There is a guideline of the MCI that says it is the duty nies. This has created even further confusion. The ethical of a medical practitioner to use all available means to expose guidelines went out of the window and such recommendasuch unethical practices. I went through all recourses to tions were supported by the so-called KOLs in associations, bring what was going on to the notice of the president. Only which are also funded by the companies. when I was pushed to the wall did I write that letter.

Is this happening all over the country?

At the organisational level, the system needs to be overYes. The members in question come from all parts of the hauled completely. Persons with dubious credentials should country. It is funny how they have already declared they have never be in a position to dictate terms of conflict of interest with such companies, policy that will affect the health of our but are still allowed to participate in children. Our organisation needs to be CMEs as faculty. They might not be part freed from the clutches of the vaccine of the main committee recommending mafia and its agents. It is pharmaceutia particular vaccine, but they are still opinion leaders and influence decisions. Dubious persons shouldn’t be in cal money that is corrupting our organisation. The medical council has rightly What are the MCI guidelines on this? a position to dictate terms of put a cap on gifts and freebies that comThere are strict guidelines for medical policy that affect children’s panies can give to doctors. It is high time practitioners to not accept honorarhealth. The IAP needs to be they looked into organisational fundium from pharmaceutical companies. freed from the clutches of the ing through conferences and CMEs by A medical practitioner can receive gifts vaccine mafia and its agents. vaccine manufacturers. O worth upto Rs 1,000. The government

“

17 April 2017 OUTLOOK 39

COVER STORY

‘FREE’ VACCINES AREN’T FREE OF THE FOREIGN HAND The perils of India’s growing dependence on vaccine imports and private manufacturers

by Arushi Bedi

H

OW many vaccines does a newborn need? Does a child need vaccination regardless of how minor the ailment or rare the disease? Even doctors don’t offer a clear answer. More than 85 per cent of the total vaccines sold in India are administered through staterun programmes under the central government’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP). Aiming to immunise all newborn children, the programme started off with six essential vaccines and, over the past few years, introduced three more—rotavirus, Pentavalent and pneumococcal vaccines—while the mumps vaccine is in the process of being added. Battling overstretched resources and poor coverage, the programme has also drawn flak for yielding to the influence of international bodies, leading to certain vaccines being introduced that allegedly don’t match the profile of immunisation needs on the ground. For instance, every year, five lakh children die due to vaccine-preventable diseases and another 89 lakh are at risk, because they are either unimmunised or partially immunised.

So is public money being spent for private profit through the welfare-oriented, ‘free’ immunisation programme? “The UIP is funded by taxpayers’ money, so when any vaccine is introduced for mass immunisation, it has to be proved that the disease burden (spread of the disease) and the vaccine’s quality actually call for rolling out a state- or nation-wide programme for it,” says Dr Jacob Puliyel, head of paediatrics at St Stephens Hospital in Delhi and a member of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI).

As a huge amount of public money—Rs 9,451 crore, as per the Indian Council of Medical Research’s projection for 2017—is spent to enable free immunisation, the choice of vaccines involves a balancing act between the cost of the product and its utility in keeping the country free of preventable diseases.

Getting a measure of vaccine utility requires wide-ranging studies on disease burden, immunisation efficacy and the vaccine’s adverse effects on individual children as well as its collective impact. It is on the basis of the profile emerging from such studies that the money spent by the government on the vaccine procured through tenders needs to be justified.

The past decade or so has seen a proliferation of new vaccines in the market, led by big multinationals seeking to widen their reach in developing countries such as India. This has encouraged a supply-push approach to immunisation rather than a demand-driven one. Queering the pitch even more is an opaque tangle of global institutions—decisions on procurement for the UIP happen within an elaborate, complex system controlled by this network. It involves conditions on expenditure attached to ‘soft loans’ from the International Monetary

40 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

IMMUNITY DISORDER Polio vaccination kits wait for use at a rural primary health centre near Allahabad, UP Fund (IMF), approval mechanisms of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and recommendations of the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation (GAVI), which works as a bridge of sorts between global pharma giants that make vaccines and developing countries that procure them.

As things stand, the National Vaccine Policy too is proving to be of little help in this regard. According to a paper published

by Y. Madhavi and N. Raghuram in science journal Current, the old policy was amended “in a tearing hurry” by the Union ministry of health and family welfare in 2011 without any consultation with the stakeholders. “[The amended policy is] not designed to enhance national public capacities for public immunisation programmes, but to justify spending public money on privately produced vaccines in the name of protection from diseases, whose incidence figures and public health statistics are dubious and industry-manufactured. In its eagerness to push vaccines, this policy completely missed the very idea of selective immunisation and implies that all immunisation is universal,” write Madhavi and Raghuram.

The changed orientation had a direct effect. “There were few studies for establishing disease burden on the ground even though it costs much less to monitor diseases than to develop and produce vaccines,” Madhavi tells Outlook. “Vaccines are recommended by scientists who develop them or companies that make them, but bulk procurement by a sovereign national government must be guided by disease burden and efficacy, not by estimates and advance market commitments encouraged by international agencies. If a disease is prevalent in some other country, it’s assumed India bears a burden as well.”

Take the Pentavalent vaccine, for instance. It is a single-vial combination of vaccines to protect against five diseases— diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus (DPT), hepatitis B and haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib). A quick look at the GAVI web-

Moreover, several studies have shown that India’s disease burden for hepatitis B and Hib—the two diseases that Pentavalent prevents in addition to what the DPT vaccine was already covering—is almost negligible. These include studies conducted by the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, and the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad. According to an editorial in the journal of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics, “The frequency of chronic infection for hepatitis B was similar in both unvaccinated and the vaccinated individuals—about 0.15 per cent—rendering the hepatitis B vaccine completely useless in India. The papers also observed that the immunological and epidemiological outcomes of rolling out Hib are not being monitored as the UIP has no capacity for that function.”

Dr Naveen Thacker, Asia Pacific Paediatric Association president and CSO representative on the GAVI board, denies the vaccine caused the reported deaths. “A vaccine is introduced in the country only after it goes through rigorous examination by the NTAGI committee,” he says. “The studies conducted to investigate deaths related to Pentavalent do not show any causal relationship with the vaccine.” Gagandeep Kang, member of NTAGI and the WHO’s Immunisation and Vaccine Implementation Research Advisory Committee, too brushed GETTY IMAGES aside the deaths as “circumstantial” in a recent conference.

India’s dependence on vaccine imports and private players site shows it was recommended by the alliance to replace the has grown manifold over the past few years due to the shutDPT vaccine and increase the uptake of vaccination against ting down of state-run PSUs in 2008. This is a huge change hepatitis B and Hib. Introduced as part of the UIP in 2011, from the 1984 vaccine policy that had stressed on self-suffiPentavalent is suspected to have actually killed 276 children ciency and, in fact, enabled exports to other developing counso far, most of them in Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh tries. The closing down of the PSUs left the UIP at the mercy and Kerala, according to the health ministry’s reply to an RTI of imports from foreign firms and gave donor agencies greaquery by Puliyel. A ground report by the Human Rights Law ter control over the choice of vaccines. Today, India procures Network (HRLN) revealed a dozen suspected deaths in Delhi, its vaccines from several private companies, both Indian and with all the children showing similar symptoms. foreign, including Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute, Pfizer and “About 24 hours after the vaccine was administered, the GSK. In 2010, two PSUs were revived for vaccine production, children are reported to have cried inconsolably in pain, while but the attempt was half-hearted—their contribution remains their abdomen had turned black and blue,” says Prakriti Sara measly 2.4 per cent of the total vaccine base. Worse, the een, a member of the HRLN team that brought out the report. change in the procurement polBut, even though, technically, icy in favour of new combination deaths within 72 hours of adminvaccines means that even the govistering a vaccine are taken to be a ernment won’t purchase vaccines result of ‘adverse effects following by its own PSUs. immunisation’ (AEFI), the govof the WHO committee that changed produced The dependence on foreign ernment has refused to acknowlthe protocol for adverse effects pharma giants is such that the edge the connection between the usually include advance vaccine and the deaths. following immunisation represented contracts market commitments, which Pentavalent came to India pigvaccine-manufacturing firms. have forced many countries to gybacking on GAVI recommendabend over backwards for generattions even though it’s not licensed ing sufficient demand to meet the by the US Food and Drug Adminisupply coming through GAVI. The contracts commit governstration (FDA). Moreover, according to Puliyel, no rigorous ments to procure a predetermined number of doses of a new field research was done in India on its effects. When trials in vaccine. “In fact, the commitments are often made even bef2008-09 led to the deaths of 14 children in Sri Lanka and 43 in ore clinical trials for efficacy are completed by the manufacBhutan, both countries showed Pentavalent the door. That’s turer,” says Madhavi. Moreover, the vaccines are supplied at when the WHO diluted the protocol used for measuring the subsidised rates through GAVI only for five years (as per the AEFI, besides limiting Pentavalent to just two states in India contractual obligation), after which the full price has to be to begin with. The change in protocol, according to the WHO paid. With only 1.17 per cent of India’s GDP allotted to healthwebsite, was done by a 40-member committee, half of whom care, this could turn out to be too big a price to pay. represented vaccine-manufacturing companies. It raised susThis has hiked the per-dose cost paid by the government. picion that the interests of Pentavalent’s manufacturer had For instance, Pentavalent costs the government Rs 60 per something to do with the change in the WHO protocol.

Half of the 40 members

17 April 2017 OUTLOOK 41

COVER STORY

‘NO NEED TO REGULATE THE PRIVATE SECTOR’ Pradeep Haldar, deputy commissioner (immunisation) at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and chair­ man of the National Technical Advisory Group on Im­ munisation, spearheads the universal immunisation programme (UIP) in the country. Haldar tells Arushi Bedi that the choice of vaccines is led by public health concerns, not individual needs as in the private sector.

Excerpts from the interview: A question was raised in the Lok Sabha recently on the influence of vaccine-manufacturing firms on doctors and the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP)…

There are no regulations for vaccination in the private sector, where only a small section of the population gets immunised. A private setup will not look at the protection of a community. They will see if an individual is protected or not. As the government, we look at vaccines from the point of view of the population at large, so our vaccination components are different.

The private sector is reportedly recommending more vaccines compared to the public sector. Why? There are some vaccines the government may not have introduced in the public interest or due to lack of disease burden. The IAP, on the other hand, approves several vaccines for individual use.

Can we do without the vaccines that are not part of the UIP? Such diseases are not public health concerns. They are only req­ uired for a small population and need to be given only to people who might be affected by the disease.

But several private practitioners claim all vaccines are important…

The parents need to decide if a child needs a medicine. If we force the private sector to follow government schedules, we would be depriving the public of other vaccines they might want to take.

Is there no need to regulate the private immunisation sector?

There is no need unless you want the private sector to become part of national immunisation through the public health programme.

The private sector has access to several vaccines that may not be of public importance.

The introduction of rotavirus and Hib meningitis vaccination has caused an uproar in some circles due to lack of disease burden in the country. Is this true?

We have conducted rotavirus studies over different per­ iods in five sites to see the burden of diarrhoea cases.

There is also literature on the basis of which we have calculated that almost one lakh children die due to rota­ virus every year. Chances of severe diarrhoea and death are high in early infections of rotavirus, but subsequent episodes are known to be less severe. By the time the child is a year old, we may not be able to diagnose the virus since the infection will be less severe, not conspicuous. For Hib too, we need to have proper facilities to diagnose the problem, along with samples to do culture and sensitivity tests for finding out the disease burden. There is no standard protocol to diagnose and treat pneumonia. In smaller areas, children are mostly given antibiotics without diagnosing if the pneumonia is due to Hib. Pentavalent vaccine has replaced the DPT, which costs far less.

How is the government justifying it?

Every dose of DPT and hepatitis B costs Rs 4. We need to use auto­ disable syringes to vaccinate, which cost us Rs 2 each, making the total cost of one dose of DPT and hepatitis Rs 12. A dose of Pen­ tavalent, which has an additional antigen, costs Rs 60. Any public health intervention through immunisation has proven to be the most cost­effective.

How is the government dealing with vaccine shortages in the UIP? The government has had no shortage in the national programme since 2010, when we adopted the push­and­pull mechanism.

What about wastage of vaccines? Is it due to lapses in the cold chain management?

The major reason for wastage is the use of multi­dose vials under the programme. When a packet of 10 is opened and only three children come for immunisation, the rest goes waste. Most of the time, vaccine wastage is due to the programme design and require­ ment. Our cold chain systems have been digitised through EVIM (Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network). O

on improving quality and supply chain of vaccines in India, dose, according to Pradeep Haldar, deputy commissioner believes that major technological and policy interventions are (immunisation) in the health ministry. It is a tenfold leap from needed to reduce vaccine wastage. “Apart from an improvethe per-dose cost of the DPT vaccine (Rs 6). “Similarly, while ment in the infrastructure and handling of such vaccines, the HPV vaccine costs the government around Rs 290 per the government needs to clearly lay down open-vial policies, child under the subsidised GAVI rates, a cost-benefit analysis which include the protocol on storing the remaining doses of done for the government by Thailand-based agency HTAP vaccines after a vial is opened,” says Gill. shows that the affordable price for introducing the vaccine There is also a need to keep a check on how much money is would be no more than Rs 130,” says Puliyel. spent to meet international obligations vis-à-vis vaccines. A The distribution channel too is a cause for concern. Accthrust on self-sufficiency in vaccine production can only conording to the Immunisation Technical Support Unit (ITSU) tribute to the government’s focus on ‘Make in India’. Also, if under the health ministry, at least 25 per cent vaccines go the stated emphasis on targeted waste—due to gaps in the supply delivery of subsidies were to be chain and logistics management, extended to the heavily subsithey lose their efficacy by the time dised UIP, it would demand more they are administered. While this accurate data collection on the is true for most vaccinations, the procure vaccines are often made effects of new vaccines, besides wastage is higher in the case of the pinpointed governmental interBCG vaccine against tuberculosis even before clinical trials for ventions to make the programme (over 50 per cent, according to efficacy are completed by the successful not just on paper, but ITSU). Dr Davinder Gill of Hillealso on the ground. O man Laboratories, which works manufacturer,” says Y. Madhavi.

“Commitments to

42 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

speech balloon Justice (retd) Balbir Singh Chauhan JITENDER GUPTA

The Law Commission of India (LCI) has recommended a slew of reforms for the legal profession. These were presented as the 266th report of the LCI, led by the current chairperson of the commission, Justice (retd) Balbir Singh Chauhan, who has 20 years experience at the Bar and another 20 as a judge, including five years as a Supreme Court judge. The Bar Council of India reacted with a nationwide strike on March 31.

In an interview with Ushinor Majumdar, Justice Chauhan explains the kind of reforms suggested and why they are necessary.

‘It is those lawyers without work who agitate the most’ Do you agree with the statistics on fake lawyers put out by the Bar Council?

The percentage quoted (by the Bar Council) is too high; 35-40 per cent can’t be fake lawyers.

It may be 5-10 per cent but not a third of all lawyers. They have probably been unable to verify all the enrolments. I have also forgotten where my certificate and degrees of law are and there will be many other people like that.

How far is legal education responsible for fake lawyers?

There are two problems. Either the standard of legal education is very poor in institutes; or else, there are some very good institutions with high standards but which only select good students. If you select the best students, they will excel anywhere. Such institutions can’t claim credit for producing good lawyers. These are also very expensive and ordinary people

44 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

can’t afford to send their children there. Very few of these law graduates come to the courts, most join corporations or law firms engaged in corporate law practice. Those coming to the courts are from the mushrooming law schools, with half-baked legal education. The degree is genuine but the education is fake in many cases. These are people who come here because of unemployment and not out of choice.

What is the Law Commission’s role in dis­ ciplining lawyers?

The Supreme Court made a reference to the Law Commission to find out how to regulate disciplinary proceedings. If a lawyer commits misconduct, it is the duty of the bar council to regulate it. Once, when I was a judge in the Allahabad High Court, lawyers in the Allahabad district court created serious problems. The district judge sent me a report, inc-

riminating 20 lawyers and I constituted a constitutional bench. I also called the State Bar Council and asked them for their suggestions, but its functionaries were not willing to take any action. So I passed an order barring them from entry into the court premises.

But why would the bar council be unw­ illing to take action?

That’s because it is lawyers who elect representative to the bar councils. There is a conflict of interest because the council members don’t want to take action against their own voters. This is the same with political parties too. Whenever I heard cases against lawyers, I would call the bar council but they neither assisted the court nor took any action.

Bar councils also seem to have the same members year after year....

Once a lawyer is elected to the bar council, he continues to contest elections throughout his life. Plus, when senior family members are elevated to judgeship or retire, their children enter the council. It has become political. Many functionaries of bar councils spend more time in the bar council than preparing for their cases. We have recommended that there should be a cooling off period after two consecutive terms. The same rule is there even in the Supreme Court Bar Association.

What are your recommendations to change the composition of the bar councils?

We invited all lawyers’ bodies, judges and judicial officers to come up with suggestions. Bar Council of India constituted a committee led by Justice (retd) Shivraj Patil, a former Supreme Court judge, and 10 sitting judges of different high courts.

They recommended that apart from elected members, the bar council should also have some coopted members from amongst senior advocates with a minimum of 30-35 years of experience at the bar. The suggestions we received and forwarded are inclusion of non-elected members such as in the ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) and other professional regulatory bodies. We have suggested a maximum two terms for the nominated members.

Can you have non­lawyers in the Bar Council? Wouldn’t you at least require members to be law professors?

There are non-doctors in the Medical

Council of India and laymen in the regulating body for architects. You can have laymen in bar councils too, just as there were in the jury system. They will participate in all functions except for voting during no-confidence motions against elected members. In the Indian Law Institute, there were more than 55 per cent elected members and the rest were nominated and ex-officio members. Now, there aren’t any elected members as per changes introduced by the chief justice of India and the government. In the bar councils, they can introduce some percentage and let the bar councils give their lists to the state high courts which can select from that list. These laymen members should also be on the disciplinary committee. These are not our suggestions but recommendations that have come in

“Those coming to the courts are from the mushrooming law schools, with half-baked legal education. The degree is genuine, but the education is often fake.”

from various quarters.

What about lawyers going on frequent strikes?

It is a continuing menace, despite several judgements of the SC. Some have recommended to the Law Commission that this should be treated as a menace and whoever gives the call should be debarred from practice for a certain duration.

But lawyers will claim that they have a democratic right to protest.

We are not against protests but they shouldn’t go on strikes. For example, if there is a case against some big industrialist in a smaller court in a neighbouring state, he will take a senior lawyer from Delhi. So, local lawyers go on strike, since he hasn’t engaged a local lawyer. We have collected figures for five years from different high courts and scrutinised strikes and the reasons given for them. This also

contributes to the high pendency of matters in courts. When I was the chief justice of Orissa High Court, lawyers wanted to go on strike because of the murder of a lawyer. Later, it turned out that the lawyer was the victim of a love triangle.

Who suffers when the lawyers strike?

When there are strikes or the court is shut, those lawyers with work do not sit around in dharna, but go home to prepare for other cases. It is those without work who agitate. It is the fundamental right of the litigant to get justice and the lawyer who goes on strike is violating this fundamental right of his clients. When the Supreme Court has held this in multiple orders and lawyers don’t respect apex court orders, why should they continue as lawyers?

There may be grievances against judges or judicial officers, but these have to be solved through the proper channel, which lawyers are aware of.

The Law Commission has also looked at legalising cricket betting. What is your assessment?

Gambling is a state subject and Parliament is not competent to enact a law on it unless two or more states request it to do so. There is a question of morality here. A gambling addict can force his family on to the road and Articles 38 and 39 of the Constitution provides for protection and to prevent deprivation of society and children from immorality. The Contract Act also prohibits immoral acts and wagers. These legal issues have to be sorted first through repeals of existing laws. On the other hand, gambling generates both revenue and employment. The question is if states need only revenue, but Gujarat and Bihar have not prioritised revenue from alcohol sales. It is up to the priority and political will of the party in power.

But many have defined cricket as a game of skill....

The test is whether chance or skill is predominant in the game. In rummy or poker, you can count cards and it is considered as skill. The same is said of horse-racing, but often you find out that a horse was doped. In cricket, police intercepted messages that matches were being fixed and it came out much later. In a recent seminar in London, there were casino owners, gaming regulators, legislators and so on and we studied how to proceed if we do recommend gambling. O

17 April 2017 OUTLOOK 45

mArkets 30,000

Ambition Of The Vaulting Kind The great Sensex spike is backed by reason, but grounded in hope. It might flatten out.

29,000

by Arindam Mukherjee

I

n the last couple of months or so, a few key developments have happened in India’s stock markets.

First, the benchmark BSE Sensex has been on a gaining spree and has increased from 27,600 in January to within sniffing distance of a landmark 30,000 in April. Second, foreign institutional investors have invested 28,000 more than Rs 30,000 crore in domestic equities. And, most importantly, the

27,591.14 Nov 8, 2016

Modi announces demonetisation of high denomination currency notes 27,000

scene. Market sentiments are riding a remarkable crest of confidence in the government’s ability to ensure a stable political and economic situation for the foreseeable future.

At the time of going to the press, the Sensex was on an upward surge—at over 29,900, it was poised to cross the 30,000 mark soon with good volumes. The NSE Nifty too was on the rise and well entrenched at an all-time high of over 9,200.

According to Goldman Sachs, the Nifty was expected to touch 9,500 in 12 months and cross the landmark of 10,000 by next year. The Sensex crossed the landmark of 25,000 in June 2014, soon after Modi’s ascension to power. The last time it crossed 29,000 was in September 2016.

A big trigger for such unabashed optimism in the markets was the Union Budget 2017, which stood for fiscal disciple and inflation control. The budget announcement of fiscal deficit control created an impression that fiscal consolidation

ous about reforms. Along with this, other pending bills like taxation laws amendment, the National Commission for Backward classes Bill and the Nabard Bill are all radiating positive signs.

One key signal to investors has been the steady strengthening of the Indian Rupee against the Dollar over the last couple of months and the falling of oil prices, both of which have had a positive impact on the markets.

Last week, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that India will record a GDP growth of 7.7 per cent in 2018 and that the country would need infrastructure worth over $600 billion have also triggered a rush in investments.

This is visible from the increased involvement of Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and foreign portfolio investments into Indian markets. The first four months of this calendar year have been phe-

25,807.10

Dec 26. 2016

26,000

25,765.14

Nov 21, 2016

rallies at the markets have an important element that was missing from the markets in the past—domestic retail and mutual fund investors.

The prolonged, post-demonetisation bull run in the markets have not only market forces to thank, but also key 25,000 factors in the economy and the political

48 OutlOOk 17 April 2017

was intact. Immediately after the Budget, the BSE Sensex rose by 486 points. That winning spree has not dipped since then; the benchmark index has been gaining steadily. It increased from a level of 27,655 in January to 28,743 in February after the Budget, and further to 29,620 in March, to over 29,900 now.

Analysts see a few other harbingers of hope. To begin with, the clearance of the GST bills by Parliament was an unequivocal signal that the government was seri-

nomenal as far as foreign investment is concerned; March has seen an exceptional amount of exposure of FIIs and portfolio investors have pumped in over Rs 31,300 crore into the stock markets.

Interestingly, for the first time, domestic investments are as significant as foreign money. About Rs 3,000-4,000 crore worth of domestic investment is pouring into the markets every month. This kind of a broad-based rally is unprecedented, Graphic by Saji C.S.

29,927.34 Apr 6, 2017

which is pushing up the market levels.

Says Andrew Holland, CEO Avendus Capital Alternate Strategies, “Last year, with Brexit, all negatives were playing out.

Then the markets rallied globally. The global growth has pushed emerging markets and India is part of that and investments are coming back. At the same time, there is a strong economy and monetary policies are working to some extent.”

On top of that, he says, the UP election verdict has given the government stability and a resolve to continue with the reforms process, indicating that the India story still holds promise. Ashvin Parekh, managing partner at Ashvin Parekh Advisory Services LLP, says,

27,655.96 Jan 31, 2017

“What played on investors’ minds was the UP elections.

Sentiments went up with the results. Investors analysed the UP polls and saw political stability. The only aberration in investors’ minds was the selection of Yogi as CM.” There are two views that investors hold of India. One, that India is primarily a domestic growth story and not one led by exports; and two, that India still stands out as a strong story and a safe haven for investments. So while FIIs have other places to invest, India still has weightage among emerging markets.

However, many experts feel that the markets are just being buoyed by lofty sentiments, that noteworthy reforms are over and there is nothing positive going forward. Says markets expert and founder of Capitalmind, Deepak Shenoy, “This is an irrational phase in the market and there is a disconnect between earnings and market expectations. It is only sentiment that is driving the market and though valuations are extremely high, sentiments are positive. Reforms are over, there are no more landmark reforms to push the markets. The next few months do not look rosy, as there are

no significant things on earnings and fundamentals. But markets can remain disconnected for a long time and continue to be irrational.”

Optimism is also generated out of expectations of reforms and stability, despite the fact that no big-bang reforms have happened in the last year or so. Says stock market expert and CEO, Value Research,

Dhirendra Kumar, “With the BJP government, there is an optimism in the air despite the lack of hard numbers showing growth. In the previous government, there was policy paralysis, now there is expectation of policy acceleration.”

He feels there was some action on the policy front in terms of removal of subsidies, especially the petroleum subsidy, which gave the government an additional Rs 80,000 crore. At the same time, SEBI gave mutual funds the green signal to go to smaller towns. This changed the investment scenario significantly. Earlier, almost 75 per cent of mutual fund investments came from the top 15 cities.

That has changed now and mutual funds are attracting money from smaller cities, much of which is going into the stock market.

Another spur for the markets was the government allowing the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)

Getty imaGeS

For the first time, domestic investments are as great as FIIs—a broad-based rally of huge significance.

invest incremental money into the stock markets. In the last few months, the amount of incremental EPFO money going into the stock market has increased from 5 per cent to 15 per cent.

Parallel to all this is the waning of interest on investment in real estate. Says Parekh, “Real Estate is no longer on the radar of investors. They are switching from investment in real estate to market linked investments.” This has further improved market sentiments.

However, the biggest reform in the last two years—the much-touted GST—may not be beneficial for the markets, as it is expected to be disruptive. While it is a good long-term move, it may have shortterm glitches in implementation, which might reflect in the stock markets. “GST is a short-term negative and will hurt.

There will be a change in demand, as it will increase taxes for everybody. The first 2-2.5 years will be negative,” says Shenoy.

Will the market go higher than this and scale new heights? Most analysts are not so hopeful. “Markets will not go any more higher from here as there is no more catalyst to push it up further,” says Holland.

Parekh also believes that the Sensex will remain between 30,000 and 31,000 till the year-end and will not go up any further, as there will be profit-taking.

This is also evident from the fact that valuations are very high in the Indian markets and companies have not started making money. The last round of company results were not that promising either. Moreover, monsoons, which were very good last year and improved market sentiments, are expected to be normal or below par this year, impacting the markets negatively.

For the bulk of the investors though, the present government has brought in stability and a resolve to press on with reforms. And that is enough for them to rally around and splurge on the markets.

Theirs is a belief that the great Indian growth story has strong foundations. O

17 April 2017 OutlOOk 49

EDUCATION

by Lola Nayar

S

EVERAL reports over the years have flagged the issue of poor learning outcomes in most Indian schools, with not even 50 per cent of middle-school students being able to read or answer Class 2 questions in maths or even languages. And this isn’t just in government-run schools.

On February 22, in a move to improve the quality of primary school education beyond mere enrolment of children, the Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL) issued a notification that made learning outcomes intrinsic to the Right to Education (RTE) Act. Amendments to rule 23 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2010, lay out that schools will have to prepare “class-wise, subject-wise learning outcomes for all elementary classes; and prepare guidelines for putting into practice continuous and comprehensive evaluation, to achieve the defined learning outcomes”.

“The objective is to ensure the right to quality education with the help of well-trained teachers,” says Anil Swarup, secretary, DSEL. “We have been pumping in money, but there was no yardstick so far to assess the outcomes. Now there are quantifiable measures to judge what is expected when a child passes out of class 1, 2 or 3 in Maths, English and so on, even though we don’t have exams.”

According to Swarup, this puts to test not the child but the system’s ability to impart the necessary education. On the anvil are biometric recording of teachers’ attendance by GPS-linked gadgets, a longer induction course and use of audio-visual technology in training.

Based on his visits to various states to learn from best practices in schools across the country, Swarup admits that while the government has been successful in cutting down the number of children out of school, “we have not been able to educate them”. “In some cases the learning outcomes are lower than earlier, though overall learning has improved,” he says.

The DSEL has identified four reasons for the poor quality of teachers and hence below par learning outcomes: proliferation of BEd colleges; no system to ascertain quality and aptitude of students entering BEd courses; no

50 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

A child isn’t just a number

JITENDER GUPTA

In chasing the goal of ‘education for all’, the question of quality may have finally made it to the design table foolproof examination of BEd graduates entering service; no regular, structured teachers’ training.

To tackle some of these lacunae, Swarup says the ministry is proposing an examination on the lines of CAT or SAT to test the aptitude of aspiring teachers.

The ministry of human resources development is also mulling accreditation of BEd colleges for enforcing quality in teachers’ training. “Together with improving teachers’ training, we are planning to improve the mode of teaching,” says Swarup, describing how during his visit to a school in Maharashtra he came across a number of innovative modes being used as teaching tools.

And yet there are many who feel a lot

remains to be done. “Without complete implementation of the RTE Act, how can you improve learning outcomes?” asks Ambarish Rai, national convener of RTE Forum, an umbrella organisation representing a large number of NGOs and educationists. “We are a bit critical of the government policy as a fragmented programme will not have the desired impact.”

A stocktaking report recently released

by RTE Forum reveals that just 9.54 per cent of schools in the country are RTE-compliant. Worryingly, over 9 lakh teachers’ posts are lying vacant in government-run schools and more than 96,000 schools have only one teacher, while 7.41 lakh teachers in employment

have little or no training. The large Some of them will also participate in number of poor quality or untrained five regional workshops to be organised teachers is one of the reasons for a large in the days ahead, for helping state number of children dropping out of governments share good practices. schools. Though the number of drop- “It is a good beginning,” says Ashok outs has fallen considerably from 1.34 Kamath, chairman of the Bangalorecrore in 2005 to 2.6 lakh in 2014, the based Akshara Foundation. “The spectrum is so wide that you will have quality of learning has not improved.

“There are hardly 400 government-run different opinions. The ability to reach District Institute of Educational and out to multiple people who have done Training (DIET) colleges in the country different things on the ground and and much of the teachers’ training sharing that will help. Nationally, our courses are conducted by the private problem is so vast that unless there sector,” says Rai. Poor training is re- is collective impact, it is not going to flected in the indifferent quality of a make significant improvement over time.” The foundation’s Akshara large number of teachers.

Seeking to address some of these Ganitha, a remedial maths support concerns, DSEL has stepped up programme, is being implemented in engagements with NGOs engaged in all government-run primary schools in 12 districts of Karnataka. literacy, education and Experts point out that school-related activities. while there are pockets Surprisingly, RTE Forum of excellence, the story has found no place so is not so positive at the far in the deliberations. state or national level.

In fact, its stocktaking Kamath is enthusiastic exercise in March saw about DSEL’s outreach no participation from and keen to share the ministry. and expand efforts Citing the outstanding “Together to improve learning work by NGOs such as outcomes beyond state Akshay Patra in the con- with improving boundaries. text of mid-day meals, teachers’ Lack of funds, though, Akshara Foundation in training, we remains a major chalevolving new methods are planning to lenge. “There should of teaching, Educate improve the have been a financial Girls in girls’ education commitment along with and Million Sparks in mode of the RTE Act,” says eduusing technological tools, teaching.” cationist Vinay Kantha.

Swarup says the governAnil Swarup “But the government ment is now playing a has refused to spend Secretary, DSEL proactive role in scaling money on primary up the operations of such organisations. This is part of promoting education. Less than 4 per cent of the partnership between the government GDP is allocated to education, almost two-third of which comes from the and the non-governmental sector.

“I believe in public-private partner- education cess. The government has, ship (PPP) as I don’t think either the in effect, reduced the funding that was government or the private sector can being provided earlier.”

Differing from the ministry line of do the needful alone,” says Swarup.

“We are trying to bring together all the action to improve learning outcomes good work being done by the NGOs in primary schools, the RTE Forum in various pockets, to see how it can has been pressing to widen the be scaled up. Seven workshops—on ambit of the Act to include schooling educating the girl child, out of school from pre-school up to high school. children, mid-day meal or teachers’ Educationists want the government training, among others—have been to take the onus of providing quality recently held with 14 sets of NGOs to infrastructure in all state-run schools on the lines of the Kendriya Vidyalayas. understand the work they do.”

The workshops were also meant It is, after all, the constitutional right to help NGOs learn from each other. of every child to get good education. O

17 April 2017 OUTLOOK 51

SLOW BURN

Ravindra Jadeja

K. Lokesh Rahul

(all-rounder)

(opener)

Injured spinning finger; two-week rehabilitation Out of initial part of IPL

To undergo surgery on his left shoulder Out of IPL

Virat Kohli (batsman) To undergo rehabilitation on injured right shoulder Uncertain about playing IPL

Ravichandran Ashwin (spinner) Groin pain, advised up to two months’ rehabilitation Out of IPL

Umesh Yadav (fast bowler) Right hip and lower back soreness, two-week rest Out of initial part of IPL Photographs: AP, PTI

52 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

A Punishing Rack At Close Of Play The BCCI’s unrelenting schedule has cost top cricketers injured bodies and tired minds

by Qaiser Mohammad Ali

no option. With so much at stake, they choose to play on—and suffer.

There is a misconception regarding the HAT old, discomfiting question scheduling of international matches, an has again raised its head: Is the overdose of which often lead to break­ BCCI making Team India play downs. Some believe that the countries too much cricket than their are bound to play the matches as listed bodies can take, risking more inin the ICC’s Future Tours Programme juries, as has happened? Crick(FTP). In reality, the FTP is just a cal­ eters representing the national team endar the ICC prepares for everyone to have virtually been on the road for six know who is playing when, after indi­ months, ever since the home season bevidual nations have mutually finalised gan with a Test series against New Zeatheir various bilateral series. The FTP land on September 22. And the nonalso contains dates of ICC events like stop cricket caravan continues, now in the World Cup and Champions Trophy, the form of IPL, to be followed soon by during which countries don’t slot their the ICC Champions Trophy. To be prebilateral series. When the BCCI tries tak­ cise, the gap between the IPL and the ing credit for slotting 24 international Champions Trophy, starting on June 1 matches (13 Tests, eight ODIs and three in England, is a mere eight days—hardT20 Internationals) at home in 2016­17, ly the space players require to recoup. it doesn’t reveal that it had done so with­ That means more workload for Team out taking players into confidence.

India players, the core of which Players have no platform from is usually the same across the Indians play a lot of cricket, but where they can convey their view­ three formats. point to the BCCI before it chalks Most alarmingly, by the time the list of injured players has out schedules, which are dictated the Champions Trophy final is rarely been so long. Plus, it by sponsorship deals. The Lodha played on June 18—assuming def­ includes relative newcomers too. Committee realised this and has ending champions India reach recommended the formation of a that stage—many Indian players, cricketers’ association. like captain Virat Kohli, Ravin­ “The schedule is finalised without ask­ In this context, the scheduling of matc­ dra Jadeja and Ravinchandran Ashwin, would have played non­stop cricket for hes/series becomes very crucial. After all, ing players. Now, time has come when a bone­crushing 270 days! Even if we it is the cricketers, and not itinerary­fix­ players, too, should be consulted. There take into account the negligible gaps be­ ing administrators, who suffer the most. are certain steps that have been good and tween the four home series, the volume When the BCCI finalises the schedule yielded results, but more can be done,” of cricket Indians play can still cause for the national team, it hardly takes into says former India wicket­keeper and breakdowns, injuries and burn­outs. As consideration players’ viewpoint. And national selector Saba Karim. The BCCI it has happened to some of the key pla­ the schedule is finalised not in consulta­ had finalised deals with STAR India, yers who were part of India’s longest tion with the national captain and coach, PayTM (series title sponsor), Nike (kit home season ever. Players on top of their but when the BCCI gives a commitment sponsor), Oppo (team sponsor) and three form, like Ashwin, K.L. Rahul and Mura­ to the other countries’ boards, broadcast­ ‘official partners’ (Pepsi, Hyundai and li Vijay, have been ruled out of the entire ers and sponsors. A list thus finalised is Janalakshmi Financial Services) without IPL season. Others, like Kohli, Jadeja and imposed on the players, who really have players having a say in it. The top three

T

Umesh Yadav, will miss the initial part.

And who knows, how many more will fall by the wayside during the tournament?

Of those completely ruled out of the IPL, Rahul (surgery of left shoulder) and Vijay (surgery to right wrist and rehabili­ tation for left shoulder) will go under the knife, while others have been prescribed rest. It is not certain when the injured stars will be back in the team—and what kind of team India will be able to field for the Champions Trophy. Injuries are of two kinds: on­field impact injuries, and those sustained due to excessive work­ load. Kohli’s injured shoulder would fall in the first bracket, while Jadeja’s and Umesh Yadav’s injuries are a result of playing continuous cricket. The second type of injuries occur by continuously playing, without giving the body proper rest between matches/tournaments.

17 April 2017 OUTLOOK 53

SLOW B URN

Rohit Sharma

Murali Vijay

(batsman)

(opener)

Knee injury, missed Deodhar Trophy on BCCI’s advice But allowed to play IPL

To have surgery on right wrist and rehabilitation on left shoulder Out of IPL

Hardik Pandya (all-rounder) Shoulder injury,

dropped from it’s very important to protect him from sponsors pay the BCCI handsome mon­ Test team injuries. But he eventually becomes the ey per international match, be it a Test, Now fit to play IPL victim,” Lodha tells Outlook. “Our wish is an ODI or a T20 International. For each that our report is fully implemented. It’ll match, broadcast rights holder STAR really change the face of the game. We are India pays Rs 40 crore, as well as Rs 1.92 The Lodha Committee, too, was con­ still waiting for that day.” crore as the team’s jersey logo sponsor, Stars like Jadeja and Ashwin not play­ while series title sponsor PayTM pays Rs. cerned with the volume of cricket and 2.42 crore. When all this is calculated, it recommended “at least 15 days gap” be­ ing the IPL will take some sheen off the shows that the BCCI earned Rs 1,064.16 tween the IPL and the national calendar. tournament, but Team India might not crore for 24 matches this season. This “A testing and cramped cricketing year suffer eventually, says former India pac­ amount doesn’t include revenues earned takes a substantial toll on a professional er Atul Wassan. “India now have a much from the others like Nike, Oppo or Pepsi. cricketer’s body and longevity, and it is larger pool of players to pick from. The Immediately after the IPL, the Indian the responsibility of the BCCI to take re­ only thing is that the absence of these team will fly out to England to defend medial measures immediately,” it said in players the IPL valuation could go down,” their Champions Trophy title. But there its report. Unsurprisingly, the BCCI has he says. Despite having a larger pool, suc­ is genuine concern that some of the auto­ opposed this recommendation too. After cessive selection committees have not matic starters, the likes of Kohli, Ashwin the BCCI confirmed injuries to several gone for rotation of players to save them and Jadeja, may be forced to miss the key players this week, former Chief Jus­ from burnout and add to their life as in­ tournament if they don’t recover fully. tice of India R.M. Lodha was worried. “It ternational players. When M.S. Dhoni While it is true that injuries are unpre­ is a matter of concern. We had observed was India captain, he had said several times that no rotation policy could dictable, a pragmatic approach be implemented in India. “Kohli would help avoid the embarrass­ and coach Anil Kumble have taken ment of fielding depleted teams.

“The player is an important a conscious decision to give prior­ “Cricket is growing at an alarming stakeholder and he should be ity to Tests, the pinnacle of cric­ rate. Too much cricket is being protected from injuries,” says ket. That’s why Ashwin and Jadeja played, but every country is do­ former CJI R.M. Lodha. were rested for T20s against Eng­ ing it. Injuries will happen when land this season, so that they were you play too much cricket. It’s up fresh for Tests. If players have got to players to look after their fit­ ness, like Australians do,” says former and anticipated that. The longevity of adequate rest and breaks intermittently, all­rounder Madan Lal. His India team­ players is very important. At the time, there’s no need to rotate them,” says Saba mate, E.A.S. Prasanna, looks at this issue they [BCCI and states] had criticised Karim. The debate over injuries, schedul­ from a different angle. “The modern­day us, saying ‘why so much interference’ in ing and rotation of players are all old top­ training schedule is so tough that the the game. The whole idea was to protect ics. But it will be interesting to see what suppleness, which is so important for players, to ensure that they don’t get in­ sort of team India sends to the Champi­ players, is gone. Due to this, their bodies jured and are able to play [for long]. The ons Trophy in June, soon after the col­ player is an important stakeholder and ourful arena that’s the IPL falls silent. O break like a matchstick,” he points out.

54 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

going ginga

FronT FooT neymar (left) goes for the ball during the 2018 World Cup qualifier against Paraguay

ap

Back To The Divine Rhythm Brazil are all geared up to make a comeback in the 2018 World Cup in Russia

by Siddhartha Mishra

B

razil are the first nation to qualify for the next football World Cup in russia in 2018.

This would not strike as anything unusual had the world of football not witnessed the Selcao’s Belo Horizonte catastrophe close to three years ago. The mention still tugs painfully at a Brazilian football fan’s heartsrings: Brazil 1-7 Germany, and that too on home ground.

“I was commentating on that game,” says writer and football expert Novy Kapadia. “At the time, most of us thought it would take them years to recover.” But look at them play now and it’s certain they are on road to recovery. It feels as if some of that rhythmic magic is on its way

56 OutlOOk 17 april 2017

back. “They are more creative, and dominate games for longer periods. Their confidence has returned,” says Kapadia.

Brazil currently sit at top of the South American qualifying table after playing fourteen games for Russia 2018. The continent is probably the most hotly contested. Messi’s Argentina are fifth and Chile, boasting the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal, are a spot above them. Golden boy James Rodriguez’s Colombia are second with Luis Suarez’s Uruguay chasing them.

Brazil, on the other hand, have sailed through, on the back of newly-appointed coach Tite. “My greatest joy is sharing joy,” he told Espn Brazil, after leading them to seven wins on the bounce and earning the trip to Russia, just over a year away. Tite’s appointment broke a need-

less tradition, “Brazil broke out from the ‘fixed’ coaches, the likes of Scolari and Dunga (Tite’s predecessor),” notes Kapadia adding that the team was playing with “greater freedom” under him.

The new-found confidence and joy under Tite is almost essential for the team, which is trying to recover from a burden of responsibility for a national tragedy since that fateful night in 2014.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Brazilian coach at the time, called it the worst moment of his life. The media since referred to the defeat as the Mineirazo, rekindling Brazilian nightmares of the Maracan­ azo, another national tragedy in 1950 when Brazil lost the World Cup final 1-2 at home to Uruguay. Some fans had reportedly committed suicide after the match. And 54 years later, President

Dilma Rousseff tweeted at how she resenting club sides outside the contiwas “deeply saddened by our loss”. nent, earlier. For instance, Ronaldinho, German maverick Mesut Ozil later re- who blurred the lines between sport vealed that he even apologised to cap- and art, was frightening French clubs while playing for Paris Saint Germain tain David Luiz after the game.

It is as if after that match at the Belo early on in his early career, but did not Horizonte, the team was forced into in- get much of the Scolari-love. Under trospection. And a couple of years later, Tite, however, players like Coutinho the tide did turn. A team led by Neymar (Liverpool, England), Douglas Costa won their first Olympic gold medal at (Bayern Munich, Germany), Casemiro home in August, 2016 beating who- and Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City, else-but Germany and that too at their England) have thrived.

Then there’s Neymar, who was being own game—a penalty-shootout. There was a lot of rejoicing in Brazil that day; hailed as the wonderkid of 2014. He literally broke his back before Brazil they had been deprived for too long.

Just prior to the win, Adenor Leon- broke theirs in the 2014 Wolrd Cup. But ardo Bacchi, aka Tite, was appointed the 25-year-old has come of age now coach of the national side in June 2016 and is awaiting his peak. He has also after a successful stint at club-side Cor- made that generational leap into breainthians. Earlier teams under Dunga king the Messi-Ronaldo dominance and Scolari were criticised for being in the sport. At his best, he doesn’t run, he skims across the too shackled. “Unlike turf, more graceful than Scolari, who wanted to the Portugal man and play Neymar like Messi Since their more effortless than the and make every move go turnaround at Argentinian. through him, Tite’s given the Olympics, Since their cup-winhim an attacking role,” Brazil have ning turnaround at the explains Kapadia. been drawing Olympics, the Brazilians Former international have been drawing more player and title-win- more from the from their ginga tradining manager Subhash ginga tradition, tion, producing wave-afBhowmick also puts it like in the past. ter-wave of attacks like down to Tite ‘using’ his the sides of yore. Bhowplayers well, “match by match” in the recent qualifying mick says they are definitely more games. Bhowmick points to how attacking now, and that players like teammate Paulinwho sat back for Real Neymar are taking more responsibility Madrid-man Casemiro, helping him aided by an able supporting cast.

“It’s just good to see them back,” says out against Argentina, but motored forward against Uruguay. “Tite didn’t former India captain Bhaichung Bhuallow him to bypass the mid-field tia, who is also cautious about the way ahead. “For Tite, picking a side from a against Messi and co.” he says.

Bhowmick also highlights the fact pool of very talented players can also that players like Coutinho and Firmi- be a problem,” he adds. Talking of no, both playing under Jurgen Klopp 2014, he says that tournament-footat Liverpool, are being played in the ball is a different ball-game, and that same roles they play for their clubs. one bad game “can knock you out.

He says that “for a while, they forgot That is football.”

Kapadia reckons that the side will the Brazilian-style, the high-press”, used by forwards to harry opposition still be among the favourites for their defenders in possession early. This turn in 2018. Bhowmick says he hopes the side does not “peak too early” and was made famous-again by Klopp.

Kapadia believes Scolari had used lose steam when it really matters.

Brazil has a name for the dream “utilitarian” players like Hulk and Fred (who called it quits after the Germany that will be a sixth World Cup crown. game) in 2014, who would curb the flair They’re calling it the Hexa. And even within the side, something that Tite though that may be a dream too far, the has “broken away from.” He also men- current Brazilian bunch does appear to tions how coaches of the national side have enough in them to make you look, used to cock-a-snook at players rep- wonder, and break into a smile. O

17 april 2017 OutlOOk 57

KISHORI AMONKAR

1 9 32-2017

OF EARTH AND ETHER

Serene and combustible at once, free as well as adherent, of her illustrious lineage but wholly individual—dualities defined both the diva and her music

by Vidya Shah

Her mother, the legendary Mogubai Kurdikar, learnt from Ustad Alladiya Khan, anchor of the Jaipur­Atrauli gharana.

HEN I think of her, I think of purity of sound. Mogubai herself was an intense artiste usually referred to as The tanpuras hushing the air, making a little an “uncompromising purist”. Kishoriji learnt the traditional clearing. Little sharp flashes of the surmandal, aspects of the raag system and bandishes from her. She also making the air ring, taut in anticipation. And learnt from others, including Anjanibai Malpekar of Bhendi then her first utterance of a note—that’s how Bazar gharana and Sharadchandra Arolkar of Gwalior ghar­ the Kishori Amonkar world would take birth ana. Lineage and training, thus, were impeccable. While Jai­ each time. She would take her time to create a little chrys- pur­Atrauli stood for a complex, intellectual gayaki, her other alis from which would emerge the stunning elaboration of influences, including those from Kirana, gave her singing an a raag. The choice of raag always, always in sync with the edge that became unique to her. She always referred to her time of the day. An incomparable gravitational pull would mother in a manner that reflected gratitude and acknowled­ draw the rasik into the intensity as well. And thus would ged her struggles to ensure the children could have a comfort­ able life. (In fact, while Mogubai’s contemporary, the gharana begin a journey into the soul of the raag.

Hindustani music can at once be rigid and flexible. Its beauty doyenne Kesarbai Kerkar, was the concert queen, Mogubai lies in how it opens up pathways to improvisation, where the herself was caught up in the struggles of her existence.)

In all of this, Kishoriji set new standards structure seems minimal and not overt, of negotiation. She created a new langu­ but exists as an enabling inner logic. Kis­ During her travels age of empowerment, as if in reaction to horiji engaged this duality—freedom and the many layers of struggles women like normativity—with great skill, understan­ with her mother, the her mother had undergone—to coexist as ding, dexterity and élan in her singing. legendary Mogubai, respectable women, students and peers.

Even though her loyalty to gharanedaar Kishori had seen the During her travels with her mother, when gayaki was more than evident in terms of world’s callousness. she accompanied her on the tanpura as a the grammar and treatment of raag, her Her inward-bound young girl, she was deeply affected by the singing had a uniqueness that was her own and so mellifluously endearing. sadhana was born thus. mistreatment, even disrespect her mot­ her had seen, leaving her bitter and angry.

Known to be ‘difficult’—people often While she was deeply committed to the talk about her ‘moods’—she was almost dismissive of those who wanted to interview or document her guru­shishya parampara, she also strived to bring respect to legacy. Her typical response to any such request was she did the idea of the individual who inhabits it, makes it live. That if not see the need to make time for it. That this was precious you have established the highest standards of interpreting a time taken away from her time to do her riyaz—her sadhana. melody, you also have the right to command respect like no She considered that as a kind of meditative immersion, a dif­ other. In a sense that was her mission, a goal she had set where ferent thing from mere “practice”. It’s true, there is only so her own life became the example. That social media is full of much that one can be taught, or one can learn; what you make tributes and reminiscences of her is an index of her success.

In some ways, this single­minded passion that could be int­ of that taleem is really what sadhana is all about.

It’s via this insistence on a kind of sacredness that she helped erpreted even as ‘self­absorbed’ became the defining aspect raise so many pertinent questions that need to be answered, of her musicality. It’s by being immersed in herself that she in order to accord the world of classical music the gravitas it altered the terms of the world, and became an epoch­maker, a demands but usually doesn’t get, even from patrons. Last year, diva who brought khayal gayaki new lustre. She did it through when I spoke to her about her taleem with her mother, she said musical means, conferring on her listeners a euphoria hither­ she could talk to me about it (though adding that I should to unknown. As a rasik said, her artistry stood as tall as the rather be sitting and practising myself instead of wasting her Himalayas, and in Bhoopali is realised its summit. The slen­ time and mine!), but was categorical that it should not be der face, the chiselled nose and the big bindi will be an image published. Because she believed the world will not understand that recurs with every mention of khayal on Indian terra. As the significance of these experiences. Like her mother, she too will that sanctified sound. My pranams to her genius! O always referred to music as her connection to the divine.

(The author is a Hindustani classical vocalist and writer)

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58 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

Photograph: SHOBHA DEEPAK SINGH

EARLY TO FILM

Karthick Naren with actor Rahman

24 FRAMES AT JUST 21

The youngest­ever director’s thrilling debut has made Rs 10 Cr in 100 days

by G.C. Shekhar

T

HE characters in Dhuruvangal Padhinaaru (Sixteen Extremes) keep forgetting things. The pro­ tagonist, Inspector Deepak, for­ gets his mobile phone at his office. His understudy, the con­ stable, forgets his cap at the crime scene. And the film’s director, Karthick Naren, forgot that he was just 21 when he shot this slick murder thriller.

Everything about his debut feature film released in December 2016, defies Karthick’s age and experience. A taut screenplay that time-travels from the present to the past with practised ease, the story, told through the eyes of different characters, rarely loses cogency and the narrative, with a montage of visuals, keeps the audience riveted to their seats.

One would expect this kind of craft from a veteran with half-a-dozen hits—definitely not a debutant in his early 20s.

60 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

Karthick has no film legacy behind my third year,” says the Coimbatore lad.

The textile city was the natural choice him. Nor did he apprentice under any big names. “In the first year of my me- for ‘D-16’, as his film is popularly known. chanical engineering, I felt I didn’t be- Karthick knows Coimbatore, its moods long here. Only when I made a short film, and sounds. And it reflects in the frames: with an eye to bag the Rs 1 Lakh prize An old house gets made over as the money in a film contest, did I realise my police station—no red brick walls. An actual calling. The film could not qualify apartment complex, one of the crime for the competition as only one entry scenes, has a tenant shifting in even as per college was allowed, but my college the cops knock on doors for enquiries. mates liked it when I screened it for Even in Ooty, where the inspector has them in a nearby theatre,” remembers retired after losing his leg, the sounds of repairs can be heard in the background. the slim, tall Karthick with a smile.

That first film on a friend’s brother’s “That is Mani Ratnam’s style—use the suicide was made without even a scrib- atmosphere as a character, not a mere ble on paper. “I had the story in mind setting,” says Karthick The misdirection that Karthick weaves and would set the scenes on the spot and shoot. It was a crazy way to make a film. keeps the viewer wondering how the Luckily I evolved and for the next short story would untangle. The masked murfilm had a basic script on hand. derer from the opening scene, the rich Otherwise I learnt about film making spoilt kids involved in a hit-and-run and mostly from the internet. My dad too the paper delivery boy with his own spin, recognised that I was made for films and cleverly camouflage the real ‘villain’ who did not protest when I dropped out in gets revealed only in the last few frames.

Karthick was sure about two things Karthick. “We used the best of equipadmittedly—the opening and the end of ment. Even the sound was recorded in his thriller. “I’m a fan of Christopher Dolby Atmos and we devoted six Nolan who insists that the ending is months for post-production, though what should remain in the viewer’s the shoot was over in 28 days. A lot of mind—that they take some time to attention was given to detailing.”

As for the cast, Karthick was certain it process it and implant it in their minds forever. My ending would surprise but would be Malayalam-Tamil star not underwhelm you. You’ll not forget Rahman for the lead. “He was unit,” he explains. And the twist in the tale convinced at first but after hearing the does linger. No wonder film critic script he plunged wholeheartedly. For Bharadwaj Rangan wrote in his review the rest of the cast, I chose unknown of D-16: “With his first film, Karthick faces, as I wanted the viewer to see the character and not the actor with whom Naren the filmmaker has arrived.”

Among Indian filmmakers Karthick he was familiar with.” Rahman plays an loves the visually rich method of Mani uncharacteristic yet suave inspector Ratnam and Gautham Vasudevan who mouths lines in English. According Menon’s stylised portrayals of police to him, Inspector Deepak was one of his men. Gautham was so impressed by the best roles. “Even as I unravel the plot, I young film maker’s story telling that he become part of it. That is not an easy decided to co-produce Karthick’s next one to portray,” he said.

Did Karthick know that he was going film Naragasooran. “Happy to be a chapter in the journey of a brilliant to be the youngest film director in the young filmmaker,” he said. The bound history of Indian movies? “Actually I script of Karthick’s second film is ready would like to look a few years older,” he replies. “On the first waiting for actor Arvind few days, my boyish Swamy’s dates. “I finish looks had everyone my script, keep it aside “On the first on the sets doubting for a few weeks and then few days, my if this guy really pour through it to get a boyish looks had knows what he is fresh look at it before everyone on the doing. After the shooting,” is how fourth day, when they Karthick goes about his sets doubting if this guy knows saw a pattern to the work process. way I worked, the Another filmmaker what he’s doing,” team jelled together.

Karthick adores is says Karthick.

Yes it is a disadvanAnurag Kashyap, probatage arriving very bly because he too came with no filmi background and fought early on the scene.” But that got offset his way up. “Comparatively I was luck- by the commercial success of D-16. It ier,” Karthick admits. “I would have has crossed Rs 10 crore in collection watched his Gangs of Wasseypur a and it was one of the few Tamil films dozen times. It hurt me that Anurag’s whose screen presence increased by Bombay Velvet did not do well though it sheer word-of-mouth publicity. It’s was one of the most stylishly made pe- showing at a Chennai multiplex even riod movies in Indian cinema.” So as a after a hundred days from release.

The real test, Karthick admits, would tribute, Karthick had one of the jazzy songs from Bombay Velvet playing on a be his second film as the burden of the car stereo in his hit-and-run sequence. first one’s success would rest heavily on For someone unschooled in film pro- him. But he remains charmingly confiduction, Karthick has packaged a tech- dent. The story boards are ready, the nically sound film. He scouted for the bound script is lying inside and the technical team only through Facebook. theme would be ‘faith.’ It was ‘karma’ His father, a top special education for D-16. The third film would complete needs consultant, agreed to bankroll the crime trilogy and the only assurthe project (Rs 3 crore) and even de- ance he makes is that his next two films puted his office manager to be the pro- would have absolutely no shades of duction manager so his son could focus D-16. “For a film maker the hangover on the film. “I was firm that the film from a previous film can be disastrous. should not look low budget,” says And I want to avoid that at all costs.” O

17 April 2017 OUTLOOK 61

theatre

] * * Starring: Chirag Vohra, Abhishek Krishnan, Boman Irani. Writer-Director: Danesh Khambata Gandhi, the Musical [

enGliSh

A Grandiose Song For Gandhi

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The musical moves from one milestone to the other interspersed with songs and commentary

by Boman Irani as the voice of the British Raj.

62 OutlOOk 17 April 2017

hen a musical on the life of the Mahatma, the father of this nation, is staged, one inevitably goes with some expectations.

The tale has been told many times over to you—starting from your school coursebook, government-funded TV programmes on Gandhi Jayanti, even a hollywood biopic with a Brit playing the Mahatma.

Gandhi, the Musical begins on a high note of a welcome dance. At that moment, it‘s hard to tell whether the motivation for producing this magnum opus was the idea of ‘unique’ experiment—a retelling of a story well known, yet yearning for depth (as there are many complex hues to the mystic legend)—or another chronological compilation of his life and times. By the end of the two and half hours, it is quite obvious that it was the latter and so what we have is an expensive, elaborate and enthusiastic staging of Gandhi’s life with visual effects, dances, songs of different genres, stage design and some true-to-script performances. The zealous yet straightforward show lets the enigma be.

It starts with a young Mohandas reaching the shores of South Africa as a barrister. A giggly welcome number plays in the background with seemingly Zulu references and other cultural overtones—a little hard to stomach. Young Gandhi, played by Abhishek Krishnan, with utmost sincerity if not aplomb, moves from an eager-to-succeed lawyer to a torch-bearer for the Indians under the British Rule in South Africa so quickly that the flaws of the script shine through all the razzmatazz.

Firm on the road more travelled, the musical moves from one milestone to the other interspersed with songs and commentary by Boman Irani as the diabolical voice of the British Raj. We flash past landmarks—Gandhi thrown out of the first class compartment, the court room drama over his turban, the arrival of Kasturba, return to India, the Jalianwala Bagh massacre, the Dandi March, the Swadesi movement, the charkha spinning, Kasturba’s death, the Partition riots…

Some of them, such as the Dandi march through the audience, the transformation to

Mahatma (the attire and actors change on stage) and Kasturba’s final moments are evocative. Gandhi’s reaction to Kasturba’s death, particularly, tugs at your heart.

Although there is ample historical evidence of British atrocities, to refer to them as ‘goras’ in songs and have an evil pair of eyes on a backdrop of British flag with Irani’s narration was at best tacky. And to ensure a nationalist crescendo, a soulful rendering of the national anthem by Chirag Vora, who plays older Gandhi, has the desirable effect of making the audience instantly stand up, as is the norm now. Vora, an eminent name on Gujarati theatre, brings much-needed grace, and warmth to the role and takes it forward from where Krishnan leaves young Gandhi. Some of the exchanges between Gandhi and the British Officers are witty and draw laughs.

Another, possibly unconscious, effect is of irony—the description of the Rowlatt Act at the beginning of the musical bears an eerie resemblance to the arguments against the Aadhaar scheme. There is also an attempt to jazz the song ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’, which unintentionally (I hope) reminds one of the hilarious hippy rendition of the track in the 1998 Bollywood film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. The musical allows people to take photographs during the show and post on social media. It served as a parallel activity during the show, nevermind many theatre-lovers find it sacrilegious.

The stage design is impressive and deserves a mention. But largely, the play remains simplistic and superficial. There is no visualisation of the political fasting and the Satyagraha as Gandhi’s preferred weapons to fight except a mere mention towards the end.

Pitching Gandhi’s life as a Broadway-style musical and trying to carry it off is biting into too much. The play had one thinking about other references where it could have learned from. One missed the bare bone adaptation of Mahabharata by Peter Brooks several times during this play. Brooks’ Mahabharata performed one of the essential functions of theatre—it retold a well-know story with the freshness of nuance. In Gandhi, the Musical, the opposite seems to have happened. O Prachi Pinglay-Plumber

**** Must See *** Good ** Average * Avoidable

P3 Comforts – Perfect Comfort that is Perfectly Cool

D

uravit and Phoenix Design have implemented a modern concept of comfort without compromising on design. P3 Comforts offers products with many comfortable features like wet and dry areas, generous surface areas for bathroom essentials and elegant design with gently curved edges and soft pleasant transitions.

The details are impressive: the raised tap platform on the washbasin – visually separated from the wet area yet still part of the harmonious whole – serves as a generous shelf surface for bathroom essentials. Another practical feature is the pronounced depth of the basin, which optimizes draining and facilitates cleaning. The asymmetric washbasin also offers additional storage space on the left or right of the basin adding an interesting creative touch.

The design of the toilet blends in seamlessly with the style of the washbasins. Additional width makes sitting noticeably more comfortable. Toilet models are rimless with an open design of the flushing rim which makes cleaning easier. In addition, wall-mounted and floor-standing toilets can also be combined with the especially flat SensoWash Slim shower-toilet seat.

The wide clearly defined bathtub rim offers space for tap fittings and shampoo with optional neck rest. It is also possible to equip the bathtub with a whirl system, such as the new Combi-L featuring swivel massage jets that deliver stimulation and relaxation in equal measure.

The special shower trays blend in beautifully with the overarching design of the P3 Comforts range. In combination with the Open Space B shower enclosure it produces the ideal shower area. The shower trays can be installed flush with the floor, semi-recessed or on the floor tiles with or without a support frame, which offers class B slip-resistance without additional coating.

College of Law and Governance (CLG)

T

he objective of the College of Law and Governance (CLG) is to equip women with legal armoury and human values so that they can serve the society as competent and thoughtful lawyers. The distinguished lawyers enjoy luminous prestige in the society and also make a handsome living. The profession has a noble quality attached to it as one gets the chance to give something back to Prof. SatiSh C. ShaStri Professor & Dean, the society while practicing law.

College of Law and Governance In an era of technological advancements, globalization, and industrialization, the role of lawyers is no longer restricted to courts alone. There are a volley of Law firms, MNCs and business houses which hire lawyers to look after their, or clients’, legal affairs. The CLG would like to see its graduates in the positions of judges and advocates plying their trade in High Courts and the Supreme Court.

There are multiple specializations like Corporate Law, Criminal Law, Tax Laws, IPR Laws, Environmental Law and Family Law, et al. that have opened up several new avenues for competent lawyers and has made the profession supremely lucrative.

Within a short span of time, CLG has organized several National Seminars, International Conferences, and International and National level Moot-Court Competitions.

Over 2.23 Lakh candidates set to appear for VITEEE-2017

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his year, the university has registered 2,23,081 students for VITEEE, whereas the number was 2,12,238 last year. In addition, this year the university also received 10,843 more applications, which show the brand’s reputation among students across the nation.

Announcing the results at a press conference in VIT University Founder & Chancellor, Dr. G. Viswanathan said that the university’s record placement this year and its thrust to create innovation in academics has propelled the increase in patronage among students, especially from the Northern part of India and nonresident Indians.

Among the prominent states in India, Andhra Pradesh tops the chart with 34,068 registrations, which includes 25,011 male applicants, 9,054 female applicants. Second on the list is Uttar Pradesh with 23,360 registrations followed by Telangana with 19,847, Maharashtra with 19,684 and Rajasthan with 16,304 and Tamil Nadu with 16,173 registration.

As per the centre-wise calculations, while Hyderabad registered 16,856, Delhi has registered 15,079 candidates, Vijayawada has registered 13,209, Kota has registered 8,877 candidates and Chennai has registered 7,687. Patna has registered 7,321 candidates and Vellore 2,789.

About VIT Engineering Entrance Examination (VITEEE)

VIT Engineering Entrance Examination (VITEEE) is to be held as ComputerBased Test from 5th April to 16th April 2017, in 119 cities, with 167 centres across India, including Dubai, Kuwait and Muscat for admission to B.Tech. programmes offered by VIT University in Vellore, Chennai, Bhopal (MP) and Amaravathi (AP).

Dr. G. Viswanathan also said that the university would announce VITEEE results on or before 24th April (tentatively) in www.vit.ac.in

EXCERPT

MALABARI PANGS ALONG PERSIA SANDS Deepak Unnikrishnan’s explosive debut novel Temporary People, a dystopian portrayal of life of Malayalis in the Gulf, has got rave reviews abroad and he is being hailed as the fresh, young voice in fiction.

Here, first excerpts from the exceptional book.

Chabter one

GULF RETURN

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N a labor camp, somewhere in the Persian Gulf, a laborer swallowed his passport and turned into a passport. His roommate swallowed a suitcase and turned into a little suitcase. When the third roommate, privy and vital to the master plan, ran away the next morning with the new suitcase and passport, he made it past the guard on night duty, onto the morning bus to the airport, past the bored ticket agent at check-in, past security, past pat down and a rummage through his suitcase, past using the bathroom once, twice, thrice, to pee, to shit, to sit, past Duty Free, where he stared at chocolates and booze and magazines and currencies, past families eating fast food in track suits or designer wear, past men and women sleeping on the floor, past his past, past his present, past the gold in the souks, the cranes in the sky, petrol in the air, dreams in his head, past God and the devil, the smell of mess halls, past humidity and hot air, past it all, until he found an empty chair in the departures lounge, where he sat and held his future in his hands. It was then the little suitcase sprouted legs and ears, and the passport developed palms and long fingers as well as a nose and a mustache, and soon after the boarding call, at the very moment the stewardess checked his documents, the third laborer was asked to wait.

The stewardess needed time to figure out what protocol she should follow or what precedent there was for the man and his possessions. The man preferred not to wait and ran as fast as he

64 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

TEMPORARY PEOPLE

by Deepak Unnikrishnan Restless Books Distributed by Simon & Shuster 272 pages | Rs 799

could through the door to boarding, past passengers who had already gone through and formed a line inside the tube with the little windows, waiting like blood in a syringe, now followed at an animal’s pace by the little suitcase on legs, ridden like a horse by the passport with the long fingers, a sight that both fascinated and terrified and caused personnel, propelled by some odd sense of duty, to stand in the way of the trio and block their path, to protect the plane and its pilots and cabin crew from what they couldn’t define. It didn’t matter what they did, it wouldn’t have mattered what they did, because the man leading the charge, in an act of despair, opened his mouth wide to ask them all to get away get away, wide wide wider, until he swallowed the first person in his path, then the next, and the next, refusing to stop running, as the little suitcase did the same, opening and closing itself, running into people, sucking people in like a sinkhole, aided by the passport jockey, who assisted by stuffing in those who fought desperately to escape. It happened so quickly, the running, the swallowing, the stuffing, the madness, that when the three of them reached the aircraft doors, they seemed at first surprised rather than jubilant, then relieved as the pilots and cabin crew stared from the other end of the tube, where everyone, including the remaining passengers, had now run to watch them like cats watching dogs.

The little suitcase, the little passport, and the man caught their breath, inhaling and exhaling raggedly, as though nails filled the air, while in the distance, with the sound of a million horses, well-meaning men with guns and gas rushed the gate where the stewardess had screamed and then

Illustrations by DEEPAK UNNIKRISHNAN

fainted. The trio realized it was now or never, abhi ya nahi, do or die, so they rushed into the empty plane, locked its door, and the little suitcase and the little passport found seats in First Class and put on their seat belts, while the man ran to the back of the plane and began swallowing everything in sight, starting with the two lavatories, the trolleys with the veg and non-veg options, the apple juice and the Bloody Mary mixes, the seats and the magazines, the tray tables and the blinking lights, the blankets and the overhead bins, the socks and the TV monitors, the cabin air, with its lingering halitosis and mint-candy smell, swallowing everything in sight, moving expertly from Economy to Business to First, swallowing even the little suitcase and the little passport, swallowing the carpets, the emergency exits, the airplane controls and smudged windows and the odor of pilots, slipping down the aircraft’s nose and continuing to swallow as he moved from the aircraft’s beak towards its base, swallowing wings, wheels, luggage, fuel, skin, presence, until the man was not recognizable anymore and had turned into an enormous jumbo, observed from the cordoned-off terminal by dumbstruck passengers and the men armed with guns and gas, whose leader wondered on his walkie-talkie what sort of protocol ought to be followed here, but he needn’t have bothered. The plane had begun taxiing down the runaway, past other waiting aircrafts, ignoring pleas from the control tower to desist, to wait a minute, to let’s talk this through, to whadabout the hostages, but the plane didn’t care, it went on its merry way, picking up speed, lifting its beak, tucking in its mighty wheels, returning its cargo.

17 April 2017 OUTLOOK 65

EXC ERPT

Chabter three

PRAVASIS Expat. Worker.

Guest. Worker.

Guest Worker. Worker.

Foreigner. Worker.

Non-resident. Worker.

Non-citizens. Workers.

Workers. Visa.

People. Visas.

Workers. Worker.

A million. More.

Homeless. Visiting.

Residing. Born.

Brought. Arrived.

Acclimatizing. Homesick.

Lovelorn. Giddy.

Worker. Workers.

Tailor. Solderer.

Chauffeur. Maid.

Oil Man. Nurse.

Typist. Historian.

Shopkeeper. Truck driver.

Watchman. Gardener.

Secretary. Pilot.

Smuggler. Hooker.

Tea boy. Mistress.

Temporary. People.

Illegal. People.

Ephemeral. People.

Gone. People.

Deported. Left.

More. Arriving.

Chabter four

FONE

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EAR jawazat road, there used to be an ordinary looking kadakaran who owned a little kada. In the back, where he kept the surplus Basmati rice, the colas, the cooking oil, and the hardcore porn, was what some customers sought him out for, a fone. The device resembled a rotary phone, but it wasn’t a phone; it was a fone.

66 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

The fone did the one thing you would expect a phone to do: it could make calls. However, it couldn’t receive any. The fone’s main purpose was teleportation. A man could use the fone to talk to his wife, and as his wife cried softly into the neighbor’s phone, her husband would hover over her, like a giant bee, seeing his wife cry like that, feeling satisfied that his wife could cry like that, content that he could see her cry like that, even though she wouldn’t be able to see him, or even know that he was there, so close he could see the dirt on the back of her neck. And he was so happy he could see her cry like that. Or a woman could be speaking to her daughter, a daughter who hasn’t learned to form words yet, but is instead biting the phone, like it’s meant to be bitten, drooling into it, as her father steadies her wobbling body, coaxing her to talk, to speak, pleading with her to perform something worthy for her mother, and the woman sees all of this, her husband encouraging their child to say something, anything, as long as it’s a word, any word, it didn’t matter as long as it was a word. Or the phone simply rang and rang and no one picked up, even though the fone caller was in a state of bliss, itching to tell someone that he’d been promoted, that he was happy, that he needed to tell people he was happy to feel happy, that he needed to see people pretending to be happy in order to be happy. So the fone had its uses, but its usage was regulated by the kadakaran. It would break if too many people used it, he said, and I don’t know how to fix it if it breaks. So a person could use the fone only once a year. One couldn’t tell one’s friends about the fone. They had to find it. Stumble across it and the kada itself was like stumbling across a Kurdish-speaking macaw or a wizard in a bar.

Then once one knew what the fone did, one put oneself on a list and chose a date and time. If one were smart, one didn’t choose religious or public holidays, or a late-evening time. One wanted to be sure the person one was calling was home, because one only got one fone call and it had to count. On the appointed day, one cut work by calling in sick, made one’s way to the kada, and made that call. Then when one hung up, one would make an appointment for the next year.

If Johnny Kutty hadn’t called his wife, maybe the fone would still be in operation.

Johnny Kutty was married only a month before a distant relative found him a job as a car mechanic’s apprentice in Dubai. Johnny Kutty bought phone cards and called his wife once a week. He called his friend Peeter’s STD booth, and Peeter sent a helper to fetch Johnny Kutty’s wife and they talked frantically until the card ran out. When Johnny Kutty discovered the fone, he couldn’t wait; he made an appointment for the next availa-

ble date. On that fateful day, as Johnny Kutty hovered over his wife in his friend Peeter’s STD booth, he noticed Peeter sat there, smiling at her, and she at him. He offered her cold cola, which she sipped using a straw, blushing as she did so, blushing, Johnny Kutty couldn’t be sure, at Peeter’s attentiveness or because of what Johnny Kutty was telling her, of the things he wanted to do to her—dirty, dirty things—and she nodded and blushed, and blushed then nodded, smiling all the time, smiling until it drove hovering Johnny Kutty crazy, until the phone card ran out.

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He imagined all sorts of things: that she was drinking cola.... that he sucked on that straw after Johnny Kutty’s wife left, and he licked the tip...

UICKLY, Johnny Kutty made the next available appointment for the following year, but he continued to call his wife every week using a regular pay phone. It wasn’t enough anymore. He imagined all sorts of things: that she was drinking cola, that Peeter had bought bottles of cola only for her, that he put the straw in himself, that he sucked on that straw after Johnny Kutty’s wife left, that he licked the tip where her lips and spit had been. When his young wife shared she was pregnant a few weeks later, Johnny Kutty knew then that his life was ruined. That night, he broke intothe kadakaran’s kada and called Peeter. The phone rang and rang and rang, and Johnny Kutty was sure Peeter wasn’t managing the STD booth, which was also the front portion of his house.

Peeter, Johnny Kutty knew, was busy with Johnny Kutty’s wife, and had no time to answer phone calls from his best friend, too busy cuckolding his best friend with his friend’s young wife, the bitch who loved cola. As he realized what his wife had done, Johnny Kutty started hating his once-happy life, destroyed now by his cheating wife and his once-best friend. He wished he wasn’t in that kada by himself, standing next to that fone, the fone that broke his heart, a device that may have done the same for countless others, and thus needed to be put down. Exterminated. So he got to work.

Johnny Kutty poured fifteen liters of cola into a bucket the kadakaran used to clean his kada, and dropped the fone into the fizzing liquid, holding it down as it were a person, drowning it, drowning the people it contained. Then he looked for match boxes, piled them next to the bucket with the dead fone, then poured three tins of cooking oil on the floor for good measure.

He lit one match and watched it drop. When the shurtha at the police station told Johnny Kutty that he could ake one phone call, he told them they could do whatever they wanted to him, but if they asked him to phone someone or brought a phone to him, he would die, and for a man to die so many times in one year was not normal, and he said he probably wouldn’t survive that, which would be a shame, because he had been through a lot. O

17 April 2017 OUTLOOK 67

Ne ws & re vie ws

BHEL Accelerates Project Execution BeL contributes for smart india Momentum; Surpasses Government’s Hackathon 2017 12th Plan Capacity Addition Target avratna Defence

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enewing its thrust on accelerated project execution, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has achieved a capacity addition of 45,274 MW of utility sets during the 12th five year plan, surpassing the Government’s capacity addition target by 9%. Significantly, BHEL continues to remain the single largest contributor to the country’s installed capacity of utility sets, with a share of 46% in the 12thPlan capacity addition. Notably, BHEL’s capacity addition during the 12th five year Mr. Atul Sobti, plan is 78% higher than that in the 11th plan.

Chairman & Managing Director, BHEL During FY 2016-17, BHEL has achieved a capacity addition of 6,317 MW in the utility segment, which is nearly four times of the next highest achievement by any other manufacturer. In addition, 1,422 MW of Industrial sets and 78 MW of overseas sets have also been commissioned by BHEL during the year, besides 61 MWp of Solar Power Plants, including 50 MWp at Ananthapur in Andhra Pradesh. With the commissioning of 4 Roof Top Solar Plants, totalling to 403 kWp, during the year, BHEL has enhanced its presence in this emerging segment as well. With this, a total of 8,538 MW has been synchronised/ commissioned in the year.

The company added another feather in its cap by foraying into the field of power generation as a co-developer, with the start of commercial operation of the first unit of its 2x800 MW project at Yeramarus, Karnataka. Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) and BHEL are the main equity partners of Raichur Power Corporation Ltd. - the owner and operator of this plant.

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PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) participated in the grand finale of Smart India Hackathon 2017, a first-of-its-kind hackathon promoted by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) as a sponsor as well as through nomination of Judges.

The hackathon, a 36-hour non-stop event was a unique computer programming competition to identify new and disruptive digital technology innovations for solving the challenges faced by our country. The event was organised with an aim to harness the creativity and expertise of students from all over India. Solutions to some of the problem statements taken from the Ministry of Defence were attempted by students gathered in the Bangalore centre of Smart India Hackathon 2017, Sri Venkateshwara College of Engineering, Bangalore. Smart applications developed by students are likely to help address real time problems of the defence industry. The winners were awarded with cash prizes and certificates by BEL’s CMD. The winning team members stand a chance to be part of the NASSCOM’s 10,000 Startups Programme.

Prabhatam Aviation launches Fly Divine Customize Air Career in Madhya Pradesh

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ith regional air connectivity gaining momentum in the aviation sector, Prabhatam Aviation has launched MP’s exclusive regional airline – Fly Divine which will connect the heart of incredible India Madhya Pradesh to various hubs of inside and outside MP. According to Mr. Mayank Gupta, Director Prabhatam Aviation “Fly Divine will take off with an advance fleet of 9 seater aircraft from 15th April, 2017 with Indore as its base, which will promote the various tourist traffic and enhance the low cost air fares at a mega scale making flying affordable and accessible for local citizens both from Madhya Pradesh and all across India and Overseas.”

The agreement signed by Mr. Mayank Gupta , Director Prabhatam Aviation, Shri B.K Bharti, GM MPSTDC in the distinguished presence of Hon. Tourism

Miniter, Secretary Tourism and Chairman, tourism Board for promoting various tourist destination in Madhya Pradesh by offering MP’s first air taxi service with regular flight to Jabalpur and central India Financial capital Indore popularly known as mini Mumbai which have been connected by fly divine purely for the comfort and convience of students young professionals, tourist , pilgrims, NRIs and HNIs offering with fares starting from Rs 3500/- which makes fly divine truly a world class air service with seating capacity for 9+2 guest.

In the 2nd phase of its Flying Operations, Flying Divine has its ambitious plans to connect Bhopal and Indore with Nagpur, Khujaraho, Kota, Ahmadabad, Raipur, Datia, Gwalior & Varanasi along with induction of a 20 seater Aircraft at a later stage to

accommodate more pax to add Comfort and Convenience to the National & international passengers.

Mayank Gupta, who is also one of the youngest Aviator in the country, states that Prabhatam Aviation has a wider agenda to promote various tourist destinations of Madhya Pradesh with other parts of the Country and the company is fast developing on the fast forward track to augment the infrastructure on an Automated mode in the aviation sector, offering more employment avenues to the local citizens of State.

Haryana set to become global hub of

Textiles

Parveen K Modi

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ut to make Haryana a global hub of textile manufacturing, and a preferred investment destination, the Haryana Government has stitched up a new fiber-to-fashion textile policy to incentivise setting up of new units, and ensure growth and modernisation of the existing textile industry in the state.

Taking a holistic approach to the issue, the state government has packed the policy with fiscal and other incentives. It also contains provisions for infrastructure augmentation, setting up of textile parks, and making facilities available for filling the skill gap.

Notified after factoring in the suggestions made by the stakeholders, the Textile Policy–2017 aims at generating 50,000 new jobs by attracting investment in the textile sector to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore.

The policy has been formulated with an eye on the cotton belt of Haryana. The state is one of the leading cotton producers in the country with Sirsa, Fatehabad, Bhiwani, Hisar and Jind being the main cotton producing districts. This sector provides employment to about one million people and readymade garments worth Rs. 15,000 crore are exported from the state annually.

It proposes capital subsidy of 10 per cent for the eligible new projects of all textile enterprises across the state. “It aims at positing Haryana as a preferred destination for global textile majors. It seeks to boost textile exports at compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20 per cent during 2017,” the Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, said.

Under the policy, the HSIIDC would

Mr Manohar Lal Chief Minister, Haryana

offer industrial plots for a lease of 33 years with five per cent increase in annual lease rent. Besides, panchayat land will also be made available on lease for industrial development.

Textile enterprises acquiring technology will now be provided financial assistance of up to 50 per cent of the cost of adopting technology from recognised national institutes, subject to a maximum of up to Rs 25 lakh.

Besides, 100 per cent electricity duty exemption for 10 years from the date of release of electricity connection has been proposed for new enterprises in ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ category blocks, and for five years only for new enterprises in ‘A’ category blocks.

What’s more, 100 per cent exemption from external development charges in ‘C’ & ‘D’ category blocks for all categories of enterprises has also been provided for.

Under the policy, the state government will facilitate setting up of textile parks exclusively for garmenting units with provision of labour housing and built-up sheds (to be provided on lease basis) to facilitate expansion of the garmenting industry in the state.

Under the land aggregation scheme, the state government shall facilitate rehabilitation of dyers and processors by making available land for units at affordable rates as well as facilitating clearances like CLU under single-window clearance mechanism.

Besides, the government will create infrastructure in the shape of water pipeline network for the supply of tertiary treated water (with subsequent ultra

filtration and RO treatment) from sewerage treatment plants to cluster of textile industries for processing and industrial use. This initiative will reduce the usage of fresh/underground water by industrial establishments.

In order to meet the demand for an international quality testing centre at Panipat, the existing Quality Marking Centre for Textile Goods at Old Industrial Area, Panipat, shall be upgraded to global standards.

“The government would also facilitate setting up of a textile park at Hansi in Hisar district. The park shall house weaving, sizing and garmenting enterprises to augment the already strong infrastructure for ginning, spinning that already exists in this region”, the Chief Minister said.

Under the policy, a Centre of Excellence for Textiles in collaboration with TITS is proposed to be set up at Bhiwani.

The centre shall have facilities for Research and Development, Testing and Evaluation of Textiles, Quality Certification, Technical Services and Consultancy.

It will also have an information centre to facilitate dissemination of information through sample exhibits, awareness programmes, e-library, video conferencing and publication of books, journals and technical know-how to the manufacturers and users of textile products.

With a view to addressing the shortfall of skilled manpower in the textile sector, the state government proposes to encourage private players to conduct skill development training programmes by reimbursing 75 per cent of the total cost of such programmes (balance 25 per cent would be met by the private player) subject to a maximum cost of Rs 10,000 per trainee With a view to giving Khadi industry a boost, the government plans to facilitate retail space at nominal rates for Khadi institutions. Locations like famous tourist spots, places with heavy footfall such as airports, retail hubs etc. are proposed to be explored for such opportunities.

Given the wide range of incentives and inducements the policy has been sewn with, it will surely help in drawing fresh investment and pave the way for Haryana becoming a global textile manufacturing hub.

EXCERPT

THE BOY’S CRY THAT SOUNDS LIKE A BLEAT Travails rule the life of a shepherd who is in the bondage of a landlord. Celebrated Tamil writer Perumal Murugan revisits his thematic home of caste, class and oppression in this new edition.

Belly is breathless.

‘They’ve caught Tallfellow.’

‘When?’

‘Last night . . .’

‘Where did they find him? Do you know?’

‘No.’ Shorty’s face falls. The last two days had been wonderful and now this. An ineffable sadness steals into his heart. He wants to say something, but finds himself tongue-tied. They must have beaten him up, and badly too. Tallfellow shouldn’t have run away.

He could have stayed and confessed, and it wouldn’t have been so bad. They might have even forgiven him. On the other hand…. Who knows? They might have still beaten him to death.

SEASONS OF THE PALM

by Perumal Murugan Translated by V. Geetha Penguin 334 pages | Rs 299

Stonedeaf’s sister Matchbox comes by with a herd of sheep. There is no child on her hip though. She is small and obviously cannot carry that black butterball of a child all day. She looks distracted. Belly yells.

‘Aiy, seen Tallfellow?’

‘None of my business…. There’s a crowd in his Master’s house. I don’t know anything.’

Matchbox talks as if she is a hundred years old, with her head cocked to one side, in the manner of her Mistress.

Shorty wonders if he should go and find out what happened to Tallfellow. Not that he is overly worried.

Tallfellow is smart, and can easily look after himself.

The sheep graze peacefully on both sides of the mudbank that leads to the lake. Along the water runs a line of tall dung weeds. The shoreline snakes on, calmly, effortlessly. The sheep will come down and graze along the shore soon. All is well here. He need not worry even if he has to go away for two days. Besides, Belly and Matchbox are there, and he can ask them to keep an eye on his sheep.

‘Shall I go see what happened to Tallfellow?’

‘What’ll you go and see?’ Belly looks at him sharply.

Shorty does not know. But he thinks he has to be with Tallfellow. Be by his side; assure him that he has friends. He does not have to speak up for him.

All he has to do is be there, make sure Tallfellow sees him. Tallfellow must be enduring it all, standing stiff and straight, like an alert and angry sheep. His favourite pose. On the other hand, he might be upset, sad.

Shorty is not sure. One thing he knows, Tallfellow is strong inside and won’t give in easily. Would he have dared to run away if he wasn’t?

No one is sure how it all happened.

That evening, Tallfellow was grazing the sheep near Illustrations by SAJITH KUMAR

his Master’s fields. Perhaps he had gone to sleep or gone to take a shit. But for some reason he left his sheep alone for a while and they got into a neighbouring field thick with corn. The corn sheaves had been gathered, but the stalks themselves stood tall as a man’s knee and wonderfully green. The sheep had a time of it, feasting on them. All the while, Tallfellow was not to be seen. Corn stalks are not good for sheep.

Sheep are known to drop down unconscious after chewing on them. This lot had eaten a fair amount of stalk, and soon they were down on their knees and drowsy. Three sheep died, of which one was pregnant.

It would have borne a lamb in two weeks’ time.

When he saw what had happened, Tallfellow fled the scene. Ran down the lakebed and disappeared.

The lakebed is full of bushes and thorns and hollows.

Tallfellow’s Master and his men thought he might have found a hideout in one of the hollows and had decided to stay hidden, like a short-tailed fox. They figured he could not have gone very far and searched for him all night, by the light of their lanterns. From time to time, Tallfellow’s Master called out to him.

‘Dai, Tally! Dai! Come back! I won’t lay a finger on you, I promise. Come out. Don’t want you to get bitten. There are snakes in there! And scorpions. Tally!

Don’t be afraid! Come out, wherever you are!’

The Master’s voice was gruff at times, at other times cajoling. But it was of no use. The fields around echoed his varying tones, but still no Tallfellow. The Master and his men then dragged the three dead sheep into a cart and drove to Karattur town, where they sold them overnight to a butcher for a throwaway price. The next day, they searched again for Tallfellow, along the lakebed and over the mudbank, all the way to Sandur in the east and Nangur in the west. Still no use. They searched for him in disused wells, for he might have taken fright at what he had done and thrown himself into one of those. A man even dived into the square of water in the lake and came up spluttering. When they could search no more, they called his grandmother in.

‘Aiy, oldie! Tell us what to do.’

The old woman was distraught. The Master was unmoved. ‘I’ll search and find him. But if I don’t, you’ll have to pay up. For the sheep and also the money I’ve paid you as an advance on his salary!’

His poor grandmother did not know what to do.

But the Master was determined that the boy be found. He sent his men in all four directions to ferret Tally out. Not only had three sheep died, he now had no one to graze the remaining. And he did not want to pay for another lad. Finally, after a great deal of effort, they found him.

For the two days that Tallfellow went missing, Shorty was sick with worry. Fear gripped his heart and he couldn’t swallow even a morsel of food.

Tallfellow’s Master bullied Shorty as well.

‘I’m sure you know where he’s gone! You must! He couldn’t have gone without telling you! Don’t you

The Master and his men then dragged the three dead sheep into a cart and drove to Karattur town, where they sold them overnight...

two go to the cinema together? You must have found a place along the way to hide; come on, tell me!’

Shorty could only listen, feeling an unnamed sorrow choke his throat as question after question was piled on him.

‘Aiy! Stop that now! Think I’ll let you go, if you cry?’

The Master lashed at his ankle with his whip. A searing pain shot through his foot and spread all the way up his leg. Shorty stumbled and fell. Shorty’s Master intervened.

‘Leave him alone. The fellow’s been here all day. He doesn’t know a thing, I’m sure!’

Tallfellow’s Master dropped his whip, but continued to glower at Shorty. Shorty felt both wonder and fear. He was thrilled that Tallfellow had run away, fled the fields and escaped into the big world beyond.

He was confident Tallfellow would do well, wherever he went. He was at home with strangers, and would be all right even in unknown places.

They had searched for him for two days and not found him. Which meant that he was out of their reach. No more sheep-grazing for him. Other things now, nicer things.

Tallfellow would earn a lot and come back dressed in fine clothes one day. Why, he might even wear dark glasses like the great actor MGR. And then no one would know him. People might ask, ‘Who’s this?’ and look at him, screwing their eyes into narrow points.

And Tallfellow would stand there, leaning against a wall, smiling. He would slowly take his glasses off, twirl them and look around him carelessly. These thoughts embarrass Shorty. But that’s what he wants Tallfellow to be—a young man in fine clothes, glasses and perhaps even a new haircut. He wanted Tallfellow to come up to him, when he went to Amaraan Talkies next time, and put his arm around his shoulders. Shorty would look up and laugh. So would Tally.

After the film finished, they would stroll away.

Tallfellow would then take Shorty under his wing and show him places. Take him here and there to meet people. They might even go and visit a few girls.

Tallfellow knew lots of girls and did things with them.

Things Shorty could only guess at. And, of course, there were no sheep and no more grazing. O

17 April 2017 OUTLOOK 71

trending “I’m glad to see females kicking ass these days. Thanks for letting me re of Country Music Awards for her album The Weight Of These Wings, an

Look Ahead Ali Fazal, this spry young actor, is a busy man! For, after completing a film with the inimitable Judi Dench, he’s descending on Hollywood, for a mus­ ical inspired by Bolly­ wood. His shimmying co­stars include the cute Paris Jackson (hope MJ’s genes help) and Richa Chadha (who seems to be freezing in the LA chill).

Mum, As Ever Beneath Aishwa­ rya’s dazzling looks and come­hither Bollywood moves, you’d have noticed a touch of ster­ nness. Then, one saw a grow­ ing, traditional moth­ erliness take hold of her once Aaradhya was born and entered girlhood. Here the glit­ ter of her white sari endear­ ingly contrasts with her daughter’s scarlet skirt.

Medicine For Tummy Upset The greasily named Laali Ki Shaadi Mein Ladddoo Dee­ wana, starring Akshara Haasan (middle) as a pregnant bride, got into a jam with the Right’s moral police. But demanding cuts in the name of ‘Hindu culture’ didn’t work. They were resoundingly told off by the producers.

PTI

THIS TOO HAPPENED 72 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

Pamela Anderson is not looking quite herself these days. We are suspecting a ‘make-under’ this time. New attribute it to a little work—Botox to the forehead and eyes, and filler to the cheekbones and vanishing smi

lease my heartbreak” – MIRANDA LAMBERT at Academy ode to her divorce-heartbreak with Blake Shelton.

In Reflection Whether at Benaras, Haridwar or Rishikesh, every celeb digs the pretty, photogenic poign­ ancy of the evening Ganga aarti. Deepika’s choice of homage was at Rishikesh, to where she repaired with mom Ujjala (in white) for rest and recuperation. Jai ho!

FOTOCORP

Know Her Not When you are as handsome as the Devil’s own, like Hrithik Roshan is, all sorts of girls claim close friendship, even mentor­ ship, as does this dreamy little minx called Angela Krislinzki.

Hrithik, ever the gentleman, pooh poohed her fond claims.

Swing Over The Wall Cristiano Ronaldo’s enterprises on the field, and off it—in business and beauties—are a matter of leg­ end. This easy recline on a Le Cor­ busier chair for a ‘to be announced’ project left many fans screwing up their eyes for more. Oh, the tease! pictures of the former Baywatch star make her look pretty unrecognisable—a rather new, fresh-faced Anderson. Experts le lines. No, not surgery; in fact, it is quite a subtle look for Pam, who seems to have shed years and looks a lot younger.

17 April 2017 OUTLOOK 73

SRI LANKA diary warriors from Trincomalee to Jaffna. (A No Teardrops on Serendipity 542 was sunk by the LTTE in Trincomalee A country ravaged by 30 years of brutal Harbour in 2001). war and savage terrorism, one of whose highlights was the export of the first female Fr Miller’s Feeling for Sand human bomber who took out Rajiv Gandhi THE drive from Galle to the Eastern in 1991, is today fast becoming the tourist Province is across vastly improved two-way hub of South Asia. The transition from roads. We bypass the sparsely used Chinaterrorism to tourism has been both scintilbuilt Hambantota Port and Rajapaksa lating and commonsensical. For, Sri Lanka is MAJ GEN International Airport, the objects of recent endowed with almost every natural resource ASHOK MEHTA ire, and zip across Matara and Monaragala, on planet earth, except oil. Instead, it has a galaxy of majestic beaches. I remember how, (The author is former GOC, IPKF South, the heartland of home-made curd. If Rajapaksa had had his way, Hambantota in the late 1980s, all of the north-east of Sri and a frequent traveller to Sri Lanka) might have become one of the historically Lanka was off limits for tourists while the southward shifting capitals of Sri Lanka.

IPKF battled the Tamil Tigers. Except for The entry to the Hindu and Muslim-Tamil east is made at some intrepid Germans who ran beach resorts from Arugam Amparai-Sammanthurai, thence up north to Batticaloa, the Bay to Vakarai till the LTTE killed their business. land of the Singing Fish and the erstwhile headquarters of I had set up the only rest and recuperation camp for the IPKF South at Manresa, previously the location of the soldiers, near Batticaloa, which proved a big hit. Last month, Jesuit School. The dirt track to Manresa is worse than in I undertook a nostalgic pilgrimage, doing a half-circle of IPKF time, the school is restored and a delightful butterfly Sri Lanka, from Colombo-Galle-Pottuvil to Batticaloapark has been added. The last of the three remaining Jesuit Trincomalee-Colombo by road, some 1,600 km in five days. priests is traced to St Michael’s College—a 91-year-old With the war terminated in May 2009 and not a single American, Father Benjamin Henry Miller. The priests were incident of terrorism ever since, the country has become a sympathetic to the LTTE cause and Fr Miller, though he did haven of peace—salubrious environs, friendly people and not remember, often pleaded on their behalf. great food, all at very little cost.

Unfortunately, the tourism boom is less visible here despite the grand beaches in Kalkudah and Paskudah. The Almeida’s Slipstream fish will need to sing louder for that to happen.

GALLE, near Dondra Head, is the southernmost tip of the country, like Point Pedro is in the north. The clock tower Meet Me at Nilaveli and the light house stick out of the rundown PortugueseTRINCOMALEE boasts of the world’s second best natural built fort in 1505, now refurbished as a must-see cocktail harbour after Sydney. Capital of the Eastern Province, its of Portuguese, Dutch and British art and craft consisting former LTTE chief minister Pillayan is in jail for the murder of a maritime museum, governor house-turned-hotel, of a political opponent. A harbour cruise is a must, as are the Dutch Reform church, Galle Library and so on. The visits to the Navy House and Elephant Point, the repository ramparts once mounted 19 cannons to keep intruders at bay. of LTTE’s innovative under and over-water contraptions, Some 1,00,000 ships sail east-west and vice versa close by, which were responsible for so much devastation. A battery making it the busiest commercial route in the Indian Ocean. of three 12-inch British guns at Elephant Point Almost the entire stretch of the coast is dotted kept the enemy out for more than a century. with inns and hotels, all crowded with North of Trinco is Nilaveli Beach, rated foreigners passionate about sea-surfing the best in the world with every inch of and diving. Marissa fishing harbour it valued as gold. is the tuna collection point during the north-east The Sun-Tzunami monsoon as well as for COLOMBO, sadly, will soon lose whale-watching some 20 the grandeur of Galle Face nautical miles off Galle.

Green (which is actually brown) During the south-west monand its view of the sea due to the soon, whales shift towards high-rise apartments, hotels Trincomalee. One of the two and a new Port City, mostly to be surviving wartime ships, the built by the Chinese. Once the A 543, rechristened Princess phrase used to be ‘the Yanks are of Lanka, demonstrates its Coming’. In Sri Lanka now, the whale-spotting skills as perChinese can say Veni Vidi Vici. fectly as it once ferried Lankan SAJITH KUMAR

74 OUTLOOK 17 April 2017

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