SAT - May 2019

SAT

southSouth asia times 1 Asia Times

CELEBRATiNG 16TH YEAR OF PUBLICATION

MAY 2019

South Asia Times Vol.16 I No. 10 I MAY 2019 I FREE

READ INSIDE COMMUNITY -

PG 06

SOUTH ASIA -

PG16

MUSINGS -

Ask about our Bonus Movie Ticket offer!

PG 24

HINDI PUSHP-

PGS 30-31

BUSINESS -

PG 25

SPORTS-

PG 34

The future is exciting.

Ready?

s o u t hasiatim es.com .au Editor: Neeraj Nanda

I

Ph: (03) 98848096 M: 0421 677 082

I

Add: PO Box 465, Brentford Square, Victoria 3131

Scott Morrison hails ‘miracle’ as Coalition snatches unexpected victory Read on page 2

859 High Street, Thornbury 3071 Ph.: +613 9484 8787 Email: info@acot.vic.edu.au Call Aakash on - 0403 647 704 aakash@acot.vic.edu.au 859Email High-Street, Thornbury 3071 Website - www.acot.vic.edu.au

FLY INDIA

699

FROM AUD *

Subject to availability - T & C apply

*

RTO: 21983 CRICOS: 03082B Australian College of Trade Pty Ltd Trading as Australian College of Trade.

ABN: 31 126 145 686

Courses Available aCertificate III in Commercial Cookery aCertificate IV in Commercial Cookery aCertificate III in Hospitality aCertificate IV in Hospitality aDiploma of Hospitality Management aAdvanced Diploma of Hospitality Management aCertificate IV in Leadership and Management

40 KG BAGGAGE

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

aDiploma of Leadership & Management aCertificate IV in Bookkeeping aCertificate III in Financial Services aCertificate IV in Accounting aDiploma of Accounting aCertificate II in Security Operations aCertificate III in Security Operations

south asia 2 South Asia Timestimes FEDERAL ELECTION - 2019

SAT

South Asia Times

PUBLISHER/EDITOR Neeraj Nanda M: 0421 677 082 satimes@gmail.com

EDITOR (Hindi Pushp) Mridula Kakkar kakkar@optusnet.com.au

SAT NEWS BUREAU/Australia (Melbourne) Neeraj Nanda satimes@gmail.com

SAT NEWS BUREAU/South Asia (New Delhi, India) RAJIV SHARMA rajeev.anchor@gmail.com

SAT ADVERTISING (Melbourne) M: 0421 677 082 & E: satimes@gmail.com PHOTO SECTION (Melbourne) JOHN KUMAR kumarsphotos.com

Kulbir Photographer creativeartmedia.au@gmail.com M: 0430 306 255

SAT Design Bala Imagine

address P O Box 465, Brentford Square, Vic. 3131 Phone: (03) 9884 8096; Mobile: 0421 677 082 Email: satimes@gmail.com/

WEBSITE www.southasiatimes.com.au

E-PAPER Access through website FACEBOOK:

facebook.com/satmelb Twitter:

twitter.com/southasiatimes skype: neeraj.nanda

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.

MAY 2019

Scott Morrison hails ‘miracle’ as Coalition snatches unexpected victory

By Michelle Grattan*

t

he Coalition has been re-elected in a shock result in which Labor lost seats in Queensland, Tasmania and NSW and failed to make more than minimal gains nationally.

But former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been routed in Warringah, defeated by high profile independent ZaliSteggall, after a bitter contest. “This is a win for moderates with a heart,” Steggall told jubilant supporters.

It is not clear whether the Coalition will be in minority or majority government.

Scott Morrison told a cheering crowd, “I have always believed in miracles”.

“How good is Australia and how good are Australians.” He said the “quiet Australians” had “won a great victory tonight”, and repeated his pledge to “burn” for all Australians “every single day”.

The defeat is shattering for Labor, which ran a highrisk campaign that included tax hikes to pay for big spending programs.

After ringing Morrison to concede defeat, Bill Shorten announced he will not recontest the leadership, although he intends to remain in parliament.

Anthony Albanese, from the left, will run for the leadership. Many in Labor thought Albanese would have been a better bet as leader than Shorten, who always had bad personal ratings.

A deeply disappointed Shorten said in a gracious speech: “I wish we could have done it for Bob”, a reference to Bob Hawke, who died on Thursday.

Read more: View from The Hill: Bob Hawke was master of managing government “I’m proud we argued for what was right, not what was easy,” he said. He urged supporters to “carry on the fight”, adding “our time will come”.

Shorten said the Coalition’s preference arrangements with One Nation and Clive Palmer had hurt the ALP vote “in a lot of places where it mattered most, particularly in Queensland and NSW”.

In the early hours of Sunday, with more than 70% of the vote counted, the

ABC had the Coalition on 74 seats – 77 is needed for a majority after providing a speaker.

Read more: Infographic: what we know about the results of Election 2019 so far Source: The Conversation, May 18, 2019.

The outcome is completely opposite to the polls, which all had Labor ahead going into the election, albeit narrowly and with some tightening during the campaign.

Nationally, the Coalition’s primary vote was 41.6%, while Labor was polling 33.4%.

ABC electoral analyst Antony Green said on a two-party basis there was 1.5% swing to the Coalition across the country.

On Saturday night’s figures, the government was gaining two seats in Tasmania (Bass and Braddon), two in Queensland (Herbert and Longman), and Lindsay in NSW. Labor has gained Gilmore in NSW, and has prospects in some other seats, but its seat of Macquarie (NSW) is in danger.

While Labor appears to have won Dunkley and Corangamite in Victoria, both were notionally ALP after the redistribution. The Liberal seat of Chisholm is knife edge. Labor had hoped for more wins in Victoria.

In Western Australia, Labor failed to make hopedfor gains.

In Wentworth, independent incumbent Kerryn Phelps is neck and neck with Liberal candidate Dave Sharma.

In Indi, vacated by independent Cathy McGowan, independent Helen Haines has pulled ahead of the Liberals’ Steve Martin.

Morrison ran a much stronger campaign than many had expected – even so, the Coalition had been bracing itself for defeat.

Labor had thought it would get over the line right to the end, although ALP sources had become increasingly nervous in the last days of the contest, as the Coalition scare campaign over the ALP’s policies to clamp down on negative gearing and franking credit cash refunds increasingly had its effect.

Abbott’s defeat in Warringah came after a ferocious local backlash against him, and he was heavily targeted by Getup in a campaign in which climate change was central.

Abbott, who has held the seat since 1994, told his campaign workers the Coalition’s national performance was “a stupendous result […] Scott Morrison will now, quite rightly, enter the Liberal pantheon forever.”

He said that once Phelps won the Wentworth byelection “I always knew it was going to be tough here in Warringah. […]

But I decided back then, in October of last year, that if I had to lose, so be it. I’d rather be a loser than a quitter”.

On the climate issue, he said “where climate change is a moral issue, we Liberals do it tough. But where climate change is an economic issue […] tonight shows we do very, very

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

well.”

Steggall said: “Tonight Warringah has definitely voted for the future. And you all showed that when communities want change, they make it happen”.

“I will keep the new government to account, and make sure we take action on climate change”.

Former Liberal deputy leader Julie Bishop, appearing on the Nine network, said: “You have to be aligned to the thoughts and aspirations, and hopes and dreams of your electorate in major issues and [on] two of them, samesex marriage and climate change, Tony was not on the same page.”

The Nationals held all their seats. Nationals federal president Larry Anthony said it had been “an amazing result for the party”.

Read more: Coalition likely to win election in Trump-like upset, but Abbott loses Warringah “The silent majority have voted. They’ve voted with their feet right across Australia and particularly in our rural seats,” Anthony said.

Former prime minister John Howard said: “Tonight is a celebration for the Liberal party”.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who retained his marginal Queensland seat of Dickson, said he wanted to quote the words of Paul Keating, “this is the sweetest victory of all”. * The author is the professional Fellow, University of Canberra.

Source,The Conversation, 19 may, 2019. (Published Under Creative Commons Licence)

COMMUNITY

MAY 2019

southSouth asia times 3 Asia Times

BioPak team up with Qantas to launch world’s first zero-waste flight

By SAT News Desk

M

ELBOURNE: Australia’s leading ecofriendly packaging company BioPak has soared to new heights by launching the world’s first ever zerowaste flight with Australian airline, Qantas Group.

Flying from Sydney to Adelaide recently, the ground-breaking flight was part of the most ambitious environmental push by any airline, with BioPak at the helm in trialling this major zero-waste initiative.

BioPak’s certified compostable packaging will be commercially composted in Adelaide and replace a range of single-use plastics and disposable food packaging items on the flight.

“We are delighted to team up with Qantas Group in what is an unprecedented step forward in fighting the war on waste,” BioPak CEO Gary Smith said.

“This is the most

ambitious waste reduction target of any major airline globally, and we are truly excited to be at the forefront in providing state-of-the-art, eco-friendly products that solve the impending issue of single-use plastics.

“Innovation is at the heart of what we do. For more than a decade we have been working with companies across Australia and NZ to provide a viable solution to our current waste crisis, and it is wonderful to see Qantas Group join our everexpanding network.”

“We want to give customers the same level of service they currently enjoy, but without the amount of waste that comes with it,” Qantas Domestic CEO Andrew David said.

BioPak packaging is made from plants, using a range of renewable materials that are responsibly sourced.

Their sustainable, innovative and certified compostable packaging solutions are designed for a circular

economy where there is no waste.

In 2018, BioPak launched Australia’s first national composting collection service, transforming organic food waste and packaging into soil and supporting the growing movement for a circular economy.

New Commemorative Coin: ICC World Cup 2019

By SAT News Desk

M

MELBOURNE, April 25, 2019: India has decided to issue Rs. 1000 Gold coin and Rs 500 Silver coin to commemorate ICC World Cup 2019. This will be the first Gold coin to be released by India.

The Rs. 1000 Gold Coin is said to be around 18 mm and will be issued in Red Velvet Box whereas

Rs. 500 Silver Coin will be of standard 44 mm and will be issued in Blue Velvet Box. The coins will be issued by the Mumbai Mint.

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is the 12th edition tournament of the Cricket World Cup, scheduled to be hosted by England and Wales, from 30 May to 14 July 2019. India has won two tournament cups in 1983 and 2011. www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

south asia 4 South Asia Timestimes

COMMUNITY

MAY 2019

India-Australia Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism pledges to deepen cooperation

By SAT News Desk

M

ELBOURNE: Australia and India are all set to counter the terrorist threat by targeting their finance sources and the use of social media. The two countries also agreed to deepen cooperation by exchanging information on the subject.

To realise this India and Australia held the 11th Meeting of the Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism at Canberra on May 2, 2019.

The Indian delegation was led by Mr. Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary (Counter Terrorism), Ministry of External Affairs, while the Australian delegation was led by Mr. Paul Foley, Australia’s Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism.

The bilateral Joint Working Group deliberated upon the terrorist threats worldwide and in their respective regions including the problem of crossborder terrorism. Both sides welcomed the listing of Masood Azhar, leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, as a Global Terrorist by the UNSC 1267 Sanctions

Committee. India thanked Australia for co-sponsoring the listing proposal of Masood Azhar along with US, UK, France and other friendly countries.

They also discussed contemporary counter terrorism challenges such as financing of terrorism, the

use of the internet for terror purposes, radicalization and foreign terrorist fighters.

The two sides agreed to further deepen counterterrorism cooperation through mutual capacity building efforts, mutual legal assistance, regular exchange of information,

sharing of best practices on countering extremism and radicalization. Cooperation in multilateral fora was also discussed.

During the visit, Joint Secretary Mr. Mahaveer Singhvi also called on Mr. Tony Sheehan, Deputy Secretary (International

Security), Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) of Australia.

The next meeting of the Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism shall be held in India at a mutually convenient date, says a media release of the Indian High Commission, Canberra.

International students thrive in UNSW’s unique English language course

By SAT News Desk

M

ELBOURNE: A unique course is helping hundreds of international students at UNSW improve their English communication skills in their own way.

Associate Professor in Translation and Interpreting Studies in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, Mira Kim, is the brains behind the Personalised English Language Enhancement (PELE) course.

“International students are very valuable members of our learning community and I don’t think their English is poor,” Associate Professor Kim said. “But we do need to provide a safe and supportive environment so they can feel motivated to practise what they already know and can do.”

She says there is a huge gap between students’ expectations and the reality when Australian universities admit students

from non-English-speaking backgrounds.

To address this, the oneterm PELE course sees students improve their skills in one communication area of their choice, such as speaking, writing, listening, reading or vocabulary.

“For example, they can work on structure or problems with verb tenses,” Associate Professor Kim said.

PELE students continue to learn by meeting outside of class to practise their English in regular social clubs involving board games, singing and

books. Conversation club students practise common expressions used in daily life, such as how to describe symptoms to a doctor or how to play a sport.

The course is constantly evolving, with Associate Professor Kim using information provided in student surveys throughout the course to refine the program.

Hundreds of international students – mainly from China but also from Ghana, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Thailand, France, Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Sweden – have completed

International students are very valuable members of our learning community and I don’t think their English is poor,” Associate Professor Kim said. “But we do need to provide a safe and supportive environment so they can feel motivated to practise what they already know and can do.” the one-term course in the last three years.

Associate Professor Kim says the students’ transformation at the end of the course is moving and inspiring.

“We have a learning festival at the end of each

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

term and you can’t help but cry and laugh with them when you hear how hard their experience as international students has been, and the progress they’ve made,” Associate Professor Kim says.

MAY 2019

southSouth asia times 5 Asia Times

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

south asia 6 South Asia Timestimes

community

Nirankari Mission holds Blood donation camp

By SAT News Desk

M

ELBOURNE,11 May: The Nirankari Mission today organized a blood donation camp at the Red Cross Blood Donation Centre, Mt. Waverley, attended by people in large numbers.

SAT was present there and the enthusiasm of volunteers and donors could massively be seen. The Red Cross staff was busy getting donors registered and checking their ability to donate blood. A few forms needed to be filled making sure to get all the details.

Snacks and drinks were handy for the donors.

According to the organizers, there were about 125 participants. Of these 25 were blood donors and 50 plasma donors.

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

MAY 2019

community

MAY 2019

southSouth asia times 7 Asia Times

Footy makes its mark at the Sikh Games with a bang

By SAT Sports Desk

M

ELBOURNE: The Australian style football (Footy) got a big boost with the game getting legitimacy in the community by its inclusion in the 32nd Sikh Games held recently here. Six AFL Clubs competed at the 32nd Sikh Games to win the AFL competition which was being played for the second time as part of the games.

The AFL competition spread over two days during the Sikh games, saw Indian origin players from Victoria and NSW team up in official AFL colours. A team representing GWS Giants from NSW had travelled over specially to participate at the games along with Essendon, Melbourne, St. Kilda, North Melbourne and Adelaide teams.

Day 1 saw the teams face each other in round robin format to qualify for the semi-finals which were

played on Day 2. Melbourne, North Melbourne, Adelaide and GWS Giants made it through to the semi-finals.

Day 2 saw the four teams compete to make it to the finals which were eventually played between GWS Giants and Melbourne FC. Both teams had displayed great footy skills during the tournament, however it was the Melbourne Football Club team that won the tournament at Casey Fields, which coincidentally is their home ground as well for the club.

The AFL has sent congratulations to all the players who participated and also the team managers from the community who put in a lot of work behind the scenes to get the teams together.

The AFL now wants see the sport grow in the Indian community in Australia starting with the planned participation at the Sikh Games AFL competition next year in Perth.

- Supplied.

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

south asia 8 South Asia Timestimes

community

MAY 2019

Global Basava Convention held in Melbourne

By SAT News Desk

M

ELBOURNE, 14 May: The Basava Samithi Australasia – Melbourne Chapter celebrated the Global Basava Convention on 20 April, at the Clayton Hall. The event had two sessions: MORNING SESSION: SPIRITUAL AWAKENING • Begin with Lighting of the Lamp & invocation of Vachana.

• We learned more about spread of Basava Philosophy.

• His Holiness Sri Vachananda Swamiji conducted the Istalinga pooja, Ashirvachana yoga & mediation.

• Aravind Jatti shared the Basava Philosophy based on Einstein theory.

• Dr Srishail Kumar Hadimani, gave us a refreshing perspective taking • Basava Philosophy to Global level.

• Dr Manu Baligar

a short speech on application of Basava Philosophy.

• Honouring of Mrs Kausalya Vaghela Member of Legislative of Western Metropolitan area.

• Sumptuous lunch.

EVENING SESSSION: SPIRITUAL BLISS • A tribute to four great selfless souls who contributed to Basava Philosophy.

• We tapped into two decades of

accomplishment of Basava Samithi Melbourne Chapter.

• Mesmerising Vachana Sudhe by Dr Mruthunjay Shetter & Pt. Satish Hampiholi • Mind blowing Sharaneyara group song & dance.

• Cultural Programs by children and members of Basava Samithi Melbourne Chapter.

• Sharanara epitome drama ‘KALYANA KRANTHI’ – Enlightens about revolution in

Computer Repairs and Support • Computer Repairs • Virus & Spyware Removal • Computer Upgrades • Internet Security • Computer Tune-up • Broadband and home networking setup

Call Yogan’s ON 0413538570 www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

literature, religion, social and moral.

• Delicious Feast Dinner.

Every two years, a conference is held at different chapters across Asia-Pacific to stimulate discussions, propagate and campaign "simple and contented way of life" to the wider community.

This year, the Convention had participants from Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, New Zealand and Singapore, India and USA. —Supplied.

MAY 2019

community

southSouth asia times 9 Asia Times

Labor top brass at Dosa Plaza, Dandenong opening

By SAT News Desk

M

ELBOURNE, 9 MAY: Those present at the Dosa Plaza, Dandenong opening were Hon.Adem Soumyurek, Minister for Small Business, Antoney Byrne, Member of the Australian House of Representatives, Bolt, Dandenong Mayor Cr Roz Blades AM, Kaushaliya Vaghela MP, Tien Kieu Vic MP, Matt Fragon, Vic MP and prominent Indian/ South Asian business and community people.

Addressing the large gathering after the ribbon cutting, Victoria's Small Business Minister Hon. Adam Soumyurek commended the entrepreneurial zeal of the Indian community pointing at the successful businesses they run.

"Dosa Plaza, Dandenong is the 6,401st small business in Victoria and I give my best wishes to it", he said.

Antoney Byrne said, the future of Australia we see today in the people present at today's event. "Labor will if elected. ease the situation in the parent's visa system so that families are united to give Australia their best." " You are a model community," he said.

The Dandenong Mayor said, "The future of Australia is multicultural".

Kaushaliya Vaghela MP and Manoj Kumar also addressed those present.

YOU’RE MORE SUITED THAN YOU MIGHT THINK

With more than 3000 new positions available, a career with Victoria Police can offer you: • Paid training and great starting salary • Rosters planned in advance allowing for work/life balance • Generous leave entitlements • The chance to make a difference to your community • The opportunity to specialise after as little as 2 years

policecareer.vic.gov.au Authorised and published by the Victorian Government, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

south asia 10 South Asia Timestimes

community

Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2019 from 8 - 17 August

t

he dates of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2019 (IFFM-2019) were announced last month along with the premier of Hindi movie ‘KALANK’ amidst fanfare at the Hoyts, Docklands. Movies of the festival will be screened

in Hoyts cinemas located at Docklands, Melbourne Central, Highpoint, Broadmeadows and Forest Hill. Full details and related events of the festival will be available soon at iffm.com. au or at mindblowingfilms. com.

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

MAY 2019

MAY 2019

southSouth asia times 11 Asia Times

Australia

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

south asia 12 South Asia Timestimes

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

MAY 2019

MAY 2019

southSouth asia times SYDNEY WRITERS FESTIVAL 2019 13 Asia Times

The Biggest Lies of All

By SWF

a

senior editor at Elle.com, Estelle Tang was on the ground at Sydney Writers' Festival, bringing us a daily wrap-up of the ideas, discussions and debates as they unfolded across the program.

Reflecting on the literary week that was, she looks at how this year's theme, Lie to Me, was unpacked by novelist Fatima Bhutto at the Festival's Closing Night Address.

We spent a week at the Sydney Writers’ Festival thinking about lies – as Artistic Director Michaela McGuire quipped on Opening Night, big lies, little lies, and big little lies. We’ve thought about kind lies, white lies, lies of omission, lies we tell ourselves; national lies, big whoppers, self-serving lies.

Lies are a kind of storytelling – asserting that things aren’t like that, but like this. And Pakistani author Fatima Bhutto, who opened the Festival in 2011 and returned this year to

close it, argued that in one specific case, the lies needed to stop. One of the most tenacious untruths still hatefully perpetuated is, as Bhutto recalled Richard Dawkins saying, that Islam is the most evil religion in the world.

"We are obsessed with post-truth today, but deception was always there. The lie has always existed,” she said. “Post-truth.” “Fake news.” These terms and their dominance in our everyday lives point to an important actual truth, Bhutto says: "Warfare extends far beyond the field of politics. It is fought on the battlefield of language.”

If language can be a weapon, it can also be how we fight back against such misconceptions.

Let’s start with rewriting the story, shifting focus elsewhere and making comparisons that illuminate the misapprehensions we’ve been labouring under. “All religions are misused to justify war and death, but the one used to kill the most over the 20th and

We are obsessed with post-truth today, but deception was always there. The lie has always existed,” she said. “Post-truth.” “Fake news.”

These terms and their dominance in our everyday lives point to an important actual truth, Bhutto says: "Warfare extends far beyond the field of politics. It is fought on the battlefield of language.”

21st century so far wasn’t Islam,” she said. Hitler and Stalin were not Muslims; nor was Milosevic, she reminded us. World War I claimed the lives of 15– 19 million people, while World War II took an even higher number. “America has never apologised for being the only power in human history ever to use nuclear weapons, killing nearly 200,000 Japanese people in minutes,” she

said. Then there’s the Korean war, the Laos bombings, US drone strikes.

According to the logic that ascribes some fundamental morality to Islam, should some of these be called atheist crimes or Christian crimes? “If you have felt uncomfortable to have your religion described as war and death and pestilence,”

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

she said, “Welcome to the experience of 1.5 billion Muslims.” It’s not actually religion that accounts for these horrors, Bhutto reminded us, but fear.

Against this insidious story of so-called Muslim crimes, Bhutto held up another, very different story: that of Aitzaz Hasan, a Pakistani 15-yearold who died while defending his school from a suicide bomber and likely saved the lives of several of his 2000 fellow students.

It’s to him that Bhutto’s novel The Runaways is dedicated. It’s his name, rather than the names of terrorists, shooters, reckless and hateful cultural provocateurs, that she wants us to carry and remember everywhere; acts of love that we remember, rather than acts of hate. And that’s a story we can all tell. “As Nawal al Saadawi, the pioneering Egyptian feminist and novelist, once said: 'We are all living in this world—we must revolt together.'"

Source: Sydney Writers Festival, 8 May 2019.

south asia 14 South Asia Timestimes

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

MAY 2019

southSouth asia times 15 Asia Times

MAY 2019

www.mindblowingfilms.com www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

South Asia Times south asia 16 South Asia Timestimes

south asia

SOUTH ASIA

MAY 2019

Another airline takes a dive in India

BY Raghu

i

t is ironic that in India, the fastest growing air travel market in the world, yet another private airline, this time Jet Airways, collapses and folds up. However, this should have come as no surprise to anyone following the civil aviation scenario in the country.

As the first private airline in India after the public sector monopoly was ended, Jet was a pioneer, and had a considerable as well as devoted following especially among business travellers who could not stop praising Jet Airways’ service, especially in comparison with what they perceived as the staid and rather cold service from the State-owned carrier. Jet grew rapidly taking advantage of every possible policy or other favour extended to it in the crony capitalist atmosphere prevailing in the early flush of liberalisation and deregulation of the Indian economy. Jet fought off potential new rivals in both the full-fare segment and the early upstart low-fare and hybrid carriers.

But as new and ambitious low-fare carriers started operating at scale, Jet too joined in a price war that cut fares far below viable levels and created conditions that threatened the very existence of many carriers.

Partly out of hubris, partly by taking huge loans from over-obliging banks, and substantially due to its own poor and sometimes sharp business practices, Jet gradually got itself ever deeper in debt, and refused to adopt measures that could have helped it get out of the mess.

An airline industry that resisted reforms and regulations and persisted with flawed business models, a corrupt banking system that gave out huge and imprudent loans, a regulatory system that refused to impose order and colluded with select parties, and a political system whose policies encouraged reckless and unsustainable expansion of air travel, combined to bring about the fall of Jet Airways, and a few other airlines before it, causing the loss of thousands of jobs and the loss of reputation of a sector that was touted as a shining example of the new,

prosperous India.

CRONYISM The beginnings and early years of Jet Airways were intertwined with the unfolding neoliberal paradigm of liberalisation, de-regulation and privatisation in India, and with the ensuing active patronage of and support to the rising class of crony capitalists who were viewed as champions of the new India. Policies were often framed or bent, ostensibly to encourage this or that industry as a whole, but in practice favouring one particular company or individual heading it. Public sector firms were hobbled by the new uneven playing field or by deliberate actions to assist their private sector rivals. Petro-chemicals, oil, telecommunication, mining, airlines and many other sectors which had been newly opened up to the private sector, all witnessed these phenomena.

After the private sector was allowed into passenger air services, Jet Airways started in 1994 as an air taxi flying the MumbaiAhmedabad business route.

The company had been

incorporated in 1992, with capital investment by a firm named Tail Winds owned by Naresh Goyal and his two sons, and registered of all places in the Isle of Man. Man is located in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland and is a self-governing territory that falls in many cracks of the international financial and legal system, is not part of the UK, EU or any other similar entity, and is therefore a haven for all manner of dealings.

In the years that followed, it seemed that a strange streak of luck followed Jet Airways, many new government policies coming up which this airline was almost uniquely positioned to take advantage of, each propelling this airline to new heights.

from its investors. It took 16 long years for this rather incongruous policy to be revised and, in 2016, foreign airlines were permitted to hold up to 49 per cent share in “existing” airlines. The policy, quite strangely, also specifically allowed 100 per cent holdings by NonResident Indians (NRI), in which category only Naresh Goyal’s Jet Airways fell! The policy came a few years too late for Kingfisher, and may have provided another escape option for that also indebted carrier, although it is anyone’s guess whether the ego-driven Vijay Mallya would have actually parted with a substantial stake in his airline. In any case, the new policy frame enabled Jet Airways to bring in Etihad Airways as a partner with 24 per cent holdings.

In 1996, when the Tatas sought to start an airline in collaboration with Singapore Airlines, a new rule appeared that while FDI in airlines operating in India were welcome, foreign airlines were not allowed to participate. As a small price to pay for keeping out a potentially formidable rival, Jet Airways dropped Gulf Air and Kuwait Air

Such cases occur with remarkable consistency throughout Jet Airways’ history. In 1998, when Jet introduced the 72-seater turbo-prop ATR-72 for shorter routes, the government waived landing and parking charges for aircraft with less than 80 seats. Again, in 2004 when the new private airlines were CONTD. ON PG 17

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

SOUTH ASIA

MAY 2019

southSouth asia times 17 Asia Times

Another airline takes a dive in India

CONTD. FROM PG 16 clamouring for permission to start flying overseas, government came up with the so-called 5/20 rule which stipulated that an airline must have been operating for at least five years and must have a fleet of at least 20 aircraft for it to be entitled to international routes. Jet met this criterion easily but other carriers struggled or were left out. It took till 2016 for this rule to change.

And even at the very end, when Jet’s loan defaults became a recurrent feature, Jet was given ample time to look around for potential investors, and insolvency proceedings were not commenced soon as required. At election time, the government did not want a messy bankruptcy on its hands. On their part, banks were willing to oblige and hoped that the situation would somehow resolve itself, although most observers could not see a way out. Finally, when Jet went belly-up, the employees were left empty-handed, the banks sat on their hands, and Naresh Goyal simply went away quietly. It is not surprising that Vijay Mallya, staring at deportation from the UK and jail time back in India, is complaining loudly at the seemingly differential treatment.

FAILED MODEL Much of Jet’s travails were also due to failed models of air travel in India. This statement may cause some surprise, since international aviation circles, consultancy organisations and business papers have for so long

been singing the praises of booming air passenger traffic in India, registering clear 10 per cent or more annual rates of growth for over a decade, even touching 20 per cent many years. Airports in major Indian metropolitan or major cities, even greenfield or upgraded ones, are poised to exceed their planned capacities making expansion or second airports a necessity. But these bald numbers conceal deep underlying frailties.

In the first place, the term low-cost carriers applied to the no-frills airlines which are today’s market leaders, is a misnomer. They should really be called low-fare airlines. These airlines use the same airports and terminals as the full-service carriers, pay more or less the same landing and parking charges, and pay pilots market rates. In Europe, for example, low-cost carriers use airports further away from major cities and where they are charged less, provide much less amenities, and charge for everything, sometimes even more use of bathrooms! They economise essentially on consumables and overheads, lower wage bills for cabin crew and by charging for reservation of seats and for food. With costs being not too much lower than that of fullservice carriers, the low-fare carriers make up with higher capacity utilisation, higher seat density, and single-class cabins.

In the cut-throat competition for passengers, full-service carriers have over the years been forced

to lower their economy class fares to levels close to that of low-fare carriers.

But they also have business class sections, in which seat density and capacity utilisation is much lower, insufficient to adequately compensate for the relatively lower fares they are forced to levy. The only plus points of full-service carriers is their “free” food which are actually factored into their higher fares, on-board newspapers and blankets, and the offer of lounge services on payment.

However, most full-service carriers have higher costs because they want to live up to an image of superior service, spend more on cabin crew and livery, and other nuances which most customers are quite happy to do without if they can save a few hundred rupees.

Jet Airways, for instance, spent approximately 1.5 times of what low-fare carriers typically spend per passenger, but cannot charge 1.5 times the fare! Kingfisher was famous for fancy interiors, gifts to passengers, and a luxury image. No wonder they went bust!

The fact is that, even among air passengers, India is a highly price sensitive market and the size of the middle class is not as large as is commonly imagined or projected by international consultancies interested in drumming up more investment, and as directly experienced by many an MNC. In order to cater to this market, and expand, all operators led by the lowfare carriers have engaged in a price war, a race to the bottom if you will, where

margins are paper thin and where negative balance sheets are only an air pocket away. And this at a time when fuel prices amounting to 40-50 per cent of costs are high, aided by high domestic taxes, and valuation of the rupee has been taking a hit. Most airlines are on the verge of going into the red, and the full-service carriers are the most vulnerable.

Jet Airways were in the red for most years in the past decade, Sahara could not take the heat, and Deccan Airways got out at the right time. Consolidation provided a temporary reprieve, but the same reality caught up with the survivors who then faced the same fate.

Most of the profitable routes are between the metros, and between some big cities and the metros. Yet as demand and competition increase, other routes too must be catered to and lower capacity utilisation has to be factored in to already thin margins.

Fact is that the present low air fares are unsustainable. Airlines could sit down with regulators and rationalise fares, but successive governments have shied away from this option for fear of lower passenger growth rates and the “message” that would send. Making flying possible for “the common man” has become a popular, but highly unrealistic slogan.

The present government’s UDAN (Uday Desh ka Aam Nagrik or The Country’s Common Man Will Fly) Scheme for regional

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

But who is going to bell the cat, who is going to bust the myth of a high flying India? connectivity is a case in point. Unused, underserved or even new regional airports will be funded, and upto 50 per cent of seats will be provided “viability gap funding,” another term for subsidy, which is however considered a dirty word when it comes to public education, health or civic services. This is a clear acknowledgement of the limits to air passenger growth, and to the low fares that the Indian middle class can bear in reality.

Air travel in India is desperately in need of reform, and realism. But who is going to bell the cat, who is going to bust the myth of a high flying India? If the government does not, then more airlines will go under.

For sure.

Source: P. Democracy, 19 May 2019.

south asia 18 South Asia Timestimes

SOUTH ASIA

MAY 2019

Victim of IMF debt trap, Pakistan compelled to seek new loan

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

a

fter appointing an ex-IMF official as Finance Minister and another exIMF official as State Bank of Pakistan Governor, the government of Pakistan has assured the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of increasing electricity and gas prices and to eliminate the subsidy given to the consumers.

At the same time, at the IMF demand, the government would not interfere in the matters of Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) and National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) in fixing gas and electricity prices respectively. At present they have to take government permission to fix gas and electricity prices.

Dr Reza Baqir, who has been appointed as the Governor of the State

Bank of Pakistan has been with the IMF since 2000.

He quit his job recently as the IMF senior resident representative to Egypt to take charge of the State Bank.

Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the new Finance Minister, has represented in several countries as IMF official. He also worked with the World Bank, and served as country head for Saudi Arabia.

Shaikh was appointed last month after the IMF apparently refused to work with Finance Minister Asad Umar.

Since coming to power, the Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf government has been exploring all financing options, including help from friendly countries. It has so far received a total of $9.1 billion in financial aid packages from China, Saudi Arabia and UAE. However, it turns out that Pakistan still falling short of meeting its dollar requirement for the current financial year.

Pakistan has gone to the IMF repeatedly since the late 1980s. The last time was in 2013, when Islamabad got a $6.6 billion loan to tackle an economic crisis.

On May 12, 2019, it was announced that IMF and Pakistan have reached an agreement. Dr Shaikh announced that Pakistan would receive $6 billion worth of assistance under the IMF program over a period of three years. Besides the IMF assistance, Pakistan will also receive additional funds worth nearly $2-3 billion from institutions like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, Dr. Shaikh added. $ 99.1 billion IMF loan Pakistan started the process of privatization in the 1980s, which gathered pace after the restoration of democracy in 1988.

According to the finance ministry its total debt and

external liabilities was $20.90 billion in 1990, rising to $38.86 billion in 2007 and $99.1 billion now.

IMF loans benefit only the corrupt leadership of Third World countries.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s government obtained a whopping $35 billion in new loans during his four-year (2013-2017) tenure to repay maturing debt and keep official foreign currency reserves at a level which could give a sense of economic stability to investors.

In July 2017, the Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualified Nawaz on concealment of assets charges. In December 2018, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Pakistan’s anti-graft court, jailed Nawaz Sharif for seven years on graft charges. The NAB in its ruling said that the threetime prime minister was unable to prove the source of income that led to his

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

ownership of a steel mill in Saudi Arabia.

The former President, Asif Ali Zardari, whose government (2008-2013) is also responsible for huge IMF borrowing is now facing mega money laundering cases.

Pakistan has sold out more than 160 state-run entities since the 1980s, rendering hundreds and thousands of people jobless. Instead of seeing the country free from debt, what we see today is nothing but a phenomenal surge in the external debt and liabilities which is likely to haunt Pakistan’s coming generations for decades.

New IMF loan is likely to unleash a wave of liberalization, privatization and deregulation that will lead to more unemployment, poor living standards and substantial cuts in public spending.

CONTD. ON PG 19

SOUTH ASIA

MAY 2019

southSouth asia times 19 Asia Times

Victim of IMF debt trap, Pakistan compelled to seek new loan CONTD. FROM PG 18 Lee Kuan Yew, former Prime Minister of Singapore, is right when he says: “The people have to pay dearly and long for the sins and crimes of their leaders.”

What is ahead for Pakistanis? This shocking report from Cairo after the implementation of the IMF reforms may provide some indication to Pakistanis: “Egypt has seen a recent growth in the so-called “used food” markets, as citizens bear the brunt of IMF economic reform program, Middle East Monitor reported on April 18, 2019. Markets selling scraps of food have become increasingly common in Greater Cairo, home to more than 20 million people, with the remains of meals from restaurants and hotels offered to families at a discounted price. Defective food products, ranging from processed meats and pasta to cheese and juice, are also on offer, with many of the goods unpackaged, with no information as to where or when they were made.

“A shopper, Asma Mohammed, said she even had to buy chicken bones and necks from the street to make a stock for her family of five after she was unable to afford them at the usual market.“The poultry bones are now sold for 15 pounds [$0.87], two years ago they were only five pounds [$0.29], I do not know what I will do if I cannot even buy poultry legs and bones,” she said.

“The prices of basic food items, water and fuel have soared in recent years after state subsidies were cut and VAT was introduced in the country for the first time. The new policies come as part of Egypt’s commitment to economic reforms stipulated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in accordance with the country’s loan agreement.

“However, the policies have added to the financial woes of many millions of Egyptians living below the poverty line, who have complained of being unable to afford basic necessities since the price jumps.

Egypt has been praised for its commitment to the measures; during its fourth review of the program by the IMF last month, officials said.

Tellingly, Dr Reza Baqir, the new Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, was IMF Representative in Cairo till recently.

Third World countries debt The International Monetary Fund was established in 1944 as a lender of last resort to countries facing balance of payment difficulties, a lifeline for countries on the verge of insolvency.

By the 1980s a number of Third World countries turned to this lifeline, unable to pay back the massive loans they had received from western commercial banks in the 1970s.

The Third World countries are now in debt trap. External loans to developing country governments more than doubling from $191 billion in 2008 to $424 billion in 2017.

As a condition for financial assistance, the IMF requires governments to make harsh economic adjustments, such as cutting spending on socials services, and ending price subsidies on such essential items as food and fuel.

Developing nations have long viewed the IMF with suspicion for promoting disastrous privatizations.

The IMF and the World Bank provide loans only if the poor countries privatized their economies and allowed western corporations free access to their raw materials and markets.

Tellingly, in 2014, the IMF’s own auditor said in a report that the IMF continues to be seen as a club for rich countries, limiting how much other nations trust its advice as objective. Many of the IMF’s members still believed the lender treated its bigger shareholders, including the United States and Europe, more leniently than others, the IMF auditor report said.

That perception was magnified when the IMF lent billions of dollars to euro zone countries in distress, including Greece, Ireland and Portugal, with loans that were much larger than the countries’ economies.

“The Euro Area programs had created the perception that European member countries had excessive weight in the IMF’s decisions relative to their economic power,” according to the report.

Aid to poor countries has little effect on economic growth, and policies that rely on such claims should be reexamined, two former International Monetary Fund economists wrote in a paper released in 2007.

“We find little evidence of a robust positive correlation between aid and growth,” wrote Raghuram Rajan, who stepped down as IMF chief economist at the end of 2006, and Arvind Subramanian, who left the IMF in 2007.

Confessions of an Economic Hitman This reminds me of John Perkin’s book “Confessions of an Economic Hitman.”

Perkin was an IMF official.

Perkins says he was actually an “Economic Hit Man” and his job was to convince countries that are strategically important to the United States to accept enormous loans for infrastructure development and to make sure that the lucrative projects were contracted to U.S. corporations.

He cooked the books in a gigantic international con game. More specifically, he produced and defended grossly inflated projections of economic growth that were then used to justify super-sized infrastructure projects financed with debts to foreign banks that could never be repaid.

Intentionally making unpayable loans to foreign governments may seem the work of fools, but the money flowed directly into the bottom lines of wellconnected U.S. construction and energy companies like

Bechtel and Halliburton, and the perpetual debts gave the U.S. government a stranglehold over the economic and political resources of the indebted nations.

The leaders of these countries would also have bolstered political power because they were credited with bringing industrial parks, power plants and airports to their people.

The problem is that these countries simply cannot handle the debt of these loans and their poorest citizens are deprived of health, education and other social services for several decades as these countries struggle economically to overcome their huge debts.

Of particular interest is Perkins’ story of his role in the deal that tied Saudi Arabia to U.S. interests, created a financial and political alliance between the House of Saud and the House of Bush, and led to a partnership that channeled billions of dollars to Osama bin Laden.

Under this agreement, the Saudis hold their oil earnings in U.S. Treasury bonds. The Treasury Department pays the interest on these bonds directly to favored U.S. corporations, with which it contracts to modernize Saudi Arabia’s physical infrastructure. In return the U.S. government uses its political and military clout to keep the Saudi royal family in power.

According to Perkins, the Saudi agreement was to be a model for Iraq, but Saddam Hussein refused to play – which explains why George W. Bush was so intent on invading Iraq to remove him from office. The war was simply a different means to the same outcome. Effective control of Iraqi oil reserves was transferred to U.S. hands. Bechtel, Halliburton and other corporate Bush cronies received billions in new contracts.

Doug Bandow, the author of “Perpetuating Poverty: The World Bank, the IMF, and the Developing World” wrote in 1995: There is

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

New IMF loan is likely to unleash a wave of liberalization, privatization and deregulation that will lead to more unemployment, poor living standards and substantial cuts in public spending.

As a condition for financial assistance, the IMF requires governments to make harsh economic adjustments. a biblical proverb that says: “the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”

Perpetuating Poverty demonstrates this to be true on an international scale.

Fifty years and hundreds of billions of dollars of aid from Western governments— tunneled through the IMF, the World Bank, and a number of other multilateral aid agencies—have had an impact on world poverty: it has helped keep the Third World poor just that—poor.

Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Chief Editor of the Journal of America (www. journalofamerica.net) email: asghazali2011 (@) gmail.com Source: Counter Currents, 13 May, 2019.

south asia 20 South Asia Timestimes

SOUTH ASIA

MAY 2019

Sheikh Hasina keeps Islamic radicalism in Bangladesh in Check c

By P. K. Balachandaran

OLOMBO: Muslimmajority Bangladesh was born out of an explicitly secular and linguistic movement spearheaded by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. But it did not take long for the new born to show that it is “Islamic” as well as “Bengali”.

This was due to the failure of Bangladesh’s postindependence secular rulers to live up to their promises.

With the failure of Mujib’s secular government, political Islam became the rallying point for the disgruntled.

Subsequently, unpopular military rulers seeking legitimacy strengthened political Islam by reviving and nurturing it. Pakistan also played a role in instigating and sustaining political Islam to get back Bangladesh which it lost in 1971.

Over time, political Islam became increasingly radical and terroristic. Successive governments in Dhaka were formally “secular” but were bending over backwards to carry Islamist forces with them, giving them legitimacy in the process. And whenever the State asserted its modern secular character, Islamist radicals would unleash terrorism to make the government mend its ways.

The Islamists saw abjuring Islam in favor of a “Bengali” ethno-linguistic identity as a mark of subservience to India which had been seeking a greater political and economic role in a country which it helped found by sending in its military in December 1971.

Over time, Islamism mixed with nationalism proved to be a potent political mix which governments found hard to fight.

Between January 2005 and December 2017, about 746 persons had fallen prey to Islamist terror and State counter terror operations.

According to a study, 91% of these ghastly incidents had taken place since 2013 when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League was trying to put Bangladesh back on its original secular track.

In 1977, before Hasina came to power, the constitution replaced secularism by “absolute trust and faith in almighty Allah”.

Military ruler Ziaur Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party

(BNP) fostered the notion that Bangladesh is Islamic.

Between 1976 and 1979, Zia legalized religious political parties and allowed Islamists, who had worked with the Pakistani Army during the liberation war, to participate in government.

The Bangladesh Jamaat-eIslami (BJeI), banned by Mujib, was able to publicly rejoin Bangladeshi politics in 1979. Gen. H.M. Ershad ,the country’s second military dictator, made Islam Bangladesh’s state religion. He even gave cabinet positions to two BJeI “war criminals”.

In 1990, democracy returned to Bangladesh.

But it did not augur well for secularism. The BNP led

by Gen.Zia’s widow, Begum Khaleda Zia, continued to cultivate and accommodate Islamic radicals. But this was vehemently opposed by the Awami League now led

by Sheikh Mujib’s daughter Sheikh Hasina Wazed.

While the “Battle of the Begums” raged, Bangladeshi militants returning from the “Jihad” in Afghanistan added fuel to the fire. They teamed up with the alQaeda Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO). RSO came to Bangladesh along with the 200,000 persecuted Rohingyas from Myanmar.

Pakistan’s ISI, waiting in the wings, tied up with BJeI to turn Bangladesh into a launching pad to stage attacks in neighboring India.

BJeL and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), the Jagrato Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) and Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) attacked Hindus , Ahmadiyas and Awami League workers.

The JMJB and JMB merged under the leadership of Sheikh Abdur Rahman and

Siddiqur Rahman, known as “Bangla Bhai” (Bengali Brothers). The Bangla Bhai became popular for providing instant justice. Mainstream politicians cultivated the “Bangla Bhai” and ran protection rackets with them till the BNP government led

by Prime Minister Begum Zia felt the need to control them.

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) was set up to fight the menace.

In August 2005, the JMB set off 459 bombs simultaneously in 63 of Bangladesh’s 64 districts to push the country into adopting Sharia law.

The Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), founded in 1992, issued death threats against the feminist author Taslima Nasreen, who had to flee from Bangladesh. It tried to assassinate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) staged many attacks in Bangladesh.

Many Bangladeshis resident in the UK went to Syria to fight alongside the Islamic State (IS). Adept at using sophisticated communication technologies ,the IS influenced well educated and well heeled young Bangladeshi Muslims.

The killers of 18 foreigners and two Bangladeshis in the up-market Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka on July 1, 2016, were well heeled students from Dhaka’s private North-South University.

In 2009, despite the wide berth given by the predecessor BNP regime to Islamic radicals, Sheikh Hasina set up a War Crimes Tribunal to try persons who had committed war crimes during the liberation struggles as auxiliaries of the Pakistani army. There had been a mass student movement since 2007 seeking the trial of war criminals.

But the Jamaat-e-Islami, the main target of the trials, and human rights groups cried foul saying that the procedures did not accord with international norms.

Apart from Pakistan which passed many resolutions against the trials, Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohammad and Turkish leader Erdogan appealed for clemency.

But Sheikh Hasina was undeterred. The trials continued and many were sent to the gallows.

Hasina was adept at resisting foreign pressure.

When the US put tremendous pressure to get Bangladesh to let an island be used as a US base, she put her foot down.

Hasina was undeterred even by the country-wide mayhem unleashed by the Jamaat because she had the support of Bangladeshi youth, including youth from the private universities. In2013, the broad-based Shahbad movement backed her to the hilt, demanded capital punishment and a ban on the Jamaat.

Explaining this a Bangladeshi commentator said: “The world was unaware that a whole generation of Bangladeshis had grown up with no love for Pakistan or the Islamic movement prior to the formation of Pakistan in 1947. These were young students and professionals born after 1971. Hasina was cued into this generation.”

An independent minded person, Hasina resisted the temptation to go along with the Western view that the Holey Artisan Bakery attack was the handiwork of the international lslamic State and not a local group.

She sensed that attempts were being made to link up the massacre with the IS so that the Western agencies could enter the investigation process and infiltrate the Bangladeshi security set up. She therefore doggedly held on to the view that the massacre was a local job.

She refused to yield to pressure from the Bangladesh elite to release some of the suspects saying that law enforcement machinery could not be fettered.

To get the ramifications of the network which carried out the July 1 ,2016 attack, and to avoid harassment of the public, Hasina appealed to families to inform the police of any

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

missing persons or anyone moving about suspiciously in their neighborhood. This unearthed information about more than 200 persons, which helped crack the case.

Hasina knew that people were tired of terrorism and governments which tolerated and fostered radicalism and helped radicalism metamorphose into terrorism.

Therefore her appeal for “Help to Help You” had the desired effect. People came out with useful information.

The Prime Minister tackled the drug menace in the same way. She knew drug dealers were terrorizing locals and forcing them to tolerate their nefarious activities. That is why, despite the international cry over extra-judicial killings, there was no local resistance or disapproval of the strong arm methods she used.

Political commentators predicted that Hasina and her Awami League would lose the last elections because of “human rights violations” under her rule since 2009.

But she won handsomely.

The opposition BNP was in disarray and did not contest and the Jammat had gone into hiding as it had lost its base.

However, Hasina is not oblivious to the fact that Bangladesh is an Islamic country and the hold of religion is strong in the rural areas. Therefore she has come to an understanding with Hefazat-e-Islam which runs thousands of Qaumi Madrasahs.

The Hefazat is preferred to the Jamaat because unlike the Jamaat, the Hefazat was not against the struggle for freedom from Pakistan.

Hasina yielded to the Hefazat’s demand for recognition of their certificates for government jobs. She removed from the Supreme Court, a statue of justice showing a lady in a sari holding the scales of justice, which the Hefazat said was un-Islamic. She did not allow writer Tasleem Nasreen to come back to Bangladesh as she had ridiculed Islam. She criticized secular bloggers for going overboard in their posts.

Hasina has mastered the art of balancing secularism and Islam and has curbed radicalism and terrorism with a mixture of guile and firmness.

Source: The Citizen, 13 May, 2019.

SOUTH ASIA

MAY 2019

southSouth asia times 21 Asia Times

Myanmar: Conflict resolution at ‘total standstill’, military commanders must answer for crimes against humanity

M

yanmar has not done enough to resolve the nation’s internalconflicts or protect human rights, including those of over a million ethnic Rohingya civilians who have been forced into exile, according to FFM Chairperson Marzuki Darusman.

“There has been no movement toward a resolution of the crisis”, Mr. Darusman said after a 10-day visit to Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. “The situation is at a total standstill.”

The FFM documented in its 444-page report to the Human Rights Council in September how Myanmar’s military brutally and systemically violated the human rights of ethnic minorities throughout the country.

It spotlighted the military’s so-called “clearance operations” in 2017, when security forces killed thousands of Rohingya civilians, raped and sexually abused women and girls and burned villages in Rakhine State in an explosion of violence that caused more than 700,000 people to flee across the

border into Bangladesh, in just two months.

Moreover, Myanmar authorities have levelled abandoned Rohingya villages with bulldozers, effectively destroying criminal evidence, while making no substantive progress in resolving the ethnic animosities that have helped fuel the crisis.

For their part, the Government denies the facts and disclaim any responsibility for crimes under international law.

Rights abuses flourish The report also condemns ethnic armed organizations within Myanmar, for committing human rights abuses and violating international humanitarian law.

The FFM visited Kutupalong Camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar, where Mr. Darusman told the refugees that when its mandate expires in September, it would hand over its evidence to the new Independent Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar to expedite fair criminal proceedings against the perpetrators.

“In short, this is not the end of the story,” he

told them. “Please have hope that this will lead to eventual accountability of those who are responsible for what took place against the Rohingya community.”

Against the backdrop that the conduct of national security forces in Rakhine State “were the result of structural problems fuelled by the absence of a political and legal system that is willing to accommodate diversity”, Mr. Darusman said: “Any solutions should directly address the structural problems.”

He also advised the Government to “focus on the real betterment of the remaining Rohingya community in Myanmar” where many live in fear of security forces.

Since 3 May, the FFM Experts have met with different ethnic communities, where they have found that the Tatmadaw, or Myanmar military, has “committed similar atrocities” against other ethnic groups within the country’s borders.

Acknowledging human rights violations, holding people accountable and reforming the Tatmadaw is “the only way forward,” according to FFM member

Radhika Coomaraswamy who said that “the repatriation of refugees remains remote unless and until the Myanmar Government takes concrete measures to provide conditions that are conducive for voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable return, including full and equal inclusion in Myanmar society”.

However, team member Christopher Sidoti emphasized that the FFM “has seen no evidence” that the Government is acting in good faith, saying: “The situation demands an increase in international pressure”.

The Independent Investigative Mechanism is not the only body laying the ground for future prosecution. The International Criminal Court is conducting its own examination and discussions are also taking place about the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice under the Genocide Convention. The FFM has also called on national courts to exercise jurisdiction and prosecute alleged perpetrators.

Link camp closures

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

to ‘improvements in freedom’ Meanwhile, after a six-day mission to Myanmar, UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Ursula Mueller underscored the need for sustained humanitarian assistance and protection for the country’s vulnerable, crisis-affected people.

Noting the Government’s work in developing a national plan to find solutions for the more than 270,000 internally displaced people across Myanmar, she emphasized: “It is critical that the strategy be implemented in a way that addresses the root causes of displacement”.

“The closure of camps must be linked to improvements in freedom of movement and access to services and job opportunities”, she spelled out, calling on the authorities to work with all partners and the affected people themselves to find durable solutions that protect the rights of displaced people to voluntarily return home in safety and in dignity or to resettle some other place of their choosing.

Source: UN News, 14 May, 2019.

south asia 22 South Asia Timestimes

SOUTH ASIA

MAY 2019

Pakistan’s battle against climate change

By Mushahid Hussain*

i

SLAMABAD, Apr 17 2019 (IPS) - Pakistan, which has been listed as the 7th most vulnerable country affected by climate change, is now seriously tackling the vagaries of weather, both at the official as well as nonofficial level.

Pursuant to an initiative launched by the Pakistan Parliament’s Upper House, the Senate, which specially entrusted a sub-Committee of the Standing Committee on Climate Change to focus on “Green and Clean” Islamabad, media, civil society and students have taken up the cudgels on combating climate change.

On April 10, over 500 students and faculty of one of the prominent universities of Islamabad, COMSATS, launched the “Say No to Plastics” campaign which includes distribution of flyers underlining hazards of plastics use, backed by a door-to-door awareness campaign as well as cautioning against plastic littering.

This is just one component of the campaign against environmental degradation in Pakistan, the seeds of which were planted in 2014 when a similar Senate subCommittee declared the “Right to a clean, green and healthy environment” as a fundamental Human Right. That sub-Committee also published Pakistan’s first Media Manual on Environmental Degradation and Climate Change.

This was the outcome of the first-ever Public Hearings on environment and climate change in Pakistan’s parliament which incidentally is the first Green Parliament in the world since it is powered by solar panels, a gift from China.

According to experts, Pakistan has faced around 150 freak weather incidents as a result of climate change in the past 20 years: flash floods, smog in winter, forest fires in summer, melting glaciers, freaky heatwaves, landsides, displaced population, etc.

During floods in 2010-11, almost 10% of Pakistan’s population was displaced in 2 provinces, one in the North and another in the South. Last year, the costs of extreme weather as a consequence of climate change, were listed at $ 384 million and in the past 20

years, there has been a cost of almost $ 2 billion to the national economy because of the ravages of climate change. Efforts are being undertaken to mitigate the problem. For instance, some $ 120 million funds have been expended in the country in the past 5 years to arrest forest degradation and to promote tea plantations . There has also an effort to bring about a more eco-friendly energy mix for Pakistan.

Pakistan has an installed capacity of over 30,000 MG of electricity. Out of this, 60% is being generated through imported fuel including furnace oil, coal etc. while 30% is via hydropower, 6% nuclear and only 4% generated on renewable energy. The share of renewable energy would be enhanced to 25% of the total by 2025 and 30% by 2030.

In this context, an interesting conference convened in the last week of March in the picturesque British countryside retreat at Wilton Park, organised by the Climate Parliament, a UK-based body promoting cooperation on climate change among parliamentarians. A large number of parliamentarians from Asian countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Pakistan and Mongolia participated, as well as leading renewable energy experts plus the International Solar Alliance.

Termed as the Green Grids Initiative, the purpose was to discuss and educate the participants on steps that need to be taken for a “renewable-

powered planet”. The focus was also on regional grid interconnectivity so that regions can promote cooperation in renewable energy. An interesting side event to this conference was a comprehensive briefing on promoting “Green Cooking”, since fuels such as wood, charcoal, coal and kerosene are amongst the climate pollutants emitted from traditional rural area cooking in most Third World countries. Globally, up to 25% of black carbon emissions come from household cooking, heating and lighting. In many Asian and African countries, household cooking can account for as much as 60-80% of black carbon emissions. Therefore, the efforts to mitigate the consequences of climate change and environmental degradation also require an easily accessible industrial and technological approach that would make clean cooking accessible to the 3 billion people who live without it.

Among the initiatives for the way forward proposed at the meeting at Wilton Park, was the need for a

special bank for renewable energy similar to the special bank established for infrastructure, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), so that availability of capital serves as an opportunity to promote renewable energy . That would be an incentive for developing countries to promote easily available renewable energy in their energy mix. Another proposal that emerged in the context of South Asia was to implement the already existing SAARC Framework Agreement for Energy, which focuses on electricity, signed by all members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in 2014.

While there are bureaucratic bottlenecks plus issues of capacity and legality, what emerged from the discussion was also the need for the right vision and political will to take this battle for a green economy forward.

Political conflicts serve as an impediment for regional energy cooperation while influential lobbyists like the Oil Lobby serve as a roadblock against renewable energy

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

utilization. For decades, for instance, Pakistan was hostage to imported oil with a whopping bill of $ 20 billion per annum, while little or no effort was undertaken to look at cleaner or cheaper sources of energy. The key role in this context is, therefore, both of parliamentarians in providing the vision and the will as well as media and civil society to promote greater awareness and expose machinations of powerful vested interests.

It is heartening that in the context of Pakistan, there has been accelerated citizen activism like the “Say No to Plastics” campaign. In the past five years, citizens and parliamentarians of Islamabad have gone to the Supreme Court against attempts by builders and the construction lobby to alter the master plan of Islamabad, against the cutting of trees and building of high rises on green areas to benefit the real estate lobby. In both instances, the Supreme Court upheld the citizens plea to preserve, protect and promote a clean and green environment in Pakistan’s Federal Capital, Islamabad, which is relatively young at a little over 50 years, sprawling among the green hills that make it one of the most beautiful capitals of the world. The good thing is that the battle to combat Climate Change has now been taken up by not just the government but the people, civil society, parliamentarians, media and concerned citizens, who have organised themselves for this cause including such proactive group of professional women volunteers who call themselves “Green Force” to lobby on environmental issues, which gives hope that this battle can and will be won in a country that is faced with some of the gravest challenges to its future due to climate change. *Mushahid Hussain was Bureau Chief of the Inter Press Service (IPS) during 1987-1997 & in 2014, he launched the first Public Hearings on Environment & Climate Change in the Pakistan Parliament. As Senator, he chairs the Senate SubCommittee on ‘Green and Clean Islamabad’ which has launched a campaign to ban plastic use in the Pakistani capital.

SOUTH ASIA

MAY 2019

southSouth asia times 23 Asia Times

Coal miners continue to lose lives in Pakistan

c

oal miners in Pakistan continue to lose their lives after getting trapped in landslides, with two more deaths reported on May 9. Identified as Khaliq Dad and Dad Mohammad, the miners were digging deep inside the mine when a portion of it caved in. Earlier on April 10, more coal miners had lost their lives in similar accidents.

The bodies of the miners were later fished out by the rescue team.

Pakistan Central Mines Labor Federation (PCMLF) condemned the incident.

In a statement, the union asked the authorities to take swift measures to end the rampant exploitation of coal workers and to facilitate in the provision of justice and compensation

for the families of those killed in mines.

Recently, the PCMLF had organized a protest rally in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, to press their demand of implementing proper safety measures for coal miners.

On April 10, Abdul Qayyum, Muhammad Anwar, Muhammad Irfan and Kashmir Khan died after an explosion was triggered by the accumulation of poisonous gases in a mine in the Sorange district of Balochistan province, some 625 kilometers from Quetta city.

In another incident on the same day, four miners died in an explosion in the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The incident took place in the town of Darra Adam

Khel. A portion of the mine had caved in, trapping the laborers. A rescue team recovered the bodies of the workers, and saved two others who were inured.

The miserable conditions in mines have led to the death of more than 120 workers in recent months.

According to PCMLF estimates, mine-related accidents kill between 100 to 200 laborers every year in the country.

In January, four miners were killed in a mine blast in the Loralai district of Balochistan. Before that, in December 2018, a blast in the Sharigh mine area in Khost town of Balochistan killed one laborer. Nearly 20 more coal mine workers, along with two rescue team members, died in the Sanjadi area of Quetta in August 2018.

Another four workers died in an explosion in Sanjadi in June 2018. And as many as 23 laborers, most of whom were from a single family, died in two separate incidents in Quetta’s Pir Ismail and Marwah areas.

Coal mining is considered to be more hazardous than hard rock mining because of the nature of the rock strata, leakage or explosion of poisonous gases and coal dust, collapsing of mine stopes, as well as mechanical errors from improper use and malfunctioning of mining equipment. The hazardous conditions are made worse by the neglect of workers’ safety by the mining companies and the state authorities.

According to PCMLF estimates, the coal mining sector employs more than

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

100,000 workers in its 400 coal mines. Miners usually begin work at the age of 13.

By the age of 30, they are forced into unemployment due to chronic respiratory illnesses, tuberculosis, loss of eyesight, injuries, etc. They are often forced to work for over 10 hours a day without adequate safety gear, which is in violation of Pakistan’s labor laws.

In the absence of wellequipped emergency response teams, other workers are usually the first respondents. In most cases, this leads to further casualties. Many workers ‘retire’ under such circumstances, often without pension or unemployment benefits.

Source: Peoples Dispatch, 16 May 2019.

south asia 24 South Asia Timestimes

musings

MAY 2019

The Juggernaut inching to finale - Part 2

By Rashid Sultan

T

he South Asia Times has unearthed more gems in its wanderings since elections were announced.

(In the midst of so much chaos it is difficult to keep up to chronology, so please don’t worry) # Viramgram, near Ahmedabad witnesses clashes between Hindus and Muslims. # S. Ragotham of Deccan Herald says the biggest problem in the country is hatred between Hindus and Muslims and not corruption and unemployment. # Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination papers from Wayanard, Kerala. The Congress claims he is an allIndia political figure. He is also fight from Amethi, his old seat. # Aseemanand, accused in the Samjhauta Express explosion is freed; the judge in his 160 page verdict condemns the NIA for not doing a thorough investigation vis- a- vis the accused. # NAMO TV channel 24/7 is launched, propagating Modi and BJP. It keeps broadcasting even during blackout periods of 48 hours prior to polling. Amit Malwiya, the BJP IT cell chief, tells Indian Express that this channel is owned by NAMO App which is owned by Narendra Modi himself. The Congress complains to the Election Commission (EC) as this is a breach of the Model Code of Conduct. No action has been taken by the EC. # The Wire reports the 35 Muslim families of Bisahada, Daadri, where Mohammad Akhlaque was lynched to death are under fear and duress; nobody in these families wants to speak or willing to be interviewed; there is so much distrust and mistrust between Hindus and Muslims. Akhlaque’s family left long ago. # Amit Shah had declared in the first week of electioneering that if BJP lost, there would be celebrations in Pakistan. Now, Imran Khan tweets that for a resolution of Kashmir, the BJP’s victory is vital as no other nonHindutva party would dare enter into negotiations. Who to believe? # Aditya Nath, the CM of U.P, declares in a public rally in Meerut that the ‘Green Virus’ (read Muslim) of eastern U.P is not needed in the western U.P. Also,

if Muslims have their ‘Ali’, Hindus have their ‘Bajrang Bali’. EC is silent. # Swami Maurya, the Badaun MP exhorts the public to indulge in fake voting if necessary. The EC is silent. # Rajesh Chauhan, the Tihar Jail Superintendent heats a metal OM and imprints on the back shoulder of a Muslim prisoner, Shabbir, to teach him a lesson. Hindutava tattoo! # As a result of complaints to the Supreme Court, the EC is reprimanded and asked to use its power under the electoral commission act.

Awaking to their newly-found powers, the commission bans Aditya Nath, Meneka Gandhi, Azam Khan for periods ranging from 48 to 72 hours from personal electioneering.

But, no action has been taken against Amit Shah, Kalyan Singh and Narendra Modi for inciting hatred and resentment against the minority communities. # Smiriti Irani, one time Minister of Human Resources, responsible for all sorts of educational matters including higher education and universities, who had declared her highest educational qualifications as a B.A in 2004; incomplete B.A in 2009; a graduate from Yale University (USA) in 2014, finally, declares year 12 in 2019. No clarification from either BHP or any action from the Election Commission for earlier lies. # Army jawans thrash an SDM and other election officials on their way to duty for the first phase of elections in Jammu and Kashmir. #Sikhs and Kashmiri Pundits stage a protest in Srinagar against the

treatment meted out to Kashmiri Muslims both inside and outside of Kashmir. They say that they have never been discriminated against by Kashmiri Muslims. # Mahbooba Mufti, former CM of Jammu and Kashmir, claims that Kashmiris were forcibly taken from their homes by military forces to polling booths to cast votes against their wishes. #Pawan Kalyan, a former follower of the BJP, now chief of Jana Sena, claims that he was informed by BJP leaders that there would be war with Pakistan before elections # Narendra Modi exhorts first time voters in Latur to vote for BJP in memory of Pulwama martyrs and Balacot surgical strikes. # Adtya Nath Yogi refers to Modi Sena instead of Indian forces for taking action against Pakistan. # Former three chiefs of the defence forces write to the President against Indian Defence Forces being called Modi Sena. # 66 civil servants write to the EC for not taking action: against Modi for exhorting voters to vote for BJP, for taking military action against Pakistan by Indian Forces (a breach under election model); against Satpal Satti, governor of Himachal Pradesh for inciting hatred against minority communities; against Kalyan Singh, a governor, for appealing for votes for the BJP and against NaMo, 24/7 channel propagandising the BJP even during blackout periods before polling; against BJP president of Kerala telling his rally how to identify Muslims (by forcing them to take their clothes off). Election Commission is silent

# An official of Neeti Ayog, Pinky Kapoor, writes to officials in Gondia, wardha and Latur to provide local inputs of these towns before Modi’s rallies.

They, obediently, follow instructions. Evidence provided by Shoaib Daniyal (Scroll.in) on NDTV. Congress lodges complaint as, politicians cannot avail of services from public servants when the government is in a caretaker mode. Election Commission is silent so far # Pragya Singh Thakur (self-procaimed Sadhavi), famous for her vitriol against Muslims, gets a ticket from the BJP to contest election, from Bhopal. She was in jail for 9 years on charges in Malegaon’s Hindu Terror case; on bail, now, for cancer treatment. Must be the first in any democracy, to allow a terrorist suspect to fight elections. # In her first public rally she declares it was her personal curse which got killed Hemant Karkare, the chief of ATS Maharashtra during Mumbai’s siege by terrorists on November 26, 2008. Election Commission is silent. # she also admits that she climbed the dome of the Babri Masjid in 1992 with tools in her hands, and played her role in the demolition of the mosque.

Election Commission is silent. # The Chhatisgarh Chief Minister tells reporters that she was also involved in a stabbing case 19 years ago.

Election Commission is silent. # We all know that during electioneering most IAS officers, like DMs and ADMs become observers of the Election Commission and perform election duties.

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

One of the duties involves searching vehicles, air planes and helicopters of politicians when they arrive to address election rallies. No politician is exempt. Recently, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Sambalpur, Odisha, his helicopter was also examined, as a routine.

The PM was not happy and so an IAS officer, Mohammad Mohsin, who himself was not present at the helipad has been suspended. Reason?

The PM enjoys SPG security (the highest level security), so he was exempt from this search. #Ahmad Patel, the veteran Congress leader comes out with a statement that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, both on SPG security Levels, are routinely searched when their helicopters or vehicles reach destinations. # Even the incumbent chief minister of Odisha, Navin Patnaik is not exempt when he arrives to address election rallies in his own state. # A video has gone viral where a large black box is being taken out of the PM’s car and being transferred to a white car across the road and this car speeds away with the load. Election Commission is silent. # Akhilesh Yadav, Chandra Babu Naidu, AAP and the Congress have again complained against the use of EVMs at the ballot box citing USA and other European countries who have either never used them or discarded them after finding that they are not fool proof. # Princeton University, USA, has proved that these machines are easy to be hacked and Russia may already be on way to hacking Indian Elections as they did during Donald Trump’s elections in 2016. # After another reprimand of the Supreme Court, the EC, finally acted on 10 Complaints against Narendra Modi for breaches during electioneering, after 21 days, must be a record in a democracy, and gave a clean chit to the Prime Minister. # former chief election commissioner Y R Quraishi says the main reason of inaction on the part of the election commission is that the current two commissioners were handpicked by Narendra Modi and thus lack the security of their tenure; they are fearful of taking action against the PM or Amit Shah.

BUSINESS

MAY 2019

southSouth asia times 25 Asia Times

$16.5 billion Aussie mining project: Adani Australia blames anti-coal crusaders, officials for delay

By Our Representative

i

ndia’s powerful industrial house, Adani Group, is said to be terribly upset over what it calls further delaying tactics adopted by the Queensland government in finalizing an ecosystem management plan for groundwater management and an environment plan to protect an endangered bird species, black-throated finch, for kick-starting its controversial 16.5-billiondollar coalmining project in Australia. The project has been languishing for a decade due to environmental hurdles.

In a sharply-worded statement, Adani Mining, Australia, a subsidiary of the industrial house known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has said, “Queensland’s Department of Environment and Science (DES) is seeking to further delay finalisation of the Carmichael project’s Groundwater Dependent Ecosystem Management Plan (GDEMP), by once again engaging in a secretive and nontransparent additional review process.”

Pointing out that “this is at odds with the department’s previous commitments and smacks of the type of tactics it has employed” the statement says, there is also an effort to “delay and frustrate signoff of the Black-Throated Finch Management Plan”.

Stating that this suggests the department “now intends to renege on its February commitment to no further reviews”, the statement says, this shows, DES officials have “shifted the goalposts once again.”

Pointing out that the DES is seeking “another round of information and assessment from Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and Geoscience Australia, despite previously ruling this out”, the statement quotes Adani Mining CEO Lucas Dow as saying that the department’s latest move is a “delay tactic designed to stop construction of the Carmichael Project and

the delivery of thousands of jobs for regional Queenslanders”.

Even as maintaining that the Adani Group has “already invested $3.3 billion into the Queensland economy” and “we are not going away”, Dow feared, “We are now facing prospect of another tortuous and never-ending management plan approval process like the one we have endured for the blackthroated finch. It appears this process will again go beyond the scope of what our project is required to deliver under regulatory conditions.”

Dow said, “The manner in which our plans are now being assessed by the Queensland Labour government has gone well beyond the legitimacy of the science”, adding, “Considering DES has already been reviewing the water management plans for more than two years, across 11 versions, and had access to CSIRO and Geoscience Australia’s assessments, the requirement for further information and delays at this point is not just

extraordinary, it is an injustice through process.”

“We are 1 of 125 coal mining companies in Australia. We should all be subject to the same legislation, regulations, approval processes and standards,” Dow continued.

“In the past six months alone we have seen the Queensland Labour government insist on additional review processes headed by individuals who lead organisations with members who harbour anticoal sentiments.”

“They have even labelled us bullies, all because we have publicly held them to account for their behaviour and asked to be treated fairly and on the same terms as other Queensland coal companies,” Dow stressed.

“Adani Mining first submitted the BlackThroated Finch Management Plan to the Queensland Government for approval on May 11, 2017”, and “over the past two years, seven versions of the plan have been submitted to the Queensland Department of Environment and Science,

consisting of more than 1,000 pages of advice that have been assessed and verified by more than 10 different scientists, five environmental consultancy groups and even a Land Court judge.”

In its statement, Adani Mining quotes an independent ecologist of the Biodiversity Assessment and Management Pty Ltd, hired by it, to say: “Overall, I view the Black-Throated Finch Management Plan (BTFMP) as having been compiled in line with and meeting the imposed EA conditions.

The plan is responsive, contemporary and suitable for the required purpose. The BTFMP has been approved by the Department of Environment and Energy. I have not identified any reason which would justify DES to not endorse the BTFMP version 7b. It is better to have a single plan approved by both levels of government than separate versions of the same plan. The adaptive management approach provides for ongoing adaption and adoption

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

of recognised areas for improvement.”

Apprehending that it is not sure whether the new process of going ahead with finalizing its new eco management plan would succeed, Dow said, “We are not going to be pigheaded about it and we are working through the latest round of requested changes for the Black-Throated Finch Management Plan as urgently as possible in order to move forward, however department officials have refused to commit to a timeframe to finalise the plan, even if we were to accept the State’s new round of requests in full.”

“At some point, the Queensland Labor Government will need to show some courage and face regional Queenslanders with a decision on these outstanding management plans, ultimately deciding whether they will allow thousands of jobs to be delivered to the parts of our State that need it most”, he underlined.

Source: Counterview, 13 May, 2019.

south asia 26 South Asia Timestimes

ENVIRONMENT

MAY 2019

Nature at its most perilous state ever, says IPBES Global Assessment Report

a

ccording to the report, the only way ahead is transformative changes to economic, political and social systems that must be adopted by the countries of the world “What is at stake here is a liveable world,” says Robert Watson, who chaired the landmark assessment done by Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IBPES) on the state of global biodiversity and ecosystems. What worries Watson is the finding which says that nature is at the most perilous point in human history and its decline is accelerating.

The way out, according to the report, is transformative changes to economic, political and social systems that have to be adopted by the world’s nations. Only then can the agreed global targets for nature conservation be

met. Alexandre Antonelli, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, UK, said in a statement, “The report confirms that we can’t just preserve, we must reverse the trend by increasing biodiversity locally, regionally and globally”.

The Assessment Report The massive report, was approved at the 7th session of the IPBES Plenary that was held between April 29 and May4 in Paris. The IBPES which is based in Bonn, Germany, includes representatives from more than 100 countries, and more than 450 experts from around the world were involved in drafting the 1,800-page report which took 3 years.

The team preparing the assessment reviewed some 15,000 scientific papers and also researched other sources of data on trends in biodiversity and its ability to provide people everything

from food and fiber to clean water and air—that is the ecosystem services.

The report noted that out of 8 million known species of animals and plants, almost 1 million are under threat of getting extinct and this includes more than 40% of amphibian species and almost a third of marine mammals.

Since 1900, native species have, on an average, become about 20% less abundant.

The extent and conditions of natural ecosystems have declined by 47% since the earliest estimates and many of these are deteriorating at an alarming rate of 4% every decade.

The other metrics of the decline of nature that have been highlighted in the report are: Human activities have severely altered 75% of the land.

Between 1980 and 2000, over one hundred million

hectares of tropical forest have been destroyed.

Crops and livestock demand 75% of freshwater and more than a third of land.

Wetlands are being destroyed at a rate that is three times faster than the forests.

Pollution caused by plastic has increased tenfold since 1980, and more alarmingly, 300 million to 400 million tons of industrial waste is being dumped every year.

Causes of Damage The report, for the first time at a global scale has ranked the causes of damage. Changes in land use, principally agriculture, which have destroyed habitat, tops the list. In the second position comes hunting and other kinds of exploitation that have also caused major destruction, followed by climate change, pollution, invasive species that are spread by trade and other activities. Climate change, according to the authors, would overtake the other threats in the coming decades.

The report includes activities of indigenous and local communities. It says that, importantly, lands managed by indigenous www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

people are declining less quickly than elsewhere.

This new report is the first global assessment of the state of nature since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005.

Experts in ecosystem and biodiversity hope that the new report would be more impactful as the report involves governments of different countries and the report was asked for by these governments.

The report warns that it is only transformative measures that could start reversing the scenario. The transformative changes would involve a wide array of activities that include land restoration, preventing soil erosion, widely enforced limits on fishing, etc. In a nutshell, reversing the trend would require a shift to a more sustainable global economy.

The report also forsees a pushback in promoting such transformative changes, as those having vested interests in the status quo would oppose in initiating any such measures. To tackle this, IPBES plans to examine the ways to achieve such transformative changes in its next round of work.

Source: Peoples Dispatch, May 12, 2019.

HEALTH

MAY 2019

southSouth asia times 27 Asia Times

HALT THE SALT: Australia’s first salt reduction guide for manufacturers launched

By SAT News Desk

M

ELBOURNE: Australia’s first salt reformulation guide for food manufacturers will be launched today by the Heart Foundation and VicHealth to help reduce the high salt intake in Australian diets.

A recent consumer study found 47 per cent of people surveyed were very concerned about the amount of salt in food and a whopping 90 per cent knew that salt was bad for their health.

Reformulation Readiness: A best practice guide to salt reduction for Australia food manufacturers supports reduction of salt (sodium) in processed and packaged products. It guides manufacturers through the reformulation process with information on checking nutritional composition, completing competitor benchmarking, establishing salt targets and timeframes, product improvement and testing.

Leading nutritionist, reformulation expert and guide author, Vanessa Clarkson, said this new guide is particularly useful for small-to-medium food manufacturers.

“The food industry is constantly evolving to meet consumer demand, which increasingly is calling out for healthier choices,” Ms Clarkson said.

“Food manufacturers looking to reduce salt in their products will find this guide a useful starting point for their reformulation journey. By working collectively and over time to reduce salt in the food supply, consumers’ palates will adapt to lower amounts and together we can have a big impact on public health.”

Heart Foundation CEO Victoria Kellie-Ann Jolly welcomed the guide as timely with the Federal Government’s work to develop voluntary salt reformulation targets nearing finalisation.

“Our Reformulation Readiness guide provides a handy roadmap

for Australia’s food manufacturers to embark on their salt reformulation journey. As we approach the Federal election, we encourage the incoming Government to announce voluntary salt targets in the near future,” Ms Jolly said.

“Excess salt consumption can lead to high blood pressure, yet Australians are consuming nearly double the recommended daily salt intake of less than a teaspoon. One in three Australians suffer high blood pressure, which puts them at risk for heart attack, stroke and kidney disease.

“The biggest contributor of salt in our diets is through processed and

packaged foods, so it’s easy for people to consume too much salt without realising it.

“Through our Unpack the Salt campaign we’ve sought to educate consumers while working with manufacturers and the Federal Government to adopt a population-wide approach to reducing salt in processed food and setting voluntary targets in key food categories.”

VicHealth Acting CEO Dr Lyn Roberts AO said salt reformulation strategies are a “best buy” for improving Australia’s health.

“Australian manufacturers are making some progress with salt reduction but overall we

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

are lagging. The UK has one of the lowest salt intakes of any developed country and this has been achieved through a robust and effective reformulation program,” Dr Roberts said.

“They have seen a 15 per cent reduction in the average population salt intake across a decade.

Estimates suggest this has prevented more than 9000 premature deaths a year.

“It’s time to get reformulation ready and reduce salt in processed foods. We know consumers’ taste preferences for salt are heavily influenced by the saltiness of our food supply.

“This guide is about supporting food manufacturers to work towards voluntary salt targets, backed by strong Government leadership.

“The responsibility doesn’t just rest with the food industry alone, we need to work together – government, food manufacturers, public health bodies – to reduce salt in our food supply.”

Food manufacturers can find salt reformulation information and resources including Victoria Salt Reduction Innovative Grants up to $25,000 which are currently open and available for small-to-medium food manufacturers to apply.

Visit unpackthesalt.com. au/salt-reformulation-inaustralia Source: Heart Foundation, 3 May 2019.

south asia 28 South Asia Timestimes

MEDIA

MAY 2019

The public's right to know

t

he foreword to the MEAA report into the state of press freedom in Australia in 2019

by Paul Murphy, MEAA chief executive.

The public’s right to know is a key tenet of a healthy, functioning democracy — and it is one of the responsibilities of open and transparent government. It’s also a cornerstone principle of journalism.

Increasingly, however, governments are denying that essential democratic ingredient. More and more, they are looking to operate in secret, shroud their activities and suppress all the information about them, discourage freedom of information searches, pursue and punish whistleblowers and place barriers in the way of journalists seeking to tell the truth of what governments are doing in our name.

In Australia, waves of new laws are passed in the name of “national security” but are really designed to intimidate the media, hunt down whistleblowers, and lock-up information. We saw it when attempts to control asylum seeker boats sailing to Australia, a customs and immigration issue, became militarised as Operation Sovereign Borders.

Suddenly the Navy was conscripted into “protecting” our borders from leaking sailing vessels and handfuls of pitiful refugees fleeing persecution, terror and war.

Immigration officers became black-uniformed troopers in the newly named “Border Force”. And even though the high-ranking Defence Force officer held regular press conferences, little was ever said because the militarisation of immigration activities meant the military could simply cloak everything as “on-water matters” — refusing to say anything in order to defend national security. And so the public was kept in the dark.

What began with a muzzle regarding “on-water matters” soon extended to asylum seeker detention centres on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and on Nauru. The governments of those countries wouldn’t comment on what took place in the Australian taxpayerfunded centres and news laws were implemented to punish any workers or aid agencies or their contracted organisations from talking openly about what they saw there. Journalists were refused access to the centres and their detained inmates.

Some refugees have managed to bypass the bans. MEAA is proud to have worked with Behrouz

Boochani, a Kurdish journalist and refugee from Iran, who has determinedly produced outstanding and award-winning journalism from Manus. MEAA remains concerned that Behrouz’s courageous reporting, including his recent prizewinning book, places him in danger which is why we are campaigning to #FreeBehrouz so that he can resettle in safety in Australia. MEAA does so with the aim to bring more attention to all who are subject to Australia’s immigration detention regime and ensuring the public’s right to know.

Australia’s national security assault on press freedom has also worked to criminalise legitimate journalism in the public interest. The various tranches of national security legislation unleashed by the government in recent years, when applied to journalists and their journalism, clearly have little to do with protecting the nation and more with making sure the public is kept in the dark. Prison terms for reporting on the activities of government agencies and for handling certain information are now enshrined in law.

And journalists’ sources continue to be targeted.

While new laws seek to provide some whistleblowers with protection, and only when placed under certain conditions and in defined circumstances, government is also willing to hound whistleblowers in court.

The court actions mounted against Witness K and lawyer Bernard Collaery for revealing events that took place 14 years earlier, the threat of 161 years in prison being faced by Richard Boyle and the charges against former Defence Force lawyer David McBride all demonstrate that even when whistleblowers have told their stories to journalists and the public finally learns the truth, the truth tellers will still be pursued and punished.

Meanwhile, the government continues to equip itself

with new weapons in the attack on whistleblowers.

Having used the metadata laws to capture everyone’s telecommunications data, Journalist Information Warrants allow at least 21 government agencies to secretly access journalists’ and media organisations’ data for the stated purpose of identifying a journalist’s confidential source — thus placing the journalist in breach of their ethical obligation to protect the source’s identity.

The government has now embarked on new laws to decrypt encrypted communications. Again, the claim is made that this is in the name of national security but the government’s powers could put journalists at risk should sensitive, and potentially damaging, information land in their hands. The backdoor mechanism to break encrypted communications weakens the overarching system of encryption, creating a loophole that could easily be targeted by hackers and online criminals, and risk the safety of journalists.

The hasty response to the Christchurch shooting also demonstrates the government’s ill-thoughtthrough use of badly drafted legislation. The Criminal Code Amendment (Sharing of Abhorrent Violent Material) Bill 2019 has led to concerns about the lack of defences for individuals who may be whistleblowers or media companies who are publishing atrocities that they are trying to draw to the world’s attention. The law means whistleblowers may no longer be able to deploy social media to shine a light on atrocities or raise awareness of human rights abuses.

Journalism is being criminalised and whistleblowers who seek to expose wrongdoing are being punished — all for having the temerity to aid in the public’s right to know.

Overseas issues continue

to challenge press freedom everywhere. It is not such a great leap for powerful people to dismiss news stories they don’t like as being “fake news” to declaring journalists and media outlets “enemies of the people”. From there it is a simple step for governments to arrest journalists, shut down media outlets or silence journalists forever.

The past year has also seen the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Istanbul.

The brutality of the killing and the failure of governments to react (claiming that their trade deals with the Riyadh regime are worth more than a journalist’s life) prove that government continue to provide impunity for the killing of journalists.

The relentless harassment of Filipino editor Maria Ressa, a Time magazine person of the year; Myanmar’s imprisonment of two Reuters correspondents for investigating a massacre of Rohingya men; the jailing of 68 journalists in Turkey and 47 in China — all these are indicators that show that governments will do almost anything to muzzle the media.

Closer to home, the trolling, abuse and harassment of journalists online continues to be a concern. Journalists are increasingly required to maintain and online social media presence to, in part, promote their own work and that of their colleagues and employers. Too often, the response from others is hate speech and threats of violence. More needs to be done to ensure the laws that should protect people from being menaced or harassed by someone using the internet or telephone are fully enforced.

This issue, together with the case of a former Age journalist being awarded $180,000 in damages for posttraumatic stress, anxiety and depression, also signal that media employers must do much more to look after the welfare, health and safety of their journalist employees.

This year marks a decade since the 2009 Ampatuan Massacre in the Philippines — the single greatest atrocity against journalists — where 58 people were killed, among them 32 media workers. The massacre happened because the Philippines was already mired in impunity over journalists killings — when one murder goes unpunished, the killers must have thought, would anyone really protest the murder of 32? They are almost right, because a decade on we are still waiting for justice, and dozens of the suspects including senior police and the military are

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

still on the run.

Australia’s own sorry toll of nine journalists killed with impunity continues to scar our history. The failure of successive governments and police to fully investigate these murders and to bring those responsible to justice is damning.

There has been some good news on several long-standing press freedom issues.

In our courts, the principle of open justice is trampled on as jurisdictions across the country issue a barrage of suppression orders. However, the George Pell trials highlighted the suppression order issue — both for why orders are sometimes needed and also why many judges are misusing the system either to punish the media or to placate the powerful — many orders are simply nonsensical and poorly defined. MEAA has long called for suppression orders to be reformed and the Vincent Review of Victoria’s problems and recommendations for solutions points the way.

MEAA has long campaigned for reform of the uniform defamation law regime. It is finally being reviewed after more than 13 years of bloated damages. Powerful people launch defamation actions and win enormous payouts without having to demonstrate they actually have a reputation, let alone one that has been damaged.

The review has raised the question of whether corporations should be allowed to sue — MEAA argues that handing over this kind of power to wealthy businesses will only further erode the public’s right to know.

There are welcome discussions taking place about improving diversity in our newsrooms, in the journalism they produce and the opinions they publish and broadcast. Diversity must reflect the audience the media serves. Gender diversity as well as cultural and religious diversity can only make Australian journalism better.

Locking up information, punishing those who tell the truth and placing as many barriers in the way of information getting out — all these are increasingly tainting Australian democracy. It’s time to push back this tide of secrecy, intimidation and harassment — not least because it is getting dangerously out of control.

The public’s right to know must be upheld and championed by all those that value it.

Read the full report online (https://medium.com/pressfreedom-2019) Source: MEAA, 3 May 2019.

australia

MAY 2019

southSouth asia times 29 Asia Times

Overworked rural doctors call for more staff and workable rosters - AMA survey

BY SAT News Desk

M

ELBOURNE: Rural doctors around the country are crying out for an urgent investment in funding and resources to improve staff levels and hospital facilities in the struggling rural health system, a new survey has found.

The AMA (Australian Medical Association) Rural Health Issues Survey 2019 found that more staff and workable rosters was the most critical priority for improving rural health outcomes as rated by rural doctors, unchanged since the last survey in 2016.

That was followed closely by more trainee doctors in rural areas, and the need for modern hospital facilities and equipment.

“These survey results paint a picture of a struggling system being held together by hard-working and dedicated doctors,” AMA President, Dr Tony Bartone, said.

“All of the groups surveyed – GPs, non-GP

specialists, salaried doctors, doctors in training, and other medical professionals – identified extra funding and resources for staff, including core visiting medical officers (VMOs), to allow workable rosters as their top priority.

“This reflects rural doctors’ long-held concerns about the lack of staffing in rural hospitals, the high workload, and the significant levels of responsibility placed on hospital doctors and VMOs. “Poorly-designed rosters and staff shortages lead to fatigue, and doctors in training often have a significant burden of responsibility placed on them in rural hospitals.

“It’s not surprising that the survey results have barely changed since the last AMA Rural Health Issues Survey in 2016 – because the conditions in rural and remote Australia have barely changed.

“While there have been some positive developments as a result of the 2016 survey, the impact of these

initiatives will not be felt in rural communities for years.

“What is surprising is that rural health has received very little attention from any of the major parties during this Federal election campaign.

“The promised roll out of the National Rural Generalist Pathway by the Coalition is a welcome move and the ALP has committed to developing a National Rural Health Strategy.

However, rural communities are looking for something more immediate.

“It remains inconceivable that millions of Australians who experience higher incidence of the drivers of chronic disease are being overlooked.

“Australians who live in rural and remote areas cities have poorer health outcomes than those who live in cities. They access Medicare at far lower rates than city dwellers, and wait longer to see their GP. “Rural communities have fewer doctors and are finding it increasingly difficult to attract new ones.

“Rural doctors are up against it, and it feels like no-one is paying attention.

“The AMA is calling for immediate funding to improve infrastructure, and to support more doctors to build their lives and careers in rural areas.

“One of the most encouraging outcomes of the Survey is the overwhelming satisfaction that rural doctors gain from their work.

“Rural doctors enjoy treating generations of families, feeling involved in their communities, and tackling a wide range of health conditions.

“Rural doctors love their work – they just need more support to keep doing it.

“It will be up to whoever wins Saturday’s election to ensure that rural doctors and their communities do not continue to be overlooked.”

The AMA Rural Health Issues Survey 2019 is available at https://ama. com.au/2019-ama-ruralhealth-issues-survey

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

Background • The AMA Rural Health Issues Survey of more than 600 rural doctors was conducted during March 2019.

• Survey participants were asked to rate the importance of 31 different proposals, and to provide additional comments or suggestions.

• Rural GPs were the largest group of respondents (32.6 per cent), followed by non-GP specialists in private practice, salaried doctors (17.4 per cent), other doctors including rural generalists, locums and VMOs (16.6 per cent) and doctors in training (14.1 per cent).

• The majority of responders were from New South Wales (30.5 per cent), followed by Queensland (26.1 per cent), Victoria (22.9 per cent), Western Australia (8.4 per cent), Tasmania (6.8 per cent), South Australia (4.2 per cent), Northern Territory (1 per cent), and the ACT (0.2 per cent).

Source: Medianet, AAP.

South Asia Times south asia community cinema 32 South Asia Timestimes

quick community guide Radio GUIDE

www.ekantipur.com/en THE RISING NEPAL: www.nepalnews.com.np

SBS Radio's South Asian

SUNDAY Language Programs Hindi..................................9 am to 10 am – 93.1 FM BANGLA Urdu................................10 am to 11 am – 93.1 FM Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS Radio 2 Tamil...............................11 am to 12 pm – 93.1 FM Melbourne 93.1 FM & SBS Radio 2 Hindi.................................8 pm to 10 pm – 88.3 FM Monday & Saturday Singhalese.......................8 pm to 11 pm –97.7 FM 6-7 PM GUJARATI MONDA Y Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS Radio 2 Hindi....................................3 to 4 pm – 93.1 FM Melbourne 93.1 FM & SBSPm Radio Bengali...............................4 pm to 5 pm – 93.1 FM Wednesday & Friday 4-5 PM Hindi...................................6 pm to 8 pm – 88.3 FM Indian (Fiji)..................................6 pm to 8 pm 88.3 HINDI Punjabi........................1 1 am to 12 Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS Radio 2 noon 92.3 FM Melbourne 93.1 FM & SBS Radio 2

Daily TUESDAY 5 PM Hindi.....................................

6 am to 8 am – 97.7 FM Hindi....................................

2 pm to 4 pm – 97.7 FM kannada Sydney SBS Radio 3

Melbourne SBS Radio 3 WEDNESDAY Tuesday 3-4 PM Hindi.................................... .6 am to 8 am – 97.7 FM Hindi.........................................

12 to 1 pm – 93.1 FM Nepali Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS1Radio 2 12 pm - 92.3 FM Punjabi............................

1 am to Melbourne 93.1 FM & SBS Radio Hindi................................... .8 pm to 92pm – 97.7 FM Saturday & Sunday 4-5 PM

THURSDAY PUNJABI Hindi...............................

5.30 am to 7 am – 97.7 FM Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS Radio 2 9 pm – 92.3 FM Tamil....................................

8 pm to Melbourne 93.1 FM & SBS Radio 2 Sinhalese..........................

Monday & Saturday 1 1 pm to 3 am –92.3 FM Punjabi.............................

9 pm to 10 pm – 93.1 FM 9-10 PM SINHALESE FRIDAY Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS Radio 2 Indian.................................. .8 am to 92am – 88.3 FM Melbourne 93.1 FM & SBS Radio Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri

11AM-12 PM SATURDAY Sinhalese............................ 7 am to 8 am – 92.3 FM TAMIL TSydney amil.....................................

12-12.30 97.7 FM & SBS Radio 2 pm – 88.3 FM Indian....................................

5 am to 62am - 92.3 FM Melbourne 93.1 FM & SBS Radio Sun, Mon, Wed, Sat Punjabi..........................................

12-2 am – 92.3 FM 8-9 PM Indian................................

9 pm to 10 pm – 92.3 FM Punjabi..................................................

11 pm to 1 am urdu Sydney 97.7 FM & SBS Radio24/7 2 Radio stations Melbourne FM & SBS Radio (Subscription) 2 Indian Link93.1 Radio Wednesday & Sunday 18000 15 8 47 6-7 PM Radio Santa Banta (Internet) Santabanta.com.au WORLD NEWS AUSTRALIA RADIO SydneyJhankar 1107AM88.6 & SBSFM; Radio 1 Thursday; 8 to Radio Every Melbourne 1224AM & SBS Radio 1 10 pm; Contact: 94668900 or 0411247320 or Monday & Friday 9404 2111 6-7 am & 6-7 PM

South Asian websiteS India TEHELKA – www.tehelka.com OUTLOOK – www.outlookindia.com FRONTLINE- www.flonnet.com THE HINDU: www.hinduonnet.com TIMES OF INDIA: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com HINDUSTAN TIMES: www.hindustantimes.com Pakistan DAWN: www.dawn.com THE FRIDAY TIMES: www.thefridaytimes.com THE NEWS INTERENATIONAL: www.thenews.com.pk Sri Lanka DAILY MIRROR: www.dailymirror.lk DAILY NEWS: www.dailynews.lk THE ISLAND: www.island.lk Nepal THE HIMALAYAN TIMES: www.thehimalayantimes.com KANTIPUR NATIONAL DAILY:

PLACES OF WORSHIP HINDU Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple 57 Boundary Rd, Carrum Downs, Melbourne, Vic 3201, Ph: 03 9782 0878; Fax: 03 9782 0001 Website: www.hsvshivavishnu.org.au Sri Vakratunda Vinayaka Temple 1292 - 1294, The Mountain Highway, The Basin, Vic 3154, Ph: 03 9792 1835 Melbourne Murugan Temple 17-19 Knight Ave., Sunshine VIC 3020 Ph: 03 9310 9026 Durga Temple (Durga Bhajan Mandali) Neales Road, Rockbank, Vic 3335 Ph: 03 9747 1628 or Mobile: 0401 333 738 Hare Krishna (ISKCON) Temple 197 Danks Street, Middle Park Vic 3206 Ph: (03) 9699 5122 Email: 100237.354@compuserve.com Hare Krishna New Nandagram Rural Community Oak Hill, Dean’s Marsh Rd., Bambra VIC 3241, Ph: (052) 887383 Fax: (052) 887309 Kundrathu Kumaran Temple 139 Gray Court, ROCKBANK Victoria 3335 Ph: 03-9747 1135 or M: 0450 979 023 http://www.kumarantemple.org.au/ Sankat Mochan Temple 1289 A North Road. Huntingdale Morning: 10.30 am – 12.30 pm daily Evening: 4:30 pm – 8.00 pm daily Site: http: www.sankatmochan.org.au Contact: 0427 274 462 Shirdi Sai Sansthan 32 Hailey Avenue, Camberwell Vic 3124;Ph: (03) 9889 2974; Site: shirdisai.net.au Sai Baba Temple, 50 Camberwell Road Aum Sai Sansthan Temple 76 Albert Street (Enter From : Bear Street) MORDIALLOC VIC - 3195 Website : www.aumsai.org.au Contact : 0468 362 644

SIKH BLACKBURN Sri Guru Nanak Satsang Sabha 127 Whitehorse Road, Blackburn VICTORIA 3130, Ph: (03) 9894 1800 CRAIGIEBURN Sri Guru Singh Sabha 344 Hume Highway, Craigieburn VICTORIA 3164 (see map), Ph: (03) 9305 6511 KEYSBOROUGH Gurdwara Sri Guru Granth Sahib 198 -206 Perry Road, Keysborough VICTORIA 3073 (see map) LYNBROOK Nanaksar Taath, 430 Evans Road,

Lynbrook VICTORIA 3975, (03) 9799 1081 HOPPERS CROSSING Sri Guru Nanak Satsang Sabha 417 Sayers Road, Hoppers Crossing VICTORIA 3029, Ph: (03) 9749 2639 WERRIBEE Gurdwara Sahib Werribee 560 Davis Road, Tarneit VICTORIA 3029 PH: (03) 8015 4707 SHEPPARTON Gurdwara Sahib Shepparton 240 Doyles Road, Shepparton VICTORIA 3603 PH: (03) 5821 9309

JAIN Melbourne Shwetambar Jain Sangh Inc 3 Rice Street, Moorabbin, Vic - 3189, Australia. Phone: +61 3 9555 2439 info@melbournejainsangh.org http://www.melbournejainsangh.org

MUSLIM Melbourne West Mosque 66-68 Jeffcott Street, Melbourne Ph: 03 9328 2067 Broadmeadows Mosque 45-55 King Street, Broadmeadows Ph 03 9359 0054 Islamic Call Society 19 Michael Street, Brunswick Ph: 03 9387 7100 Islamic Centre of Australia 660 Sydney Road, Brunswick Ph 03 9385 8423 Australian Islamic Cultural Centre 46-48 Mason Street, Campbellfield Ph: 03 9309 7605 Coburg ISNA Mosque 995 Sydney Road, Coburg North Coburg Mosque (Fatih Mosque) 31 Nicholson Street, Coburg Ph 03 9386 5324 Deer Park Mosque 283 Station Road, Deer Park Ph 03 9310 8811 United Migrant Muslim Assn.

72 George Road, Doncaster Ph 03 9842 6491, Footscray West Mosque 294 Essex Street, Footscray Glenroy Musala 1st Floor, 92 Wheatsheaf Road, Glenroy Heidelberg Mosque Corner Lloyd & Elloits Streets, West Heidelberg Islamic College of Victoria (Mosque) 201 Sayers Road, Hoppers Crossing Ph 03 9369 6010 Huntingdale Mosque 320-324 Huntingdale Road, Huntingdale Ph 03 9543 8037 Al Nur Mosque 34-36 Studley Street, Maidstone Meadow Heights Mosque Hudson Circuit, Meadow Heights Springvale Mosque 68 Garnworthy Street, Springvale

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

MAY 2019

EMERGENCY CONTACTS EMERGENCY CONTACTS Police, Fire & Abulance ........................

000 Victoria State Emergency Service (SES).......................................

132 500 Traffic hazards and freeway conditions..........................

13 11 70 Gas escape...........................................

132 771 Poisons information........................

13 11 26 Maternal and Child Line................

13 22 29 Parentline...........................................

13 22 89 Kids Help Line.........................

1800 551 800 Lifeline (provides confidential telephone counselling).................

13 11 14 Suicide Help Line....................

1300 651 251 Animal Emergencies..................

9224 2222

INDIAN CONSULATE Indian Consulate Address: 344, St. Kilda Road, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia P.O. Box No: 33247 Domain LPO Vic 3004 Consular Enquiries: +61-3-9682 5800 (9.30am-12.30noon only) General Enquiries (other than Consular): +61-3- 9682 7836 Fax No:+ 61-3- 9696 8251 Email: consular@cgimelb.org Web site: www.cgimelb.org Indian Consulate Consular services are handled by VFS Global Visa / Passport / PCC / IDLV / PIO / OCI services contact VFS +61 2 8223 9909.

Address: Part 4 Suite, Level 12, 55 Swanston Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 Site : www.vfsglobal.com/india/australia/ Services handled by Indian Consulate Melbourne itself: OCI Misc. services, Registration of Birth, Birth Certificate, Renunciation of Indian Citizenship, Surrender of Indian Passport, New Passport Details on PIO, Transfer of Valid Visas, Marriage Certificate, Affidavit for Applying Child’s Passport in India, Documents Attestation.)

Student Welfare Officer in the Indian Consulate Melbourne Consulate General of India, Melbourne Address: 344, St. Kilda Road, Melbourne, VIC – 3000 Phone: 03-96826203 Fax: 03-96968251 Email: cgo@cgimelb.org Website: www.cgimelb.orgExternal website that opens in a new window Contact person for Students welfare: Mr. Nirmal K. Chawdhary Designation: Deputy Consul General Mobile: 0430020828

HIGH COMMISSION FOR PAKISTAN,CANBERRA 4 Timbarra Crescent, O’Malley ACT 2606 (Australia), Tel: 61-2-62901676, 61-2-62901676, 62902769, 62901879 & 62901031, Fax: 61-262901073 Email: parepcanberra@internode. on.net, Postal Address: PO Box 684, Mawson ACT 2607 (Australia)

southSouth asia times 33 Asia Times

quick community guide VIEW POINT

South Asia Times

MAY 2019

contd from previous page Suite 536, No 1 Queens Road,

Sri Lanka Consulate Melbourne VIC 3004 Telephone: +61 3 9290 4200 Fax: +61 3 9867 4873 Email:mail@slcgmel.org Web: http://www.slcgmel.org

Bangladesh High Commission, Canberra 43, Culgoa Circuit, O’Malley, ACT-2606 Canberra, Australia, Ph: (61-2) 6290-0511, (61-2) 6290-0522, (61-2)6290-0533 (Auto hunting).

Fax : (61-2) 6290-0544 E-Mail :hoc@bhcanberra.com

Consulate of Nepal, Melbourne Email: cyonzon@nepalconsulate.net.au Level 7, 28-32 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, Ph: (03) 9650 8338 Email: info@nepalconsulate.net.au

TV GUIDE SBS1 – Daily NDTV News - 11:05 am - Monday to Saturday. (From New Delhi, India).

Urdu news SBS1 - PTV News – 9.30 am - Every Sunday – (From Pakistan).

SOUTH ASIAN Garments Roshan’s Fashions 68-71 Foster Street, Dandenong, Vic 3175 Ph: (03) 9792 5688

Vic 3175, Ph: (03) 9791 9227 Site: heritageindia.net.au

DVDs, Music CDs & Film Stuff Baba Home Entertainment 52C Foster St., Dandenong 3175, (03) 97067252

Travel Agents Gaura Travels 1300 FLY INDIA or 1300 359 463 info@gauratravel.com.au Travel House 284 Clayton Road, Clayton 3168 Ph: (03) 95435123, Mobile: 0425803071 mail@travelhouse.com.au

lAWYERS MLG Lawyers Ronny Randhawa 144 Sydney Road, Coburg Vic Ph 9386 0204 & 138 Walker Street, Dandenong Vic Ph: 9793 9917 Mobile : 0402 256 712 Vera Lawyers Kusum Vaghela Level 1, Suite 2, 373 Lonsdale Street, Dandenong Vic, Mobile: 0433 827 124

Jewellery Bhadra Laxman Jewellers 22ct Gold Jewellery / Silver Pooja (03) 9846 7661

Raj Rani Creations 83-A Foster Street, Dandenong, Vic 3175 Ph: (03) 9794 9398 desi estyle 76 Foster St., Dandenong 3175 (03) 87744853; 0413707685 Heritage India 54-56 Foster Street, Dandenong,

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

south asia 34 South Asia Timestimes

sports Cricket Australia announces 2019-20 International Schedule

MAY 2019

28 matches of international cricket across the 2019-20 season, in addition to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup

By SAT Sports Desk Summer of Cricket Highlights Five nations will tour Australia this summer, in addition to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. Sri Lanka will tour across men’s and women’s, while the Australian Women’s Cricket Team will also play India and England, and the Australian Men’s Cricket Team will also take on Pakistan and New Zealand.

International cricket will be played at 10 venues: Adelaide Oval, Allan Border Field, Blundstone Arena, The Gabba, Junction Oval, North Sydney Oval, Manuka Oval, MCG, Perth Stadium and SCG. 28 matches of international cricket across the 2019-20 season, in addition to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup The Domain Test between Australia and Pakistan at The Gabba is the first time teams compete for the ICC Test Championship points on Australian soil.

The biggest ever season for women’s cricket in Australia will culminate with the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Final at the MCG on International Women’s Day on March 8 The summer of cricket will again be aired via Cricket Australia’s broadcast partners Fox Cricket, the Seven Network and Kayo Sports.

Women’s International The summer of cricket will begin with T20 World Champion Australia competing against Sri Lanka in three Commonwealth Bank T20 Internationals at North Sydney Oval and three Commonwealth Bank One-Day Internationals at Allan Border Field in Brisbane.

The three top ranked teams in the world – Australia, England and India – will compete in the Commonwealth Bank T20 INTL Tri Series in January ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup starting February 21 to March 8.

Manuka Oval and Junction Oval to host Tri Series matches as well as ICC Women’s T20 World Cup matches.

Men’s International Gillette T20 INTL Series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan to open the men’s

season in preparation for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2020.

The Gabba will host the first Domain Test of the summer between Australia and Pakistan in November.

Day-night cricket will return to Adelaide, with the Adelaide Oval hosting the second and final Test against Pakistan.

Perth Stadium will play host to day-night cricket for the first time r, opening the Domain Test Series between Australia and New Zealand which features the first Boxing Day Test in more than 30 years for the Trans-Tasman rivals.

The SCG will host the 12th Domain Pink Test and the final Test against New Zealand.

New Zealand will return to Australian shores in March for the retro inspired Gillette ODI Series in Sydney and Hobart.

2019-20 International Schedule The full schedule can be viewed here: www.cricket. com.au/fixtures Ticketing information Public tickets for all International matches on sale from May 23 Tickets to the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 are available now: t20worldcup. com Speaking on the 201920 International Schedule,

Cricket Australia Head of Cricket Operations Peter Roach said: “The 2019-20 International schedule offers a great breadth of elite men’s and women’s cricket.”

“There are many considerations when forming the schedule, but paramount is ensuring we have a schedule that offers great cricket for our fans.

“The Pakistan and New Zealand Tests will be the first matches played in Australia for ICC Test Championship points. The ICC Test Championship will give Test cricket greater context and make every match count with nine countries participating for the 2019-2021 title.

“The ODI Series against New Zealand will also be significant as the last set of ODIs played at home before the ODI League begins in 2020. This League will

serve as the part of the qualification process for the 2023 Cricket World Cup. “The ODIs will be played in March, beginning after the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Final.

“Scheduling international cricket is challenging in that nine of the ten major cricketing countries have seasons similar to ours, so working with them to find space in the calendar to fulfil our obligations to the ICC Future Tours Program is a juggling act.

“The long-range Future Tours Program had three separate limited-overs series scheduled between India, New Zealand and Australia.

When the countries started working through the detail, it was clear that there was not enough space for each series at the proposed times.

“Cricket Australia took the position that while

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

January was our preference for these ODI matches, there are times we need to honor our commitments to work in the greater context of international cricket scheduling.

“We evaluated different options for an alternative and saw the most value in the March opportunity to extend our window in the traditional cricket season.

“We’re excited about the amount of elite international cricket on home soil in 2092020, with the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and the final on March 8 providing an excellent platform to lead into the ODI Series which commences on March 13.

“The three top ranked women’s teams in the world – Australia, England and India – will compete in the Commonwealth Bank T20 INTL Tri Series in January, with the series rounding out the teams’ ICC Women’s T20 World Cup preparations.

“Pakistan is the number one ranked team for T20 Internationals and will offer great preparation for our men to test themselves against the best in the lead up to the 2020 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia.

“New Zealand hasn’t played on the big stage of Boxing Day for more than 30 years but is currently the number two ranked Test nation which will be a great challenge and provide plenty to play for.”

Also speaking on the 2019-20 International Schedule, Cricket Australia Executive General Manager Fan Engagement Anthony Everard said: “Cricket is such a unique sport which provides us with the opportunity to experience different cultures, different opposition and different players, something we’re very grateful for."

“It’s going to be a massive international season of cricket, with five countries represented across men’s and women’s with matches being played at 10 different venues across the country.

“There are a number of standout features for our fans, including the return of New Zealand to the Boxing Day Test and the first daynight Test at Perth Stadium, along with return of daynight cricket to the Adelaide Oval."

Source: Cricket Australia Communications.

southSouth asia times 35 Asia Times

MAY 2019

Australian Cricket level enhanced with improved player behaviour

By SAT Sports Desk

M

ELBOURNE, May 9: Cricket Australia Chair, Earl Eddings, has commended significantly improved player behaviour, highlighting important cultural change taking place across Australian cricket.

As national players across the country prepare for the ICC Men’s World Cup and men’s and women’s Ashes series, Mr Eddings said Australians should have confidence that positive changes are being made which will enhance Australian cricket at all levels.

“After the events of Cape Town, and through the renewed leadership of Cricket Australia, we have quite rightly turned the spotlight onto each and every aspect of Cricket Australia to ensure positive change is reflected both on and off the field,” he said.

Mr Eddings pointed to the substantial reduction in code of conduct charges recorded this past season as a key indicator of the players’ renewed respect for the game and its millions of fans.

“Everyone in Australian cricket is well aware that it’s not just winning that counts, but how we play the game, and the players have certainly embraced that spirit,” Mr Eddings said.

“While we can talk about the cultural change program underway, ultimately, we will be judged by our actions on and off the field.

“With a stronger focus on values and behaviour, this past season saw a 74 per cent decrease in code of conduct charges from the national teams through to our national championships for country and indigenous teams.

“In particular, it is a credit to the leadership of Interim Executive General Manager of Team Performance Belinda Clark, National Men’s Coach Justin Langer and the Australian Men’s Team to see zero code of conduct charges for the first time since 2011/12.”

Other code of conduct results included: A 71 per cent reduction in charges for domestic women’s competitions; A 43 per cent reduction in charges for domestic men’s competitions, even with the extended KFC Big Bash League season; A 95 per cent reduction in charges at an underage national championship level; and Zero code of conduct charges in the Toyota Australian Country Cricket Championships and National Indigenous Cricket championships, down from eight the previous season.

“I would like to praise the male and female players from national teams, through to domestic competitions, youth and other championships for showing greater respect for the spirit of the game,” Mr Eddings said.

“Pleasingly, umpires report that there was a general improvement in respect for the game and their role, with match officials forming stronger relationships with players and coaches.

“This has been, and needed to be, an all of game response. While there is always room for improvement these are very good signs which demonstrate meaningful change and will have a positive and lasting impact on Australian cricket at all levels.

“Cricket Australia’s purpose is to unite and inspire communities through cricket, and all State and Territory Associations have embraced that purpose in a demonstration of unity at the top levels of cricket.

“This ongoing cultural change program has been subsequently informed by The Ethics Centre review delivered in late 2018, with a number of those recommendations already well progressed before we received the review.

“We will now be working closely with the State and Territory Associations and the Australian Cricketers’ Association to make sure that positive change is happening across all of Australian

Cricket.”

This includes: Acknowledging the important role, the State and Territory Associations play with the CEOs now officially part of the Australian Cricket Leadership Team; Continued strengthening of the alignment across Australian Cricket to deliver on agreed strategic

priorities and resourcing; Considerable training across Australian cricket on being a purpose led sport; leadership development and communication; Open dialogue with employees and training on engagement, overcoming adversity and balancing work and well-being.

Source: Cricket Australia Communications.

Sangeet Sandhya Open forum for music lovers – classical, semi-classical & film music

Saturday 2.2.19 Saturday 6.4.19 Saturday 1.6.19 Saturday 3.8.19 Saturday 5.10.19 Saturday 7.12.19 -

Gia Pndit (vocal) TBA Shraddhanand Reddy (vocal) Hashmat (vocal) Radhey Shyam Gupta (sitar) Shubhangi Pandey (vocal)

Swar Sandhya Open forum for music lovers; Karaoke – Popular Indian Music Bring your own music, perform and enjoy

Saturday 5.1.19 Saturday 4.5.19 Saturday 7.9.19

Saturday 2.3.19 Saturday 6.7.19 Saturday 2.11.19

Venue: Brandon Park Primary School,

Time: 8.00pm

1-5 Ninevah Cr Wheelers Hill Free Entry, with ample parking, Free tea, coffee and biscuits Contact: Phone- 0402 074 208 or 0407 559 113 email- sangeetswarsandhya@gmail.com www.facebook.com/sangeetsandhya

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

south asia 36 South Asia Timestimes sydney film festival

MAY 2019

SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL 05-16 JUNE 2019 Films with an Indian Focus

R

eaders, here is a list of Indian focus films at the Sydney Film Festival with short previews and other details.

The subjects of the feature films and the documentaries are diverse and screening dates and tickets information can be found at the sff.org.au website.

—Editor

The Wedding Guest (Feature Film) • Starring Dev Patel

(Slumdog Millionaire) alongside Indian film and stage actress Radhika Apte; • Directed by Michael Winterbottom (Welcome to Sarajevo)–this propulsive, globetrotting thriller is a breathless tour through the shadowy underworlds and hidden realms of Pakistan and India; • Patel plays a professional contractor whose job is to kidnap a woman on the eve of her

arranged marriage and deliver her to the man she loves; • Language: English Photograph (Feature Film) • Directed by BAFTAnominated filmmaker Ritesh Batra (The Lunchbox); • Stars iconic Indian actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Manto – SFF 2018), and Sanya Malhotra (Dangal); • Pressured to marry by his grandmother,

a struggling street photographer in Mumbai convinces a shy stranger to pose as his fiancée; • Holds the same quiet streak of wistful sentimentality that made The Lunchbox so globally beloved; • Language: English; • Screener Access TBC; • Aus Distributor: Madman.

Reason (Documentary) • Directed by prominent Indian documentarian Anand Patwardhan; • A fearless examination of the current on-going battle between Hindu nationalists and the rest of Indian society, that has put many lives at risk; • Examines huge far right rallies, where fascism is normalized, as well as the rationalists who are leading a growing resistance against them.

Minor History (Documentary) • NYC-based artist Asad Raza presents a portrait of his own uncle Wahid, delving into the thrilling stories of his life across India, Pakistan and eventually the United States; • From 3-19 May, Raza will work with Sydney’s Carriageworks and Kaldor Public Art Projects to create

The Refinery // The Wedding Guest // 01.23.19

042

14 4 5 5 V E N T U R A B LV D // S H E R M A N O A K S C A 9 14 2 3 // T: 8 1 8 . 8 4 3 . 0 0 0 4 // T H E R E F I N E R YC R E AT I V E .C O M PRELIMINARY CONCEPT: may contain elements that have not been cleared for any type of distribution, reproduction, licensing or use.

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

Kaldor Public Art Project 34 – the first time his art will be shown in Australia; • Raza’s previous works famously include Untitled (plot for dialogue), for which Raza installed a tennis-like game in a deconsecrated church in Milan.

• Minor History ponders the nature of history, and proposes: can more be learnt from listening to individuals, rather than reading a sweeping narrative in a book?

Blinded by the Light (Feature Film) • A hybrid music directed by award-winning director Gurinder Chadha (Bend it Like Beckham); • Set in 1987’s England, a Pakistani British teenager discovers the music of Bruce Springsteen, and it jolts him alive and into the world of music; • Inspired by the story of British journalist Sarfraz Manzoor and his avid love of Springsteen, as documented in his 2007 memoir Greetings from Bury Park; • At the London premiere of Springsteen’s 2010 film The Promise, Chadha and Manzoor bumped into Springsteen on the red carpet, where they told excitedly told him about the film they wanted to make – he loved it and granted

asia times sydney film festival southSouth 37 Asia Times

MAY 2019

SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL 05-16 JUNE 2019 Films with an Indian Focus FOUR BRIDES FROM INDIA, AUSTRALIA, TURKEY, AND MEXICO

It all started with a …

PHOTOGRAPH WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY

RITESH BATRA

International sales/distribution contact: Mariposa St Films embaker@mariposastfilms.com +61 402 369 123 them access to his full discography; • Lead role is played by newcomer Viveik Kalra.

I Am No Bird (Documentary) • Debut from Australian Filmmaker Em Baker (Spoke); • Four brides are followed in preparation for their big day from Australia to Turkey, India to Mexico; • Anna, very conservative from Melbourne; • Benay – a kindergarten teacher in Izmir, Turkey.

• Dalia – who proposed to her girlfriend after the law change in Mexico City; • Luthanlu Kamei - a Naga woman from Northeast India; More info about the subjects here;

• The film looks at these four different women, their lifestyles and their broader cultures to explore issues on gender roles, faith, family and love; • I Am No Bird splices together a diverse range of different film styles, using digital footage, super 8 film and animation sequences

from local artist Julia Rowe.

Slam (Feature Film) • Stars Australian Rachael Blake (Sleeping Beauty, Lantana), Adam Bakri, star of Oscar-nominated film Omar (SFF2014), TV starlet Danielle Horvat (House Husbands, Winners & Losers), Julian Maroun

(Romper Stomper); • Filmed in Sydney’s Western Suburbs – Bankstown; • Directed by Sydneybased French director Partho SenGupta, renowned for his work on feature films (Sunrise); • Slam tells the story of Ricky Nasser, a young Australian whose peaceful suburban ADAM BAKRI

life turns into hell when his sister, a slam poet, disappears without a trace; • Funded by Screen Australia, Screenwest and France’s CNC Cinémas du Monde; • Language: English and Arabic.

Source: Sydney Film Festival (it has full information about the festival, all movies and other information.)

RACHAEL BLAKE

SLAM A FILM BY

PA R T H O S E N - G U P TA

SCREEN AUSTRALIA IN ASSOCIATION WITH CREATE NSW SCREENWEST AND LOTTERYWEST AVEC LA PARTICIPATION DE L’AIDE AUX CINEMAS DU MONDE CENTRE NATIONAL DU CINEMA ET DE L’IMAGE ANIMMEE - INSTITUT FRANCAIS IN COPRODUCTION WITH CMS GULF SEAT 26 SANDBOX STUDIO KGB WIDE OUT ADHESIVE PRODUCTION PRESENT AN INVISIBLE REPUBLIC AND DOLCE VITA FILMS IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE KOOP PRODUCTION SLAM A FILM BY PARTHO SEN-GUPTA STARRING ADAM BAKRI RACHAEL BLAKE REBECCA BREEDS DARINA AL JOUNDI ABBEY AZIZ WITH DANIELLE HORVAT AS AMEENA AND RUSSELL DYKSTRA DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY BONNIE ELLIOT ACS PRODUCTION DESIGNER CLAYTON JAUNCEY EDITOR ANNICK RAOUL COSTUME DESIGNER SHAREEN BERINGER ORIGINAL MUSIC ERYCK ABÉCASSIS SOUND DESIGNER NICOLAS BECKER CASTING DIRECTOR LEIGH PICKFORD ORIGINAL SLAM POETRY BY CANDY ROYALLE FINANCED IN ASSOCIATION WITH FULCRUM MEDIA FINANCE AND MEDIA SUPER PRODUCED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF SCREENWEST AND LOTTERYWEST FINANCED IN ASSOCIATION WITH CREATE NSW PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION INVESTOR SCREEN AUSTRALIA EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ALAA ALASAD AYA AL BLOUCHI ALISSAR GAZAL REMI PRECHAC GRADY HABIB NICOLAS BOURGEOIS PRODUCED BY MICHAEL WRENN TENILLE KENNEDY AND MARC IRMER COPRODUCED BY CHARLES BILLEH WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY PARTHO SEN-GUPTA Dolce Vita

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

south asia 38 South Asia Timestimes

By Jan Lundius

M

VIEWPOINT

MAY 2019

Terror and Religion

TOCKHOLM / ROME, Apr 29 2019 (IPS) - Just before nine o´clock in the morning of April 21st, Christians in Sri Lanka were in their churches peacefully celebrating Easter Sunday, while tourists were waking up in their hotel rooms. Suddenly explosions blasted three churches and three hotels. Among the ruins lay hundreds of wounded people, as well as 253 corpses of men, women and children. They had been killed and maimed because some fellow human beings believed they acted in God´s name and out of promises of an unproven, heavenly bliss if they killed themselves after obliterating people they did not know; sowing death, lifelong suffering and sorrow.

How can anyone be capable of delter, though muding her/himself to believe that s/he deserved the gratitude and reward from an allloving God after committing such atrocities? Sri Lankan authorities suspect that fanatic groups known as National Thowheeth Jama´ath (NTJ) and Jamaat-ulMujahideen are to be blamed for the mass slaughuch still remains unclear about these groups and their alleged involvement in the atrocities. However, the question remains – are members of such hate-mongering sects

psychopaths?

According to medical science, psycophaths suffer from a disorder impeding feelings of guilt or remorse. They are unable to acknowledge the harm and suffering they inflict on other human beings. Psychopaths rationalize their despicable behaviour by blaming others, or by denying all wrongdoing.

A psychopath is thus prone to harm both her/himself and others. However, it cannot be assumed that all people affiliated to a fanatical group, political as well as religious, are psychopaths, although their views and behaviour seem to reflect the state of disease. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote:” Madness is something rare in individuals — but in groups, parties, peoples, and ages it is the rule.” 1 Unconditional surrender to the ideology, rules and regulations of a religious sect, or an overzealous political party, means that an individual gives up some, it not all, of her/his personal willpower, leaving fatal decisions to others.

Some leaders of women and men might actually be psychopaths in the clinical sense of the word.

Hitler and Stalin appear to have been full-fledged psychopaths. In the religious sphere we find Jim Jones, who in 1978 committed a mass murder–suicide of 918 of

his followers, thus becoming the archetype of a narcissistic maniac spreading insanity among his believers.

After World War II, The Nuremberg Trials determined the guilt of prominent leaders of Nazi Germany, particularly for the planning and execution of mass murder. The proceedings came to pay attention to the relationship between individual – and collective guilt, disentangling the claim of the accused who declared themselves innocent by stating they” had just followed orders”, or were forced to commit the atrocities. With the intention to codify legal pronciples for future trials of crimes against humanity the Nuremberg Tribunal established a number of Principles of which the fourth stated: The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.

This indicates that crimes against humanity are committed by individuals, women and men, not by any abstract entities. 2 The ability to make conscious choices are by many scientists and philosophers considered to be an ultimate proof of humanity.

The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard explained that

true religion has to be based on subjectivity. His target was the Danish State Church, which assumed it was the true and sole representantive of true Christianity. That a religious organization, or any priest in its service, could be convinced they spoke and acted in accordance with the Will of the Lord was according to Kierkegaard contrary to a belief in God´s infinite wisdom. Christianity is not a doctrine to be taught, but a life to be lived. He assumed that most ”Christians” relied on external proofs of God, like nature and miracles, or the limited explanations of other Christians. On the contrary – to him Christianity meant having a unique, personal relationship with God. Religion must be based not only on the freedom to choose, but an ability to create choices for oneself. A religious person cannot unconsciously accept choices and rules made by others. According to Kierkegaard an individual comes to full consciousness of her- or himself only after s/he has accepted her/ his own shortcomings, doubts and weaknessess. He calls this angest, despair. Angest is the origin of compassion and piety, a prerequisite for freedom to choose. If we unresistingly follow what others tell us to do and

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

thus avoid entering the realms of despair, we are nothing but instinct-driven creatures, devoid of personal, critical thinking. A state of mind Kierkegaard called The Sickness Unto Death.

Kierkegaard would not have considered a murderous fanatic to be religious. Zealots are weakwilled victims of an illusion, which make them identify themselves as integrated parts of an” ingroup”, excluding all others.

They are devoid of any belief in an all-powerful, merciful God, whose might is beyond human comprehension. The faith of fanatics does not originate from a feeling of unity with an allencompassing, righteous entity, but from an entirely human, simplistic view of themselves in terms of ”we and the others”, making them prone to condemn, and even kill and maim those who do not share their twisted beliefs.

Kierkegaard and the members of the Nuremberg Tribunal would have condemned them, while considering any claim that they acted in ”the Name of God” as utterly false.

1 Nietzsche, Friedrich (1973) Beyond Good and Evil. p. 79.

Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics.

2 Heller, Kevin Jon (2011). The Nuremberg Military Tribunals and the Origins of International Criminal Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

MAY 2019

special article

southSouth asia times 39 Asia Times

The Vidyasagar legacy: What he stood for and what he was against

By Kanika Katyal

O

nce Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was travelling by train in a compartment with some Englishmen. He sat between two of them. One man asked, "Who is this donkey?" The other asked, "Who is this pig?" A third Englishman asked, "Who are you?" Ishwar Chandra coolly replied, "I am a human being sitting between a donkey and a pig." The two Englishmen felt ashamed of themselves. They felt even more ashamed when they saw a large crowd of people waiting with garlands to receive Ishwar Chandra when he got down from the train. The Englishmen then realised that though Indians might appear simple and unlettered, they were inherently noble and gentle.

Legends such as these about Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar have been a part of Bengal’s public memory since the nineteenth century. Vidyasagar represented an aspiration of an upward mobility even in the face of a colonial government; that even an Indian could command respect even from the British empire.

From infancy, children in Bengali households heard countless times that Vidyasagar learnt the English numerals by following the milestones on his way from his native Birsingha village of Midnapore district to Calcutta when he was barely eight years old. Young adults have been told that Vidyasagar passed his law examination despite studying under a streetlight as his parents could not afford gas light at home.

Even as one steps outside of the house, Vidyasagar remains a figure that most Bengalis encounter in their everyday lives. From a street named after him, to a stadium, to a bridge over the Hooghly river, to even holding an annual fair dedicated to the great man’s efforts towards spreading education and increasing social awareness, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar occupies a seat of immense love and reverence amongst the people of the state.

Vidyasagar opened schools and colleges. At a time when scholars like

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Ram Mohan Roy were pioneers of the Bengal Renaissance.

Radhakanta Deb, founder of a conservative Hindu society called, Dharmo Sabha, were promoting English education among the Hindus, Vidyasagar redefined the way the Bengali language was written and taught. Ishwar Chandra Bandopadhyay was a polymath, who had joined the Sanskrit College at the age of nine and studied there for twelve long years, qualifying in Sanskrit Grammar, Literature, Dialectics, Vedanta, Smruti and Astronomy. At the age of 19, he was bestowed with the title of “Vidyasagar”, meaning ocean of learning for his brilliance. He opened schools and colleges and brought about a revolution in the Bengali education system. He advocated for female literacy. Vidyasagar associated himself with Drinkwater Bethune, the Anglo-Indian lawyer who founded an institution for women's education in Kolkata in 1849. In 1851 the management of the college was entrusted to him.

The desecration of the statue by the BJP goons have compelled for a reminder of the values that the renowned philosopher and social reformer stood for.

Legends such as these about Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar have been a part of Bengal’s public memory since the nineteenth century.

The British ruled India in the nineteenth century.

In addition to oppression under the imperialistic mission of the British from the outside, the Indian society was infested with social evils from within.

To resist these forces of authority and orthodoxy, a cultural, social, intellectual and artistic movement began in Bengal in the

nineteenth century and continued till the early twentieth century. Akin to the European Renaissance, this movement was called the Bengal Renaissance.

Scholars, writers, religious and social reformers, journalists, patriotic orators and scientists converged together to engineer a transition towards a “modern” India. This “modernity” demanded a reconfiguration of the boundaries between the public and private. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Ram Mohan Roy were pioneers of the Bengal Renaissance which so mightily changed the whole aspect of not only the Bengali life and thought, but also transformed the domestic landscape of the Hindu society forever.

Being a learned scholar of Sanskrit, Vidyasagar had discovered that the ancient Hindu scriptures did not enjoin perpetual widowhood, and in 1855 he startled the Hindu world by his work on the Remarriage of Hindu Widows.

To the Hindu orthodoxy, the body of the Hindu widow was the site for maintenance of caste purity through ritual austerity. Polygamy was practised and young girls were married to men thrice their age, either in the name of tradition or to avoid dowry. Girls became widows soon after marriage, often even before their marriage was consummated. They were subjected to a life of deprivation, humiliation, abuse and ostracisation inside their homes. They were denied the basic rights to bodily integrity: stripped

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

of jewellery, forced to wear only white, and ration their food intake. Apart from these restrictions, the body of the widow also generated anxieties regarding her sexuality.

When an upper caste Hindu male like Vidyasagar called out these violent cultural practices which operated under the garb of “protection” or benevolent tradition, it caused an uproar. While an agitation against the orthodox Hindus, the priests and leaders of religious communities was something expected, Vidyasagar also had to face opposition from the concerns of the nationalists.

To these nationalists, who were also learned scholars, the question of women empowerment “was not so much about the specific condition of women ..as it was about the political encounter between a colonial state and the suppressed “tradition” of a conquered people.”( Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and Women”). The passing of a widow remarriage act, seemed to this group, a Western import which had no place in a traditional Indian society.

Yet Ishwar Chandra persevered amid a storm of indignation. Associating himself with the most influential men of the day like Prosonno Kumar Tagore and Ram Gopal Ghosh, he appealed to the British government to declare that the sons of remarried Hindu widows should be considered legitimate heirs.

The British government responded; the act was passed in 1856, and some years later Ishwar Chandra's own son was married to a widow. In the last years of his life, Ishwar Chandra wrote works against Hindu polygamy.

Vidyasagar stood for critical consciousness and the spirit that interrogated everything. Last year, when the BBC Bengali Service asked its listeners about “the greatest Bengalis”, Vidyasagar was part of the list. With a smashed statue of the man in a college named in his honour, in the city of his birth, what kind of legacy are we really left with?

Source: Sabrang India/ Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum, 17 May, 2019.

south asia 40 South Asia Timestimes

www.southasiatimes.com.au - (03) 9884 8096, 0421 677 082

MAY 2019