South Asia Times - March 2021

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MARCH 2021

South Asia Times

CELEBRATiNG 18TH YEAR OF PUBLICATION

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editorial PG 2 COMMUNITY PG 6 SOUTH ASIA PG 11

HINDI PUSHP PGS 16-17

Vol.18 I No. 7 I MARCH 2021 I FREE

BOOK REVIEW PG 18

s o u t hasiat im es.com .au

cinema PG 19

Editor: Neeraj Nanda I M: 0421 677 082 I Add: PO Box 465, Brentford Square, Victoria 3131

3 ways to vaccinate the world and make sure everyone benefits, rich and poor .......Read on page 3

Sangam Festival 2021

‘Earth Matters Walking Tour: Interactive culture in action .......Read on page 8

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EDITORIAl PAGE

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MARCH 2021

The meaning of MHA’s notification on 4 March 2021 relating to OCI cardholders

By Neeraj Nanda

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ELBOURNE, 9 March 2021: India’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued a Notification on 4 March 2021. It is related to Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) and lays down their rights and non-rights. Some articles have appeared in the Indian media about the content and motives but a sort of confusing picture emerges. People are speculating what changes have been made and what they actually mean in the Notification.

The following points emerge from the Notification: 1. The Notification overrides three earlier Notifications of the MHA published in 2005, 2009 and 2009.

2. OCI cardholders as before have lifelong multi entry rights for any purpose, except the following for which one has to take Special permission or a Special permit from a competent authority or Indian Mission overseas for: Research, Missionary or Tabligh or Mountaineering or Journalistic work, work in a foreign mission in India or visit a restricted or prohibited area.

3. OCI cardholders have exemption from registration with the

Foreigners Regional Officer or Foreigners Registration Officer for any length of stay in India with if they normally live in India but have to inform if they change their address or profession.

4. OCI cardholders have parity with Indian nationals in air fares and entry fees at historical sites, national parks, and in adoption of children etc.

5. Can appear in all India entrance tests etc.

6. Can purchase

immovable properties except agriculture land etc.

7. Will have parity with foreigners in any other field not in the Notification.

In the end the Notification explains – The OCI or PIO cardholder is a ‘foreign national’ holding the passport of a foreign country and is not a citizen of India. And, ‘Non-Resident Indian’ means what under different Indian laws including the Income Tax Act 1961 (43 of 1961).

Lastly, it’s well known

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DISCLAIMER South Asia Times (SAT) is a monthly newspaper published in English (2 pages in Hindi) from Melbourne, Australia. Contributors supply material to SAT at their own risk and any errors will be corrected as quickly as possible. SAT does not accept responsibility for the authenticity of any advertisement, text content or a picture in the publication. No material, including text or advertisements designed by the SAT or pictures may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the editor/publisher. Opinions/stories/ reports or any text content are those of the writers/contributors and not necessarily endorsed by the SAT.

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that India does not recognise ‘dual citizenship’ and the OCI never was or is ‘dual citizenship’.

Though people of Indian origin (whatever one may call them) across the world have been pressing successive governments in India to introduce ‘dual citizenship’ and voting rights, for now this looks a remote possibility amidst the ever changing political challenges domestically and the post pandemic fluid world situation.

COVER STORY

MARCH 2021

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3 ways to vaccinate the world and make sure everyone benefits, rich and poor

By Michael Toole*

a

s of February 25, a total of 221.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered around the world. Well over one-third of these doses were in just two countries — the United States and the United Kingdom.

A study in midNovember analysed commitments to buy 7.48 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Just over half will go to the 14% of the world’s population who live in high-income countries.

It’s estimated most high-income countries will achieve widespread vaccination coverage by the end of 2021. Most middle-income countries will not achieve this until mid- to late 2022, while the world’s poorest countries, including almost every country in Africa and some in our own Asia-Pacific region, will have to wait until 2023.

This inequality is clearly a moral outrage.

But it is also a surefire way to perpetuate the pandemic’s devastating health, social and economic impacts on the whole world.

Why everyone benefits from vaccine equity There are many reasons why rich countries should do all they can to ensure global vaccine equity — in which COVID-19 vaccines are distributed fairly to different populations, including people of different means and backgrounds.

First, there is the moral argument. Given the vaccines already exist, every day that goes on results in deaths we could have prevented.

Second, the longer it takes to eradicate the virus globally, the more it will mutate, possibly reducing the effectiveness of the vaccines. That would affect us all.

Third, as long as the virus is here, trade flows and global supply chains will be severely disrupted.

Avoiding this is also in our own interests if we want to see foreign tourists and students return to our shores.

A recent study found high-income countries may bear 13-49% of global losses — which could be up to US$9 trillion — arising from an inequitable distribution of vaccines in 2021.

Finally, a prolonged pandemic might result in even more poverty, destabilising the already fragile livelihoods of millions of poor people in low- and middle-income countries. This, in turn, could result in conflict, undermining global political stability, which would affect us all.

income country.

Some middle-income countries and most lowincome countries will be relying on the World Health Organization (WHO)-led COVAX facility, to which Australia contributes funding. This

aims to administer two billion doses of vaccine, starting with healthcare workers, in poorer countries by the end of 2021.

However, COVAX doses will cover only up to 20% of the population of each

Here are three ways to ensure global vaccine equity.

1. The COVAX facility — but there are issues A number of large middle-income countries have begun to roll out their vaccination programs, including India, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Egypt, South Africa and Indonesia. Only a few African countries have begun their vaccination programs, of which just one, Zimbabwe, is a lowwww.southasiatimes.com.au - 0421 677 082

country. And COVAX supplies may be slow to arrive, especially if delays in the production and delivery to richer countries push back delivery dates for poorer ones.

CONTD. ON PG 4

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COVER STORY

South Asia Times

MARCH 2021

3 ways to vaccinate the world and make sure everyone...

CONTD. FROM PG 3 For instance, Ghana, the first of 92 countries to receive vaccines through this initiative, only received its 600,000 doses last week.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, directorgeneral of the WHO, has said that rich countries’ approaches to manufacturers to secure more vaccine doses are undermining COVAX’s effort to achieve its goal of purchasing two billion doses of vaccines to administer during 2021.

2. Countries can produce their own vaccines Low- and middleincome countries can also produce COVID-19 vaccines themselves, an option taken by nations including India, Thailand, Vietnam and Cuba.

The Serum Institute of India is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of vaccines and has a licence to produce the AstraZeneca vaccine, which the WHO has approved for emergency use.

The company recently announced it would manufacture vaccines for India before doses earmarked for the rest of the world, a move that may delay vaccine shipments to dozens of countries and hamper the firm’s plans to share its vaccine supply. India is also developing its own vaccine, from Bharat Biotech, which has been approved in India.

Cuba has four vaccines under development. The most promising in early trials is Soberana 2, which will start phase three clinical trials shortly. If successful, Cuba’s Finlay Institute plans to produce up to 100 million doses by the end of 2021.

In Thailand, two vaccines are under development by Chulalongkorn and Mahidol universities. Both are about to start human trials.

In Vietnam, Nanogen Pharmaceutical has received government goahead to start clinical trials of its vaccine Nanocovax. The company can produce two million doses a year but plans to increase that to 30 million

Australia has agreements to purchase enough vaccines (Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Novavax) to inoculate its population many times over. lead to expired vaccines ending up in neighbouring countries. doses in the next six months.

3. Rich countries can donate spare vaccines Rich countries can donate vaccines to poorer countries. France’s President Emmanuel Macron said richer countries should send up to 5% of their current vaccine supplies to poorer nations. There is little evidence other countries have followed France’s lead.

However, Russia and China have provided their own vaccines – Sputnik V and Sinopharm,

respectively – to a number of low-income countries in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.

What could Australia do?

Australia has agreements to purchase enough vaccines (Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Novavax) to inoculate its population many times over.

In addition to its pledge to COVAX, Australia could contribute to vaccine equity in our region in two ways.

First, once CSL ramps up domestic production of the AstraZeneca

vaccine, we could provide a portion of doses to our close neighbours, including Pacific nations and Indonesia.

Once the Therapeutic Goods Administration approves the Novavax vaccine, which is likely to occur by the middle of the year, we could share our order of 51 million doses with poor countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

These doses could be provided either free or at heavily discounted prices. Deliveries should be made directly from the manufacturer rather than sending “leftovers” from Australia, which could

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In a nutshell This is no time for short-sighted vaccine nationalism.

Encouragingly, Australia has signalled its intention to support the region.

But the projected two-year delay between vaccinating the world’s rich and the poor is both morally unacceptable and the biggest impediment to the world’s health and economic recovery. *Professor of International Health, Burnet Institute.

Source- The Conservation, March 1, 2021 (Under Creative Commons Licence)

South Asia Times

MARCH 2021

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COMMUNITY

South Asia Times

MARCH 2021

Melbourne’s West gears up for Intaj Khan’s ‘Mount Aliza Estate’ as Stage-2 works start

By SAT News Desk

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ELBOURNE, 19 February 2021: Stage-2 works commenced recently at the Mount Aliza Estate, 845-875 Mt Cottrell Rd, Thornhill Park, unique land development of West Melbourne’s region.

Located just 40 minutes from Melbourne’s Central Business District, Mount Aliza is a master-planned residential neighborhood offering an inspired lifestyle, with immediate access to a host of established facilities, including schools, shopping, library, community center, parks, playgrounds, and recreational facilities.

It has 83 lots on 5.1 hectares of active open space with Stage 1 (45 lots) and Stage 2 (38 lots). The expected settlement for Stage-1 is March 2021 and for Stage-2 is November 2021.

The man behind the Mount Aliza Estate and CEO at the Country Land Australia Limited Intaj Khan says, ” Mount Aliza is a unique Land Development of West Melbourne’s Region with a true family-friendly approach. Mount Aliza is going to become one of Melbourne’s most warm, engaging, successful, and family-friendly residential communities.

Located just 40 minutes from Melbourne’s Central Business District, this proposed residential neighborhood offers an inspired lifestyle, with immediate access to a host of established facilities, including schools, shopping, library, community center, parks, playgrounds, and recreational facilities.”

Mr. Khan a former Councillor at the Wyndham City Council and an educationist originates from Mewat, Rajasthan, India. He is very passionate

Intaj Khan poses at the intersection of Nagar St. & Rahul St & Stage-2 Photos- Supplied.

about this project and has infused nostalgia in the project by naming roads from Rajasthan towns and one road with the name of India’s Congress party and opposition leader Rahul Gandhi. This is probably the first time Rahul Gandhi’s name is being used for a public place in any country.

All the details and bookings about this development are available at – www.mountaliza.com.au Address- Level 5, 220 ALBERT ROAD, SOUTH MELBOURNE 3205 E-mail- project@ countrylandaustralia.com.au

Stage-1 Photo-Supplied.

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MARCH 2021

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MARCH 2021

Sangam Festival 2021‘Earth Matters Walking Tour: Interactive culture in action

By Neeraj Nanda

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ELBOURNE, 28 February 2021: It started with Drum Theatre, moved to Harmony Square, and then culminated at the Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre. An interactive cultural experience in Dandenong it was. A well-crafted presentation at the Drum Theatre – a combination tale of music, words, and dance started the exceptional experience, and then people walked to Harmony Square across the road, to be treated with dances and interactive dance-yoga and Bollywood dancing. Every step of yoga and later the musical Bollywood movements were good exercises and entertainment blended with the ambiance of an open sky.

From Harmony Square, a short walk to the beautiful space behind the Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre saw beautiful classical dances with tea and samosa.

Passerby’s probably wondered at the mesmerizing flow of music accompanying the dances. The three-stop walking cultural experience was a good effort to integrate South Asian performing arts with audience participation.

With support from the Victorian Government and Co-produced

by Multicultural Arts Victoria (MAV), the 2021 Sangam Festival is supported by Creative Victoria, Australia Council for the Arts, City of Melbourne, City of Greater Dandenong, and Yarra City Council.

Venue partners are Abbotsford Convent, The Drum Theatre, Dancehouse, and Bunjil Place are guided by Blakdance and supported by Ausdance Victoria, Peril Magazine, and SouthAsian Today.

Sangam is a platform for established and emerging South

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Asian-Australian artists to learn, create and showcase their art alongside globally renowned artists from the South Asian Diaspora. It’s based in Naarm/ Melbourne.

The Sangam team has Dr. Priya Srinivasan, performer/ choreographer/writer who lives and works in the lands of the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung people in Narrm/ Melbourne combining theory and practice to work towards social justice issues through art, Hari Srinivasan, composer, and multiinstrumentalist, Uthra Vijay, Artistic Director of Keerthana School of Music, Sunanda – Dada Desi Cocurator, Priya Pavri – Producer, Varsha Ramesh – Producer, Shweta Kawatra – Marketing and Communications Advisor, Shweta Kawatra – Marketing and Communications Advisor and Ruiqi Fu – Media Coordinator.

South Asia Times

MARCH 2021

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Manpreet Vohra India’s next High Commissioner to Australia

By Bula Devi

Shall miss #Mexico, but look forward to new frontiers and opportunities that await me in Canberra Flag of IndiaHandshakeFlag of Australia @HCICanberra @ AusHCIndia @dfat”.

Australia’s High Commissioner to India Barry O’Farrell tweeted, “Congratulations @ VohraManpreet on your appointment. Looking forward to working closely with you in advancing Flag of AustraliaFlag of India engagement under our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. @MEAIndia @ dfat”.

The senior diplomat’s appointment comes at a time when India-Australia

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EW DELHI, 2 March 2021: Manpreet Vohra has been appointed as India’s next High Commissioner to Australia, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Monday.

Vohra of the 1988 Indian Foreign Service batch is currently Ambassador to Mexico.

He is expected to take up the assignment shortly.

Vohra tweeted: “A great honour for me to be appointed High Commissioner to close friend and Comprehensive Strategic Partner #Australia.

ties are upbeat and there is an enhanced cooperation between the two countries especially in the Indo-Pacific region.

In June 2017, when Vohra was India’s ambassador to Afghanistan, a rocketpropelled grenade (RPG) had landed inside the India House, the country’s embassy in Kabul.

According to news reports quoting MEA sources, the Ambassador’s residential compound was suddenly hit by the explosive in the afternoon. However, there were no reports of any injury. Later, while condemning the incident Vohra said, “India will never be cowed down”.

NSW Police thwarts simmering tension in Sydney over India’s farmers’ protests

By SAT News Desk

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ELBOURNE, 16 February 2021: The months old farmers’ agitation in India over the new and contentious farm laws, has raised its head in Sydney, where Indian diaspora groups are at logger heads with polarised views supporting and opposing the farm laws.

Rallies by different groups with respective viewpoints have been held in Sydney and other Australian cities in recent months.

Simmering tensions within the Indian diaspora came to an ugly conclusion on 14 February 2021 when a ‘Tiranga Rally’ with many cars, some with religious slogan stickers, moving allegedly in the direction of the Sikh temple in Glenwood. It was diverted by the NSW Riot Squad a few kilometres away at the Sunny Holt Road, a report in the Indian Subcontinent Times (IST), Sydney says.

In a media release on 15 February 2021 the ‘Australian Sikh Association’ based in Glenwood, NSW “lauded the prompt police action in preventing any untoward incident. Yesterday, on the 14 February 2021, the vigilant action of the NSW Police foiled an attempt of some miscreants to provoke/disrupt the Sunday services attended by numerous worshippers. We were informed that police officers, accompanied by the riot squad helped stop a large convoy of vehicles heading towards the Gurdwara and took control of the roads leading to the sacred premises. It is alleged

that mobsters were proceeding towards Glenwood after a protest rally in Parramatta with the Indian national flag and shouting religious slogans.” (as reported in the IST report) SEE Australian Sikh Association media release below: A report by SBS Punjabi quotes a NSW police spokesperson telling that the organisers of a religious ceremony at Jones Park in Mays Hill had not submitted a Form 1 ‘Notice of Intention to Hold a Public Assembly’ within the seven-day timeframe.

“Cumberland Police Area Command allowed the gathering and motor vehicle procession to proceed, provided they comply with current COVID-19 requirements,” the police spokesperson said.

“There was approximately 300-400 people near the Sikh Temple at Glenwood and there were sufficient police resources in place if there was any breach of the peace,” the spokesperson said.

Mr. Prakash Mehta, President of the Hindu Council of Australia, condemned the actions of the car rally organisers saying “It is unimaginable that a Hindu group would do anything to disrupt the sanctity of any religious place. There has been a strong brotherhood between Hindus and Sikhs; we in Australia have marked Guru Nanak’s milestone birth anniversary recently. We condemn the recent incident if it is true that they set out

to disrespect the Gurdwara.

It is up to the Police now, and no one should take the law in their own hands.” (Indian Link, February 16, 2021) The report adds: “NSW Police confirmed that no arrests have been made, police did not search for weapons, and the car rally made its way

back to Harris Park. The police command centres in Blacktown, Quakers Hill, Cumberland, and Parramatta continue to assess the situation.”

The incidents in Sydney seem to be dividing the community as the issue of farmers’ stir has been viral on social media. Community

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members have been taking differing positions and at times religious connotations arise.

People who talked to us do not want to be named but feel concerned at divisions based on religion. The NSW police needs to be commended for its alertness and actions averting a possible ugly situation.

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South Asia Times

MARCH 2021

Neha Kolape honoured with "2021 Lalor Women of the year Award"

By SAT Community reporter

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ELBOURNE, 9 March 2021: Neha Kolape has been honoured with the prestigious "2021 Lalor Women of the year Award". Lalor located in the south-western suburbs of Melbourne, includes the south-western hub of Werribee as well as the suburbs of Hoppers Crossing, Traneit, Truganina, Wyndham Vale and part of Point Cook. The award was awarded to her by Joanne Ryam MP, Federal Member for Lalor, as part of the International Women’s Day 2021.

Joanne Ryan said,

“Celebrating some brilliant local women today ahead of International Women’s Day. Neha Kolape won the community award for her work with local organisations and events, as well as her work in the prevention of family & domestic violence.

Other recipients are Michele Abbott of Truganina Fire Brigade for her work educating the community on fire safety, Sam Johnson won the Business Award for her work running local early education and child care centres and Jo Lally took out the Arts award for her service to the local music scene.”

Neha has been active in the community for

many years with many achievements and awards to her credit.

This includes the Lalor Hero award – 2019, Women of Wyndham Champion Award – 2019, the International Private Education Alliance Ltd Business Excellence Award (by the hands of the Hon. Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews) – 2016, among others.

The year 2020 was a tough one because of the pandemic. Despite many challenges Neha delivered Lalor’s largest event of year 2020, a Wyndham Holi 2020. It was a successful event and many locals got business opportunities withy it.

Her other event, Ganesh Festival, was cancelled in September due to COVID. However, she arranged online offerings and other rituals to many devotees. She also ran a campaign for the free mask boxes distribution.

Neha is also a RAC (Regional Advisory Council) member of the VMC and attended many online meetings with VMC commissioners addressing COVID issues and safety measures.

Last year, she also took the responsibility for a new organisation called MOA (Maharashtra Organisation Australia) as a head of Women wing. She arranged a recognition program for 30 community people who worked hard during the COVID-19. The event was held in Mulgrave and 6 people from Lalor were recognised in the event with a community awards.

Community contact was important for many families so with the other members of the MOA committee she arranged a 5 hours tour on Cruise for around 150 people at a low cost. Event was organised from Docklands on Sunday 13th December.

In the pandemic, her organisations supported some students in the form of financial aid, supply of groceries and distribution of free mask boxes.

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south asia MARCH 2021

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Pak SC commutes sentence of mentally-ill death row convicts in landmark verdict From voicepak.net staff reporter

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AHORE, 10 February 2021: The Supreme Court passed a landmark verdict on the cases of mentallyill prisoners on death row and commuted the sentences of two inmates with severe schizophrenia while directing prison officials to file a fresh mercy petition for a third death row inmate.

The apex court has also set guidelines for federal and provincial authorities to establish mental health facilities and amend Prison Rules among other recommendations.

“The mental health of a person is as important and significant as his physical health,” said Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik in his opening remarks, for the judgment by a five-member larger bench. “Unfortunately, it is often not given the importance and seriousness it deserves. Because of certain misconceptions, the implications of mental illnesses are overlooked, and the vulnerability or disability that it causes is not given due attention.”

The bench, comprising Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, announced the verdict while hearing the cases of Kanizan Bibi, Imdad Ali, and Ghulam Abbas who all suffer from schizophrenia, and have spent 30, 19 and 15 years on death row, respectively.

No execution In its judgment, the apex court clearly declared on Wednesday, that death row prisoners should not be executed. If they are found to be suffering from any mental illness and thus, unable to comprehend the rationale behind their execution. Setting parameters for future cases, the federal government, and each provincial government have been directed to constitute a medical board consisting of three qualified psychiatrists and two psychologists to determine the mental health of such condemned prisoners and evaluate if they qualify for an exemption to the death penalty.

‘After considering the material discussed hereinabove, we hold that if a condemned prisoner, due to mental illness, is found to be unable to comprehend the rationale and reason behind his/

her punishment, then carrying out the death sentence will not meet the ends of justice,’ the verdict reads.

Terms “unsoundness of mind” and “lunatic” replaced The bench has also directed that the terms “unsoundness of mind” and “lunatic” should be replaced, wherever they occur in the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and the Prison Rules, and instead use sensitized and updated language such as “mental illness” or “mental disorder.”

Key recommendations The Supreme Court directed the federal government and all provincial governments to immediately make necessary amendments to relevant laws and rules for mentally-ill prisoners, adding that Prison Rules should be appropriately amended in this regard. The court ordered that the federal government and all provincial governments establish High-Security Forensic Mental Health Facilities in teaching and training institutions of mental health The apex court instructed that the federal govt and all provincial governments should immediately constitute a Medical Board, comprising qualified psychiatrists and psychologists, for the examination of all those on death row who are mentally ill. Similarly, the federal government and all provincial governments should immediately constitute a medical board, comprising qualified psychiatrists and psychologists, for examination and rehabilitation of mentally ill prisoners (under trial or convicted) referred by trial courts or jail authorities.

The Supreme Court told the federal govt and all provincial governments to immediately launch training programs and courses on forensic mental health assessment. Besides, the Federal Judicial Academy and Provincial Academies should arrange courses for trial court judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and court staff on mental illness.

A historic judgment “This is a historic judgment that validates our decade-long struggle, to get the courts to recognize mental illness as a mitigating circumstance against the imposition of the death penalty,” says Sarah Belal, the Executive Director of Justice

Project Pakistan (JPP). “We are grateful to all the honorable judges on the bench for affirming the rights of the most vulnerable prisoners through explicit recognition of domestic safeguards and international human rights principles.”

“Those who believe that the death penalty works as a form of retributive justice must understand that no justice can take place when executing a person who does not understand the gravity of their situation,” said Ali Haider Habib, JPP spokesperson. “For Pakistan’s highest court to formalize this concept, sets a historic precedent, and removes the government from its involvement in this travesty in the name of justice – and its a most important step,” he added.

Who are Kanizan Bibi,Imdad Ali and Ghulam Abbas?

According to Jugnoo Kazmi of JPP, the petitions before the SC in connection to the four death row prisoners – Imdad Ali, Kanizan Bibi, Ghulam Abbas, and Khizar Hayat – were all suffering from prolonged mental illnesses. Khizar Hayat passed away in prison after spending 16 years on death row.

Kanizan Bibi suffered from severe schizophrenia and had spent 30 years in prison. She was arrested in 1989 as a juvenile, according to information provided

by JPP, and was sentenced to death in 1991 as an accomplice in the murder of six individuals.

She had always maintained her innocence. In 2006, she was shifted from Lahore Central Jail (Kot Lakhpat) to Punjab Institute of Mental Health (PIMH) where she is currently being treated for her mental illness. During the course of her incarceration, her medical condition has deteriorated to such an extent that she has not spoken a word in eight years.

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Imdad Ali also suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

His medical evaluations in September and October 2016 found him to be actively suffering from psychotic symptoms while a prison psychiatrist deemed him “a treatment-resistant case”.

Sentenced to death in 2002 over a shooting, Imdad has spent nearly 20 years on death row, with four years in solitary confinement in the jail hospital.

His condition has only continued to worsen.

Ghulam Abbas, 37, was arrested in September 2004 for fatally stabbing his neighbor in Haji Lal Din area of Rawalpindi, over a dispute over the payment of the electricity bill.

He was sentenced to death by a Sessions Court in May 2006.

His subsequent High Court and Supreme Court appeals were dismissed in 2010 and 2016, respectively. In 2018, an SC review petition was also dismissed.

Ghulam’s mercy petition was eventually rejected by President Arif Alvi on April 22, 2019.

According to his medical records, he has been receiving treatment for psychiatric problems by the jail since the past year and was prescribed Risperidone, a powerful antipsychotic drug.

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MARCH 2021

6,750 migrant workers’ deaths in Qatar in last 10 years, report finds Migrant workers in Qatar face systematic abuse and labor rights violations, issues which have gone unaddressed by the government despite repeated appeals by human rights groups and labor organizations

By Peoples Dispatch

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new report compiled

by British newspaper The Guardian has revealed that as many as 6,750 migrant workers died in the Gulf state of Qatar in the ten-year period from 2010 to 2020, Middle East Eye reported on Tuesday, February 23. The workers were predominantly from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The report states that an average of 12 workers have died every week since December 2010 when Qatar won the rights to host the Football World Cup 2022, resulting in a massive construction and development initiative led by the Qatari government.

This created the need to hire millions of migrant workers from several Asian and African countries, including some countries not included in the report.

The report relies primarily on official government data and states that 5,927 migrant workers from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal have died in Qatar in the last decade, with Pakistan accounting for 824 workers’ deaths. Deaths from the final months of last year have not been included in this report, The Guardian clarified, adding that the final death toll will

likely be significantly higher as the report does not include records from other Asian and African countries such as the Philippines and Kenya.

International human rights organizations and labor rights groups have repeatedly expressed concern while highlighting the mistreatment and abuse that migrant workers face in Qatar. There have been demands for the Qatari government to introduce reforms to improve the workers’ living conditions, ensure their physical well

being and safety at work, and for prosecuting and penalizing individuals and entities that violate workers’ rights.

Under to the controversial Qatari Kafala system, workers were treated as virtual bonded laborers of their respective owners/bosses. The Kafala system was universally condemned, which led to the government abolishing it in September 2020. However, the government still has a long way to go to make any substantial changes or improvements in other issues

related to workers’ rights, such as extremely low wages, long work shifts, delays in payment, and unsafe work conditions.

The report details how the Qatari government has been opaque when it comes to the recording of workers’ deaths.

An unusually high number of workers’ deaths have been attributed to ‘natural causes,’ almost 80% in case of Indians (of a total 2,711 workers’ deaths). For India, Nepal and Sri Lanka combined, this figure stands at 69%. Among the other reasons cited in the records are deaths from multiple blunt injuries due to falling from a height, asphyxia due to hanging, and undetermined cause of death due to decomposition.

The report adds that the cause of death is often determined without an autopsy being conducted.

Thus, a medically valid and legitimate explanation for the underlying cause of death is seldom given.

The International Labour Organization and several human rights groups have in the past claimed that many of these deaths could be a result of extreme heat stress which the workers experience while working long hours’ outdoors. Qatar experiences excruciating hot climate during the summer months when temperatures can reach as high as 50 degrees Celsius.

Criticizing the Qatari government, Amnesty International’s Mary Romanos said in a statement, “there is a real lack of clarity and

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Under to the controversial Qatari Kafala system, workers were treated as virtual bonded laborers of their respective owners/bosses.

The Kafala system was universally condemned, which led to the government abolishing it in September 2020. transparency surrounding these deaths. There is a need for Qatar to strengthen its occupational health and safety standards.”

Hiba Zayadin from the Human Rights Watch also accused Qatar of “dragging its feet on this urgent and critical issue in apparent disregard for workers’ lives,” adding that “we have called on Qatar to amend its law on autopsies to require forensic investigations into all sudden or unexplained deaths, and pass legislation to require that all death certificates include reference to a medically meaningful cause of death.”

A report compiled by lawyers from the Qatari government also found various inaccuracies in the records of workers’ deaths and recommended that a study be commissioned to investigate the deaths, especially in cases of death after sudden cardiac arrest.

It advised the government to amend the law to “allow for autopsies … in all cases of unexpected or sudden death.”

The Guardian report states that no action has been taken on either of the two recommendations by the government till date.

—February 24, 2021.

SOCIETY

MARCH 2021

South Asia Times

13

What is fascism?

By John Brolch*

S

ince before Donald Trump took office, historians have debated whether he is a fascist.

As a teacher of World War II history who has written about fascism, I’ve found that historians have a consensus definition of the term, broadly speaking.

Given the term’s current – and sometimes erroneous – use, I think it’s important to distinguish what fascism is and is not.

Race-first thinking Fascism, now a century old, got its start with Benito Mussolini and his Italian allies. They named their movement after an ancient Roman emblem, the fasces, an ax whose handle has been tightly reinforced with many rods, symbolizing the power of unity around one leader.

Fascism means more than dictatorship, however.

It’s distinct from simple authoritarianism – an antidemocratic government by a strongman or small elite – and “Stalinism” – authoritarianism with a dominant bureaucracy and economic control, named after the former Soviet leader. The same goes for “anarchism,” the belief in a society organized without an overarching state.

Above all, fascists view nearly everything through the lens of race. They’re committed not just to race supremacy, but maintaining what they called “racial hygiene,” meaning the purity of their race and the separation of what they view as lower ones.

That means they must define who is a member of their nation’s legitimate race. They must invent a “true” race.

Many are familiar with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime’s so-called Aryan race, which had no biological or historical reality. The Nazis had to forge a mythic past and legendary people. Including some in the “true race” means excluding others.

Capitalism is good For fascists, capitalism is good. It appeals to their admiration of “the survival of the fittest,” a phrase coined by social Darwinist Herbert Spencer, so long as companies serve the needs of the fascist leadership and the “Volk,” or people.

In exchange for protecting

Many are familiar with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime’s socalled Aryan race, which had no biological or historical reality. The Nazis had to forge a mythic past and legendary people. Including some in the “true race” means excluding others.

private property, fascists demand capitalists act as cronies.

If, for example, a company is successfully producing weapons for foreign or domestic wars – good. But if a company is enriching nonloyal people, or making money for the imagined subrace, the fascists will step in and hand it to someone deemed loyal.

If the economy is poor, the fascist will divert attention from shortages to plans for patriotic glory or for vengeance against internal or external enemies.

broadly attacked from the pulpit.

Fascists also reject democracy, at least any democracy that could potentially result in socialism or too much liberalism. In a democracy, voters can choose social welfare policies. They can level the playing field between classes and ethnicities, or seek gender equality.

Fascists oppose all of these efforts.

Might makes right Important to most fascists is the idea that the nation’s “patriots” have been let down, that “good people” are humiliated while “bad people” do better.

These grievances cannot be answered, fascists say, if things remain under the status quo. There needs to be revolutionary change allowing the “real people” to break free from the restraints of democracy or existing law and get even.

For fascists, might makes right.

Since for them the law should be subservient to the needs of the people and the need to crush socialism or liberalism, fascists encourage party militias.

These enforce the fascist will, break unions, distort elections and intimidate or co-opt the police.

The historical fascists of Germany and Mussolini’s Italy extended the mightmakes-right principle to expansion abroad, though

Fascism grows from nationalism

the British fascists of the 1930s, led by Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists, preferred isolationism and preached a sort of internal war against an imagined Jewish enemy of the state.

What fascists reject First and foremost, fascists want to revolt against socialism. That’s because it threatens the crony capitalism that fascists embrace.

Not only does socialism aim for equal prosperity no

matter the race, but many socialists tend to envision the eventual extinction of separate nations, which offends the strong fascist belief in nation states.

Along with getting rid of aristocrats or other elites, fascists are prepared to displace the church or seek a mutually beneficial truce with it.

Mussolini, Hitler and the Falangists in Spain learned that they had to live with, not replace, the church in their countries – as long as their regimes weren’t

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Fascism is the logical extreme of nationalism, the roughly 250-year-old idea that nation states should be built around races or historical peoples.

The first fascists didn’t invent these ideas out of nothing – they just pushed nationalism further than anyone had before. For the fascist, it’s not just that a nation state makes “the people” sovereign. It’s that the will of righteous, real people – and its leader – comes before all other considerations, including facts.

Indeed, the will, the people, their leader and the facts are all one in fascism. *Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University Source- The Conversation, 26 February 2021 (Under Creative Commons Licence)

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South Asia Times

SPECIAL ARTICLE

MARCH 2021

Liberalisation of agriculture: Lessons from developed and developing countries

The experiences of agricultural liberalisation and its impact on small farmers from both developed and developing countries show that the concerns raised by Indian farmers protesting against farm laws are neither unfounded nor unprecedented.

By Shinzani Jain

I

t has now been three months since farmers and agricultural workers from various Indian states have been agitating at the borders of Delhi demanding that the three farm laws be repealed. The farmers have argued that the implementation of these laws will result in falling prices for their agricultural produce, increased costs of cultivation and increased indebtedness.

They fear that this economic situation will force them into selling their lands.

They also argue that the new laws will eventually lead to the dismantling of the public procurement system (under which the government procures from farmers at a pre-decided Minimum Support Price (MSP)), which is intrinsically connected with the public distribution system, ensuring food security and food sovereignty in the country.

They fear that the entry and subsequent dominance of large agri-businesses and corporations over the agricultural sector will convert them into wage labourers on their own land.

This dominance by giant corporations, it has been argued, will lead to a further marginalisation of small and marginal farmers, inevitably also affecting the livelihood of agricultural labourers.

Despite this historic resistance by the farming community, the central government continues to defend farm laws as a much needed reform in the agricultural sector, that will benefit the farmers in the long run. In one of his addresses to the nation over his radio show Mann ki Baat, PM Modi said, “Parliament has recently passed farm reform laws after rigorous brainstorming.

These reforms have not only broken shackles of farmers but have also given new rights and opportunities to them.”

Taking the defence of farm laws ahead a few days ago, he asserted that the reforms will benefit small and marginal farmers and exhorted farmers to give these laws a chance.

Liberalisation of agriculture through legislations such as the farm laws introduced by

the Indian government has been tried and tested in other parts of the world and there is much to learn from these experiences.

Extending solidarity to the struggle of Indian farmers, 87 farmers’ unions from US argued that what the Indian farmers are enduring now had happened in the US almost four decades ago. The Reagan administration enforced deregulatory policies and eroded parity prices (the equivalent of MSP in the US).

These policies have disproportionately benefited large farmers with the means to consolidate for growing monoculture commodity crops like corn or soy.

Traditional producers and small farmers find it hard to survive with their meagre agricultural incomes and end up supplementing it with other sources of income. The suicide rates in rural America are 45% higher than in urban areas.

Similar efforts were undertaken in the UK to ensure a shift of population from the agriculture to industry. As a result, between 19th century and now, the rural population in UK has reduced from 65.2% to 17%.

Agricultural landholdings have reduced from 4.5 lakh to 2.17 lakh while the population has doubled from 3.1 crore to 6.6 crore. While the top four supermarkets provide for 70% of groceries in UK, farmers only get 8% of the total money spent on food.

Even the subsidies provided to farmers have been reduced substantially making farming economically unviable for them.

In the developing world, agricultural market liberalisation measures were

introduced in many parts of Latin America, South Asia and Africa along with the structural adjustment programmes in the 1980s and 90s. In the 1980s, most African governments initiated agricultural market liberalisation programmes to: 1) eliminate government control over input and output pricing and distribution and; 2) eliminate regulatory controls over input and output marketing.

A research sponsored

by UK Department for International Development reveals that agricultural liberalisation in sub-Saharan Africa has failed the people of Africa and its outcomes have been disappointing. While the reforms have yielded benefits to producers and consumers of selective crops, it has failed to deliver the benefits that had been promised for the producers of food crops and poorer farmers from rural areas. The report also argues that the reforms have not delivered the ‘broad-based agricultural transformation needed as a base for wider poverty reducing growth.’

Kenya, over 20 legislations were repealed to encourage the participation of agribusinesses in crop markets. A recent research from the London School of Economics shows that these legislative changes led to an increase in profits made by agri-businesses but at the same times resulted in a fall in the incomes of the farmers selling to agri-businesses by an average of 6%. The overall market share of agribusinesses as buyers of farmproduce almost doubled, reaching 38% by 2010 and their profit margins rose by 5%.

The farmers that had begun to sell their crops to agri-businesses stopped selling to it them in a matter of few years. A monopsonistic situation had been created where the farmers found themselves facing bigger and fewer buyers in crop markets. The research further highlights that the farmers selling to agribusinesses are often large farmers having higher incomes, while the incomes of small farmers witness a decline.

Reports from Ghana reveal that the policy of import liberalisation has resulted in small farmers being displaced from their own domestic market as a result of intense competition from import of rice, tomato, and poultry.

This has resulted in a decline of the production of the three crops and the share of local products in national consumption.

Further, the competition arising from these imports has been unfair in many cases as the imports from developed countries are heavily subsidised and their prices are artificially cheapened. On the other hand, small farmers in developing countries do not receive heavy subsidies.

Even the assistance provided by the governments in the developing world has been substantially reduced as a result of structural adjustment policies crafted and influenced by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Heavily subsidised imports from the developed countries have further marginalised the local Ghanaian farmers who receive little state support.

Liberalisation of agriculture markets has further meant that governments in several regions in Africa have shifted their priority away from food crops to export crops or cash crops. More land resources started to be devoted to export crops and less to domestic food production.

In Benin, the government incentives led to an increase in land under cultivation of cotton for exports. Evidence from Uganda points to an emphasis on export of both traditional and nontraditional cash crops and a decline in production

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of food crops consumed locally. The experience of African states that have implemented reforms to liberalise agriculture can be summed up in the words of the former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, Herzon Nyangito as "liberalised trade, including WTO trade agreements, benefits only the rich while the majority of the poor do not benefit but are instead made more vulnerable to food insecurity."

Finally, an important development in Africa after liberalisation of agriculture has been direct or indirect privatisation of African communal lands. Large tracts of land in Africa, previously occupied by its poor indigenous population is being purchased or taken on lease by foreign nations, companies or individuals for agricultural production.

Target countries include Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Somalia and Sudan. Between 2004 and 2009 alone, at least 2.5 million hectares of land were transferred. Some of the biggest investors acquiring land in Africa include Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi.

The experiences of agricultural liberalisation and its impact on small farmers from both developed and developing countries show that the concerns raised by Indian farmers protesting against farm laws are neither unfounded nor unprecedented.

The extension of solidarity of farmers’ and workers’ organisations from different corners of the world to the ongoing farmers’ movement in India also proves that the model of agrarian development championed and propagated by the developed world needs to be sincerely investigated before being adopted as a wholesale package by developing countries like India.

Source- newsclick.in, 28 Feb 2021 (The writer is an author and a research associate with NewsClick. The views are personal.)

MYSTERY

MARCH 2021

South Asia Times

15

The Mystery of the Skeleton Lake in Uttarakhand Situated at a height of 16,500 feet above sea level, the Roopkund Lake is infamous for hundreds of skeletons lying beneath the ice in the lake.

By Sandipan Taludkar

A

lake in India’s Himalayan state of Uttarakhand once again finds itself a subject of discussion due to the mystery surrounding it.

Situated at a height of 16,500 feet above sea level, the ‘Roopkund Lake’ is infamous for skeletons lying beneath the ice in the lake. The skeletons were first reported by a patrolling forest official during the colonial period, back in 1942.

Till date the skeletal remains are said to be of between 600-800 people. But, for over half a century now, anthropologists and scientists have been left deeply puzzled by the skeletons, with some unanswered questions.

Who were the people found buried beneath the ice? How exactly did they die and when? Where did the people come from and why did they come to such a remote place?

These are questions that have been bewildering scientists for long.

There are several theories and myths about the whereabouts of the skeletons.

One of the theories which has been around for long says that the remains belonged to an Indian king and his wife, children and attendants who perished in a severe hailstorm some 870 years ago.

Another says the remains belonged to soldiers who tried to invade Tibet back in

1841 and were killed in the process while another says they are remains of those who died in an epidemic and were buried there.

However, studies have attempted to decipher what exactly the mystery is about.

Earlier studies said that most of those buried there were middle-aged adults with an average age of 35 to 40 years. All of the people

were estimated to be of good health and there were no babies or children.

However, more recent studies have hinted towards something else. A Nature publication last year which reportedly came about following a five-year study involving 28 researchers from 16 institutions from India, the US and Germany hinted that none of the previous theories were true.

Scientists analysed the genetic basis of the skeletons and also resorted to carbon dating. Among 38 bodies, which includes 15 women, found at the lake, it was found that some of them were 1,200 years old.

The researchers found that the people were genetically diverse and interestingly, their deaths could have been separated by as much as 1000 years. Eadaoin Harney, the lead author of the research was told the BBC: “It upends any explanations that involved a single catastrophic event that lead to their deaths. It is still not clear

what happened at Roopkund Lake, but we can now be certain that the deaths of these individuals cannot be explained by a single event.”

The genetic analysis also revealed something even more interesting — the dead people were of diverse genetic backgrounds, with some belonging to the present-day South Asian population while others had a Mediterranean origin. Also, the South Asian population did not seem to have come from a single population.

The research gives rise to new questions. Why did people from different places travel to the lake over a period of some hundred years? The area also did not come in the way of trade or arms or a weapons route. What then caused the migrations of different people over hundreds of years?

These are the questions that scientists are still finding answers to.

Source- newsclick.in, 2 March 2021.

A new cookbook from India’s favourite daughter in law....

By Sandipan Taludkar

M

ELBOURNE – 25th February 2021 - International Chef, Sarah Todd is one of Australia’s most celebrated food exports in India. Over the past six years she has been affectionately known as ‘India’s daughter in law’ and has enjoyed meteoric success as a result of her legions of dedicated fans and her highly successful restaurants, which are well- attended

by Bollywood’s elite and visiting celebrities. In 2020 Sarah returned to Australian shores and is about to release a brandnew cookbook, which combines beautiful Indian flavours with her classic French techniques - and the result is a collection of recipes which are simple and inspiring, but accessible for everyone.

My Indian Kitchen takes you beyond the wellknown Indian favourites and showcases some of India’s foods that are less known such as its light and refreshing street food delicacies. In her signature style of simple elegance, these modern and diverse recipes tell Sarah’s own Indian story and represent her special connection to her adopted second home.

Sarah says, “My experiences across India have completely changed my perception of Indian cuisine. The dishes we know of here in Australia as “Indian” food such as butter chicken or dhal makhani are quite heavy and eaten a maximum of once a month if not less.

They are celebration dishes. What I came across was the diversity and wholesomeness to everyday food eaten in the home. These dishes, www.southasiatimes.com.au - 0421 677 082

although not authentic, are a great representation of how fresh and light Indian cuisine can be. “ Sarah Todd has risen to the top of the culinary world since her first appearance on MasterChef Australia in 2014.

Sarah’s classical skills honed skills from Le Cordon Bleu, combined with her extensive travels and experience cooking in India have influenced her unique cooking style.

Sarah is now and demand is an international chef, restauranteur, TV host, speaker, and an entrepreneur. Sarah is currently appearing on national television screens as one of the co- hosts of Network Ten cooking show, Farm to Fork.

My Indian Kitchen is currently available via www.penguin.com.au.

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South Asia Times

book review

MARCH 2021

Beyond Dharma Beyond Dharma – Dissent in the Ancient Sciences of Sex and Politics; Author: Wendy Doniger; Publisher: Speaking Tiger Books, 2020.

By Bhaskar Parichha

W

hen one of the world’s most acclaimed and charming scholars of Hinduism presents a trailblazing interpretation of ancient Indian texts and their historic influence on subversive resistance, the book ought to be of more than ordinary interest.

Eminent Indologist Wendy Doniger’s book was published by Yale University Press earlier under a slightly different title. It has now been republished in India by Speaking Tiger Books, thus widening the scope of readership.

Their blurb on the book reads: “Ancient Hindu texts speak of the three aims of human life: Dharma, Artha and Kama. Translated, these might be called religion, politics and pleasure, and each is held to be an essential requirement of a full and fulfilling life.

Balance among the three is a goal not always met, however, and dharma

has historically taken precedence over the other two qualities, or goals, in Hindu life.”

Doniger is the author of several acclaimed and bestselling works, among them, The Ring of Truth: Myths of Sex and Jewelry; Hindu Myths; On Hinduism; Siva, the Erotic Ascetic; Dreams, Illusion and Other Realities and Reading the Kamasutra.

She is the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago and has also taught at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and the University of California, Berkeley.

Then, she has also been a controversial historian. Her earlier book The Hindus: An Alternative History was banned in 2009 because of some disruptive exemplifications of Hindu gods.

In the present book, she offers a spirited and close reading of two ancient Indian writings— Kautilya’s Arthashastra

and Vatsyayana’s Kama Sutra. She argues that scientific disciplines have offered animated and continuous criticism of dharma over many centuries. While she chronicles the tradition of veiled subversion, she uncovers connections — to voices of dissent all the way through Indian history.

The book offers deeper insights into the Indian theocracy’s subversion of science by a limited version of religion these days. In the preface she contends: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attempts to replace genuine science with ludicrous religious science debases not only the work of real scientists working in India today but a strong ancient tradition of scientific opposition to religious dogma, a tradition that we can see at work in the two great texts.”

The Hindu belief system has always encouraged deliberations, debates and questioning of not only one’s beliefs but

also, of all the ancient Indian texts — whether they are religious or impious. Consequently, Doniger’s book offers to the readers an occasion to deliberate on Indian texts in the modern day context.

The book with its exemplary research is insightful and also somewhat controversial as it attempts to define the elusive word dharma and its overall place in human life. It is not just about the philosophical aspect of dharma, rather it draws parallel between Kautilya’s Arthashastra and Vatsyayana’s Kama Sutra and how both oppose what is mentioned in the Dharmashastras.

The book picks up popular terminologies from Hinduism, such as moksha (freedom from the cycle of birth) and provides different views of the word when mentioned in Arthashastra and Kama Sutra.

While talking about Hinduism and dharma, it is impossible to not talk about Manu. Doniger

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argues, “There are many other dharma texts, with significantly different ideas on many of the subjects that concern us here; some are older, some later than Manu…

But Manu’s text remains the gold standard that later texts either accepted or rebelled against, and it provides a base against which we may measure the other two texts that are our main concern.”

Doniger makes some interesting observations that exists in the two ancient texts. For instance, in the section ‘Spying and Seducing’, the author brings out exhilarating facts. “The paranoid psychology of the political text casts its shadow over the erotic text. Eternal vigilance is the price of tyranny — but also the price of adultery.”

Divided into eight chapters, the book pronounces, “As not only Protestants but Victorian Protestants, the British rejected as filthy paganism the sensuous strain of Hinduism, both the world of kama and much of Hindu theological dharma, with what they saw as kitschy images of gods with far too many arms. It reminded them of Catholicism.”

In the epilogue, Doniger brings forth the colonial impact on these texts. She says, after the British colonized India in the eighteenth century only a sanitized version of the Kamashastra arrived.

As a whole, Doniger’s book must be read with panache. Even though it is a well–researched book with a liberal outlook, her point of view would surely give rise to opposing discourses.

Bhaskar Parichha is a journalist and author of No Strings Attached: Writings on Odisha and Biju Patnaik – A Political Biography. He lives in Bhubaneswar and writes bilingually. Besides writing for newspapers, he also reviews books on various media platforms.

Originally published in Borderless Journal Source- countercurrents. org, 25 Februarey 2021.

cinema

MARCH 2021

South Asia Times

19

The Girl On The Train Ribhu Dasgupta’s The Girl On The Train, based upon the popular novel of the same name by Paula Hawkins and the Hollywood film based thereon, is a straightforward mystery-thriller that depends on its hurried pacing and places a heavy emphasis on simply jumping from clue to clue and event to event rather than spending more time to explore and flesh out its characters. Streaming on Netflix, the narrative of the film lingers highly superficially atop its surface without any sort of probing beneath. What results, therefore, is a film that derails pretty quickly and is highly disappointing on most counts.

By Dipankar Sarkar

T

he Girl On The Train begins at night as an ominous soundtrack leads us into the Greenwich jungle where Nusrat John (Aditi Rao Hydari) is chased by a hooded assailant. As the frightened soul runs for her life, she stumbles and her phone drops in the woods.

Finally, she hides behind the trunk of the tree, only to be discovered by the attacker later. Immediately on cue, we cut to the High Road Station where our protagonist Mira Kapoor (Parineeti Chopra) is standing alone on the platform thereby setting us up for a connection between these two women in the narrative to follow.

Mira’s face is bruised and she is feeling woozy.

Through a flashback, it is revealed that she is a lawyer in London, who is threatened from fighting a court case against a pub owner of Indian origin, Jimmy Bagga (Krishan Tandon), charged with murder. Her courageous fighting of the case in court gets Jimmy sentenced. But she had to pay a heavy price for sticking to her guns as she loses her unborn child in a car crash and becomes an alcoholic and an amnesiac. This jeopardizes her married life too. Even as she tries to take control of her shattered life, in her daily commute; her train passes her old house where she and her husband stayed happily once. But now another couple, Anand (Shamaun Ahmed) and Nusrat, have occupied the space and Mira watches them every day and envisages them to be a happy and blissful couple.

But one day an unfortunate event occurs and the viewers are made to believe that our protagonist is culpable. A police officer, Dalbir Kaur (Kirti Kulhari), takes up the case and the hunt for the culprit begins…

The writing and treatment for what could have been an edge-ofthe-seat psychological thriller are woeful. When

we see Mira, we see her down and out. Yet a voiceover narration is forced upon us to make sure we understand what is going on with her and we empathize with her. When we can see and feel, why spoon-feed us to a podcast?

To make matters worse, her character arc is so weakly sketched that all the suffering and the obstacles that Mira encounters do not seem organic at all. Even the police investigation that happens throughout the film is amateurishly handled. The key scenes largely offer no surprises and as the film approaches its climax and Mira pieces together the dots, the so-called astonishing facts leave us dumfounded, not by the brilliance of the twists but by the sheer incredible and witless reasonings for them. It leaves you truly gobsmacked.

Even the performances can’t save the truly dreadful screenplay. No doubt, Parineeti Chopra has tried her best to bring the character of Mira Kapoor to life and Aditi Rao Hydari as the tormented woman also tries to draw much empathy from the viewers. But they are well and truly defeated by the material. Kirti Kulhari as the investigating cop manages to add some flesh and blood to her role while Tota Roy Chowdhury in his brief screen presence as a Psychiatrist does a convincing job. However, the major disappointment

comes from Avinash Tiwary as Mira’s husband, Shekhar.

Though his character has its moments and different shades, he fails to bring them out convincingly.

If one person rises above the script, it is cinematographer Tribuvan Babu Sadineni. The film is beautifully framed and shot

in palettes soaked with super-saturated colours.

In spite of the superficial characterisations, few of the close-ups do elicit psychological reactions.

But even he can salvage the film only up to a point.

The other technicalities so their bit in letting the film down further. The

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editing is unable to create a suitable rhythm and pace to heighten the narrative’s dramatic impact while maintaining its tension and suspense, a must for any thriller. The production design functions mostly in making the film appear dazzling rather than in the service of the story. Most of the touristy locations in London are incorporated within the film to no relevance to the story. And to make matters worse, the background score by Gilad Benamram has been used ever so extensively to make sure we ‘feel’ the moods and emotions of the characters and the story instead of giving us some silence and introspection.

Overall, The Girl on the Train is a thriller that vastly undermines the potential of its source material. It has little to offer and is to be watched by the viewer at his or her own risk only.

Source-upperstall.com

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South Asia Times

MARCH 2021

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