News Bench July 2014 english pdf by News Bench

JULY 2014

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HOW DARE YOU

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THE DALITS TODAY ARE AWARE OF THEIR POWERS AS A VOTING BLOC. THE UPPER CASTES WANT TO TEACH THEM A ‘HARD LESSON’ BY RAPING THEIR WOMEN

HOW INFIGHTING, SOARING AMBITIONS AND AN OBSESSION WITH DRAMA DERAILED KEJRIWAL AND AAP

VOL-1, ISSUE -2

Editor in Chief: Kushal Dev Rathi Editor: Anil Pandey Consulting Editor: Neeraj Kumar Sharma Managing Editor: Megha Sahni 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 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, Anant Kumar Das, Santosh Kumar Dubey Photography Team Consulting Photo Editor: Rangnath Tiwari Photographer: Hariom Sharma 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: Prateik Swami, Mohd. Anas Rafat, Ajitesh Chaudhary, Anant Mittal, Surbhi Poddar Circulation Head: Bhupendra Singh Bisht Executive: Chandan, 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

68 WILL SIKKIM CALL FOR ITS DEMERGER? The original inhabitants of the former kingdom, the BhutiaLepchas, are losing their rights fast and anger may even push them to consider calling for a demerger from India. So, is the Centre listening?

DEATH OF A DREAM? How infighting, soaring ambitions and an obsession with drama derailed Kejriwal and the Aam Admi Party

76 RED STAR HAMMERED! On how the Left got alienated from the common people and even after a near complete rout, refuses to change

THEME HOMES: NEW PASSION OF THE RICH The real estate sector is witnesing a major boom in the new passion of the richie-rich: theme homes, and almost all big developers are creating fanciful colonies on themes like Rome!

SMALL IS BIG While the media is looking for major policy changes from Modi, it is the small steps he has taken that will have huge impact

THE TRAPPED SATRAPS Vasundhara Raje, Raman Singh and Shivraj Chauhan are in the crosshairs of Modi and the RSS for defiance

80 THE OOMPH GALS AND THEIR UFFF! CARS

WANTED: FACES IN HARYANA The Congress, BJP as well as the Lok Dal are facing leadership crises and internal bickerings ahead of the October polls

DIDI'S DADAGIRI? The spate of political violence that has gripped West Bengal has been put at the TMC's doors, but it is really a Red legacy

Shilpa Shetty, Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu and Twinkle Khanna... you could easily rename them as Lamborghini, Porsche, Mercedes S Class, Bentley or Volkswagon Beetle

BJP'S MISSION KASHMIR The party has actively started gathering strength and trying to capture 44 seats in the J&K assembly to come to power

BOARD FOR THE KINNARS? With the SC declaring them as the "third gender" some state governments plan to open boards to improve their plight

82 CHORI CHORI CHHUPKE CHHUPKE... IN BOLLYWOOD In recent times, there have been serious allegations of Mumbai film directors 'lifting' other people's film scripts and directing the films as if it is their own. They call it 'being inspired'! Cover Design By Lalit Bisht J U LY 2 0 1 4

NEWS BENCH

The State As The Partner Successful economies have the state and the private sector working as partners rather than as adversaries

here have been dozens of opinions expressed by scores of profitable and vibrant. analysts and pundits ever since Narendra Modi became The trick to gauge Modi and his real vision is to remove all the first BJP leader to head a majority government. Every blinkers of ideology and look again at the history of nations that pundit has an advice or two and ideologues of every are prosperous and where poverty has been effectively tackled. And persuasion want Modi to implement this or that set of policies. what does an unbiased examination of economic history tell us? There are some who want Modi to restore the glories of ancient The basic lesson is that both the State and the private sector work as Hindutva. I am sure Modi will not pay serious attention to them. de facto partners. In the United States, unbridled capitalism led to There are those who want Modi to go out of his way to demonstrate the Great Depression of 1929-33. It was then that the government through words and deeds that minorities in India have nothing to started playing an active role in investing in massive infrastructure fear. I am sure Modi will not bother much with such prejudiced projects on a sustained basis. The much admired and marvellous critics turned self-appointed advisors. What Modi will focus on is network of highways that criss-cross America have actually been what he kept repeating in the 400-plus election rallies he addressed: built with government money, as have been most of the colleges good governance and economic development. and universities. The fundamental question is, what kind of policies will Modi After the Second World War, both Germany and Japan were need to adopt to ensure that India achieves destroyed and were in ruins. It was massive high economic growth on a sustained basis? American aid routed through governments The related but equally important question that rebuilt the infrastructure of both THE TRICK TO GAUGE is, what kind of policies will Modi adopt countries, in turn helping private sector MODI IS TO REMOVE to ensure that the fruits of rapid economic companies to take advantage. In Japan, a ALL BLINKERS OF development are also enjoyed by the government body called the Ministry of poor? According to the so called experts, International Trade and Industry (MITI) IDEOLOGY AND LOOK Modi has to choose between the Amartya played a pro-active role in helping Japanese AGAIN AT THE HISTORY Sen model that leans heavily towards companies emerge as multinationals. OF NATIONS THAT ARE socialism, state and welfare, and the Jagdish Global giants like Sony, Toyota, Hitachi, PROSPEROUS AND Bhagwati model that leans heavily towards Panasonic, Honda and others owe their ARRESTED POVERTY capitalism, trade and markets. For those successes as much to active state help as who understand economics this will be the entrepreneurship. This model has been most defining debate of the next decade. successfully replicated by South Korea, But those who have followed the life and times of Modi as a where the government actively helped companies and business leader and administrator, the fact is that he will never be hostage to groups like LG, Samsung and Posco and then by China. any model. In fact, if you stop looking at the now famous Gujarat In all these cases, the State and the private sector have actually Model without prejudiced eyes, you will realise that it is neither pro worked together as partners rather than adversaries. While the market, nor pro state. For example, Gujarat has become a magnet State has focused on providing world class infrastructure and an for private investors for the rapid and transparent manner in which enabling policy environment, the private sector has done what it decisions are taken. So you could say that Modi is partial towards does best: innovate, invest and find new consumers and markets. the private sector. But then, despite pressure from pro-market Remember, the biggest beneficiaries in all these countries have been lobbies, Modi has refused to privatise any state owned companies the poor who successfully transited to middle class status. I have a in Gujarat. The bigger surprise is, all the state owned companies feeling Modi will do something similar: embrace pragmatism while that were once lost cases like PSUs in most other states are now using capitalism and socialism when they can be useful!

Kushal Dev Rathi Editor-in-Chief

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Akhilesh: Mediaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Punching Bag?

ontinuously battered and baited by TV news channels, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav recently accused the mainstream media of focussing obsessively and excessively on crimes and bad news from UP even though other Indian states suffered from the same problem. The media promptly launched another round of criticism of Akhilesh, accusing him of trying to hide his failure to maintain law and order in his state by blaming the media. But step back from the media noise and diatribes and ask yourself: is there a grain of truth in what the embattled Akhilesh is saying? There can be no doubt that the law and order situation in UP is bad and it has been a big failure for the Akhilesh government. But it is equally true that some sections of the electronic media are going hysterical over it. The sad reality is that UP has been a victim of violent crimes for a long time. Look at official statistics. One third of the major crimes committed in India are in UP according to the National Crimes Record Bureau. In 2011, when Mayawati was the chief minister, UP accounted for one third of the total crimes committed in India. When we talk of crimes against women, even more shocking is the state of affairs in Haryana. It is routine for Dalit women to be gang raped and often killed in Haryana. In 2012, there were 66 cases of rapes of Dalit women in the state. By 2013, the figure had shot up to more than 130. In six years, crimes against Dalit women have gone up by six times in Haryana. There is the shocking story of Dalit women being openly and brutally gang raped in Bhagana village in Hissar district just recently. Family members, when they failed to get the police to act, actually protested at Jantar Mantar in Delhi for weeks. Their sympathisers went pleading to offices of media outlets. But the media hardly showed any interest in them. One activist even suggested that the only way to attract the attention of the media is to stage a protest in front of the Parliament. They contacted JNU students, who joined the protests, and at least, some media attention came forth. But the protestors were evicted without much notice. What is the reason behind this lopsided attitude of the media? For one, UP happens to be close to the "media capital" Delhi. It is easy and cheap to cover crimes in the state instead of sending reporters to distant destinations. Well known English journalist Rajdeep Sardesai

had once said the "tyranny of distance" prevented the media from covering communal riots in Assam. One friend who works in a TV channel tells me that the easiest and cheapest way to TRPs now is to cover crimes in UP and. The balance time left is used to cover juicy. There was hardly any coverage of the gang rape of a Dalit woman recently in front of her son in Madhya Pradesh, while TV channels did round the clock coverage of the Preity Zinta controversy. You might ask why Haryana is not covered as extensively as UP even though it is close to Delhi. This is where we come to another unspoken but sad reality of media. Most journalists are upper caste and they usually belong to UP or Bihar. So their focus is on these two states. Look at the derisive media coverage, leaders like Lalu Yadav, Mulayam Yadav and Mayawati get routinely and you will understand. Because upper caste Brahmins MOST JOURNALISTS became part of the Mayawati coalition ARE UPPER CASTE AND in 2007, the media THIS IS WHY THEY GIVE was relatively kind. DERISIVE COVERAGE In the Lalu era, TO LEADERS LIKE LALU even a small crime YADAV, MAULAYAM in Bihar got front YADAV, MAYAWATI OR page. When the EVEN AKHILESH Nitish BJP alliance came to power, even bigger crimes were relegated to inside pages. Modi too has been a victim, with media habitually branding him a "mass murderer". No sane person would say that the media should stop covering crimes in UP. But what about the many genuine social welfare initiatives that Akhilesh had initiated, like scholarships for all poor girl students or free laptops (even if it had to be scrapped later)? Are these not highlighted because such news doesn't shoot the TRPs through the ceiling? Surely the UP government needs to answer many questions. But surely the media too needs to answer some questions?

Anil Pandey Editor

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JUNE 2014

CY! WANTP48 CONSPIRA TO DID’NT ED SYCOPHANTS A THREAT

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

THE ENTRENCH THEY FOUND RAHUL HIM DEFAME REFORM THE PARTY... TO DEFEAT AND AND CONSPIRED

AMAZING PACKAGE!

N HOW THE INDIA VOTER FINALLY THE H UG SAW THRO OF CYNICAL GAMES ES POLITICAL PARTI

WHO KILLED

SECULARISM?

• IMPRESSIVE EDITION I have gone through the June edition of your magazine. In totality the magazine is impressive. The political stories are quite impressive, especially Old Daggers Drawn For Young Rahul and the Modi story. On a scale of ten, I will rate it six or seven. There was nothing dislikable in the issues till now. Anurag Punetha 156 Rachna Vaishali, Gaziabad

• STUDENTS’ DELIGHT Being a student, News Bench magazine proved to be very useful for me. The short informative news pieces in the starting were interesting too. All the stories are widely covered in 900-1,000 words. The facts and figures given within the article are the plus point of magazine. It was a good experience to read the first two issues of the newly launched magazine. Atul Srivastava Ramjas College, Delhi

• FONT ISSUE I received the June issue of News Bench. This issue of News Bench was nothing short of intriguing, having been launched during the election campaign and it had quite a lot of news to give to the reader. The editorial of the June issue (Why the

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I was very excited going through the second edition of News Bench. The analyses are brilliant. The cover story is packed with facts and figures and analysis. The report on how secularism was killed as seen in the second edition of the magazine is critically important. The hypocrisy of the Congress and formations like the Samajwadi Party or Bahujan Samaj Party (which in the end turned out to be the Brahman Samaj Party in the proxy of Dalits) of calling themselves secular and tacitly using communal and religious slogans from time to time has been a shame for Indian polity. But I was most excited by the analysis by Vikas Kumar on the social media use by political parties in this election and its heightened importance in the polls for 2019. The saucy article on Kangana Ranaut was very significant, giving the magazine the strength of variety. Sanjeev Kumar, G3, 168, Vaishali Sector 6

elite media fears and detests Modi) is very impressive and immediately caught my attention. The cover story was deserving of its title and all the other articles kept me hooked to the magazine. The looks and quality of the magazine is par excellence and show that News Bench is not far behind the existing elites of the magazine world. The only minor issue that I found in this fantastic magazine was the font size, being a tad smaller than required. I recommend that the font size be increased. Its content and promising articles makes me hope that this magazine keeps on delivering excellently in the future and keeps the socio-political genre alive. Prabhjot Kaur Rampuri, Ghaziabad

• SAD DESIGN I read the last issue of your magazine. The stories were good in the magazine. Story selection is also good and the Modi issue has been very well brought out. There were some contrarian stories, which is good. But the language used is not news language, it is featurish. The feature articles were good but a lot of work has to be done on the cover story in the Hindi edition. English News Bench was a little better.

It was good literature. The print quality was also good but the layout was very poor. The cover of the magazine was not up to the mark, and this needs to be improved. I was confused with the concept of the magazine. But you can improve. The stories of Hindi and English magazine should be differentiated according to the class of the reader. Manoj Kanak 6/156, Vaishali, Ghaziabad

• ROUNDED PACKAGE It has been a thrilling victory for Narendra Modi and he deserves a compliment for it. BJP achieving the rise in vote share at the national level and that too in every part of the country is actually a testimony of people desiring a stable government. The recent elections have also brought the issue of development to the fore. If we go by the kind of surveys and analyses which were published in the recent years, the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh have been in the better performing ones along with the other states. Kudos to News Bench as your team has really brought out a well rounded package of stories in the very first issue. I read your second edition as well and it has reinforced my belief that

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it is going to fill that void of a national magazine devoted to every aspect of our national and regional politics. Radhey Shyam Sharma, Allah Pur, Allahabad

• SHAM SECULARISTS I read your cover story ‘Secularism’s Sultans Slay Secularism’ and found it a good blend of voices and views. Indeed, the word ‘secularism’ has been exploited for the sake of the selfish and narrow interests of some people and most of them have been part of one or the other political parties. The biggest loser in all this has been the common man. Although Narendra Modi has got votes from every section, class and religion but it will be incumbent upon him to prove this faith reposed upon him to run the country with peace and harmony. Also, I compliment you for publishing stories from every corner of the country which broadly covers the whole gamut of political situation. Rupali Gehlot, 21, MIG Flats, LDA, Lucknow, UP

• DAMNED LEFT! I am a left thinking person and it seems to me that News Bench veers towards the right. I have seen both the Inaugural as well as the June edition. And being a leftthinking person, I cannot but express my anguish with the Left parties. The sum total of the two editions shows how brilliantly the RSS and BJP have penetrated the grassroots, whereas we in the Left have gotten more and more alienated from the masses. The ambivalence of the Left has caused this mayhem. Instead of going to the masses on issues like agriculture and industrial wages, they thought opposing the government on issues far away from the masses, like the Indo-US nuclear deal, would make them look like mass heroes. Sadly we lost. At the end of the day, I do not grudge the RSS or the BJP. It is the Left that has done the maximum damage. Aurobindo Hajra 619, Sector 4, RK Puram, New Delhi

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NEW BEGINNING, NEWS BENCH GOOD START The News Bench magazine has done a fantastic job in identifying the real enemies of Narendra Modi. The report on why the elite English media hates Modi shed some unseen light on the issue, which is something that most people might not have thought of in this angle. I enjoyed most of the articles and the editorial written by Mr Anil Pandey. He is a consummate writer and a good analyst. In fact all his articles are very well written. However, some of your predictions or projections have gone wrong, like the one on Modi, Kejriwal and the Varanasi contest. I

BONSAI PLEASE? I have received this new magazine from Delhi. Its name does not make much sense to me, so what does it mean? What is the significance of the word Bench? I could not fathom that. However, I must congratulate you for an excellent product. The paper quality, print quality, the ideas behind the columns and even the photographs and design are excellent. To me some of the old and established magazines pale in front of your new product. Secondly, being a Bengali lady of 74 years age, I can read English but not for very long, and not too much in detail. Despite that I feel that the

suggest it is better to stick to analysis rather than attempt predictions in a highly volatile political scenario. But I must say that it will be good if spiritual issues are regularly written about. Swami Vivekananda belived in nation building and character formation. In the face of the moral disruption by the Left parties, it has become imperative to get back to our roots. Over all, for a start, the magazine has done well, so hope you will keep this up. Dr Ajoy Kumar Bhatta, 14, Tagore Temple Road, Shyamanagar, North 24 Parganas West Bengal

stories and language is very fine. I feel though that in the lighter sections of the magazine, you could do some good article on gardening. I am myself an expert in making bonsais. I would love to write about bonsai in your magazine. But even if someone else writes this, I am sure there will be a lot of readers interested in this exotic art which will gel with your kind of readership. I also think there should be some cultural news from the eastern parts of the country, like Bengal and Assam or Sikkim. Krishna Chakraborty FE 111, First Floor, Salt Lake City, Kolkata 106

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

CONSEQUENCES

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 immediate aftershocks!

BYE, GOM LOG JAMS!

he very first step that the Modi government has taken to fasttrack economic growth of the country is to abolish the comfort zone of the politicos: the Group of Ministers, which was the ill-begotten scion of coalition governance politics. This is akin to the abolition of the Privy Purse of the erstwhile princely states by the Indira Gandhi government in the seventies, but will have a deeper impact. There were nine empowered groups of ministers (EGoMs) and 21 groups of ministers (GoMs) in operation under UPA 2. They were to take decisions on various matters â&#x20AC;&#x201C; mostly thorny issues such as mining and spectrum allocation. "This will expedite the process of decision-making and usher in greater accountability in the system," an official statement from the Prime Minister's Office said. The ministries and departments will now process the issues pending before the EGOMs and GOMs and

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take appropriate decisions at their own levels. Under the GOM and EGOM system, conflicts of interests of various political parties in the UPA coalition played havoc with economic growth, and created the policy logjam that marked the UPA 2. In a way, this decision also poses greater accountability from PM Narendra Modi himself, as he will now have to adjudicate matters where there are differences among cabinet colleagues, rather than let a panel of colleagues deliberate on them first. The idea of such ministerial panels first cropped up and was implemented during the regime of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. More were added under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's United Progressive Alliance government. Since neither the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), nor the Congress party had the numbers to form governments on their own in the past, and relied on their allies, these ministerial groups were created to let coalition leaders deliberate upon key matters before bringing them to the cabinet. Pranab Mukherjee, now India's president, P Chidambaram and AK Ant-

FAST TRACK TO TACKLE â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;DRAGONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

he environment ministry has decided to fast-track road projects along the IndiaChina border. These road projects within 100 kilometres of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are crucial for troop movements and other related developments from the country's security point of view. A decision on environmental and forest clearances on building defence infrastructure in areas in the 100 km-range from the LAC can be taken by the state governments concerned, environment minister Prakash Javadekar said.

ony of the Congress party and Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led most of these ministerial groups that at one point had swelled to as many as 60. The EGOMs, in particular, were even bestowed with the authority to take decisions, and a subsequent discussion and approval by any cabinet committee, presided over by the prime minister, was a mere formality. The freshly anointed Prime Minister Narendra Modi spent over an hour with the 10 party general secretaries over breakfast at his 5 Race Course Road residence seeking suggestions from them on improving governance and strengthening the party. He asked the party leaders to act as a bridge between the people and the government. This is the first such meeting called by Modi after he took charge as Prime Minister. Analysts are hoping that many such pro-active decisions will be announced in rapid succession. After years of dithering and delays, it does look like action time for the government!

CONSEQUENCES

"Construction of roads within 100 kilometres of Line of Actual Control will be given fast-track approval," said Javadekar. The 4,056-km-long LAC with China-occupied Tibet touches five states — J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal

BLACK COME BACK

s a first measure of showcasing its avowed “good governance” mantra, the government swooped down on black money and set up a special task force to tackle the issue. Black money had been a key electoral issue. Around Rs 29.84 lakh crore ($500bn) of black money is estimated to be deposited in overseas tax havens. That is about half the GDP of the country. The SIT would be led by retired Supreme Court judge MB Shah, and its vice-chairman would be

Pradesh. Interestingly, it is the second such decision keeping China in mind. The ministry had earlier given its go ahead to set up a radar station in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The project was long pending, despite repeated requests from the army, which wanted to install the radar at the strategic location in view of suspected Chinese presence and "listening posts" on nearby Coco Island. Though Coco Island in the Bay of Bengal belongs to Myanmar, China has set up extensive infrastructure there. Referring to the delays in granting clearances to such vital projects under the UPA 2 government, Javadekar said: "Delays in defence projects were due to case by case decision-making process."

another former judge, Arijit Pasayat. Tax evaded incomes of corporate honchos are often sent to accounts in banks in Mauritius, Switzerland, Lichtenstein and the British Virgin Islands, which have strict banking secrecy laws. Analysts say this flight of capital has helped widen inequality in India. The former Congress party-led government had been on the back foot on the issue of black money and corruption. The Supreme Court has also criticised the government for not doing enough. The SIT members decided the road map and detailed modalities of proceeding further in accordance with mandate from the Supreme Court. The problem is that India has signed information exchange treaties with many countries, but they typically contain a ‘confidentiality’ clause which forbids sharing of details obtained through such treaties with other law enforcement and investigation agencies.

SCIENTISTS FOR SCIENCE FAIRS

Prof K VijayRaghavan, DBT & DST Secretary

ll science delegations to foreign countries will now be led by eminent scientists and not by ministers, a new fiat says. The government has taken a decision, may be for the first time in the last 60 years, that a scientist will head any delegation to any foreign science conference. “All conferences which are held in the country and abroad should have due participation of scientists and technicians rather than political office bearers," S&T minister Jitendra Singh says. This is an important development, considering that Indian scientific establishments have been victims of the political class and scientists have been forced to remain in the shadow of politicians without an iota of scientific knowledge.

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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 good things happen, where life often seems worth living...

THE POWER OF VISION!

rishti, an organisation to aid the visually impaired, is doing wonders in the far backyard of the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, out of the belief that addressing the problem of education is pivotal in breaking the ‘vicious cycle’ of blindness. It has since the time of its inception been a path setter, shedding new light on the lives of the visually impaired. The institution is funded only by public donations from well wishers and supporters. Shankar Lal Gupta, himself a sight-challenged person, founded this organisation and he proved that he may not have the eyesight but has deeper insight

and vision to make the difference. He is a testimony to the fact that lack of eyesight is not a barrier to success. Since 2004, Drishti is running schools for blind girls of different age groups and in different states of India. In this school more than 50 girls are getting free residential education without any government support. Besides running many other units for the holistic development of blinds, it also started its Madhya Pradesh chapter. The Former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam visited this institution in 2005. Besides a school for the blind girls, Drishti is also running a Braille Bank.

SL Gupta, himself sight challenged, has shown blindness cannot hamper life

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Most residents of northeastern states are natural athletes, espcially the Mizos

BEND IT LIKE MIZORAM!

t a time when the world is in the grip of football mania, the otherwise somnolent state of Mizoram has emerged as a football powerhouse within India, and soccer fans feel Mizos have got an edge in going international. It is no surprise that if India wants to make it big in the international arena in the future, it is important to have a strong base at the state level. Like many other states in the Seven Sisters of the northeast – which has produced India soccer captain Bhaichung Bhutia from Sikkim - Mizoram too has had its fair share of problems like insurgency and natural calamities. But today, it is an example of how things can evolve if the people and the state machinery combine to work towards a common goal. The government has helped in developing the soccer infrastructure. Today there are three astro-turfs, two in Aizwal and one at Lunglei, the state’s second largest town. The fourth one is coming up at Champhai. Better infrastructure will expose the game to more youngsters. More power to Mizo football!

HOPE-FULL

POORNA: TOP OF THE WORLD AT 13!

he chilling death of 16 expert Everest climbers from the Sherpa community of Nepalese origin earlier this year has been honoured with the Sherpa-aided climb to the highest point of land mass by the youngest ever, a girl you would perhaps cuddle as a tiny-tot, the 13-year-old Poorna Malavath from Andhra Pradesh. Poorna is the youngest ever in the world to climb Mount Everest. Poorna and 16-year-old S Anand Kumar – who also made it to the summit – both come from the Khammam district of Telangana, from very poor farm worker families, and have to struggle every day to get even the basic necessities. But undeterred by the adverse circumstances, Poorna still pursued her dream to reach the top. Poorna’s father works as a farm labourer. It was all possible due to the visionary scheme being run by Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions (APSWREI) Society. Last year, the Society chose Poorna and Anand from among 150 children from economically weak families – for advanced training in adventure sports. They both proved that if children are given opportunities, they can excel in anything.

Tiny-tot Poorna beams a cute smile while being felicitated

Her school, a part of the APSWREI institutes, trained Poorna and several other students from her region for the climb. APSWREI runs 291 residential institutions in Andhra Pradesh under the Department of Social Welfare, Government of Andhra Pradesh. "When I reached the top, I felt a huge surge of emotions, too much joy," the teen told People magazine via phone as she de-

scribed being overcome with awe after scaling the world's highest mountain, at 29,029 feet. But then a small girl is a small girl, missing home and mom’s food. The major challenge of the expedition, she says, was not the cold or discomfort but the packaged food they had to consume. "I did not like its smell or taste," she explained. "I wanted to go home and have my mother's food!"

COMMONS FOR COMMONERS

hen three friends Vikas Malpani, Sumit Jain and Lalit Mangal faced the common problem — in metros and apartment societies — of hardly knowing their neighbours, they were compelled to come up with the solution to bring owners, buyers and association committee

members together to find a solution. After much thought, they launched the web portal CommonFloor. The technology has been invented by the three engineers who own the tech company maxHeap Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Vikas Malpani, cofounder and head, Marketing and Communities, maxHeap Technologies Pvt. Ltd., says: "From searching for an apartment to facilitating interactions within an apartment community on the CommonFloor platform and connecting one to relevant service providers, the portal is dedicated to meeting all aspects of consumers’ needs

around their homes.” The CommonFloor team today connects over a million apartment or house buyers and users. Currently present in 120 cities, CommonFloor has over 35,000 communities listed with it, constituting more than 25 lakh homes. “If one is looking to rent or buy apartments, CommonFloor helps identify the right apartment, interact with dealers as well as owners and collect relevant information. On the other hand, CommonFloor also helps apartment owners connect with buyers, tenants or agents and it helps in providing relevant information for agents and builders. J U LY 2 0 1 4

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POLIWOOD Back to the Future

A Varanasi Kharchey

t was the battle royale… Varanasi, where the current prime minister, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Narendra Modi was facing the pretender, Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Adami Party and the Congress’ Ajay Rai. And yet, Modi spent the least among the three in terms of poll expenses. Kejriwal spent Rs 50.10 lakh and stayed 3.71 lakh votes behind Modi. Rai spent even more, Rs 54.45 lakh and lost his deposit. The winner, Modi just spent Rs 37.62 lakh. Media reports said that according to Chief Treasury Officer Ramamurti Dwivedi, Samajwadi Party’s Kailash Chaurasia spent Rs 24.54 and Trinamool Congress candidate Indira Tiwari spent Rs 14.58 lakh. Out of the 42 candidates for the Varanasi seat, 31 have so far submitted their financial statements. Reports are that the BJP spent the least (Rs 9.41) lakh on propaganda material like handbills, pamphlets, posters, CDs etc whereas on the same count, the SP spent Rs 13.20 lakh. Interestingly, the Congress spent Rs 24.92 on E-media, social network, cable advertisement, etc.

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fter the humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, most Congress big guns have gone back to their old professions, and they are slowly getting back – so much like widowers – to live life without their old wife, politics in the house of Parliament. Some of these Goliaths may find it difficult even then to reboot their lives on the old streets. But it will not be so difficult for those in the legal profession. Former foreign affairs minister Salman Khurshid has gone back to practice, and it is learnt that

Kapil Sibal too has lost no time in renewing his Supreme Court bar license. Khurshid, trashed in Farrukhabad, is arguing in the bail case of Tehelka magazine’s former owner Tarun Tejpal, who is cooling heels in an alleged rape case in Goa. Kapil Sibal, stonewalled by Chandni Chowk voters, is arguing his first new case in Kolkata. He is handling the Birla families brief against the Lodha family. P Chidambaram former finance minister, did not contest the polls this time, but he too has gone back to wearing the black coat and white pair of trousers.

Supreme Request

ooking at the fairly large number of BJP ministers and MPs with ongoing criminal cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has requested the Supreme Court to expedite the legal process and hand in its verdicts. The terrifying fact is that every third MP in the 16th Lok Sabha has a criminal background and ongoing cases. That is a whop-

ping 34 per cent of the MPs. They face accusations of heinous crimes, such as abduction, rape and murder. This is according to an NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms, working on electoral reforms. Amongst the 543 members of the Lok Sabha who have come after the polls this year, only the four members of the Aam Aadmi Party have a clean background

Tweet Fiat

hat’s an order, no doubt. It is well known now (thanks especially to News Bench), that Modi has been a tech freak much before any of the much younger politicos. He used the social media extensively in his poll campaign, and as leader of BJP’s campaign had ordered that every BJP candidate must have a Facebook page. Now comes the latest fiat. All government officials and ministers have been ‘requested’ to get more and more into social media activity and not just

so far as crime is concerned. As many as 186 MPs in the lower house have lowered the image of the house. In the 15th Lok Sabha, such persons were 158. The BJP has the largest number of such alleged criminals, as many as 98. The Congress, with 44 LS MPs, has just eight such dubious members. Eight MPs face murder charges, of whom four belong to the BJP.

that. It would be correct if they tweet in Hindi. Whether it is Google, Facebook, Twitter or blogs, the government says that there should be more and more of Hindi content. This has come in the form of a circular of the Home Ministry issued on May 27. The circular has noted that officers in the ministries, as well as those in public sector units, banks, etc, use the social networking sites extensively. However, they grossly neglect Hindi, and Modi has a special soft corner for the Raj Bhasha.

SHO as sleuth

he embarrassingly increasing crime rate in Uttar Pradesh seems to have out the government on alert. It is being realised that petty officials are protecting criminals to serve their short term interests. These officials are also puting pressure on the police to be lenient with the criminals. On the run after the LS poll debacle, the mightly embarrassed Akhilesh government has decided now that SHOs will keep a spy-eye open against such illegal activities. J U LY 2 0 1 4

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H I S TO RY TA L K S

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Ashok Tandon

VAJPAYEE AND THE DYNASTY: OPPONENTS, NOT ENEMIES

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eteran BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal rapport with three generations of the Nehru-Gandhi family has always been the subject matter of a healthy debate for more than five decades gone by. The warmth Vajpayee enjoyed in his relations with the extended Nehru-Gandhi family over the years is often cited as a classic example of the bonhomie. Indian political adversaries should emulate for the success of parliamentary democracy in this country. Vajpayee so far is the only Prime Minister from outside the Congress party to have been sworn in three times and served a full five-year term. Narendra Modi is the second BJP leader to become prime minister and may not have any problem in completing his five-year term because of the massive mandate he enjoys in Lok Sabha. For the benefit of the younger generation and contemporary students of Indian politics, it is necessary to know the extent of mutual admiration Vajpayee and Nehru had developed for each other in the formative days of our parliamentary system. Vajpayee missed the first general election in 1952. He was only 28 then. He tried his luck in a by-election from Lucknow in 1953 when the seat was vacated by Nehru's sister Vijay Laxmi Pandit after her appointment as India's Ambassador to the US. But he could not make it to the first Lok Sabha. He entered the second Lok Sabha from Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh at the age of 33. Very few would know that Vajpayee contested from three constituencies in the 1957 general elections: from Mathura, Lucknow and Balrampur. He lost in Mathura and Lucknow but was successful in Balrampur. Nehru was highly impressed with Vajpayee's maiden speech as a debutant parliamentarian. His eloquence

and oratorical skills had prompted Nehru to predict that the young parliamentarian Vajpayee would one day become India's Prime Minister. Nehru's prophecy, of course, did come true. Yet, Vajpayee during his parliament speeches never spared Nehru for his soft approach on two sensitive issues: the India-China border tensions and Nehru's handling of Jammu & Kashmir. Let me share with you a hitherto little known, though unconfirmed, anecdote of personal rapport between the two great parliamentarians in the opposite benches enjoyed. The Chinese Premier Zhou En Lai was visiting India on April 20, 1960. The Parliament was in session. Vajpayee had given notice of a starred question (a question which is taken up in the house) in Lok Sabha on the border tensions with China. Incidentally, it was the first question to come up during the Question Hour on April 20. Nehru was to receive Zhou En Lai at Delhi airport the same morning before going to Lok Sabha to reply to Vajpayee's question. Nehru felt a heated discussion on the sensitive border issue in parliament at a time when the Chinese premier was in town as a guest should be avoided from the point of view of protocol. He rang up Vajpayee requesting him to let his first question pass over. Vajpayee obliged the prime minister to avoid embarrassment to the visiting dignitary. Many present day parliamentarians may question Vajpayee's decision to miss an opportunity to score a brownie point. But that was Vajpayee's style of maintaining working relations with the prime minister. Otherwise, Vajpayee never missed any opportunity to grill the government on its China policy. Vajpayee lost the 1962 Lok Sabha elections and became a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1962 to 1967. When the Jammu & Kashmir leader

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Sheikh Abdullah was released from house arrest in Delhi on April 8, 1964, Vajpayee had a heated argument with Nehru in the Rajya Sabha. Vajpayee was also angry at Nehru's decision to send Sheikh Abdullah to Pakistan for talks with the then Pakistan President Field Marshal Ayub Khan. Unfortunately, Nehru died on May 27, 1964 when Sheikh Abdullah was still in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Yet, Vajpayee paid touching tributes to Nehru. I quote noted historian Ramchandra Guha who has done a remarkable research on Vajpayee's life and translated his glowing tributes to Nehru in English. I quote Guha's translated version of what Vajpayee said in parliament to mourn Nehru's death: “With the Prime Minister's passing away, a dream has remained halffulfilled, a song has become silent, and a flame has been banished into the Unknown. The dream was of a world free of fear and hunger; the song a great epic resonant with the spirit of the Gita and as fragrant as a rose, the flame a candle which burnt all night long, showing us the way." The loss, said Vajpayee, was not that of a family or community or party. Mother India was in mourning because “her beloved Prince has gone to sleep”. Humanity was sad because its servant and “worshipper has left it forever”. The “benefactor of the downtrodden has gone”. The “chief actor of the world stage has departed after performing his last act”. Vajpayee went on to compare Jawaharlal Nehru to the most hallowed of all Indian heroes. "In Panditji's life,” he said, “we get a glimpse of the noble sentiments to be found in the saga of Valmiki. For, like Ram, Nehru was the orchestrator of the impossible and inconceivable. He too was not afraid of compromise but would never compromise under duress." In remembering the deceased Prime Minister, Vajpayee celebrated the human being whom “no one can replace”. "That

Sonia Gandhi was the first to call on Vajpayee to ask about his well being in the wake of the attack on Parliament in 2001. Even now Gandhi keeps in touch with Vajpayee

strength of personality," he remarked, “that vibrancy and independence of mind, that quality of being able to befriend the opponent and the enemy, that gentlemanliness, that greatness — this will not perhaps be found in the future." Vajpayee also saluted the statesman in Nehru. He said it was time to rededicate ourselves to his ideals. “With unity, discipline and self-confidence we must make this Republic of ours flourish. The leader has gone, but the followers remain. The sun has set, yet by the shadow of stars we must find our way. These are testing times, but we must dedicate ourselves to his great aim, so that India can become strong, capable and prosperous. Above all, were India to establish lasting peace in the world, we shall succeed in paying proper homage to him”. Vajpayee, says Ramachandra Guha, displayed the ability to befriend the opponent and enemy, for which Mr Vajpayee singled out Mr Nehru. It was warm and heartfelt and humane — in a word, gentlemanly. Judging by this speech, and by other evidence that has come to us over the years, it seems clear that in some obvious ways — such as the

courtesy towards his peers and adversaries — the young Vajpayee consciously modelled himself on his older Congress counterpart. Exactly 13 years later, Vajpayee became the external affairs minister during the Janata Party regime in 1977. But he did not forget Nehru. Here again, I would like to quote historian Ramchandra Guha who during his research on Vajpayee was told this anecdote by a retired foreign service official. Says Guha: “When Vajpayee first entered his new office in South Block, he looked around the walls, and immediately identified a blank spot. ‘This is where Panditji's portrait used to be,’ he told his secretary: ‘I remember it from my earlier visits to the room. Where has it gone? I want it back’”. Vajpayee’s equation with Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi too was smooth. But he never spared her in parliament and had heated arguments with her on several occasions. Vajpayee was among those opposition leaders who had eulogised Indira Gandhi’s leadership after India’s victory in the war for the liberation of Bangladesh. It is believed that he had compared her with Goddess J U LY 2 0 1 4

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H I S TO RY TA L K S

Vajpayee shared great relationships with both Nehru (centre) and Indira Gandhi (left). But Rahul Gandhi (right) may have missed the chance of interacting with this giant of Indian politics, who fought the Congress on ideological grounds, not on personal ones

Durga after the 1971 war. But Vajpayee is said to have denied having likened Indira Gandhi to Durga. Indira Gandhi too had a lot of respect for Vajpayee, but there is hardly any recorded evidence to substantiate that. She did not hesitate to arrest him along with other opposition leaders when she declared the Emergency in the wake of the JP movement in 1975. But when Indira Gandhi came to know that Vajpayee was keeping indifferent health, she allowed his release on parole. Vajpayee as External Affairs Minister in the Morarji Desai government was among those senior Janata Party leaders who had opposed the then home minister Charan Singh's insistence to send Indira Gandhi to jail through a vote in Lok Sabha for breach of privilege of the parliament in 1978. The move proved to be counter-productive, and Indira Gandhi returned to power in 1980. It is believed that Indira Gandhi had taken Vajpayee into confidence before ordering Operation Blue Star on the Golden Temple, Amritsar, to flush out Sikh militants, including leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, from the Akaal Takht. A couple of days before the army operation, Indira Gandhi had established contact with Vajpayee who was undergoing naturopathy treatment in Bangalore. Vajpayee had cautioned her against the

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VAJPAYEE PAID THE MOST GLORIOUS TRIBUTE TO NEHRU: "WITH HIS PASSING AWAY, A DREAM HAS REMAINED HALF-FULFILLED, A SONG HAS FALLEN SILENT, A FLAME BANISHED TO THE UNKNOWN" adventure and told her: "Iski bhaari keemat chukaani padh sakti hai.” Vajpayee's relations with the third generation Nehru-Gandhi family member Rajiv Gandhi were equally good. Vajpayee had lost the 1984 Lok Sabha election called by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Vajpayee was later elected to the Rajya Sabha. When Rajiv Gandhi was told that Vajpayee had a kidney problem, he included him in the Indian delegation for the annual United Nations General Assembly session in New York to facilitate his treatment in the US. Vajpayee had a kidney removed in 1986. Vajpayee as the prime minister had good working relations with the Congress president Sonia Gandhi as well.

Sonia Gandhi was among the first to call the prime minister’s residence to ask about Vajpayee’s well-being in the midst of the terrorist attack on Parliament House on 13 December 2001. Vajpayee too was keen to know whether the opposition leader was safe. Vajpayee’s master stroke of selecting Dr APJ Abdul Kalam for the post of President of India in 2002 was highly appreciated by Sonia Gandhi. Vajpayee had invited her and other senior Congress leaders for consultation on the issue. When told that the NDA candidate was Dr Kalam, Sonia Gandhi’s response was: “We are flabbergasted by your choice.” Even now Sonia Gandhi keeps in touch with the ailing Vajpayee and occasionally pays a courtesy call on the living legend of Indian politics. She visited his Krishna Menon Marg residence in May, 2014, to express her condolences to Vajpayee's adopted daughter Namita Bhattacharaya on the demise of her mother Rajkumari Kaul. I am not sure whether the fourth generation of the Nehru-Gandhi family member, Rahul Gandhi, has ever come in personal contact with Vajpayee, who has been bed-ridden since 2009. But he should. (Ashok Tandon was media advisor to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was also the London Bureau Chief and Diplomatic Editor of PTI)

POLITICS

The fearful and violent monopoly that the Left exercised through its lumpen cadres.

Red star hammered down, and how! Gentry in West Bengal have always been familiar with the hammer (the working class), sickle and star of the CPI(M), and just the sickle and rice ears (the farmers) of the CPI. Now that hammer has stamped out the star, and the rice ears ... forever, it seems SHANKAR RAY

he Lucifer has fallen, perhaps never to rise again. That’s the probable fate of the official Marxist parties in India the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in particular after the catastrophic collapse in the 16th Lok Sabha elections. The mandarins of AK Gopalan Bhavan comprising the 80-plus Central Committee (CC) members of the party (including 15 Politbureau – PB members) would still not quit their

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posts, even as a symbolic gesture. Questioned about whether Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, ex-chief minister of West Bengal and still a PB and CC member, offered to step down, the party general secretary Prakash Karat told newspersons on June 9, the day after the two-day CC meeting was over: “Nobody wanted to resign. When this news was carried in the media, I was in Kolkata. There and then, he didn’t say he would resign from the PB or CC. Of course, during the last party Congress, he offered to step down on health grounds.

In our party, people don’t resign on the basis of election results.” But history contradicts Karat. In 1971, when the strength of the Communist Party of India in the West Bengal state legislature decreased from 30 in 1969 to just 13, in contrast to CPI(M)’s impressive performance – number of MLAs elected with CPI(M) ticket shot up from 80 to 113. Dr Ranen Sen, West Bengal state secretary resigned, responding to a sporadic resentment of about 100 card-carrying party members at the state CPI headquarters. Dr

L E F T PA R T I E S

Sen was elected to the first CC of the undivided CPI in 1933, and remained an uninterrupted CC member until the split in the CPI 50 years ago. Never in the last two decades had the CPI(M) leadership failed to issue a press communiqué on the day the CC meeting ended. This time it couldn’t finalise the statement and issued it the next day, June 8. The 852-word document stated tactically: “The Politbureau and the Central leadership took the primary responsibility for the failure to expand the independent strength and the decline in the mass base of the Party which was reflected in the election results” at best an evasive communiqué resembling a bikini suit that covers the essentials

losses had happened in West Bengal. The 2009 elections were held in the backdrop of momentous events in Bengal like the anti-land acquisition protests in Nandigram-Singur (Tata Nano project) and clear signs of popular discontent against the Left regime on issues like the public distribution system, the alleged murder of Rizwanur Rehman at the behest of a business house close to the Marxists, the Maoist insurgency in Jangalmahal, post-Sachar Committee alienation of Muslim minorities, antiwomen utterances by CPI(M) leaders etc. The early signs were evident in the 2008 panchayat election results, with the TMC wresting two zilla parishads from the LF. Yet, no serious introspection was

Little wonder, the vote share of the Left Front declined from 50 per centplus in 2004, to 43 per cent in 2009 to 40 per cent in 2011 “The working people, especially the urban and rural poor and socially deprived sections like women, adivasis, dalits and Muslim minorities, had started drifting away towards the TMC. Moreover, even the urban middle class, which was being aggressively wooed through ‘industrialisation’ and ‘Brand Buddha’ eventually got thoroughly disillusioned with the Left. Despite this, neither was anybody held accountable nor any serious course correction attempted. The vote share of CPI (M) in West Bengal began tapering off after 2004.

Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury and the late Jyoti Basu

while revealing the inessentials. The malaise under the red flag with the hammer and sickle is deep, and even incorrigible optimists among the party members and fellow-travellers that the hay-days of the largest-ever Leftist party are pushed on to the banks of Lithe. Dr Prasenjit Bose, an economist, who was the first convener of the research cell attached to the CPI(M) CC, is of the view that the “electoral decline had started much earlier, at least five years ago”. Left’s seats in the parliament came down from its peak of 60 in 2004 to 24 in 2009, with the CPI(M)’s tally falling from 44 in 2004 to 16 in 2009. While the Left’s losses in 2009 were spread across all the states from where it had won in 2004, excepting Tripura, the bulk of the

carried out, and the 2009 loss was explained away by the CPI(M) state leadership in terms of the Left’s withdrawal of support from the Congress government at the Centre on the Indo-US nuclear deal issue, which had facilitated the coming together of the Trinamool Congress and the Indian National Congress in Bengal. Nonagenarian fellow-traveller of CPI(M) and ex-Rajya Sabha member as a CPI(M) nominee, Dr Ashok Mitra, diagnosed the cause of the malaise in an interview to a vernacular daily: “The communication between the CPI(M)’s leadership in West Bengal with the outside (meaning the traditional support base) became almost zero.”

The negative gradient is explicit : 38.56 per cent in 2004, 37.13 in 2006 (state assembly elections) , 33.11 per cent in 2009, 30.08 in 2011 and 22.70 per cent in 2014. For the first time after 1971, West Bengal CPI(M) failed to score a majority of Lok Sabha MPs. In 2004, the state had 26 out of 44 CPI(M) LS members. Now it’s two out of 10 (including two independents, supported by the party in Kerala). Even the two seats bagged by the party was due to the hidden support of the All India Trinamool Congress which tried to prevent the Congress from retaining the existing seats by putting up candidates. The CPI(M), CPI, Revolutionary Socialist Party of India and All India J U LY 2 0 1 4

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POLITICS

Forward Bloc failed to retain their seats. The nature of erosion of the Left base between 2009 and 2014 is reflected in some constituencies which the parties won in 2009: Cooch Behar (held by AIFB) from 45 to 33, Alipur Duar (held by RSPI) from 41 to 28, Jalpaiguri (held by CPI-M) from 45 to 32, Balurghat (held by RSPI) from 44 to 29, Bardhaman-Durgapur (held by CPI-M) from 50 to 34, Bolpur (held by CPI-M) from 50 to 39, Arambag (held by CPI-M) from 54 to 30, JhargramST (held by CPI-M) from 56 to 26, Mednipur(held by CPI) from 47 to 32, Asansol (held by CPI-M) from 49 to 22 and Ghatal (held by CPI) from 54 to 33. These data blast the CPI(M)’s claim that one of the major reasons for the debacle was rigging. Dr Subhanil Chowdhury, until the late May this year secretary of a party branch committee looking after the party website and directly under the state committee, refuted the alibi. Citing the overall vote share of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state from 4.05 per cent in 2011 to 16.8 per cent in 2014, wrote in a paper, censored by the party and caused his expulsion, “If the AITC organised an overall rigging, how can we explain the massive advent of the BJP, which bagged two seats and pushed the sitting MP of Asansol, Bangshagopal Chowdhury, to the third position?” he asks. But the seeds of the crippling parasite that weakned the base of CPI(M) were sown long back. Certainly from the early mid-1980s in West Bengal. The Chief Minister Jyoti Basu wooed the late RP Goenka by entering into a joint sector project (51:49 sharing between the state and the private entrepreneur, the RPG group), although the party fought the joint sector concept tooth and nail in the early 1970s. Then came the new investment policy in 1993. Basu without prior consultation with the LF partners opened the door for national and multinational investors. And overshadowing all this was the bonhomie

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between the party leaders at all levels and realtors that made hundreds of comrades corrupt and socially immoral. The party has a continuing ‘rectification programme’, which is just a showbiz. There will have to be serious changes and the demand for removal of Karat is growing louder. On the other hand, for the CPI(M) mandarins, the era is over when Alimuddin Street’s writ ran large over AKG Bhavan. In other words, the Bengal comrades issued diktats that were to be obeyed without questioning. Nothing symbolised this more than the fact that the Chief Minister of Tripura

shoes of Karat, although the Bengal lobby – toothless at the moment – would like Sitaram Yechury to take the baton. Pillai moved into the second place, when both the CPI(M) candidates from Yechury’s state Andhra Pradesh in the LS elections failed to get even 60,000 votes and lost their deposits. Pillai has an added advantage in the Narendra Modi era. He began his political life in the RSS and thus understands the structural dynamics of the Sangh Parivar better than anyone in either CPI(M) or CPI. But neither Karat nor Sitaram Yechury, the number one and two, have

Agitations and protests had become a part of the Left dogma and style

Manik Sarkar, a Politbureau member was asked to be present as an observer in the CC meeting. The Bengal comrades were not asked to endorse this decision to invite him. The CC “congratulated the Tripura State Committee for the unprecedented victory”. In Tripura, the party and the Left Front polled 64.4 per cent of the votes, winning both Lok Sabha seats with huge margins. This was another slap on the cheeks of the leaders of a completely demolished CPI(M) in Bengal. In all probability, S Ramachandran Pillai from Kerala is to move into the

sensed any moral responsibility, and both have said that electoral debacle is not the reason for a communist party to resign. Rather, they insist that the sole reason one can resign for is losing the mass base. If that is the case, however, the poll catastrophe simply shows that the masses have fled the party. This is why there is so much anger within the young Turks in the party. Veteran party leader Somnath Chatterjee had levelled that very charge within days of the party being rubbished at the hustings, but the ostrich so far has dug its face in the sand, denying the storm around!

POLITICS

N ASOKAN

Will ‘Stalin’ism O Salvage DMK? With Assembly elections just two years away, MK Stalin has an unenviable task of reviving DMK, which has faced its worst ever electoral failure in the just concluded parliamentary elections

Once upon a time, the DMK was a happy extended family with Karunanidhi as the benevolent patriarch. Now, the elder son Azhagiri has been expelled and banished while the younger son Stalin (right) has taken over the party

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n the day of his 91st birthday celebration rally at YMCA grounds, Royappettah, in Chennai, M Karunanidhi, the nonagenarian was at his best. A veteran of innumerable battles, hinting at the recent rout at the parliament elections he said, ’’DMK is a party which celebrates even its failures.” He simply diverted the attention from his intra party issues which led to the worst performance in parliamentary elections by accusing the media for indulging in mudslinging towards DMK. Political analysts indicate that losing elections badly is not new to DMK. It had lost very badly in 1991 in the elections to assembly and parliament following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. It was able to get only one MLA who was M Karunanidhi himself. He resigned from the assembly. But DMK bounced back in 1996. The next worst defeat in the electoral history came in the assembly elections of 2011 in which DMK could not even gather the numbers to become the main opposition party in the assembly elections. What is worrying the DMK cadres is that its downwards slide continued in the parliamentary elections also in 2014. There is a generation change in the party and voters. Now MK Stalin, the Chennai based son of MK is holding the post of treasurer, the third most important position in the party, is calling the shots. It was he who refused to form an alliance with the Congress in the recent elections. It was he who handpicked the contestants for the Lok Sabha elections. It was he who was instrumental in ousting his elder brother and Madurai based DMK strong man MK Azhagiri, former Union Minister from the party. So it is natural that the accusing fingers for the failure turned towards him. But none in DMK openly criticised except Azhagiri for the failure. But Stalin being himself a veteran of 30 years of active politics knows that it is matter of time before that voices of dissent may arise openly.

TA M I L N A D U

The Jayalalitha wave has comletely decimated the DMK and left it with no seats or face

Can Stalin revive the party? The problems he faces right now are many. Foremost of them is the psychological and tactical issue of expulsion of brother MK Azhagiri whose supporters openly worked against the DMK this time. Azhagiri had predicted less than three seats for the party. The second foremost challenge is controlling the powerful district secretaries who haven't allowed new leaders to emerge from the grassroots. The third issue of contention will be promotion of their sons and daughters into party rungs by the senior leaders. "There is literally no hope for ordinary DMK workers to come up in the party. This has almost killed the enthusiasm among the lower strata. So the young political workers have left for other parties. Whereas if you take AIADMK, no leader can consider their party post taken for granted. AIADMK Supremo Jayalalithaa used to throw them out at a slightest mistake. If you take up the 37 MPs elected to Parliament except two, all are first time MPs. This will never happen in DMK. There will be the same Baalus, Rajas and Marans coming to New Delhi” says a political analyst to News Bench. Speaking anonymously to News Bench a senior DMK leader says that though it

THE TWO BIG PROBLEMS THAT STALIN MUST CONFRONT ARE: POWERFUL LOCAL SATRAPS WHO ARE NOT ALLOWING NEW LEADERS TO EMERGE AND A DISCONNECT WITH THE YOUTH is not right to compare Stalin with his illustrious father, the son is nowhere near to his father in many ways. "Stalin lacks the reading of the situations and understanding it. He has a coterie of people which includes his sonin-law. This is not taken nicely by other leaders. The regular DMK members did not like him being close only to the leaders who have come from AIADMK to DMK after having misunderstanding with Jayalalitha." Any political party has to work towards those people who are discontent to woe them back. DMK seems to show disregard towards the accusation of corruption

towards its leaders like A.Raja, and Dayanithi Maran. "By granting seats to them in the recent elections, DMK has only further alienated itself from the young voters who wanted a cleanly and effectively administered country. Stalin has to keep in mind the increasing rift between DMK and young voters. If you see the social media, DMK is the party that gets the stick always. It is an irony those educated social media users are only a product of DMK’s long history of social empowerment” points out a political critic. "The failure of DMK in the recent parliamentary election is due to Stalin’s stubborn approach in forging alliances. He could have created a grand alliance by showing some flexibility. The party as a whole is strong. It has hard working cadres. But the leadership should use higher level of strategic approach for winning the elections” says Manaa, a senior journalist based in Chennai. An analysis of the parliamentary elections vote share shows that AIADMK has secured more votes than any party in 217 assembly constituencies out of total 234 in Tamilnadu. DMK, has gone to third position 64 assembly constituencies. With assembly elections just two year away, this is bad news for DMK. J U LY 2 0 1 4

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MODI MOVES

Why Small is Big While the media is focussed on big policy decisions, it is the small ones that are already having an impact, releasing millions from the need of address proof for opening bank books or getting certiďŹ cates attested by gazetted ofďŹ cers, explains Sutanu Guru

eemingly small decisions and changes can often lead to big transformations. There are many pundits who were hoping that Modi would announce sweeping changes and big ticket policy decisions soon after taking charge as Prime Minister to show that he really means business. Most of them have been disappointed. But there is one seemingly small change that happened soon after Modi became PM, and that change is not even directly linked with him. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India Raghuram Rajan visited Delhi like many other leaders of public institutions and met with top political bosses in the new government. Technically, the RBI is supposed to be completely independent of the central government, but we know

Modi wasted little time in ordering the increase in the height of the Narmada Dam, despite protests from environmentalists like Medha Patkar and others

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how things work in India. Soon after he went back to Mumbai, where the RBI is headquartered, the central bank issued a directive. This directive ordered banks not to insist on local address proof from Indian citizens who wanted to open a savings account in a bank. For hundreds of thousands, indeed millions of Indians who work away from their home towns and villages from migrant construction workers to IT professionals this seemingly small decision has come as a blessing. They faced harassment and humiliation while trying to open a bank account simply because they could not supply the kind of proof of residence that was demanded by banks. According to the RBI directive, banks will have to accept the local address as declared by the

customer. What was missed largely by most in the media is that this is a genuine effort to promote "inclusiveness" in the country and allow millions who were deprived earlier to open bank accounts wherever they work and stay. Now many will say that Modi had no role to play in this decision taken by the RBI since it is an independent and autonomous body. The question to ask is: why then was this simple decision not taken for years and years till Modi became the Prime Minister? For those who have contempt for the impact such small decisions have on the lives of people, there is a lesson from recent history. In the early 1980s, the then chief minister of Maharashtra AR Antulay was embroiled in what became notorious as the cement scam

GOVERNANCE

REMOVING ADDRESS PROOF FOR OPENING BANK ACCOUNTS WILL BENEFIT MILLIONS OF INDIANS WHO GO OUT OF THEIR HOME TOWNS TO EARN THEIR LIVING ELSEWHERE Modi believes in paying attention to small details

where he was accused of taking bribes to allot cement quotas to builders in Mumbai. In those days, cement production and sale, like most other things, was strictly controlled by the government and ordinary Indians had to go to local administrators to seek cement to build houses. In the aftermath of that scam, which resulted in the ouster of Antulay, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee made a small change

in policy. As an experiment, they "decontrolled" the production and sale of cement. So dramatic was the surge in cement production and the fall in the market price that the foundations were laid for the dismantling of the license permit raj, which finally happened in 1991. And we all know how the Indian economy blossomed after that. Many such seemingly small steps and policy decisions are largely ignored by the media that pays more attention to "bigger" and more controversial issues. The debate surrounding the Narmada Dam is a classic example. Within weeks of assuming power, the Union Cabinet headed by Modi announced that the height of the Narmada dam would be raised to 138 metres. Within hours of the decision being announced, the new chief minister of Gujarat Anandi Patel actually visited the site to flag off construction work. Not surprisingly, activists were aghast and the more prominent ones like Medha Patkar denounced the new Modi government for its "anti-people" decision. Many in the media said this was further proof that Modi will promote corporate interests at the expense of the poor and the marginalised. But in all this heat and anger over the Narmada Dam, one small but hugely transformative decision of

Modi as Chief Minister of Gujarat has been largely ignored. Large parts of Gujarat lack water and irrigation, and the state has been prone to frequent bouts of drought. How then did Modi achieve the unbelievable feat of delivering 10 per cent growth rates in agriculture in his state for ten long years, a feat acknowledged by global researchers as unparalleled in history? Quite simple, really. The secret lies in the systematic manner in which Modi went about quietly building small check dams – which conserve water without causing any environmental damage or displacement of people across the state. Here is what a known critic of Modi, Swaminathan A Aiyer wrote in his famous Times of India column ‘Swaminomics’ in 2009: "During the 2007 election campaign, the Congress slogan was 'chak de, chak de Gujarat'. I heard Modi say at a rally that his reply was 'check dam, check dam Gujarat'. I did not realise at that time how significant this really was. The IFPRI study says that 10,700 check dams were built up to year 2000 and helped 32,000 hectares become drought proof. That sounds like a lot. But subsequently under Modi, Gujarat has built ten times as many check dams... Modi's electoral success points to a new way of winning rural votes. Others should J U LY 2 0 1 4

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MODI MOVES

sit up and take notice." Remember, this was written in 2009. But as Aiyer admits in his column, the entire media failed to notice or analyse the impact of these small steps. Who cares about a tiny check dam in an obscure village when there is a juicy controversy like Narmada to follow? Back in 1998, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee became Prime Minister, his government announced an ambitious programme to modernise and rebuild national highways to give a boost to economic activities. Most analysts scoffed at it and said India simply did not have the resources to finance such expensive plans. When Vajpayee was re-elected as the Prime Minister in 1999, his government announced a small policy change. That was to impose a cess of one Rupee on every litre of petrol and diesel sold in the country. The revenues were to be used only for the ambitious Golden Quadrilateral project to modernise highways and connect all corners of India. Even diehard critics of the BJP admit that the small step completely transformed Indian highways. A majority of Indians did not mind or protest because they were used to frequent hikes in petrol and diesel prices. There are two more such decisions taken by the New Modi regime that will have a huge impact on millions of Indians. The first was something that barely attracted any attention from the media. As per this decision, citizens will not need in future to get their certificates attested by class 1 gazetted officers or file affidavits in courts if they fail to find a gazetted officer to attest their certificates. Imagine the torture and trauma that millions of Indians without "connections" have to go through to get their certificates attested. They invariably have to pay a bribe to get the job done or pay money to a tout in a court to get the job done through an affidavit. This business of submitting ‘attested’ copies has been a huge reason

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The Reserve Bank of India seems to have become suddenly proactive & pro consumer

CITIZENS IN FUTURE WILL NOT NEED TO FACE THE TRAUMA AND TORTURE OF GETTING THEIR CERTIFICATES ATTESTED BY CLASS 1 GAZETTED OFFICERS OR FILE AFFIDAVITS IN COURTS

for petty corruption of the worst kind. Once this decision is implemented, it is the poor and those without ‘connections’ who will benefit the most. Once again, that is genuine inclusiveness. The other decision for a lot of olay in the media is because it involved the top bureaucrats of India. Modi met 74 Secretary rank officials and asked them to submit a list of ten outdated and unnecessary laws and rules that can be repealed. Most ordinary Indians know that it is British

era laws and rules that encourage corruption and make their lives miserable whenever a petty government servant decides to do so. Most of these rules and laws would be changed without much fanfare or controversy. But their impact on ordinary Indians would be transformational. One such rule that Modi changed in Gujarat was related to boiler inspectors. Under Indian law, government appointed boiler inspectors are required to visit factories and check if their boilers are in working condition and if they are safe. This is just an excuse for more corruption. Modi simply abolished inspections by boiler inspectors in Gujarat. Small factory owners still praise Modi for this unheralded step that reduced both harassment and corruption. Of course, as time goes by, the Modi government will announce big policy decisions and changes. That is inevitable. But the more discerning will know that it is the small and less controversial and talked about changes that will have a positive impact on the lives of citizens.

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Modi: Imperatives Abroad India needs to improve its relations with China, Pakistan and also Afghanistan, but Narendra Modi’s government must balance each deal, so that its connect with Islamabad becomes and stays vibrant

t is predictable and surprising at the same time. On the one hand, the Congress-led government had grown so unpopular that everyone expected it to be voted out of office. However, on the other hand, the magnitude of the victory of the Bhartiya Janata Party was truly extraordinary. It has given Michael Kugelman the new government a huge mandate yet with this huge mandate comes sky-high expectations. And if these expectations aren't met, disillusionment and discontent among the voting public could set in very quickly. The biggest challenge is rejuvenating the economy. India's economic success story has come to an end. And yet the new prime minister of India has his own economic success story to boast of his accomplishments as chief minister of Gujarat. He will try to take this Gujarat model and apply it to India on the whole. It is a very ambitious goal.. However, the government will have to release a timeframe and plan for the country’s economic recovery. In addition to that the government should offer public and specific assurances that corruption will be addressed soon, issue a new plan for energy security, reach out to Pakistan, and also warn the public that progress on addressing the challenges will take time. This would help lower sky-high expectations facing the new government. The other interesting thing for the new Narendra Modi government to see is if Barack Obama's government needs to convince India that the US truly values the bilateral relationship, which has lapsed in recent months. The White House needs to pursue a veritable charm offensive in which it reaches out to India sending senior-level US officials to Delhi, inviting Indian officials to Washington, and the like. After this initial outreach can come the more nuts-and-bolts policy issues. And on this front, the US is on the right track already, President Obama has invited Modi to come to Washington in September. So far as the new government’s Indo-Pakistan and Indo-China policies are concerned, both of these relationships stand to improve in the short term. Modi values economic diplomacy and commercial partnerships, so we'll see him engage with Pakistan including, perhaps, by urging Pakistan to restart talks on a formal trade relationship and with China, which Modi visited several times while he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

Over the long term, however, the reality could be quite different. Despite all the emphasis Modi places on economic partnerships and commercial diplomacy, if India is provoked by either of its historical nemesis, then it won't be nearly as restrained as it was during the era of the previous government. If a terror attack is launched in India and is traced back to Pakistan, don't expect Modi to sit quietly. This is not to say he would respond with the use of force, but he could respond in a way that could aggravate tensions with Pakistan. And, not to forget Afghanistan: this Afghan drawdown could be very problematic for India, especially assuming that many Pakistani militants that have been operating in Afghanistan including the traditional anti-India groups such as Lashkare-Taiba will renew the fight against India once many of their foreign troop targets have left Afghanistan. The best course for India is to tighten, and intensify, its relations with its IF A TERROR ATTACK close ally Kabul. IS LAUNCHED IN INDIA And yet doing this AND IS TRACED BACK TO could aggravate PAKISTAN, DON'T EXPECT relations with MODI TO SIT QUIETLY. Islamabad. Yes, THIS MIGHT AGGRAVATE this is certainly what Modi intends INDO-PAK TENSIONS to do. He wants to institute a whole new paradigm of development, based on the Gujarat model, which emphasises rapid growth and everything that comes with it. This entails a focus on everything, from new roads and other infrastructure to strengthening high-growth sectors. The question, though, is whether Modi can truly pull this off in a nation afflicted with all types of structural obstacles in its economic sectors from corruption and inefficiency to heavy state influence. It's hard to imagine that even the best, most visionary leader can overcome these long-standing institutional obstacles and especially in the short term, when expectations will be highest. The author is Senior Program Associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC., and is a well-known expert on India matters J U LY 2 0 1 4

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HALLELUJHA OR ALAS? DECODING ARVIND KEJRIWAL

A A M A A D M I PA R T Y

VIKAS KUMAR

He captured a people’s dream that is still alive. If only he manages to harness his maniacal ego, India might even see that dream come alive. But how does one deconstruct the seeming maverick?

here was a time when ‘Arvind Kejriwal’ was a two-word magnet for the young, the honest and the earnest. People gave up Google and Apple jobs. That was at the top echelons. Near the bottom, even kids from poorer economic background proudly sported caps saying “Main Aam Aadmi Hun”. He and his party became the epicentre of a political tsunami that none of the conventional parties could make sense of when the AAP swept the Delhi State Assembly polls in 2013, and eventually formed a minority government with outside support from the Congress. Twitter and Facebook never had so many battles over any political development than when AAP came to power. But within 49 days came the fall. And then started the questions: Who Is Arvind Kejriwal? What Defines Him And His Politics? Is He A Congress ‘Plant’ Or A Maoist Freak? These are questions that will always haunt the minds of rational men trying to fathom the histrionic style of his politics, a la the Delhi dharna, the first time in India that a chief minister incumbent sat on the streets for two chilling winter nights over issues of rape and police apathy. But the moment of his ‘win’ after that dharna provoked enough questions. The cops concerned were sent on leave. So he claimed a victory. But the cops were never suspended. So his critics said he had been compromised. In between, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung sent him hot, melt-inthe-mouth paranthas, with a message to come to an ‘understanding’ and not be rigid beyond a point. He minded that message. What is clear is that he is not a conventional politician. His politics beguiled most traditional politicians as well as political analysts. He is a person of many definitions. His own personality is rife with contradictions. Sometimes he acts like a gladiator who challenges the might of the Vadras and Ambanis and even pushes them to the corner. Yet, sometimes he acts like an ‘otem boy of politics’ entertaining the news channels’ byte-crazy foot soldiers and confusing the ‘Great Indian Middle Class’. He can force brain-teasers with his sharp and mostly unpredictable manoeuvres. In the last two years after he gained entrée to politics, he has become the nursery-rhyme’s “mulberry bush” around which the media ran in circles. Clad in his trademark muffler and wearing a pair of slip-ons, he communicates in simple language which touches the hearts of millions who see him as nothing less than a messiah. India has now seen the various faces of Arvind Kejriwal, often touted as being the ‘honest and upright politician’ who can rescue Indian democracy from the malaise of corruption, communalism and many other ills afflicting it. But post polls 2014, when the dust has settled down and things have become saner after the most virulent general elections ever in the largest democracy in the world, the diminutive, bespectacled “by chancepolitician” appears to be much more predictable. Will this man change India's politics? Or will he disappear as political meteorites that break up into ‘star shower’ spectacles that kids enjoy, but whose flames never reach the earth? In faraway Assam, nearly 20 years ago, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta had emerged from the All Assam Student's Union (AASU) to capture the Ahom vote and become the Chief Minister of the state. But Mahanta

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unravelled quickly and disappeared into this fulfilled the condition of not resigning political oblivion. till 36 months after joining back. His "They were an identity-driven party. We resignation was finally accepted in 2011, KEJRIWAL FOLLOWERS are not," Kejriwal had said in an interview, he paid back the dues with loans SAY HE IS A PRFECTIONIST when when this comparison was hinted at. from friends A former colleague, who worked with However, he too seems to be afflicted AND EXTREMELY PASSIONby same problem, as his own partymen ATE, AND ADMIT THAT HE him in those days says: “ Arvind lacked question his style and accuse him of trying WORKS AND THINKS AT A the patience and seriousness to make any serious impact, and his tenure as a to play God in the party. LEVEL WHERE IT bureaucrat does not impress me at all. People close to him say he lacks the BECOMES DIFFICULT TO Just being honest is not enough. You patience to take any work to a logical will have to deliver. When he became conclusion. In his initial years in the MATCH HIM Chief Minister of Delhi, I knew he will government, when he was a Joint not continue for long, as he will not be Commissioner in Income Tax department, able to perform in any job that needs he went on a sabbatical from November 1, responsibility and tenacity.” 2000 to October 31, 2002. One condition for such leave is that To understand Kejriwal better, we will have to goback to his the employee must serve continuously for at least three years past and try to understand his evolution. His father, GR Kejriwal, after joining back, failing which he or she must pay back the an electrical engineer by training, had lost job, and his family salary he drew over two years, with a penalty. faced survival problems. To cut costs, his family shifted to their Kejriwal re-joined on November 1, 2002, but within the next native village of Siwani in Haryana's Hissar district. They would 18 months, he went on leave without pay for another 18 months. live there until a new job offer for his father took them back to And here he exhibited the maverick in him for the first time. Hissar town a year later. He resigned in February 2006. The government claimed his This crisis steeled the young Arvind to succeed in life. Being resignation would not be accepted, as he had not worked for a meritorious student, he reached IIT and then succeeded in three years after his study leave. But Arvind Kejriwal countered qualifying the civil services examination that produces the upper that after his study leave he had worked for 18 months, and then echelons of the Indian bureaucracy. He went into the Indian stayed in service for another 18 months, albeit without pay…

Those were the days... Teeming millions would feel honourd to just touch his hand

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A A M A A D M I PA R T Y

THE KHAAS PERSONS IN THE AAM PARTY Prashant Bhushan has been a very active lawyer and has waged many battles against lack of judicial accountability. He is neutral and well liked

Sanjay Singh is affable and among the main leaders of the party. He was overall coordinator of AAP's Lok Sabha election and in charge of Uttar Pradesh.

Ashutosh has been a news channel star who was about to lose his job when he joined AAP. Close to the boss, he has a reputation of being 'arrogant' and 'distanced'

Revenue Service. However, his foray into public life started others are with him for a long time. And, off course Manish much later, when he began drafting the ‘Right to Information Sisodia is no match to Kejriwal, so he is continuing,” said a Bill’ during a study break in the government service. former colleague, requesting anonymity. The National Campaign for People’s Right to Information But veteran journalist Shekhar Gupta differs on the intellectual (NCPRI) was a loosely held body of a few brilliant individuals led capability of Kejriwal. “The impressive thing about the most by Aruna Roy. She worked as the mentor but eventually became definite thoughts (there is nothing stray or tentative here, he has the organisation’s bête noire. seen the truth) of Kejriwal is how brilliantly he has diagnosed Nikhil Dey, Anjali Bharadwaj and Abha Joshi were other India’s problems. He states with masterful clarity what makes us members of this small group. People recall those days when citizens so angry, and justifiably so,” Gupta wrote in his review of Aruna Roy’s dictatorial style had often bruised the young and the Kejriwal tome “Swaraj”. spirited Kejriwal. Thunderous flashes flew from ego clashes, Christopher Jaffrelot, Carnegie Melon scholar adds an as Arvind was as adamant as Aruna was interesting perspective: “But Swaraj is obstinate. more interesting for the way it deals with Soon, he parted ways and joined village life in India, a theme with which the ‘Samoorna Parivartan’, an NGO, along with Aam Aadmi Party leader is not generally THERE COULD BE SOME a few of his friends such as Manish Sisodia associated. This paradox is easy to explain. TRUTH IN KEJRIWAL'S and Rakesh Agarwal in 2000. Agarwal says: While India is transitioning from a rural STATEMENT THAT AAP'S “Arvind Kejriwal lacks seriousness in his to an urban society, and while the AAP is thoughts. He does not give space to other more the party of well-off town dwellers VICTORY WAS NOT BEpeople’s ideas.” His detractors say he is not of poor peasants, nostalgia for village CAUSE OF THE MEDIA BUT than comfortable working with people more life is becoming more acute among India’s DESPITE IT, SINCE THE ME- urban middle class.” intellectually advanced than him. He will work with Yogendra Yadav and Rajmohan DIA TURNED AGAINST HIM However, some people consider him Gandhi only when he feels that the ‘other a true leader. He is very similar to Steve AFTER THE DELHI DHARNA person’ will not try to overshadow him. Jobs, iconic corporate leader who also This is the main reason of clash between defied conventional corporate leader and Yogendra Yadav and Arvind Kejriwal. was very obstinate in nature. But Gopal Yadav is a well-networked, top intellectual in the country and Rai, AAP leader, told News Bench: “It is an incorrect comparison. with his measured presence and clear rationality, is anathema to Arvind Kejriwal is different stuff altogether. He is not the Kejriwal’s vanity, knowledgeable sources insist. conventional politician. His style is very different, so you cannot Kejriwal is often accused of being intolerant. He does not analyse him from within existing paradigms.” respect differences in opinion, making life for his party comrades Dilip Pandey, AAP leader and spokesperson says: “He is a difficult. Abha Joshi, Anjali Bhardwaj, Rajendra Singh, PV perfectionist and very passionate. He works and thinks at a level Rajgopal, Surjeet Das, Ashwini Upadhyaya or Madhu Bhaduri… where it becomes difficult for many people to match him.” there is a long list of people who had to part ways because they Kejriwal is known for his sensational announcements. He found him impossible. “Only Manish Sisodia and perhaps a few knows how to remain in the limelight. At a certain launch J U LY 2 0 1 4

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ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES IN AAP Surjit Dasgupta, ex-journalist, was key to creating the organisational structures in Delhi. He left the party when he found AAP becoming left oreinted

Binod Kumar Binni was popular in AAP. But he is ambitious and left the party in anger when he was denied a ticket for the Lok Sabha elections of 2014

Shazia Ilmi was a hidecibel AAP leader. Though she was given a ticket for the LS polls, she resented being denied a Delhi ticket and left after she bombed at the polls

ceremony, he pulled a fast one by declaring feel that it was perhaps the first time that that an auto-driver will be made the AAP the media adopted a combative attitude candidate from Kalkaji. The man was towards him. Kejriwal’s relationship PEOPLE QUESTION HIS never heard of again. And then he sat the media touched its nadir when MOTIVES, ESPECIALLY ON with on a dharna, even as he was the sitting he accused it to be completely sold off THE DELHI DHARNA. WHY in the hands of corporates. This blatant Chief Minister of Delhi, on the rape issue, outside the Parliament on two of Delhi’s DID HE CHOOSE TO STAGE attack on the media, which thinks of itself freezing nights. IT TWO DAYS BEFORE THE a holy-cow, made many editors in the In public life, he symbolises an activistchannels and newspapers uncomfortable. REPUBLIC DAY CELEBRA- In an interview Kejriwal openly said: “Our politician, an anachronism in itself. And TIONS? WAS IT TO MAXI- growth has been not because of the media, his brief 49-days of governance style does not raise any hopes either. A senior leader but despite the media.” MISE MEDIA DRAW? in the party, requesting anonymity, says: There might be some truth in his “Arvind is a very sharp and tactical person. argument, but people raise questions on He acts like a chess grandmaster who can his motives. Firstly, why did he choose false-foot his opponent.” But some say his strength has become his to protest two days ahead of the Republic Day? Is it because he weakness and he has become very much predictable these days. knew it that it will maximize media attention? He has done this Politics is all about compromises. One cannot be correct all many times. the time. Rakesh Agarwal says: “Strategy and tactics can lead you Ashwini Upadhyay, a former AAP leader told News Bench: to some success, but to survive in the long term you have to be "Once a few Muslim volunteers came to him from the Okhla really serious, as governance is no cakewalk. Arvind Kejriwal locality demanded something special for Muslims. Kejriwal fares poorly on that front. But, I can safely say he is a brilliant retorted that he does not believe in religion-based politics. But events manager who knows how to remain in the limelight. He they kept pressurising him and ultimately got him to say that will have to understand that one cannot be agitator and Chief Batla House encounter in September 2008 – in which Indian Minister at the same time.” Mujahideen activists, along with a police official, were killed His relationship with the media has also gone through many in Delhi, – was a fake encounter. When we explained him the phases. Initially, the media supported him and portrayed him as the repercussions of this statement, he feared losing votes, and solution to the evils of politics. However, this honeymoon soured immediately issued a statement that he had been misquoted" when he decided to stage that dramatic dharna. This signalled Upadhyay told News Bench. the emergence of a new genre of theatrics-based politics. It was Some say Kejriwal is gullible. Binod Kumar Binni, former AAP a paisa wasool show on the television. Those who had stopped leader and MLA, recalls an incident, “I told Arvind Kejriwal that watching news channels out of sheer frustration with falsitudes Sushil Chauhan is not the right candidate from Krishna Nagar again hooked to their TV sets, watching every manoeuver of this constituency. I said Chauhan will lose. Kejriwal denied him the popular leader. For the common people, this was a battle against ticket and did not even think of cross checking whether I was police insensitivity a common man faces everyday. right or wrong.” But his critics have a different point of view. Veteran journalists Arvind Kejriwal has a subtle charm and he knows his strength.

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A A M A A D M I PA R T Y

Kejriwal has made much of his simple lifestyle, like his riding only a blue Wagon R

Pune-based Shripad Dharmadhikari to his madness. He is giving those people a says, “So far, we had always followed the voice that had no say in the contemporary narrative that politics is all about money THE EARLY SETBACK IN HIS politics.” and lineage. Kejriwal has shown that both Arvind Kejriwal rides a blue Wagon R, LIFE, WHEN HIS FATHER are no longer necessary. His ideology isn't which has also been donated by one of his LOST HIS JOB AND HAD TO AAP supporters. That is hardly any wrong well defined, but it is a language that is SHIFT TO THEIR VILLAGE, doing. At the end of the day, there are a few attempting to escape the framework of isms and trying to shape a new discourse.” things that emerge as certain. CAME AS A SHOCK, BUT His supporters damn the detractors. An He is human and thus fallible, like any ALSO STEELED KEJRIWAL TO •other. AAP functionary says: “He is a workaholic SUCCEED IN HIS LIFE ON • He is rather opaque in his thought and responds to Emails even at four in the morning. He takes feedback from his team process, or if his now alienated former HIS OWN TERMS and communicates in an easy language. political bedmates are to be believed, He does not try to pretend what he is not.” very egoistical. Rakesh Agarwal, who seemed more logical • His purpose is clear but his repeatedly in analysing Kejriwal, says: “No doubt he is honest. His integrity changing tactics will not deliver. is beyond doubt. People are accusing him of foreign connections • He has a clear caliber in seizing mass attention but soon such as Ford Foundation, but nobody has been able to prove that losing it. he has wrongly used this fund.” As a close follower, who is a journalist still in his party says: Asked why some top leaders like Surajeet Dasgupta, former “This is what happens if you frame your strategy keeping the TV National Council member, left, insiders insist that people like channels in mind.” him or Binod Kumar Binni were really not what they made of At the end of the day, he captured people’s dream that is still themselves. "They were actually on the fringes of the leadership," alive. If only he manages to harness his maniacal ego, if only an insider told News Bench. he lends his ears to friendly counsel, India might even see that Mohan Guruswamy, founder of the New Delhi-based think dream come alive. If only… and on that will depend whether in tank Centre for Policy Alternative, says: “There is some method the coming years we hear a “Hallelujah” or an “Alas”! J U LY 2 0 1 4

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DICTIONS REPLETE WITH INTERNAL CONTRA A NARCISSISTIC CRAVING FOR MEDIA ATTENTION ING AUTOCRACY PREACHING DEMOCRACY, PRACTIC COTERIES WITHIN COTERIES AND BANISHMENT OF REASON

These are some of the missiles that hit the Aam Aadmi Party, the former political heartthrob of the Young Indian. The party startled everyone with declared radical policies such as the locals of a constituency alone chosing the AAP candidate, or accountability for every penny received in donation. But the reality as it emerged showed arbitrary ticket distribution, lack of accountability and other ills In its halcion days before it gave up the Delhi governance, people flocked to AAP

Apney AAP: How The Party Did It To Itself! VIKAS KUMAR

lace: Jangpura, New Delhi, Time: 4.45 pm, Date: 9 June, 2014 There is much hustle and bustle at the Prashant Bhushan’ household, where the AAP’s national executive meeting is going on. Chairs are arranged on the road and there is a small plastic table placed in front, on which there are at least 50 microphones of various TV news channels tumbling one over the other. Some parts of the road is almost invisible because of the loose

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camera cables dangling everywhere. Camera persons take their positions like Howitzer guns deployed at Kupwara, ready to shoot any time. Suddenly, there is silence. Someone whispers that Arvind Kejriwal has come. Wearing a simple blue-color shirt and a pair of slippers, he walks fast to assume his position on the dais. Beside him, Prashant Bhushan, Sanjay Singh and Gopal Rai anoint themselves. Without wasting a second, Kejriwal starts reading out from his scripted press-release. He starts attacking Mukesh Ambani and Narendra Modi in

A A M A D M I PA R T Y

his copyrighted style. Once he is finished with his speech, he inception till date, Aam Admi Party has been able to create lot takes on questions one by one. One of the partymen whispers: of twists and turns that can be a very good political thriller idea “This is today’s headline.” He was right. for Abbas- Mastan duo. AAP is the party which lives by the media and dies by it. The party suddenly looks in a complete mess. It seems on a It will not be wrong to say Aam Admi Party has been largely suicidal course. There are countless reasons for this hopeless a television news channel creation. From the last two years, situation. Dilip Pandey, one of important leaders in the party and Aam Admi Party theatrics has been TRP booster for the news spokesperson, told News Bench: “Initially, we were in a denial channels and it seems their theatrics are impromptu. Nagendra about the Modi wave. But there was indeed a wave. Secondly, the Rai, one of the key persons who handles the media, says in a lighter vein, “We can do it within no time. Nobody can beat us in this art.” Without doubt Arvind The basic problem with Kejriwal is that he Kejriwal’s Aam Admi Party can create lacks political vision. Problems emerged drama in just two minutes. Call them the when he tried to widen his ideas and Maggie Noodles of Indian politics of the expand his political footprint for the general 21st century. Arvind Kejriwal is perhaps elections, but he gave up on the ideals. the most astute media manager in the country. Television may love him or hate - Rakesh Agarwal, Former AAP leader him but cannot ignore him. From Anna Andolan to Lokpal Dharna, from India Gate protests to Robert Vadra expose, he smartly handled the media or AAP is no longer a common man's party. It you can say he was on the right side of runs on the whims of just one man and his it. His statements created controversy, coterie. It is not a good sign. If it wants to like a pre-scripted argument in Big Boss. prosper, it will have to be more transparent Like a master strategist he made Kumar and democratic in nature. Vishwas, Shazia Ilmi and Manish Sisodia subjects of discussion in the drawing - Ashok Agarwal, Advocate, ex-AAP leader rooms of many Indian homes. For a common Indian he was nothing less than a ‘Kalki Avatar’ who will sweep all the evils with his all powerful broom. However, after the Delhi election and assuming There are differences in every family. It is being power Aam Admi Party started losing the unnecessarily hyped by media. We are sure plot. The party changed its stance so fast AAP will emerge stronger after this. Those on too many occasions that could put a who have left, had short-term interests and volatile stock market to shame. hence have left the party. Then, the party decided to come out of power and jump to Great Indian Chunavi - Dilip Pandey, Official spokesperson, AAP Circus. And, the result was nothing less than heart breaking. Arvind Kejriwal lost badly and all of the top leaders lost their security deposits. Not only did they lose, they returned bruised, battered, dejected The party should think beyond agitation. and clueless after the elections. Big egos It should think beyond showmanship. And were trampled upon in the planet's biggest at the same time I think Arvind Kejriwal is five-yearly referendum. Suddenly, that surrounded by a coterie and even I have not party looks like a disorganised bunch of got access to him. people who had no ideology, no agenda, Shazia Ilmi, Former AAP leader no vision and which can do nothing but sit ins and disruptions of the traffic. From J U LY 2 0 1 4

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COVER STORY

‘deserter’ (giving up Delhi governance) decided upon by Sanjay Singh. tag cost us dearly.” Now, there is a lot Former member Ashwini Upadhyay of discontentment in the party brewing says the party is a loosely held mob at different levels. The worst part is that of opportunist individuals. Loyalists the party top brass is trapped in an are being ignored at the cost of the internecine war of attrition.” opportunists. Shazia Ilmi, another star MEDHA PATKAR Manish Sisodia’s letter was leaked to the member of the party was also upset No. of Votes obtained media: he had savaged Yogendra Yadav because of a variety of reasons. Arvind 76,451 in it, accusing him of ‘finishing’ Kejriwal. Kejriwal was becoming inaccessible in He also raised questions about Yadav’s the party and he had been surrounded by decision to contest 440 seats. Though certain elements within it. Ilmi was also the duo beamed smilies at each other upset with the fact that being a founder and tried to play-down the controversy, member of the party she was not in the YOGENDRA YADAV sources within the party say that it was a Political Affairs Committee of the party, No. of votes obtained pre-scripted drama to cut Yadav’s stature but a relatively new entrant – star TV 79,452 in the party by none other than Arvind news editor Ashutosh - was included in Kejriwal himself. it. The PAC is the most powerful body in Party insiders say that Manish Sisodia the AAP. and Arvind Kejriwal were uncomfortable She also had to lobby hard to become with the growing stature of Yogendra the party’s national spokesperson, against KUMAR VISHWAS Yadav within the party. Since Yadav is the wishes of some senior leaders. The No. of votes obtained a noted academician, intellectual and party wanted her to be fielded from 25,527 political analyst, his stature and persona Raebareli, but she wanted to contest from was making Manish Sisodia - and to Delhi. This also created fissures between the some extent even Arvind Kejriwal – the top brass and Ilmi. Rumours were uncomfortable. They were waiting for the that many party workers did not like Ilmi opportune moment. To fight on 440 seats because they felt she was too arrogant . SONI SORI was Yogendra Yadav’s decision, which Within the party Ashutosh is another No. of votes obtained cost the party dearly. bete-noire. Common party workers do 16,903 Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of not like him at all and considers him a Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, says, parachuted leader forced on them. At “Perhaps, it was a wrong decision as the same time, he behaves like a ‘Khas it depleted the scarce resources.” Not Aadmi’ within the party only did the party lose badly, but Yadav A former AAP leader and an old friend C. UDAIKUMAR himself lost his deposit. Shazia Ilmi, of Arvind Kejriwal, Rakesh Agarwal, No. of votes obtained Kumar Vishwas and a few other stalwarts from the Parivartan days talks of the 15,314 too lost their deposits. lack of ideological moorings in the party, Then again, the rumour was that “The basic problem with Kejriwal is that Yadav had gone to meet Rahul Gandhi at he lacks a political vision. Problems 12 am in the night, and some sections of emerged when he tried to widen these the party had got the wind of that. They ideas and expand his political footprint asked Yadav about this, but he could proffer no justification. for the general elections, and he gave up on the ideals he had This angered the volunteers. originally cultivated. The manner of ticket distribution also raised the hackles Party insiders point out to the infighting within the party. within the party. There was no system of choosing candidate. There are two power groups in the party. One is led by Yogendra A party insider said: “Tickets were already decided and entire Yadav, with Ajit Jha, Sanjay Singh and Somnath Tripathy in tow. interview and screening process was a hogwash.” According to The other is led by Kejriwal himself, with Kumar Vishwas and highly placed sources in the party, Manish Sisodia had already Manish Sisodia as his henchmen. decided candidates from Madhya Pradesh. Mayank Gandhi This infighting has cost the AAP dearly. The lack of internal called the shots in deciding upon Maharashtra candidates, as democracy has compelled many leaders to leave the party. "AAP did Kejriwal in Delhi constituencies. Similarly, UP tickets were is no longer a common man's party. It runs on the whims of

STARS WHO FELL LIKE METEORITES

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A A M A D M I PA R T Y

just one man and his coterie,"says Ashok Agarwal, a Delhi based But his party can revive if Arvind Kejriwal regains his original lawyer who is known for his battle for primary education rights. charisma by changing his own image. He will have to seriously get Agarwal was supposed to contest on an AAP ticket, but the rid of the coteries in the party and leave histrionics behind him. party replaced him with a TV journalist who lost the polls to the He will have to realise that AAP has lost its appeal. BJP. "I had joined the party on Kejriwal's insistence but when Rakesh Bisaria, a telecom engineer from New Jersey, USA, told I left the party there was not a single courtesy phone call from News Bench, “We have debated and questioned the functioning of them." he says. AAP. This (electoral debacle) is a small setback. But we are fighting Political pundits feel that Kejriwal’s lack of sagacity was palpable for a change in the system, and this is a long-term battle.” in the way the party fought the elections. The fissures in the party are personal as well as ideological. Dilip "Big parties have massive networks, cadres and a pan-India Pandey, revealing AAP’s strategy, said: “We have started Mission presence, which AAP lacked," says veteran jouranalist Arvind Vistaar, during which we will try to form a booth-level structure Mohan. The poll specialists are also of the view that all the big in the country.” But Rakesh Agarwal rubbished this: “Instead of names in AAP should have contested for all the seven seats in Mission Vistaar we should have started a Mission Consolidate. Delhi. That would bring their tally to something around 11. The The party should have strengthened itself in Punjab, Haryana and party’s image also suffered because it fielded a few controversial candidates and people with doubtful images such as Yudhveer Singh (who had given a clean chit to Robert Vadra on the Haryana land scam) and Parvin Amanullah from Patna, who was named in another land scam. There are many such instances. Now the party is completely bruised and battered. The morale of volunteers is completely down. A senior leader says that Kejriwal’s decision to go to jail also did not go down well with the volunteers. Perhaps nothing else as adequately symbolises the AAP’s fall from grace with the public than the retreating hairline of donations. AAP had been the first party in this country to ensure that any donation to it would The topi and the muffler, once loved by the people, soon became laughing matter be accountable and mentioned in its website. There were days when the AAP website showed flow of up to Rs 40 lakh. From June 1 to 15 June, however, the website showed just Delhi where it has a good base. Now, I am certain that the party one donation that crossed the rupees one lakh mark! will even lose Delhi.” Can AAP revive itself? If you suspend all the recent prejudices Dilip might be right. Sitting in his living room he smiles against the man because of his party’s botching up a mass dream, obliquely over a cup of tea. He tries to play down the squabbling you will still love the broad smile on his face. In more ways than within the party and says: “Yeh to hota rahata hain… meri biwi ke one he is the Bhaiya or Bhaisaab… or for the next generation, saath to kaee baar kaha-suni hoti hain bhai. the ‘uncle’ next door. This disarming charm, however, masks, “You will have to understand that there are millions of people unintentionally, an autocrat whose attitude towards life is biased in the country who retain some hope. But, success will largely by the sudden loss of moorings when he was too young to figure be possible only if the party learns from its follies. Kejriwal has out why his father had lost his job and why they had to move to proved time and again that he is unreliable. But his biggest success his native village. is that he has made the common people believe that they can give His character had been formed then, which basically meant “I a fight to the corrupt system. decide!” J U LY 2 0 1 4

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KEJRIWAL… The CIA Links

Arvind Kejriwal has been accused of links with the CIA, as 'proved' from his receiving funds from Ashoka Foundation, bagging Ford Foundation money and the Magsaysay Award

Kejriwal and old friend Manish Sisodia have both been accused of taking foreign funding

RAKESH SINGH

rvind Kejriwal has completed one full cycle. Within a year, his political graph peaked and then it crashed. He is the man who has been at the forefront of the agitation against corruption. He acquired cult status for many and his name was being taken in the same breath with other top leaders of the country. However, it is important to understand the dynamics of his functioning. Arvind Kejriwal comes from an NGO background, and recently, the Intelligence Bureau has submitted a report in which it has raised fingers at the functioning of a few NGOs that survive on foreign funding. It becomes equally important to understand the dynamics of supporters and intellectuals. I would like to mention one lesser known incident.

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September 19, 2012, is the date on which Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal had their last meeting at the Constitution Club. In the meeting, he had asked Kejriwal a seminal question: from where does he get all the money to run his political organisation. Kejriwal replied: Just the way and from the sources others get their funding. This statement had many hidden meanings. This is the primary reason why Anna detached himself from Kejriwal. Advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, who has filed a case against Kejriwal’s NGO receiving foreign money, says that Kejriwal’s mission against corruption was being funded by the Ford Foundation. Ford Foundation is a front run by America’s top intelligence organisation, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Through the Ford Foundation, USA carries out its agenda in many countries, nurturing people who they think could be

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strategic assets for meeting America’s long term goals. Kejriwal and many of his colleagues has been taking support from the Ford Foundation, Sharma says. When Kejriwal was in service, working with the Income Tax Department, he was part of the Sampoorna Parivartan (Total Change) organization. The Ford Foundation had sent $80,000 to that organisation, but the board running Parivartan refused the funding. At that point in time, Manish Sisodia and Kejriwal split with Parivartan and started an organisation – Kabir of their own, and that Ford Foundation funding was allegedly diverted to the new organisation. It seems Ford Foundation was creating a popular character for India in a planned manner. Kejriwal and his friends claim of being transparent, but Manish Sisodia has not given details of foreign funds obtained on the website. In 2008, his organisation obtained $1.97 lakh dollars. The CIA by then was circling around Kejriwal. Admiral Laksminarayan Ramdas, the former chief of naval staff, is supposedly Kejriwal’s godfather. His daughter, Kavita Ramdas is the Ford Foundation’s Asia head. This organisation also supports the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. Interestingly, Admiral Ramdas received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2004. This Magsaysay award, given by the Philippines, is also regarded as a CIA funded operation. Magsaysay was the seventh president of the Philippines, who was at the forefront of anti-Communist operations in his country and was guided and funded by the CIA’s General Edward Landsdale. The Magsaysay award is usually given to Asian leaders who are the US’s intellectual or political assets in this region. Interestingly, another intriguing source of funding for Kabir was the Dutch Embassy. The Dutch Embassy’s activities in India have always been suspect. It is understood that the Netherlands is the main centre of activity for CIA. Sources inform that IB has prepared a list of journalists who get funds from the Dutch Embassy. These journalists and editors were sent to Belgium on a junket between 2 and 3 October, 2010. This reflects that there is a certain link between Kejriwal and Ford Foundation. There is one more CIA allied organisation, Ashoka Foundation, which was doling out favours to him. Arvind Kejriwal had also taken fellowship from Ashoka in 2004, the same year that Admiral Ramdas received the Ramon Magsaysay award. Since inception in 1982 Ashoka gave all fellowships to Indians. It is also an accepted fact that Dutch Intelligence agency and America’s CIA have conducted many operations jointly, particularly against leftists. Wikileaks had also disclosed their dark relationships in their cables. On the basis of many documents author Sanders had tried to disclose the murky world of CIA and its style of functioning. Organisations like the Ford Foundation are an easy route for CIA funding. By this way they can influence intellectuals, leaders,

Kejriwal: CIA and the needle of suspicion I

s Arvind Kejriwal an agent of the American intelligence agency, the CIA? It is no secret that it has been involved in some of the murkiest manoeuvrings in many countries, including in the Subcontinent. Did they also pull in Kejriwal? There is no direct evidence but there is enough meat in a book titled ‘Who Paid the Piper': CIA and Cultural Cold Wars’ written by Frances Stoner Sanders, to warrant a proper investigation. Sanders has established a clear relationship between CIA and the Ford Foundation. The CIA funds various groups across the world through the Ford Foundation. Sanders says that the American Congress had found out that more than 300 organisations across countries had been funded through the CIA. A website called “Beyond Headlines” has found that Kabir had received Rs 88,61,742 between 2007-10. Strangely, one of the donors of Kabir was the Dutch Embassy. In 1985, an organisation named PSO started deputing experts in various countries on developmental issue. PSO is directly funded by the Dutch Embassy and it is an umbrella organisation of more than 60 developmental organisations of Netherland. The NGO ‘Priya’ has Ford Foundation connections and is also a partner of Kabir, run by Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia. Many other researchers have made interesting observations about various other joint projects of the CIA. The most important organisations are Eastern European Fund, The Congress for Cultural Freedom and International Rescue Committee. However, the links with Kejriwal are yet to be clearly established.

labour union leaders and academicians. India’s importance for the Ford Foundation can be gauged from the fact that New Delhi was the first centre where the Foundation opened an office outside the US. Now, Arvind Kejriwal should explain why Ford Foundation is supporting them. Do they have any ulterior motive? He left his job in February of 2006 to give full time to the NGO. That year he received the Ramon Magsaysay award for emerging leadership. However, the citation did not mention what he received the award for. There was just a brief mention that his team had resolved 2,500 electricity bills-related disputes under the aegis of ‘Parivartan’ NGO. J U LY 2 0 1 4

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“DON’T JUDGE AAP OR KEJRIWAL CONVENTIONALLY”: GOPAL RAI He is affable and devoid of the trademark arrogance of many other leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party. Sitting in the small room in the party ofﬁce, he politely requests us to share his lunch. While munching his ‘tifﬁn’ he masters barbed questions on the doomsday scenario of his party. Excerpts of an interview with News Bench…

— GOPAL RAI is a senior member of the Political Affairs Committee of the Aam Aadmi Party

VIKAS KUMAR HOW DO YOU RATE YOUR ELECTORAL PERFORMANCE? IT IS SURELY NOT AS PER EXPECTATIONS You have to be realistic and practical when you analyse our performance. It is wrong to say that we have bombed. You will have to understand how many political parties have been formed since Independence, and how many of them got recognised. We got four seats and more than one crore votes. We have scored second position in 10 seats. More than one lakh new volunteers joined us in the process. This is a big success in my view. WHAT WILL BE YOUR NEXT STRATEGY? We are focusing on strengthening our national network. Our plan is to create booth-level network in the country. Booth in-charges will be our next keypersons in the party. Their views will be very important. Their participation will increase. This will be a bottom-up process. At present, there is no system to ensure direct participation of volunteers in the process. But this is an arduous task. It will take time.

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DELHI’ITES GAVE YOUR PARTY A MANDATE TO RULE THE STATE, BUT YOU SUDDENLY SURRENDERED. WILL YOU SAY THAT THIS TAG OF BEING THE ‘DESERTER’ COST YOU DEARLY? Yes, I do agree. We were not able to communicate the message on why we gave up Delhi effectively to the masses. We thought people will understand our sacrifice. But that did not happen. People were of the view that we should not have left the government on the basis of our failure to get the Lokpal Bill passed in the state Assembly. Kejriwal has also accepted this as a major mistake. MIDDLE CLASS VOTERS HAVE GONE AWAY FROM YOU. IS THIS NOT A DANGEROUS SIGNAL? It is for the middleclass to decide. It has to choose between corrupt and honest systems. It has to chose between Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal. Delhi is reeling under huge electricity and water crises. In our government, things were pretty smooth. When Modi’s government will complete 48 days (referring to the AAP giving up power after just 49 days of rule), people will themselves compare with our 48

days of governance. BUT AAP SEEMS TO BE JUST INDULGING IN GIMMICKS… AT LEAST, THAT IS THE COMMON MAN’S PERCEPTION… The common man, as you say, is watching all these things and nobody knows what he is liking or disliking. You and I cannot judge his mind. The AAP, in many senses, is not a traditional style party and Arvind Kejriwal is not a conventional politician. If you judge him from within aged paradigms, the picture will be distorted completely. ARVIND KEJRIWAL HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF BEING DICTATORIAL. BUT THEN, SEVERAL ACHIEVERS SUCH AS STEVE JOBS HAVE ALSO BEEN TERMED DICTATORS. DO YOU THINK THIS IS A COMMON TRAIT IN ACHIEVERS? It is not the right comparison. Arvind is a perfect team-man. If you see ‘Team’ was first used in politics for us, for example ‘Team Anna’ and ‘Team Kejriwal’. It must be realised the days of personality cult is being over across the world. Any leader, however big he may be, is incomplete without his team.

POLITICS

History is poised to repeat itself, and some in the BJP – Raje, Chauhan and Singh - who thought they were all powerful, are facing Modi and RSS’ wrath for failing to implement the latter's plan to have a threelayered state leadership

The Trapped Satraps NEWS BENCH BUREAU

anger looms large over three satraps of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Whether they will survive or will bear the consequences of their ‘audacity’, as had happened earlier with people, remains uncertain and even top leaders of the party are only speculating at the moment. There was a time when Kalyan Singh

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was the face of BJP in Uttar Pradesh. Babulal Marandi was the same in Jharkhand, as were Shanta Kumar in Himachal Pradesh, BS Yeddyurappa in Karnataka and Uma Bharti in Madhya Pradesh were the bosses of their own states. But bruising the egos of more powerful people saw them reduced to a fraction of what they were. And it seems history is now poised to repeat itself. The Damocles Sword this time around is said to be hanging over the heads of Shivraj

Singh Chauhan, Raman Singh and Vasundhara Raje Scindia. Narendra Modi has sent a clear message to them that if they do not mend their ways then they will be minded! Informed BJP-watchers know that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had worked out a strategy of growth in the states. Each state would have three layers of leadership, it had decided. But that has not happened. One of the key factors for this not taking shape, RSS bosses have analysed, is

THE BJP

the reigning state leadership is not allowing the lower strata to grow. Sources reveal that there is an initiative to stop this practice through Narendra Modi. They say that there is a plan at the national level to clip the wings of these three chief ministers. And it is being said that the reason Modi himself is keen on taking up the challenge is his ego bruised in the run-up to the general elections. Actually, Shivraj Singh Chauhan has been a thorn in the flesh for Modi since long. The anti-Modi lobby within the BJP (read June issue of News Bench: “Modi’s Real Enemies, The G-172” had used him to needle the blue-eyed boy of the RSS. On the issue of development, Singh was projected to be of an equal stature as Narendra Modi. During the Vidhan Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh, this faction tried to blackout Modi’s picture on all the printed election material. Apart from this, Singh sidelined those who could have emerged as an opposition to him, which included Modi’s favourites. It was as a part of this strategy that Uma Bharti was stopped from being active in MP. People also see the state BJP president’s elevation as a Cabinet Minister as a part of the same ‘conspiracy’ so that Shivraj does not face any challenge. There were murmurs that BJP President Rajnath Singh wanted to replace Chauhan with Tomar as the Chief Minister. Sources say that the ‘development’ issue that was used to raise and praise Chauhan to great heights will now be used to hack him down. There is also talk of giving a bigger role to Prahalad Patel in the party set up to clip the wings of CM Chauhan. The tradition of Shivraj is being followed by Raman Singh in Chattisgarh. His insistence on getting a ticket for his son Abhishek for the Lok Sabha elections has not gone down well. The move to make Vishnu Dev Sai a minister in the Union Cabinet was apparently made without taking Raman Singh into confidence. In recently concluded Lok Sabha elections he ensured that the sitting Member of Parliament Madhusudan Yadav does not get a ticket. But even then, a Chief Minister who used to decide the tickets and then informed the central leadership had to sweat it out for his own son Abhishek

MODI IS SAID TO BE PRETTY UNHAPPY WITH THE TENDENCY OF SOME BJP SATRAPS TO SUCCUMB TO THE 'DYNASTY DISEASE' THAT IS SO WIDELY PREVALENT IN THE CONGRESS & OTHER REGIONAL PARTIES Singh's ticket. Also, Vishnu Dev Sai was picked up for the Cabinet without even informing Raman Singh. Something similar seems to have happened in Rajasthan, where Modi has deliberately ignored wishes of the CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia to induct her son Dushyant Singh in the Union cabinet. According to insiders, Modi would prefer a second line of leadership away from dynasty politics in all states. Not that this process of decimating the satraps has not dented the party. It had to bear the consequences in many states. BJP lost the Karnataka government because it removed Yeddyurappa. Party was consigned to the periphery as it clipped the wings of Kalyan Singh. It had to bear losses in Jharkhand after Babulal Marandi left the party. Prem Kumar Dhumal replaced Shanta

Kumar in Himachal Pradesh. BJP faced loss when it replaced Madan Lal Khurana with Vijay Kumar Malhotra. Although the steps taken to clip the clout of satraps brought losses but it was necessary to cap the party’s bigger losses in future as the leaders had started considering themselves bigger than the party. They had begun behaving as if the party existed because of them and not the other way round. The Sangh follows the practice of institution for the people and people for the institution and the party took steps against all those who started treading on a different path. A senior party leader likened them to a be ‘suicide squad’. A senior BJP leader says, “The Central Leadership produces Frankensteins and then struggles to finish them.” He added that the party lost Marandi due to the obstinate behaviour of Rajnath. Kalyan Singh axed his own feet. Uma Bharti had developed an illusion and something similar has plagued Chauhan, Singh and Raje now. Although Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Raman Singh have realised that they may face the axe, thus they have started praising Modi and are trying to delay the imminent action by claiming to work for the welfare of the people of the state. As the things are shaping and although Modi might have given time to change but he has decided to downsize the satraps. But, when and how is known only to Modi. J U LY 2 0 1 4

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DIPLOMACY

The handshake in New Delhi that could prove to be shaky for both leaders

On Pakistan... After Kargil Though the Modi government took a risk by inviting Pakistan’s PM to his swearing in, and Sharif took perhaps a more serious risk by coming here, but that does not ensure a prolonged bonhomie, given the Pak military’s interests in constantly fomenting terrorism in India MAYANK SINGH

trong leaders are expected to take bold and innovative decisions. Even then, the chattering community in Delhi and Islamabad was taken by surprise and was agog with curiosity when Prime Minister elect Narendra Modi invited the Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to attend his swearing in ceremony. The fact is that Modi extended an invitation to all leaders of SAARC countries and Sharif happened to be one of them. Yet, given the history between the two, it was Pakistan that attracted all the

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breathless media attention. While "Aman ki Asha" kind of peaceniks waxed eloquent about hope triumphing over cynicism, those living in the less rarefied land of hardnosed reality had to point out one simple fact even as Modi and Sharif shook hands and displayed suitably broad smiles for the cameras. That simple fact is: only the naive and the foolish succumb to the temptation of forgetting history. In 1999, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee went on his famous bus ride to Lahore and extended a hand of peace, trade and engagement. Nawaz Sharif, who was Prime Minister then, warmly welcomed Vajpayee and pledged to forge better ties with India. But even as the two political leaders were exchanging notes and pleasantries, the Pakistani army led by chief of staff General Pervez Musharraf was hatching plans to militarily grab large swathes of Kashmir from India. That resulted in the Kargil war and it took almost 500 dead and 1500 injured soldiers of the Indian army to repel that sneaky invasion. Given this history, it is understandable for strategic analysts in India to be hopeful but realistic. PR Chari recommends that Pakistan Prime Minsiter Nawaz Sharif be given a chance even if Kargil happened while he was the premier. He says, “Let’s take Nawaz Sharif on the face value after he has taken a lot of political risk by coming to Delhi on the invitation of Narendra Modi. We have to understand that in Pakistan it is not the Prime Minister who controls military but it is other way round. It is the military establishment of Pakistan which decides issues concerning India and Afghanistan and this may not change as it will bring down the importance of military in Pakistan and it will lead to decrease in the amount of funds they get". But the failed attempt of 1999 to pursue peace with Pakistan resulted not just in Kargil but a series of deadly and dastardly terror attacks. Soon after losing the Kargil war, the army chief of Pakistan General Musharraf deposed Sharif in a military coup and packed him off to exile in Saudi

PA K I S TA N

Arabia. Within months of the coup, Pakistani terrorists conducted the audacious IC-814 hijack that hurt and humiliated India. Terror attacks continued. A determined Vajpayee then invited General Musharaff for the now infamous Agra summit in July 2001. The stage managed arrogance of General Musharraf ensured that the summit was a failure. Worse was to follow. As America confronted the crisis in the aftermath of 9/11 that year, terrorists attacked the Jammu & Kashmir assembly in October, 2001. As if that were not enough, Pakistani terrorists then attacked the Indian Parliament in December that year. It was almost as if General Musharaff was cocking a snook at India and trying to provoke a war. It would have been war too, had not America forced Musharaff to go on TV and solemnly vow not to use Pakistani territory for planning and launching terror attacks on India. General (Retd) Ved Pratap Malik who led the Indian Army during the Kargil conflict is clear as he believes that Pakistan needs to show its positive intent. He says, “Unless Pakistan stops terrorism things will not move ahead as it affects all other things.” Some things have changed since then while some crucial ones have remained the same. For instance, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan continues to nurture terrorists who can attack Indian targets. Then again, it is preparing to utilise the planned exit of American and NATO forces by the end of this year from Afghanistan to once again prop up a client Taliban regime in that benighted country. It has been nurturing and mollycoddling the Haqqani faction of the Taliban precisely for this. And do remember, Mullah Omar is very much alive and ready to roll on to Afghanistan from his hideouts in the nebulous borders between Pakistan and Afghanistan. But there is one crucial difference between the turn of the century and now. Today, a Frankenstein called the Pakistan Taliban has declared war on its own patron state. In the last five years or so, this brutal war between the Pakistani Tali-

Nawaz Sharif was deposed in a military coup by his handpicked army chief Musharraf

IT IS WISER TO FALL BACK UPON CLICHES WHEN IT COMES TO THE NEIGHBOUR: HOPE FOR THE BEST, BUT BE PREPARED FOR THE WORST. UNLESS PAKISTAN STOPS TERRORISM THERE'LL BE NO FURTHER PROGRESS

ban and the Pakistani armed forces have resulted in more than 50,000 deaths. The recent suicide attacks on the Karachi airport are the latest in a series of similar assaults. Besides, many sectarian outfits once promoted by the likes of the ISI have gone completely rogue and declared holy war against the Shia community. There are fears that the deep state in Pakistan might divert all these fanatic elements towards India. It has happened in the past and it will happen again. Are we prepared and have we learnt any lessons from the Kargil war and the

subsequent terror attacks? “We cannot talk of lessons when the apex bodies like Group of Ministers was formed which had given a comprehensive report and it was put aside. Even recently Naresh Chandra Review Committee was instituted, which also came up with an exhaustive report but that report has been put under wraps.” Says General Malik. People like Malik are particularly worried by the manner in which communication between the armed forces and the bureaucrats seems to have broken down in the last ten years. They are hoping that the new Modi regime will take proactive steps to clean up the mess left behind by the UPA government in this crucial field. And what of the prospects of good relations with Pakistan? Strategic experts contend that it is wiser to fall back upon cliches when it comes to the neighbour: Hope for the best, and prepare for the worst. As for offering a solution Chari says, “I don’t see a solution to India Pakistan problems in the near future. There are enough examples of two nation quarrels which have lasted long. France and England enmity lasted for more than 300 years.” But we will have to keep working ahead, he adds. J U LY 2 0 1 4

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With changing caste dynamics, the Dalitsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; increasing awareness of their value as a voting bloc has been perceived by upper castes and even OBCs as too much of 'arrogance', and rape of Dalit women are 'hard lessons they must be taught'

How Dare You! ANIL PANDEY

n 1956, the architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr B. R Ambedkar addressed a historic gathering of about 500,000 of his fellow Dalits, who are called Mahar in Maharashtra. In that gathering, Ambedkar and 500,000 Mahars like him publicly renounced the Hindu faith and announced that they were now Buddhists. Perhaps Dr Ambedkar hoped that conversion to Buddhism might help the Mahar community escape the discrimination and oppression faced by the Dalit community in India. Fifty years after this historic meeting, gory events in a village called Khairlanji in Maharashtra proved that Ambedkar's hopes were unfounded. In 2006, an upper caste mob attacked

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and brutally killed five members of a Mahar family, including two teenaged girls, their mother and their blind younger brother. It was reported that the mother and the daughters were disrobed and assaulted before being murdered. There was widespread outrage across the country and a CBI enquiry was ordered because there were fears that the state government would shield the culprits. A fast track lower court convicted and imposed a death sentence on six of the accused. In 2010, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court reduced the death sentence to a life term and refused to apply provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Tribe Atrocities Act. This verdict came in for a fair bit of criticism and an opinion piece in the newspaper DNA said, "A fair verdict in Khairlanji could ar-

guably have helped wipe away some of the stigma of upper-caste bias which shadows Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s judiciary. Ironically though, in ruling a blatant act of caste-related barbarism as a murder simpliciter, the high court has besmirched that image some more." As outrage over the alleged gang-rape and murder of two teenage Dalit girls belonging to Badaun in Uttar Pradesh grows louder and the CBI steps in to investigate, the question to ask is: how many of us really remember the Khairlanji case? Public memory fades with time and fades faster if the place where an atrocity against Dalits occurred is far away from Delhi. But what about Dalit victims of Bhagana in Haryana? In Hissar which is not very far from Delhi, four Dalit women were brutally gang-raped allegedly by 12 men belonging

DALITS

It has become routine for politicians to visit villages where Dalit women have been gang raped, to express sympathy and outrage, and yet, the atrocities show no sign of stopping

to the powerful Jat community. Predictably, the police refused to take any action, compelling the victims to sit in protest in Jantar Mantar, Delhi. They were forcibly evicted from Jantar Mantar and the matter barely received some perfunctory mention in the Delhi media. Haryana is full of such horror stories of atrocities on Dalits, with rape and gang rape being the favoured weapon of subjugation. Kusum, 17, a Dalit girl, will never forget September 9, 2012 when she had been forcibly picked by a few youths from a powerful section of her village. When the incident took place, she was on way to school that day in her village Dabra in Hisar district of Haryana. She was raped by her own village men continuously for three hours. The incident shuttered up her heart and mind. For the next few days, her body was still wrenching in physical pain and waves of shame, anger and fear were palpable on her face. She named 12 people from the influential Jat community, but police did not register

a case. Her father could not face the humiliation of her daughter and committed suicide. It was said that the accused had made an MMS of the incident. Though public protests forced the police to register a complaint, not much has been heard about the case since then. There does seem to be a pattern to this endless violation of Dalit women in Haryana. Jagmati Sangwan, state president of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) says in a media interview: “There is a rape epidemic in Haryana and the main reason is that instead of putting culprits behind bars, the cops target activists who dare to raise their voices.” Many people believe that because of the regressive mindset in the state and undue interference by panchayat makes the situation even worse. Ex-Chairman of SC/ST commission, PL Punia says: “Through such incidents, dominating castes want to give the Dalit community a message to remain within their limits. So, they show unwarranted brutality in rape cases.”

For the sound bite and breaking newsdriven elitist media centered around the national capital, it has become fashionable to equate atrocities against Dalits with rapes and gang rapes. Even more disturbingly, there seems to be a suggestion that North Indian states are the worst offenders when it comes to atrocities against Dalits. Both perceptions have no basis whatsoever in either facts or logic. Suppression of Dalits is not manifested only through sexual violence. And southern states of India fare as badly as their counterparts in the north when it comes to oppressing, intimidating and killing Dalits both male and female. One recent, though forgotten story from Tamil Nadu will demonstrate this very evocatively. A Dalit youngster, E. Ilavarasan, and an upper caste Vanniyar girl, Divya Nagraj, fell in love, eloped and married in October, 2012. The Vanniyar caste in Tamil Nadu is represented by the political party PMK, which is run like a fiefdom by the founder S Ramadoss and his son Dr Ambumani Ramadoss, who was a highly conJ U LY 2 0 1 4

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troversial Union Minister of Health in the first tenure of the UPA. Divya's father committed suicide. Almost immediately, caste riots erupted in Dharampuri district where the young couple had eloped to. The upper caste Vanniyars were on the rampage and more than 200 Dalit houses were burnt to the ground. Leaders like Ramadoss openly made offensive statements about how Dalit youngsters sporting sun glasses, riding motorcycles and wearing blue jeans were luring away young Vanniyar girls. On July 2, 2013, Ilavarasan's dead body was found near railway tracks. He was wearing blue jeans. Despite widespread protests, the police investigation concluded that Ilayarasan had committed suicide. According to analysts and activists, there are two reasons behind the growing incidents of attacks on Dalits. One reason is increasing assertion by Dalits and the other is that women are vulnerable. Activist Raju Kalsan says: “Women are seen as objects of consumption that are available to be used and silenced if they protest. This situation is convenient for the people here and that is why they won’t let it change.” The attitude of the police is often criticised. A police officer, on the condition of anonymity says: “In most of the cases witnesses turn hostile under pressure of panchayats.” Another reason for tension is growing awareness among Dalits about their political rights. Since, they are a vote bank, every political party eyes their share. So they are no more ready to work as a raiyaats of Jats .They are not ready to work at their homes. This has resulted in many tussles among these two communities. Ganga Sahay Meena, Professor in the JNU Language departments says: “Dalits have started asserting their rights. They are challenging traditional power structure. Dominant classes dislike this trend. They rape their women to show their ‘true’ status or ‘aukat’.” That Urdu word aukat seems truly representative of how Dalits are being treated across the country. According to locals, the two girls in Badaun were gang raped and hung from a tree for public view to send

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After the Bhagana rape incident, Dalit women dared everyone and protested openly

ATROCITIES AGAINST THE DALITS IS NOT LIMITED TO SEXUAL ASSUALTS AND THAT TOO IN NORTH INDIA. THERE HAVE BEEN SHOCKING CASES FROM TAMIL NADU, MAHARASHTRA, ODHISA AND OTHER STATES

a message to Dalits about their aukat. In Maharashtra, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and other states, Dalits are routinely given the same treatment to "put them in their place". It is not a surprise then that Dalits who enter temples or draw water from community wells are punished for their ‘audacity’. But there is something more disturbing about the contemporary violence against Dalits. It has been widely accepted in media and academic circles that high caste Hindus oppressed the lower castes. It was this widespread perception that led to the Mandal Commission and the eventual reservation for “Other Backward Castes" in the 1990s. At that time, many activists

believed that the OBCs would empathise with the Dalit community because they had themselves faced discrimination from the upper castes. The rise of Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh and of Lalu Prasad Yadav in Bihar promised a new era of empowerment for the oppressed communities of India. Sadly, that didn't happen and we now see a situation where it is the other backward castes who have emerged as the biggest threats to Dalit security. In Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana, it is Jats and Yadavs who have become the new age tormentors of Dalits. In the Khairlanji incident in Maharashtra, it was members of the so called OBC community who killed those five family members of the Mahar community. In Tamil Nadu, it was again an OBC community of Vanniyars that targeted Dalit households. How do we stop these atrocities? For one, the Delhi based media will not help because it has a different agenda. Nor will politicians because they have vote banks to look after. Perhaps the only answer is in Dalits using education and technology to make their voices heard. In 1956, Ambedkar dreamt of such a situation. Will his dreams come true by 2016? With inputs from Arunesh and Anant Kumar

POLITICS

Haryana: Leadership Faces Wanted! All the three major parties in the state face a leadership crisis. In Congress' Hooda faces wrath for the Lok Sabha debacle. BJP has more than on ambitious leader desring to become CM, and in INLD, the top leaders are in jail, leaving the greenhorn Abhay Chautala all alone

While Hooda faces an imminent sack, if not defeat in the elections, Om Prakash Chautala (right) is in jail and helpless

RAVI SHARMA

here is a famous Bengali novel titled “Mukh Chai Mukh”, which precisely translates as “Wanted: A Face”. That is precisely the existential crisis that both the ruling Congress and its principal threat, the newly rising Bharatiya Janata Party, are facing. Both are in the throes of heated internecine clashes as to who should be the official face of their party’s campaign for the upcoming Assembly polls in October. In the Congress, the daggers are out in the open for Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who has been accused of running the party in the just passed Lok Sabha polls. And though BJP state head Anil Vij can claim he had brought glory to the party in the polls,

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stronger contenders such as Rao Inderjit Singh and Om Prakash Dhankar are staking their claims too. Hooda knows his position within the party is very weak. It is under his leadership that the Congress seats in the Lok Sabha plummeted from nine to just one. Archrival BJP, contrarily, came from zero to snatch seven seats. And neither Kumari Selja nor Birender Singh is going to spare him. They are already at the doors of Rahul Gandhi. Hooda’s response to his bête noires since the winter of last year, when he first realised that he is in the crosshairs, has been pouring sops for the voters, hoping that what he has lost in the party will be made up for by the people. He has promised extended reservations for all lower castes; extended maternity leave

of six months for women on contractual government jobs; made it clear that special facilities will be given to hawkers peddling their wares from pavements. The extended reservation for backward castes will be implemented in Class I and Class II direct recruit employees. Some of these he announced at last November’s massive rally in Gohana, which he called Haryana Shakti Rally. And some of these sops had been announced in the third week of June. Yet, he has been facing internal and external crises. What has been seen as a very bad omen, his long term friend and confidant Venod Sharma left him and tried to enter the BJP. Blockaded by Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh, Sharma finally launched his own formation. Then there is Hooda’s long time op-

H A RYA N A P O L L S

The assembly elections could throw up some surprising faces like Anil Vij

Hooda could not keep within the closet he was expected to. The Congress has so far remained ambivalent on the Haryana leadership. Responding to a question on who would lead the party in Haryana, AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmad said: “At present, Ashok Tanwar is the PCC president and Bhupinder Singh Hooda is the CLP leader. What will happen tomorrow, I can’t say at this juncture. Whenever the party goes for elections, there is a provision that when you are in Opposition, the PCC president and chairperson of the campaign committee generally leads the campaign; and when you’re in government, the PCC president, the CLP leader and chairman of the campaign commit-

PERFORMANCE OF POLITICAL PARTIES 2009 ASSEMBLY ELECTION HARYANA NATIONAL PARTIES

CONTESTED

WON

VOTE SHARE

BJP

9.04%

BSP

6.73%

CPI

0.12%

CPM

0.15%

INC

35.08%

NCP

0.33%

RJD

0.05%

HJCBL

7.40%

INLD

25.79%

STATE PARTIES

ponent and claimant to the CM’s chair Chaudhary Birender Singh, whose pedigree is clear. Grandson of the legendary Jat leader Sir Chhotu Ram, has demanded an immediate change in the state leadership. An old dissident, Singh is raising questions over Hooda’s leadership quality. Sonia Gandhi cannot be too pleased with the incumbent CM, what with the skeletons tumbling out about her sonin-law Robert Vadra’s land scam, which

tee will lead the elections.” Similarly, the BJP is also facing its own leadership crisis. The recently elected Member of Parliament Rao Inderjit Singh wants ‘more responsibility’, as he has just proved his base in Mewat area of southern Haryana. However, he is a new entry in BJP and the party’s national leadership may not have full confidence in him. Om Parkash Dhankad is also a strong contender as he enjoys the Sangh’s patronage.

However, he has to face tough competition from Captain Abhimanyu.The BJP also cannot ignore Krishan Pal Gujjar, who has been very active in the state for quite some time and is now an MP. Indian National Lokdal (INLD) is also in the middle of a leadership crisis. Party supremo Om Parkash Chautala and his elder son Ajay Chautala are in jail, leaving Ajay’s younger sibling Abhay to fend for the party. Abhay has been in charge of the parliamentary elections and the party bagged two important seats. However, the legacy of Chaudhary Devi Lal seems to be confined to Om Parkash Chautala and does not travel to Abhay Chautala. He is taken as too junior in the family. Though the fourth generation of this true Jat leadership family, Dushyant Chautala has won the Hissar parliamentary seat by defeating Haryana Janhit Congress chief Kuldeep Bishnoi, but he too is a novice. Bishnoi and his party is also in deep waters after he himself lost the Hissar seat, and his party’s fate is uncertain. Though AAP is almost out of the race now but the party is fighting with its back to the wall to bag some Assembly seats. However, the party is also facing deep leadership crisis as it lacks a truly stalwart leader in the state. Rajeev Godara, the state spokesperson, accepts the crisis. It is this crisis that gives an opportunity to the wiser party. The party that will solve its problems fast and find that face will have first mover advantage. The BJP has just four MLAs currently. But the party trounced the Congress and there is excitement of making it big in the LS polls in a state where their presence has been nominal. The chances of BJP seems better. The other parties have too many pushes within them and too little discipline. The advantage that BJP has is that it has the RSS to crack the whip and make rivals fall in line and act together. And it is a historic opportunity for the BJP because it has never really been a major player in the state. BJP leaders know that if they fail in the Haryana assembly elections, it will be a long winter of waiting.. J U LY 2 0 1 4

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Didi’s Dadagiri? Answers Unclear! At worse, the kind of violence being seen after Trinamool Congress came to power is a continuum of the CPI(M) era, and to blame TMC alone is simplistic, when most of the recent violent events are social and not political in nature SUKUMAR MITRA

here was a time when the mighty Ananda Bazaar Group (ABP) used to gun for the CPI(M) -led Left Front on a daily basis. There was a time when Mamata Banerjee was the group’s Joan of Arc. Then there came a time in 2011, when a storm flattened the red citadel. The day after results, ABP wrote negative history in journalism. It carried a full page picture of Mamata, and, wait… it placed the masthead of The Telegraph at the bottom of the page, at Didi’s feet! But things soon changed as dramatically as the red annihilation: the paper and the slums-based leader became the worst of enemies. Now the ABP Group is going hammer and tongs against Didi, aiding to bolster the accusation of the CPI(M)-led Opposition of rampant crime, targeted murders, rape and poll violence. But what happened on June 9 at the new state secretariat, Nabanna, left Didi’s critics without a whiff of air in their sails. That morning, after an hour-long meeting with the state chief minister, Left Front chairperson and CPI(M) Politbureau member, Biman Bose, told the media: “We met the chief minister and informed her about the repeated attacks on our cadres. They have been ousted from their villages and have not been allowed to return. She patiently heard us out. And she assured us that each of these instances will be investigated.” That meeting with the CPI(M) leaders was a bit of history created. Bengal watchers remember that this is the same lady who had

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She connects with the common man with her simple ways, like her trademark sari

been dragged by her hair along the corridors of then state secretariat, Writers Building, when she had gone to submit a memorandum from the Congress. That was on another chief minister, communist Jyoti Basu’s orders. Biman Basu also told the media: “We have warned her that if these atrocities do not stop, we shall launch a movement against this.” And her response? “She said launching

movements is the duty of political parties. I will not stop you from doing that.” But this is a changed Mamata. In the beginning, she was as vicious with the media as it was with her. In fact, the image of a raging Mamata pacing up and down the dais and threatening the media in public meetings did nothing to take the latter’s venom out. “The media is crossing all limits, I say. Let them be warned. How dare you exaggerate a minor thing like this,” she had said. She was referring to the 2012 Park Street rape case in the heart of Calcutta. Damayanti Sen, the IPS officer and Joint Commissioner of Police, who had cracked the case was repeatedly transferred. During her initial days in power, Mamata played all the wrong shots. She went back on the Singur evictees and said nothing about their compensation or return of their lands. She did nothing to stop the huge bloodbath all over South Bengal, where Trinamool Congress and former Left cadres went for each others’ jugulars. The recent violent incidences at Sandeshkhali, in which antiTrinamool workers were smashed up, also bear a similar stamp. The BJP claimed the victims were their men. Earlier, even as the Park Street rape issue had not died down, in April 2012, Didi’s men attacked and later her police arrested Ambikesh Mahapatra, a professor of chemistry in the faculty of Jadavpur University, for spreading ‘derogatory cartoons’ of Mamata Bannerjee on Facebook. But are these ordered mayhems sanctioned by Didi? Is this bloodbath without precedence? In reality, violence has been

WEST BENGAL

no stranger to Bengal. However, that historicity notwithstanding, the fact of the matter is that over the past 34 years, bloodbath has become institutionalised in Bengal, with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) making it almost a part of their manifesto. This is the same thing that is being carried out now under TMC, simply because those very cadre of the CPI(M) who led the massacres against their own coalition partners, CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc, are now TMC members and sticking to their old means. “The manner in which the allegations are being highlighted makes one feel as if this is the first time such violence is happening in Bengal. This is rubbish,” Polu Chatterjee, a Malda district senior Congress leader (not TMC, mind you) told News Bench. “Who can forget the systematic state terror during almost the entire 34 years of Left rule?” he asked. And in fact, the National Crime Records Bureau figures bear him out. During the Left rule, 55,000 people lost their lives in political violence, a vast majority of them from the opposition parties. Those who are now alleging targeted political violence have given their memories a slip and lost sight of two aspects. First, the nature of the violence in the major recent cases just before and after the polls is not political but social. It is not as if TMC cadres have not killed opposition party people, but that is not the big picture. The big picture is violence due to social issues. Besides, the areas where violence has taken place have seen much more severe violence during the Left rule. These are Canning, Basanti, Bhangar in South 24 Parganas, and Sandeshkhali, Minakhan, Haroa, Deganga of North 24 Parganas. “All the people who used to sit on the footpaths and sell vegetables were also the people who used to form the bulk of the CPI(M)’s political rallies. Now they have all turned to Trinamool, and they have remained just as violent as ever,” Mrs Krishna Chakraborty told News Bench “The real fight now is between those members of the CPI(M) who have joined TMC and those who have not,” she puts the picture in perspective.

In fact, there is another level of hate struggle, between those who had been original TMC elements and those CPI(M) elements who joined later. “Mamata herself comes from a slum, where people have to fight for survival on a daily basis. This is why she is so uncouth,” Narayan Mandal, a senior Left activist told News Bench. But that is not the entire picture. In recent times, Mamata has changed. She has realised that mere shrieking like a slumdwelling leader will not get her back to power in the second coming. Just as the slum-dwelling background sets the pitch for the abusive and shrieking politician, it also sets the agenda for change.

ing the finance minister to holding the post of both finance and industry is a wise stand showing that Mamata wants industry to come back to where it once belonged,” Asutosh Purokaiastha, a medicine shop owner told News Bench. Mamata has also set up a bench of the High Court in North Bengal, along with a regional secretariat office, and that is a huge relief for poor people who would have to come 700 km to Calcutta for all administrative or legal works. And she has retained Darjeeling within Bengal and yet stopped the serial bandhs and violence. And villagers are finding guaranteed work for 50 to 6o days under the rural employment scheme, up from the 20 to 25 days a

Violence by TMC has become widespread, it is alleged, but it was the same with CPIM

The June 9th meeting between Mamata and CPI(M) team marked that change. The venue of that meeting itself is a change. Under the guise of renovating the old secretariat, the historic Writers’ Building, she shifted it to Nabanna, a faraway office where there is hardly anything that the hated Bengali Babu can do… no shops, no tea stalls, not even medical stores, where they can bide their time. Then the biometric system has come into play, and the clerks and officers are now working. “Promoting Dr Amit Mitra from just be-

year under Left rule. So is Bengal going the Uttar Pradesh way of targeted killings and silencing of critics. The answer is not clear. The violence is a continuum of the CPI(M) legacy and nothing unique to Mamata’s rule. Mamata does not always condones this, but she also hardly orders it. She lets it happen because as a grassroots person she knows that victims of 34 years of terror will vent their anger. But in the long run, if she takes the path of development, Bengal might yet go back to being the cultural capital of the country. J U LY 2 0 1 4

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The BJP is using almost all top leaders to galvanise the cadres in the state

BJP’s J&K Mission: Pipedream Or Possible? BJP’s new challenging task has been named “Mission-44”, because the party requires a minimum of 44 seats to come to power in the 87-member assembly. Is that possible or is it just a daring call? Interestingly, most Muslim laity and leaders say they are not bothered if the BJP comes to power RUHAAN HAROON

hrilled with the amazing triumph in the parliamentary polls, the BJP has set another seemingly ‘impossible’ goal to pull off. The party has decided to take charge of the government in the militancy-infested Muslim majority state of Jammu & Kashmir, where assembly elections are due anytime from October to December this year. BJP’s new challenging task has been

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named as “Mission-44” because the party requires a minimum of 44 seats to lead in the 87-member state assembly. “Mission44” was announced by BJP’s state president Jugal Kishore Sharma, in an extraordinary meeting of party legislators and senior leaders in Jammu on June 1 and the process to reach the target was started instantly. Presently, the BJP represents merely 11 constituencies in the assembly, all from the Jammu division. Then how does the party expect 44 seats in the next elections? Sud-

hanshu Mittal, a senior party leader told News Bench: “We are expecting 44 seats in forthcoming state elections because we have the policies of hope for the people of the state. We don’t believe in the politics of creed or religion. We have a clear agenda of good governance and development for all. What else do people need?” “I think it will be very difficult for the BJP to get enough seats to form the government here, but I do believe the party will emerge with a good strength in the

JAMMU & KASHMIR

NUMBER OF ASSEMBLY SEATS: 87 KASHMIR VALLEY Muslims 97%

Hindus 1.84%

Sikhs 0.88%

Assembly seats 46

Hindus 65%

Sikhs 4%

Assembly seats 37

Hindus 6.22%

Buddhists 45.87%

Assembly seats 4

JAMMU Muslims 31% LADAKH Muslims 47.4%

coming state polls. In the Lok Sabha polls, we have seen this party holding a lead on 29 assembly segments and getting 32 per cent of the total votes polled.” Tariq Ali Mir, a well known Kashmir journalist and analyst told the News Bench. The BJP already has a strong base in most parts of Hindu dominated Jammu region (67 per cent Hindu, which has 37 assembly seats). But the Valley, with 97 per cent Muslims, has 46 seats. So how does the BJP dare to think it will get at least 44 seats? It has also performed well in three seats of total four in Ladakh region and now the party is trying hard to gain support in the Muslim majority Valley too. A team of several senior party leaders is already camped in Jammu and Kashmir to work out the future strategy. “We have found several encouraging reasons and pleasantly favorable situation in the Valley. We are in touch with many influential politicians who may come under the party fold and this will help us to lay a base here.” A senior party leader told News Bench on the condition of anonymity.

According to some recent media reports, which the party did not deny, BJP has decided to field some proxy independent candidates in the Valley to confuse the already divided vote bank further. According to informed sources, BJP is eying on at least three seats of the Valley where the vote bank of migrant Kashmiri pundits can play a vital role in party’s favour. These three segments are; Amera Kadal, Haba Kadal and Sonawar, all in Srinagar city. There is a big vote bank of Kashmiri migrant pundits particularly in these three assembly constituencies. These constituencies have always seen a low turnout of Muslim voters because they boycotted the polls on separatist leaders’ appeal. The majority (more than 95%) of the Kashmiri Pandits have left the place in 1990 when the armed violence started here. They are officially called migrants. During elections the migrant pundits are facilitated to cast their votes. Special arrangements are being done for this purpose during elections. They cast their votes in special polling booths at Jammu, Delhi and some other places. The pundits have a large section that votes BJP, and the Central government will ensure that they vote en masse. Interestingly, the shock defeat of the ‘cadre based’, Kashmir-centric National Conference also seems to be paving the way for the BJP in the Valley. National Conference, which remained contended with only a few assembly segments during the Lok Sabha polls, is now literally fighting for its survival these days. “The deterioration of the NC in the valley has not only widened the political space for People’s Democratic Party but also other parties,” Tahir Mohidin, a scribe and noted political commentator told News Bench.

On the whole, there is a general “who’s bothered” attitude to Mission 44, common to the man on the street as well as both, extreme and moderate separatist leaderships. Farhat Jameel, a student in Srinagar’s Women College says: “I don’t think BJP can win 44 seats because it has no base in the Valley, which contains the major share of the assembly seats. Only Jammu and Ladakh cannot make 44 seats. And we should not forget that even in Jammu we have several Muslim dominated assembly segments. However, there may arise a coalition government headed most probably by the PDP, and BJP may be an ally in it. But how does it matter whether BJP is a coalition partner or the Congress party? Let it be BJP this time instead of the Congress.” The 85-year-old hardliner separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani told News Bench: “We are least worried about BJP’s Mission 44. It hardly matters who will form the government here. As usual, we will appeal to the people to boycott the polls. All these parties are the enemies of Kashmiri people of Kashmir. All they want is to strengthen the India’s armed occupation here.” Meanwhile, moderate separatist leader and the spiritual head of the Kashmiri Muslims, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq too thinks it does not matter who will take the hot seat in the state. “It does not bother us whether BJP succeeds in the assembly polls. For the Hurriyat Conference all these parties are the same. However, I think BJP should try to solve the Kashmir problem peacefully. This will help everybody. They should not try to divide this state on religion basis. The Kashmir issue is not a religious one,” the Mirwaiz tells this magazine. J U LY 2 0 1 4

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POLITCS

The Bihar leaders completely failed to grasp the power of the Modi wave in their own state

Nitishnama: Damn Lalu To Dost Lalu! Nitish took his anti-Modi stand very personally, and failed to read the saffron storm brewing. Meanwhile, his arrogance had alienated many in his party, and when he rejected upper caste support at the panchayat level, the move boomeranged SANJAY UPADHYAY

ormer Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is now at the mercy of arch rival Lalu Yadav to keep his government alive in the state assembly, and also to stem the horrifying prospect of a rout – from his own men and their conniving allies in the Bharatiya Janata Party – who'd tried their best to stop his two men going to the Rajya Sabha.

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Two things went against Nitish Kumar, whose work for Bihar has drawn global acclaim. First, his egotistical style of functioning. And second, his social engineering plan of etching out a distinct Mahadalit caste, to beat his rival Ram Vilas Paswan, has gone a bit awry. During his chief ministership, MLAs and even ministers had no guts to go against him. In such a situation, clouds of anger gather till they gather critical mass. That happened when

he could not save his party in the recently concluded parliamentary polls. The BJP ran away with all the trophies. His arch rival, Paswan, bagged six seats in the Lok Sabha for his Lok Janshakti Party, out of the seven the party contested in. Nitish’s party, JDU won a measly two seats. And this is when the inner party rumblings turned into claps of thunder. Nitish resigned “on moral grounds”, apparently. But the real fear was he could face a mutiny from his own party members, many of who had been annoyed with his social engineering of creating a sub-caste of the lowest caste in Bihar, the Mushars. Nitish foisted the Mahadalit leader Jitan Ram Manjhi as the CM and sought Lalu’s help in keeping the JDU in power in Bihar. Interestingly, it is this Lalu who had supported Nitish’s rival Paswan to get into the Rajya Sabha some years earlier. Nitish took Lalu’s support to ensure victory of his two candidates in the recent Rajya Sabha elections. His desperate move came in the face of strong challenge from party rebels, which could end in defeats of his candidates in the polls without outside support. JDU candidates, Pawan Kumar Verma and Gulam Rassol Baliyavi faced challenges from independent candidates

BIHAR

Anil Kumar Sharma and Sabir Ali respectively, who enjoyed the backing of close to 24 JDU rebels, besides 84 BJP legislators. What is intriguing is that during the last parliamentary polls Sharma had been chanting songs in favour of Nitish. But he changed his colour overnight and turned rebellion. Likewise, Sabir Ali had been an ardent Nitish fan till JDU’s drubbing in the recent polls, and entered in to enemy camp. The anti-Nitish ranks are swelling by the day In his maiden press conference after resigning from the CM’s post, Nitish made a fervent appeal to Lalu’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress and the Communist Party of India to extend support to his nominees. Nitish had clearly indicated

order and tackling the scourge of corruption with an iron hand. By organising the administrative and financial structure, the Nitish government had paved the path for development. As a result, Rs 4,000 crore plan size had increased to Rs 34,000 crore. Earlier, Bihar was known as

FORMER ALLIES TURNED RIVALS AND FRIENDS SAY THAT NITISH BECAME A CLASSIC VICTIM OF HUBRIS, ARROGANCE AND PERSONAL EGO

which has invested in Bihar. This robust economic growth and good governance were going on their right path under Nitish Kumar. After assuming the power of Chief Minister in 2005, ha had taken to social engineering many a time. But creating the Mahadalit Commission boomeranged on him. The commission was ostensibly constituted to identify and facilitate the lowest of the state’s down trodden. But the hidden political agenda was to isolate Paswan from the Dalit vote bank. In his new concept of Mahadalit, more than 100 economically backward castes were assimilated, except the Paswan caste, which is also a backward caste but the arrogance took over. A dissident leader Shivanand Ti-

Nitish has tried to retain power through the backdoor by making Manjhi the CM, seen taking oath (right, in jacket)

that “BJP had a game plan to destabilise the Manjhi government in Bihar. The Congress and CPI had already extended support to JDU. Now it is imperative on their part to continue support to keep the secular JDU government stable”, says a political observer on condition of anonymity. He added: “These initiatives are the indications of a future political alliance between the RJD and JDU. There can be a political pact to counter BJP in the coming assembly elections in 2015.” The stunning victory of BJP in the LS polls (31 seats) appears to have triggered a realignment of political forces in Bihar. The Nitish era had seen a huge economic growth of 14.48 per cent of an underdeveloped state, restoring law and

one of the Bimaru (sick) states, but in the first year of 12th five year plan (2012-13), the growth rate was the highest in the country. The total budget expenditure of the state was Rs.20,058 crore in 2004-05, but jumped to Rs 69,207 crore in 201213. No wonder the state and its CM came in for fulsome praise from Lord Meghnad Desai, the British economist and Labour politician. Nitish has been credited for all this change in the ugly face of Bihar. “The efforts of the Bihar government in development are worth appreciating. Good work is being done here in the area of health and especially in polio and Kala-azar,” noted Milinda Gates, wife of Bill Gates and head of the Bill and Milinda Gates Foundation,

wary says “Nitish became a victim of his own ego. He failed to make a difference between friend and foe. He rejected everyone who tried to show him the right path. Nitish failed to smell the growing popularity of Narendra Modi and took a personal stand against him. Everyone in JDU kept mum, apprehending unwanted disciplinary action by an arrogant Nitish Kumar. He was over confident. And now dissidents are mushrooming.” Nitish’s former favourites, Gyanendra Singh Gyanu, Ravindra Roy, Poonam Devi and many others have opened another front. Now it does look as if only Lalu can save the sinking political career of Nitish, a former ally, turned foe and now turned supplicant! J U LY 2 0 1 4

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GOVERNANCE

HARISH TIWARI

Killed by the officials The mass transfer of officials by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is being painted as wrath due to electoral debacle, but the fact is only those officials were removd who almost on purpose failed the execution of some excellent plans 62

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few days ago the air in Lucknow’s Annexe was a bit different. The state’s Chief Secretary Javed Usmani and Chief Home Secretary were removed from their post and sent on 'compulsory waiting', which in babu lingo is punishment for no criminal offence, but for offending the Boss. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s sudden decision sent a quiver down the bureaucratic circles. Pressure was mounting on officers and they were speculating who's next in the row for the guillotine. The CM was in no mood to spare anyone. He fetched for a list of officers from district level to ones sitting in upper echelons of power in order to ensure a complete overhaul of the administrative machinery. Detractors accused Yadav of making officials the scapegoat for losing the Lok Sabha polls. In a way that - put simplistically - is correct. But the deeper insight is that that shameful loss was due to gross negligence in implementing the imaginative and well-meaning plans and policies of the party in power, such as giving free laptops and Kanyadhan etc,. (both scrapped later), Regional parties like AIADM, BJD and TMC reaped an electoral harvest out of populist schemes. The real problem has been bad bureaucratic advice. Just after the government’s formation, with UP suffering an acute power crisis, Akhilesh Yadav announced that malls be closed in the afternoon so that the general public get some power. This unrealistic solution was abandoned within a few hours of being implemented, denting his image. The things have reached a level where the officials of the state have formed their own groups on the basis of their caste and even chosen their godfathers. In the case of Mahesh Chandra Gupta, it was almost certain that he'd be shunted from the the Excise Commissioner’s post, which he held during the BSP government. But he escaped the noose at the last moment owing to the Vaishya lobby which has ties with the ruling Yadav family. Gupta continued at the same post for next one and a half year.

U T TA R P R A D E S H

Same goes with 1990 batch IAS officer Archana Agarwal who recently got shunted from the post of Food Commissioner enjoyed the freedom of choice and got postings on demnad. She happens to be a batchmate of Akhilesh Yadav’s Principal Secretary Anita Singh. Archana took advantage of her ties with Anita and ran the food department arbitrarily. Also, in the matter of Durga Shakti Nagpal, a particular group of officers tried mounting pressure on the state government and made every effort to humiliate it by dragging the matter to Delhi. Recently, the CM went on an inspection to Shravasti and found things completely mismanagd. When he asked the officers about

meant for the benefit of the people. When the top bureaucrat behaves in this manner then this attitude is bound to trickle down amongst the juniors. Here, it becomes incumbent to throw some light on the affairs taking place on the ‘Pancham Tal’ the infamous Fifth Floor of the UP Secretariat. The Principal Secretary to the CM Anita Singh lords over that. Senior officers reveal that the current batch of officers are lacking in ability and experience to advise the CM. The last two and half years have seen a lot of changes at the Pancham Tal. Although Akhilesh Yadav made several efforts of putting the right officers there, but the entrenched

gence, then she or he should be removed from the services, but the government has to decide the allocation of officers in appropriate departments. The duty of the officer is to execute the government’s plans. As a matter of fact, the efficiency of officers have decreased eversince they started equating sycophancy and performance of duties. They look for their potential godfathers who would let them stick to their position.” He added that transfer rates in UP are comparatively lower than in other states. In Gujarat, Kerala or other southern states, transfers are very frequent. In any case, now that Akhilesh Yadav's government has executed a large number of transfers, on grounds of

NOW THAT THE GOVERNMENT HAS TRANSFERRED A LARGE NUMBER OF OFFICERS WHO WERE NOT DELIVERING, THE AIM IS TO RE-ENERGISE THE MACHINERY AND WIN BACK THE PEOPLE'S CONFIDENCE Javed Usmani: In 'compulsory waiting'

the government development schemes, they were clueless. It is but obvious that if the officers dare to be ignorant before the CM, then how accountable would they be to the general public. In this case, the CM suspended a number of officers, including the District Magistrate, and tried to send a strong message that this will not be tolerated anymore. The government had appointed Javed Usmani as Chief Secretary so that his vast and varied experience at both the cenrtre and the state comes in. But he kept himself confined to his office, simply siting in official meetings. Usmani hardly visited any place outside his office to monitor the progress in execution of the myriad plans

Durga Shakti Nagpal: Disputed official

older officers scuttled his plans. Alok Kumar, once the secretary to the CM, had to be transferred to the revenue council due to Pancham Tal’s politics. And Amod Kumar has limited powers as Advisor to the CM, though the plan was to make him Secretary to the CM. It was under his guidance that UP won the Pradhanmantri Award for Lokwani. Akhilesh's bid to appoint senior and distinguished IAS official Sanjay Agarwal as Chief Secretary was gunned down so mercilessly that the order issued in the night had to be changed by the morning. This was again attributed to Pancham Tal. A senior bureaucrat says: “If an officer is not performing his duties with due dili-

non-performance, in both the police department and administrative departments, the aim is to re-energise the machinery to win back the confidence of the common man. These transfers were predictable even before the polls. A bureaucrat who has been part of the planning meeting reveals, “The entire exercise is to show immediate results and win the support of the public towards the present government.” All this is expected to bear fruit and possibly repair the damaged image of the government by making sure that all the schemes benefit the people and the officers do not indulge in scuttling each other for their petty selfish interests. J U LY 2 0 1 4

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SOCIETY

A Board For The Third Gender? With the apex court recognising transgenders as ‘the third gender’, some governments are planning to set up boards to help them ﬁnd jobs, but nothing will change if the community members continue to love clapping and dancing to earn their bread SHEFALI PANDEY

board for the uplift of transgenders? Will it help the community rise above the poverty as well as ignominy it has suffered for centuries? Relegated to the margins of society, shunned by the state and loathed by the public, they have stayed mostly under the radar, quiet and resigned to their fate. However, hope comes as a Supreme Court ruling that recognises them as the ‘third gender’. Boosted by the ruling, the governments of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are mulling constitution of boards for these unfortunate people. The primary purpose of the board is to prepare a data base of the community members residing in the state, issue certificates recognising their unique identity and identify avenues for their rehabilitation and betterment. The certificates issued to the community members will help them find jobs in the government departments. But sceptics argue that it will take much more than tokenism like constituting such boards to actually help the community rise above their centuries’ old morass. Bhopal has two localities with sizeable transgender populations – Mangalwaara and Budhwaara. Enter the labyrinthine lanes in either of these, and you will be confronted with shanty-like structures that transgenders refer to as the ‘darbas’. Each matchbox-sized ‘darba’ is devoid of

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windows and ventilation, which keeps the light-real and allegorical – out. But the close-knit community has its’ ear to the ground and is well-informed, if not necessarily well-educated. They are aware of the recent government overtures towards them. Sixty-year-old Shilpa is among the first ones News Bench meets at Mangalwaara. She is aware of the latest government decision of forming a board for their allround uplift, she says. But she promptly asks if this would result in a meaningful change in her life or those of her ilk. “At our age, we are too old to hold a job, forget look for one. As for the younger lot, they are too raw, uneducated and not well-versed with the ways of the world to get a job,” she says. Neelu, who is from Jhansi and is visiting friends here, joins in. She asks, with some sarcasm: “Am I expected to attend school at this age, spend twenty years of formal education to get qualified for a job? I’ll be fifty by then, too old to seek a job!” Whether it is Shilpa or Neelu, scepticism is universal and expressed in this sort of sarcasm. There is a major trust deficit that the government needs to bridge. Neha, a transgender living in Mangalwaara who has studied up to tenth class, best sums up the prevalent sentiment in her community. She laughingly says that even if she finds a job with the help of this ‘under-consideration’ board, not much will change in her as a person.

With the loud clapping, typical of transgenders across South East Asia, she jokes that even if she gets a job, she will remain her usual self in office. She will indulge in light banter and talk to her seniors and colleagues in the same fashion. People will laugh at her, she says. But then, she adds in a sombre tone: “People like us can’t change. We are really the same as you see us... these claps, the crude face make-up, the peculiar gestures are in our DNA. We are wired this way, and so be it. Our bread and butter has been our song and dance, and so it shall remain.” However, some in the community find this existence too stifling. Shabnam Mausi is one such individual. She created history by becoming the first transgender legislator from Sohagpur, Madhya Pradesh, but is now reconciled to her tradition of performing at weddings and on auspicious occasions. She brings in a new perspective in this narrative, though. “I am not against the government move to constitute a board for us per-se, but it is not easy to persuade our community to abandon overnight our age-old - in fact, our only - source of livelihood.” To drive home her point, she draws an analogy: one who is accustomed to alcohol can’t be expected to take up drinking milk, she says. “If the government is really serious, it should call for a meeting with us,” she says, but reiterated her fear that the community will stick to their comfort zone of old habits and older livelihood.

KINNARS

Centuries of discrimination has created a deep mistrust amongst the Kinnars

Perhaps Kamla Bua, who was once the Mayor of Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, reflects Shabnam’s sentiments best. Kamla likens herself and her community to emperors who don’t need doles or mercy from anyone. She hastens to add, though, that she has a wait-and-watch policy towards the recent government initiative. As it is, the transgenders are kind of content with the way their lot is, she says. Laxmi is a renowned transgender who has successfully transcended her identity from being just one more ‘hijra’ to a gay and human rights activist, reaching the highest portals of justice, the United Nations. It certainly hasn’t been an easy journey for her, but with her determination she has broken the mould and is today also an acclaimed actor and dancer. Having seen a bit of the world and participated in a discourse at the global level, Laxmi has a clearer perspective. “The formation of welfare boards for us is fine, but such boards by themselves won’t add up too much. What is urgently needed is to make our people join the mainstream,

LAXMI, A GAY AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST WHO ADDRESSED THE UNITED NATIONS, SAYS A BOARD FOR THEM IS FINE, BUT WHAT'S MORE NEEDED IS A STRONG LAW AGAINST DISCRIMINATION and for what is most needed is a strong new anti-discrimination legislation, the kind of discrimination that has kept us out of schools and colleges so far,” Laxmi asserts. She narrates incidents of molestation of transgender students at the hands of almost everyone, from the institutes’ watchmen to the faculty, and everyone in between. Any board will be relevant only if transgenders who join schools and colleges, continue studies, not drop out.

She adds that centuries of discrimination have resulted in a deep-rooted mistrust amongst the community, which can’t be rooted out easily. Sustained efforts, in addition to a robust policy framework, is the only answer to the community’s woes. And it is important that the policies are not framed by people sitting in air-conditioned offices, disconnected from them. Active and continuous participation of the community members is imperative for undertaking any such exercise. Most importantly, Laxmi stresses that there cannot be a ‘one-size-fit-all’ formula for addressing the needs of the community. There are diverse aspirations amongst its members. Some might want to start a small scale industry, whereas another might want to get into trading. They all need support in different capacities. She signs off by telling us she is not against the traditional practise of making money from performing at auspicious occasions, but that should not relegate the community to the hinterlands of social indicators as they hitherto have been. J U LY 2 0 1 4

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POLITICS

Will Sikkim Demand Demerger From India? The Buddhist-dominated state was merged into India in 1975, but the ethnic BhutiaLepcha communities are being forcibly marginalised, and the demand for a demerger is being fuelled by the China-ﬁnanced separatists of the northeast The original residents of Sikkim, the Bhutia Lepchas' sacred lake had been desecrated

SUJIT CHAKRABORTY

he one state in the northeast that has stayed away from terrorism and secessionism, Sikkim is on the brink. Its ethnic minority, the Bhutias and Lepchas, or the BL community, who were the original residents of the erstwhile kingdom, have said that they will go to "any extent' to get justice. And this is a dangerous ground to play in, with the terrorism industry players in the northeast already having given a call for the highy aggrieved BL youth to demand that they have their king and kingdom back. The China-backed secessionist outfits that funded the extremely violent Khasi as well as ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam) movements and still funds the Assamese and Bodoland separatists have for long been looking

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for a foothold in Sikkim. The latest election results, with a fourth term victory for the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), reputed to be largely anti-BL and pro-Nepali, has brought the Buddhist minority to that brink! “Agya Tseten Tashi Bhutia, convener of the Sikkim Bhutia Lepcha Apex Committee (SIBLAC) has clearly said that we shall go to any extent to get our rights back. We shall go to Delhi, we shall go to Geneva, we shall do what it takes to get our rights back. Agya has said that if New Delhi turns a blind eye to our demands even now, it will become very uncomfortable for them,” Chewang Phintso, a Buddhist intellectual and a leader of SIBLAC told News Bench. Any call to arms? “No,” Phintso says and smiles. The fact that as Buddhists they cannot officially give a call to arms is very poorly masked: the fact is

that Tseten Tashi, a civil engineer by training and a former minister, has been seen in the olive uniform at all the recent Buddhist functions where the SIBLAC has agitated against the ruling party. The issues in Sikkim, a not so remote, extremely peaceful but little understood state, are manifold. But the crux is one: a well planned destroying of the Constitutional rights of the BLs which had been enshrined in Article 371 F of the Indian Constitution, the instrument of merger of the erstwhile kingdom of the Namgyal dynasty into India. Among other things, Sikkim is allowed to have its own state symbol and revenue stamp, and Sikkimese people are not obliged to pay the Indian Income Tax or Corporate Tax laws. Now, the current Chief Minister, Pawan Chamling, has introduced the Corporate Tax, which has further alienated even the original trading

SIKKIM

class of the state, the Marwaris, as well as the hotel owners, mostly BL persons. Then comes the issue of a massive hydel power programme which is ecologically fatal to Sikkim, and this has been proved in the devastating floods and earthquake of 2011. The dam projects on the Teesta River have been repeatedly criticised by environmentalists. These have been diverting the waters of the state, giving rise to dehydrated farmlands, and also causing landslides in a seismically active zone. However, these were immediate issues. The long pending ones are of more political significance if the people who rule from New Delhi want to keep Sikkim free of separatism. The entire identity of original Sikkimese people depends on Buddhism, the bed rock of the Chogyal, or Dharma Raja concept of a religious state, ruled by the Namgyal dynasty. And Buddhism holds sacrosanct certain mountain peaks and lakes. This is the reason that Mount Khangchendzonga, the third highest mountain in the world is not allowed to be trekked upon. Similarly, there are sacred lakes whose waters cannot be touched by a human hand. Such a one is the Khechoepaldri Lake in West Sikkim. But at dawn of August 2, 2003, a certain 'Kirat Baba' from Nepal swam in the lake and desecrated it. Since records go back, this was the first time a human being had touched the lake water, and this was a well-staged conspiracy on which the state government sat pretty. There was a major hue and cry which resulted in a case being filed against the state government in the Supreme Court. The court asked the aggrieved party to implead Chif Minister Chamling and the Kirat Baba. Then followed the historic serial hunger strike against the multiple-dam projects in the Lepcha Reserve of Dzongu. This is a distinct area of Sikkim that the Namgyal dynasty rulers had kept reserved for the extremely ecosensitive Lepchas. No one, even now, from Sikkim or elsewhere, can enter the area without prior police permission. Then there is the dam project on Rathong Chhu and Ringyet Chhu, the

two holist rivers of Sikkim, which will destroy the unique Buddhist festival of Bum Chhu. These are the core religious issues. Politically speaking, when the king of Sikkim first started the Assembly in his kingdom, he set up a parity system of representation, to protect for ever the fragile BL community. The system was that in the 32 member assembly, the BLs would have 16 seats and the migrant Nepali community would have 16. But with the amendment in the Representation of People's Act 1980, the number of seats for the BLs were reduced to 13. From that point started the tyranny of the anti-BL politicians who constantly sought to take away the latter's constitutional political rghts. The ruling SDF of Pawan Chamling is notorious for his attitude towards BLs. That is why when the former SDF strongman PS Golay raised the banner

Later, Golay named his party as Sikkim Kranikari Party, SKM, and a massive wave of support, especially from amongst the youth, swept the state. It seemed Chamling would for sure be defeated this time. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But that did not happen. There was too much money that Chamling spent, openly, in bribing voters,â&#x20AC;? Phintso told News Bench. Phintso was not talking through his hat, for it is known that Chamling uses crores of rupees to bribe extremely poor Sikkimese villagers during elections. Chamling's enormous illbegotten wealth is subject to a Supreme Court case based on a 1,300 page documentary evidence, SDF won. Golay lost from his constituency. "Chamling spent days in Golay's constituency bribing the latter's voters, and Golay could not stop that," an independent scribe already under fire from Chamling's party, told News Bench.

Golay (green scarf) is now a real source of trouble for his former boss Chamling

of revolt against his former boss Chamling, the BLs mostly joined him to defeat Chamling and his SDF. Golay went into hiding but emerged at what is called the Rolu picnic, a supposedly innocent picnic, attended by the common people and hosted by Golay. The real intention was to tell Chamling that after 20 years in the CM's seat, opposition has arrived. It was a historic moment-

There were two other factors: first, the Congress supported Chamling. And second, SDF has been receiving funds from the hydel power and pharma industry lobbies to get their projects cleared. This SDF victory has shaken the BLs. "We still want to stay in the republic, but if the Centre does not look into our woes, we can go to any extent, Agya Tseten Tashi Bhutia told News Bench. Any extent? J U LY 2 0 1 4

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MODI MOVES

Tourism boost... Modi's not just kite ﬂying! Almost in every of his pre-election speech, Modi has emphasised his resolve to boom tourism industry in the country, as he has done in Gujarat as its (former) chief minister. This is clearly a part of his economic vision, for the beauty of tourism is that it beneﬁts each and every segment of the economy SADASHIV TRIPATHI

ujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on January 7 was seen flying kites in Ahmedabad on the occasion of the seven-day international kite festival (IKF) 2014. His aim to be present there along with star Salman Khan was more than showcasing his presence. Modi said that the kite festival implies his and Gujarat’s love for nature, environment and tourism. He stressed the importance of tourism and India’s need to keep pace with the developments across the world in strengthening tourism. State tourism minister Saurabh Patel says that while India’s annual tourism growth was seven per cent, Gujarat’s tourism growth was double that. This indicates that as Prime Minister, Modi clearly has a plan for tourism development in India. It is the same plan he had mentioned while discussing building Brand India. “We have to develop Brand India by focusing on 5Ts – Talent, Tradition, Tourism, Trade and Technology,” Modi said on the final day of the BJP’s three-day national executive and council meet in Delhi. As Gujarat CM, Modi had decided to increase tourism for the state's development, and was successful too. According to Gujarat tourism.com's data, the number of visitors in 2002-2003 was 61,65,217. This increased to 1,41,23,031 in 2007-2008 and in 2011-2012, it was 2,23,54,665. And this development was planned. Modi's efforts to promote business tourism began when he launched the first Vibrant Gujarat Global

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Investors’ Summit in 2003. Besides, Gujarat has made its mark on the international tourism map by promoting fairs and festivals. With a spate of celebrations, including the Navratri Festival, International Kite Festival (Uttarayan), Modhera Dance Festival, Bhavnath Fair, Tarnetar Fair, Bhadrapad Ambaji Fair, Dangs Darbar Festival, and many others, Gujarat is a veritable tourists' delight. How will that vision translate for the rest of India? Says Rohit Bajpai, General Manager, Radisson Blu, New Delhi: “With a stable leadership at the centre and new reform policies to give a fresh thrust to the economy, we are hopeful that the increasing growth of the tourism industry will help develop the hotel industry.” Modi has repeatedly referred to the BJP manifesto, which promises 50 tourism circuits. Central to this is a project which will make these tourist circuits affordable. These circuits would promote tourism in the Himalaya, deserts, coastal regions, heritage and archaeological sites etc. And it is this that the travel and hotel industry is expecting from Modi. Says Prosenjit De, Director (Finance) of Hyatt Regency, Gurgaon: "Keeping in view all the above, the new government under the leadership of Mr. Narendra Modi should look into the growth and development of the industry by providing a well drafted policy which will carry a focused, feasible, objective and measurable strategy coupled with infrastructural and other supports such as simplification of visa procedures and tax holidays for hotels. Further, the tourism policy of the government

should aim at a speedy implementation of tourism projects, development of integrated tourism circuits, special capacity building in the hospitality sector. It is equally expected that Government will initiate adequate marketing efforts and activities on visibility, marketing and show-casing of Indian hospitality with complete information on their countries of origin."

TOURISM

The new government should look into the growth and development of the industry by providing a well drafted policy which will carry a focused, feasible, objective and measurable strategy.

— Prosenjit De Director of Finance, Hyatt Regency, Gurgaon

With stable leadership at the centre and new reform policies to give a thrust to the economy, we are hopeful that increasing growth of tourism will propel the boom in the hotel industry.

Modi used the kite fest as much to get the media as to drive home his point

Modi has spoken of growing tourism in different states too. In his 30-minute speech in Mysore, the BJP leader focused on tourism, which, he emphasised, is a growth engine that could put Mysore on a boom path. Modi spoke about tourism helping different strata of the people, which in turn will help revive the local economy. "We've vast desert area in Gujarat but

still we have been able to attract tourists. From that perspective think what I can do for Mysore," he stated, referring to the untapped tourism potential in the region. He said Mysore, like Paris, is a tourist magnet and he will achieve it, given that it is a multibillion dollar sector. Tourism as a growth engine has been stressed by him speaking in the Gujarat

— Rohit Bajpai General Manager, Radison Blu, Dwarka

context. He spoke about Dusserra and said that the 10-day festival swayed him by its grandeur. Modi might be thinking of applying the concept of events tourism in Mysore, like he had done in Gujarat. Modi has said the same thing about Goa's enormous potential for tourism, and infrastructure must be improved to tap it. “Goa is one of the key areas for development of tourism in India. And the first requirement for developing tourism is good infrastructure. Infrastructure alone can boost the Indian economy,” Modi said while laying the foundation stone for the new Mandovi-Goa Bridge. There are literally thousands of destinations all across India that can become a magnet for tourists from around the world. The trick is in marketing and building the requisite infrastructure. While India attracts about six million tourists a year, even a small country like Thailand manages more than 10 million tourists annually, while bigger countries like China and Japan now attract up to 50 million visitors annually. Modi has been repeatedly asserting how India needs to move more and more towards tourism. The beauty of tourism is that the sector benefits everyone, ranging from large global hotel chains to even the poor taxi drivers and individual guides who all improve their financial lot. In many ways, it has been inexplicable why India, despite the excitement and curiosity it generates around the world, and the vast tourism resources it possesses has not been able to focus on tourism. Perhaps the time has come now! J U LY 2 0 1 4

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THE NCR

Oasis of hope lies in new NCR institutes The thought amongst students that if one does not get admission to any Delhi University colleges in their chosen subjects, all is lost is being proved wrong by NCR institutions VIKAS KUMAR

M The twin cities of Noida and Greater Noida have become major education hubs with latest courses on offer

anish Bhalla, though an intelligent student, failed to score above 90 per cent in Class 12, and he lost all hopes of getting admission in the course of his choice in Delhi University. For him, it seemed that all doors just got shut. And Manish's is not an isolated case. There are and will always remain thousands of students who will not get admission in the most coveted colleges of Delhi. But it need not mean a catastrophe. India is changing, and many previously unknown options are emerging. There are unique new courses that various institutions outside Delhi are introducing. It is not that only students from top government colleges are excelling. How can we forget the example of Satya Nadela, who became the CEO of Microsoft. He is from Manipal University. If you feel this is

a rare occurrence that does not hold good for the ordinary student, think again! Naseer Ahmed Gani, a student from Lovely Professional University has attracted attention of international space research centres with his new-age lunar buggy. He with his team has devised rover vehicle to explore moon surface. His innovation got place in Delhi Auto Expo. Shraddha Joshi, Gunjan Aggarwal and Deepti Bhardwaj from Manav Rachna University are other examples of achieving excellence. They have won an award at the International Conference on Food and Nutrition Technology for public health care 2012, which was sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, These examples help dispel the notion that only Delhi University offers the best courses. There are a host of private colleges outside Delhi which are doing exceedingly well. For instance, the number of patents secured by Amity University is second only to the IITs. Jitin Chawla of the Cen-

Amity University has emerged as major education centre in the NCR

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E D U C AT I O N

tre for Career Development, a Delhi-based counselling firm says: “New universities such as Guru Govind Singh Indraprasth University and BR Ambedkar University have courses that are more liberal and market oriented than DU courses, which are traditional. Ambedkar University offers specialised courses in the arts and social sciences such as English, Psychology, Economics and History. The college is innovative in its admission and evaluation processes. Colleges in Noida are also providing global exposure through their innovative course content. They are, most encouragingly, collaborating with some major foreign universities and institutions of Europe and the US. Amity University and Galgotia’s have many international tie-ups. JRE College has a tie-up with Raffels University of the United Kingdom, and Amity has more than 75 tie-ups, followed by Galgotia’s. Other universities are also collaborating at many levels. Not only that, their courses are more innovative and contemporary and market driven. This means that the students have much better chances of placements than those doing traditional courses, whether it be even from St Stephens. For example, Galgotia University in Greater Noida offers specialisation in Cloud Computing & Virtualisation, in association with IBM. The subject is hot, really hot now and there is a global market waiting for good performers. Not only in science and engineering, Galgotia's Economics course is also very contemporary and modern. It has one full credit

Suneel Galgotia, Chairperson and Chancellor of GEI. "Our graduates are technically well prepared, critical thinkers and can communicate effectively. There is intense competition among globally reputed companies to recruit the best of our talents."

Pankaj Agarwal, Vice-Chairman, GL Bajaj Group "Placements are very important. If your quality is good, you don't have to think much about that. So far as we are concerned, since our faculty is excellent, and we are a brand, things become easier for us to place our talents at the global level."

programme which imparts knowledge on computer applications in economics. It has courses in Economics, English, Sociology and Applied Psychology. These humanities courses have been designed to meet the contemporary needs of our society. Suneel Galgotia, Chairman of the college, says, “Our graduates are technically well prepared, critical thinkers and can communicate effectively. The quality of our graduates is acknowledged by renowned multinational companies that recruit them, and competition between these companies to attract our top graduates is intense.” Impressed by the performance of the university, the Science and Engineering Board of the Government of

India has sanctioned Galgotia's a project entitled “Self-Assembly of Semiconductor Nanostructures for Sensing Applications", to be run at the School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Department of Chemistry. The college is also planning to establish its nanotechnology lab. Other private colleges are also gearing up. Manav Rachna University, based in Faridabad, has filed for 37 patents and it has published 3,000 research papers so far

LIST OF TOP COLLEGES IN DELHI/NCR IN ENGINEERING • Bharati Vidyapeeth’s College of Engineering • Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGS IPU), Delhi • Jamia Milia Islamia, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, New Delhi • Amity School of Engineering & Technology, Noida • Galogtia's College of Engineering & Technology • Apeejay College of EngineeringSohna, Gurgaon • United College of Engineering & Research, Greater Noida • ITM, Gurgaon • JRE Group of Institutions • GL Bajaj Group of Institutions • Noida Institute of Engineering & Technology • Greater Noida Institute of Technology.

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THE NCR

Dr Vishal Talwar, Dean School of Management, JRE Group

“ Our focus is on imparting good knowledge. If your knowledge is good you can be placed easily.”

Ashok Chauhan, Chairman AKC Group

“The fact that our alumni are working in the best companies across the world is a testament to our extremely talented faculty.”

in the last 17 years. Shiv Nadar University, which is one of the latest entrants in the NCR, has created its niche already because of the brand name of Shiv Nadar, founder of HCL Technologies. The USP of the college is to cultivate an inter-disciplinary approach in thinking. If one is interested in natural sciences then one can think of taking admission in The School of Natural Sciences. Upon completion of this programme, graduates will be well equipped for successful careers in both, academia and industry. What one learns in chemistry here is not the textbook type imbued with exposure and creative thinking needed to develop new science and face new challenges such as detecting cancer, modelling complex systems, understanding the consequences of climate change, etc. Not only that. There are a host of courses that are coming up which are highly market driven and job-oriented. Colleges in the NCR are actually designing new courses to meet the changing needs of industry. For example, the Pearl Academy has launched a course in Motion Graphics. Its state-ofthe-art computer labs are at par with many national and international TV and film production companies, including Noida's famous Film City. Pearl Academy has strong alliances with the industry. The institute has an overseas exchange option in built into the curriculum, so that students can make the most of the academy’s global

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network. Private universities in the NoidaGreater Noida belt are offering large choices of courses to them. For example, Amity University's Gurgaon campus offers B.Sc in Medical Lab technology. It has courses on Real Estate and Urban Infrastructure, Solar and Alternative Technology, Nanotechnology and Space Sciences. Dr. Ashok Chauhan, founder of Amity University says: “The fact that our alumni are working in the best companies across the world is a testament to our extremely talented faculty. What is unique to our campuses is that we offer an optional three-continents BTech programmes, in which students can study in India and UK. Amity has recently developed the most advanced news and film studios for the journalism and mass communication courses. We also have twinning programmes with leading universities, like the University of Birmingham, in which students finish half of their BTech, BBA or MBA in India, and the other half in the UK. This helps students save nearly 50 per cent of the cost of studying abroad," Chauhan adds. Private colleges in NCR are also collaborating with some of the world’s most prominent universities for the branding, research and global exposure. Sharda University has collaborated with more than 20 universities in the world. They have collaborated with some top names such as Bremen University, Ger-

many; Stratford University, USA; and the Northumbria University, UK. They also have students exchange programmes at their university. Every year, prominent companies from India and abroad, such as Wipro, HCL, Tech-Mahindra, Globallogic, Royal Bank of Scotland, Genpact and a host of others, come campus trawling for talent. Undoubtedly, private colleges are more professional in nature but unless and until they provide quality placement, they won’t survive. Pankaj Agarwal, Vice- Chairman, GL Bajaj Group of Institutions, told News Bench: “Placement is very important. Without placement no institute can survive. Some of the biggest brands come to our campuses.” Dr Vishal Talwar says: “Our focus is on imparting good knowledge. If your knowledge is good you can be placed easily.” JRE is one of the fastest emerging colleges in Noida. Its engineering course is widely recognised and appreciated. It got awards as the Best Educational Institute in Engineering at the World Education Congress, 2012, held in Mumbai. The average placement in the PGDM batch in 2014 was for Rs 5-10 lakh per annum. IMS Noida is other institute that has risen fast. Recently, one of its students bagged a job for Rs 15 lakh per year. Amity is planning to launch 21 courses. “The new courses will be on film and TV production; B.Ed special education in learning disability; integrated BA, B.Ed special education; integrated B.Com, B.ed; special education and integrated B.Sc, and so forth. With this, the total number of undergraduate courses goes up to 106," said chancellor Atul Chauhan. Private Universities are also coming up with industrydriven courses. For example, Galgotia University offers B Tech in Computer Science & Engineering with Specialisation in Open Source Software and mainframe in association with IBM. So as a student, it is not that all doors will close if you fail to get admission in premier Delhi colleges. They are not the sole centres of excellence. And IITians are not the only people doing well. In emerging India, there are a lot of options. One just needs to identify them.

R E A L E S TAT E

Supernova: Artist's impression of Supertech's project of towers chasing the heavens

Theme Homes: RichieRichsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; New Passion Gone are the days of just 'luxury' homes for high-end buyers. The hot thing is now themebased housing. There is the sports theme. There are houses in Roman design, there are Spanish villas, and some developers are cashing in on the craze for heigths.... VIKAS KUMAR

he grand Roman arch does not lead to anything. It is itself the structure of the housing society. The flats are all inbuilt into this structure. The facade at the top is also typically Roman, and so are all the design elements on the inside of the arch. The comfortable modern sofas inside are broad, more like Roman couches and have

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cushions that are big, much like in any Roman household, and the vases are the exact replica of wine jars used in Rome. This is the Mahagun Mirabella housing estate, with Theme Rome. Supertech's Romano is also based on a similar theme. In the same vein, the Arihant group is coming up with Villa Vivania, a Spanish theme based home in Chennai. And these showcase the latest craze among the top honchos, who have had

their share of luxury homes, and now need something special. That special need is being fulfilled by developers who are creating theme homes. A few years ago, people were satisfied with their luxury houses: large living spaces, swimming pools, Italian-marble flooring, modular kitchen, etc. But the times have changed and customers are becoming more demanding. More and more Indians are travelling abroad and

THEME HOMES

are getting exposed to the latest trends. Theme homes have thus become the rage, particularly in Delhi-NCR, Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore and Calcutta. In fact, sticking to the old adage that variety is the spice of life, Supertech Limited is not limiting itself to Roman styling, and has tied up with Disney India to develop a Disney-themed housing project in Greater Noida. The project will see 1,000 flats with Disney-inspired exteriors and interiors, Disney-branded furnishing, home decor and colour palettes. This will be the Fable Castle, on the Yamuna Expressway. Sports is the other theme that is attracting developers. The Jaypee group has completed the 'SPORTS CiTY' project, adjacent to India's only F1 track. There is a nine-hole golf course, besides football, cricket and hockey fields with stadia. The Logix group has also come up with a project on the sports theme in the Noida sector-150. 3Cs, an NCR-based developer, is working on a Sports Village in Noida sector 78. Golf as a theme is also attracting some buyers. Developers like Logix, ATS, Antriksh, Shubhkamna and Brys have already launched golf-themed housing projects. However, as far as highend buyers are concerned, golf is not their theme of choice. Developers have found that a certain segment of the rich class have a craze for heights. A 47-storied building is being developed by Synergy Property Development Services in Bangalore. But that's a dwarf, really, compared to what is coming up elsewhere. The skies, here we come! In Noida, Supertech has raised the bar by launching NorthEye, which will have 60 floors. The Brys group has started a project for an 81-storeyed building, Brys Buzz, in Noida Sector-150. This project will really be high life, and not just in height. For guess who is doing the interior designing? Lamborghini! And very soon, the height of heights will be the Lanco Hill Signature Tower, climbing up to 112 floors, looking down on everything else in Hyderabad as so many pygmies!

Fayyaz Qureshi, Director, Marketing Unibera This is a new concept and it will stay for some time. Tying up with global brands will help till the craze for the exclusivity factor is there.

Ajay Kumar, Head-Project, MMR Group There are 75 such units in the project. Buyers are also showing interest in this scheme. Sixty per cent of the units have already been sold.

DLF's King's Courtand Queen's Court flats in the iconic neighbourhood of Greater Kailash, New Delhi, have sold at astronomical prices due to its clever positioning

Actually, theme homes make business sense for developers. In the economic boom era India has produced enough crazy richmen who would give a lot for a special identity, so premiums come in for the asking. For instance, the DLF's Kings Court and Queens Court in Greater Kailash, New Delhi, was all mopped up at an astronimical price per flat, bcause of its clever positioning as an iconic premium property. The passion for fashion in housing is also taking other dimensions, with properties being designed by global brand masters such as Versace, Gucci and Roberto Cavalli Some developers are innovating at a functionality level. For example, the

MMR Group of companies has launched a project, 52nd Avenue, which will have a landscaped avenue walk beside manicured lawns and resplendent water bodies will add to its finesse. Project Head, MMR Group, Ajay Kumar told News Bench: “ Residents here will have a unique experience, as they won’t have to drive long to reach a mall. They will come out of the staircases of their homes and walk into the mall.” Landcraft, another builder in Ghaziabad, has tied up with Mahesh Bhupati Tennis Academy and Shiamak Davar Dance Academy and these are the main attractions of the project. Rajeev Parashar, Deputy General Manager of Landcraft talked to News Bench about the J U LY 2 0 1 4

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R E A L E S TAT E

company’s high profile project Golf Link: “The main magnet for the project is our association with Mahesh Bhupati’s tennis academy and Shiamak Davar’s dance academy. Around 400 bookings have already been made in the project.” Theme-based projects sell better and make a lot of sense from the marketing point of view. Builders can easily differentiate their projects from the clutter. So, the demand for theme-based housing is driven both by the consumers’ taste and the innovation that goes behind the projects, a trade insider explained. Realty experts say that Gurgaon is an excellent city for such theme-based residential projects, as the purchasing power of the consumers is high and developers can command premium prices with alacrity. Raheja Developers Ltd. is coming up with Revanta, the architectural style of which has been inspired by the Middle East aesthetics, which blends traditional Arabian structural designs with modernity. It has Versace-designed interior decoration. The same builder has another theme-based project in Dharuhera. Set close to the forested area below the Aravalli Range, its theme is green living. In the past three months, at least 10 theme projects have been launched in Noida, Greater Noida and along the Yamuna Expressway, the themes varying from a golf course or a lake to the more exotic ones that promise an Italian or a medieval English lifestyle. Customers have become very brandconscious these days and they are unthinkably finicky as well. NCR’s leading developer, Supertech Limited has tied up with fashion major Armani group to do the interior designing of the residences in the Supernova project. Previously, Armani group had collaborated with Mumbai-based Lodha Developers to design the residences and common spaces of the World Towers project, coming up in Upper Worli, Mumbai. Supertech has also tied-up with Swarovski and Disney. Many other builders are also collaborating with global brands.

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Mahagun Mirabella, the Roman-styled twin towers at Sector 79, Noida

THE UPPER-UPPER CLASS IS NOW LOOKING BEYOND 'LUXURY'. THEY NO LONGER LOOK FOR A HOME. THEY WANT AN ADDRESS WHICH WILL BE THEIR OWN BRANDING Looking different from the herd is the new buzzword among developers. The fascination with this has taken a new turn in the NCR. For example, the Cosmic Group has launched a project on the concept of a cruiser. The project has been conceived in a manner that will make it an iconic landmark without that time taken for anything to become an icon. There are snazzy and compact studio apartments as well as villas. In addition to that there will be a plush business centre. There is another aspect to this whole concept. It is not that only high-end projects are based on themes. Tata Housing's La Montana in Talegaon, Maharashtra, is an affordable theme-based project. The theme only acts as a differentiator. But one needs to think also whether this is a sustainable concept. Fayyaaz Qureshi, Marketing Director,

Unibera group, says, "The idea will sustain till the exotic factor is there. If everyone gets an Armani designed rooms, then it will loose its intrinsic appeal." The basic reason behind these developments is that developers feel that 'luxury' is fast becoming a cliche. Global consultancy firm Jonse Lang LaSalle has pointed out that ‘luxury’ is the most abused word in the world of real estate. In fact, luxury takes altogether a different meaning when it comes to realty today. The interpretation of luxury in the Indian context, the report said, also includes an element of exclusiveness. In other words, the buyer of a luxury apartment — apart from superior amenities and facilities — also expects to live in a project which offers a certain socio economic standard as a neighbourhood. The report further says, “The view available to the project’s occupants is also very crucial. A project may be genuinely luxurious in its internal amenities. However, if it overlooks a slum or a congestion-prone highway, a graveyard or a hospital, the rental and resale potentials take a beating.” In other words, the upper-upper classes are not simply looking for a home. They are looking for an address which itself will be a brand and style statement for them.

On A Pedestal, Yet Abused! The paradox is a phalanx of women as top political leaders even as women suffer indignities and violence MEGHA SAHNI RATHI

t remains one of the strangest contradictions that haunt most South Asian countries. On the one hand, women have towering achievements to their credit that any society could be proud of; on the other hand, they have also been the hapless victims of vicious abuse, including physical and sexual violence. When the developed countries of the world were struggling with the idea of women in leadership positions, India had Vijaya Lakhsmi Pandit as the representative in the United Nations. In the political arena, women leaders in South Asia and the neighborhood seem to have done particularly well. Sri Lanka has seen two women leading national governments Sirimavo Bandarnaike and Chandrika Kumaratunga. Bangladesh has two women jostling for political power: Begum Khalida Zia and Sheikh Hasina. Pakistan had Benazir Bhutto as a charismatic Prime Minister. Indira Gandhi ruled as the Prime Minister of India for about 16 years. Sonia Gandhi was the de-facto ruler of India for ten long years. In nearby Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi is by far the tallest leader in a country that has seen a military dictatorship for decades. The interesting thing about the South Asian region is the fact that women have emerged as powerful political leaders in countries that have Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism as their dominant religions. In a way, one could say that South Asian culture is one of the most emancipated in the world. No other region in the world has seen so many powerful women leading their countries. England first got a woman Prime Minister in 1979, while the United States is yet to see a woman President. In recent times, some Latin American countries like Bolivia and Argentina, European countries like Germany, have seen women at the top of the political heap. But without any doubt, it is South Asia that leads in this regard. In fact, if one looks within India, the rise and rise of women as formidable political leaders is a simply amazing phenomenon. Mayawati, Mamata Bannerjee, Vasundhara Raje Scindia, J Jayalalitha, Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed, Sheila Dixit and Uma Bharti are either current chief ministers or have been in recent times. Needless to add, Sumitra Mahajan is the second successive woman speaker of the Lok Sabha after Meira Kumari. But that is where the contradictions begin. The widespread

presence of so many women as powerful political leaders should mean that gender equality and gender justice are getting adequate attention in the country. As we all know, that is sadly not the case. Even as more and more women successfully compete with men in diverse fields and professions, they constantly face abuse and violence. In recent weeks, many horrific crimes against women reported from various states have shown how women continue to face violence. It is natural for political parties to blame each other for this spate of crimes against women. It is natural for so called religious leaders to make idiotic demands on women to appear and behave more demurely in public. The fact is, neither political parties nor religious leaders can solve this cancerous problem. A more robust enforcement of law IT IS NOT AN EASY and order will surely TASK BUT WHAT WE significantly reduce ACTUALLY NEED IS A crimes against women. CHANGE IN FAMILY But mere enactment of AND SOCIAL MINDSET. laws is no solution. It is almost three decades PARENTS MUST TEACH since stringent antiTHEIR SONS TO TREAT dowry laws were passed. WOMEN WITH RESPECT Yet, we still read reports virtually every day about dowry harassment and dowry deaths. In fact, we now have a peculiar situation where some unscrupulous women are misusing the law even as the vast majority of genuine victims do not get justice. What we actually need is a change in family and social mindsets. Parents will have to teach their sons to treat women with respect. And the society must make pariahs of men who abuse women and subject them to violence of any kind. I know it is not an easy task. But there simply is no other way. We cannot depend on the government or in patriarchal institutions to change mindsets. That change starts with every family that claims to be liberal. Till then, we can have women as chief ministers and prime ministers but women will continue to be abused. J U LY 2 0 1 4

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LIFESTYLE

THE OOMPH GALS AND THEIR UFFF CARS! V

ery few people in Bombay own a Bentley. And to her utter surprise, Akshay Kumar gifted wife Twinkle a Bentley. This flying spur cost Akshay Rs 3 crore. The other people who own Bentleys in Mumbai

riyanka Chopra too has a good collection of luxurious cars. She owns a Porsche, Mercedes Benz S class, BMW 7 Series, Mercedes Benz E-class and a Rolls Royce. Not many own a Porsche Cayenne in Bollywood. Priyanka, an international singer and a bollywood actress owns a Cayenne which is really a unique choice of hers. The Porsche Cayenne is a mid-size luxury crossover manufactured by the German manufacturer Porsche.

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are the Ambanis, Vijay Mallya , the Bachchans, Sajid Nadiadwala and Shilpa Shetty. Bentley Motors is a British luxury automaker, and a subsidiary of the German Volkswagen AG.

LUXURY DRIVES

There is race on. It is a Bollywood race for actors to give extra mileage in their marital lives by gifting their wives with the costliest creatures on wheels. And some stars who are not aligned with men are gifting themselves the handsomest of status symbols

hilpa Shetty owns a car which you can rarely see on Indian roads. The billionaire businessman and husband Raj Kundra gifted his lady a Lamborghini worth Rs 3.6 crore. The car was bought by the couple

before it made its way to India. She also boasts of a Bentley in her garage. Lamborghini is an Italian brand acquired by Audi. On other hand Bentley is a British luxury automaker acquired by Volkswagen AG.

ipasha Basu’s ex-boyfriend adores bikes but Bipasha herself loves luxurious cars. She owns a red Volkswagen Beetle, Mercedes S-class and a Porsche Cayenne (Rs 1.6 crore). Bipasha even calls her

beetle ‘Brad’. Volkswagen Beetle is an 'economy' car marketed by the German automaker. Mercedees S class is a series of Luxury Sedans, again produced by German automaker. It seems she loves German designs. J U LY 2 0 1 4

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B O L LY W O O D

CHORI CHORI… From 'Bombay Talkies' to 'Kick', or 'Jai Ho' to 'Stalin', Bollywood ﬁlmmakers have found a new comfort zone: plagiarism... simply called intellectual robbery. They lift other people's ideas, term this as 'inspiration' and do not care two hoots about what people say VAISHALI KHULBE

ollywood filmmakers are giving a new name to ‘plagiarism’. It is not that stories were not lifted earlier, but now this is so blatant in every aspect of filmmaking that this term has lost its relevance. The Bollywood filmmakers are fast becoming lazy in terms of generating fresh ideas. There are very few original stories like ‘The Lunchbox’ or Gangs of Wasseypur. It is difficult to remember when the last original idea came from tinseltown. With information explosion and increased awareness about copyright violations, the allegations of plagiarism are increasing. Recently, Anurag Kashyap’s short film ‘Bombay Talkies’ ran into trouble of copyright violations when the

original writer, Nishant G Ranjan accused him of lifting his story idea. Nishant had actually sent him the story in 2011. But there was no response from Kashyap for a long time, so Nishant gave it up as a bad joe. But when he read a few media reports about the content of the film, he realised that the director had 'lifted' his story. In the same film to, there was no end to the controversy when another writer-director Sudipto Chattopadhyay accused Zoya Akhtar of lifting the story of his Bipasha Basu-starrer ‘Pankh’ for her segment of ‘Bombay Talkies’. Zaigham Imam, an emerging filmmaker, says: "It is difficult to generate new ideas and work on the original script. I had written my own book and when I decided to make my film, it was on my own story. Working on fresh

(Left to right) Jacqueline Fernandez, in Murder 3; Mallika Sherawat in Murder, and....

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STORY CHORI

CHHUPKE CHHUPKE… ideas gives you intellectual satisfaction." of giving credit to the original writer. However, there are very few directors Salman Khan’s much awaited film ‘Kick’ like him. The urge to lift the ideas comes is also the remake of a Telugu film of the IT IS from a lazy attitude. Most of the mainsame name, but the producer has not AMAZING HOW stream filmmakers have no touch even bothered to change the name. HOLLYWOOD KEEPS And if you thought chori is with Indian realities, so they have restricted to scripts, think again. no story ideas that are unique. CHURNING OUT AMAZING Film producers are even lifting Take the instance of Salman FILMS, COMEDIES OR posters. One cannot forget the Khan’s much hyped ‘Jai Ho’, OTHERWISE, AND YET,OUR controversy on the poster of which was remake of Telugu hit ‘Dhoom 3’, which was allegfilm ‘Stalin’. However, even the BOLLYWOOD FILMMAKERS, OUT edly copied or ‘inspired’ by the plot of Stalin has striking resemOF SYNC WITH THE MASSES AND ‘Batman’ series of films. Mahesh blance with the Hollywood flick UNWILLING TO SPEND TIME Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt’s films ‘Pay It Forward’ (2006), based on AND EFFORT FOR ORIGINAL are notorious for blind lifting of Catherine Ryan Hyde’s novel of the ideas from Hollywood flicks. Kapil same name. IDEAS, SIMPLY STEAL Chopra had taken them to court on If this sounds difficult to digest, then OTHERS' IDEAS the issue of ‘Jannat 2’, as the film was be prepared for more mouthfuls! The based on his script. recently released ‘Heartless’, directed by It is amazing how Hollywood churns Shekhar Suman, is alleged to be a remake out amazing films, whether comedies or of ‘Awake’, a 2007 American crime/ most obnoxious bit is that the producgangster films. But our intellectually imsupernatural/conspiracy thriller written ers claimed it to be ‘India’s first ghost poverished and filmmakers out-of-sync and directed by Joby Harold. Similarly, comedy film’. It is evident that neither with the masses will surely continue this ’Gangs of Ghosts’ is based on popular did they want to work on an original inglorious tradition. Bengali film ‘Bhooter Bhobishyot’. The idea nor did they have the basic courtesy

... Isha Gupta in Raaj 2, also starring in Humshakal, and finally, the Kick star Salman Khan

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PHOTOS BY KAYNAT KAZI

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KAYNAT KAZI

Big Paws of W Ranthambore The Royal Bengal Tiger... the name is still magical, though there are just around 3,000 of these big cats left around the world, and the Ranthambor Tiger Reserve is one such place where the majestic animal roams in its second naturalised home 84

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atching a tiger in its natural habitat is nothing less than a treat. The tiger has been epitome of masculinity since memory goes back. To see a tiger roaring in the wilderness is a mystical experience. Tragedy is, there are hardly 3,000 tigers left on the planet. Ranthambore Tiger Reserve is one of four places to find the Royal Bengal Tiger. There are around 30 tigers in the reserve. They are spread over 516 square

RANTHAMBORE

The majestic animal (extreme left) was sleeping at the watering hole as we gently approached it in our Jeep, when it just woke, watched the animals around, yawned and went back to sleep

kilometres park between Agra and Jaipur. It was also a fertile hunting ground for the Maharaja of Jaipur. You can find ancient Mughal structures lying all over. Morning is the most suitable for Jungle Safari. Sitting in the open jeap, the cool breeze caresing your body, you feel the fragrance of forest flowers in the breeze. The chirping of birds mergs with the slow rhythmic music of winds like a perfect jugalbandi of musical maestros. The trained drivers effortlessly take you to the top of the mountain, travelling through meandering and rough hill tracts. Then you

see nature at its best. The radiant sunlight peeps through the bushes, which greet it with joy after a night without food. The drivers keep babbling stories about tigers. They know the areas where each specific tiger can be located. They also keep in touch with other jeep drivers to locate the movement of the tigers using walkie-talkies. Guide Himmat Singh says that each tiger has its own demarcated territory. Any encroacher is driven out after fierce fighting. It is not unsual in these bare-all fights that one cat dies. Tigers scratch the barks of trees to mark their territory. Apart from

securing territory, the other reason tigers fight is the right to a female. There are a lot of tigresses in this park. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Machali Tigressâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is the most famous. She is known to be extremely powerful. She had overpowered a 12-feet ghariyal. As water becomes scarce, tigers often can be found, in early morning and late afternoons, somewhere near one of the few remaining waterholes. However, with such small numbers left, your chances of seeing a tiger, even in a preserve, are largely a factor of luck and the skill of your tiger tracker guide. J U LY 2 0 1 4

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Usually safaris are conducted in openhood Jeeps and daytime is best, but often tigers are seen only by the night

To visit this park, you will have to take permission from the forest ranger's office. For Jungle Safari, you will have to go in Jeep or a Canter. The park opening differs according to the season and the decision is taken by the forest department. It is closed in the rainy season. Retired Forest Officer, Mahavir Prasad Sharma says: “Tigress T-19 has given birth to four cubs and she is being watched in Zone-6. Visitors thronged the park at the news of their births. You need at least two to three days to see the park completely. We could not watch tiger in the morning. So we decided to go for the evening safari. After a few kilometres, we received information that the tiger is relaxing in the lap of the mountain. The cat was sleeping, and we kept watching his long and lythe body for a long time. but tigers are very alert animals. Suddenly, it opened its eyes and yawned. That was a lifetime experience. While returning from the trip we saw a tigress. Suddenly, a dear came and started drinking water. The tigress just stole a glimpse at it and then turned her face away. Our guide told us that she was not hungry so she was not interested. Eight trails of the park are open to visitors. The government has also fixed the number of vehicles that can enter the park each day. Routes have been fixed such that

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WHILE RETURNIG, WE SAW A TIGRESS. A DEER WAS DRINKING WATER AT THE POND NEARBY. THE TIGRESS LOOKED AT IT AND WENT BACK TO SLEEP only eight vehicles have been allowed to enter during early morning and in the late afternoon slot. Our open jeep was bouncing on the rough hill tract. Our guide stopped intermittently to look for pugmarks. As the wind picks up and whistles through the cave, the tiger looks around quizzically, as if to say, “Where’s that smell coming from?” Then, he proceeds to wash himself from head to toe before plopping down for his midday sleep. We could not see tigers frequently during our sojourn in Ranthambore, but whatever we saw will remain etched in my memory forever. Although there is hope that in the coming months there will be more tiger sightings because of the large number of cubs born this spring, the tiger is far from safe. Poaching for tiger skins and tiger parts used for medicinal purposes in China and the far East continues

to decimate the tiger population. Zone 3 is surely the most scenic and worth watching zone. It has three lakes. Because of this chances of tiger sightings is always higher. However, we were out of luck as this zone was totally dry during our safari. No pugmarks, no warning calls. We had to make do with just crocodiles, deers, monkeys and a number of birds. However, experience in the forest zone 8 was also exciting. Tall grasses spread across flat forest land. The tall grass had turned pale golden. Naked trees with minimum leaves for cover hooks the mind of travelers. I was awed and completely lost in the raw magnificence of nature. The other thing to watch here is the Ranthambore Fort and it stands majestically atop a hill overlooking the entire park. The surroundings of the fort captivates the minds of visitors and there is something surreal in the atmosphere. It is advisable to take along a good pair of binoculars and if possible, a camera with a very powerful lens when visiting the fort. Ranthambore Fort is a large fortification built in a remote area, but only a short drive from the main hotels. One leaves Ranthambore with a meloncholy feeling. This is a mixed matrix of emotions - pride at what the kings of Ranthambore had done, mixed with the knowledge that the tiger is a vanishing species.

L I T E R AT U R E

Ode To Siachen saviours Publisher: Bloomsbury India Format: Hardbound with Dust Jacket ISBN: 978-93-84052-05-8 Pages: 300 Price: Rs 799

thwarting the possible re-induction of troops by Pakistan after demilitarisation of the glacier. The Indian army’s stance has been of caution, as it was stung by the occupation of strategic heights in the Kargil sector in 1999, which was aimed to cut the supply lines of the troops to Siachen and snatch it away. The mark of hazards of this terrain is that the guns have remained largely silent since the 2003 ceasefire, but more troops MAYANK SINGH have died due to the clime than combat. The book stands out for echoing the voices of the heroes of ‘Operation Meghdoot’: that he paradigm of India-Pakistan relations has many is what Siachen operations are called by the Indian Army. This dimensions and massive geographical spread. Rann of book has elements that will transport the readers back to the Kutch, Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan history. It does not deal with military operations or strategies. It and the critical Siachen Glacier dispute have occupied merely, and brilliantly, throws light into the minds of the people every related discourse. While the claims and counterclaims are who fought there, their feelings and undying passion to hold an interesting study of the whole gamut it out under the weather for Mother of intricacies, nothing comes close to the India. Gokhale offers us a peep into kind of response from each stakeholder almost every mind which was involved when Siachen comes into focus. right from the days when Operation Siachen has earned many superlatives, Meghdoot was just a plan on paper. It like the highest and coldest battlefield on all gets best summed in the words of earth. It is interesting that the entire glaBrigadier Channa, the Sector Comcier was uninhabited till 1984, but since mander 26, now the Siachen Brigade. then both countries maintain permanent No one, least of all Lt General Chibber, military outposts in the rarified clime at GOC, Northern Command, would have 20,000 feet. This faceoff zone has become imagined that the Operation would go an epitome of military moves and raw down in India’s history as the longest courage being studied the world over. continuous deployment! As Brig Channa returned from the Many a tome has dwelt upon the military meeting, he was instructed to launch operations, but the emotion-laden, the Operation only after thorough passion-saturated human aspect has preparations. Even three decades never been penned. It is here that Nitin later, he remembers the months in Gokhale contributes a warm salute to a the run up to the launch of Operation freezing contingent. The writer has invested a lot of Meghdoot. It will reinforce the military BEYOND NJ9842: The Siachen Saga thought in planning. The title has been wisdom that "why the key to success in Author: Nitin A Gokhale chosen well, as the entire struggle to battle is planning and preparation." maintain this area under the country’s control has its genesis at “I would say 90 per cent of the battle is won if we are fully Point ‘NJ 9842’. This is the northernmost demarcated point of prepared for the task at hand. Personally, I would think that if the India-Pakistan ceasefire line, known as the Line of Control you are administratively prepared it’s a major start. Of course, or LoC. The line was formally accepted by Prime Ministers the best way is to start living, day in day out about your next of India and Pakistan, Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto operation. Especially, for an operation at those heights which respectively, as per the Shimla Agreement of 1972. had never been done before. No one had fought on the glacier No other area of operation has evoked so much reaction. The at altitudes in excess of 18,000 feet. No one in the world had a Indian government is adamant that any settlement of the Kash- clue how to fight a war on the glacier. So, everything that we mir issue must include the authentication and demarcation did had to be beyond the conventional. Everything that we did of current military positions in Siachen. The move is aimed at had to be innovative.

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The Dragon Doesn’t Scare Any Longer Vijay Kranti

or regular observers of India-China relations accustomed to a frequent bombings of army posts in Xinjiang are the latest examples. foregone predictability (New Delhi’s timidity) for over the past Tibet is free of such violence so far. Rather, more than 130 Tibetans six decades, the very first fortnight of the Modi government have self immolated in the past three years in protest against being showered surprises. Unlike the UPA government’s over cautious reduced to a meaningless minority in their own homeland. Beijing is approach towards Beijing’s hyper sensitivity on Dalai Lama and Tibet, worried that this non-violent freedom movement of Tibet may change its New Delhi’s official guest list for Narendra Modi’s oath taking ceremony shape and intensity in the post-Dalai Lama era. included Dr Lobsang Sangay, the elected ‘Sikyong’ (Prime Minister) of On the contrary, China has always refused to acknowledge its own the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. A few years ago, the UPA government involvement with Indian terror groups like Maoists and separatists of had banned all its ministers, bureaucrats and party leaders from attending northeastern India. The Indian security apparatus has time and again the civic reception given to Dalai Lama on his winning the world’s richest found China using occupied Tibet for sheltering and training many such cash honour, the Templeton Award, lest it makes Beijing unhappy. anti-India groups. Moreover, China has converted Tibet into a veritable At the oath-taking, the icing on the cake was that while each head of the military base with a network of 58,000 km road network, 2,500 km link state from neighbouring countries was invited as a guest of ‘extraordinary’ railway lines, 14 airports, including five exclusively for military use, honour, China had to stay content with just a routine invitation meant 17 radar stations, eight missile bases along with eight ICBMs, over 20 for over a hundred ambassadors stationed in New Delhi. But the alacrity intermediate range missiles, 25 medium range missiles and an unknown with which President Xi Jinping dispatched his foreign minister Wang Yi number of short range missiles. It has used Xinjiang and Tibet to extend as his personal representative was not lost on anyone. its railway network through Pakistan right up to the Gwadar Port. Indian news media was loaded with details of China’s desire to take the On the border dispute, Modi government’s reaction appears to have India-China trade from present levels of $65 bn to $100 bn in the next been expressed less in words than through some early decisions. Defence one year; about China’s desire to open a chain Minister Arun Jaitley’s quick decisions aimed at of Technology and Industrial Parks across ensuring significant improvement in the Indian India; about evolving a close anti-terrorism military presence along this border shows that cooperation between Beijing and New Delhi, we are determined to achieve a respectable and WHILE SAARC COUNTRY and about China’s offer to join hands in the secure position in our dealings with China. LEADERS WERE INVITED massive modernisation and expansion of the China’s strategic move of bringing its railway Indian railway network. network to Tibet’s Lhasa and then extending AS EXTRAORDINARY But difficult issues like the border dispute, it close to Indian borders near Shigatse and GUESTS, CHINA WAS PLA’s incursions into Indian territory and the Kathmandu too is being checked by the new ‘stapled’ Chinese visas to citizens of Arunachal government in Delhi by launching a new border SENT AN INVITATION Pradesh appear to have been sidestepped. Using roads development programme. This decision AS IF IT WERE TO BE A the routine Beijing approach to the border was accompanied by a revolutionary call PART OF ANY OTHER dispute, Yi insisted that rather than attending taken to waiving off the dreaded environment to the ‘left over baggage of history’, both sides clearance obligations on the road developing DELEGATION should focus on expanding economic relations. agencies in the border states. On the stapled visa issue too his known stiff A major concern for India is China’s ever stand was that “we will keep issuing stapled visa increasing pitch on Arunachal Pradesh. Of late, as a gesture of goodwill” towards Arunachalis. Beijing has started referring to Arunachal as Interestingly, New Delhi too did not show any enthusiasm to rake ‘South Tibet’ just because a big part of Arunachal shares its culture with up these issues either. Not at least in public. In the UPA times, this act adjoining Tibet. Some of China’s think-tanks have been openly asking would have been interpreted as the regular timid Indian approach of not Chinese leaders to ‘liberate’ it and to break the ‘artificial’ state of India annoying the Chinese. But not so with the present Modi establishment. into 30 pieces. Indian policymakers cannot dissociate Beijing’s stapledGoing by Modi’s conciliatory approach towards India’s SAARC visa policy from this feverish pitch. Especially because in a straight jacket neighbours and extraordinarily cool handling of Yi’s visit, he appears to system like today’s China, no think-tank or individual can make such be fully focused on creating a conducive and frictionless environment for statements without Beijing’s benign encouragement. implementing his development agenda for India. Such aggressive postures on the part of Beijing can one day push Indian Yi’s enthusiasm over active cooperation with India on terrorism policy makers to tell China that the illegal occupation of Tibet cannot too cannot be lost on the Modi government for the simple reason that entitle China to any rights over Arunachal as Tibet’s ‘cultural extension’. Beijing’s definition of ‘terrorism’ starts and ends at its own doorsteps, at Interestingly, such an Indian response would gel well with BJP’s known Xinjiang and Tibet. In Xinjiang, which was a free nation called ‘Republic public stand that China must vacate Tibet to rehabilitate its historic role of East Turkistan’ until China occupied it in 1949, local Muslim Uyghurs as a free buffer nation between India and China. (The author is a senior journalist and a keen observer of India-Chinahave launched violent protests against the colonial occupation and recent Tibet triangle for over four decades. He has worked for India Today, BBC inundation of their homeland by millions of Han settlers. The recent killing of 29 Han Chinese in Kunming by some Uyghur Muslims and TV, Voice of America, etc., and has travelled extensively in Tibet and China)

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JULY 2014

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HOW DARE YOU

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THE DALITS TODAY ARE AWARE OF THEIR POWERS AS A VOTING BLOC. THE UPPER CASTES WANT TO TEACH THEM A ‘HARD LESSON’ BY RAPING THEIR WOMEN

HOW INFIGHTING, SOARING AMBITIONS AND AN OBSESSION WITH DRAMA DERAILED KEJRIWAL AND AAP