VOL-1, ISSUE - 3
Editor in Chief: Kushal Dev Rathi Editor: Anil Pandey Consulting Editor: Neeraj Kumar Sharma Managing Editor: Megha Sahni Rathi Executive Editor: Gaurav Rathi Associate Editors: Sujit Chakraborty, Sadashiv Tripathi, Mayank Singh, Shubhra Singh Associate Editor (Life Style): Jyoti Raghavan Associate Editor (Real Estate): Rahul Chaudhary Assistant Editor: Vikas Kumar, Devendra Gautam, Arvind Kumar Special Correspondents: Avinash Mishra (Lucknow), Sanjay Upadhayay (Patna) Correspondents: Narendra Yadav, Ranjeet Pandey Chief Copy Editor: Vikas Chaudhary Senior Copy Editor: Ravi Joshi (Web) Copy Editors: Vaishali Khulbe, Piyali Paul, Anant Kumar Das, Santosh Kumar Dubey Photography Team Consulting Photo Editor: Rangnath Tiwari Photographer: Hariom Sharma Photo Researcher: Sanjay Kumar Designing Team Senior Designers: Rajendra Singh Negi, Lalit Bisht Operations AGM Operations: Aarti Gambhir Media Coordinator: Tanvi Tomar Sales and Marketing Sr. Manager: Manoj K. Singhal Manager: Sonam Gupta Assistant Manager: Neeraj K. Mishra Executives: Vishu Gaba, R R Chaturvedi, Mohd. Anas Rafat, Ajitesh Chowdhury, Anant Mittal, Prateik Swami, Surbhi Poddar Circulation Head: Bhupendra Singh Bisht Executive: Chandan Srivastava, Vinod, Patras, Amar Singh Yadav, Arun Singh Legal Legal Advisor: RAGHAV LAW MAX Distributor Living Media India Limited Owned, Printed & Published by: Kushal Dev Rathi 27/29/14 B, Near Karan Gali, Pandav Road, Shahdara, Delhi-110032 Published From: M P Printers, B-220 Phase-2, Noida-201301 Uttar Pradesh Editor: Anil Pandey (Responsible for the selection of News under PRB act) (All disputes shall be subject to the jurisdiction of Delhi courts only.) Editorial Office: G-22, Sec-3, Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Pin code 201301 Contact: 0120-2520002 RNI NO. DELENG18740 TC
COVER STORY 'DEAD' NOT MARTYRED! The manner in which the armed forces honour their martyrs and the callous manner in which MHA treats paramilitary personnel has left the latter demoralised
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SPECIAL REPORT
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THE END OF DALIT POLITICS? The rise of Mayawati was once thought to be the beginning of assertive Dalit politics. But now it seems that the fractious Dalit politics is all set for a sunset
Cover Design By Lalit Bisht AUGUST 2014
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56 ALL THE CMs SONS
RISE AND RISE OF SHAH
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has played a master game by bringing in all the four sons of former CMs into his party
While Sihivraj Singh Chauhan, Vasundhara Raje and Raman Singh has all scored hugely for their states in the LS polls, Modi has chosen to honour only his well-known Man Friday
28 SAI, SWAMI AND POLITICS The Shankaracharya of Dwarka has suddenly kicked up a furious storm by damning Sai Baba, but that could be just the apparent part of his multi-layered political gameplan
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With globalisation, the market has thrown up many new careers, and new courses have opened up for students
48 BIHAR'S POWER COUPLE! People may think Pappu Yadav is a don and alleged murderer, but in his own constituency he is The Godfather, and beating the Modi Wave for him and wife Ranjeet, both MPs, was easy
AUGUST 2014
The UNESCO-declared heritage lake Loktak and its people are under seige by the police and goons who have vandalised it
NEW COURSE AHOY
The public, and even many experts, felt let down by NDA 2's first budget. And yet, the fact is, Modi and Jaitley have four more budgets to bring the changes they were voted to power for
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RAMSAR SITE BURNING
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A CAUTIOUS BUDGET?
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66 REALTY BOOM SOON The right noises have been made in the first Budget of the Modi government to give the real estate sector the boost it needed
LIFESTYLE 84 C CRIME SHOWS KILL SAAS-BAHU K E Entertainment channels are now flooded with a TTRP-hitting crime shows
86 SIZZLING WEDDINGS The age of weddings in hot air balloons or in scuba dives has arrived
90 JUNGLE HONEYMOONS Honeymooning in tropical rainforests is now very chic and the in-thing
96 80 ALIA: DUMB OR SMART? Some call her dumb, but delivering three acclaimed flicks in a row shows she has huge talent
NEIGHBOUR'S ENVY OWNER'S PRIDE Here are the latest in gizmos and fast, slick and super luxury cars
AUGUST 2014
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It Is India's Last Chance
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reat nations are not built on fond hopes and managed textile exports in excess of $20 billion in 2013, and debating societies. You cannot have prosperous threatens to overtake India in the near future. Surely, this is a citizens without painstakingly building the matter of national shame and collective steps are required on basic blocks of growth and creating an enabling a war footing to change this? But first, let all concerned India environment for opportunities to flourish. The real tragedy citizens know this embarrassing fact. of India since 1947 has been that we have repeatedly missed The second embarrassing fact relates to tourism, another the bus because of a mix of deeply flawed policies and a sector that has the promise to generate tens of millions of feudal mindset when it comes to dealing with citizens and jobs for unskilled and semi-skilled Indians. Once again, there entrepreneurs. It is this realisation that seems to have finally is no dearth of experts who sing paeans to the unmatched dawned on Indian citizens in the noisy and bitter Lok Sabha and unexploited tourism destinations in India, and how the election campaign just passed. And it is this realisation country has the potential to become a global leader. In 2013, that has prompted voters to deliver a decisive mandate to tourism experts felt encouraged by the fact that India attracted Narendra Modi. But as reactions to his first Budget suggest, a record 6.8 million global tourists. Rather, they should have Modi faces monumental challenges. been embarrassed, if not ashamed. Once again, tiny Vietnam What is needed is a wholesale change attracted more than 7.5 million global in the mindset of policymakers, citizens tourists. Thailand attracted 27 million and entrepreneurs. Without that, I fear, global tourists while Malaysia was host THE NEXT FIVE TO TEN India, for all its potential greatness, to 26 million in the same year. There YEARS ARE ALL THAT will be relegated to remain a secondis more. There is a tiny North African INDIANS HAVE TO rate power with the world's largest country called Morocco which has a population of poor people. I feel that population of about 33 million. This CHANGE THIS SORRY there are two facts that Modi and his country played host to more than 10 STATE OF AFFAIRS, supporters must keep hammering at million tourists in 2013. And yes, in OR ELSE THE FUTURE every given opportunity and encourage case you didn't know, China attracted GENERATIONS WILL stakeholders to find realistic solutions. more than 60 million tourists. The The first fact is textile exports. We embarrassment for India continues not NEVER FORGIVE US never tire of reminding ourselves about just in traditional sectors like textiles the glorious textile heritage of India, and tourism, but also 'modern' sectors and how Indian textiles once ruled global markets. It is time like IT and ITES. For almost 70 years, we have collectively we stopped that nasal nostalgia and face cruel, embarrassing avoided facing facts. We have always managed to find facts. In the first decade of this century, the quota regime excuses to explain why other countries have raced ahead that placed restrictions on textile exports from third world of India in providing decent standards of living to citizens. countries was abolished. A decade after that, textile exports The spectacular economic growth of China and the growing from China have surged to more than $200 billion a year, prosperity of its citizens has demolished the tired old excuse while exports from India have grown to a comparatively that it is difficult to achieve high growth in large economies flimsy $25 billion or thereabouts. But that is not the cruel and countries. The next five to ten years are all that we Indians embarrassment. When the quota regime was abolished, have to change this sorry state of affairs. Future generations textile exports from India were worth ten times more - yes, will never forgive us if we again fail this time. ten times more - than Bangladesh's. By 2015, textile exports from Bangladesh will surpass that from India. I feel happy for Bangladeshi businessmen and for millions of workers who have gained employment. But I do feel embarrassed Kushal Dev Rathi about India. And that's not all. A tiny country like Vietnam Editor-in-Chief
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The Institute that hosted Global Student Technology Competition: Microsoft’s Imagine Cup National Finals, 2014
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Congress' own ''hockey''
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ports enthusiasts in India are familiar with the glory edge? Managers of Indian hockey also complained that the and legacy of hockey in the country. There was a time old rules of the game had changed to give an advantage to when the Indian hockey team had a virtual monopoly rival teams. Isn't that a bit like Congress leaders complaining over the Olympic Gold Medal. It was routine for the in private that the old political equations that relied on team to trounce opponents with double digit margins. Dhyan secularism were swept aside by the Modi Tsunami? The problem with Indian hockey is two fold, apart from Chand was arguably as famous as Jawaharlal Nehru. No surprise then that hockey was the universally accepted and poor leadership at the top. It has failed to keep pace with followed game of India. Cricket too had a fan following, but changes and more importantly, a system controlled rigidly since the Indian cricket team usually lost matches, hockey was at the top with its own patronage system has prevented the the flavour of the season. And then came the 1976 Olympic emergence of good players who can win matches on their Games held in Montreal, Canada. Hockey fans glued to radio own. That is exactly the story of the Congress. The party sets to listen to the commentary of the first match were shell has foolishly refused to adapt to changes in the profile and shocked when a virtually unknown team called Australia aspirations of voters; and a top heavy Dynasty run system clobbered India by six goals. Indian hockey has never really where grassroots local leaders capable of winning matches are prevented from emerging has recovered from that trauma. There have started destroying the Congress like been occasional flashes of brilliance Indian hockey. to cheer die hard fans but the Indian THERE IS A STRIKING A Congress sympathiser would hockey team in contemporary times RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN mourn at the steady and painfully usually loses to better organised, more THE FATE OF THE CENTURY protracted decline of the party, aggressive, better prepared teams. It practically comatose for about a decade often struggles to qualify for prestigious OLD CONGRESS PARTY now. It lost Tamil Nadu in 1967 and has events like Olympics and World Cup. AND INDIAN HOCKEY. never again been in contention unless When I read about the demand made IRONY IS THAT BOTH it has allied with one of the Dravidian by leaders of the Congress party to claim HAVE FAILED TO LEARN parties. It lost West Bengal in 1977 and the official status as an opposition party has become a bit player. and have a formal Leader of Opposition FROM THEIR MISTAKES It lost Bihar and U.P in 1989 and now with Cabinet rank, I am reminded of struggles not to lose deposits during the fate of the Indian hockey team. The fact is, like the Indian hockey team, the Congress party elections. It lost Odisha in 2000 and now looks in terminal has failed to even qualify to be the opposition party in the decline. It lost Gujarat in 1995 and has got used to being the Lok Sabha elections. It needed to win 55 Lok Sabha seats perennial opposition. It lost Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh to qualify; it managed a pathetic 44. For quite a while after in 2003 and has not recovered. And the scale of losses in the shock defeat and exit from the Montreal Olympics, the recent elections in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Seemandhra and Indian hockey team kept saying it was an aberration and the Haryana spell really bad times for the party. Indian hockey has never recovered because it never looked team would bounce back. As it faded from champion status to that of the perennial also ran, various reasons were given within for answers to its fundamental problems. Arrogance replaced the will to survive. Will Indian Congress go the for its decline and fall. One favorite explanation given was that other countries same way? That is up to the party leaders now. used modern technology and played in high tech Astro turf surfaces that Indians were not used to. Doesn't that sound similar to Congress leaders saying that Narendra Modi had an unfair advantage because he used modern technology like Anil Pandey social media and 3 D hologram rallies to acquire a decisive Editor
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DROPBOX
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JULY 2014
P50 YOU POWERS HOW DARE AS ARE AWARE OF THEIR
THE DALITS TODAYTHE UPPER CASTES WANT TO TEACH WOMEN A VOTING BLOC. BY RAPING THEIR THEM A ‘HARD LESSON’
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR BJP—EITHER DELIVER, OR GO!
OBSESSION BITIONS AND AN G, SOARING AM D AAP HOW INFIGHTIN ED KEJRIWAL AN AIL DER MA WITH DRA
MUCH IMPROVED ISSUE I read the June 2014 issue of News Bench, which is far more improved from the inaugural issue. A few new columns have been added into the magazine, like – Impact India, Positive India and Poliwood that make superb reading. Such columns warm up the readers. Please continue all these columns. Ashok Tandon's column takes Atal Behari Vajpayee’s great personality to an ever new height. The report by Sanjay Kumar Jha glorifies the political qualities in Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, as if another Sanjay Kumar Jha (Congress Party Spokesman) was not enough to defend him and his shortcomings. The article on secularism reveals today’s political reality that the secularism adopted by Sonia Gandhi, Mulayam Singh Yadav and their respective parties was phony. The article on Kangna Ranaut provides some vital information about the film actress. Besides, it motivates youths to become intensely devoted to their careers. Once again, kudos to the News Bench team for producing such a fantastic magazine. I feel pride in obtaining three- year membership of News Bench magazine. I will motivate my friends and acquaintances to obtain member-
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I have seen all three issues of your magazine.It is completely tilted in favour of BJP and Narendra Modi. Here, I would like to draw your attention to a political fact in UP. The BJP or Narendra Modi should not be smug about their poll victory. They should remember that in 2007 assembly elections, voters handed over the reins of power to Mayawati with complete majority. However, she failed to deliver her promises. In 2012, voters of Uttar Pradesh gave full majority to Akhilesh Yadav, and he, too, failed the UP voters. Now if Modi and BJP too fail to deliver on poll promises, the UP voters will dump them like the dumped BSP and SP. The next time they may give a try to Congress party. Yhe writing on the wall is clear: either deliver or go! Pandit Sitaram, Municipal Market, Ghas Mandi, Ramnagar, Distt. Nainital
ship of this magazine. I wish for the success of this magazine. RP Sharma, Gagan Enclave, Ghaziabad
NEWS BENCH GETTING POPULAR It is only for three months that News Bench has come to the market, and it is gaining wide popularity among readers. I have read all three issues of the magazine, and I must say it fulfils all the requirements of a top-ranking quality magazine. I particularly relished the column written by Vijay Kranti 'The dragon doesn’t scare any longer'. The column describes the attitude adopted by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi towards the Chinese government, for which Modi needs to be congratulated. He has shown that he is a man worth becoming Prime Minister of India, while Manmohan Singh has failed to prove himself. In showing China its place, and castigating it in no uncertain terms, I fully support Modi. I suggest you to write a big story on changing Indian foreign policy towards China under our new Prime Minister Narendra Modi. First, I must congratulate you for publishing this hard-hitting column by Vijay Kranti. I wish a great success for this new magazine. Mean-
while, I have suggested to many friends that they must read your magazine, and from their response I must say that News Bench is fast becoming popular. Jagmohan Yadav, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh
KEJRIWAL NEXT PM On Arvind Kejriwal, I totally disagree with you. I am telling you that one day quite soon he is destined to become Prime Minister of India. Narendra Modi is not working well. Modi and his cabinet colleagues have failed to arrest rising prices of everything in the market — from railway fares to onion and potato. The BJP’s phrase — achche din aane wale hain has become a joke. If at all good days have come, surely Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh, Mohan Bhagwat and rest of the BJP and RSS clans are enjoying and making hay while the sun shines. Arvind Kejriwal is the only leader in India who can change Indian politics single-handedly, a fact which he had already proven. He is a modern day Gandhi. He is a simple man in his lifestyle, and has fallen prey to the Machiavellian conspiracies hatched by the BJP, Congress and other parties. Therefore, my humble request to the editor of News
DROPBOX
Bench is to publish a positive story on Aam Admi Party. I could not appreciate the one-sided cover story of the latest edition. You must appreciate that after all, Kejriwal tried something unique. That he has failed so far does not make him a villain. The insinuating article suggesting that Kejriwal is a frontsman of the CIA does not carry any evidence. I would want to know, also, whether no one in Congress or BJP has links with American money. If you really aim at objective journalism, please give us a clear report that shows how every party has taken the help of the CIA, at one point in time or the other Dr Uday Anand Laxmi Nagar, Delhi
MEDIA SHOULD FIRST INTROSPECT ITSELF AND THEN RAISE ITS FINGERS Editor Anil Pandey has raised a pertinent question through his editorial. Media is the fourth pillar of any democracy. But it has failed to deliver under market pressure. Many times, it has acted in a biased and partisan manner.The editorial is perfectly apt and tries to highlight a major problem within the media fraternity. It is good that before criticising others, media should do a thorough introspection and first set its own house in order. In fact, the reach of the so called mainstream media is very much limited. The dominance of journalists from particular states and castes also affects the coverage pattern of news. No wonder, journalists from the Hindi-belt tend to ignore news from southern states. The same logic also applies to muted coverage on the seven sisters of the northeast. Besides, today news has become synonymous with news channels, which are nothing short of nuisance, with each channel trying to out-shriek, if I may use the term, the other. The victim is objectivity and sometimes even integrity. Deepak Kumar Software Engineer, Gurgaon
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NEW BEGINNING, NEWS BENCH A BRILLIANT EDITORIAL In you July issue, I read the editorial ‘The State as Partner’ with great interest. In the current milieu, the editorial by Mr. Rathi carries a mature view on the nation’s economy. He is correct in dismissing former Modi-baiters who have suddenly turned into self-appointed advisors, because they may have some mala fide intention in supplying free advice to Mr. Modi. I also endorse the view that Modi should concentrate on issues of good governance and economic development. To achieve these objectives, Mr Modi should reject the straitjacket views employed by the
NEW REVELATIONS A political story in the latest edition of News Bench, 'The Trapped Satraps’ carries an unpleasant, but truthful information about the state affairs in the BJP and Sangh Parivar. Clipping the wings of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, MP CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje has become an imperative for Modi’s camp in the current political milieu. All the three CMs harbour prime ministerial ambitions and may become a threat to Modi at any crucial moment.However, on the other hand, a few groups in RSS,
academicians, - like Amartya Sen and Jagdish Bhagwati - because wooing ideologies either of the Left or Right in toto could prove disastrous for India. Mr Rathi is also very much correct in saying that different sectors or segments of society should work in unison. It is correct to say that successful economies have the state and the private sector working as partners. He has a mature and pragmatic view. I fully support him. It will be a pleasure to go through the trends of his rich thinking every month. Brij Mohan Khanna Latauwali, Kankhal (Hardwar)
BJP and the rest of the Sangh Parivar are active in cutting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to size, because now Modi is gaining a stature far bigger than RSS and the entire Sangh Parivar. RSS’ mouthpiece Organiser is being controlled by the anti-Modi faction. Interestingly, it was Modi who was instrumental in a few large corporate donations made to the RSS mouthpiece Organiser a few months ago. Therefore, Modi will have to remain on guard against his own partymen and the Sangh Parivar. Umesh Verma, Vishal Khand, Lucknow
LISTENING POST! Since we launched, we have been receiving a lot of responses, suggestions and advices. We believe in growing through consensus. We are sure you have some more wisdom to add. Please send your responses to feedback@newsbench.in or G-22, Sector-3, Noida, UP-201301
Technology Mission on Coconut Technology Mission on Coconut aims to establish a convergence and synergy among ongoing programmes of Coconut Development Board to bring about vertical and horizontal integration to ensure adequate, appropriate, timely and concurrent attention to all the links in production, processing, product diversification and marketing an dissemination of technologies in the consumption chain for the upliftment of stakeholders on coconut. Four components under TMOC are: I. Management of Insect Pests and Disease affected gardens Development of technologies: w 100% of the cost of project limited to Rs. 50.00 lakhs for ICAR(CPCRI)/ State Agricultural Universities/State Department of Horticulture/ Agriculture and cooperative sector. w 50 % of the cost of project limited to Rs.25 lakhs for NGO’s and other organisations Demonstration of technologies: w 100% of the cost limited to Rs.25 lakh projects to ICAR (CPCRI)/ State Agricultural Universities/State Dept. of Horticulture/ Agriculture/other related public sector units/Registered cooperative societies. w 50% of the cost for individuals / group of farmers/NGO’s, private companies limited to Rs.10 lakh. Adoption of technologies: w 25% of the cost of technology adoption. w 25% of the cost in case of group of farmers/ NGO’s/other organizations. II. Processing and product diversification Development of technologies: w 100% of the project cost limited to Rs.75 lakhs for all the Govt. institutions and cooperative societies. w 50% of the project cost limited to Rs.35 lakhs for NGO’s, Individual entrepreneurs and other research organizations Adoption of technologies: Financial Assistance @ 25% of the project cost limited to a maximum of Rs. 50 lakhs is extended as credit linked back ended subsidy for setting up of coconut processing units for production of value added coconut products. Modernization and expansion of existing processing units will also be eligible for assistance. The detailed project for seeking assistance for setting up coconut processing unit should be submitted through the Financial Institution, willing to sanction a minimum of 40% of the project cost as term loan for Private entrepreneurs and 25% term loan for Co-operative societies. Packed tender nut water, coconut water based vinegar, desiccated coconut powder, defatted coconut powder, coconut cream, coconut milk powder, packed and branded coconut oil with agmark standards, virgin coconut oil (VCO), coconut chips, coconut jaggery, snow ball tender coconut, shell powder, shell charcoal, activated carbon, shell/wood based handicrafts, coconut wood processing units, copra dryer, integrated processing units and such other new and innovative coconut based products, which are backed by commercially viable technologies will be considered for granting financial assistance. III. Market research and promotion Market research : 100% of the cost limited to Rs.25.00 lakhs for Govt. agencies and cooperative societies w 50% of the cost limited to Rs.12.50 lakhs for Individuals, NGO’s and other organizations. Market Promotion: 100% of the cost limited to Rs.25 lakhs for Govt. agencies and cooperative societies w 50% of the cost limited to Rs.10 lakhs for NGO’s and private institutes. Financial assistance is provided to manufacturers for market promotion of coconut products through brand publicity through electronic media including website, print media, parlours, kiosks, warehouse, undertaking activities like buyer-seller meet, exchange of delegations, participation of exhibitions/fairs/melas, printing of leaflets, pamphlets, brochures, posters, display of coconut products at Air Ports/ Railway Stations and erection of hoardings etc. on the basis of approved proposals. The financial assistance is 50% of the project cost limited to Rs.10 lakhs for individual and Rs.25 lakhs to co-operative organizations on reimbursement basis. IV. Technical support, external evaluation and emergent requirements Technical support for scrutinizing the project proposals, hiring experts from various fields as per the requirements, concurrent external evaluation and mid term corrections wherever necessary are being carried out by engaging experts/committees under this component programme. Besides, those colleges having Botany, Zoology, Bio Chemistry and Bio Technology depts can also apply for taking up the research projects of CDB.
ACTIONS
Impact India What happened over the last month that was historic and will have a lasting impact on India, politically, socially, economically or culturally? Here are some of the latest developments!
QUANTUM LEAP IN IMMUNISATION
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n the most exciting policy leap in public health over the last 30 years, three more vaccines, apart from the regular ones already used as part of India’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) have now been made compulsory. Vaccines against rotavirus, rubella and polio (injectable) will collectively expedite India’s progress on meeting the Millennium Development Goal targets to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by the year 2015 and meet global polio eradication targets. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi this month announced the decision of the government to introduce four new vaccines as part of India’s UIP. In addition, an adult vaccine against Japanese encephalitis will be introduced in districts with high levels of the disease. Along with the recent introduction of the pentavalent vaccine, this decision represents one of the most significant policy leaps in 30 years in
SC BANS FATWAS ON INDIVIDUALS
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atwa bullying is all set to go if the Supreme Court’s order declaring them illegal is implemented. The apex court held that fatwas issued by Muslim shariat courts (Dar-ul-Qazas) don’t have any legal sanctity and cannot be enforced under the laws of the land. The decision came from the bench of Justices CK Prasad and Pinaki Chandra Ghose, on a PIL filed in 2005. Advocate Vishwa Lochan Madan had said a woman from UP’s Kukda village had been raped by her father-in-law. Instead of punishing the rapist, the panchayat issued a fatwa asking her to treat him as her husband. She was denied justice by the Dar-ul-Uloom too, which said she had become ineligible to live with her husband, and even the All-India
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Muslim Personal Law Board endorsed the fatwa. The Bench said fatwas have no legal sanction. “It cannot be enforced by any legal process, either by the Dar-ulQaza or for that matter anybody.” The Bench said fatwas on rights, status and obligation of individual Muslims were illegal. The court said that fatwas may cause irreparable damage and, therefore, would be absolutely uncalled for. It shall be in violation of basic human rights. “No religion, including Islam, punishes the innocent,” the Bench said. Time and again, insensible fatwas have been issued by muslim clerics. For example, Insurance was termed unislamic and one cleric had banned entries of Hindus in a remote Rameshwaram village in Tamil Nadu.
AIIMS-ES, NO LONGER JUST AIIMS
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igh class health care seems to be getting decentralised in the country, with 10 more AIIMSlike institutes on the anvil. Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has announced that the government plans to set these up, along with 50 tertiary cancer care centres across the country. “Setting up more AIIMS-like institutes has been my priority from the first day. We are starting off with a ballpark figure of 10, which could be revised based on the requirements,” Vardhan was quoted in the media. “There may not be the need to set up one such institute per state — a
CONSEQUENCES
RAPE TRIGGERS HOSTEL RULES
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public health, preventing at least one lakh infant deaths, deaths of adults in working age group and up to 10 lakh hospitalisations each year. With these new vaccines, India’s UIP will now provide free vaccines against 13 life threatening diseases, to 27 million children annually, the largest birth cohort in the world. Diarrhoea caused by rotavirus kills nearly 80 thousand children each year, results in up to 10 lakh hospitalisations, pushing many
Indian families below the poverty line. It also imposes an economic burden of over Rs 300 crore each year. India has developed and licensed its first indigenous rotavirus vaccine, under a public-private partnership by the Ministry of Science and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. India will introduce this vaccine in a phased manner. Tackling rubella, which causes congenital ailments, has also been taken up as part of the new policy.
small state may not need a full-fledged institute — but equitable availability of health facilities is the target,” Vardhan said. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences was first set up in 1956, a dream project of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first premier. The six existing AIIMS-like
institutes are in Patna, Raipur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur and Rishikesh. The new government is stressing on arresting cancer rates. An estimated 10 lakh cancer cases are reported in India, The social and economic cost, say analysis, is huge.
ll hostels to be run in Tamilnadu from now will have to install CCTV cameras, digital video recorders and appoint women wardens for every 50 girls in a hostel, with round-the-clock security guards. In case of a mixed gender hostel, the men’s and women’s living quarters will be separate. Enraged by the rape of two girls in the state recently, the shaken government had issued strict orders regarding hostel rules. In addition to that district administrations would prepare a database of retired police officials, ex-servicemen and Home Guards to help hostel managements. Applicants for warden’s posts will have to get their mental health checked by a government hospital.
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HOPE-FULL
Positive India Beyond the usual, high decibel screeching of television news about scams, rapes, murders and suicides, there is a very positive India, where life often seems worth living...
THE WARRIORS’ VILLAGE
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s in most countries, young men are attracted towards the olive uniform. There have been many villages across India that are known to have filled the ranks of the military. But this village in Maharashtra stands out for its contribution since centuries. Such has been the outstanding contribution of Apshinge Village that the British re-christened it as Apshinge Military Village. There are several villages by the name of Apshinge, but this particular village stands out due to its name Apshinge Military Village. And the same tradition still goes on: At least one member of each of the 900 families has served in the armed forces. It is this unique contribution which has attracted personalities like the then British Governor of Bombay,
Sir John Colville in 1945; Lord Wavell, former Governor General of India under the British; and Admiral Mountbatten, the last presiding British Governor General of India, who came visiting in 1946, before being appointed GG. Later, after Independence, the first Chief of the Army Staff of the country, General Kariappa had also visited the village in the year 1948 and paid his tributes. The village has a history of nearly 400 years of valour. The records here reveal that the village had lost 46 sons in World War I. Post Independence, soldiers from Apshinge Military Village have participated in all the wars that India fought with its neighbours, Pakistan and China. It lost four soldiers in the 1962 war against China, two soldiers in the 1965 war against Pakistan.
The village does not have a household that has not produced a soldier
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Mawkynnong is not just the cleanest village, but also aesthetically exquisite
PRO-ACTIVE PROYOG
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he name Prayog sounds quite attractive and it gives an even more positive connotation if you know that this organisation is dedicated to educate the children left on the margins of society, with no future in sight. PRAYOG stands for Professionals Alliance for Youths Growth is the dream of four young professionals involved in various sectors. It is conceptualised as a tiny step towards enriching the vision and exposure of rural students who, despite being extremely talented, often face major hurdles in life. The organisation aims to move ahead with an approach of expanding the knowledge horizon of such kids through creating a space for interaction amongst the youth as well as through those who have the willingness to support rural youth, mostly like-minded professionals from various sectors. Surya Prakash Rai is one of the founding member. He told News Bench: “We believe in doing, rather than talk about doing."
HOPE-FULL
THE GODLINESS OF CLEANLINESS
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awlynnong in Meghalaya is known to be the ‘God's Own Garden' because of its scenic and dazzling beauty. But, how many people know that this place is recognised internationally for its cleanliness? Mawlynnong was declared by Discovery magazine as the cleanest village in Asia in 2003. All the villagers are proud of this status and they take it as their collective responsibility to
keep the village clean. At every nook and corner, there are village bamboo garbage bins. The waste is collected in the dustbins, then take to a pit and later used as manure. This Khasi village is also known because it has achieve 100 per cent literacy and most villagers are conversant with English, which really helps the tourist to make out ways and find directions and make the journey comfortable. As of 2014, the Mawlyn-
nong village is known to have about 95 households. Agriculture is the chief occupation of the locals, with betel nut being the main crop. The village also offers a number of small tea shops, where you can relish a hot cup of tea with some local snacks.
NO TOBACCO... YOU’RE IN GARIPHEMA!
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Rai with a few of his loved students
ariphema village in Nagaland has been declared the country's first "tobacco-free village". The declaration was made by principal secretary R Benchilo Thong on the occasion of "World No Tobacco Day" on May 31, at the Gariphema Village Council Hall near here. This all happened with a concerted initiative taken by the Gariphema Village Council, Village Vision Cell and Village Students' Union, Thong said. The entire village took an oath that whoever sells alcohol and tobacco, or whoever gets drunk and disturbs public peace would be imposed a fine of Rs. 1,000, while those consuming alcohol, 'bidi', 'paan', betel nut or smokeless (chewing) tobacco on the streets and in public places would be fined Rs. 500. This indeed is an example not only to villages in Nagaland but also to other regions of the country and the Council urged the villagers to strictly follow the declaration.
The board outside the village saying it is tobacco free
There has been a high consumption of tobacco, as the official statistics on Nagaland shows. About 67.9 per cent men and 28.1 per cent women of Nagaland consume tobacco. There have been instances in southern climes where women have gone ballistic and banned the use of alcohol in their villages. What makes Gariphema distinct is that this is the first village where a collective decision has been taken to ban nicotine, and that too, with alcohol. AUGUST 2014
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POLIWOOD
Poliwood
GOVT. SOLD GUNS TO MPs FACING CRIMINAL CHARGES
Politics is not just about votes and social engineering. There are diverse aspects of politics that may not make huge headlines but are exciting, nevertheless. Here's News Bench's platter
recent data received through RTI on sale of guns to MPs by Activist Ambrish Pandey reveals that a number of MP’s with criminal charges to their names have been issued arms by the government. The analysis done by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) came up with the results that a total of 756 guns were sold to MPs and VIPs between 1987 and 2012. A total of 675 guns were sold between 1987 and 2001; 39 between 2001 and 2004; and 42 between 2005 and 2012. Almost 82 MPs have purchased
MODI & MEDIA: PROMISED TRANSPARENCY, SHOWING OPACITY
I POLITICS IS NOT THEIR ONLY JOB!
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an you guess about the 'other' professions of our politicians? What is well known is Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid and Abhishek Manu Singhvi are all lawyers and well to do. Dr Manmohan Singh is and will be an economist, whose services can be solicited by the IMF or the World Bank any time. Kirti Azad was a cricketer. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan is also lawyer by profession whereas HRD minister Smriti Irani is an actress who can always get back to the television. Former deputy prime minister LK Advani is essentially a journalist by profession. UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi says she is a social activists. But on an average, a large chunk of today's politicians like Sushma Swaraj, are lawyers.
t has been almost two months since Narendra Modi took charge as India's prime minister, but the new government is yet to spell out its media and information policy - except by default. All that journalists are able to surmise - in the absence of any official articulation - is that the Modi government wants to keep members of the fourth estate at an arm's length and feed them information crumbs - only when and what it wants to. Departing from the convention of naming a media advisor, one of the first acts of any new prime minister in a democracy, Modi has appointed 70-year-old veteran aide, Jagdish Thakkar, as only a Public Relations Officer (PRO), an indication by itself that Modi did not feel the need to have "media advice".
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Thakkar, a PRO during Modi's chief ministership in Gujarat and who is familiar with Modi's working style, is increasingly becoming infamous in media circles for not answering calls and, simply, just not being available. When a group of journalists cornered him at Parliament House recently, Thakkar gave no assurances and said he would only give them what he was asked to give - nothing more. He also didn't promises of answering calls.
Scared of the media apparitions? His 'Lieutenants' are barring the media
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POLIWOOD
Atiq Ahmed, the feared don from Uttar Pradesh, is one of the MPs who benefitted
guns from the government in the period between 2001 and 2012. However, 18 of these 82 MPs who were sold guns have awaiting criminal cases against them, including charges of murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping etc., at the time of sale. Amongst the 82 MPs who have been allotted guns from the government, Atiq Ahmed from Uttar Pradesh has 44 criminal cases including charges of murder, attempt to murder etc., followed by Abu Asim Azmi from Maharashtra and Rakesh Sachan from Uttar Pradesh with 7 cases each. These are guns seized by Customs and then sold to MPs and VIPs on a first come first served basis. In earlier years these guns were sold well below market price. Recently the price was hiked to include taxes.
BIRLA GROUP LARGEST DONOR TO BJP’S POLL FUND
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hen it comes to receiving corporate blessings, all the political parties have received huge trunks of money from industrial houses. Named in the coal allocation case by the CBI, industrialist Aditya Birla was the major donor to BJP who had given Rs 7.50 crore through his General Electoral Trust in 2012-2013. The Trust had also donated Rs 26.6 crore to the BJP between 20042005 and 2011-2012. The Birla group did not donate to the Congress in the last financial year, after being the latter's main contributor with a donation of Rs 36.4 crore between 2004-2005 and 2011-2012. The Tata group was the fourth prime contributor for Congress, donating Rs 10 crore and fifth for BJP with a contribution of Rs 6.9 crore between 2004-2012. Vedanta group donated Rs 10 crore to Congress between 2004-2012 but didn’t contribute to the party in 2012-2013.
SMRITI BAGS CONGRESS SUPPORT IN LS
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wo women MPs of the Congress in the Lok Sabha in the third week of July reached across party lines to stand up for Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani (right) of the Bharatiya Janata Party when a Trinamool Congress member, Sultan Ahmed, made a condescending remark about her in the Lok Sabha. While asking a supplementary question on the mid-day meal scheme run by the HRD Ministry, Ahmed said that the minister, a former actress, was known in every household in the country for
her role as an ideal daughter-in-law in a popular TV serial, and so he expected her to perform well as minister. Congress MPs Ranjeet Ranjan (right) and Sushmita Dev (left) immediately stood up and protested against the remark, saying the TMC member had no business referring to the minister's acting career. They observed that it had nothing to do with the issue being discussed. Later, Dev expressed regret for the remarks made by Ahmed and congratulated Irani for holding charge of the ministry. Dev said as a woman she was proud of Irani's achievement. AUGUST 2014
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H I S TO RY TA L K S
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Churchill wanted Gandhi to be ‘done away with’ (The author was the media advisor to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was also the London Bureau Chief and Diplomatic Editor of PTI)
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sn’t it ironic that Britain has decided to honour Mahatma Gandhi by erecting his bronze statue in London’s Parliament Square alongside two of his one-time nemeses, wartime British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who had derided him as a “halfnaked-fakir”, and Jan Smuts, the South African leader who had jailed him thrice for opposing his policy of “racial segregation” and fighting for the rights of downtrodden Indians in Pretoria? British Finance Minister George Osborne during his recent visit to India to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his government’s decision to “honour Gandhi’s memory” with a statue in Parliament Square. The British Minister said: "As the father of the largest democracy in the world, it's time for Gandhi to take his place in front of the mother of Parliaments. He is a figure of inspiration, not just in Britain and India, but around the world.” Parliament Square is opposite the Palace of Westminster which houses the British parliament and contains statues of statesmen and other historical figures, including South Africa’s Nelson Mandela. While the British announcement has come as a pleasant surprise in India, campaigns have already begun in the UK opposing the David Cameron’s decision to honour the Mahatma. Gandhi’s descendants are reported to have dubbed it as “false worship” of the Mahatma. But let me share with our readers some startling secret British documents to reveal the level of hatred Winston Churchill and Jan Smuts had nurtured against Mahatma Gandhi during India’s independence struggle, and earlier, during his fight against apartheid in South Africa.Churchill’s behindclosed-door, candid observations
at cabinet meetings about people and issues during the world war were recorded for posterity by one of the War Cabinet minutes-takers, Lawrence Burgis. According to these secret cabinet notes, Churchill once called Mahatma Gandhi ‘a bad man and an enemy of the Empire’ who should have been done away with. Churchill, as revealed by
these notes, told Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts of South Africa at a meeting of the war cabinet in London in the 1940s: “You are responsible for all our troubles in India; you had Gandhi for years and did not do away with him.” To which Smuts replied: “When I put him in prison three times, all Gandhi did was to make me a pair of bedroom slippers.” Secret British cabinet notes
A S H O K TA N D O N
further reveal that when the Mahatma went on hunger strike during World War II, Churchill told the cabinet: “Gandhi should not be released on the account of a mere threat of fasting. We should get rid of a bad man and an enemy of the Empire.” These secret cabinet notes came to light six decades later, when prominent British historian Andrew Roberts was going through
his orange juice. Another cabinet minister said: “He had oil rubbed into him, which was nutritious,” allowing Churchill to claim that “it is apparently not a fast but merely a change of diet". Some of Churchill's famous remarks about Gandhi include: "It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a
Churchill (rt) always disliked the Mahatma, but after Independence told Birla (top rt) he would like to meet him
the British cabinet archives for his forthcoming book ‘Masters and Commanders’. Roberts came across several files of Burgis in which the then assistant to the deputy secretary to the War Cabinet between 1939 and 1945 kept verbatim notes of cabinet conversations. Burgis’ notes talk of a cabinet minister who, referring to Gandhi’s fast, said he was getting glucose in
type well known in the east, striding half-naked up the steps of the Viceregal palace, while he is still organising and conducting a defiant campaign of civil disobedience, to parley on equal terms with the representative of the King-Emperor." Another famous Churchill quote: "I have not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the
liquidation of the British Empire." Winston Churchill's hate for Gandhi was one-way. Another glimpse of Churchill’s thoughts about Mahatma Gandhi is available from the records of legendry Indian industrialist GD Birla’s meetings with the British wartime prime minister Winston Churchill. Birla had accompanied Mahatma Gandhi in 1931 for the Second Round Table Conference in London along with few other Indian leaders. Birla had also visited London in 1935, after the passage of the India Bill, considered a step towards Independence. Churchill, who was opposed to the bill, had invited GD Birla to 10 Downing Street. Birla, the chief lieutenant of Gandhi, submitted his report of the meeting with Churchill to Mahatma. According to him, what Churchill told him also included the following: “Mr. Gandhi has gone very high in my esteem since he stood up for the Untouchables,” he told Birla. “I do not like the Bill but it is now on the Statute Book. So make it a success.” Birla asked, “What is your test of success?” Churchill replied: “Improvement in the lot of the masses. I do not care whether you are more or less loyal to Great Britain. I do not mind about education, but give the masses more butter. Make every tiller of the soil his own landlord. Provide a good bull for every village. Use the powers that are offered and make the thing a success. I did not meet Mr. Gandhi when he was in England. But I should like to meet him now. I would love to go to India before I die. If I went there I would stay for six months.” In the post-independence India too, GD Birla continued to play an active role in politics. Mahatma Gandhi always stayed at Birla House in New Delhi. The father of the nation was assassinated at Birla House on January 30, 1948. GD Birla died in London in 1983 at the age of 90. AUGUST 2014
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POLITICS
Old Wine in Older Bottle Punch drunk with the beating in the last LS polls, a befuddled Congress seems to be making the wrong noises in the Parliament, and on the other, seeing Rahul Gandhi and his coterie as a Hamletian apparition
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CONGRESS
Seems like a party in mourning... Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Sushil Kumar Shinde, P Chidambaram, Rahul Gandhi and Kamal Nath in a post-pol meeting
RAKESH SINGH
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erplexed and confused. These are two words that describe the state of the mind of Congress today, after the tectonic shift in Indian politics that saw the party swept away completely. So deep is the confusion that in its efforts to be seen as an aggressive opposition, the party is raising issues that are totally disconnected from the common masses. The issue of bringing in an ordinance for appointing a retired civil servant as the Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not bother the common man, who is sickeningly worried about the monthly hike in petrol price or the still uncontrollable prices of onion and potato. The recommendation of the AK Antony Report on the poll debacle has done more damage to this befuddled mindset of the party. Without naming Rahul Gandhi, the Antony Committee has cited the decisions that led to the debacle of the
party in the election. These decisions had been taken by none other than Rahul Gandhi and his coterie. The Committee has criticised what it terms as the ‘Ekla Chalo’ policy of having no alliance in many states. The committee is of the view that because of this policy Congress failed to bag the support of TMC in West Bengal, DMK in Tamil Nadu and also lost Ramvilas Paswan and Upendra Kushwaha in Bihar. This decision had been taken by Team Rahul. Experienced leaders had opposed this policy, but their views were ignored. The Committee also pointed out that party’s image had leaned towards a particular community. There was also a complete lack of coordination with the states. There is a deafening silence in 10, Janpath and 24, Akbar Road after the Antony Committee submitted its report, and they are also struggling to transcend this silence. An analysis of every state is being made; UP, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Maharashtra, MP, Andhra Pradesh,
Congress in Lok Sabha elections 1977
154
34.52%
1980
353
42.69%
1984-1985
404
49.10%
1989
197
39.53%
1991
232
36.26%
1996
140
28.80%
1998
141
25.82%
1999
114
28.30%
2004
145
26.53%
2009
206
28.55%
2014
44
19.3 %
Punjab and Bihar are the 10 states where the Congress Party has been annihilated. These states used to be the backbone of Congress a few decades ago. The Committee has also pointed that lack of effective leadership in all these states has caused Congress' ignominious defeat. That is why a decision has been made to hand over the party’s charge to the effective (read AUGUST 2014
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POLITICS
'old hawks club') leaders. Sachin Pilot has been declared as the party chief in Rajasthan, and Sharad Pawar has been counselled to merge his NCP into the Congress Party. A decision has been taken to empower the state presidents. A few stalwarts would be handed over the complete charge of their home states; Digvijay Singh would be made in charge of Madhya Pradesh, and Ajay Maken would get Delhi’s complete charge. Mohan Prakash and Shakeel Ahmed are to get new responsibilities in their home states soon after the elections. Jyotiraditya Scindia would take the lead on behalf of the party in Lok Sabha for all Hindi-speaking states.
section is being led by people like Kapil Sibbal and P Chidambaram. On the other hand, leaders such as AK Antony believe that if party has to resurrect itself, it will have to do something about the serious trust deficit. Party leader Swagato Gangulay says: “Congress can reinvent itself only when it comes out of the baggage of Nehruvian ideology of the past. The UPA kept working on populist schemes and started mammoth schemes like the MNREGA, but these schemes failed to create employment. Such schemes have only created corruption." It is clear that the Congress is returning to Nehru’s ideology. Sonia
A senior journalist, Anand Kumar, said: “Rahul Gandhi does not come forward to accept responsibility; the people feel is he always shied away from accountability. He should learn from his predecessors. After Emergency, it appeared as if the Congress is nearing its end. However, Indira Gandhi took up the leadership, and the party came back to power. Today, Congress has to fight with its own self.” This, the party surely will have to do if it really wants to reinvent itself. Let us look at few statistics. Narendra Modi addressed 440 rallies during the election campaign, compared to a measely 26 addressed by Rahul
Gandhi will assume the charge, along with a team of old and experienced party leaders. The number of Congress leaders questioning Rahul Gandhi’s leadership has recently been increasing. Many leaders from Kerala and Rajasthan have questioned his leadership style. The reason behind this is Rahul’s constant refusal to lead the party in the Lok Sabha. He declared Mallikarjuna Kharge as the party leader in Lok Sabha. And he profferred the same old excuse: He is keen on strengthening the party’s organisational structure first.
Gandhi. Modi addressed 190 Bharat Vijay rallies. Questions are being raised on these poor showings. Partymen are also looking for another option within the family. Bringing Priyanka Gandhi is part of the strategy. Congress has one more trouble. The party is split between two generations. Younger leadership led by Rahul Gandhi completely ignored experienced leadership in the party. Now, party wants to rectify this mistake giving space to experienced leaders of old generation. Sonia Gandhi understands this better than anyone else in the party.
Antony, will have more powers. Scindia and Pilot (rt) will also have some
Team Rahul will not be ignored but it will be there to assist the 'old hawk's club of experienced politicos. The party also seems to be serious about ideological moorings and Sonia Gandhi wants to go back to the Nehruvian ideology. She had said in a programme: “Congress will have to go back towards Nehruvian ideology.” Those who know the Congress well are of the view that there is no complete unanimity on this. The party is divided on this issue. One section says that the times have changed and there is no meaning to go back to the past. This
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POLITICS
The annointing of Amit Shah: a seemingly helpless Rajnath Singh looks on, and Advani is clearly worried over the fate of the party in Uttar Pradesh
Roses... story A of garlands and thorns
MAYANK SINGH
Vasundhara Raje, Raman Singh, Shivraj Chauhan... the sterling performers for BJP are facing Modi's mace, but a hyped up Amit Shah, whose 'political acumen' has been exposed, has been rewarded as a 'brilliant organiser' 26
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few days prior to the announcement of Lok Sabha results, on May 13 at noon, Amit Shah was addressing a press conference at the BJP Headquarters in Ashok Road, New Delhi. Asked his estimate of how many seats the party would get in UP, he said: 45 to 55 seats. And which would be the second largest party in the state? Shah replied, “BSP.” His best guess was it would bag fifteen seats. Post results on May 16, all of Shah’s predictions bombed. BJP won 73 Lok Sabha seats out of a total of 80 and BSP drew a blank. hurrying to cover up his this fauxe passe, he later
U T TA R P R A D E S H
cooked up a highly imaginative theory. He said his earlier statement was 'political' and meant to stop the division of dalit votes. This entire episode exposes his so-called 'charisma' and 'political acumen', because after May 13, there was no polling in the country. In which dalit votes could be divided. In the light of this, nasty questions are arising whether the BJP has been wise to make him the national president. In fact, Shahs role in the spectacular success of BJP is being widely debated. He was termed as strategist and an astute politician. At the mere mention of BJP's victory Modi supporters start chanting the 'Shah’ mantra. His political management was compared with Modi’s Gujarat Model of development. Party volunteers in Gujarat have only listened to his skilled election management, but has not seen it. Though Modi, who always likes to be surrounded with his trusted lieutenants, has added his own marks to Amit Shah's score sheet, that does not make him more competent! In fact, by nominating Amit Shah, Modi has killed two birds with a single stone. Now, Modi has complete control over the government and the organisation. Shah is Modi's powerful ombudsman. Be it the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, Snoopgate or the Sanjay Joshi CD case, he has always followed Modi’s words in toto. Nominating Shah as the UP election in-charge was intended more to sideline all so-called BJP stalwarts in UP who had proved to be burden on the party. However, party leaders and workers in UP had never accepted Shah and considered him a parachuted leader from outside, superimposed on them. The Modi loyalists have overhyped Shah’s contribution, but conveniently ignored the spectacular achievements of Vasundhara Raje in Rajastahn, who took all 25 seats in in the state for her party; Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh and Shivraj Singh Chauhan in Madhaya Pradesh. The latter's was a ster-
ling performance, especially considering the anti-incumbancy factor in the state. Shivraj Singh Chauhan bagged 25 out of 27 seats for BJP, whereas Raman Singh won 10 out of 11 seats in Chattisgarh. However, instead of rewarding them for their performances, preparations are underway to clip their wings. Those who know Amit Shah are well aware of his personality. He behaves like a pompous aristocrat. He speaks less and only meets people he knows well. It is not in his personality to meet
senior BJP leader in UP disagreed: “It is wrong to say Amit Shah has made any contribution to BJP’s massive victory in UP. In fact, it is due to Modi’s personal charisma and the RSS leaders’ indefatigable spirit that RSS’s top leaders were deputed in their respective Lok Sabha constituencies. National assistant organising secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad Sunil Bansal had been especially dispatched to UP. The RSS volunteers have worked strenuously with UP voters to vote this
Raman Singh (left) and Shivraj Singh Chauhan have turned in sterling performances
a common party worker. Political pundits know that the temperament of party workers in Gujarat and UP are not the same; therefore, they never paid much attention to Shah. Political analyst Dr. Subhrokamal Dutta, however, says his personal matters do not lessen his political contribution, and superb organisational capabilities. He maintains, “No doubt, there was a strong pro-Modi wave in the country, but still the importance of social engineering brought about by Amit Shah in UP can never be ignored.” However, a
time in favour of Narendra Modi. Another senior BJP leader said: “Through his aggressive electioneering, Modi created faith among the voters at the national level.” Still, Amit Shah is being given the credit for all this. Party activists and general people in UP know it very well that Shah has made no personal contribution in BJP’s unexpected windfall. Indeed, Modi is behind Shah being nominated as the party’s national president purely because of his weakness for his Yes-men, and Shah tops that list. AUGUST 2014
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POLITICS
Swami, Sai and Politics tics The Dwarikapeeth Shankaracharya has triggered a controversy by damning Sai Baba, enraging his massive fan following. But is Baba his real target, or he has a hidden agenda? VIKAS KUMAR
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warikapeeth Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand knows very well how to remain in the limelight, and now he once again is, albeit for the wrong reason. His recent and unexpected tirade against Sai Baba of Shirdi has triggered a chain reaction against him across the country. He hollered in Haridwar: “Worshipping Sai Baba was a conspiracy to divide the Hindus. Sai Baba should not be worshipped." His incendiary words set Sai devotees alight, and they in turn set his effigy on fire, especially in Varanasi, the centre of Hindusim. And despite his going ballistic, Sai devotees became even more belligerent and combative. But was Sai Baba his target, really? It is clear that the words and intentions in the case of Swami Swaroopanand may not match, often on a calculated basis. No one is unaware of the fact that the Swami has unbridled political aspirations, and his latest move is also political. There was a well thought out strategy in his mind when he started attacking Sai Baba and his devotees. He was really drawing the lakshman rekha against those he thinks have taken away the mantle of the ultimate keeper of Sanatan Dharm from the Shankaracharyas as an institution. Till a few decades ago, the four Shankaracharyas were consid-
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ered the four pillars of Hinduism. But despite being a “Congressi Baba”, as some call him, when in January 1989, attended the Vishwa Hindu Parishad meeting at the Kumbh Mela where the VHP-RSS first unveiled the model of the proposed Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, he did nothing to raise objections to this. But once the Babri Mosque demolition took place, the militant Hindus clearly saw VHP as the centre of action. The four Swamis became relegated as mere custodians of Hindu scriptures. So this is one level of politics that Sawmi Swaroopanand triggered. There are many other layers in his Machiavellian statement. Swami Swaroopanand also wants to send a clear message to the Narendra Modi-led BJP government that they are not the sole custodians of core
Sai Baba with his devotees (top) and Swaroopanand Saraswati (below)
SAI CONTROVERSY
Hindutva ideology, and it still lies in the institution of Shankaracharyas. By attacking Sai Baba, the Shankarcharya has been able to present himself as a fanatic face of Hindutva and got support from even those sections of Hindutva which are in the VHP-RSS folds. And, secondly the manner in which he raised Aricle-370 and Ram Mandir and criticised BJP was surprising. It pushed the party to a corner. The Shankaracharya wanted to prove that BJP is not serious towards these vital issues of Hindutva. Another interesting thing is that Shankaracharya is continuously giving fodder to the byte-hungry media. This clearly means he wants to keep the issue burning. It is also interesting thing to note that none of the BJP leaders have jumped in the controversy. Politi-
cal analysts are of the view that Shankaracharya has timed his barrage very aptly. The election in Maharashtra is nearing. The Congress-NCP alliance is fighting hard to hold on to power in the state. And Swami Swaroopanand fears a repeat show of the Lok Sabha polls: the rout of Congress and its allies. The calculation seems to be to create a rift among the Hindus by alienating the vast number of Hindu Sai Baba devotees. This is expected to keep the Hindu voters confused, which will prevent a polarised Hindu vote bank in support of the BJP. It is also believed that the growing clout of Sai Baba among Hindus has created some sense of uneasiness among Hindu Babas, who feel that too large a portion of financial offerings are draining into Sai temples, rather than to Hindu ones. Shailesh Kute, trustee of the Sai Sansthan in Shirdi in his initial response to the media had said: “The Shirdi temple is the third largest among all temples in the country in terms of financial turnover and devotees. It's possible that certain segments feel threatened because Sai temples are visible on almost every street corner. Offerings to him are increasing as well.” According to some estimates, the Shirdi Sai temple has now more visitors than even the Balaji Temple at Tirupati. Every day, the Tirupati temple is visited by around 50,000 visitors, whereas the Shirdi temple has around 60,000 visitors daily. The sudden attack on Sai Baba has also exposed the weakness of Sai Baba-related institutions to protect their interests. The controversy has exposed their vulnerability and this has forced the Sai devotees to start regrouping. In order to work out a strategy to repulse such attacks in the future, a secret meeting was held in Delhi in this regard in which an influential official of the Shirdi Sai trust was also present. This means the controversy is not going to go away very ssoon, but it will keep raising its head every now and then.
Acharya Pramod Krishnam: Shri Kalki Dham Peethadheeshwar
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charya Pramod Krishnam, Shri Kalki Dham Pithadheeshwar is one of the most popular faces in the saint's' community. He never hesitates calling a spade a spade. He spoke to News Bench on the controversy What is your view on the whole controversy? Was it at all desired? I think the whole controversy is meaningless. My question is why is Shankarcharaya raising this issue now? He should have raised the issue much earlier. But he had remained silent. I also think that he is talking on the basis of shastras, but the agenda is his own. But don’t you think BJP’s reaction is very much measured? Yes. It is also surprising. No leader of BJP or RSS has said anything on the controversy. Uma Bharti started to speak, but she suddenly became silent. They are neither supporting Sankaracharya nor Sai Baba. Don't you think that the way naga sadhus and the akharas have come in favour of Shankarcharya will propel Sai devotees to regroup and retaliate? My opinion is that Sai devotees are not a separate entity from Hindus and they don’t need to regroup among themselves, as not all Hindus support the views expressed by the Dwarka Shankaracharya.
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Kuch Badla Kya? Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been criticised for presenting a lacklustre budget. But as Sutanu Guru argues, Modi and Jaitley have four more budgets to get Indians see the changes they had wanted Modi to usher in
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FM Arun Jaitley will have to tread his path cautiously to revive the moribund economy
expectations from citizens who voted for him. Unmet expectations can be a recipe for disaster. Second, Modi must know that the politics of the Union Budget is less about data and more about perceptions. Some Modi supporters are already heard murmuring the following lines: He was elected with a promise of badlav
(change), and not badla (revenge). But badlav at the moment looks distant, while there is a vaguely disconsolate refrain about kuch nahin badla. Let's look at what two well-known columnists who have extended wholehearted support to Modi have to say, to understand the challenges that confront the Prime Minister. The first is Tavleen
Photo: Rangnath Tiwari
B
y the time you read this issue of the magazine, the first Union Budget presented by Arun Jaitley must have faded away from the studios of breathless 24*7 news channels that are now also known more popularly as noise channels. The more sober and thoughtful analysts would have gone through the fine print in the Budget speech and drawn their own conclusions. All the numbers have already been crunched and all the statistical analysis has already been done. So we will not burden you by repeating those numbers and the arcane jargon that is associated with the Union Budget. A large section of the media and the intelligentsia which will never really accept Narendra Modi as a democratically elected Prime Minister of India have already trashed the Budget as a carbon copy of the budgets presented in the 10 years of the UPA regime. Die hard supporters of the Congress and of the Gandhi dynasty have already pronounced with a sneer that the BJP and the NDA are not capable of presenting a "Congress Mukt Budget". But let's leave that carping aside, because that will inevitably continue. However, there are some disquieting voices emerging from analysts who actually have high expectations from Modi. And if their voices do not seem to worry Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, they should give Modi some food for serious thought. Modi must be aware of two factors when he - a long range thinker - starts strategising for the Union Budget of 2015. The first is that he carries a heavy burden of very high
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Singh, who has often led from the front in bluntly explaining why the Gandhi Dynasty and its political culture and economic vision have been terrible news for India. In her column in the Indian Express, Tavleen writes: "This is not going to be about the Budget, but I shall begin by admitting that I was disappointed that the Finance Minister did not throw the retroactive tax into the nearest garbage bin. The caution he showed in handling a very stupid tax is worryingly symbolic of the caution our new government is beginning to exhibit in its decisions. Has the Prime Minister forgotten that it was a promise
Jaitley breaking from the past was that he avoided a poetic finale to his Budget speech. However, this aside highlights a very real perception problem that may dog the Narendra Modi government in the coming months unless there is corrective action.... The problem, ironically, has arisen because Jaitley chose to prioritise the principle of continuity over a political consideration.... The consequence of this difficult political choice was that the Budget appeared as one that could have been presented by a reformist Congress minister." Like Tavleen Singh, Swapan Dasgupta
not naive or mischievous. The problem with breathless media and puerile TV debates is that they reduce economic policymaking and its consequences to a T-20 Match. Everything in this world, from the birth of children to the impact of economic policies, has a gestation period. Keeping that in mind, Modi, and if he retains his Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, have time till 2018 to deliver four more Union Budgets that can trigger actual change. The onus is more on Modi for two reasons: The first is that the mandate till 2019 has been unequivocally given to Modi, and not to Jaitley. And the second is that many
IT WILL BE NAIVE TO CONCLUDE THAT MODI WILL FAIL TO IMPLEMENT HIS VISION FOR CHANGE. HIS CRITICS WILL HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THAT BIG CHANGES DO NOT HAPPEN OVERNIGHT Sidharth Birla, FICCI president: "Industry hopes that Modi will actually deliver"
of change that created the wave that swept him from Gujarat to Delhi with a full mandate?" Swapan Dasgupta was inclined towards the BJP even during the days of the UPA regime, when it appeared that the BJP may never come to power again in Delhi because of its fractious and confused political strategy. In his column for the Times of India, Dasgupta too has unhesitatingly raised the warning bells soon after Arun Jaitley presented the Budget. He writes: "The wicked people will say that the only evidence of Finance Minister Arun
too is clear in the political message that the first Arun Jaitley Budget is sending. And that message is: Where is the badlav that citizens of India are yearning for? Most objective analysts and commentators are still hopeful, if not confident that Modi will not disappoint his supporters and voters. They have a point, because Modi has a demonstrated track record of successful economic policies in Gujarat. Of course, anyone with a little bit of understanding of economics will know that alarmist talk about Modi failing to implement his economic vision is premature, if
analysts are convinced that Jaitley is so deeply embedded in the Delhi establishment that he may just fail to look beyond the usual carrot and stick exercises that have been the hallmark of budgets since Independence. So let's be charitable to Modi and Jaitley and analyse what is it they can do to convince India over the next five years that badlav was not an electoral slogan but is a reality. What is the badlav that citizens of India wanted? One was at the emotional level. The sheer arrogance and brazenness of the UPA regime had touched such heights AUGUST 2014
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Reviving the manufacturing sector is a key priority
that many Indian voters simply wanted to teach them a lesson. The second reason the Indian voter wanted badlav was less emotional and more practical. The voter may not be familiar with jargons, but it has voted for Modi to deliver three key things that can make a difference to their lives and the future of their children. They are: High rates of economic growth seen in the first decade of the 21st century that lifted tens of millions from poverty to a neo-middle class status; actual and realistic skill development opportunities that, along with high GDP growth rates, will lead to more young Indians getting jobs; and lastly, lowering of consumer inflation that has tormented Indians for a decade or so. The fact is, the Budget presented by Arun Jaitley has merely hinted at the shape of things to come in the future without addressing any of the three concerns in a fundamental way. The only way to achieve high
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THE PROPOSAL TO REDUCE EXCISE DUTY FOR THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR WILL GRADUALLY INCREASE SUPPLY OF COMMODITIES IN THE MARKET AND MAY BRING IN SOME CORRECTIONS OVER TIME
rates of economic growth is when both investment by companies and consumption by households rise in a sustained manner. This will happen only when entrepreneurs and consumers are genuinely convinced about "achhe din" being round the corner. And this will not happen with mere tinkering of tax rates and grand announcements about new projects. Both investors and
consumers need to be convinced that their future incomes will be higher. And as we all know, that calls for some very politically tough decisions, ranging from land acquisition to subsidies to labour laws. Modi and Jaitley have to convince stakeholders that the tough decisions will eventually lead to better times for everybody. Similarly, millions of jobs are not going to be created overnight. Nor will the opening of a few more IITs and IIMs lead to more employment opportunities for the youth of India. Creating employable skills is a hard, long drawn task, and Jaitley must use future budgets to create the right incentives for skills development. And finally, there is that bogey of inflation. You already have a situation where die hard critics of Modi have started lampooning him and his government for the rise in prices of vegetables. Jaitley has not helped much by mouthing old platitudes about
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punishing hoarders. The solution to inflation is not a warning to hoarders but actual changes in agricultural and food policies. Once again, the policy changes and their impact will not happen overnight. Both farmers and urban consumers need the confidence that they are getting a fair deal. As economics students know, it is ultimately all about supply and demand. The challenge for Jaitley and Modi is to manage and balance that. However, it is to be noted that the Finance Ministry proposal to reduce excise duty will promote the
THE BIGGER CHALLENGE FOR THE GOVERNMENT IS TO MINIMISE THE IMBALANCE CAUSED IN THE ECONOMY BECAUSE OF THE WRONG ECONOMIC POLICIES PURSUED IN THE UPA'S DECADE-OLD RULE
because the government has vested enormous discretionary powers in itself. If such powers are reduced and if the interface between the State and the citizens becomes more transparent and rule-based, then people need not wait every year for the finance minister to tinker with tax rates, exemptions and similar exercises of discretionary and arbitrary power. That is the true aim of maximum governance and minimum government. This Budget has barely taken baby steps towards that goal. The bad news for Jaitley and Modi is that their critics will
supply side of the economy. The real target for Modi should be to reduce the importance of the Union Budget by the time his tenure ends in 2019. India is a peculiar country where the Budget - basically an annual account of income and expenditure - is so hyped that it has become the event of the year, barring elections, for the media and the pundits. The announcements made in the Budget have acquired so much importance over the years
unrelentingly keep slamming them for everything unwelcome that happens with the Indian economy, including household incomes, jobs, prices and many more things that might be beyond their control. The good news is that the Indian citizen is far wiser than the media. But the message sent by people like Tavleen Singh and Swapan Dasgupta is that while the Indian voter is wise, they can also be unforgiving. Surely Modi is aware of this ?
Industry is showing signs of recovery
manufacturing sector and will increase supply of products in the market. Most of the economists within the country will be agreed that the sticky inflation we have seen in the country is the result of sustained ignoring of the manufacturing sector in the country during the 10-years rule of UPA government. A large number of units were forced to down their shutters because of hostile policies creating unemployment and distortions in the
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COVER STORY
VALIANTS MARRED IN
DEATH
2ND CLASS MARTYRS
MAYANK SINGH
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They all die for the country. Not every uniformed person dies facing Pakistani bullets. Some are slayed by Naxals in deep forests, some die after saving the lives of pilgrims stranded in floods. But they are lives lost in the security of the country and its citizens. Don’t they all deserve the status of martyrs?
n old man wearing a white vest and a white pyjama asked: “Are you searching for Shaheed Rohtash Singh’s family?” He was right. We were indeed looking for the home of a martyred Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Head Constable, late Rohtash Singh. He died fighting Naxalites in Jharkhand. The person in white gave us the direction. But soon, we lost our way. Like every other village in India, the serpentine lanes led to nowhere, if one were an outsider. Along the meandering road were houses, some pucca, made of brick and mortar, and some of mud. Singh’s home was near the Nangal Pathani Railway Station. Two young boys, fair and well dressed, with small cotton towels on their shoulders, pointed towards our left. Some five hundred metres ahead, we saw a raised podium with a statue wrapped in a white sheet. It was yet to be unveiled. Three men and a boy of 19 were placing tiles close to the black boots popping out from under the wrapper. Apparently, the 19-year old was Malkit, the martyr’s son. Malkit and the two men were giving the final touches to the statue for its imminent unveiling. Standing at the feet of his father, literally and metaphorically, Malkit at 19 is a wise man. He knows that martyrdom is not just about giving one’s life for the country. There is politics; there is apathy; even antipathy. In the case of Rohtash the local Member of Parliament Deepender Hooda gave Rs 200,000 from the MPs fund. But no contractor was ready to build the podium at that price. Then the family decided to take the tough task upon itself. The true support, however, came from the Village Panchayat. They granted a piece of land adjoining the village stadium. The panchayat even said they would name the stadium as Shaheed Rohtash Singh Stadium. This was some consolation for the family but Savita Devi? She had lost her companion of 24 years, a gap that no statue can fill. Mukesh Kumar, brother of Savita Devi, has taken the responsibility of the entire family on his shoulders till one of the martyr’s two sons finds some employment. Ironically, Amit Kumar the younger son is preparing himself to join the same CRPF in which his father had served. But is she not scared that the same fate might befall Amit as had happened to his father? Throughout our visit to the home, Savita Devi spoke just this one time: “If we will start getting scared, who will save our country?” It was the same woman who till then had appeared to be docile and withdrawn from everything, who now spoke like a lioness. This is the true value of a AUGUST 2014
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POINTING OUT TO THE STATUE, A VILLAGE ELDER WHO COULD BARELY WALK TOLD US: "THIS IS OUR VILLAGE BOY SUNIL WHO DIED FIGHTING THE ENEMY" martyr. Savita had never visited any of the locations where Rohtash was posted in his 22 years of service. They both would have got very little time for each other. But his valour had been instilled in her and in her sons. On January 7, 2013, Rohtash died. Along with him there were seven others martyred that day in the same encounter. Twelve others were critically injured in the Karmatiya forests
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in Latehar District of Jharkhand. Subsequently, the death toll rose to 16. The horrendous act of the Maoists can be understood from the way they desecrated the dead bodies of CRPF troopers killed, as unexploded IEDs were stitched inside the abdomens of the troopers. We left the house of the shaheed to visit another family which gave its brave son in sacrifice for the country. But do we really treat such people the way they deserve? May be not! When News Bench raised this question before defense and security analyst Air Commodore (Retd) Prashant Dixit he agreed with the unequal treatment meted out to our men who lay their lives fighting the enemies within the borders. “We have to understand the difference between wartime operations and the peacetime operations. In the case of
2ND CLASS MARTYRS
Tears have dried in her eyes, and yet, in the end Savita Devi asks: "If everyone gets scared, who will fight for the country
Photo: Rangnath Tiwari
THE FUNDS FOR A STADIUM IN PRADEEP KUMAR YADAV'S NAME HAD BEEN REALEASED BY THE GOVERNMENT BUT IS NOT BEING USED ON SOME PRETEXT
A BOXED TALE OF TRAUMAS Force
Total strength
CRPF
3,02,036
Existing Jawans Court Retireposts Suicide+ Cases ment/ (OffiFratri- (2007- Resignacers) cide 11) tion (2007(200710) 11+) 3958
230
5492
12875
BSF
2,39,424
3925
159
2380
23184
CISF
1,40,000
1400
55
3202
5295
ITBP
71,942
1338
22
530
2024
SSB
73,325
1800
51
734
2085
Source: Records of the relevant forces accessed by NB
peacetime operations we need to treat every person who sacrifices his life while serving in the security forces as equal. But this becomes a different scenario when it comes to a war where our army, navy and air force fight an external aggression,” he said. For instance, if any person dies in a war with an enemy from outside, he would get higher honours – Veer Chakra, Mahaveer Chakra, and Parmveer Chakra. But if the same person dies say in an encounter with the Naxalites, he would get Shaurya Chakra, Kirti Chakra and Ashok Chakra. But this system is gradually being eroded in favour of the army, navy and air force (See report: “Dead, Not Martyrs”) It is our armed forces, army, navy and air force, which are deployed to neutralise any enemy who transgresses the territorial integrity of the country or carries out antinational act within the country in the form of terrorism and insurgency. But, in the interest of the bigger national security planning, the paramilitary forces have been assigned with operational deployments which encompass the entire spectrum of low-intensity conflicts, where anti-national forces wage a controlled war within the territory of the country. Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo Tibetan Border Police, Assam Rifles (AR), Shashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) have been serving the country since long and have conducted themselves well in the service of the countrymen, be it fighting the separatism in Jammu & Kashmir, conducting the counter insurgency operations in Northeast and also conducting the operations in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) areas. Interestingly, while Rohtash’s statue will keep his memory alive, and the curious passerby will ask who he was, the same privilege will not grace Sub Inspector Pradeep Yadav, who died alongside Rohtash. While News Bench reached this shaheed’s village (Nayagaon Bahala of Rewari District) it appeared that even small children knew of his sacrifice. A girl on the road not just directed us towards a house with a brown wooden gate, but she actually ran to the door and knocked on it. She told us: “This is the house of Shaheed Pradeep Yadav.” As we watched the girl leave, an old lady opened the door for us. She was Yadav’s mother Shakuntala Devi. She made us comfortable on the wooden cots woven with jute ropes and told her daughter-in-law to bring some water for us. But suddenly the atmosphere changed. Shakuntala Devi AUGUST 2014
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was holding her grand-daughter Anvi, excited in seeing so many people come to their house. But she was trying to wipe her tear that had dropped on the cheeks of the five month old Anvi. Regaining her poise, Shakuntala Devi said: “I have lost everything.” Her eyes turned blank. Only the arrival of Satish Kumar wearing a Navy T-Shirt with the emblem of INS Godavari eased the ambience somewhat. Satish is Pradep’s cousin and works for the police. His younger brother works in the navy. Pradeep’s other cousin is with the police and Pradeep’s uncle retired from the army. In other words, this is a family that has been in the job of protecting the country, internally and externally. They unravelled another story of callousness towards shaheeds. The local Member of Legislative Assembly refused to give any money for a statue for Pradeep, despite the fact that he was the first and only shaheed from the area. Satish Kumar said that the MLA’s argument is that no fund for martyrs welfare. But Pradeeep’s brother Sandeep told News Bench that the government had granted some money for building a stadium in the name of the shaheed, but on some pretext or other, the project has hit a roadblock. Besides, despite laying down his life for the country, Pradeep’s soul is still being tormented by caste politics. The area where the stadium was to be built belongs to Jats, and they do not care two hoots
about letting a stadium in the name of a Yadav! When we asked Satish if there is a difference between the army and the paramilitary martyrs, he became thoughtful. Then he says: “If we will start seeing these two as different then no one will lay down his life for the country. It is this charm of serving the nation associated with these uniforms which attracts our youth to fight for the country.” But the difference is for real, or else the podium raised by the village panchayat for a statue of Pradeep would have not been vacant. That the difference is very real comes through as one talks to young Bhim Singh. He knows about the three forces, and is in fact preparing to join the navy, but he has not heard of the CRPF! Our last destination was the home of Sunil Kumar, who comes from a family of bravehearts. His grandfather Rao Dhan Singh not only fought in the 1962 and 1965 wars but also made the state proud by winning the Vir Chakra. Sunil’s father and uncle both joined Indo Tibetan Border Police and stood guard in the icy heights of the Himalaya along the Indo-China border. For Sunil, wearing the CRPF uniform was destined. He cleared the entry test in the first go. His father Ramanand says Sunil was always a very brave boy, and never complained, even while serving in the most dangerous locations. “Very few people are fortunate enough to die for
As Pradeep Kumar Yadav's mother cried, a tear drop fell from her eyes on the cheek of the shaheed's niece. Above: The empty platform where the statue should have been
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2ND CLASS MARTYRS
Photos: Rangnath Tiwari
Sunil with his wife and son (left), and Sunil's mother holding on to the memories of her son (below)
IT SHOWS THE LEVEL OF PATRIOTISM OF A FAMILY THAT ROHTASH'S YOUNGEST SON IS NOW PREPARING TO JOIN THE SAME CRPF IN WHICH HIS FATHER HAD SERVED AND HAD BEEN MARTYRED IN JHARKHAND the country. Fame comes only to lucky few.” says, Ramanand with a smile on his face. No doubt, this country is full of families for whom the security and safety of the countrymen is supreme. Of the three shaheeds who died in that Jharkhand jungle, Sunil is the only one whose statue has come up, and it stands right on the road. An old man who could barely walk came up to us and said, “This statue is of our village boy Sunil who died while fighting the enemy.” We kept watching him while he walked back to the village. He must have said the same thing about Sunil - with pride - to many a passersby.
As our car moved along verdant fields, a spray from a water sprinkler fell on the car windshield. Then, as the wiper swept past, there ahead was a statue of a martyr. But finally, it is these two men who really told the story of the country. The man we met wearing the white pyjama and vest in the beginning of our journey, and the one now painfully retreating back to his village, did not make a difference to our lost sons, whether they be in the army or in paramilitary force. A shaheed is a shaheed for the common man. But for the defense babus? Read on… AUGUST 2014
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‘DEAD’… NOT MARTYRED! In the Uttarakhand rescue operations last year, 20 personnel from IAF, ITBP and NDRF perished in a chopper crash. But while the IAF honoured its dead with Gallantry Awards, the MHA babus shot their martyrs’ families in the leg MAYANK SINGH
A
nation is what its people are, and it is the dedication of these people which makes the nation great. But, surely, a nation’s greatness must be gauged from the way it treats the people who sacrifice their lives for the security and safety of their fellow countrymen? If that is a mark of a great nation, then there are uneasy questions the motherland must answer, else she could be called a mother to some and a stepmother to others. The raging storm was on in the skies during the
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Uttarakhand calamity last year. Below, the water was surging. Six Indo Tibetan Border Police jawans (ITBP), nine National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) jawans and five Indian Air Force (IAF) airmen were on a rescue mission. For days, they had been sending back pilgrims stranded on a high mountain. Then it was time for them to return. But on the flight back, they crashed to their deaths after their chopper could not cope with the terrible storm. This was a rude jolt to the relief and rescue operations. The ITBP personnel who were deployed on the rescue operation had been rendering back breaking dedicated service to the suffering and had already evacuated a large
2ND CLASS MARTYRS
only to the soldiers of the army, navy and air force, and there is no such provision for pronouncing the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel who lose their lives in the line of duty as martyrs. But how can one discriminate between the two when both sacrificed their lives for the same cause? Why is it that one is called a martyr and the other is just termed 'dead'? It's not just the ITBP that feels discriminated against in death. It has been a longstanding demand of CAPF, including CRPF and BSF, that their personnel be accorded martyr status when they lay down their lives in the line of duty. The martyr status ensures a host of benefits for the kin of the deceased personnel, including a state government job and special passes for train journeys. "The service condition of central forces personnel are regulated by a strong set of acts with provision to award punishment up to court martial, quite similar to that of the defence forces. However, pay, perks and post-retirement benefits, including pension, are equal to civilian employees, even though the central forces perform more hazardous tasks," said P S Nair, general secretary of the association of retired paramilitary personnel. Immediate monitory compensation is not the issue here. The central government gave Rs 15 lakh as compensation to each of the jawan's family, while the governments of Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh gave Rs 10 lakh each and Gujarat government gave Rs 5 2 IC NN Gupta (left) lakh. Apart from this, families of these gutsy and Inspector Bheem Singh, sons of the country also got Rs 15 lakh as part of the life insurance cover and other benefits, both from ITBP, died in such as full pension benefit, to which all the the crash paramilitary personnel are entitled. The issues here are two: they were deprived sacrifice is belittled by the routine which is followed by of the same status of glory that their brethren in the airforce people who are supposed to take appropriate decisions on were given; and two, the fact that these deprived personnel crucial files. These officers did not budge even an inch to have suffered at the hands of their own Indian Police Service process the files of these brave jawans to include their names officials sitting in their air-conditioned comfort zones in the medals list to be announced. They pointed out to a in New Delhi, while the jawans under them are fighting technical issue: delay. The fallacy is that these soldiers do at freezing heights or blistering heat, in a desert or in a not have the luxury of ‘delay’ when called upon to fight dangerous jungle. As a young army official told News Bench, insurgents or terrorists, or the latter will simply finish off "During peacetime, the enemy is the same for the army and innocent people. Then why a filing delay will deprive them the paramilitary forces: it is nature, and not just the terrorists of the official recognition of their sacrifice? This luxury of armed to the teeth. That enemy is merciless to both olive and deciding the time for death can be only with people who khaki alike. The real gallantry is to face that nature till the are in the secured confines of offices. The fact is that the terrorist kills you or you kill the terrorist." officers who decide upon such vital issues have little feeling As a nation seeking to be known for its greatness, the or understanding about the people who fight, because the policy for the peacetime and wartime operations need to be former have little field experience, let alone of fighting. redefined, as it is a matter of recognition of a sacrifice for the It may be noted that by definition, a martyr is someone country, and should not be associated with one’s service or who sacrifices his life in the line of duty for the country’s uniform. Because the security of the country is not the sole defense. In India, the martyr status is, however, applicable preserve of any particular branch of the defense system. number of marooned and stranded people. The 20 men were going back to their camps after being relieved of their duty as they had been in the valley since the beginning of the deluge. In the course of their journey back, the helicopter crashed, and they never saw their beloved ones any more. But more than the tragic end to their lives was the differential way in which their deaths were treated. It triggered off an ugly spat between the MHA and MoD regarding conferring the status of martyr. Following its tradition, the IAF conferred Gallantry Medals to its men. But when it came to the rest of the 15 people who perished for the same cause, and together with the IAF airmen, doing what the IAF men were doing – the Ministry of Home Affairs came up with the absurd defense for denying its men the status of martyrdom or gallantry medals. Sources told News Bench that their files should have reached the ministry by September, but these files reached late. This is a typical case where an extraordinary deed of
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UNIFORM
INJUSTICE! The widow of martyred BSF jawan fighting for her dues since 1988... A Deputy Commandant demoted to Assistant Commandant.... Such are the cases of apathy with which officers of the paramilitary forces deal with the valiant jawans MAYANK SINGH
T
his is the sad and depressing story of more than 8,00,000 Indians who risk their lives for the country on a daily basis. The BSF jawan in his ceremonial uniform thumps his feet and stares into the eyes of the Pakistani Ranger at the Wagah Border every evening. The pride of performing the Beating Retreat swells his chest. His shoulders widen with confidence. Inside that chest is the desire to perform his best, so that the every Indian in the audience watching this daily ritual joins his ir her hands in thunderous unison. And on those shoulders rests the responsibility of being the vanguard in protecting the country. The ceremonial drill of over, the jawan finds himself jostling with the recurring thoughts of his child performing poorly in
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academics, the wife left to take care of every responsibility... of an ailing mother.... Such personal issues hassle him, but these are small issues, really. The jawan would have lost his composure had he known the case of thw widowed Kala Devi, who is fighting for her dues that were recommended by former Director General of Police of Punjab, Julio Ribeiro; or of the Shaurya Chakra winning hero, Deputy Commandant RK Singh, who was actually demoted as Assistant Commandant because he had lost his leg combatting the Naxals! The problems of such jawans are not new. You might have never heard of Kala Devi, Shaurya Chakra RK Singh or Assistant Commandant Dilip Kumar Singh. While Kala Devi’s husband died on his way to an operational meeting in Punjab, Dilip Kumar Singh is today mired, fighting against his own force for which he committed his all. He sustained injuries in his spinal cord and major fractures in both feet when he
2ND CLASS MARTYRS
Many reports, including two letters by successive Home Secretaries, have spoken of the forces' trauma and the need for improvement. News Bench has accessed all of them
fell from the rooftop of the Quarter Guard when he was on night duty. And the mindlessly valiant DK Singh lost his leg when pushing back a Naxal foray. He suffered immensely, but ensured that none of the Maoists escaped. While Assistant Commandant DK Singh became paraplegic and was confined to a wheelchair, RK Singh reported back with one leg. Today, DK Singh has been chucked out from the force and is confined to his home only moving out to attend his court hearings case. The CRPF has decided that having given one leg for the country has made him totally redundant to the country! Surprisingly, in a similar case in the army, Vijay Oberoi a Lieutenant during the 1965 war with Pakistan, also lost his leg in a mine blast. But the army not just retained him, but he actually retired as the vice chief of the force. And in the Indian Air Force, Trainee Cadet RK Hirojit Singh became a
paraplegic while on training flight his plane crashed. The IAF found enough logic to not just commission him, but gave him a job in the accounts section. If the army and air force finds it incumbent upon them to take such morale boosting humane efforts, the top officials who sit over the lives and careers of eight lakh jawans of the paramilitary forces seem to have made it a mission to demoralise thier wards. RK Singh of the CRPF, who was supposed to become the face of the force, has been dumped today by his own ‘leadership’. it is no small a theatre of the absurd that first, he received the Shaurya Chakra, the third highest peacetime award for any uniformed person for his boundless courage and sacrifice; but then, he was actually demoted from the position of Deputy Commandant to Assistant Commandant. The message was loud and clear: if you put your life on the line and are disabled, AUGUST 2014
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then the department will have nothing to do with you. So what does a soldier do? Play safe and stay with all limbs intact, so that you enjoy a full career and retire with all dues paid, so what if the enemy wins and India loses? It is amazing that our paramilitary force personnel are of such mettle that they have ignored this perverted message through the decades. For any disciplined uniformed force the welfare of its men who sacrifice their lives or are hurt during the operations or while carrying out their duties should be of utmost importance. It makes the personnel feel cared for, and thus motivated to perform even better. The case of Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi has been mentioned. There are others like Major Generals Ian Cardozo and SK Razdan. Army rules say that any injury or disability suffered in war, counter-terrorism or any other operation, is called `battle casualty'. This cannot come in the way of his promotions as long as he is capable of performing non-combat duties. One can imagine the kind of boost to their morale because of such paternal treatment. But in the paramilitary forces, injured personnel are most often going through long-running court battles and battle of representations. And things are not any the rosier even for fitas-a-fiddle serving personnel either. Since many years, there are issues related to acute stagnation and failure of the internal grievances redressal mechanisms. Too many anomalies were highlighted in the Sixth Central Pay Commission. The result is that today, there are eight writ petitions being heard in the Delhi High Court pertaining to the promotion anomalies and the Non-Functional Upgradation. In April 2009, the Government approved time bound pay scales to all Central Government Group-A organised services, in the form of Non Functional Upgradation. Deputy Commandant Karuna Nidhan has written to then Director General of CRPF, Vijay Kumar in 2102: “It is worth mentioning here that there are so many organised services having strengths of approximately 100 officers only, in various ministries and departments... whereas CRPF, Clockwise from top left: having a strong cadre of 4,000 Laying a wreath to a CRPF officers, that too performing martyr; ITBP jawans help most important duties of internal pilgrims in Kedarnath disaster;, and then feeding security, has been deprived of them; the mine blast in this facility.� Now this is just one Chhattisgarh that killed 16 of the ways to compensate for the CRPF jawans acute stagnation. The jawans are hit the worst, as they do not get a promotion for as long as 20 years. A jawan becomes a Head due to lack of timebound promotions was lesser, as there were Constable in about 20 years with a pecuniary difference of two promotions at the rank of Naik and Lance Naik. But, just a few hundred rupees. The reason? The bosses in CGO these two posts were abolished at one stroke, which has led Complex, New Delhi. have never been in any combat situation to this huge demotivation at the level of jawans. Earlier, they in their lives and thus have no understanding of their hardships used to look for this promotion at a gap of every eight years. and stresses on the field of action. this whimsical decisionmaking has cost the forces dearly. This Earlier, in case of the ranks, the problem of discontentment is just one example. There are other and more serious cases
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2ND CLASS MARTYRS
IN 2010, THE HOME MINISTRY WROTE THAT SPECIAL REWARDS AND BENEFITS MUST BE GIVEN TO IPS OFFICERS, BUT THERE WAS NOTHING FOR THE JAWANS
of whimsical decisions that have booted the morale of the forces rather than boosting it. Recently, the Ministry of Home Affairs had to intervene to stop a controversial policy decision that a few officers were trying to implement. Sources say that the Home Secretary, Anil Goswami himself had to call the CRPF Director General to tell him to stop the new transfer policy. The decision was to change 30 per cent of the men in
every unit every year. Thus, around 560 men (280 coming in service and 280 going out) of each unit would have been moving every year, thus never letting the unit become a real cohesive body of troops. This move, if allowed to stay would have robbed the personnel of the basic sense of camaraderie, which is the backbone of any uniformed force dealing with the counter insurgency and counter terrorism. This ostrich-like approach, of not accepting the problem’s existence, has created problems which will have long term adverse effects. The baffling thing is that there is no dearth of studies and internal notes which have highlighted the high level of demotivation and stress resulting from the lack of promotional avenues or adequate welfare measures. News Bench is in possession of several such reports by top institutions such as IIM Ahmedabad. The latter conducted a study on ‘Occupational Stress in Paramilitary Forces (CRPF and BSF)' and submitted it to the Ministry of Home Affairs which deals with all the paramilitary forces. Besides, IIM Lucknow did a study on the training needs analysis for the officers of the BSF. There is also an independent research done by Dr Arpita Anant of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses on the role and functioning of the CRPF. A comprehensive exercise was also done on the restructuring of the CRPF in 2006. Each and every report has emphasised the problems of stress, lack of opportunities and absence of redressal mechanisms within the these forces. Irrational decisions - of which examples have been mentioned above - are rooted in the total lack of grasp of the jobs at hand by the top officers and people sitting in MHA. The IIM Lucknow report has highlighted shortage of manpower, overburdening officers in terms of responsibilities; disgruntlement and operational stress that impact the organic cohesion of the units. It adds that career progression is slow in higher ranks, which has had a cascading effect and service conditions, quality of life and family welfare concerns are affecting the morale of officers and ranks alike. Lack of identity and resettlement policy are the other issues. Dr Arpita Anant has reported that the CRPF seems to be an unhappy force, quite demotivated due to being uncared for and taken for granted. The IIM Ahmedabad report on occupational stress in CRPF and BSF had highlighted that these jawans have no fixed duty hours, suffer from lack of sleep, are overburdened with work, face difficulty in travel, etc. There is also mention of high levels of salary discrepancy, unpaid medical claims, AUGUST 2014
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poor quality of uniforms and dwellings, isolation from family, etc., as the major causes of stress. Nothing can shed clearer light on the abject ingoring of the paramilitary forces than the fact that there has not been any cadre review within the CRPF and BSF since 1990 and 1989 respectively. The Government of India accepted the suggestion of the Administrative Reforms Commission (1972) that cadre reviews should be undertaken once in every five years. Therefore this exercise was due in 1995 for BSF. But there is a bigger surprise in store, and it highlights how the problems were allowed to aggravate. In the second Cadre Review in 1990 it was mentioned under the heading "Major Anomalies": “Previous cadre reviews had focused their attention on removing blockages in promotion, initially in Deputy Commandant and later in Commandant / Additional
A moving memorial to three BSF jawans on the Pak border
THE ALLAHABAD HIGH COURT TOLD THE CRPF TO POST DK SINGH IN "ANY SUITABLE POST", BUT THE MHA WILL GO TO THE SUPREME COURT TO STOP THAT DIG ranks”. That's how old the problem is and remains yet unresolved. Today the bottleneck is such that officers who are joining these forces are unaware that they might retire with just one promotion to reach Deputy Commandant. The situation is not much different in CRPF, ITBP, CISF or the SSB. The actual scenario gets clear from the two letters written by the Home Secretaries, Anil Goswami and RK Singh, to the Director Generals of the CRPF, which is leading the task of
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internal security. These two letters - in the possession of News Bench - are comprehensive regarding the problems as well as the solutions. These apply to every paramilitary personnel today jostling with the problems of demotivation and the lack of ownership by the top brass. In his letter to the then DG CRPF Pranay Sahay RK Singh wrote: “There is a need to motivate the rank and file of the CRPF be reminding them of the importance of their task and the fact that their hard work would earn them the respect of our citizens.” Further, RK Singh has used the term ‘ownership’ and has written, “The tasking and operational outcomes should be analysed and there should be specific ownership (emphasis ours) of responsibilities, tasks and projects with accountability for timely and correct discharge of duties at all levels." In the next 12 points, he has highlighted the specific issues and has given his suggestions. The critical issues he highlighted include loss of initiative in junior leaders, fault in basic tactics, lack of team spirit, lack of motivation in the troops, etc. Once RK Singh retired, the current incumbent has also appreciated the issues and problems mentioned in his letter to the current DG CRPF. The highlight of Goswami’s letter is the ‘constant’ factor which he writes, “However, the only constant (emphasis ours) factor in the LWE" (Left Wing Extremism) "theatre are the Central Armed Police Forces." Goswami has echoed the issue of ‘ownership’: “How best the CRPF can take the ownership of the LWE problem and how best the officers from the lowest to the highest ranks can be made stakeholders in the process.... This may call for a change in the mindset, a change in the existing structures, processes, SOPs etc.” Interestingly, the MHA wrote in 2010 after the DGP conference: “It is under consideration in this Ministry evolving a system where performance of IPS officers is rewarded in terms of career benefits, for example, a successful stint in an extremism affected district should result in greater career benefits to the officers.... A separate medal/award may be instituted for this purpose, priority in getting Government Accommodation, priority to children of officers in getting admission to schools of their choice and choice posting after completion of the successful stint." (No. 45020/02/2010-IPSII) Tragically, there was no mention of the actual jawans whose lives are much more miserable from the beginning, due the underprivileged backgrounds they come from, and worsens after joining the force. Meanwhile, the Allahabad High Court ordered to restore the rights of DK Singh, telling the CRPF "to treat the petitioner in the service and adjust him against any suitable post..." But the bosses at CRPF are in no mood to oblige. They will appeal to the Supreme Court. So much for the morale of the forces that are fighting in the jungles of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, the Line of Control, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and Myanmar borders, and keeping us safe. They can perish in apathy!
2ND CLASS MARTYRS
Bonding must for fighting forces
A
leader should work to be a motivator, an initiator. He or she must be a key element in the planning and implementing of new ideas, programmes, policies, events, etc. This adage applies across the board wherever groups, organisations or institutions work collectively for a purpose. The same is equally relevant to insurgent and terrorist groups and
below. One presumes that it would be adequate to function in this manner for normal law and order situations in the states, where an application of appropriate legal procedures is more relevant and an armed combat is less likely. But how do we gear up and prepare for the rising phenomenon of terrorist strikes, or in the same vein, deal with the armed conflict being waged by the Maoists and insurgents, where the forces led by teams of Commandant-rank or even junior officers, fighting a fourth generation war which is asymmetrical, characterised by the actions of small groups of people, and where small and highly Prashant Dikshit manoverable and flexible forces dominate trying to overwhelm even mobs. the security forces internally and psychologically. Their guidance The key to this attitude is the level of bonding between the comes from a chair-bound boss calling the shots without ever leader and his or her followers. Let us examine this relationship having encountered or even trained for such a scenario in the in India’s police and paramilitary forces. At the apex, all police past. There are occasions where he does not even visit the scene and other paramilitary organisations in India work under the of the battle. leadership of officers of the Indian Police Service (IPS), drawn The worst is, when the grapevine tells this Commandant from a central cadre. Except for the state police forces, where that IPS officers assigned to undergo specialised training this IPS officer commences his career for a very brief period programmes in guerilla warfare schools keep sleeping in their as a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and briskly moves beds whilst their constables are marching with ammunition upward to become a Superintendent of Police, in the paramilitary boots in their backpacks. In the midst of this conundrum, he police organisations, the entity of the IPS spends a lifetime seeing his IPS superiors officer is not seen at a rank below that plotting their careers in a chess game, of Deputy Inspector General of Police whilst he is never certain whether he IT SEEMS THAT AT (DIG). This is the case, for example, in will at all grow in the organisation. Very the 2,40,000 strong Border Security Force privately, he calls it zamindari in its new THE POLITICAL END, (BSF) and for that matter, in India’s largest avtaar whilst mulling over the feudal WE ARE UNABLE TO paramilitary force, the Central Reserve cultures of yesteryears. After all, he is well COMPREHEND THAT Police Force (CRPF). educated, like his superiors, and above CAMERADERIE IS A MUST In endeavouring to draw the attention all, has a very deep understanding of his FOR ANY COMBATto the hierarchical structure, the objective responsibilities and the circumstances WORTHY FORCE was to discern the levels at which the IPS surrounding his work. But as years pass person is physically leading a body of by, he loses his motivation for being policemen into a collective group exercise ignored or forgotten, because his masters like that of an Anti Terrorist Strike Force would not grant him the consideration or an Anti Insurgent Force. I am afraid such instances are few that given an opportunity, he would deliver better than them. and far between, and those are distinguished primarily by the One can not escape a feeling that at the political end, we are loss of lives of these gentlemen due to an inability to fathom the unable to comprehend that the nuances of camaraderie and tactical situation and even worse, not being with their men in team play are very essential features of combat worthy forces. the spirit of the battle. Patchy campaigns are presented with great One can not alleviate their absence by merely orchestrating a fervour but which truly show no light at the end of the tunnel. secretariat in the North Block and moving senior officialdom as The 26/11 instance perhaps best underscores the phenomenon pawns, and specially the ones who are craving to be moved. where the policemen battling the situation were at a complete Air Commodore (Retd) Dikshit is a senior security analyst, loss in determining the source of their own leadership. formerly Sr. Fellow, Institute for Defense Studies & Analyses, Apparently, the police leadership has resolved within itself and Deputy Director, Institute of Peace & Conflict Studies that their role is only at the top, primarily to puppeteer the force AUGUST 2014
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BIHAR
‘Robin Hood’ and his wife in Lok Sabha Pappu Yadav may be a feared don and an alleged murderer, but what he does for his constituency – and without caste prejudice – has ensured that for him and his wife, the Modi Wave was just some noise from Gujarat DEVENDRA GAUTAM
T
he Modi wave rocked many boats and drowned many ships in the recent Lok Sabha(LS) polls, but the political yacht of Bihar don Rajesh Ranjan and his wife Ranjita Ranjan sailed smoothly and is now docked safely in the Lok Sabha, for the second time coming. Nothing could impact the mass base of the two, who will reach the LS together regularly (if at all they find time to go, though), the perfect political couple, having won as candidates of two separate allies of the UPA. The extremely backward area of eastern Bihar where they come from is notorious for poverty, natural disasters, abductions, the activities of the Nepal mafia and the ISI of Pakistan. The dugup roads and dilapidated buildings takes a visitor back to the last century. And this is the political constituency of Ranjan, aka Pappu Yadav, whose terror had once been unbridled in the region. Prior to Pappu Yadav, it was a completely opposite couple, Acharya Kriplani and his wife Sucheta Kriplani
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who had been LS members two consecutive times, in 1952 and 1957. There are certain things special about this couple, especially Rajesh, who is known as the Robin Hood of eastern Bihar. This is partly the reason behind the almost miraculous defiance of the Modi wave. Rajesh, on a Rashtriya Janata Dal ticket from the Madhepura LS seat, defeated veteran politician and Janata Dal (United) boss Sharad Yadav by a huge margin (56,000 votes). His wife Ranjeet Ranjan won the Supaul seat contesting on a Congress ticket, trouncing her rival JDU’s Dileshwar Kamat by an even higher margin of 60,000 votes. The Congress had never been confident of winning this seat but Ranjeet Ranjan proved that notion unfounded. Born and educated in Punjab, she married Pappu Yadav in 1994, and in 1995 she contested an Assembly seat but lost. In 2004, however, she contested from the Saharsa Lok Sabha seat and won, but in 2009 she again lost that seat. Her major plus point is that she is in constant touch with the people of her constituency, and even that of Pappu's. Pappu Yadav had
commanded his own caste in Bihar’s bloody and violent caste wars. Moving all the time with hordes of armed-tothe-teeth bodyguards and musclemen or surviving long hours of exchange of fire was part of Pappu Yadav’s daily life. A large part of his life has been spent in jail despite that he has successfully held on his mass base. For the general public he might be a mafia don, muscleman or simply an alleged murderer, but in his own constituency he is The Godfather. Pankaj Ranjit, coordinator of the Indo-Nepal Journalists' Association, credits wife Ranjita with sustaining this image. It was she who helped keep alive the regular communication between her husband Pappu and his people even
POWER COUPLE
Photo: Rangnath Tiwari
Pappu Yadav and wife Ranjeet will be the eye-catchers in the Lok Sabha
when the former was in jail. She meets people in their daily lives, through happiness or tragedy as the case may be. She fights to solve their problems. Pappu’s terror has surely helped her tackle an intransigent bureaucracy, but she inevitably gets the constituency’s work done. Talking to News Bench Pappu Yadav says: "I don't work to win elections. But to serve the people is my motive. This is why I win elections. RJD rules the hearts of the people in Koshi. We are always ready for our service to the people. The same passion is ingrained in my wife." Pankaj Ranjit adds: “In recent times, Pappu Yadav has shown some remarkable changes in his
character. Some sense of spiritualism has awoken in him. He has become much less virulent and violent. He has also grown a keen interest in reading and writing, and this has in turn helped him earn further adulation from his voters. It is important to note that though there have been cases of physical violence – including several murders – against him, but he has kept his name unsullied in such allegations as looting, bribery, abduction for seeking ransom or cheating. This is one of the aspects of his life that makes him stand as distinct from other goons of Bihar. One must also recall that his personality has been developed in a peculiar environment and spiritual ideology. His family had
always been rebellious and politically aware. His father was an Anand Marg follower and preacher. The president of the Kisanganj Journalists Association, Abdul Karim told News Bench: “The couple’s life has been centred around ensuring the basic rights to the people of the area. He called up the power department officials and warned them that if they failed to ensure power supply of at least 22 hours a day to his constituency, he would cut off the power cables going into Nepal. And a senior journalist of Purnea district, Ravi Sharma says: “After solving the power issue, Pappu turned to health care improvement. He fixed the fees of all the doctors in the town, and made it a rule that they could charge fees, but just once a month from any family. He gives full support to anyone visiting Delhi for specialised treatment". Pappu Yadav’s doors are literally always open for his people. Interestingly, though he has fought for the rights of his own caste all his life, being an Anand Margi, he has not really been influenced by casteist prejudices. And this is why he has become acceptable to all the communities, and ensured a solid mass base for himself. It is to be noted that most of the strongmen from Bihar who had fought on NDA ticket were successful in winning their seats in the Modi Wave. For example, Surajbhan Singh's wife Veena Devi won from Munger seat on an LJP ticket. Similarly, late Brij Behari's wife Rama Devi also won from Shivhar constituency. Mafia don Rama Singh also won from Vaishali seat on LJP ticket. On the other hand Munna Shukla's wife Annu Shukla could not win the Vaishali seat. Ranvir's wife Krishna Yadav also lost as an independent candidate. In Siwan, Shahabuddin's wife Hina lost the polls. Convicted criminal Anand Mohan also failed to get his wife elected. In such a situation, Pappu Yadav and Ranjeet 's victories reaffirms an adage: service to the people pays. AUGUST 2014
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Garland by body-weight! There was a time when Mayawati had the party and the babus at her feet. Today, she is in the political wilderness, raising questions about the staying power of Dalit politics
The Mayajaal of Dalit Politics Early on in his political career, Kanshi Ram had realised that Dalit politics was internally fractious. Even Babasaheb Ambedkar could not unite all Dalits on one platform. So will dalit politics ever reach the zenith it once had under the dispensation of Mayawati? Or is it curtain call now? 50
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DALITS
VIKAS KUMAR
E
ver since the Indian electorate shocked the wits out of pundits on May 16, 2014, public and media discourse has focused on two things: the rise and rise of Narendra Modi and what it means for India; and the decline and fall of the Congress and what it means for the so called idea of India. Lost somewhere in this seemingly endless battle between Modi supporters and Modi baiters is yet another significant political trend that is not getting enough attention. And that is the unexpected and steep decline in Dalit parties and politics. The debacle suffered by Mayawati and her BSP is just a grim symbol of this. Some political analysts have raised one point with tongues firmly in cheek: the BJP owes more to three contemporary Rams than to the Ram Mandir for its sweeping victory. They are: Ramdas Athavale of the Maharashtra-based Republican Party of India (RPI); Ram Vilas Paswan of the Bihar-based LJP and Ram Raj, better known as Udit Raj who once nursed ambitions of being an alternative to Mayawati. The manner in which all three submerged their Dalit identities under the larger Hindutva umbrella of the BJP is symptomatic of the dilemma and the crisis confronting Dalit politics in the country. Athavale candidly admits as much when he says Dalit parties in Maharashtra had realised that they were incapable on their own of getting more than 200,000 votes in any constituency. It made strategic political sense then to hitch your wagon to a rising star. And all three - Atahavle, Paswan and Raj correctly guessed who the rising star in 2014 was. This is the irony of dalit politics. All of these leaders have hardly thought of welfare of dalits. Be it Mayawati or Ram Vilas Paswan or Uditraj. Ramvilas Paswan's whole career is a classic example of political opportunism. Dalit politics has faced this existential
Ramvilas Paswan: Nitish Kumar broke the back of this dalit leader by cooking up a new sub-caste of Maha Dalit, proving that dalit politicians can be bought and sold
dilemma ever since Dr BR Ambedkar formed the Republican Party of India back in 1952. Even his stature and charisma was unable to unite all Dalits on a single platform. In Maharashtra, the RPI ended up as a party of Mahars. The late Kanshi Ram once observed that while he learnt the art of Dalit politics from Ambedkar, he also learnt why dalit politics failed in Maharashtra. In Bihar, before riding on
DALITS IN THE MIRROR OF STATISTICS States with sizable dalit population: Punjab( 28.85), Uttar Pradesh (21%), Bihar(15.72), Rajasthan(17 ), Haryana (16.72) and Maharashtra (10.32) Number of reserved seats : 77 States with decisive dalit votes: Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra Andhra Pradesh No of districs with dalit population between 10-19%: 271 No of districts with upto 5% dalit population: 68
the coat tails of Modi, Ram Vilas Paswan too had realised the limits of Dalit unity. By creating a separate category of Maha Dalits, the then Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had strategically fragmented the Dalit vote. Similarly in Punjab, though Dalits form more than 30 per cent of the population, they haven't really been able to emerge as a formidable force because the two largest sub-castes Chamars and Bhangis do not see eye to eye. One has seen similar fragmentation even in the southern states like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu that have substantial Dalit populations. It was Mayawati, and the party formed by her mentor Kanshi Ram that actually promised to fundamentally transform Dalit politics in the country. So successful was Mayawati in her efforts that the international newsmagazine Newsweek once raged about her as one of the most powerful women in the world. And why not? One year after the death of Kanshi Ram in 2006, when everybody had written her off, Mayawati won a historic mandate in the 2007 assembly elections, with the BSP actually winning a majority AUGUST 2014
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of seats. It seemed then that Mayawati was unstoppable and that her years of dedication, ambition and relentless hard work were beginning to pay off. Mayawati started her political journey as a nobody when Kanshi Ram was experimenting with Dalit organisations like BAMCEF and DS-4. Mayawati took a huge risk by giving up her job as a primary teacher in a government school, as well as her family to become a close follower and aide of Kanshi Ram. She actually travelled the length and breadth of India on cycles to expand the Dalit footprint. Over time, Kanshi Ram began to trust her and gave her a room in his house. She shared that room with her elder brother, the only member of her family who supported Mayawati in her political quest. After becoming the UP chief minister a number of times with support of from other parties, Mayawati established her stamp of
Joining hands: Ramvilas and Athavale
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political dominance and authority with that famous victory in 2007. That year, Mayawati promised to open the floodgates for a new kind of Dalit politics by forging a successful partnership with Brahmans and Muslims. On paper, that did look like a truly formidable alliance. Taken together, the three formed well over half the population of the state and promised a partnership that could rule Uttar Pradesh for decades. Why just UP, Mayawati and her core team realised after 2007 that this partnership could be extended across the country. And as she travelled across the country to address huge rallies, it did appear that Mayawati could well emerge as the first truly pan Indian Dalit leader. The BSP was indeed emerging as a formidable force in states like Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Having won more than
30 per cent of the votes in the 2007 UP assembly elections, Mayawati was all set to emerge as a national force when the 2009 Lok Sabha elections approached. Her supporters never failed to raise the slogan and hopes by proclaiming that Mayawati was set to become the first Dalit Prime Minister of the country. The hype around her was such that even Mayawati started believing the rhetoric of her supporters and sycophants. Of course, Mayawati didn't even come close in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections though she managed to win about 20 seats in UP, despite the growing unpopularity of her party because of rampant corruption and misgovernance. Rise of the late Ponti Chaddha of Wave notoriety is a case in point. Dalit thinker Chandrabhan Prasad says, " Mayawati has to reinvent her politics if she wants to revive. She will have to behave as a mainstream
DALITS
From the leader of Suraj to Udit 'Ram' Raj... BJP's dalit politics
party talking about development. Not only Mayawati, but dalit parties should set a higher social marker."
Perhaps it was this peak of success when the seeds of her decline were sown. Always aggressive and abrasive, Mayawati started displaying authoritarian streaks that forced a lot of her supporters to move away from her party. According to Dalit thinker and intellectual Chandrabhan, Kanshi Ram used to be very close to all his supporters and followers and gave time and importance to all of them. He would often look after the welfare of them and even their families. This inspired a lot of loyalty amongst his ardent followers. In contrast, Mayawati has not made the effort to stay connected with her grassroots support base. She behaves imperiously with them and is known to be rude to many of them. One BSP leader who doesn't want to be named
says that Mayawati simply refuses to listen to anyone and the situation is such that hardly anyone dares to speak his mind openly in front of her. Virtually all old followers of Kanshi Ram have either left the party or have been thrown out by Mayawati. She is now surrounded by sycophants who can only give her bad advice. This attitude of Mayawati has left a lingering trail of bitterness. When Mayawati became chief minister for the third time in 2002, the then Revenue Secretary Harishchandra announced a policy decision that was beneficial for Dalits. This was as per instructions of the CM. But when the decision created a political furore, Mayawati blamed Harishchandra for the decision and publicly upbraided him. He was once even suspended by Mayawati. All led to a steady and sustained erosion in support for the party and the
leader. In the 2007 elections, the BSP had won more than 30 per cent of the votes. By the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the share dropped a few percentage points. By the 2012 assembly elections, when the Samajwadi Party won a huge mandate, the vote share of the BSP had dropped to about 26 per cent. And in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the vote share had dropped to below 20 per cent. Nobody could have imagined the humiliation that Mayawati would face in these elections. Founder of Diversity Mission and dalit thinker HL Dusadh says, "Mayawati's politics of sarvajan has failed and she will have to return to bahujan if she wants to preserve her political clout." Can she ever recover? It would be childish to write off her political career just yet. But this time around, a comeback could prove to be a tough nut to crack. AUGUST 2014
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KERALA
Police sending back hundreds of 'orphans' from Palakkad station, because they had been smuggled into Kerala on forged papers
“Orphanage industry” down under? Is 'God's Own Country' fast becoming a nightmare for boys and girls being brought in as 'orphans' to ensure a steady supply of funds - that run into several hundred crores - from Gulf countries? The children caught this time were from Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, most of them with forged documents 54
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RAJASEKHARA PANIKKER
F
ive hundred and seventy-eight children, reportedly orphans, are brought to Kerala from Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. They are brought by eight agents who work for orphanages in "God's Own Country". All of them were meant to reach the Mukkam Muslim Orphanage (MMO). Now see this from another angle: The kids were made to travel
ticketless for close to three days, and in conditions “like chickens”, as later described by an angry Kerala High Court. Many of the children’s parents are alive. Most of the children were brought based on forged documents. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The whole issue of orphanages in the state has become a major issue. At present, there are 1,387 orphanages in Kerala, of which 1,300 have no licenses. Just one among these orphanages alone received Rs 2.4 crore
CHILD TRAFFICKING
of foreign funding last year. So is this a flourishing “orphanage industry”? Let us not forget that the Kerala orphanages received a total of Rs 300 crore (Rs three billion) in one year from foreign sources. On May 24 and 25, the Railway Protection Force had detained these 578 children at Palakkad Railway Station. They came in two batches, some by the Patna-Ernakulam Express and the others by the Guwahati-Thiruvananthapuram Express. A furious Kerala High Court later observed that this cannot be treated as a small issue. Pointing out to questionable documents, the court asked: “The children were brought in from other states like chickens. They are children with parents still living, so why should they be put up in orphanages here? Where were they brought from, why and for whom should come to light.” The MMO said in their response that the children were brought in to get free education. There are contradictions in these arguments, the court observed. If they were brought here to get educated, why were there arrests in connection with this? If the children have parents, how these children can be dubbed as orphans, the court asked. Interestingly, MMO is run by Janab Syed Hyderali Shihab Thangal, state president of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the second largest constituent in the Congress-led United Democratic Front government, and he demanded that the FIR be rephrased and the allegation of child trafficking be dropped. The Division Bench of the High Court under Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice TR Ramachandran directed to send notices to the Principal Secretaries of the social welfare departments of Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. Significantly, the court also impleaded the Indian Railways in the case. “Where are the records of these kids brought so far? What is the guarantee that human rights were not vio-
lated, and they won’t be used for antinational activities? Do they land up in the hands of the beggars' mafia or sexracketeers? Do they become victims of conversion? What is the fate of children who grow up?” the court asked. There are shocking reports that many orphanages are actually rackets for collecting funds from Gulf countries in the guise of children’s welfare. It was reported that one orphanage in Kozhikode alone received Rs 2.4 crore foreign fund and Rs 13,90,231 as state government fund last year. And there is a practical reason why this racket is flourishing in the state. The problem for many labour intensive industries in the state is that two factors have sapped local supply of cheap labour. First, Kerala is a high literacy state (93.91 per cent). Second-
DUE TO HIGH PROSPERITY, CHEAP LABOUR IS NOT READILY AVAILABLE IN THE STATE. MOST OF THE 'ORPHANS' IN THE STATE WORK IN QUARRIES, PLYWOOD FACTORIES, ESTATES AND BRICK KILNS ly, the per capita is also very high (Rs 74,620), partly due to the huge expatriate Keralite community that sends money in dollars, mostly from Gulf countries. Hence there is a steady demand for cheap labour, which has to be brought in from others states. More and more children are employed in estates, quarries, brick kilns, plywood companies, industrial houses, construction fields, and houses - and for paltry salaries and meagre food. The recent incident has snowballed into a major row in the state with the
IUML coming out strongly against the Home Department and the Child Rights Commission for allegations against the Muslim religious outfits in the context of alleged child-trafficking. State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has publicly criticised the incident. The IUML took serious objections to the statements made by DIG S. Sreejith, nodal officer of state Human Rights Trafficking Cell. Sreejith, who visited MMO, said there were clear signs of child trafficking. “Orphanage authorities had not fulfilled the mandatory requirements," he had said. But the IUML shot back, saying that Sreejith is just an investigating officer and not entitled to pass any judgement. So, is this orphanage affair in Kerala all a hoax? May be. There are genuine orphanages too, no doubt, but of late, many more have mushroomed for the wrong reasons. Like educational and medical institutions, orphanages have become a lucrative business. Reports reveal that these orphanages received around Rs. 300 crore from abroad last year.“For some, orphanages are a façade to accept generous donations from across the country and from foreign countries,” says Murugan S Theruvoram, who entered the Limca Book of World Records for saving more than 2,000 children. “There are serious allegations of kids falling prey to prostitution, terror, sex rackets, etc. Only a thorough probe can reveal the truth. A survey by the UNICEF and a women’s organisation found that 40 per cent male children and 39 per cent girl children are sexually harassed in Kerala. The state Health Minister Sivakumar admitted in the Assembly that so far, the government has registered 557 cases of sexual harassment of minor girls during the year. In a state where 47 kids where brutally murdered and 129 children abducted in 2011, this is certainly not a good news for the state and something needs to be done urgently before the situation aggravates. AUGUST 2014
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ODISHA
Odisha: All the CMs’ Sons In a suave political move, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has brought in all the four sons of former CMs under his wing, cutting out any attempt at pedigreed opposition to his rule. And with this, he has also minimised his media headache DHRUTIKAM MOHANTY
T
hat the debonair Page 3 young man about town in New Delhi, Naveen Patnaik, could turn out to be such a wily politician could not have been anticipated when he was doing the party rounds in the national capital. But in a master move, he has made any pedigreed opposition to him a near impossibility. He has taken the sons of all former chief ministers of Odisha under his wings. So far, Odisha has seen 14 Chief Ministers. But only five of them left behind heirs, who are enjoying fruits of their fathers’ legacies. Being the son of Odisha’s former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik, Naveen got the opportunity to lead the regional outfit Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which was formed in 1997 just after the latter’s demise. At that time, Naveen’s one and only qualification was that he was Biju’s son. Neither was he staying in Odisha, nor did he have any exposure to politics or any link with the people of the state. People of Odisha possibly saw him for the very first time during the funeral rites of Biju Patnaik. The political followers of Bijuhad invited Naveen to join politics and become the face of the party. The political calculation behind this was to encash sympathy votes. Though Naveen entered as a novice, but over the years he turned himself into a tactically brilliant and successful poli-
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tician, and now he is ruling Odisha for consecutive four terms, which is inching towards becoming a record. Naveen has completed 5,000 days at a stretch as CM. The only CM to rule longer was the late Jyoti Basu of West Bengal (8,395 days). While Naveen is the only son of any former Odisha CM to become CM, the other four have been successful in maintaining prominence in politics. It is interesting that all of them have thought it politically wise to be with BJD under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik, though all of them are senior to him in politics. They are Bhartruhari Mahatab, son of Odisha’s first chief minister Dr. Harekrishna Mahatab; the state’s first non-Congress CM, Rajendra Narayan Singh Deo’s son Ananga Uday Singhdeo, Tathagata Satpathy, son of the first lady Chief Minister, Nandini Satpathy; and the state’s 10th CM, Nilamani Routray’s son Bijayshree Routray. Though apparently there is no bitching among these political scions, it is obvious that Naveen is closest to his mate from Doon School and scion of the Bolangir royal family, AU Singh Deo. Under the Patnaik dispensation, he is senior to all other CMs’ sons. He had forayed into politics in the 70s. In 1974, for the first time Singh Deo contested from the Loisingha Assembly segment as a Swatantra Party candidate and won handsomely. In 1976, he was appointed Minister of State for Forests, Fisheries
POLITICS
AU Singh Deo (top left) Bhartruhari Mahatab (middle left) Tathagata Satpathy (bottom left) Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik (top right) and Bijayshree Routray (bottom)
Biju Patnaik’s ministry. Thereafter, from 2000 he was given a berth in the Naveen Patnaik ministry, till he had resigned on ‘moral grounds’ following a liquor tragedy, which claimed more than 35 lives in 2012. He was then in charge of the state excise department. After that, he has been out of power. Another member of this club, Bijayshree Routray, an educationist-turnedpolitician, entered politics after resigning his lectureship in a posh college. In 1980, Routray started his political career with a futile attempt to win from the Basudevpur assembly segment. His second attempt from the same constituency on a JD ticket in 1985 also went awry. The typically ‘third time lucky’ Routray won in 1990. Since then, he has been win-
SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST GOPAL MOHAPATRA SAYS THAT THE FORMER CM'S SONS HAVE BEEN BROUGHT IN NOT BECAUSE OF THEIR LINEAGE, BUT DUE TO PATNAIK’S RECENT POLITICAL COMPULSIONS
and Animal Husbandry, a position he held until 1977. Thereafter, he repeatedly contested from the Bolangir Lok Sabha seat in 1984, 1991 and 1996 as a JD candidate, but flopped. Along with contesting for the Lok Sabha, however, Singh Deo had also started contesting for the Bolangir assembly seat from 1990. And that brought him success; he was elected as MLA for five consecutive terms. From 1991 to 1995, Singhdeo was a minister in
ning from that assembly seat till the last general elections in 2014. He has usually been minister, except between 2006 to 2012. He was asked to resign from the ministry for his alleged involvement in a bribery case. He was rehabilitated as a minister only in 2012. Similarly, two other heirs, Tathagata Satpathy and Bhartruhari Mahatab, had started their careers in electoral politics in the 90s. While Tathagata won the assembly election in 1990 as a JD candidate from Dhenkanal, Bhartruhari failed to win from the Simulia assembly segment as a Congress candidate. But Tathagata failed to win the second time. Mean-
while, Bhartruhari left Congress and joined JD. Then he got the ticket to fight from the Cuttack Lok Sabha segment in the by-election of 1996, but lost. In the 1998 General Elections, both Tathagata and Bhartruhari contested the polls as candidates of the newly formed BJD and won the Dhenkanal and Cuttack Lok Sabha seats respectively. Thereafter, both the leaders managed to get elected from their constituencies for three consecutive times. Interestingly, both are editors of two well-known dailies of Odisha, and Naveen has thus taken care of much of his media headache. During the last three terms, Bhartruhari Mahatab and Tathagata Satpathy had not been given any important positions in the BJD Parliamentary party. But this time, Naveen appointed Bhartruhari as Leader of the Parliamentary Party in Lok Sabha and Tathagata Satpathy as Chief Whip of the parliamentary party. Similarly, in his last term, Bijoyshree Routray has for the first time been given the crucial portfolios of revenue and disaster management. And Singh Deo, who failed to win the assembly elections, has been made a member of the Rajya Sabha recently. So why has Naveen given more attention to this group of politicians? A senior minister in Naveen’s cabinet said requesting anonymity that earlier, almost all party matters were dominated by Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, but the sons of the former CMs, en bloc, disliked this. Now Patnaik is taking all decisions himself on select advice. But Gopal Mohapatra, a senior political analyst and editor of the leading Odiya daily Prameya, disagreed. He avers: “Yes, we know Naveen Patnaik has a soft corner towards politicians from royalty, and for big names, but this time he has distributed positions purely from a political view point. If it is believed that Naveen has given special importance to them because of their family lineage, then I say it is due to his current and emerging political compulsions.” AUGUST 2014
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MANIPUR
Loktak: Babus Baking A Heritage Lake Manipur’s Loktak Lake, a Ramsar site located 38 kms south of state capital Imphal, is caught up in a difficult tussle between livelihood protection, environmental degradation and corruption capital Imphal, is caught up in a difficult tussle URMI BHATTACHARJEE
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ed by almost 30 rivers and streams, Loktak Lake is the largest fresh water body in northeast India. The lake is the lifeline for the people of Manipur, given its socioeconomic and cultural importance. Increasing dependence on the lake’s natural resources has led to a massive reduction of its carrying capacity. But in the name of lake preservation, huge funds are being misappropriated, while the livelihood of over 80 per cent of the people surviving on the lake are at peril. The incompetent Loktak Development Authority (LDA) and their insensitivity towards the indigenous people has become a major issue. The LDA was established in 1986 to protect and restore the lake. Loktak lake lies in Bishenpur district and is situated in the vicinity of Moirang town. Until three decades ago, the lake had a huge biodiversity. Longtime dwellers say that the diverse fauna of the lake, including several species of migratory birds, animals like the Sangai or the dancing deer were frequently seen straying near the villages. Pythons
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were seen climbing treetops, cranes would nestle amongst trees, many varieties of rare frogs would be seen croaking during rainy nights. The finest fish varieties locally named as Khabak, Ngaton and Pengba were found too. Even the flora of the catchment areas included several species of flowers and plants but are slowly fading into oblivion. The major factor behind the current conflict is the ‘Phumdis’ or floating biomasses, a characteristic feature unique to the lake. Phumdis are of variable sizes, porous in nature and float on the lake. Local fisherfolk depend on them for fishing. Many have built huts on them. The biggest biomass floating on the dying Loktak Lake is the famous Keibul Lamjao floating national park, with an area of 40 sq km. This is the only home to the unique endangered mammal, Sangai. There is an unending debate on whether the presence of phumdis is essential for the lake’s ecosystem. A section of people including the government, LDA and a few private bodies feel that the phumdis are disrupting water flow and are unnecessarily polluting the lake. The LDA is on a mission to clear these phumdis, spread-
Loktak Lake has been a Ramsar site and the home and livelihood of thousands, till the evil eyes of the realtor-babu turned to it
ing panic amongst locals. “The phumdis have caused a decline in the dissolved oxygen levels of the lake, which is affecting fishes and the ecosystem. Moreover they block sunlight, which is necessary for aquatic plants,” said Ibobi Singh, director, LDA. To aid the clearance process, as many as 1,500 floating huts have already been burnt by the LDA and the Manipur Police. Another section feels that it is important to retain the phumdis since these structures are important part of the lake’s ecosystem. “There is no proper scientific basis to
ENVIRONMENT
Thousands of huts were burnt down on the lake
linking the phumdis to degradation of the lake and their effect on water quality. No concrete studies have been done to assess this,” says Ram Wangkheirakpam, environment activist of Manipur. “With crores of rupees being allocated to clear the phumdis and subsequently evict village dwellers in the vicinity, their livelihood is now under threat, “he added". However, it is quite apparent that the eviction of these villagers is being used as scope for misutilisation of funds without a proper basis. In 2010, a scam had exposed, how the state govern-
ment handed over Rs. 224 crores to a suspicious private company K-Pro that existed only on paper. The bounty was allocated for cleaning the phumdis. The lakes’ management has time again been target of legal cases. Even the 2006 Manipur Loktak Preservation Act is said to be biased and has been implemented without consent from the direct beneficiaries of the lake. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has recently observed that conservators, environmentalists and other local professionals were not consulted before the implementation of
the Act. Section 20 of the Act provides that no person shall "build any hut or house on phumdis inside the lake" within a designated core area, where many villagers already lived before the Act came into force. Moreover the Act prohibits athapum fishing, while providing no scope for compensation or rehabilitation of the lake dwellers. The AHRC has noted that this Act gives LDA authorities sweeping powers of entry and inspection that often gives scope to officials to act with impunity and hence is a direct infringement on the Right to Life. To enforce the law, AUGUST 2014
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MANIPUR
No hope in sight: Victims of police tyranny and state apathy
both the LDA and Manipur Police along with K-Pro have repeatedly resorted to vandalism by ruthlessly evicting locals, including women, resorting to physical assault. The Loktak Hydropower Project commissioned in 1983 has damaged the ecology of the lake, environmentalists argue. Over 5000 families have been liv-
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ing in floating huts in localities like Khuman Yangbi, Nambul Machin and Karang Sabal within the Loktak Lake. Local activists say that no active initiative has been taken to rehabilitate the homeless. A pittance of Rs 40,000 was given to fishermen families whose houses were burnt. Affected women and children had to seek shelter in the
Thanga Chingyang Community Hall in Bishenpur. Loktak Operation in 1999 and Operation Summer Storm in 2008 are some of the infamous human rights violations. These floating huts were also refuge for landless people who were earlier displaced by the Ithai Barrage of the Loktak Multipurpose Hydroelectric Project, which has swamped nearly 80,000 hectares of agricultural land since its commissioning in 1984. Replies to Right To Information questions have revealed that the LDA gave just Rs 13,000 per athaphum fishers to some 8,100 of them. The locals are unhappy with this measly compensation. Noted environmentalist and geographer RK Ranjan said that post the construction of Ithai barrage, the water level remained constant throughout the year, affecting traditional fishing patterns. Activist Dr Laifungbam Debabrata Roy says that there are numerous other issues that pose a far bigger threat to the lake’s ecology. “The precious lake is intertwined in issues like water pollution, eutrophication, chocking due to water hyacinth and blockage at the Ithai Barrage dam for the periodic spawning fish to swim upstream. Open defecation around the lake due to improper sanitary systems in the local villages further poses a threat to the lake’s health.” The All Loktak Lake Area Fishermen’s Union, Manipur has repeatedly demanded that the Manipur Loktak Lake (Protection) Act of 2006 be thoroughly reviewed to bring it in harmony with international standards and the fundamental rights of the people. They have even urged the Ramsar secretariat and National Human Rights Commission to intervene. In fact the NHRC has heard as many as 46 different cases of violations in various forms. But the state government is determined to finish off the lake ecosystem that had survived with the phumdis and their residents since ages.
E D U C AT I O N
India is now part of global economy and numerous opportunities have become available for students, all beyond the conventional courses. The need of the hour is to think beyond the pre-conceived notions and search for newer opportunities
VIKAS KUMAR
R
aju Mahare, a CBSE student, decided to opt for a course in art restoration, much against the wishes of his parents. They want him to study either engineering or medicine. Every year, lakhs of students' test their fates in the all India examinations, but only a handful succeed. The rest of them, despite talent and effort, fail to clear the final hurdle, causing disappointment and disillusionment. One must understand that there are only around 32,000 seats available in the country for studying medicine, as against more than 3.5 million aspirants. It is but natural that a large number of students will have to remain contented with other courses. For long engineering has been the most popular course. Now, innovative courses offered by arts and science colleges are in great demand considering their immediate job prospects. City colleges have come up with several innovative courses, though B.Com tops the popularity charts. It is true that certain conventional courses have their own charm, and they will remain favourites among students. But, after globalisation, newer courses have emerged. For example, rural India has often been ignored by majority of students, but because of the rise in the villagers' purchasing power, companies have started focussing on them. Rural management gives various opportunities for aspirants to follow their dreams and make it big in this particular field.
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Ahoy: New Port Ahead
With the changing scenario and government policies on rural development, lucrative opportunities have opened up for candidates specialised in rural management. There are campus placements that happen in most of the management institutes. If you have a creative bent of mind, then advertising can be a good option. “Today, we can compare Indian advertising to that of any place in the world. Some of the best creative talents reside here and we are finally beginning to recognise our own potential,” says Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and national creative director, O&M. Institutes are also launching courses which give you knowledge about digital marketing with advertising. Design is the other promising sector, the importance of which is increasing day after day. There are options like call centre technology, herbal technology, yoga and separate programmes that emphasise basic sciences and life sciences. New options offer whole range of careers for the students. It has been observed that B.Sc Geology is chosen mostly by CBSE students. Geology graduates have immense opportunities at the master's level. Besides, they can go for specialisation in mining or remote sensing. Here is the list with detailed analysis of the newer opportunities. India is transforming at rapid pace and change is palpable at every place. New vistas of opportunity are opening up everywhere and to cope with this new skills and expertise is being felt. For example, rural India is often looked down
A boom in new choices is seeing students out of the rate race for medicine and engineering
“ Designing is very important. Students will have to think beyond set lines to make a mark in this sector.” Nien Siao, Director of Pearl Academy Noida
N E W V I S TA S
upon by the younger professionals, but most of us make error of judgement in this. Deep Gupta, Director, Prayarth, a NGO based in economically backward district of Gaya, says, “We need a project director and we are ready to pay good salary. The job is to coordinate with various funding agencies.” Bachelor of Rural Studies prepares you for such challenges in the rural sector. This is not very different from normal management courses. But, course is
"Students today are competing in a rapidly changing world. Simply covering the curriculum is not enough. At SRM we equip students with both, first-rate education and necessary skill sets." Dr. T. R. Pachamuthu, Chancellor, SRM University
tweaked to suit the demands of rural sector. After completion of the course, you get opportunity to work in rural enterprises as analysts, consultant and a manager. The hospitality sector is also booming. At least 100 new hotels are coming in the Delhi/NCR only. It is estimated that 75 lakh to one crore people would be
employed in the hospitality sector over the next five years. This means, the hotel industry alone will need manpower at every level. Approximately 80,000 rooms need to be added immediately in this sector. Out of this, 11 per cent are in the managerial category, 13 per cent in the supervisory category and 76 per cent comprise of staff members. Rohit
Bajpai, General Manager, Radison Blu, Dwarka, says: “A stable leadership at the centre and new reform policies to give a thrust to the economy will increase the growth of tourism, resulting in boom in the hotel industry.” According to a study by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, demand for trained manpower in hotels and restaurant would be 45,000 by year 2015. One cannot forget that India is a service-based economy and in a servicebased economy, the role of technology becomes critical. The opportunities for the IT graduates is not as lucrative as it used to be few years ago. Big Data is now the big emerging field which is on the cusp of a breakout. There are bright careers ahead for young professionals in this sector. And at the moment, the demand far exceeds the available pool of well trained data scientists. Now, opportunities in Big Data has raised huge expectations. Big Data refers to using of math and technology to arrive at behavioural sciences and design thinking. This is why companies across sectors - IT, retail, fast-moving consumer goods and consulting - are looking at Big Data specialist to gain competitive advantage. Galgotia University has tied up with IBM to provide degrees in this sector. Additionally, Cloud Technology is another emerging paradigm in the IT sector. HCL technology is investing Rs 1,500 crore to create an IT park based on Cloud Technology in Lucknow. Undoubtedly, Cloud is the next wave of computing. Businesses want to get out of the complexity of managing data centers to focus more on their core competencies. The B.Tech programme with the specialisation in Cloud Computing & Virtualisation helps students understand the basics. Students benefit from several practical credits that provide hands-on capabilities on various aspects of cloud. After completion of the course, students are absorbed as Cloud Solution Architect, Cloud System Administrator, Cloud System AUGUST 2014
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E D U C AT I O N
INSTITUTES OFFERING COURSES RURAL MANAGEMENT • NIMT Institute of Agri Business and Rural Management • NIMS Institute of Management TOURISM AND TRAVEL • Indian Institute of Hotel Management • SRM College of Hotel Management • Welcome Graduate School of Hotel Management, • Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa • Hotel and Hospitality Management Amity University
Development. As per a leading research firm IDC, worldwide spending on Cloud services has reached ahead of $42 billion. Now take another interesting case on how people's preferences are giving new shape to careers. Fashion is one such field. In addition, design has become very important in every type of product. It plays critical part in consumer durables, FMCG and in packaging industry. Nien Siao, Director of Pearl Academy Noida says, “Designing is very important. Students will have to think beyond set lines to make a mark in this sector.” There are various courses with different names but Bachelor of Textile Design and Fashion is the most comprehensive course in which you learn not only textile design, but also studies fashion and design as a critical element of the study. Students also get opportunity to work in garment export houses. Just two decades ago, it was difficult to imagine that India will need yoga instructors in huge number. Rajeev Kumar, an Independent Yoga Consultant based in Delhi, says to News Bench, “Now high-profile people prefer to have their personal yoga instructors as they don’t have time to go in yoga centers.” Now, multi-speciality hospitals attach a lot of weight to yoga teachers and they are hiring yoga professionals in large
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numbers. An integral part of Yoga is practicing physical exercises (asanas) and breathing exercises (pranayam). Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade, Dharmadhikari, Shree Kshethra Dharmasthala & President, SDM Educational Society says, “All leading health agencies like WHO have rung the alarm of threat coming from Non-communicable diseases. Hence we need multi-dimensional approach in terms of effective health education; establishment of Yoga & Naturopathy hospitals.” Bachelor in Naturopathy and Yogic Science prepares you for such opportunities. Lovely Professional University offers another interesting opportunity in food technology. It offers B.Sc Food Technology (Regular) of 3 years duration. The new age course teaches students the application of food science in processing, manufacturing, and preservation of food products. Students also get the chance to study the chemical, physical and microbiological makeup of food and how it is processed, preserved, packaged and stored. After completion of the course students can pursue jobs or further studies in packaging technology, organic chemistry, biochemistry and analytical chemistry. Amity University also offers this course. Advertising and Marketing Management and Digital Marketing is the whole
ANALYTICS AND CLOUD • Galgotia University • Academy of Design Science and Analytics DESIGN • Pearl Academy (Noida) • JD Institute of Fashion Technology • GD Goenka School of Fashion and Design • JJ School of Arts (Mumbai) • Sharda University (Greater Noida) MOBILE APPS DEVELOPMENT • CMC (Delhi) • DIT University, Dehradun • Bharti Vidyapeeth University (Pune)
landscape of marketing industry. Digital marketing has changed the face of marketing. Suddenly, the need for SEO specialists are being felt. Additionally, there are plenty of short courses that claim to teach digital marketing. But, they are of little value. To get proper exposure it is always advisable to study three years bachelors course in marketing and advertising. Indian Institute of Mass Communications (IIMC) in Delhi and Amity University are popular Institutes in NCR region. IIMC is after graduation. In short, there is no dearth of courses that have a potential to transform your careers. You just need to turn your mind to the vast range of opportunities waiting to embrace you.
ECONOMY
REAL ESTATE Set to ROAR and SOAR Many proactive steps announced in the budget have given a shot in the arm to the real estate sector in the country
SUTANU GURU
O
ne of the most depressing legacies of the UPA regime was the mess it had created for various crucial sectors of the country like mining, telecom, aviation, power, textiles and many more. It was inevitable for the real estate sector to become a victim of the restrictive, arbitrary and self defeating policies of the previous government at Delhi. Since 2009, the real estate sector had been squeezed and hit hard by twin problems of supply and demand. As
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R E A L E S TAT E
Balwinder Kumar, Vice-Chairmain, DDA There is no doubt that the real estate sector is going through a bad phase. This is why government has taken steps to revive it. We hope there will be a boom after this. So far as DDA is concerned, we have not been affected because of recession. If prices increase then DDA will also benefit from it. Good days ahead: The budget has many provisions to lift the sentiments in the industry
the judicial intervention and prolonged delays in the case of commercial and residential property in Noida Extension indicated, real estate companies were confronting a problem of acquiring land. The 2013 Land Acquisition Act made things even tougher. On the demand side, the persistent decline in the rate of GDP growth, the high interest rates and negative economic sentiments persuaded hundreds of thousands of potential middle class buyers to postpone the purchase of their dream homes. Real estate players in big markets like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and even in smaller cities like Ludhiana, Lucknow, Indore, Mysore and Bhubaneswar were forced to suffer mounting inventories, falling prices and looming losses. It was inevitable then that there were a raft of expectations when the new regime with Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister was ushered in by a restive electorate in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. Why
REAL ESTATE VETERANS ARE CLEARLY BUOYED BY THE PROVISIONS IN THE BUDGET. THE CHANGE IN TAX STRUCTURE HAS ELICITED A VERY EXCITING RESPONSE FROM REALTORS real estate leaders from all other sectors and industries were hoping for some deep and dramatic policy changes that would signal the revival of economic growth. All eyes were on the first NDA Union Budget being presented by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Soon after the Budget speech got over in the afternoon of July 10, 2104, there was a bag of mixed reactions from various industries. Many felt that the first Budget had been too cautious in launching bold new policies that would bring about the much-awaited sweeping changes.
But while some other industries might have expressed a level of apprehension and disappointment, the real estate sector has been thrilled by the policy decisions announced in the budget. There is a palpable sense of excitement and optimism in the sector after years of being subjected to depressing news. This optimism and cheerfulness was reflected in the stock markets even as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was reading out the budget speech. Shares of prominent real estate companies registered handsome gains in the stock markets.There were reasons provided in the budget for the optimism. Three seemingly small tweaks in the innovative tax structure will not only end up leaving more cash in the hands of middleclass households, but also encourage them to come out of their self imposed shell and start thinking seriously about investing in property. The first is the increase in the basic exemption limit for income tax from Rs 2,00,000 to Rs 2,50,000. The second is a little more significant. The AUGUST 2014
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ECONOMY
budget has increased the exemption given on interest payments on home loans from Rs 1.5 lakh per year to Rs 2 lakh per year. Another boost to the housing sector in terms of both money and sentiments has been provided by the decision to raise the exemption on the principal payments on home loans from Rs 1,00,000 to Rs 1,50,000. These steps will not only make available more cash to hundreds of thousands of middle class households, but will have a big psychological impact on the sentiments of potential home buyers. In the immediate future, real estate companies in big markets like Delhi- NCR can expect many potential buyers who had shelved their decisions to buy houses to come back to the market. All these potential buyers and real estate companies are hoping that India will eventually see a reduction in interest rates that will prove immensely helpful to buyers. Interest rates in India are at absurdly high levels and almost everybody expects the Modi government to do something about it. Industry is hopeful that government will act fast to cut the red tape. Though few development authorities such as GDA have taken some measures in this direction, but most of them have no clear-cut deadline for clearing the files. Talking to News Bench, GDA ViceChairman Santosh Yadav said: "GDA is the only authority in the country where we approve house map in a day." Balwinder Kumar, Vice-Chairmain, DDA , talking to News Bench said, " There is no doubt that real estate sector is going through bad phase. This is why government has taken steps to revive the sector. We hope there will be boom after this. We have not been affected because of recession. However, if prices increase then DDA will also benefit from it." There are some other major steps announced in the budget that will benefit real estate companies as well as lower middleclass and middleclass
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Santosh Yadav, Vice-Chairman, GDA GDA is the only development authority in the country where, if anybody comes up with his own housing map at 10 am, we give the approval the very same day.
Vikas Gupta, JMD Earth Group “The FM has now made it clear that the government will lay emphasis on faster clearance of projects, reducing the existing red-tapism in the government.
buyers. In a move that could provide a big boost to the influx of FDI in the real estate sector, the budget has stipulated that the upper limit on FDI in affordable housing projects has been reduced from $10 million to $5 million. Simultaneously, FDI has been permitted in affordable housing projects with a total area of 20,000 square meters, down from 50,000 square meters earlier. Access to FDI will help real estate companies considerably
reduce capital costs and increase the viability of their projects. Besides, the finance minister has announced that companies which are now legally required to spend two per cent of their profits on CSR activities can now utilise these funds for slum development projects. Collectively, all this promises to provide a huge fillip to housing in urban low income areas, a segment that has remained largely neglected by both policymakers out of apathy, and by real
R E A L E S TAT E
David Walker, Executive Director SARE Homes The introduction of REITs is also welcomed as it will lower the cost of ďŹ nance. This will help developers attract long-term funds from foreign investor community.
Kishor Pate, CMD - Amit Ent. Housing Ltd The allocation of Rs 37,850 crore for the National Highway Authority of India will result in vastly improved road networks, which will in turn result in new vibrancy.
estate companies because of regulatory and viability issues. Within a few years, these activities will gather momentum and have a huge impact on the real estate sector, most of it positive. Look at it this way: the finance minister has provided Rs 50,000 crore for urban housing, apart from Rs 8,000 crore for rural housing. Add all this to the slew of other decisions to encourage investments in the infrastructure sector and one could well witness a profitable
and growth-oriented future for serious real estate players. Talking to News Bench Vikas Gupta, JMD, Earth Group, said: “The Union FM has now made it clear that the government will lay emphasis on faster clearance of projects. With this step, the existing red-tapism in the government will end.� Yet another significant policy decision that will have a long term impact on the fortunes of the real estate sector. The finance minister has announced that
Allowing FDI in the small builder projects will help in realising dreams of smart cities
foreign funds will now be allowed to set up formal Real Estate Investment Trusts. In a significant move that has sent a message that this regime is serious, the Securities & Exchange Board of India has already laid down detailed guidelines for the operations of these trusts. Real estate companies will benefit in two ways from this move. The first is access to more and cheaper funds for new projects of all varieties. As everyone in this sector knows, availability of funds at reasonable costs has been one of the biggest challenges confronting it for long. The second significant benefit is that these inflows will lead a more organised and better regulated real estate sector in the country in the long run. This will inevitably benefit both buyers as well as real estate companies. The budget has earmarked more than Rs 7,000 crore for the development of 100 smart cities scattered across India. The bigger advantage is that these 100 new smart cities will be developed simultaneously, with massive investments being planned by the Modi government in infrastructure sectors like roads, highways, railways and manufacturing. All these will result in a win-win situation for home buyers, institutional investors and the real estate companies. One last thing that should give a lot of hope to realty - though mega plans have not yet been announced is tourism boom. Along with 100 new smart cities, Modi is passionate about encouraging the tourism sector in a very big way. Now consider this fact: India attracted less than seven million global tourists in 2013 compared to 27 million for Thailand. PM Modi is determined to transform this sector, just as did over ten years in Gujarat when he was chief minister. That should be music to the ears of real estate companies. so for at least some entrepreneurs and investors, acche din have actually started! AUGUST 2014
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I M PA C T F E AT U R E
THE ARTISAN
approach to economy The handicraft sector is crucial not just to India's rural sector, but to the economy as a whole. Hightened awareness about Indian handicrafts and growth of foreign tourism has boosted the sector. The Ministry of Textiles has thus instituted awards to encourage the artisans. Here is a detailed report:
H
andicraft has its roots in ancient rural India. Many specific crafts have been practised for centuries, while others are modern inventions. Some crafts were popularised during the ages, originally practised in a limited geographic area. Many handicraft artisans use natural, even entirely indigenous, materials, while others prefer modern, non-traditional materials, and even cycle up industrial waste. The individual artisanship of a handcrafted item is the paramount criterion; those made by mass production or machines are not handicraft goods. Simple ‘arts
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and crafts’ projects are a common elementary and middle school activity in both mainstream and alternative education systems around the world. Important constituent of economy Handicraft constitute an important segment of the de-centralised and unorganised sector of our economy. It is mainly a rural sector which originates in backward and inaccessible areas. Initially, handicraft started as a part- time occupation in rural areas, however, it has now transformed into a flourishing economic activity due to significant market demand
over the years. Handicrafts industry has big employment potential as they hold a key for sustenance not only of the existing millions of artisans, but also of increasingly large number of new entrants. At present, handicraft sector is contributing substantially to employment generation and exports; however, this sector has suffered due to its unorganised nature along with additional constraints, like - lack of education, capital, and poor exposure to new technologies, absence of market intelligence and poor institutional framework.
HANDICRAFTS
BAHVY: A Need Based Approach In order to overcome these constraints, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hastashilp Vikas Yojana (BAHVY), as a Central Scheme, was launched in 2001-02 wherein the main thrust was on adapting project-wise, need-based approach for integrated development of potential handicrafts clusters with participation of artisans at all stages of scheme implementation. The overall objective is of socio-economic empowerment of artisans and their sustainability. The scheme envisages a package of support to the cluster of handicraft artisans, which inter-alia
includes basic inputs, infrastructure support and capacity enhancement to cater to the target markets. While the Government of India and the State Governments have intervened in meaningful ways that have led to the revival and survival of crafts in past a few decades, still in one global unified market, handicrafts sector of India has to be strengthened further to be globally competitive. Therefore, it is a compelling urgency to fill in the critical gaps dealt with in the scheme based on cluster approach. National Informatics Centre of
Handicraft The ministry distributes National Awards, Shilp Guru Awards and Sant Kabir Awards to promote artisans and weavers for their outstanding contributions to the economy with their creative handicrafts and handloom creations. The ministry recently distributed the above mentioned awards on 1 July 2014 for the year 2011. The Awards were presented by President of India Pranab Mukherjee at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. National Awards for Craftsmen These were introduced in 1965, which AUGUST 2014
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I M PA C T F E AT U R E
were later extended to weavers also. Every year up to 20 national awards and 20 national merit certificates are given in each category-- to the outstanding craftsmen and handloomweavers. National award consists of a certificate, an angavastram, a copper plaque and cash reward of Rs.1 lakh, while National Merit Certificate Award consists of a certificate and a cash reward of Rs. 50,000. All artisans and weavers who are citizens of India, above the age of 35 with 10 years’ experience in the field of handicrafts or handlooms as on 31st December of previous year are eligible for the award. National Awards are presented in two categories: National Award in Handicrafts category was conferred on 21 persons National Award in Handlooms category was conferred on 25 persons Besides, President Pranab Mukherjee also gave National Merit Certificate to 20 persons in handicrafts category and to 21 persons for handloom. Sant Kabir Award, established in
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2009, is conferred on outstanding weavers who have made valuable contribution in keeping alive the handloom heritage. The award is christened in the memory of Sant Kabir, a 15thcentury mystic poet-saint of India who was also a weaver. The award consists of one mounted gold coin, one shawl and a citation along with a cheque of Rs. six lakh. Shilp Guru Award, was established in 2002 on occasion of Golden Jubilee Year of Handicrafts Resurgence in India. It is conferred on legendary master craft persons of handicrafts whose work and dedication have contributed not only to the preservation of rich and diverse heritage of the country, but also to the resurgence of handicrafts sector as a whole. The award consists of one mounted gold coin, one shawl and a citation along with a financial assistance to the extent of Rs.7.50 lakh. The eligibility criteria for Sant Kabir Awards and Shilp Guru Awards are the same. Any Indian master craft persons
HANDICRAFTS
who is either a National Awardee or a State Awardee of exceptional standing, or master craft persons of extraordinary skills, and having made their immense contribution to the handicrafts sector. The craftsman should not be below the age of 55 years. A maximum of 10 awards are given in each category every year. The ministry are offering various schemes, such as: Human Resource Development Scheme: The Human Resource Development (HRD) Scheme has been formulated to provide the handicraft sector with qualified and trained workforce. This workforce shall contribute to a strong production base leading to production of high quality items that cater to the present-day upscale market requirements. This scheme also aims at creating human capital for the sector in terms of trained cadre of designers for the handicrafts by providing relevant inputs through its components. There is also a provision made
for imparting soft skill considered necessary for the artisans to enable them to undertake their own business successfully. The scheme has the following five components: Training through established institutions under the ministry Handicrafts training program Training through Guru Shishya Parampara Training of the trainers Design mentorship- and- apprentice programme Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hastshilp Vikas Yojana (AHVY): This scheme aims at promoting Indian handicrafts by developing artisans’ clusters into a professionally managed and selfreliant community enterprise on the principles of effective memberparticipation and mutual cooperation. The thrust of the scheme is on a projected, need-based integrated approach for sustainable handicrafts development through participation of craft-persons leading to their empowerment. AUGUST 2014
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H E A LT H
Spine cure at 900 kmph! HydroCision is being claimed as the latest minimal invasive technique to cure slipped disk and failed spine surgeries, and has arrived in India. But is it guaranteed to cure? RAVI SHARMA
T
he water-jet hit the damaged part of the spine of Samarjeet Singh at 900 kilometres per hour. It brought out the damaged part of the spine almost instantly. By the evening, Singh was back home, walking pain free. He called his doctor and said “Thank you.” For the first time in many years, he had finally been cured of his slipped-disk pain. Singh is a resident of New York, but the operation took place in Fortis Hospital Chandigarh, at half the cost he would have paid “back home”, that is, in the US. No wonder there is a queue of several thousand “medical tourists” awaiting visas to come to India for various kind of cures. The country has the latest equipment, the best of doctors and it costs very little here. Reminds us of the case of a nineyear-old Pakistani boy who was cured of multiple kidney and liver problems in Fortis Noida. Anyway, the operation was unique and was tried on Singh for the first time in India. When Singh was told that he would be the first guinea pig for this surgery, he was quite apprehensive. But then within the next 15 minutes, his pain was over. He was kept in the observatory for two hours and then walked out of the hospital. It was for him nothing short of a mira-
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Back aches and slipped disks are today a common lifestyle related problem
HYDROCISION
cle. He had never imagined this would be possible… a back without pain! HydroCision is meant to solve unmet needs and improve outcomes in spine surgery by providing fluidjet-driven medical devices for use in open and minimally invasive spine procedures, to simultaneously cut, ablate, and remove hard and soft tissue quickly, safely, and effectively without the collateral thermal or mechanical trauma of other surgical modalities. Unique to HydroCision is the use of a “collector” tube, not only to capture the fluidjet beam, but also to create a powerful suction and morcellation effect at the active site. Utilising proprietary designs, flow patterns and cavitation are achieved that result in tissue being drawn into the collector and away from the operative site, without the need for external suction connection. This also allows exquisite visibility during operation of the device - particularly important in spine procedures where the surgical site is surrounded by vital structures such as nerves and blood vessels. A further major advantage of HydroCision is the ability to achieve “differential” tissue excision. This allows the spine surgeon to quickly and safely remove soft tissue, such as disc nucleus, without damaging the surrounding harder annulus tissue or vertebral endplates. These advantages illustrate the power and versatility of fluidjet technology, as practiced by HydroCision, to provide solutions to the spine surgeon, enabling efficient surgical procedures and optimum patient outcomes. It was four years ago that Singh had undergone a spine surgery. But it failed to give relief after some time. This is called the “failed back-pain surgery syndrome”, or FBSS. This happens in around 40 per cent of spinal surgeries. Hence, HydroCision has become very popular in countries like the US. And
Dr Dharmendra Singh, Spine Surgery Specialist Medanta
But Dr Dharmendra Singh, spine surgery specialist at Medanta Hospital, Sector 38, Gurgaon, really does not agree with these claims. News Bench spoke to him about spinal problems in general and HydroCision in particular. He says: “These are claims being made by smart marketing people of the equipment producing companies. There is no guarantee that these are useful. Such techniques surface from time to time. Earlier, there was something called ozone therapy. But that did not succeed either.” But on what basis does he say this? Are there cases of relapses? “I am a spine surgeon myself. The records of such new fads show that there are relapses, I would say a very large number of relapses, which shows that there is no guarantee of a cure using such techniques.”
now it is being used in India as well. Fortis Chandigarh’s Critical Care and Pain Management specialist Dr Avtar Singh Matharoo says: “This technology has completely revolutionised spinal surgery. Especially in cases of slipped disk and FBSS, this is nothing short of a miracle.” Spinal disc herniation, (commonly called a slipped disc) is a medical condition affecting the spine in which a tear in the outer, fibrous ring of an intervertebral disc allows the soft, central portion to bulge out beyond the damaged outer rings. Disc herniation is usually due to age related degeneration of the anulus fibrosus, although trauma, lifting injuries, or straining have been implicated. Dr Matharoo admits that on the eve of the first such surgery he had been a little uneasy. The complete kit for the operation had arrived just a day ahead. He needed some time to get his hands practiced to handle the speed of the jet and get familiar with other aspects of the surgery. Singh, the patient, was admitted to the hospital at around 10 in the morning. He had to undergo some tests, and then taken to the operation theatre. Then the surgery took place and within 15 minutes Singh was okay. Two hours
later, he was released and went home. “In the evening Samarjeet Singh called and said he was taking his evening stroll without any pain. It was a matter of great joy for me,” Matharoo told News Bench. In medical terms this is called minimal invasive procedure. In this, a thick needle is inserted into the spine. Through this a jet of saline water is injected to the damaged tissues at the speed of 900 km per hour. There is another finer needle alongside, which drains out the injected water, bringing out the damaged tissues and curing the pain. The procedure is also called ‘wash-away back pain technique’. The biggest advantage of this procedure so far as the patient is concerned is that s/he does not need to stay in the hospital beyond a few hours. This is why in the US it is also termed as the walk-in/walk-out operation. The actual operation does not need more than just five minutes. It does not require the patient to be under general anaesthesia, and only the small operatable portion is made inert. It also helps the surgeon, because the procedure allows him or her to conduct the surgery without any possible damage to the endplate of the bone or any adjoining tissue. AUGUST 2014
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TOLL FREE
B O L LY W O O D
ALIA
THE ‘DUMB’
CLEVER ACTRESS She may be the butt of jokes on Facebook, but the 21-year-old has repeatedly shown her intuitive acting calibre and her capacity to keep the producers happy with box office news. She has delivered consecutive hits, at just 21, and has received almost undiluted critical acclaim and so far, just one of her films have not done well 80
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A L I A B H AT T
SUJIT CHAKRABORTY
I
ssko liquid oxygen mein daal do... liquid ise jine nahin dega, aur oxygen ise marne nahi dega.” Or take the other one: “Isko varnish pila do... mar bhi jayega aur finish bhi acchha rahega.” These are the famous old Ajit jokes, after the great actor who played the villain’s role and invariably said bombastic things such as these. For long, though, no actor or actress has been pegged with so many jokes. But now comes Alia Bhatt and there is a whole FB page, titled “Alia Bhatt is so dumb”. Apparently, in the TV show “Coffee with Karan” on "Star World", she was asked who is the president of India. “Prithiviraj Chauhan,” she had quipped. Though I am not sure whether the FB page started before or after this, but incredible dumb quotes are attributed to her. Papa Bhatt asks Alia: “Why are you standing with your eyes closed in front of the mirror?” Alia replies: “So that I can see how I look with my eyes closed!” Question: “Who discovered Zero?” Alia says: “Gautam Gambhir!” and so forth. “Alia is so dumb that she thought pani puri, sev puri and bhel puri are all relatives of Amrish Puri.” But the critical acclaim that this 20-something received for almost all her films does not quite gel with her (created) FB image. Like her or hate her, you cannot ignore Alia Bhatt. One can argue that she had all the advantages of being Mahesh Bhatt’s daughter. Her half sister Puja too had been an actress, but she too had flowered in her own right. It is after all not easy to get a big complement from the editor of Film-
fare, Raedita Tandon, who said after an interview with her: "After meeting Alia Bhatt, I came away with an unexpected feeling. Interviewing her was more like having a conversation with a gal pal. She's what one wishes every celebrity was – carefree and relaxed. There's no mincing of words with her and certainly no diplomacy. May be it's because she's all of 20 years. Or may be, she gets it from her father, Mahesh Bhatt. Either way, she's a delight. Though there has been a surge of young actors over the past years, only a few have managed to make a mark.
is reminiscent of Kareena Kapoor in "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham". Stylish, classy, born with a silver spoon, she's someone who loves to flaunt not just her clothes and bags, but also her riches. Extremely photogenic, Alia makes a super-confident debut." And film critic Anupama Chopra of Hindustan Times also mentioned the similarities with Kapoor's character, but noted that her performance was "without the killer attitude." The film was a financial success, grossing Rs 700 million (US$12 million) domestically.
COFFEE GAFFE She was asked who is the President of India and she said, 'Prithiviraj Chauhan', which may have triggered off the round of jokes as Alia as a dumb girl, but she is smart enough to pull off successive hits. So, is she so dumb, after all? Or is this how she is creating a 'different' image for herself?
Alia is definitely one of them.” Alia’s entree into Bollywood came early, in 1999 when she played the role of Preity Zinta as a child. It was the film “Sangharsh”, starring Zinta and Akshay Kumar. Her first big ticket film was Karan Johar’s “Student of the Year” in 2012. Her co-stars were Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan. She portrayed the role of Shanaya, a sophisticated teenage girl who is in a relationship with Dhawan's character, but is attracted to the character played by Malhotra. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama wrote, "Alia's role
It says something of Alia’s elan that she could hold her own in the face of such stalwarts as Rishi Kapoor, Sana Saeed, Ronit Roy, Ram Kapoor and Farida Jalal in supporting roles. The movie also features Boman Irani, Kajol, Farah Khan and Vaibhavi Merchant in guest appearances. Student of the Year was released on 19 October 2012 in over 1400 locations across India. It was a critical and commercial success and gained positive to mixed reviews from critics and good box office collections. The movie remained the second highest grossing Bollywood AUGUST 2014
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film in the month of October and is one of the highest grossing Bollywood films of 2012. It was also the biggest non-starwa cast opener ever in Bollywood. cas In I 2014, Bhatt had three film releases. She played the protagonist of Imtiaz Ali's road pro film Highway opposite Randeep Hooda. Her portrayal of a loneHo ly tteenage girl who develops Stockholm Syndrome after beSto ing abducted was acclaimed by the critics. Stockhom Syndrome is tthe psychological condition which a person empathises, in w even sympathises with her eve abductors, something which abd would have been tough for any wo seasoned actor to play. But Alia sea pulled it off. Rachit Gupta of pu Filmfare mentioned that "at 20, Fi it’s surprising how Alia has got so many deft nuances right. It’s as iif the actor has grown with the character. She is truly one of the most promising new actors films." Sonia Chopra of in Hindi H Sify.com added: “Bhatt is comSify pletely immersed in her role”, ple and that "Alia’s uninhibited and raw performance will have you emotionally invested in her em character all through”. However, cha the box office didn't sing. Alia A continued with aplomb in her h second film of 2014: Sajid Nadiadwala's joint production Na “2 States” with Arjun Kapoor. Adapted from Chetan Bhagat’s Ad novel of the same title the nov story is of two IIM Ahmedabad sto students who encounter trouble stu in convincing their parents to approve of their relationship. For her role as Ananya shi Swaminatham, a headstrong Sw Tamil Tam girl, Alia learnt the language. Critics applauded her lan performance. Rediff.com comper mented that Bhatt "really grows me
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into the character and makes you believe that she's a careeroriented IIM-A grad." And Shubhra Gupta of "The Indian Express" added that Bhatt was a "surprise" and was "easy and fresh and natural”. And in the third film that year, she played a Punjabi girl who engages in a romantic affair with a stranger a few days prior to her wedding. The romantic comedy “Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania” also received critical acclaim. "India Today’s" Rohit Khilnani said that she had pulled off one of her best performances so far. And she is expected to regale in her ‘destination wedding' film “Shaandar” opposite the charismatic and endemically funny Shahid Kapoor. And producer-director Vikas Behl could already be counting the chickens, given Alia’s early track record. In fact, all her performances received critical acclaim and all but one scored the big numbers at the box office. There are a lot of young people who does not like anything, anything at all about Alia. But the fact is that she is a multi-faceted talent. Hre singing has wowed many. Her co-star Varun Dhawan has said: "Arey, Shraddha's version of "Samjhawan was outstanding. But Alia's version is altogether different. history." , Samjhawan comes with a lot of history. Rahat saab had sung it in Pakistan but there's never been a female version." So it is all right for jokes that Alia in her troll page is made to say: “Hey guys, look, Mumbai Indians made five wickets in 187 runs,” but she is far from a joke in her talent and in her box office draw!
E N T E R TA I N M E N T
The handshake in New Delhi tha
Crime shows kill saas-bahu The days of saas-bahu soaps are over. The raging thing now are crime shows, which are running away with the TRPs on those very entertainment channels in which family dramas were once money spinners RAJAN PRAKASH
B
echara Sonia mar gayee kaal raat.” The sarkari babu, a mid-rank official in the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals had just put down his briefcase on arrival to his office and said this over the first sip of his ‘official’
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tea. It was a cold November morning in Delhi. Barely looking up from knitting a woollen sweater for her sevenmonth-old grandson, Aarti Mehta, a senior division clerk, mumbled, “Te theek-i haiga, onna nu bout taang kitta ode saas ne (It is better, she was being extremely tortured by her mom-inlaw). But the LDC, Samar Jha did not
agree: he said whatever might be the situation, Sonia should have not killed herself but fought it out. I was the lone person out there who did not know Sonia. I cautiously asked: “Was she working with us in the past?” My question was in a whisper, but sounded like an exploding bomb. “You don’t watch Kyunki?” The sarkari babu, the senior most in that room asked me, and shook his head in sadness. Such was once the sway of the saas-bahu serials from the days when Doordarshan was black-and-white, television sets weighed tonnes and private channels were still in the womb of Time. The same old fight between saasbahu; the same shot of every action of the vamp being shown thrice in rapid succession, accompanied by deafening background music to add ‘flavour’ to the quarrels; various kinds of skulduggery by the sister-in-law; or a woman trying to cut out competition to get the
CRIME SHOWS
prize man; petty politics and false footing of the rival woman and dialogues full of innuendos... the Indian audience has moved much ahead of these puerile formula. And now it might just happen that your dinner gets burnt in the wok because your wife is glued to the TV, watching that episode in “Savdhan India” in which a woman is about to take her revenge on her two-timing hubby. Crime shows have made deep intrusions into homes through the entertainment channels. They happen to be the highest grossers in today’s TV scenario. Such is their audience connect that even the best of Bollywood actors and actresses are racing to be either hosting them or be seen in them. Manoj Vajpayee, who had become a
aniya, Aparadh Katha or Satya Katha have been doing roaring business for ages, even better than film magazines. Even in cinema, crime stories like domestic violence or underworld operations have been successful in capturing the imagination of the audience and their purses as well. But on television, barring shows like “Karamchand” or “Byomkesh Bakshi” of the 1990s, there have hardly been much of crime shows on the entertainment channels. Restricted to news channels, the crime reports were dramatised by using animation. But the saas-bahu ruled the roost in entertainment channels till a few years ago. Sony TV, of course had launched CID in 1997, but it was practically drowned under the chorus
CID: Popular over 17 years
star almost overnight after playing the role of underworld don Bhikhu Mhatre returned to the TV screen after ages, and that as the presenter of a crime show, “Encounter”. Juhi Chawla too had knocked on entertainment channel by acting in one episode of “Crime Patrol”. Anil Kapur has played his first inning on TV with his series “24”.Hhis co-star in many films, Kajol too is soon bringing in her own crime serial. And the ‘don’ of parallel cinema, Om Puri too will be seen in a crime show. The print media always supplied readers with plentiful crime stories, and magazines like Manohar Kah-
of saas-bahu. CID never got either the budget or the prime time slots. The same CID – seventeen years after its launch is today Sony TV’s prime property, with the highest TRP. Crime Patrol is the second-most important show on Sony, and deals with the more sensational crimes that have taken place in India. Almost all entertainment channels today are running crime shows. Says psychologist Dr US Dhar: “The nexus between crime and entertainment is a very old one. Look at the Olympics. The most violent sports are the most popular ones. Similarly, bull fighting in Spain, *** in Afghanistan
and **** in India are extremely popular. You could say that since crime is selling in the market, it is coming in hoards on entertainmentTV.” In terms of TRP stats, in June 2014, the highest TRP was for Life OK’s crime show “Shapath”, followed by “Tumhari Pakhi” and “Savdhan India, which were neck to neck. Life Ok’s claim to fame had been “Devo ke dev, Mahadev”, but today, it is nowhere near touching the TRPs of its crime show. Sony TV’s CID has the highest TRP and in second and third places are “Entertainment ke liye kuchh bhi karega and Crime Patrol. And it is interesting to note that despite being late night shows, these crimerelated programmes have left the pure family dramas far behind in TRPs. But why are crime shows so popular in the country? The director of many serials, Kamal Kishore told News Bench: “Indians worship heroism. Crime show makers are completely focussed on this. They chose only those stories in which the criminal finally stands with folded hands in front of society, that is, the TV audiences. Besides, there is always a hidden message in the shows which makes them popular with the viewers. And then, the presenters also alert the viewers with many tips on how to avoid crime situations or escape them." The prima donna of entertainment channels, Ekta Kapoor believes this is not true. She says: “Crime shows have audiences, but primarily on weekends when the men in the household capture the remote control." But she is disputed by a recent survey that shows otherwise. Of the total number of hours each household spends watching TV, men account for just around 10 per cent. They spend much of their time watching news, followed by cinema and then come the serials. Men prefer watching crime shows over family dramas. And all the entertainment channels are now repeating the previous day’s episode the next afternoon, and they have no dearth of producers. AUGUST 2014
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LIFESTYLE
It’s your
WEDDING… so go crazy!
The gorgeous Catalan Museum in Barcelona, ready for billionnaire Lakshmi Mittal's niece to get weddded
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WEDDINGS
Things have changed far too much. The big fat Indian wedding is acquiring a lot of sheen, and the routine ghodi par sawar dullo raja and his bride-to-be have some crazy options today
VAISHALI KHULBE
J
aimala free-floating at 1,000 feet, did you say you want? And not 1,000 feet on some mountaintop but in the sky? Possible. Take a balloon, a handful of very special guests and immediate family and the priests, and pronounce your marital vows far above the rest of the guests. Take selfies and flash the pix on Facebook, Instagram or whatsapp right away. There you are… scored all the points above your envious friends. The crazier the better is the current trend in weddings. To stay ahead of the pack is the secret desire of today’s rich and famous. While it is only the likes of billionaire Lakshmi Mittal’s brother Pramod, who can host his daughter’s wedding in the Catalan Museum in Barcelona – and close it for the public, less costly but exciting weddings are always possible. For example, why not rent the ruins of Feroze Shah Kotla or Sher Shah Suri’s fort, called Purana Qila, in Delhi? That will not drill too many holes in your pocket. And you could always check out the darbar system to get the right décor and create the right ambience, say the nahbatkhana, or the terrace from where the musicians play the classical Indian music on shehnai or sarod. You could even get some typical Delhi delicacies from the fabled gallies, like kachoriwalla or jelebiwalla gallies or from the original Kareem’s. You could also have a few women doing henna or selling delicate glass bangles, a la the historic Meena Bazaar! And the dress code for guests: Churidaar and kurtas for men and ghagra choli for women! If you want it more on the western style, the cruise wedding in Bombay, in the just restarted Goa-Bombay cruiser MV OceanLife plied by the European company BlueOcean Cruises. The guests can stay in the 231 rooms and everything, from décor to attire to menu can be tailor-made. The stay charges are AUGUST 2014
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'High altitude' weddings need not be up in the mountains. Tying the knot on a hot air baloon is a new craze(Below) A scuba wedding
Rs 3,000 to Rs 9,000 per person, food included. Of course, all other charges are extra, but there are many in India who can afford this. With ecological awareness now not being sneered at as an issue of the Leftist jholawallahs, more and more people are also deciding to get wedded in say, the rainforests of Malaysia, which are under threat already. One could also love to do this on Indian soil, on the exotic Havelock Island in Andaman & Nicobar archipelago, with the help of the tourism department of Indian government. And then Australia… Tourism Australia is offering lovely packages and beach weddings are becoming popular. You could actually package your wedding and honeymoon as one long love fest, travelling with family and select few friends to Australia, get married and run off to a resort in the country’s fabled beaches. One could also organise a theme party, say on a Bollywood hit film, where all the principal characters come wearing the costumes worn by the- main actors and actresses in the film. "Hum Aapke
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Hain Kaun" could be the best of such theme wedding parties, one would say. Finally, you could literally “take the plunge”…. This is perhaps something unique. A note "News Bench" received says that scuba-trained
and certified couples can strap on the gear and take the leap to 40 feet below surface, exchange their vows, hold each other and keep the coral reef and myriad fish as witness. That would be some wedding!
Honeymooning: Rainforests For Me! Malaysia and Thailand are famous for their rainforests and these remote destinations have all the ingredients to add that subtle touch of romance 90
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HONEYMOON
PIYALI PAUL
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odhpur, Bikaner, Ootie or Gulmarg are all passé. The young couples of today are consulting tour operators on how to reach and enjoy in less crowded places, where togetherness will be a completely insulated bliss. And they have enough money to settle for the exotic destinations. And this is where we are going back to history. The word ‘Honeymoon’ has its roots in the Norse (North Germanic language) word ‘hjunottsmanathr’, which means blissful. Northern European history explains the ritual of honeymoon as the abduction of a girl from a neighbouring village. In this ritual, it was compulsory that the abductor or the husband-to-be takes
his bride into hiding for a period of time. The boy’s friends assured both families about their safety but kept their whereabouts unknown. Once the bride’s family finally gave up the search, the pair returned to their people. This abduction and isolation is the honeymoon for the pair. Though today kidnapping a girl will lead you into a blistering jail rather than to a blissful situation, but the time has come when couples, instead of choosing crowded tourist destinations, prefer to go on a ‘hiding’ to less congested destinations. For such a romantic hiding, a rainforest destination in Malaysia is the place to opt for. These fast depleting rainforests will rejuvenate the couple, tired as they are because of wyears
of office pressure, then the weeks of pressure for preparing for the wedding, and these destination will increase the pleasure of consummating your married life. Besides, you can always boast of being an ecotourist. One of the secluded forest resorts you can choose from a host of others is Mutiara Resort Taman Negara. This is one almost untouched sanctuary in Malaysia. The Mutiara Resort is set amidst rainforests overlooking the Tembeling and Tahan rivers and is embraced by lush green valleys. The cost of facilities and amenities are all included in the room tariff, and activities like jungle trekking at Bukit Terasek and the canopy walk for a panoramic view of Gunung Tahan will turn the heads of honeymoon couples.
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The 'romantic' resorts in these areas have exquisite decor and are very close to the nature
TODAY'S SMARTSET NEWLY MARRIED COUPLS WANT GENUINE ROMANCE, FAR FROM CROWDED PLACES, LIKE TROPICAL RAINFORESTS OF MALAYSIA OR THAILAND You will enjoy the cool and clear waters of the Four Steps Waterfall. And if you and your consort are risk-takers, try river crossing, camping on the river bank and freshwater fishing. Of course, there are other resorts
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like the Shorea and Tiger Rock too. The Shorea stands next to Berembun Forest Reserve. Tiger Rock is located on the little island Pangkor and both the beach and the forest is right at your doorstep at the Tiger Rock. Branded
as an artists’ private retreat, the decor and architecture of Tiger Rock is both inspiring and calming for the soul. Malaysia also offers you adventure tourism, like trekking up Mount Kinabalu, the highest in Malaysia. If you are planning to climb the mountain, you should head for Kota Kinabalu, the city closest to the mountain. And if your wife is a shopaholic, then there is no better place than the capital city of Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur has over 50 shopping malls, ranging from small basic (often older) one to enormous megamalls.
LIFESTYLE
THAILAND HAS 69 FOREST PARKS AND A LONG LIST OF ROMANTIC RESORTS IN PHUKET AND OTHER AREAS, IDEAL FOR COUPLES SEEKING QUITE TOGETHERNESS 94
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Best days and times to visit shopping malls if you'd like to shop with a bit of privacy is during weekdays (preferably Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) in the mornings. Same goes with Thailand too. There are a total of 69 Forest Parks in the country and a number of forest resorts. Thailand also has a long list of romantic resorts in Phuket and beach resorts in various areas. In the Khao Sok National Park and Khaosaok Rainforest Resort, a couple can experience the magic of tropical rainforests connected to other national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. The riverside bungalows sit amidst nature and you can go swimming in the river too. The adventures the resort provide with are night safaris, half-day and full-day hikes, overnight expeditions, lake cruise by the day, and for a totally unique experience, you can spend overnight with your better half at the floating lodge. If the couple wants their honeymoon to be romantic, they can go for the resorts and beach resorts of Thailand. The ‘romantic resorts’, as they are being marketed, will give you all the luxuries that a couple dreams about. Renaissance Phuket Resort and Spa provides the couple with champagne and strawberries in their room on arrival and a romantic couple experience in their spa for sixty minutes. The Panwa Beach Resort at Phuket even gives the couple facility of having a romantic dinner on the beach. Beach resorts like Banyan Tree Samui, Sandalwood Luxury Villas and Le Meridien Khao Lak provide facilities like spas, swimming pools, a view of the gulf, beaches and bars. This is the magic of the east. There is of course the other seeables in historic buildings, temples and architectural wonders like the Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. But that is all that you have seen in most places. It is now time to hit the forest and mountain paths!
The English Disconnect MEGHA SAHNI RATHI
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few years years ago, some Indian cities played host to a controversial and much talked about American play called the “Vagina Monologues”. This caused quite a flutter in the country, with the English speaking media and activists putting up a spirited defence of the play and asserted that the play is a powerful symbol and message of gender equality and women's rights. They pounced upon commentators who suggested that the name of the play may not be the best way of propagating women's emancipation in the Indian cultural context. I personally know many friends, peers and acquaintances who are fierce warriors for gender equality who did not feel comfortable discussing the play and its message in public. But such was the ferocity of the onslaught of the English speaking activists that feminists more rooted in Indian culture preferred to keep quiet. I remember I was quite bemused by many of the English activists and marvelled at their complete disconnect from real Indians. Many of them are genuinely passionate about gender equality in this country. But the language, context and modes of communication used by these well meaning warriors are so alien to a majority of Indian women that their best efforts fall flat. In fact, I would go so far as to say that many of these activists and intellectuals schooled in the western ‘liberal’ tradition are actually damaging the cause of gender justice. If that sounds strange, let me give you one example. Western oriented and funded activists are virtually unanimous in opposing almost all developmental projects in the name of the poor. To the point that their loud and persistent opposition forced the government and companies to pay better compensation to displaced poor people, these western oriented activists performed a creditable role. But to blindly oppose all developmental projects is taking things a bit far I think. Many of them are genuinely convinced that the tribals and other desperately poor Indians living in villages are enjoying a Mahatma Gandhi kind of paradise. They are convinced modern technology and development will destroy the pristine purity of their cultures and traditions. And what are these pristine and pure traditions and culture? The fact is, really poor girls in rural communities almost never get to go to schools despite the promise of free education and myriad scholarships offered by governments. That is because they often have to trudge miles and miles along
with their mothers in search of water and firewood. Since food is always scarce, it is the girl child who is usually condemned to malnutrition since the son gets the first share of food. Surely western oriented women activists do not want to condemn poor girls and women in rural India to perpetual poverty, drudgery and degradation? Surely the well meaning activists realise that girls and women in rural India will never get justice and a fair deal till their homes get access to toilets, tap water, electricity and modern methods of cooking like the LPG gas? Surely the activists don't want to deprive poor rural women these basic necessities of life that the activists themselves take for granted. And finally, even the most passionate of western oriented activists know that it is modern technology and economic development that holds the key to the delivery of these basic necessities. Then there is the tendency of these activists and intellectuals to sneer and snigger at all religious practices and traditions followed by people of all faiths. Since India is a Hindu majorTHE LANGUAGE ity country, it is Hindu AND MODES OF practices that get most COMMUNICATION OF condemned. In many THESE WELL-MEANING cases, I agree with ENGLISH SPEAKING the activists that hide bound patriarchal ACTIVISTS ARE SO ALIEN misogynists misuse TO INDIAN WOMEN THAT religious and cultural THE MESSAGE IS LOST traditions to continue oppressing women and denying them equality of opportunity. But then, I don't think it is wise idea to throw the baby out with the bath water. By all means speak out against practices and customs that put women down; but you will fail to connect with Indian women if you mock at their basic religious beliefs. Will they realise all this? I am reminded of a TV ad for a mobile phone service where a "modern, English speaking" woman finds in an isolated bus stop that her mobile phone is not working. Along comes a "Bai" with her daughter who offers her phone. The lady smirks and says she actually needs to use the internet. The maid servant smiles and says her phone has internet. That is the disconnect between the two! AUGUST 2014
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AUDI A3
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n August 7, Audi India will be launching the all new A3 sedan flaunted as Audi's most affordable car in the country. Audi Sedan will be available in petrol and diesel engine configuration and the engine performance is
POLAROID SOCIALMATIC
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olaroid is coming up with Polaroid Socialmatic. The digital camera has a built in printer, but it does not just print every photo. The Socialmatic lets you choose what photos to print and do a bit of editing first. So, you only print photos you know you want. Price: Around 18,000
Neighbour's Envy
NEWS BENCH offers a platter of the latest gizmos and wonders on wheels, something that will make you stand out not only in a crowd, but even among the creme-de-la-creme
PANASONIC’S 4K TV RANGE
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anasonic has launched its 2014 range of 4K and HD TVs. It has expanded its 4K TVs into two series the AX800 and AX900. The AX900 is the flagship series, coming in 85-inch and 65-inch sizes. Features include a customisable home screen with an EPG. Price: From Rs 2,70,000 to Rs 3,60,500
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impressive. It is speculated that the new Audi A3 Sedan will be available with 1.8 litre turbo petrol and also a 2 litre diesel engine option. The petrol version will have a mileage of 17 Kmpl. Price: Around Rs 25 lakh
JUST IN
MERCEDES-BENZ CLA 45 AMG
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t is one of the best looking Sedan with a stark nose like front. Affalterbach’s latest abomination, a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo charged misfit that produces an unfathomable number when it comes to horsepower as well as torque. It has 355 horses under the hood and 332Nm of torque. Price: Rs 80 lakh or so
SAMSUNG'S 4 NEW
S
amsung launched four f new affordable Galaxy smarts phones - the Galaxy Core C 2, Galaxy Star 2, Galaxy Ace A 4, and Galaxy Young 2. All A four run on Android 4.4 Ki KitKat outof-the-box with the co company's TouchWiz Essence UI on top. Samsung Galaxy Core Co 2 has a 4.5-inch WVGA TFT display Price: On request
HARLEY DAVIDSON
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arley Davidson launched the much awaited model the Street 750 at Auto Expo 2014. Among the 13 models that the bike maker is selling in India, the Street 750 is the most "affordable" model. The new bike has engine capacity of 750cc and fuel capacity of 13.1 litres. It is a muscular bike with low seat height of 25.4 inches. It is powered by the newly 749cc V-Twin Price: Rs 4.1 Lakh
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Will the BSP be exhumed someday? Raveesh Kumar
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id anybody imagine that the Bahujan Samaj party, and would have done things as per his own plans. But Party would get no seats at all in a state they Mayawati’s strategy was understood by the media much in ruled once? Where has the BSP’s own vote bank advance. I am giving this example so that it is understood gone? Mayawati has failed in UP, and the myth that BSP is much like any other party and without any USP. Now Mayawati will face the litmus test. Her party has that BSP runs on its organisational strength and vote bank just got busted. The BSP was unable to foresee the changed scored nil. Its future will now depend on how she puts up a psyche of its vote bank. When the party left the struggle of fight against Amit Shah. She could not even contest the Lok class and caste, it triggered a switchover of allegiance of the Sabha elections. Has BSP got the massive resources which party’s core vote bank. The middleclass among Dalits was BJP holds? Has Mayawati got any magic formula which Amit not able to find its political identity in the BSP. The party Shah does not have? What is the agenda of Mayawati? What was devoid of any strong USP. The instinct of overlooking is her take on the topics spanning from economic problems the coordination and inner party contradictions is there in etc? The biggest problem with the BSP is that it is neither every party. As a result, the BSP voters shifted towards the able to do politics related to caste struggle, the injustice of BJP. BSP’s every strategy lost its sheen before that of Amit which is leading to the suppression of Dalits in a big way, nor is it able to do the aspirational politics, Shah’s strategy and slogan. while, Narendra Modi has become a Mayawati did everything to take away mix of both. He has proclaimed he BSP from the public. In her 15 January belongs to a backward caste and was rally at Lucknow, she announced that THE MIDDLE CLASS formerly a poor tea vendor. As a result, she would not give any interviews. The AMONG DALITS COULD he became a symbol of middleclass’ need, however, was not to be away from NOT FIND THEIR IDENTITY aspirations. Modi and Amit Shah are the social media. The 2014 election WITHIN THE BAHUJAN the real street-fighters. They share the was being virtually contested through SAMAJ PARTY. THE same temperament which Mayawati media, while the BSP announced to stay PARTY WAS DEVOID OF and Kanshi Ram once had. away from it. Let me underscore the The next elections in Uttar Pradesh ANY USP, SO ITS VOTERS fact that I am not talking about news are important for BSP’s survival. These channels and newspapers, but social SHIFTED TO THE BJP elections will decide Mayawati and the media which all other political parties BSP’s fate. Or BSP also would share the were running at huge costs to connect fate of Dalit parties of Maharashtra. with young voters. The effect of this was Keeping the past struggles of BSP in mind, there is hope of that both BSP and SP fell flat. Now, it is difficult for the BSP to rise again. For Mayawati the party regaining its lost ground, but seeing the fighting nothing has changed. Before the elections, she used to spirit of BJP leaders Modi and Shah one finds little confidence support the UPA in its difficult situations, and after the in this hope. Will Mayawati join hands with Mulayam in order to fight elections, she has started to support the Narendra Modi government. To ensure that Nripendra Mishra’s appointment against BJP? In Bihar Nitish along with Lalu, Congress and as Principal Secretary to the PM, the government passed an Left are talking of an extensive coalition but in UP nobody is ordinance, and Mayawati supported the motion. So why talking of any such coalition. I am not saying that Nitish and should her supporters believe that BSP is a different party? Lalu together will be able to pose any challenge to Narendra Has Mayawati got entangled in the parliamentary politics’ Modi, but both have at least presented an option against the complications? Had Kanshi Ram been alive today, his BJP. Has Mayawati any option? Has anyone heard of it? I possibility of becoming the saviour of the government on the have not! issue would have been remote. Instead of thinking about the The author is an eminent TV journalist and currently government’s predicament, he would have thought about his Executive Editor of NDTV India
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