#Swarajya Feb 2015 by Swarajya

Evaluating Jyoti Basu on his centenary

The global conspiracy of Leftist NGOs

What if the Chinese never left in 1962

February 2015

Vol 59 Issue 25

The Discoveries of India Forget the false claims and propoganda. A complete study of what the Indic civilisation knew and invented and what we should celebrate.

The Real Khan

Aamir, Salman, Shah Rukh: Who Is The True King?

From the Editor

A New Magazine That’s 59 Years Old Dear Reader, In 1956, journalist Khasa Subba Rau, with the patronage of C. Rajagopalachari—Rajaji, India’s last Governor-General, freedom fighter and a statesman hailed by Mahatma Gandhi as his “conscience keeper”, launched a weekly magazine called Swarajya. Swarajya was intended to convey the founders’ quest to translate the joy of freedom not only from foreign rule, but full freedom as defined and promised by the preamble of our Constitution. It represented the first coherent and consistent intellectual response to Nehruvian socialism and the ever-expanding Big State in newly independent India. Long before it became fashionable, Swarajya championed individual liberty, private enterprise, the minimal State and cultural rootedness. This is what Rajaji wrote: “There is before the country the great problem of how to secure welfare without surrendering the individual to be swallowed up by the State, how to get the best return for the taxes the people pay and how to preserve spiritual values while working for better material standards of life. This journal will serve all these purposes.” So what is this Swarajya 2.0 about? Rajaji’s words remain as true as ever even, and especially now, in 2014. The new Swarajya wishes to be an authoritative voice of reason representing the liberal centre-right point of view. It remains committed to the ideals of individual liberty unmediated by the State or any other institution, freedom of expression and enterprise, national interest, and India’s vast and ancient cultural heritage. Swarajya has two avatars to begin with—a digital daily (www.swarajyamag.com; you can just scan the first QR code in the left column on your smatphone and reach there—and this monthly magazine.

(The next QR thing, I won’t tell you about. Let that be a surprise.) We aim to be a big tent for liberal right-ofcentre discourse that reaches out, engages with and caters to the New India in a manner that’s not arcane, abstruse, arrogant or self-referencing, through commentary, analysis, research, satire and opinion. Our focus will be on what we refer to as SPEC: the Social, Political, Economic and Cultural life of India. These are our articles of faith (in alphabetical order): • Democracy • Gender equality • Free markets • Individual enterprise • Individual freedom • Integrity of our country • Opportunity for every Indian to achieve his/ her potential • Promoting our cultural heritage • Reduced role of the State but a more effective one in its focus areas • Secularism which does not pander, and a separation of religion from politics • The dangers of dogma We have an Editorial Board of Advisors comprising outstanding thought leaders (again, in alphabetical order): Bibek Debroy, bold economist and distinguished Indologist; Jaithirth Rao, right-ofcentre philosopher, former CEO of IT giant MphasiS, and head of Citibank’s Global Technology Development Division; Manish Sabharwal, chairman of Teamlease Services, India’s largest staffing and training firm, and one of the country’s leading thinkers on employment and employability; fearless economist and perhaps the world’s best cricket analyst Surjit S. Bhalla; and Swapan Dasgupta, historian, veteran journalist and authoritative voice of the Indian right. OK, our ambitions are pretty high, and we are promising you a lot. But with your help—and the frank criticism essential to the principles of free discourse and exchange of ideas that we have carved in granite—maybe we can…maybe we can grow to be resonant—deep, full, and reverberating. Welcome, and do plan for a long stay. — Sandipan Deb editorial director sandipan@swarajyamag.com Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

February 2015 C o v e r

S tor y

Vol 59 Issue 25

I d e a s

In this issue 32

Eco n o m y

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Bibek Debroy Jaithirth Rao Manish Sabharwal Surjit S Bhalla Swapan Dasgupta EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Sandipan Deb FOREIGN AFFAIRS EDITOR Padma Rao Sundarji NATIONAL AFFAIRS EDITOR Surajit Dasgupta EDITOR-AT-LARGE Rupa Subramanya BOOKS AND CULTURE EDITOR Antara Das CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Aravindan Neelakandan Biswadeep Ghosh Jaideep A Prabhu Seetha FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS BERLIN: Hermanne Denecke TOKYO: Hiroyasu Suda NEWSROOM INTERN Arush Tandon CREATIVE DIRECTOR Pranab Dutta CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Prasanna Viswanathan PUBLISHER AND CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER Amarnath Govindarajan CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER N. Muthuraman

The Discoveries of India The ancient Indic civilisation made great discoveries, hundred of years before anyone else on earth, from mathematics to medical sciences. We should be proud of these achievements. E n t e rt a i n m e n t

The Harm That They Do The Futility of Rights Indian NGOs funded by Western agencies follow their masters’ diktat—to not let development activities begin or proceed. Their sinister agendas must be exposed.

I d e a s

www.swarajyamag.com

A l so

Letter from the Editor

Contents 2

/swarajyamag @swarajyamag /+Swarajyamag

Jerry Rao

Prithwis Mukerjee

Jyoti Basu hits Hundred

US-Cuba

Sri Lanka Foreign Minister

Nuclear Energy

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All the evidence shows that the UPA’s rights-based approach to development— employment, education, food—was inherently wrong. It’s time to dump the very idea once and for all.

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Books 78

Who Is The Real King Khan?

1962: Alternate History

For 15 years now, a trio has held sway over the Hindi film market—Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh. An evaluation of the three men who have charted their careers very differently from one another.

What if the Chinese had decided to take all of Assam during the 1962 war, and keep the territory? What would have happened to Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Pakistan—in fact, how would the entire geopolitical scenario have looked?

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Archives 80

Cover Illustration T F Hadimani Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

T rib u t e

A True Renaissance Man of India Jaithirth Rao

The so-called socialist cliques which have, sadly, been in control of our country for so many years, have studiedly and consciously ignored Rajaji and his contributions. It is up to us to ensure that this travesty of our history does not succeed.

couple of months ago, I was attending a Carnatic music concert. My daughter was sitting next to me. The singer announced that the next melody would be Kurai Onrum Illai which was composed by Rajaji. My daughter looked at me and said “How many things did he do? Was he also a composer?” I kept thinking of Rajaji—Chakravarti Rajagopalachari—a Renaissance human being in every sense of the term. He was a lawyer, a politician, a writer, a composer, a translator, a political philosopher, a man who combined a life of action and a life of letters—and who left India and the world a richer place. I kept wondering that even a fraction of these achievements would qualify for greatness. I was and am not ignorant of his weaknesses. His persistent lack of a genuine popular political base—he depended on Gandhi, Nehru and the proverbial Congress “High” Command to get himself foisted on to the Madras Congress Party; he was accused of “backdoor entry” as he preferred a “nomination” to the Legislative Council to an election to the assembly; his views on Prohibition were derived from Gandhi and smacked of an authoritarian streak in an otherwise libertarian persona; his opposition to the BCG vaccine was a trifle outlandish; his support for Hindi in 1937 and his opposition to Hindi in 1967 may indicate a certain vacillation and lack of lucidity which rarely affected him otherwise; his willingness to sacrifice his government for an obscure (and possibly obscurantist?) and definitely trivial position on school education, betrayed a lack of realism, which again, one could rarely

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accuse him of. Net-net—he was by no means perfect. He had his weaknesses and a certain streak of ruthless opportunism. But on balance, his insights, his courage, his farsightedness and his patriotism were of such a high order that one is left breathless thinking about them. Many in the Congress disliked him for opposing the Quit India Movement. But today, revisionist historians concede that his may have been the smartest move of all. To oppose Britain in the midst of a titanic struggle against Fascism, to play into the hands of Japanese militarists, and to concede space to Jinnah’s newfound religion-based politics—all of these were outcomes of the Quit India Movement. Rajaji was extremely intelligent and farsighted in appearing to concede Jinnah’s claims. But the Chanakya in him is now apparent to us. The Pakistani historian Ayesha Jalal has noted that the district-by-district referendum on Partition, which replaced the slogan of religion-based nationalism with territory-based decision-making was the only real way to counter Jinnah. Rajaji was always on the side of moderation and realism. Many are not aware that he pleaded with the Nizam to be realistic and in return was quite supportive of a compromise solution for Hyderabad, rather than a confrontational one. He was also, along with Minoo Masani, one of the least xenophobic and maximalist Indian leaders when it came to Kashmir. He never believed in the need for endless adversarial relations between India and Pakistan. Again, rather unfashionably for the times, he opposed a harsh approach to the Naga issue and he referred to the Nagas as a “brave” people. The only people he was absolutely

determined to oppose were the Communists. He referred to them as his “enemy no.1”. He was unhappy about our betrayal of the people of Tibet and was convinced that we as a country should join the western alliance of those days against Communist China. Today, almost three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Rajaji’s views appear so prophetic, so sensible, so timely. Rajaji’s economic views stemmed first and foremost from a moral perspective. A clientilist state, which is in the business of distributing largesse, is bound to become a corrupt one. Hence he coined the expression “Licence-Permit Raj”, a dispensation which was more corrupt and inimical to India’s moral and economic regeneration than the much-maligned British Raj, which it replaced. If only the country had listened to Rajaji, we would today be a richer, more prosperous, less corrupt land. But that was the tragedy of the Swatantra Party—they were right, but before their time. Tragically for us, they turned out to be like Cassandra, who predicted correctly, but was not believed by the Trojans. But if Rajaji had never entered politics, he would still be a towering giant of 20th century India. He first published in Tamil, his version of our two great epics: the Ramayana was Chakravarti Tirumagan—The Emperor’s Divine Son; the Mahabharata was Vyasar Virundu— the Feast of Vyasa. Subsequently, with the help of his college friend Navaratna Rama Rao, he translated these classics into English. For Tamil-speakers, Rajaji’s works still constitute one of the high points of the literature of a language which has literary achievements of the highest order going back to antiquity. V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

Rajaji coined the term “LicencePermit Raj”, a dispensation which was more corrupt and inimical to India’s regeneration than the muchmaligned British Raj which it replaced Between Kamban’s Ramavataaram and Rajaji’s Chakravarti Tirumagan, the Tamil language has the distinction of a brilliant epic poem and a limpid prose masterpiece. The writer Girish Karnad has written about the influence Rajaji’s English Mahabharata had on him as a teenager. Karnad’s haunting play Yayati would not have been possible if he had not read Rajaji in his younger days. Rajaji’s rendering of the Tirukkural is a slim book that I keep with me and refer to every

now and then. Rajaji understood that Thiruvalluvar and his work were almost like friendly living companions for all Tamil people. Rajaji sought to extend this family by letting in those who did not know Tamil into the pithy aphoristic courtyard that Thiruvalluvar created for us thousands of years ago. Rajaji chose a role as a translator, a re-teller and interpreter consciously. It is a pity that he did not pursue his own creative writing with equal energy. We would doubtless have had a Bunyan or a Stevenson of our own.

But almost without trying, Rajaji emerged as an extraordinary writer of English prose. His regular columns in Swarajya magazine dealt with contemporary political issues. But the luminous quality of his prose, his absolute commitment to the simple phrase, the comprehensible idiom, his refusal to indulge in bombast—a favourite weapon of polemicists—all of these ensure that even today, far away from the issues of those times, we can still read with delight and enjoy the wise old man’s sober judgments and Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

T e c h

Prithwis Mukerjee

C Rajaji (centre) at a Swatantra Party election meeting with Minoo Masani (left) and Acharya J.B. Kripalani (right)

gentle chastisements. Rajaji has himself mentioned that he was an admirer of Boswell. One can certainly see the influence of the great English prose stylist in Rajaji’s essays. And then to music. In the Carnatic school of music, we have a strong view that the melody of the raga is incomplete without the sahityas or words of the lyrics. There is no such thing as a pure melody—if a master vaageyakara has not infused the raga with poetic words. And it is a historical accident that the lyrics/ words of most of the compositions are in Kannada, Telugu or Sanskrit. While there have been noted and illustrious exceptions to this rule, the Tamil writer in Rajaji came out when he decided that he was going to change the landscape through personal intervention. Even the most chauvinistic traditionalist connoisseur would have to grant that listening to a well-rendered version of Kurai Onrum Illai results in Lord

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Krishna appearing before us as we close our eyes. And let us not forget that for all our traditional composers, this and this alone was their objective. They were least interested in aural aesthetics or technical brilliance as ends in themselves. If the music did not result in Rama or Krishna or Vittala or Bhuvaneshwari coming alive before our inward eye, then that was not the music we should have. For having created this possibility in his beloved native Tamil—for this alone if nothing else, Rajaji will remain an immortal for Tamilians and for those who seek the touch of Krishna. When he decided to set up the Swatantra Party and oppose the Congress, Rajaji’s Brahmin antecedents were mercilessly attacked by the spokespersons of the Congress. His adversarial exchanges even with the sharp-tongued E.V. Ramaswami Naicker in the 1930s had never had this element of vituperation. People forget that while he may have been born a traditional Tamil Iyengar Brahmin, he was in the lead in the anti-untouchability movement of his political guru, Mahatma Gandhi. And the acid test of being casteist or not of

course, rests in the institution of marriage. Rajaji’s daughter married, with her father’s blessings, far far away from her Iyengar roots. This alone should put to rest the ill-conceived view that Rajaji was just another Brahmin. A sorrowful EVR turned up at Rajaji’s funeral; when Annadurai died, Rajaji made a speech that Annadurai had earned an old man’s love which was “tough”, unlike the love of the young. A better tribute from an older leader to a younger one can rarely be found. Rajaji would have been unhappy if State patronage had been used to keep his name alive. The so-called socialist cliques which have, sadly, been in control of our country for so many years, have studiedly and consciously ignored the Rajajis and Masanis of our country. It is up to us to ensure that this travesty of our history does not succeed.

The author is the former CEO of MphasiS, and was head of Citibank’s Global Technology Division. He is currently the Executive Chairman of Value and Budget Housing Corporation (VBHC), an affordable housing venture. Rao is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Swarajya. V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

How To Unclog Our Courts A technology-driven business process reengineering approach can dramatically improve the current sorry state of affairs

ivilisation emerges from the lawless jungle riding on the back of a juridical system that resolves disputes through non-violent means. India has had an uneven history in this regard but the relatively stable structure that we had inherited from the British is crumbling because people are now, more often than not, taking the law into their own hands. Not because the judges are incapable (though in some cases that may be true), but because they are not able to deliver their judicial services on time. Justice is being denied to large sections of the population simply because of abnormal delays. There are so many examples of this sorry state of affairs that it is pointless to give specific instances. The facts are known to all. Question is: What can we do about it? Obviously there is no magic wand, no silver bullet, but perhaps a technology-driven business process reengineering approach can help. “Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it. If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it. If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it.” So the first step is to take stock of every litigation, or court case, in the country. Yes, each of the 3+ crore cases needs to be captured in a searchable database, but this is not as intractable a problem as it sounds. Every court in the country publishes a daily cause-list that has the essential details of every case that is scheduled to be heard on a particular day. Fortunately, all this data is in digital PDF format and most of it can be found online, but in case any court does not publish the cause-list regularly,

it must be compelled to do so since it is a cornerstone of the juridical process. In fact, it may be a good idea to have a common format for all cause-lists but even otherwise, once cause-lists are available, a reasonably sophisticated text analysis software can be developed to extract this data and convert it into a form that can be stored in a structured searchable database for subsequent analysis. The next step would be to track changes in the cause-list over successive dates and determine the “speed” at which a particular case is moving through the system. The biggest cause of delay in the system is because hearings are postponed, often on trivial grounds, and the next date of hearing is months away. So by tracking cause-lists over a couple of months, it would be possible to determine how many times each case comes up for hearing and what is the interval between these hearings. From this, it would be possible to build a life history of each and every case. Some people may baulk at the sheer volume of the task and the fact that the difference-processing has to be done every day, but thanks to open source technologies like Hadoop, this problem can be addressed very comfortably. Within a short period, this will create a real-time picture of the topology of juridical delay across the entire country. Where are the hotspots? Where are the biggest bottlenecks? What kinds of cases are held up the most? Which courts are the biggest culprits? Which cases have been in the doldrums for the longest time? Are some courts better than others? Are some judges quicker than others? Are there any cases that have been held up for

months? Can these be expedited? Instead of crying hoarse about delay in general, we can now seek out particular troublesome areas and focus the best minds in the juridical system to come up with specific solutions to the most difficult problems. This could involve, among other things, moving one set of cases from one court to another, and appointing, or transferring, an additional number of special judicial officers to specific courts to facilitate the “debottlenecking” of the system. Solutions will emerge, once the contours of the problem are clearly visible. One specific approach to the debottlenecking problem would be to motivate judges to improve the efficiency or throughput of the system. Judges have immense authority to allow or disallow adjournments based on their personal perception of the situation on the ground and this in turn has a direct impact on juridical delay. However, they have no motivation to expedite matters and, in many cases, they are indifferent to the hardship faced by litigants when cases are deferred or adjourned. So how can we induce a sense of judicial accountability? Continuing with our belief in measurements, we may consider a mechanism to monitor their performance and offer a set of performance-related rewards— though this may be unheard of in government service. Those with a deeper understanding of the judicial process may come up with a better metric but one can begin with a simple one that depends on just two factors. First, the number of final judgments that a judge delivers every month, and second, the number or fraction of judgements of a judge that are subsequently Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

Each of the 3+ crore cases needs to be captured in a searchable database. Thanks to open source technologies like Hadoop, this can be achieved very comfortably overturned on appeal at the next level. The first would be a measure of speed and the second would be a measure of quality or reliability of the work done by a judge. By creating a composite metric that gives an appropriate weightage to both factors, it should be possible to measure the performance of most judicial officers in the country. This simplistic measure may not be appropriate for judges who are seized of complex matters like constitutional law or international jurisprudence but should be good enough for almost all those involved in more run-of-the-mill casesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and this would constitute the vast majority of cases that are clogging the system. Such a mechanism is no different from a formal performance appraisal system that is used by most well-managed corporate organizations to evaluate all but the most senior members of the management. It should not be beneath the dignity of any judge to be evaluated in a similar manner, especially because the evaluation would be done within the framework of the juridical system of the country and not by any external agency that may have a mala fide agenda. Going along with the corporate analogy, it may be a good idea if judges were to view themselves less as lofty dispensers of justice and more as providers of dispute resolution services. From this perspective, a litigant is no more a sup-

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The key stakeholders must be convinced, or coerced, to agree to a more corporate style of delivering judicial services plicant begging for relief but a customer who, through his court fees and taxes, is paying for the resolution of a dispute. If judges can reconcile themselves to the fact that the relationship between a litigant and a judge is no different from that between a customer and a vendor, then many of the best practices of the corporate world can be transferred to the rather archaic corridors of the judiciary. The easiest way to ensure faster disposal of cases is to dramatically increase the number of judges, particularly in the lower courts, where most cases are stuck. Fortunately, India is blessed with a large educated middle-class population, many of whom are trained lawyers and who would love to work as judges. So it may not be too difficult for a central agency like the UPSC to evaluate and recruit another 15,000 judges over the next three years. But where will they sit? And hold court ? Recruiting so many judges may still be feasible but building so many courtrooms would be impossible. Again, we need to think differently. V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

Why not have all courts, except perhaps the Supreme Court, work in two shifts on every working day? So with the same physical infrastructure of courtrooms, we can have twice the number of judges, hopefully delivering twice the number of judgments every month. Given the overstaffing, endemic to any government office, there would neither be any need for additional hiring nor for any extra record rooms but a judge may have to share an office with another if he or she stays on the premises beyond the shift hours. So net-net, the capacity of the Indian juridical system can be effectively doubled quickly without incurring any significant capital expenditure and without the delay involved in constructing thousands of courtrooms. In fact, if we view juridical services to be as important for the country as, say electric supply, railways and telecommunications, then there is no reason why judges should not work in two shifts. But again, this calls for a significant change in the perception of the work done by

judgesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;they are not dispensing any largesse, they are simply providing a service to a customer. Monitoring performance of judges and operating courts in two shifts represent a radical change in the way the juridical system operates in the country and would surely be met with stiff resistance from those who are entrenched and benefit from the current way of doing things. No change is painless, but if the key stakeholders can be convinced or coerced through a competent process of change management to agree to a more corporate style of delivering judicial services, it will definitely lead to a significant improvement in the speed of delivery of justice in India. Real-time monitoring of live court cases on the other hand is something that is easy to do with existing technology and with minimal disruption. It should be started right away so that we can benefit from some low-hanging fruits.

The author is an engineer by education, a programmer by passion, a teacher by profession, an imagineer by intention. He teaches at Praxis Business School, Kolkata, and has authored The Road to pSingularity which explores the intersection of computer science, genetics and Advaita Vedanta. Follow @prithwis on Twitter Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

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S tori e s

Discoveries Of India The last couple of months have seen a lot of sound and fury about the achievements of the Indic civilisation. Some have claimed that India invented spaceships; others, that our rishis knew about the spin of an electron. Swarajya cuts through all the hype and hullabaloo to take a look, based on pure hard evidence, at what ancient Indians knew, discovered and invented. There is much that we should be proud of, there is much that we shoud celebrate. There is much to teach our children.

The Story Of Our Numbers Shashikant Joshi

Shashikant Joshi is the author of Attitude Shift: Sanskrit Maxims for Life and Leadership and runs the popular Facebook page PracticalSanskrit. He did his BTech in Computer Science from IIT Kharagpur and MS from the University of Minnesota.

N ov e mb er 2014

he history of mathematics is a vast topic which can never be studied perfectly since much of the work of ancient times remains undiscovered or has been lost through time. However, there is also much that is known and many important discoveries have been made over the past 150 years that debunk the theory that mathematics is a European “invention”. The truth is being restored in academic circles about the historical development of mathematics and India’s contribution to it. Once the dots are connected, it is not difficult to imagine the continuation of the same pursuit of knowledge and excellence of solutions by Indus, Vedic and post-Vedic Indian minds. When seen in this thread, it seems all but natural to see the advancements of the Indus Valley civilization (standardized weights in binary sequence, the world’s first measuring ruler, proto-dentistry, advanced metallurgy) to Baud-

hayana in 800 BCE (the so-called Pythagoras theorem), Pingala in 300 BCE (combinatorics, the mathematics of finite or countable dicrete structures), Aryabhatta in 499 CE (trigonometry) and Madhava in 1400 CE (calculus) with many in between. While some will always turn a blind eye to facts staring in the face, there are many who would like to know the reality but can’t access or comprehend the greatness of the work. I am not adding any original research of mine to the history of math, and have drawn a lot from the wonderful and pivotal book The History of Ancient Indian Mathematics by C.N. Srinivas Iyengar. My humble contribution to this discussion is merely to present the relevant facts in a simple way and connect the dots.

Labeling Science The labels used in the study of history of science or math are Egyptian, Greek, Mesopotamian, Indian, European, Hindu, Islamic or Christian. I s s ue 001. 01

Aryabhatta (476 CE) approximated Π = 62832/20000 = 3.1416. Correct to 4 decimal places, much better than the 22/7 taught in all of our schools even now

3.141592653589793238462643 38327950288419716939937510 58209749445923078164062862 08998628034825342117067982 14808651328230664709384460 95505822317253594081284811 17450284102701938521105559 64462294895493038196442881 09756659334461284756482337 86783165271201909145648566 92346034861045432664821339 36072602491412737245870066 06315588174881520920962829 N ove m b e r 2 0 1 4

Indian scholars made vast contributions to mathematical astronomy, and thus, to arithemetic, algebra, trigonometry, geometry and combinatorics. They invented most of the stuff. The Tower of Brahma This is the ancient legend. In the Kashi Vishwanath temple, there are three time-worn posts in a room with 64 golden discs of reducing sizes, stacked on top of each other on one post, smallest on top. The entire stack of golden discs has to be moved to the third post, obeying the following simple rules: Move only one disc at a time. Only the uppermost disc can be moved. A disc can’t be on top of a smaller one. The second post can be used for intermediate moves. Priests have been moving these discs, in accordance with the immutable rules of Brahmā the Creator since the beginning of time. But here is the doomsday prophecy: “When the last move of the puzzle will be completed, the world will be recycled.” With 3 discs it takes 7 moves, with 10 it takes 1,023 moves, for n discs it takes 2n -1 moves. If the priests were to move discs at a rate of one per second, never making a mistake, it would take them 264−1 seconds, or roughly 585 billion years or 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 turns to finish, or about 127 times the current age of the sun. What is amazing is that this large an astronomical number is given as the age of the Creation. The current accepted age of the Big Bang is about 13 billion years. With new developments in astronomy, this estimate may also get updated, as time is now also being thought of as not just relative but even cyclic. A puzzle based on this legend was invented by the French mathematician Edouard Lucas in 1883. Known as Tower of Hanoi puzzle, it’s a very common problem in Computer Science courses to teach recursion.

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subject of mathematics to be developed in ways that, to put it simply, would not have been possible otherwise. We would still be a humanind as depicted (so frightfully entertainingly) in Asterix comics.

The Eurocentric Worldview The standard of evidence required to claim transmission of knowledge from East to West is greater than the standard of evidence required for knowledge traveling from West to East. In the Eurocentric view, the ancient Greeks are the epitome of logic, scientific temperament, and mathematical achievement, whereas Indians “indulge in flights of fancy with airplanes in Vedic times or rishis travelling in space”. One of the most talked about recent examples in the media is the Pythagoras theorem and India’s claim to it. This is also the simplest one to understand. I think it is unfair to use any religion’s name with scientific development. None of the bookbased religions fostered or encouraged science; in fact, they hindered and quashed science as is evident from the history of Europe. While it is okay to refer to Greek or European math and Arabic or Indian math, it is not right to say Islamic or Christian math. Only in India do you find that the pursuit of faith and the pursuit of fact went side by side amicably.

Giving Credit Where It Is Due One might also wonder if it makes any difference to world hunger and global warming if this record is set straight. While academic researchers know the true history, does it matter if our school and college students know it as well? After all, these are trivial things like basic trigonometry or Pythagoras theorem or zero. Math has come such a long way ahead, who cares if it was Pythagoras or Baudhayana? But, if it really doesn’t matter, then why do we even call it Pythagoras theorem, Euclid’s geometry or Newton’s power series for sine? We should simply call them by their function, like the Hypotenuse theorem, geometry, or Power Series for sine. Why should we take the trouble to remember the people who discover or do something for the

first time, in science or in life? Even in divine matters, we keep comparing who said what and when, and who said it first! Maybe we do so to give credit where it is due? And human achievements inspire us? Why should India not have its inspiration? And have its credit where it is due? Everyone with a basic education in sciences should know about the great Indian minds. Why should some Indian names not become household names, at least in India, through the education system? The first step towards that is to understand, realize and appreciate how our ancestors pursued knowledge. Indian scholars made vast contributions to mathematical astronomy and thus contributed mightily to the development of arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry and secondarily geometry (although this topic was well developed by the Greeks) and combinatorics. Perhaps most remarkable were the developments in the fields of infinite series expansions of trigonometric expressions and differential calculus. Surpassing all these achievements however was the development of decimal numeration and the place value system, which, without doubt, stand together as the most remarkable developments in the history of mathematics. The decimal place value system allowed the V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

Pythagoras Most of the information about Pythagoras (570495 BCE) was written down centuries after he passed away, so very little reliable information is known about him. No texts by Pythagoras are known to have survived. Diogenes Laërtius reported that Pythagoras had undertaken extensive travels, having not only visited Egypt but also “journeyed among the Chaldaeans and Magi”, for the purpose of collecting all available knowledge and especially looking for information concerning the secret or mystic cults of the gods. Around 530 BCE, he moved to Croton, in Magna Graecia, and set up a religious sect. His followers pursued the rites and practices developed by Pythagoras and studied his philosophical theories. He was more known for his philosophy than his mathematics in his own times. In time, Pythagoras became the subject of elaborate legends. Aristotle described Pythagoras as a wonder-worker and somewhat of a supernatural figure, attributing to him such aspects as a golden thigh, which was a sign of divinity. Some ancients believed that he had the ability to travel through space and time and to communicate with animals and plants. Another legend claims that Pythagoras asserted he could write on the moon.

Euclid The long-lasting nature of The Elements must make Euclid (4th and 3rd century BCE) the leading mathematics teacher of all time. However, little is known of Euclid’s life except that he taught at Alexandria in Egypt. He is rarely mentioned by name by other Greek mathematicians from Archimedes onward. The few historical references to Euclid were written centuries after he lived, by Proclus, 450 CE and Pappus of Alexandria, 320 CE. A detailed biography of Euclid is by Arabian authors, mentioning, for example, a birth town of Tyre. But this story of Euclid’s life is generally believed to be completely fictitious. Because the lack of biographical information is unusual for the period, some researchers have proposed that Euclid was not, in fact, a historical character and that his works were written by a team of mathematicians. Proclus, the last major Greek philosopher, who lived around 450 CE wrote: “Euclid, who put together The Elements, arranging in order many of Eudoxus’s theorems, perfecting many of Theaetetus’, and also bringing to irrefutable demonstration the things which had been only loosely proved by his predecessors. This man lived in the time of the first Ptolemy (of Egypt).” Probably no results in The Elements were first proved by Euclid but the organisation of the material and its exposition are certainly to his credit.

Connecting The Dots How can we say that Indian mathematicians actually had an impact, that too a transforming impact, on the world stage? Let us simply look at some verifiable facts from history (turn the page and look at at the chart Mathematical Milestones), and you can connect the dots. Most of this information is also easily available on the net as well. But there is an important question that needs to be asked. Why is it that there was no advance in math in Europe from 230 BCE to 1572 CE, a full 18 centuries? And why is it that all of a sudden from 17th century onwards, we see hundreds of new mathematicians in Europe? Here is what was happening in another part

How Many Rice Grains? Look to your left. A chessboard with numbers rather than the pieces. Chess originated in India during the Gupta Empire (4th to 6th century CE). Its early form in the 6th century was known as chaturanga (and later as shataranja in Persian), meaning “four divisions (of the military)”—infantry, cavalry, elephantry, and chariotry. These forms are represented by the pieces that would evolve into the modern pawn, knight, rook and bishop respectively. Chaturanga was famously played in the Mahabharata. Findings in Mohenjo-daro and Harappa (2600–1500 BCE) include a board game that resembles chess. An interesting story goes that a king who was defeated by an opponent (some say it was to the craftsman who built a beautiful board specially for the king) told the man to ask his prize. What he humbly asked was just a few grains of rice: ”On the first square just a single rice grain, two on the second, and similarly doubling the amount on subsequent squares, O King.” The king felt insulted. But 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + ... + 263, the total amount on the entire chessboard would be 264 − 1 = 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 grains of rice, weighing 461 billion tonnes, which would be a heap of rice larger than Mount Everest. This is around 1,000 times the global production of rice in 2010 (464 million tonnes). That would be allegedly sufficient to cover the whole territory of India with a meter thick layer of rice. At 10 grains of rice per square inch, the above amount requires rice fields covering twice the surface area of the Earth, oceans included. Incidentally, the number of grains is same as the number of moves of the Tower of Brahma problem!

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Mathematical Milestones Prior to 850 BCE, we have evidence of mainly Mesopotamian and Egyptian mathematics in the western hemisphere. Indus Valley Civilization shows remarkable advances in math, science and technology.

575 BCE Thales brings Babylonian knowledge to Greece. Greek awakening starts.

800 BCE Baudhayana Sulva Sutra (and six other sutras) states and uses the ‘Pythagoras’ theorem, and calculates the square root of 2 accurately till 5 decimal places. It covers the books 1, 2, and 6 of Euclid’s Elements to come in 300 BCE, 500 years later.

Magic Square The 3×3 magic square has been a part of rituals in India since Vedic times, and still is today. The Ganesh yantra is a 3×3 magic square. There is a well-known 10th-century 4×4 magic square on display in the Parshvanath Jain temple in Khajuraho, India.

This is known as the Chautisa (meaning 34) Yantra. Each row, column, and diagonal, as well as each 2×2 sub-square, the corners of each 3×3 and 4×4 square, the offset diagonals and the sum of the middle two entries of the two outer columns and rows, sums to 34. Figure it out!

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300 BCE Bhadrabahu postulates five types of infinity— ray, line, area, volume, and perpetual. Deals with numbers as large as 10207. Euclid’s Elements.

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97... 230 BCE Eratosthenes of Cyrene develops his sieve method for finding all prime numbers. No major new work comes out of Greece/ Europe except commentaries and compilations. Dark Ages of Europe coincides with this period, with conflict of religion and science.

of the world—India and Arabia—during this period between Eratosthenes and Bombelli. Only major achievements are mentioned, a lot more happened between the lines. 1st century BCE (some date it to 1st century CE), Lalita Vistara mentions the Buddha enumerating to a mathematician Arjuna the multiples of 100 starting from 107 to 1,053. Taking this as a first level, he then carries on and gets eventually to 10,421 (the Ramayana, a much earlier work, has names for number as high as 1,055 in Yuddha Kanda, sarga 28, where Ravana’s spy reports about the strength of Rama’s army) 499 Aryabhatta of Kusumpura (modern Patna) composes Aryabhatya, gives best value of pi to 5 decimal places, trigonometric tables accurate to 0.03 per cent, gives formulae for calculating sine for intermediate angles, develops word numerals, kuttaka method of solving indeterminate equations; solves cube roots. 628 Brahmagupta composes Brahmasphuta Siddhanta. Uses zero, negative numbers, solves so-called Pell’s (1668) equation Nx2+1=y2, geometric progressions, formula for finding “Pythagorean” triplets and methods for calculating sine of intermediate angles from the sine tables. 762 Baghdad city founded by Abu Jafar alMansur with its famed “House of Wisdom” centre of learning. 770 Kanka, a scholar from Ujjain, invited to Baghdad to explain Hindu arithmetic and astronomy. Brahmasphuta Siddhanta translated by Al Fazari into Arabic and named Sind Hind (for siddhanta). Another translation of Indian astronomy, Alarkand, may have been that of Surya Siddhanta. 820 al-Khwarizmi writes The Book of Addition and Subtraction According to the Hindu Calculation (Kitab al-Jam wa-l-tafriq bi-hisab

1202 Fibonacci writes Liber Abaci (Book of Abacus) and updated in 1254, sets out arithmetic and algebra he learned in Arabia and Persia. He introduces the Hindu number system using 9 digits and a symbol for zero, the decimal place value system, and makes a case for this new way of doing math. He gets no support. He produced the first significant mathematics in Europe since the time of Eratosthenes (230 BCE).

Parallel Universe, Anyone?

1572 Bombelli gives first new contribution. He is the first to state the rules for calculating with complex numbers. All others before him wrote what was already discovered elsewhere.

1614 Napier publishes his work on logarithms.

al-Hind). The original Arabic does not survive. About 830 al-Khwarizmi writes The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing (al-Kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa’l-muqabala). From the word al-jabr, we get the word algebra. 850 Mahavira writes Ganita Sara Sangraha, works on unit fractions, combinatorics and fractions. 900 Sridhara is first mathematician to give a rule to solve a quadratic equation. About 1120 Adelard of Bath translates Sridhara’s book in Latin, which survived. 1150 Bhaskara writes Siddhanta Shiromani with works on arithmetic, algebra, spheres and astronomy; advances operations on zero and concept of infinity; advances knowledge on permutations and combinations; first sure signs of differential calculus and Rolle’s theorem (1691) when finding instantaneous speed of a planet; leaps in trigonometric formulae; refines kuttaka method; solves so-called Pell’s equation using his chakravala method; 12th century European scholars travel to Spain and Sicily seeking scientific Arabic texts, including al-Khwarizmi’s The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing, translated into Latin by Robert of Chester. 1202 Fibonacci publishes Liber Abaci and introduces the Indian number system to Europe. He finds no takers. About 1400 Madhava of the Kerala school of mathematicians gives what later will be called Gregory series (1667), Newton power series (1665), Maclaurin series (1740), Leibniz power series for pi (1673), Euler series (1727), Taylor series (1715), all important results of calculus and series. The first person in modern times to realize V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

that the mathematicians of Kerala had anticipated some of the results of the Europeans on the calculus by nearly 300 years was Charles Whish in 1835. But Whish’s paper, published in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, went unnoticed by historians of mathematics. Only 100 years later, in the 1940s, did the world look in detail at the works of Kerala’s mathematicians and find that the remarkable claims made by Whish were essentially true. As Dr George Gheverghese Joseph of the University of Manchester puts it: “Europe had a 500-year-old tradition of importing knowledge and books from India and the Arab world. There was plenty of opportunity to collect the information as European Jesuits were present in Kerala at that time. They were learned with a strong background in math and were well versed in the local languages. And there was strong motivation: Pope Gregory XIII set up a committee to look into modernizing the Julian calendar. “On the committee was the German Jesuit astronomer/mathematician Clavius who repeatedly requested information on how people constructed calendars in other parts of the world. The Kerala School was undoubtedly a leading light in this area. Large prizes were offered to mathematicians who specialized in astronomy. Again, there were many such requests for information across the world from leading Jesuit researchers in Europe. Kerala mathematicians were hugely skilled in this area.” Ian Pearce of St Andrews University, Scotland, explains (emphasis mine): “The Greeks however did not adopt a positional number system. It is worth thinking just how significant this fact is. The Greek math-

ematical achievements were based on geometry. Although Euclid’s Elements contains a book on number theory, it is based on geometry. In other words, Greek mathematicians did not need to name their numbers since they worked with numbers as lengths of lines. “The [Indian] system also spread to Spain in the 12th century. It took much longer for the system to be accepted in mainland Europe, but eventually, by the 16th century, it was widely used. That said, both prejudice and suspicion continued to be widespread, while orthodoxy also played its part in the continued use of Roman numerals. “Cardan solved cubic and quartic equations without using zero. He would have found his work in the 1500s so much easier if he had had a zero but it was not part of his mathematics.” What should one do after knowing all this? This is already part of school textbooks, and elementary for today’s math. The best thing modern India can do with this knowledge of its history is perhaps this. Understand the original manuscripts with the help of math scholars and Sanskrit pundits to see if there are any insights to new ways of looking at things available. Get a sense that the Indian thought system and society not only produced great minds but also accepted the pursuit of truth without any conflict with or oppression by “religious” thinkers. Take inspiration from the glorious pursuits of our forefathers, just like you would from Newton, Gauss, Feynman or Einstein, but much closer to home. And students can also take some hope and pride to pursue pure sciences as well, rather than just go to IT in droves. Awaken. Arise. Advance. You can do it. They already did.

“And who will search through the wide infinities of space to count the universes side by side, each containing its Brahma, its Vishnu and its Shiva? Who can count the Indra-s in them all— those Indras side by side, who reign at once in all the innumerable worlds; those others who passed away before them; or even the Indra-s who succeed each other in any given line, ascending to godly kingship, one by one, and, one by one, passing away?” (Brahma Vaivarta Purana) American theoretical physicist and string theorist Brian Greene discusses nine types of parallel universes in his book The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos: The quilted multiverse works only in an infinite universe. With an infinite amount of space, every possible event will occur an infinite number of times. However, the speed of light prevents us from being aware of these other identical areas. The inflationary multiverse is composed of various pockets where inflation fields collapse and form new universes. The brane multiverse follows from M-theory and states that each universe is a 3-dimensional brane that exists with many others. Particles are bound to their branes except for gravity. The cyclic multiverse has multiple branes (each a universe) that collided, causing Big Bangs. The universes bounce back and pass through time, until they are pulled back together and again collide, destroying the old contents and creating them anew. The landscape multiverse relies on string theory’s Calabi–Yau shapes. Quantum fluctuations drop the shapes to a lower energy level, creating a pocket with a different set of laws from the surrounding space. The quantum multiverse creates a new universe when a diversion in events occurs, as in the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. Holographic multiverse: the theory is that that surface area of a space simulate the volume of the region. The simulated multiverse exists on complex computer systems that simulate entire universes. The ultimate multiverse contains every mathematically possible universe under different laws of physics.

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C o v e r

S tori e s

The Medical Sciences Aravindan neelakandan

very ancient civilisation has its own medical tradition and has come up with its own principles for understanding health and diseases. Similarly, every indigenous society or community that lives today has also been a repository of localized medicinal knowledge system. What is interestingly and importantly unique about the Indian system is that it has both a very long tradition of a formalized medical system with its own principles of organizing its medical universe and it also has a vast web of varied localized medicinal knowledge systems. They interact with each other constantly with the former absorbing local traditions which helps the latter to survive and flourish.

Leech to Leprosy

The author is Contributing Editor of Swarajya

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The basic model for this interaction of the common principles and local medical knowledge has been set perhaps in the Atharva Veda and may have its roots in Rig Veda itself. In Vedic times, the usage of leech was so widespread that it has become the symbolic representation of medical profession itself. A famous verse in Rig speaks of a bard’s father as a “leech”, meaning he was a physician. At one place where Rudra, instead of the usual twin Gods Aswins, is projected as the god of healing, he is said to have leech in his hands. In the Sushruta Samhita, one of the earliest medicinal texts (dated variously from 600 BCE to 2nd century CE), we have a detailed description on the use of leeches in medicine. This makes what later became popular in early to late-medieval European medical profession, as leeching (a form of bloodletting), an Indian contribution. Though mostly discontinued, leeching does seem to be making a comeback. Leeches are classified as “medicinal product” in Europe and as “medical device” by the US Food and Drug Administration. With medicines come medical ethos. Rig Vedic descriptions of Aswins, the physician deities, also provide the ethical template for all physicians: charming, honest, eager to help the afflicted, hurry to those in need, compassionate and quick to come to succour, etc. While in many contemporary civilizations, leprosy was considered a punishment from the divine forces and lepers were treated as outcasts, the oldest recorded evidence of attempts

to treat leprosy comes from a skeleton 4,000 years old discovered in Rajasthan. The report of the archeological excavation points out that “the leper’s skeleton was interred within a large stone enclosure that had been filled with vitrified ash from burned cow dung”. The use of cow dung was a very common medicinal practice in ancient India. A Rig Vedic anecdote tells of how a woman was cured of leprosy by Vedic physician deities and she was reunited with her husband. Clearly medicinal knowledge had attempted to overcome the social prejudices against leprosy and had started building an ethical framework.

Surgery It is well known that in surgery, India excelled and innovated. Sushruta divided surgical instruments into six major groups. Then there were subgroups. In forceps alone, there were 24 sub-classes; in probing instruments, 28; and in tubular ones 20. Moat of these instruments were made of iron. There were also the forerunners to consciously design instruments in the forms occurring in the natural world: “The mouths of these appliances are usually made to resemble the mouths of some particular animal in shape...” says Sushruta Samhita. Sushruta was also the first to graft upon a torn ear portions of skin taken from another part of the body. This would later develop into a well-established medical practice in India, rhinoplasty—surgical reconstruction of severed noses.

Acupuncture, Marma and Connectivity Ayurveda can be seen as a matrix of various local medicinal knowledge systems. It has often grown by assimilating the local knowledge, but not by replacing them. It zalso contributed to the development of schools of medicines in other parts of Asia. Acupuncture is one such. Buddhist scholars Shifu Nagaboshi Tomio and Terence Dukes concede that even if it cannot be said “for certain that the Chinese developed their ideas about acupuncture points directly from India, it does seem an obvious extension of Vajramukti teachings.” It is possible that the Indic concept of marma points was later developed by Buddhist missionaries and this system interacted with an independent Chinese folk tradition enriching both. Martial usage of marma points appear in the Rig Veda where Indra uses them in killing Vrtra. Later V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

Sushruta elaborates on them and even tries to provide a naturalistic explanation. The way Indian texts catalyzed acupuncture’s development can be seen in the way it became a surgical therapy in eye ailments. Medical historian Paul Ulrich points out that “the idea of treating certain ailments of the eye surgically was introduced to China solely through Indian mediation.” These surgical methods were integrated into acupuncture in Japan centuries later. In the 14th century, Japanese Buddhist priest Seigan specialized in ophthalmology and introduced what is known as the golden needle acupuncture treatment for cataract. According to Japanese medical historian Yoshiaki Omura, this method known as “Sudden Lens Dropping” was rediscovered from an ancient Indian ophthalmology method which reached Japan along with Indian Buddhist texts.

Kerala to Carl Linnaeus It is not only in the well-known and oft-mentioned field of surgery that the Indian medical system contributed. Local knowledge systems of herbs that flourished in India had developed their own classification which critically contributed to the development of the science of taxonomy in the West. British science historian Richard Grove speaks of “the diffusion of indigenous South Asian methodologies of

classification throughout the European world, rather than the reverse.” Here he refers to the Ezhava—a community of traditional physicians in Kerala—who helped Dutch botanist Hendrik van Reede tot Drakenstein compile an important botanical work Hortus Malabaricus (Garden of Malabar) which deals essentially with medicinal flora of the Malabar area of Kerala and published in 12 volumes (1678-1693). Anthropologist Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing explains: “John Ray, known for his ‘grammar’ of botany, obviously read van Reede...Yet he attributed no importance to the Ezahava dialogue that brought that species to him. The system itself was knowledge, not its components of parts. Carl Linnaeus, known as the father of modern biological classification...unselfconsciously adopted van Reede’s Malabar classifications without noting them as foreign. For him, all correct knowledge could be united through the use of a universal method...There is no understanding here of knowledge as gained in dialogue— and certainly not dialogue between Christians and non-Christians. [12]

What Can We Give the World? The most important aspect in studying Indian contribution to medicine is not the glorification of the past, nor even the historically important aspect of correcting the Eurocentric narrative

Sushruta was the first to graft upon a torn ear portions of skin taken from another part of the body. This devloped into rhinoplasty: surgical reconstruction of severed noses Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

home to perhaps the world’s most medicinal local knowledge systems which provide a hunting ground of multinational pharmaceuticals and hence has been a victim of bio-piracy. Science writer Brendan Borrell, who documents recent attempts of scientists in reverse engineering herbal health solutions, points out: “The scientists make careful observations of patients already using a variety of traditional herbal remedies to identify the most promising one, then conduct a clinical trial of that remedy. Finally, they identify the active compound, which becomes the starting point for drug development. Their approach, called reverse pharmacology, was inspired by the efforts of Indian scientists hunting for new drugs from ancient Ayurvedic medicine. The beauty of it is that even if a manufactured drug never emerges, the researchers can advise traditional healers and the communities they serve about which herbs work and which do not.”

Indic medical systems knew that the human body is more connected at the physical level and the connections are more dynamic than concentional medicine has ever imagned

Consciousness Studies

of the development of medicine. It is about creating an interface with the Indian medicinal knowledge system with modern science. What has India given to the rest of the world? Did we give cellular biology, molecular biology or structural biology? Did we give structural genomics, functional genomics or pharmacogenomics? No, but we can give Ayurvedic biology and Ayugenomics to the world alright. We need to think really seriously about that. A good opening for such an exploration is provided by in the case of the eastern system of healing points like marma and related acupuncture. Even to this day the marma points-based therapy is a flourishing science in the southern parts of India. However, unlike acupuncture the marma system has never been popularized in a systematic way. But both marma and acupuncture have a commonality which necessitates a perceptional shift in the modern system of medicine. Dr Helene M. Langevin, a clinical endocrinologist, whose interest in chronic pain led her to the study of acupuncture, found that more than 80 per cent of acupuncture points in the arm are located along connective tissue planes. She also points out that the connective tissue is “something of an orphan child in medicine: al-

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though it is an integral part of the musculoskeletal system”. They are “basically absent from orthopedic textbooks, which deal principally with bones, cartilage, and muscles”. Now this opens up an entire new realm for the therapeutic sciences. The Indic medical systems seem to have tapped into the dynamic nature of connective tissue towards which western medicine has started taking tentative baby steps. The human body is more connected at the very physical level than Cartesian medical science has presumed, and the connections are more dynamic than the conventional medical establishment imagined. Ayurveda and associated Indic systems of medicine, including the Siddha system in South India, harbour the world’s most elaborately systematized knowledge of herbal plants and remedies. India has provided the world a bio-cultural model that augments sustainable domestic and social health. The neem-turmerictulsi veneration that can be seen throughout India with equally exhaustive utilization of these plants in medical formulations is one example. Cattle—particularly cow-based medical formulations used in local medical systems throughout India—along with their ritual usage is another example. Apart from these, India is also V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

For a long time, the term ‘consciousness’ has been an outcast for western science, though both “science” and “consciousness” share the same etymological root. Consciousness-related studies are not mere philosophical speculations. They have serious implications for the way we look at many brain “disorders”. In the Indian school of philosophy, Sankhya had emphasized the fundamental unity of mind and body—making the mind more a subtle matter than a separate category by itself. This has led to the development of models which had looked for the correlates of the modes of consciousness well within the body. The tantra and yoga traditions have taken a view of correlating consciousness and the levels of consciousnessbased perceptional changes involving interactions between spinal cord and brain. Dr Subash Kak, physicist and consciousness researcher, had pointed out a possibility of a correlation between Indic and neuro-scientific understandings of the inner realm: “Since cognitive abilities are localized, the idea that a contemplative discipline can help a subject further these abilities becomes plausible. The Vedic texts insist that such furtherance has been observed. A modern understanding of this phenomenon is that the subject, by means of the meditative discipline, changes the organization of the cognitive centre. This belief is open to experimental refutation.” An even more puzzling correlate to the chakras emerge from another researcher. Neuroscientist Candance Pert discovered the cellular binding site for endorphins in the brain. She has recorded an anecdote regarding the yogic chakras along the spinal cord.

Once, a yoga practitioner visited her laboratory and showed her the map of the chakras. She narrates what happened: “I had no idea what he was talking about, but trying to be helpful, I pulled out a diagram that depicted how there were two chains of nerve bundles located on either side of the spinal cord, each rich with many of the informationcarrying peptides. He placed his own chakra map over my drawing and together we saw how the two systems overlapped. It was the first time I seriously considered that there might be a connection between my work and the Eastern viewpoint. Closely connected to the chakras is the concept of kundalini—the psychic movement symbolized by the serpent. Perhaps this was the greatest psychological-medical discovery made by the ancient Indian system; it has enormous meanings and consequences in ares as different from studying the biological basis of art to alienation. Psychiatrist and psychotherapist Carl Jung studied kundalini in the therapeutic context but without much success. In a pathbreaking singlehanded study of a thousand individuals either disturbed or internally stimulated, Californian psychiatrist Lee Sannella identified the psycho-social effects of what he called “kundalini experience” with relation to both ‘psychosis and transcendence’. Today, “kundalini syndrome” is very much part of transpersonal psychology’s vocabulary. It refers to personal crisis that a subject may experience associated with kundalini awakening either through deliberate means of yoga practices or through an accidental trauma or ecstasy. Either way, kundalini is redefining the way psychiatry has been looking at the problems of, well, the psyche. Today, medical science is also studying the religious phenomenon—not as the pathology of the mind any more, but as integrating the bio-psychological process of the human psyche. Works by Andrew Newberg, Michael Persinger and V.S. Ramachandran define this new field. Patanjali Yoga can be considered the first systematization of the brain-based search for religious experiences. Once again, Indic insights have become the basis for cutting-edge medical explorations into unknown realms of the psyche. Indic contributions are a major factor in either seeding or catalyzing a whole range of western mental health systems from studying holotropic experiences to transpersonal psychology to Jungian psychology. We need to move now from Ayurvedic biology to Ayur-psychology and Ayur-psychiatry. We shall then discover the contributions of the past to invent a formidable future.

Today, ‘kundalini syndrome’ is very much part of transpersonal psychology’s vocabulary. Kundalini is redefining the way medical science is looking at the problems of the psyche

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A p p r a is a l

Jayant Chowdhury

Man of Light, Prince of Darkness B

It is the centenary year of Jyoti Basu, “the great helmsman”. Time to make an honest appraisal of the man and what he wrought.

He was an arrogant and vainglorious man who suffered from delusions of greatness. His only achievement, perhaps, was that he was able to fool so many people for so long 20

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orn on July 8, 1914, his original name was Jyotindra—the king of light. When he was five, his father shortened it to Jyoti—light. His political career personified darkness. Jyoti Basu presided over the abysmal decline of the state he ruled as Chief Minister for a record five consecutive terms from June 21, 1977, to November 6, 2000, when he stepped down due to advancing age. He turned West Bengal into “Waste” Bengal. Had CPI(M) not been relegated to the margins in the state, the party would have definitely been celebrating July 2014-July 2015 as Basu’s birth centenary year with a lot of fanfare, singing the virtues of a “towering statesman”. It is, therefore, pertinent now to examine the qualities and performance of India’s longest-serving chief minister. Born to a middle-class family of Calcutta, Basu studied in convent schools, graduated in English from Hindu College (now Presidency University), where he was a back-bencher, and went to London to study law after failing to crack the civil service examinations. While in London, he was influenced by the rhetoric of the likes of Harry Pollitt, Rajani Palme Dutt, Ben Bradley and other Communist leaders and also by the lectures of Harold Laski at the London School of Economics. After qualifying as a barrister at Middle Temple, London, in 1940, he returned to Calcutta and promptly announced to his father that he would, instead of practising law, join the Communist Party of India (CPI). Nishikanta Basu, a physician, who

had spent a fortune on his son’s education in London, was understandably aghast, but no amount of pleading would move his son. The only request of his family that the young man acceded to was to get married that very year. Basu’s utter disregard for his parents’ request to put the law degree (which the middle-class family made considerable sacrifices for him to obtain) to good use and his easy acquiescence to another urging of his parents—to get married, which suited him, provides an early peep into the man’s character. Of course, Jyoti Basu is still worshiped by the hordes that subscribe to an ideology well past its shelf life. A simple Google search reveals a deluge of adulatory articles. But the answer to all that is a simple question: What did Basu do for West Bengal? The Bengal that Basu’s successor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee inherited from “the great helmsman” was a sad picture of poverty, backwardness, ignorance and disease. It wasn’t very different from the Bengal of 1977 when Basu became chief minister for the first time. But the Bengal of 1977 was on its knees primarily due to the rampage of the leftists and ultra-leftists from the late 1960s onwards. Bandhs, gheraos at industrial units that led to their eventual closures, murderous attacks on “class enemies”, and general unrest led to a flight of capital from the state and its steady decay into an industrial graveyard. Basu, thus, took over a decrepit state whose desolation he and his fellow Communists had wrought. The one he handed over to Bhattacharjee 23 years V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

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Jyotibabu: A Timeline Born July 8, 1914 to physician Nishikanta Basu and Hemlata Basu 1920 Admitted to Loreto School, Esplanade (Calcutta). Father shortens name from Jyotindra to Jyoti. Shifted to St. Xavier’s School in 1925

1935 Graduates with English (Hons) from Hindu College (now Presidency University) 1936 Fails to crack Indian Civil Services Examination, goes to London to study law 1939 Becomes bar-at-law at Middle Temple. In London, joined India League; Federation of Indian Students in Great Britain; Secretary of London Majlis

To read Jyotibabu’s autobiography, speeches, writings and interviews

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1940 Returns to India and joins the Communist Party of India (CPI), Plunges into trade union activities, especially the railwaymen’s federation. Marries Basanti Ghosh who passed away on May 11, 1942. CPI is declared illegal, Basu becomes liaison with underground leaders, arranges safe houses for them

1943 Gets first formal post in CPI as organizer of the party’s Bengal Provincial Committee 1946 Is elected to the Bengal Provincial Assembly from Railway constituency Dec 5, 1948 Marries Kamal. Son Chandan born in 1952

later was as bleak and barren. So much for Basu’s performance. Two developments are touted as Basu’s stellar achievements. One is land reforms—the registration of sharecroppers (bargadars) and ensuring their tenancy rights under “Operation Barga”, along with redistribution of ceiling surplus land to landless peasants. The other is the devolution of power to the panchayats. According to the CPI(M) mouthpiece People’s Democracy, from 1978 (when Operation Barga was launched) to 1994, 14.6 lakh sharecroppers were registered over an area of 451,800 hectares and they were assured of a fixed share of the farm produce and protected against arbitrary eviction by landlords. Also, 2.5 lakh acres of ceiling surplus and benami land was re-distributed to landless peasants. About half the rural households in the state benefited from these reforms. And admittedly, the Left Front regime that Basu headed pioneered Panchayati Raj in India and power was actually decentralized. But wait. There was widespread favouritism in registering the sharecroppers and only CPI(M) supporters were registered. The bargadars became the new elite and the backbone of CPI(M) in the villages, unleashing a reign of terror in rural Bengal. Basu’s government did not take into account the highly segregated landholding patterns and ignored irrigation that could have sustained a rise in farm produce and productivity. It also failed—or did not care—to develop markets for farm produce and small farmers were left at the mercy of rapacious middlemen, all of whom were local CPI(M) leaders or party supporters. As for redistribution of ceiling surplus land, here too, most of the beneficiaries were CPI(M) activists and supporters. Going by West Bengal

1952 Is elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly, becomes secretary of the CPI’s West Bengal Provincial Assembly 1962 Walks out of CPI’s National Council with 31 others 1964 CPI splits, Basu becomes member of the CPI(M)’s Politburo and Central Committee 1957 to 1967: Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly

1967 and 1969 Deputy Chief Minister in two United Front governments in the state 1972 Loses assembly elections that are allegedly rigged by the Congress regime June 21, 1977 Becomes chief minister November 6, 2000 Relinquishes office due to failing health

Land and Land Reforms Department records, only a quarter of the ceiling surplus and benami land acquired by the government was actually redistributed to the landless. The rest of the land (actually government-owned farmlands) was taken over by CPI(M) men. In 2009, Land Reforms Minister Abdul Rezzak Mollah admitted that 27 per cent of the registered bargadars had lost their registered rights as sharecroppers and an equal number feared losing their registration. That the much-hyped land reforms did not succeed in the long run is evident from the fact that Bengal’s rural economy was in shambles when Basu relinquished office. One major indicator of this was the mass migration from rural to urban areas and to other states in search of work. According to National Sample Survey data, the percentage of rural households not getting enough food every day in some months of the year is the highest in Bengal (10.6 per cent), far ahead of second-ranker Odisha (4.8 per cent). Predominantly rural, Purulia is one of the poorest districts in India with 78 per cent of the people living below the poverty line. Farmers all over Bengal barely manage to eke out a living. So much for Basu being a visionary. The real story behind the Panchayati Raj achievement is a sinister one. Basu and his comrades saw in decentralization of powers and their devolution to panchayats a fine way to establish a stranglehold of CPI(M) on rural Bengal and perpetuate its brutal hegemony to win election after election. The panchayats, panchayat samitis and zila parishads became the party’s extension offices and they subverted district administrations. There are indicators galore to debunk the V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

Elected to West Bengal Assembly for 11 terms in 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1991 and 1996 January 17, 2010 Dies January 19, 2010 Body given guard of honour before being taken to super-specialty SSKM Hospital. Basu had donated his body for medical research in 2003

In October 1990, Rajiv Gandhi requested Basu to become Prime Minister. CPM vetoed the proposal and Chandrasekhar became PM. When Chandrasekhar’s government fell, Gandhi once again asked Basu to become PM and once again the CPM stood in the way

In 1996, Mulayam Singh Yadav and other Third Front leaders proposed Basu for Prime Ministership, but CPM Politburo and Central Committee vetoed the proposal. Basu later termed the veto as a “historic blunder”

Basu myth. Communists and fellow-travellers claim that during the Basu years, the number of poor declined dramatically in Bengal. Yes, the percentage of people living below the poverty line did decline (Planning Commision numbers) from 73.2 per cent in 1974 to 28.6 per cent in 2004. But this was an all-India phenomenon—the percentage of poor in India declined from 56.4 to 28.2 per cent during this period—and Basu can claim little credit for it. During Basu’s tenure (and even now) Bengal’s performance in immunization, antenatal care, women’s nutrition, ratio of doctors and hospital beds to population, child mortality and literacy were consistently below the national average. Here is a damning statistic. During his 23year tenure, not a single primary health centre was set up in the state! On unemployment, West Bengal ranked third from the bottom among all Indian states from 1983 to 2001. In education, West Bengal slipped from 6th position to 17th in the country between 1977 and 2000. When Basu left office in 2000, the state’s fiscal deficit amounted to a whopping Rs 7,109 crore. During his tenure, nearly 70,000 industrial units closed down or were declared “sick” (Source: Planning Commission). An unrepentant Basu’s stock response to the sorry state of Bengal was: (a) stepmotherly treatment by the Union government; (b) denial to West Bengal of its due share of central and foreign aid; (c) discriminatory industrial and economic polices pursued by the Union government; (d) a systematic disinformation campaign by the “bourgeois media”; and (e) “deep conspiracy by MNCs at the behest of imperial and neo-colonial powers to deprive Bengal of investments”. There is only one way to describe this bunch of excuses: a load of bunkum.

One of Basu’s worst legacies is the politicization of education and the state machinery, including the police force. Not a single appointment in educational institutions, starting from the Vice Chancellor of a university to a peon in a primary school, could be made without the nod of the mandarins at CPI(M) state headquarters at Alimuddin Street in Kolkata. The standard of education plummeted. English as a subject was abolished from schools at the primary level and this left several generations of Bengalis unemployable. Of course, Basu’s son, and then his two granddaughters, studied in private English-medium schools. CPI(M) systematically reduced the seniormost state bureaucrats to powerless functionaries who were expected to carry out the orders of the party apparatchik. The state administration was made a mere adjunct to the party machinery. The lower and middle-level bureaucracy was packed with CPI(M) supporters, who devoted more time and attention to party work than what they were supposed to be earning their salaries for, out of tax payers’ money. Work culture of the state took a nosedive. Even Basu himself, in his later years, started lamenting this. The police force was politicized and the constabulary egged on to form a union affiliated to, unsurprisingly, CPI(M). As a result, lower ranks of the force started acting on the orders of CPI(M) functionaries rather than their seniors. Basu is often touted as a bhadralok (genteel) politician. But it was during his tenure that political violence peaked in Bengal. Many political opponents were killed or maimed, and Basu remained a happy spectator to his party unleashing thugs on hapless people to strengthen and perpetuate its vice-like grip over the state. It was on Basu’s watch that rigging elections

To watch Jyoti Basu on Walk The Talk with Shekhar Gupta

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H y p ocris y

During the 1962 war, Basu supported China. During the Kargil war, he and his ministers never bothered to receive the bodies of soldiers

Jayant Chowdhury is an avid observer of and commentator on politics and society in Bengal and eastern, including north- eastern, India.

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was developed into a fine art. He presided over a party that made violence, threats and intimidation an acceptable part of Bengal politics. Basu oversaw brutal retribution against the Ananda Marg, a socio-spiritual organization, for an assassination attempt on him at Patna railway station on March 31, 1970, allegedly by a member of the organization. Twelve years later, on April 30, 1982, alleged CPI(M) goons torched 16 monks and nuns belonging to that order in upper-middle-class south Kolkata in broad daylight with the police looking on, marking the nadir in Bengal’s bloody history. No one was ever arrested for the carnage. Bhadralok. He was singularly responsible for the rise and empowerment of the “lumpen proletariat”. Basu allowed and even encouraged his party to build an army of musclemen and goondas who would stifle dissent, intimidate opposition forces and rig elections, with various criminal activities as their day job. Very few tangible qualities can also be attributed to Basu. He was a poor orator and his staccato speeches were full of inanities. He articulated no vision. The only quote ascribed to him is almost surreally meaningless—“It is the people, and people alone, who create history”. He was extremely class-conscious, never socializing with his comrades from modest backgrounds, and comfortable only with the likes of Somnath Chatterjee, an aristocratic barrister. Basu was hardly Communist in his lifestyle; he loved holidaying in London and the fine things in life, including his daily tipple of the finest scotch. Basu, as former Trinamool Congress leader (who has been leader of Opposition in the state assembly) Pankaj Banerjee put it, was devoid of any ideology. “He used to talk like Che at Politburo meetings, was a pucca trade unionist when dealing with workers and spoke like an industrialist at business seminars. Basu was like a liquid, taking on the shape of its container,” Banerjee once told this writer. How, then, did Basu and his comrades manage to create that aura around him? One answer could be that they, quite like the Goebbels they loved to hate, employed the tactic of “a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth”. But there may be more to it. Basu was bilet pherot (someone who had been to the western world, to study or work), which, to most Bengalis starved of opportunities, was a major achievement and a virtue worth extolling. He was imperious and the masses liked that even more. His grim visage and the bored look he sported in public, his monosyllabic responses to questions, his autocratic style, and his bhadralok attire of crisp white dhoti-kurta and perfectly polished shoes added to his aura. Basu and Bengal were made for each other.

Basu is often extolled as a true democrat. Nothing could be farther from the truth. He, like his comrades, was highly distrustful of parliamentary politics. He was one among the many Communists who termed India’s Independence jhooti azadi (false independence) and gave the call for armed insurgency across the country to overthrow the Nehru government and establish Communist rule as Mao did in China. He was a firm believer in Lenin’s recommendation that “Communists must contest bourgeois elections to serve as tribunes of the people in order to expose the cretinism of parliamentary democracy from within so as to prepare the masses for participation in revolutionary anti-parliamentary politics”. In other words, sabotage the system from inside—take advantage of the freedoms that democracy accords to wreck democracy. During the Sino-Indian war of 1962, Basu supported China. During the Kargil war, Basu and his ministers—unlike in almost every other state of India—never bothered to receive the bodies of soldiers that arrived in coffins from the battlefront. The state administration did nothing for the widows and families of the Kargil martyrs. Basu vehemently opposed the erection of the Vijay Smarak outside the south gates of Fort William, the seat of the Indian Army’s Eastern Command, to commemorate the sacrifices of the 1971 war, arguing that Dhaka should be the only place where such a memorial could be erected. It was only in the early 1990s that the army could build the memorial on what was its own land and that too defying state government orders. So much for the democrat and patriot. Another so-called virtue of his is that he was a pragmatist. This he was, but a more correct term would be “opportunist”. Basu quickly realised that Mao’s tactics could not be deployed in India without waging a prolonged armed insurgency. That would mean abandoning his cozy lifestyle to a life in the jungles (like Maoists today in some parts of India). He had no stomach for that and successfully argued with his comrades to embrace parliamentary democracy and enjoy the benefits of power. He was a pragmatist as far as his own comfort was concerned. That is hardly a virtue. Basu was one of the most spectacularly unsuccessful chief ministers that independent India has had and presided over the ruination of his state. He was an arrogant and vainglorious man who suffered from delusions of greatness. His only achievement, perhaps, was that he was able to fool so many people for so long. Layers of lies mask the sordid hypocrisy of a politician who was a clever and dangerous midget, not the towering persona he is projected as. One can only hope that history will accurately judge this man and his crimes against his people. V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

Imported Ideology, Activism for Export Madhu Purnima Kishwar

Indian NGOs funded by Western agencies follow their masters’ diktat— to not let development activities begin or proceed. Their sinister agendas must be exposed.

ne of the most notable developments of the last four decades is the emergence of foreign-funded NGOs as the arbiters of India’s destiny and self-appointed champions of the poor and the marginalized, including women. In the 1970s, foreign-funded NGOs were called Voluntary Organizations (VOs) until people began to ask how their work could be called “voluntary” if they were all well-paid professionals. Therefore, Western funding agencies asked the recipients of their bounty to rename themselves as NGOs (Non-governmental organizations). This nomenclature is absurd, too, since many of the foreign-funded NGOs like Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) and Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD) also draw heavily on government funds. Given the largescale corruption in the NGO sector, their partisan agendas, the term “NGO” came to be mistrusted and deprived of the halo they were bestowed with at one time. In recent years, the donor agencies have urged the NGO community to adopt a new nomenclature—Civil Society Organizations, CSOs for short. This nomenclature is the most absurd since most of the time they are at war with civil society and engage with India’s diverse communities mainly through the mediation of draconian laws such as the anti-dowry law, the domestic violence law, the law

against sex determination tests etc. The general NGO mindset is that the diverse communities in India are backward and misfits in modern-day India unless they refashion their beliefs, values and social practices in keeping with the changing agendas of the NGOs floated by the international donor agencies. They are thus carrying forward the “civilizing mission” of us natives unleashed by our colonial rulers in late 19th century. The tendency to see all social iniquities and poverty-related problems only through the prism of class struggle and to project the interests of various economic strata as being permanently mutually hostile, has remained preponderant among NGO activists in India despite the country’s social reality being far more complex. For example, many of those attacked as rich farmers or kulaks earn less than a Class IV employee in a government office. A large number of them are heavily indebted farmers who can keep their farms running only by sending off one or more of their sons for extremely low-paid occupations to earn cash. And yet those who organize the landless poor tend to seek all the answers to the poverty of farm labourers by whipping up sentiments against the landowning farmers, leading to a zero-sum game for both, rather than understand the causes of poverty of the entire farm sector, which makes it impossible for impoverished farmers to pay decent wages. The mutual complementarity of

people in varied sectors of our economy is altogether ignored by the leftist NGOs in their obsession to highlight their conflicts and work to sharpen divides. They specialize in sectional demands that pitch various sections of society against each other. The adversarial relationships of labour versus capital, ‘upper castes’ versus ‘lower castes’, Hindus versus Muslims, peasants versus farm labourers insisted on in the simplified rhetoric of these NGOs, produce results that are detrimental for all. It is not a coincidence that in regions where foreign-funded NGOs abound, secessionist movements and violent upsurges such as the Maoist insurgency are common. Societies make economic progress only when there is a degree of complementarity of interests between agriculture and industry, wage earners and employers, small-scale and large-scale industry, consumers and producers— rather than where each of these sectors is locked in a permanently adversarial relationship with the others. It’s ironical that international donor agencies of Western “capitalist countries” fund mainly leftist NGOs in India and other Third World countries. There has to be a good reason why they are paid to rave and rant against Western capitalism and oppose India’s efforts to open up its economy. Till about the 1980s, organised left parties and intellectuals opposed India’s in-

It is not a coincidence that in the regions where foreign-funded NGOs abound, secessionist movements and violent upsurges such as the Maoist insurgncy are common Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

tegration with the world economy under the guise of protecting the rights of the working class against capitalist exploitation. They were the prime supporters of a closed-door economy and Statist controls. However, in the last two decades, that space has increasingly come to be shared by well-heeled and influential NGOs which specialize in whipping up frenzied campaigns against liberalization of the Indian economy for which generous political and monetary support is available from certain Western donor agencies that work in close collaboration with their respective governments. According to government sources, the NGO sector received $3 billion in 2003 from various foreign sources. As per the FCRA Annual Report, 2011-12, Ministry of Home Affairs, Foreigners Division, FCRA Wing, Receipt and Utilization of Foreign Contribution by Voluntary Associations, some 22,702 NGOs reportedly received Rs 11,546 crore as foreign contributions. Among the list of donors, the US tops the list (Rs 3,838.23 crore) followed by the UK (Rs 1,219.02 crore) and Germany (Rs 1,096.01 crore). Majority of donors including the top three are church-based organizations: Compassion International USA (Rs 183.83 crore), followed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, USA (Rs 130.77 crore) and the Kindernothilfe eV (KNH) Germany (Rs 51.76 crore). Of the top 15 donor agencies, 13 are related to some Christian sect. The Anti-Globalization Brigade A substantial part of these funds are going to what I call the Anti-Globalization Brigade (AGB) among NGOs. With these fabulous grants, AGBs among the NGOs are forever jet- setting from one exotic destination to another preaching to each other and friendly journalists about the need to protect our people from the evil ways of the West by keeping our country insulated from the global economy and the “evil” influences of Western culture. The increase in sexual violence, wife murders, escalating dowries, corruption, female foeticide, declining sex ratio, increasing crime rate in our society, the impoverished condition and indebtedness of our farmers, failure of crops due to poor-quality pesticides, the growing frustration of millions of unemployed youth in India—all these and more are projected as inevitable outcomes of the

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process of globalization and the accompanying economic reforms in India. They seldom bother to explain how any economy can be kept “closed-door” without a draconian bureaucracy and police establishment to prevent the flow of goods and capital from one country to another. For decades, the mantrachanting leftists immobilised idealistic young people by telling them that no social problem could be solved without the workers of the world uniting under the red flag to defeat the forces of world capitalism and capture state power. They actively discouraged their followers from finding concrete solutions to concrete problems and made rabble-rousing a substitute for all political activity. That fantasy never materialized because the working class refused to fall in line. Thereafter, some disoriented leftists have reinvented their politics and tried getting the NGOs of the world to unite under the aegis of the World Social Forum (WSF) and diverse other networks with generous grants from aid organizations, and the governments of “capitalist– imperialist” countries to defeat the forces of globalization! Once again they seek to channel the idealism of many dedicated young people towards bloated rhetoric so that they keep away from creative engagement with concrete problems and find workable solutions. The entire thrust of AGB politics is to internationalize every local problem that comes to their notice. When there is a riot in Uttar Pradesh or Gujarat, many of them run to European capitals to give fiery speeches on human rights violations instead of being on the scene to protect those under attack or organize relief for them. They want global networks for themselves but insist the rest of us must live like frogs in a well and not be corrupted by the evil ways of the West. They often buy their cheese and chocolates from Switzerland and France, but if they see Indian villagers buy a box of desi Britannia cheese or Amul chocolates or a packet of cheap Maggi noodles, they begin to have fits of anxiety over the increasing hold of the “decadent consumer culture of the West” among Indians. Since Arundhati Roy has emerged as the most celebrated pamphleteer of India’s AGBs, I would like to illustrate the basic features of this worldview by quoting from a speech delivered by her at the World Social Forum meeting in Brazil in

2002. This represents in a very condensed and accurate form all the key diagnostic clichés offered by this articulate group of our samajik neem hakims (quack social scientists) to explain what ails our politics and economy. “India—the world’s biggest democracy—is currently at the forefront of the corporate globalization project. Its ‘market’ of one billion people is being prised open by the WTO. Corporatization and privatization are being welcomed by the government and the Indian elite. It is not a coincidence that the Prime Minister, the Home Minister, the Disinvestment Minister—the men who signed the deal with Enron in India, the men who are selling the country’s infrastructure to corporate multinationals, the men who want to privatize water, electricity, oil, coal, steel, health, education and telecommunication—are all members or admirers of the RSS…a right-wing ultranationalist Hindu guild which has openly admired Hitler and his methods. The dismantling of democracy is proceeding with the speed and efficiency of a Structural Adjustment Programme. While the project of corporate globalization rips through people’s lives in India, massive privatization and labour ‘reforms’ are pushing people off their land and out of their jobs. Hundreds of impoverished farmers are committing suicide...Reports of starvation deaths are coming in from all over the country. “The two arms of the Indian government have evolved the perfect pincer action. While one arm is busy selling India off in chunks, the other, to divert attention, is orchestrating a howling, baying chorus of Hindu nationalism and religious Fascism. It is conducting nuclear tests, rewriting history books, burning churches, and demolishing mosques. Censorship, surveillance, the suspension of civil liberties and human rights, the definition of who is an Indian citizen and who is not, particularly with regard to religious minorities, is becoming common practice. Since the Indian ‘market’ is open to global investors—the massacre is not even an embarrassing inconvenience… “All this to say that it is a myth that the free market breaks down national barriers. The free market does not threaten national sovereignty, it undermines democracy. As the disparity between the rich and the poor grows, the V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

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Through networks like the WSF, leftists try to channel the idealism of the young towards bloated rhetoric instead of any creative engagement with concrete problems and finding workable solutions fight to corner resources is intensifying. To push through their ‘sweetheart deals’, to corporatize the crops we grow, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the dreams we dream, corporate globalization needs an international confederation of loyal, corrupt, authoritarian governments in poorer countries to push through unpopular reforms and quell the mutinies…The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling—their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them.” Ms Roy gave concrete shape to her crusade against MNCs at the WSF by giving a call to the AGBs to target two MNCs involved in Iraq for boycott of their goods in order to drive them out of business. The farcical nature of their boycott is evident from the fact that the previous year the AGBs had issued a similar call against American imperialism by pasting stickers and posters, mainly in and outside their own offices asking people to boycott McDonalds, Pepsi and Coke. These three companies producing junk food and drinks undoubtedly make for easy and culturally compelling targets but certainly do not represent the full and real might of the imperialist West. If the AGBs are truly anti-globalization, why not include a boycott of foreign consultancies, foreign aid money, foreign TV channels, publishers, cellphones, computers, Suzuki or Ford cars, Sony TVs, as well as the airplanes they ride while continuously globetrotting? Could it be that they have not understood that microchips are the real symbols and enablers of globalization—not potato chips? There is something comic about representatives of the AGBs warning us about the evils of globalization despite their own politics being altogether dependent on international aid money. They should

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take their swadeshi fantasies to their logical conclusion by proclaiming: “Our Swadeshi Politics is Manufactured with 100 Per Cent Videshi Aid Money!” There are basic flaws in the way the AGBs diagnose India’s problems. In their worldview, globalization = privatization = selling off India’s assets to evil marauders. All this is ostensibly carried out by right-wing members of the ‘evil’ Hindu guild who are Hitlerian Fascists out to muzzle the free press and trample underfoot the rights of the poor and marginalized groups. Facts tell a contrary tale. The closed-door economy was synonymous with State-controlled servile television and radio, a regime of government-controlled paper quotas for newspapers which, along with government’s patronage through release of advertisements to sycophants, were used as powerful instruments to coerce newspaper establishments into playing a game of cautious servility. Today we have dozens of private news channels including some foreign TV channels beaming less censored news to our homes than was ever possible in the heydays of State-monopolized TV. The kind of outrage expressed by our newspapers towards the Gujarat government following the riots of 2002 should be compared to the tame newspaper coverage of similar riots of 1980s or human rights violations in the North East during the euphoric days of the closed-door economy when sarkari press releases constituted a major part of what was published as ‘news’. The worst communal riots in post-Independence India took place during the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s, before India began opening up to global markets. During the same period, most of the border states witnessed secessionist movements involving virulent popular upsurges. Chief ministers of almost all states in India were involved in constant battles with the Centre over

issues of regional autonomy. The draconian clampdown on the press during the Emergency was not only a sign of political authoritarianism but also a denial of economic freedom to many segments of society, especially the peasantry. The toughest challenge to the Emergency came from Punjab farmers led by the Akali Dal who had been fighting the policy of compulsory procurement of wheat by the government at officially controlled prices. Shahidi Jathas of Akalis courted arrest every single day of the Emergency to protest against lack of economic liberty and muzzling of political freedom, with thousands filling government jails. Politicians of all hues have had to learn that they cannot stay in power for long if they are openly associated with fomenting communal hatred and riots. They seem to have understood that, leave alone foreign investors, even Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) or resident sons and daughters of Mother India will not invest their money in India, if there are deadly V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

outbreaks of violence or recurring intercommunity riots in the country. The states that are wooing capital are precisely the ones that are implementing measures for reforms in governance. By contrast, states like UP which have not responded to the challenges of globalization remain the poorest and their governance is in doldrums. A globalizing economy reduces some of the top-heavy powers and oppressive influence of many national governments, making the world relatively more democratic. Many countries where business communities have been freed from the clutches of insular and corrupt bureaucracies, politicians, and army generals, are more democratic today than they were when they had built walls of protectionism. China, the former Soviet Union, South Korea, Malaysia, and Indonesia have all yielded relatively more space in recent years for voices of dissent. The fact that even after two-and-a-half decades of reforms, India commands only a small proportion of world trade and

is not getting the kind of foreign investments many other Asian countries are getting shows that the Indian economy is still overpoliticised and marred by instability, corruption, and red tape. Moreover, the infrastructure is still too poor to inspire enough confidence in investors. There is no denying that many MNCs indulge in unethical practices and behave like marauders in poorer countries. However, the conduct of MNCs or for that matter even small business establishments and petty shopkeepers depends on the quality of regulatory mechanisms institutionalized in each country and the effectiveness of the legal system in providing sure and speedy redress when the legitimate rights of citizens are being violated through unethical business practices. Societies that have effective and transparent mechanisms to impose punitive measures for wrong practices in business are able to enforce a sense of responsibility for both big and small market players. There is not a single example in the

world today of a completely closed-door economy which is also wealthy and successful. On the contrary, countries like Myanmar, which are rich in natural resources and had relatively high standards of living a hundred years ago, have been wrecked and impoverished by their authoritarian regimes blocking economic access to the world. It is well-known that countries open to trade and investment grow faster than those that are not. North Korea was once richer than South Korea; after 60 years of hermit economics, it is now 16 times poorer. Per capita GDP fell by an average of 1.1 per cent in closed developing countries. In industrialised countries, it rose by 1.9 per cent. No doubt, there will be some losers and victims of the globalized economy. Unfortunately, the losers will be those very countries that are saddled with tyrannical and authoritarian regimes that deny their citizens economic freedom and have prevented them from acquiring education and other skills. Countries where bribes and pay-offs are the basis of Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

economic decisions, where there is lack of transparency and where citizens do not have the power to call power-wielders to account, will also lose out to economic marauders in the global economy because their leaders are often too eager to shortchange their own people. This underscores the urgent need for reform in governance rather than a closed-door economy that will only strengthen the hold of rapacious servants of the state. The West Discovers the Evils of Globalization Rather Late It cannot be a coincidence that a strong movement against globalization and multinationals began to emerge in the West only in the last decade when the following new developments began to get consolidated. The WTO regime added to the clout of Second and Third World economies by giving them the possibility of influencing decisions and seeking a level playing field. Many decisions on trade- related disputes have gone in favour of the developing world and against the attempts of First World countries’ imposing unfair terms on the former. MNCs began majorly shifting their

F e b r u ar y 2015

Why doesn’t Ms Roy’s call for boycott of MNC goods include foreign TV channels, publishers, phones, computers or cars? manufacturing base to Asian countries, leading to flight of capital and job losses in the First World. The fact that many MNCs owe little or no loyalty to nationstates and move to whichever countries they find profitable to operate from, has earned them the wrath of Western professionals and trade union leaders. There was no comparable criticism of MNCs as long as they merely sought export markets in Second and Third World countries. Dumping of MNC goods is beneficial for First World economies if the MNCs are First World-based. However, ever since the MNCs started shifting their manufacturing base resulting in the flooding of Western markets with “Made in Korea”, “Made in China” or “Made in Mexico” labels, there is legitimate panic in the First World against this reversal in the flow of goods and money.

While Asian countries are actively wooing MNC investments, the MNCs are facing harsh criticism from people of the very countries that gave them birth. If the MNCs were indeed as evil as they are being projected to be, then the First World anti-MNC radicals should be glad to be rid of them. The fact is that they are upset at their mobility and refusal to be bound down by national loyalties. Witness how the American and west European governments are battling to force a sense of economic loyalty in their MNCs towards some of their mother countries. For example, on 23 January 2004, the US Senate passed a law barring American MNCs from sub-contracting to non-Americans the work given to them by the American government, because of the fear of job losses in America. The very fact that special laws need to be V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

passed shows that a significant proportion of MNCs are not voluntarily complying with the demands of the American government because they realize that if they listen to such governmental diktats, they will not be able to compete with their rivals globally. Therefore, MNCs are battling against their respective governments to allow them to outsource contracts as well as recruit the required human labour power from other countries. Such ongoing battles between First World governments and First World MNCs have provided unique openings and opportunities for countries like India. The panic in First World countries is compounded by the fact that several Asian economies, including India, which began by inviting MNC investments, have generated enough wealth and expertise to start their own MNCs. These Asian MNCs are beginning to give a genuine run for their money to Western MNCs in many manufacturing activities barring defence equipment, which is still a Western monopoly. The European Union and the US government are very worried that if they are compelled to withdraw the $440 billion annual subsidy currently being given to their farmers, their respective farm sectors will simply collapse. By contrast, farmers in countries like India which have borne the brunt of negative subsidies and artificially depressed, bureaucratically controlled prices as well as restrictions on exports imposed by their own government, will be finally able to outcompete European and American farmers for certain crops if the subsidy and tariff regime is dismantled as mandated by the WTO. Countries like the US are beginning to run huge trade deficits with the Asian Tigers. Consequently, these newly emerging economies have brought about a substantial change in global power equations. In the 1990s, the pressure to quickly open up was on developing countries. Today, domestic political compulsions in the developed world (fear of loss of jobs and collapse of their agriculture and fear of two-way flow of trade) are driving them towards protectionism. It is therefore no surprise that huge protest demonstrations have been organised by Western trade unions, farmer unions, professionals and First World intellectuals, with the full support of many

The NGOs have no problem in being tied to the apron strings of international donor agencies to finance their politics, but do not trust Indians to benefit from partnership in world trade First World governments and Western donor agencies who are actively wooing Third World protesters to come and add numbers to give their campaigns the appearance of a vast global movement against globalization! That some First World governments and workers are worried about MNCs shifting their areas of operation leading to unemployment in their own countries is understandable, though if MNCs are as bad as they make them out to be, they should be happy to get rid of them from their countries. But what is hard to understand is why certain Indian NGOs and intellectuals are upset at the prospect of a dramatic increase in employment opportunities in upwardly mobile jobs for the people of India. When political parties in India hire buses, trucks, and people for rallies where the poor are given some freebies, brought in from villages and slums as a show of strength by our netas, we tend to frown upon it as an example of political corruption and cynical manipulation of people. Likewise, we look down upon those who sell their votes to this or that party for a couple of hundred rupees or a bottle of liquor. All these are seen as signs of undermining our democracy. However, by contrast, we are failing to register the significance of a new kind of deluded or hired rallyist who has emerged on the international scene. Most of the self-styled radicals, who went and demonstrated against WTO in Seattle and Rio de Janeiro or in Hyderabad, the site of the Asia Social Forum in 2002, or gathered at Mumbai for opposing reforms and emoting against globalization, have had their air tickets and per diem expenses paid for by a whole range of Western donor agencies and some European governments financing the politics of trade barriers and closing borders against the flow of goods and services from Third and Second World countries.

It is dishonourable enough that the Anti-Globalization Brigades in the West want to fire their guns from the shoulders of people of impoverished nations by making out a case that the Third World countries would be devastated by freer trade regimes. But it is even more dishonourable that our self-styled radicals are happy at being thus used for defending the interests of First World farmers, industrial workers and professions and yet pretend that they are speaking on behalf of the impoverished farmers and the working poor of India. Unfortunately, the very same AGBs who pant and fume at India opening up to foreign investments have very little objection to India being aid-dependent. They are in fact upset at even feeble attempts by the Indian government to lessen India’s aid dependence. Clearly, they prefer Indians in the role of groveling supplicants who have willingly crushed all pride. They have no problem in being tied to the apron strings of international donor agencies to finance their politics, but do not trust Indians to benefit from partnership in world trade. Their policy of “No to Free Trade, Yes to Tied Aid” is the real worth of their politics. The UPA government had outsourced a good part of its politics to these NGOs in return for BJP-bashing. It allowed them to derail the economic reforms agenda set into motion during the Atal Behari Vajpayee regime. Coupled with their politics of freebies and subsidies, the NGOs sent the Indian economy into deep depression. I hope the current BJP regime will reign in the NGOs with their imported agendas and export-oriented activism.

The author is founder of MANUSHI and Professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

Eco n o m y

The Futility of Rights

Seetha

F e b r u ar y 2015

Hype 1 The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) 2005 will end the problem of rural distress. Adult members of every household will get at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in the form of unskilled manual labour. This will take care of distress migration from rural areas, especially during non-farming seasons. Reality There has been a steady decline in jobs generated under the scheme, a fact noted by both the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) as well as the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development. Employment per rural household declined from 54 days

in 2009-10 to 36 in 2012-13. The Standing Committee found that employment generation in economically underdeveloped states with significant proportion of poor was lower than the national average. Based on calculations from National Sample Survey (NSS) data on employment, economist Surjit Bhalla has pointed out that NREGA, which enters its 10th year in February, accounts for only 0.65 per cent of rural employment. (Surjit Bhalla is a memer of the Editorial Advisory Board of Swarajya) Hype 2 The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (the Right to EduV o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

cation Act or RTE), is the ultimate answer to Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s primary education deficit. It will ensure that every child goes to school. Reality As many as 19,414 schools have either been closed or issued notification for closure for not complying with the provisions of the RTE Act, displacing over three lakh students from low-income families, according to a study by Delhi-based advocacy organization Centre for Civil Society (CCS). In Punjab alone, close to 2.3 lakh such children have been affected, with 1,170 budget private schools being shut down. In the neighbouring state of Haryana, 2.75 lakh students narrowly missed a similar fate; the

High Court stayed the closure of 1,372 schools. Hype 3 The National Food Security Act (NFSA) will ensure that no one in the country goes hungry. By receiving foodgrains at highly subsidised prices, the poor will never be in a situation of not being able to afford food. The Act will force state governments to tone up their public distribution systems. Reality One and a half years after the legislation was enacted, only 11 states have implemented it (and the manner of implementation is not satisfactory). The implementation deadline has been extended twice. Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

Quality of schooling, not enrolment of children in primary schools, is the key problem. But by focusing only on access to schooling, what the RTE Act seems to ensure is the right to poor-quality education

o there you have it. Three landmark legislations, which were supposed to be part of an empowerment revolution, just not living up to the promise they held out. (Okay, so the NFSA has not been implemented yet, but this itself is an indictment.) They sought to change the paradigm of governance, giving people legally-enforceable, rights-based entitlements which will encourage and empower them to demand services from the State and put an apathetic and callous bureaucracy on watch. What went wrong? Saying that people have a fundamental right to work, food, schooling and healthcare and that they can drag the State to court for not ensuring this touches all the right emotional chords. Making it work is a different story altogether. It’s true that despite the great developmental strides the country has made, the poorer sections are deprived of many of the basic needs. What’s more, public services completely pass them by. But conferring justiciable rights to some of these shows, at best, a lack of sufficient understanding of the root cause of these problems or, at worst, a refusal to acknowledge

F e b r u ar y 2015

these root causes and make a token gesture about addressing the problems. It is well known, for example, that rural underemployment and distress migration are the result of the sorry state of agriculture as well as the lack of non-farm employment avenues in both rural and urban areas. So a sector that accounts for 18 per cent of the economy has 49 per cent of the workforce dependent on it. The lasting solution to this is to frame policies that will make agriculture a more profitable profession and will facilitate the creation of more jobs in the manufacturing sector—the first stop for people moving out of agriculture-related jobs. Take also the issue of food security. If people are not getting enough to eat, is it because they cannot access food or they cannot afford food? If it is the former, then clearly it is a governance issue, as the public distribution system that has been in place almost since Independence is simply not working. If it is the latter, then the real issue is about livelihood and income support as well as about reforming the food economy, the distortions in which push up prices in the first place. But none of these are easy things to do. UnV o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

shackling agriculture is not something that can be done at one stroke. Getting manufacturing to be a major job generator requires a whole host of things to be done, from addressing the issue of an inverted tax structure to labour market reforms. Attempts to plug the leaky public distribution system have been going on for years; only a few states have managed the feat. Not only are all these difficult things to do, they also take time to yield results and political dividends. And since the changes involved lead to pain in the short run, they are not popular things to do. But when rights-based legislations are pushed through, either without adequately understanding such issues or intentionally ignoring them, implementation suffers and often the very purpose of enacting them is defeated. There is an interesting statistic on the daily unemployment allowance that state governments are supposed to pay under NREGA if a job-seeker does not get work within 15 days of applying for it. In 2014-15, as of January, the demand for 35 lakh days of unemployment allowance (out of the total demand for 163 crore days) was rejected. The top reason for rejection—89 per cent—is “workers not willing to work”, followed by “no ongoing works” (10 per cent). Why would people who are so poor that they volunteer for manual labour refuse to take up whatever work was coming their way? There have been complaints of work being provided in districts other than that of the job-seeker. But these are the people who migrate to faraway states in search of work. Clearly, there is some demand-side dynamic that the planners have missed. The second reason shows that district authorities who are supposed to provide jobs under the scheme are often hard-pressed to create work opportunities. Six of the 28 economists who appealed to the Prime Minister to not confine the programme to the poorest districts have themselves admitted, in an article countering Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya’s criticism of the programme, that “among the poorest two quintiles of rural households, over 40 per cent of those who want NREGA employment did not get it”. What this also shows is a governance deficit. Ironic, since the problem that the rights-based

laws attempt to address—the lack of access to basic services—is invariably the result of this very deficit. But the belief that enacting a right will suddenly lead to the bureaucracy getting its act together is both simplistic and flawed. In 2013, the Asian Development Bank released a policy report, Empowerment and Public Service Delivery in Developing Asia and the Pacific. Though it advocated a rights-based approach to public services, it also said: “Simply proclaiming a public good as a human right is meaningless unless there is a social or legal structure for the realization and fulfilment of this right.” There are resource constraints as well as capacity constraints that could render any such right meaningless. The resource constraint can be overcome if a government hell-bent on making a pet scheme work pushes money into it, even if it is at the cost of more productive uses, or has other negative effects. But it may still not yield the desired results, as the NREGA experience has shown. The CAG report points out that Bihar, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, accounting for 46 per cent of the rural poor, utilised only 20 per cent of funds for the scheme. Obviously, there is an institutional capacity issue. This comes out even more starkly in the case of the NFSA, which was supposed to also catalyze reform of the public distribution system. States had been given a year’s time from July 2013 (when the National Food Security Ordinance was issued) to complete nine preparatory steps before they started getting foodgrains at subsidised rates under the Act. Three of the nine steps revolved around toning up the public distribution system and ending diversion— identification of beneficiaries, computerization of the public distribution system and doorstep delivery of foodgrains at each fair price shop. One and a half years later, only 11 states have done so and the Union Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies has found even this to be a cosmetic exercise in some cases. This situation, even though political parties vied with one another to take credit for the legislation, proves two things: one, how meaningless the rightsbased approach is, and two, the political capital that the legislation yielded is confined to its enactment, not to its implementation.

The Asian Development Bank report on empowerment and public service delivery

Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

A m e ric a s Jonathan S. Landay

Havana Handshake The US has re-established diplomatic ties with Cuba after 55 years. But many unresolved issues remain, involving a Republican-dominated US Congress, the views of two million Cuban Americans, and how the Castro brothers view the future of Communism.

When rights-based legislations are pushed through without adequately understanding the basic issues, implementation suffers and often the very purpose of enacting them is defeated

Seetha is Contributing Editor of Swarajya

The RTE Act throws up another problem with the rights-based approach, that it may be attempting to fix a problem that is not as huge as it is made out to be. By the time the Act was passed, enrolment of children in primary schools was not a major issue. Even poor children had access to some form of schooling; it was the quality of schooling that was the heart of the matter. But the RTE advocates decided access was the major problem and legislated what they felt would be a radical school inclusion programme: Clause 12 of the Act says private schools must reserve 25 per cent of seats for poor children. Going a step further, they also ensured that the Act mandated all schools to conform to certain specified parameters on infrastructure and facilities. The rules specify a certain area of playground, the number of books per student a school must have, the number of teachers per student and their salaries. Schools not conforming to these will have to shut down. What this ended up doing is closing of schools catering to children from low-income families—the very children in whose name the

Act was passed. It is just not possible for these schools, operating on low budgets and in lowincome areas where space is not available, to provide these facilities. Sure, the closure of these schools will not mean their students will remain uneducated; they can go to government schools. But these are children whose parents preferred to send them to a private school instead of a government school. The Act not only deprives the parents of the right to choice but also makes the choice for them. Perhaps the most damning indictment of the RTE Act comes from the Annual Status of Education Report. The ASER 2014 estimates enrolment levels for the 6-14 age group at 96 per cent for six years in a row. Basic learning skills, however, are pathetic, with only half of Class V students being able to read a Class II text easily. In effect, what the RTE Act seems to ensure is the right to poor-quality education. All the evidence shows that the rights-based approach is inherently wrong. It ignores root causes of problems and places an undue strain on already overstretched State capacity. It’s time to dump the very idea once and for all.

rozen for more than half a century, it was a welcome thaw and one waiting to happen. After months of secret negotiations in Canada and the Vatican City with the assistance of Pope Francis, US President Barack Obama, on December 17, announced that the United States and Cuba would re-establish diplomatic relations: ambassadors would be despatched to each other’s capitals and restrictions on trade and tourism lifted. But a day after Obama announced his decision, Republican leaders who were to take control of Congress in January vowed to derail the most sweeping reversal of US policy towards the Communist-ruled island in 55 years. “This entire policy shift is based on an illusion, based on a lie,” Marco Rubio, son of Cuban immigrants and a senator from Florida, told reporters on Capitol Hill. “The White House has conceded everything and gained little. I’m committed to doing everything I can to unravel as many of these changes as possible.” Rubio is Chairman of a sub-committee of the Foreign Relations Committee which oversees US regional affairs. Cuban Americans are the third largest Hispanic group in the United States. And the majority of the total US-Cuban population of two million lives in Florida. Rubio’s threat would at one time have dealt a serious blow to Obama’s policy reversal. Florida is a critical swing state in national elections where opposing the Castro regime was for years obligatory for anyone—Republican or Demo-

crat—seeking the votes of the influential Cuban American community. That, however, is no longer the case. Most Cuban Americans, many experts say, no longer hold strident views about their native island. In fact, a significant percentage— particularly the young—may favour restoring diplomatic ties, ending travel restrictions on Americans and lifting a US trade embargo that has failed in its main goal of driving the Castro brothers and the Communist Party from power. “The Cuban American population is no longer a monolith,” says Julia Sweig, director of Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Even Cuban Americans who for many, many years voted Republican, were staunchly anti-Castro and vowed never to go back with the Castros in power, are now feeling and voicing and acting on the notion that they want to participate in Cuba’s future.” The shift in Cuban-American views apparently was a key consideration in Obama’s decision to pursue 18 months of secret talks on diplomatic normalization with Havana. But the surprise agreement announced by Obama also featured perhaps the most bizarre side-deal in the annals of international diplomacy: the impregnation through artificial insemination of the wife of a Cuban spy serving a life sentence in the United States. While the secret talks were underway last year, the United States allowed the spy, Gerardo Hernández, to donate sperm that was used to impregnate his wife back in Cuba. Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

Several polls have found strong approval among all Americans for reestablishing diplomatic ties that were severed with Cuba, following the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power

Mini biography of Fidel Castro

F e b r u ar y 2015

Hernandez, however, is no longer in prison. He was freed as part of the deal with Havana, one of three Cuban agents the Obama administration swapped for a former Cuban intelligence officer. The officer had been jailed for nearly 20 years for spying for the CIA, including providing the agency with the identity of Hernandez and members of his network arrested in the United States. Also released by Cuba was Alan Gross, a subcontractor on a democracy-building project for the US Agency for International Development. He was arrested in 2009 for supplying Cuban Jewish groups with Internet access technology. He was convicted of espionage, but the Obama administration considered him a “humanitarian” release because of ill health, and it vehemently denied he was a spy. Despite some limited reform in recent years, the regime in Havana maintains a monopoly of power, holds dozens of political prisoners, and subjects critics and human rights activists to arbitrary arrests, beatings, harassment and

other mistreatment, according to human rights groups and the Obama administration. The Cuban government launched a fresh crackdown on dissidents less than two weeks after the sides announced the normalization deal. Those arrested—most of whom were almost immediately released—included the husband of the country’s most popular anti-government blogger and a well-known performance artist who sought to test how far the regime might have changed in the wake of the agreement with Washington. Not much at this point, it seems. Yet, while it condemned the crackdown, the US administration made it clear that the arrests wouldn’t derail the deal. “We have always said we would continue to speak out about human rights, and as part of the process of normalization of diplomatic relations, the United States will continue to press the Cuban government to uphold its international obligations and to respect the rights of Cubans to peacefully assemble and express ideas and opinions,” the State Department said. The change in US sentiments towards Cuba isn’t restricted to Cuban Americans. Several polls taken after the normalization announcement found overwhelming approval among all Americans for re-establishing diplomatic ties with Havana that were severed in 1959, following the revolution that brought Fidel Castro and the Communists to power. That support transcends even US political divisions, with the usually pro-Republican US Chamber of Commerce welcoming the new opportunities for trade and financial deals for American business and Cuba’s tiny private sector. “We deeply believe that an open dialogue and commercial exchange between the US and Cuban private sectors will bring shared benefits,” said the organization’s president, Thomas J. Donohue. V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

Obama plans to kickstart his initiative by using his executive powers to circumvent the US Congress and lift restrictions on travel, commerce and financial dealings with Cuba The Republican Party itself is split. A Twitter battle erupted after Obama’s announcement, between Rubio and Senator Rand Paul, a Tea Party favourite from Kentucky. Both men are expected to contest for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016. “I want closer ties with Cuba, but those have to come about as a result of a policy that will also ultimately lead to freedom,” Rubio said on a recent television show. “I’m okay with changing policy towards Cuba. But it has to be a policy change that has a reasonable chance of achieving freedom—freedom for the Cuban people.” When Rand Paul accused Rubio of “acting like an isolationist”, Rubio shot back by deriding what he called the “Obama-Paul foreign policy on Cuba”. It remains to be seen how the conflict will play out in the new Republican-controlled Congress, whose approval is required to lift the US trade embargo that the Cuban government estimates has cost $1.126 trillion in lost trade and which—instead of its own policies—it blames, for the deep poverty to which the regime has confined most of its people. Lawmakers opposed to the new initiative will almost certainly block both the nomination of whoever Obama taps to be the US ambassador to Havana and the funds needed to transform the US Interest Section in Havana into a full-fledged embassy. It’s not clear, however, how much further the opponents will be able to advance their goal of blocking any normalization until Cuba holds free and fair elections and establishes a democratic government that doesn’t include President Raul Castro—who has pledged to retire in 2018—and Fidel Castro, who relinquished the top position in 2006. Obama doesn’t need Congressional approval to restore relations, which require a simple

exchange of diplomatic notes rather than a treaty that must be ratified by the Republicancontrolled Senate. Moreover, Obama plans to kickstart his initiative by using his executive powers to circumvent Congress and lift restrictions on travel, commerce and financial dealings with Cuba. Among other measures, the Treasury Department is expected to ease limits on US agricultural exports to Cuba and establish banking regulations that will make it easier to finance exports of US products. It also plans to quadruple the amount of money—from $500 to $2,000— that Americans can send every four months to Cubans. Those remittances, which now total about $2 billion a year, are critical for helping ordinary Cubans take advantage of reforms allowing the establishment of small businesses. “It’s now a patriotic thing to have your own small business in Cuba,” says Sweig. “By expanding remittances to not just the 11 million Americans of Cuban descent, but to all Americans, (we are) really talking about the potential

Mario Rubio doesn’t like it

Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

Raul Castro has made it clear that ending Communist monopoly on power in Cuba won’t be a subject of discussion with Washington: “In the same way that we have never demanded that the US change its political system, we wil demand respect for ours.”

Jonathan S. Landay, the senior national security and intelligence correspondent for McClatchy Newspapers, has written about foreign affairs and US defense, intelligence and foreign policies for nearly 30 years. In his current post, he covers intelligence and defence issues, terrorism, nuclear weapons and arms control. He has won several awards for his reporting on the Iraq war, and has been nominated three times for a Pulitzer Prize. 40

F e b r u ar y 2015

for a lot of capital to go down to that island.” The Commerce Department, meanwhile, is expected to eliminate restrictions on the sale of telecommunications equipment and the State Department is conducting a review on removing Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. Havana’s removal from the list— which it has been on since 1982—would pave the way for a restoration of full economic relations with Washington DC. The assessment at the core of Obama’s decision is that the wider the opening to Cuba, the greater the potential for ordinary Cubans to prosper and step up pressure on the regime to implement reforms. “I believe we can do more to support the Cuban people and promote our values through engagement,” Obama said. “After all, these 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked.” Critics were fast to point out that such an approach has largely failed with China, where the Communist Party remains in complete political and economic control 35 years after Washington and Beijing normalized relations. Cuba, however, is not China. Raul Castro, Sweig points out, is 83 years old and there is no other Castro waiting in the wings to take the helm when he retires in 2018. In order to maintain social stability, Raul Castro realized that the country’s flailing, indebted economy—cut adrift by Moscow years ago—must open up more widely to the rest of the world and normalization with the United States will do just that, she says. She believes that Fidel Castro, 88, supports the move. “That’s a goal that needs to be implemented and fast,” said Sweig. “I’m not talking about

multiparty democracy, but I am talking about the pulling back of the Communist Party from government, the receding of ideology, the attempt to create a well-functioning mixed economy to have a more open society.” A lot can go wrong, of course, and the next few months could see Obama’s policy shift facing several major tests. Obama said US negotiators will push Havana for further improvements in human and political rights. Speaking to Cuba’s National Assembly on 20 December, Raul Castro made it clear that ending Communist monopoly of power won’t be a subject of discussion with Washington. “In the same way that we have never demanded that the United States change its political system, we will demand respect for ours,” he said. Another test comes in April in Panama at the next meeting of the Summit of the Americas, the annual conclave of heads of state belonging to the regional forum, the Organization of American States. Raul Castro plans to attend it for the first time, setting up a potential first meeting with Obama since they agreed to the normalization deal. What remains to be seen is the extent to which Castro allows Cuban human and political rights activists to attend the gathering. “Havana, my guess is, will want to show some flexibility about what other Cubans attend,” says Sweig. “There’s always at these summits…sort of sidebar activities in which civil society, private sector, human rights, NGO groups attend. And I would expect to see Cubans send their own batch as well.” She spoke, however, before the regime’s latest crackdown on its critics. V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

N e ig h bo u rs

“Sri Lanka’s Policies Towards India And China Need Course Correction”

A documentary made by BBC Channel 4 on the alleged war crimes committed during the last phase of the civil war in 2009

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n November 2014, ostensibly at the advice of his astrologer and brimming with confidence stemming from his previous two terms as all-powerful President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa decided to gamble. Instead of staying in office for another two years, the 69-year-old brought forward presidential elections to January 8, 2015, hoping for an unprecedented third term in office. In May 2009, the Sri Lankan army defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Indeed, Rajapaksa, whose first term it was, is credited unanimously for the decimation of the armed separatist group. He is also credited with rapid development of the formerly war-battered North and East Sri Lanka in subsequent years and for holding of the first provincial elections in Jaffna in decades, which saw a Tamil chief minister take oath. But over the same years, Rajapaksa also consolidated all powers that normally rest with a prime minister and an elected parliament within the office of president. Various members of Rajapaksa’s extended political family took key portfolios. Stories of boundless crony capitalism and corruption abounded. But given the all-powerful presidency and an opposition which didn’t have the numbers to impeach the president, little could be done. That is, until Rajapaksa announced fresh elections.

Barely 24 hours later. Maithripala Sirisena, Rajapaksa’s health minister and key advisor “crossed over” to the opposition. Dozens followed him, including Muslim parties and Sinhalese nationalists. Even the formerly LTTEfriendly Tamil National Alliance (TNA) pitched in with support. Albeit by only 4 percentage points, January 9 saw the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa and the victory of Maithripala Sirisena and his “rainbow coalition” of the unlikeliest partners. Hitherto opposition leader and former PM Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as PM again, and a “100-day programme” drawn up, during which restoring powers to the office of prime minister and abolishing executive presidency will have top priority. General elections will be held in April 2015, the real test of whether the new PM and his United National Party (UNP) will win a parliamentary majority. If they do succeed, Sri Lanka will see sweeping changes and long overdue reforms including greater devolution (through one of various proposals under consideration, including the India-sponsored 13th Amendment) to the Tamils of the North and East. If they do not, political turbulence may mark the coming year in the island nation. But for now, the rainbow coalition is here to stay. And in keeping with its promise to renew ties with India which were under considerable V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

strain given the growing influence of China in Sri Lanka during the Rajapaksa regime, new Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera arrived in New Delhi on his first official overseas visit, barely a week after being sworn in. Even before he met with India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Samaraweera, an eloquent speaker who has held the portolio successfully before, met Swarajya’s Foreign Affairs Editor Padma Rao Sundarji for a freewheeling interview. Excerpts: Mr Samaraweera, foreign offices in democracies around the world say that governments come and go, but foreign policy essentially remains the same. Is Sri Lanka going to follow the same policies as former president Mahinda Rajpaksa vis-a-vis India, China and the rest of the world? Or, are you going to tweak, if not change them altogether? Our foreign policy objectives have been more or less the same since Independence. But after the end of the civil war against the LTTE and under the Rajapaksa regime, we saw a veering away from those principles. Sri Lanka became increasingly isolated in the international arena because of some short-sighted policies followed by Rajapaksa’s administration. As new foreign minister, my first priority is a course correction: to put Sri Lanka’s foreign policy back on track. We want to win back many of the friends we had alienated in the last few years. We want to get away from the increasingly nationalist rhetoric which had become the hallmark of the Rajapaksa regime and take our rightful place in the community of civilized nations once again. New PM Ranil Wickremasinghe noted earlier this week that Mahinda Rajapaksa had played off India against China with disastrous consequences to Colombo’s relationship with Delhi. It will take a lot more than a handshake with Sushma Swaraj today to rectify that. Sri Lanka was tilting a little too much towards one power bloc, compared to the other. As a non-aligned country, we cannot do that. After all and even apart from our historical ties and our old friendship with India, she is also a very powerful country. It is important that India and Sri Lanka understand each other’s concerns. Our policies towards both India and China must be driven by our needs, but also by those of each of those two countries. What is your agenda in Delhi? The UNHRC team set up to probe human rights allegations against Colombo for the deaths of

“Under the Rajapaksa regime, Sri Lanka became increasingly isolated in the global arena due to short-sighted policies ” around 40,000 civilians during the last phase of the civil war, will present its report at the 28th session in March 2015 and recommend further action against Colombo. Over the past years, several resolutions at the UNHRC have condemned Sri Lanka. Will you be looking for India’s support at the world body in March? First of all, I am delighted to be meeting Mrs Swaraj again. We have known each other since our previous stints as ministers. She is a warm, capable person. I am excited to share with her what I call Sri Lanka’s “Burma” moment. January 8, polling day, was our own version of the Rainbow Revolution, the Arab Spring, but in a peaceful and orderly way. Now, there is a government in place that represents that democratic change. For the first time since Independence, Sri Lanka’s two major parties (the Sri Lanka Freedom Party of President Sirisena and the United National Party of PM Ranil Wickremasinghe) are working together. For the first time, we have a government that is not dominated by, or identified with one ethnic and/or political group or another. This is a moment when India and the whole world should rally around Sri Lanka. India is our age-old friend and neighbour. She must take the lead.

A rebuttal of the Channel 4 documentary’s allegations

Rajapaksa saw investigation into war crimes as an essentially domestic matter, refused international inquiries and set up

“For the first time, we have a government that is not dominated by any one ethnic and/ or political group” Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

“UN should acknowledge the domestic compulsions we have as a new government trying to create a new political culture” his own investigations commission. Your new PM Ranil Wickremasinghe, too, reiterated to me in Colombo last week, that an inquiry is essentially a domestic matter. He, said your government would set up its own investigations team. So what is so new, or so different about your foreign policy, as compared to that of Rajapaksa, as far as these allegations are concerned ? We had announced during the election campaign itself that we will go for a credible local mechanism to investigate these alleged crimes. This has top priority. We are currently looking at two or three different options and will come up with a proposal in about a month’s time. We hope for technical assistance from the UN, perhaps judges from the Commonwealth—which we chair at the moment—too. At the same time, we cannot ignore the fact that there is an international inquiry being conducted too. We will try to cooperate with that investigation without compromising the integrity of our country or our people.

The first reportage after the Sri Lankan government allowed video journalists into what had been the war zone

But the UNHRC wants to send its own team, consisting of foreigners, to Sri Lanka to conduct that investigation. Surely your government will—as did Rajapaksa’s— steadfastly resist that attempt, in the name of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty? After all, it was a civil war on your own soil, not a crossborder conflict.

“We have one of the finest, most disciplined armies in the world. But if it had black sheep, we shall take action against them ” 44

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Look, ultimately, it will be the cabinet that must discuss this issue at length and decide. Personally, I am of the view that there is no harm in cooperating with the UN. Though these allegations were brought upon ourselves because of the omissions and commissions of the Rajapaksa government and were something that could have been avoided, the fact is, that these charges have been thrust upon us. So we can’t sidestep the issue altogether and must cooperate with the UN. On the other hand, I hope the UN will also acknowledge the domestic compulsions we have as a new government trying to create a new political culture in Sri Lanka, and that it will work accordingly and keeping the needs of the Sri Lankan government in mind. But your army generals who commanded the war pointed out to me that the LTTE forced thousands of civilians to move towards Mullaithivu during the final stage of war as human shields for the last of its fleeing leadership, who were hoping to escape by sea. It is these civilians who were caught in the crossfire. Realistically and after a 30-year long war in which 120,000 people were killed, what would the international community have expected the armed forces to have done, on the verge, as they were, of eliminating the LTTE? Lay down their weapons and let them escape? Surely the LTTE’s remaining financiers, supporters overseas—many escaped LTTE cadres— also need to be hauled up for human rights violations ? Sri Lanka has one of the finest and most disciplined armies in the world. This is one of the reasons why our army has been invited by the UN for peacekeeping operations in Haiti and elsewhere. Our army has a very good reputation. But in all armies—be it in the United States, the UK—there are black sheep, and moments when they veer away from that discipline. If there were such odd miscreants in the SLA too, we should not be hesitant about taking action against them. But please note: if there were large-scale human rights violations during the end of the war in Sri Lanka, there would have been command structures in place. No foot soldier would do anything unless there are orders from the top. It is those command structures that we must locate. The army chief of the time, General Sarath Fonseka, is in our coalition. He, too, says he has full confidence in his men, but welcomes any investigation or inquiry. There was a spirit of great magnanimity in Sri Lanka on part of your government V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

after winning the elections. You promised that there would be no witch hunts, only credible investigations into alleged corruption and cronyism by the Rajapaksa family members and others close to the regime. And yet, it seems as though there is not a single thing that Rajapaksa did that was good for the country during his 10-year tenure. If you were to be generous towards him, what would you acknowledge as an achievement ? Well, Rajapaksa did end the war. But please remember that was a process initiated much earlier—it began in the 1990s when Sri Lanka regained control of the Eastern and later the Northern Province. Yes, when Rajapaksa announced the decimation of the LTTE in 2009, there was a collective sigh of relief. But the way the war ended left much to be desired. There was a growing culture of impunity. That is the very reason I left his government in 2007. In the guise of fighting terrorism, the Rajapaksa regime had begun getting rid of opponents in politics and the judiciary too. Winning the war gave Rajapaksa an opportunity. He could have used it to win hearts and minds and go down in history as a great statesman. Instead, he chose to go on an orgy of triumphalism by rubbing salt into the wounds of the Tamil people. He also used the popularity he gained by ending the war to establish and entrench his own family in SriLankan politics. But your army generals who commanded the last phase would not agree with you about earlier governments having helped decimate the LTTE. On the contrary: they say before Rajapaksa and each time they were on the verge of defeat, Colombo would keel under international pressure, call for a ceasefire. The LTTE would then re-group, re-arm and replenish its strength and the war would start all over again. Rajapaksa, they say, is the first who ignored international pressure and gave the army a free hand to defeat the Tigers. I can only say this. If the army were really left to its own systems and resources by Rajapaksa, it would have done much better and not faced all these charges of violations. That so-called infamous “last phase” of war would not have happened the way it did. Nobody is sad to see the LTTE go. But even though the country was fighting one of the most ruthless terrorist groups in the world, no government can itself resort to terrorism. Largesse seems to be prevailing on all sides in Sri Lanka. Mahinda Rajapaksa handed over SLFP party presidency to head of state

“This is a moment when the world should rally around Sri Lanka. India, our friend and neighbour, must take the lead” Maithripala Sirisena last week and has promised full support of his own SLFP faction to your 100-day programme. Surely a positive sign? Rajapaksa may have promised us support verbally. But none of the Rajapaksa clan have discarded their political ambitions. There are many rumours floating around Sri Lanka at the moment. Obviously, there are still forces within the country who would want to destroy this unique unity our coalition has. After all, the Rajapaksa regime may still have loyalists within the administration, even within the army. Our challenge is not over by merely winning the elections and toppling Rajapaksa. The next 100 days leading up to the general elections in April 2015 are going to be extremely important for Sri Lanka. It is only thereafter that I envisage any new political order really taking root in our nation. Last week, you charged Rajapaksa with attempting a coup in the wee hours of counting day, when he knew he was facing defeat. If he has many loyalists, why did the attempt fail? Let me take this opportunity to clarify this once and for all. I did not say I had evidence. I merely said I had received credible information that, in the early hours of January 9 when Rajapaksa was staring at defeat, there was a meeting between Mahinda Rajapaksa, his brother the former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, former foreign minister GL Peiris and a provincial councillor. There was talk of declaring a state of emergency and the possible arrest of the Election Commissioner. Rajapaksa’s handpicked Chief Justice, Mohan Peiris, too was present at the meeting. An inquiry is on, we will soon learn the truth. But the IG Police, the Army Chief and the Attorney General, who had been summoned to that meeting, vehemently opposed the order and refused to take part in any conspiracy. It is to their credit that the fires of democracy were not extinguished in Sri Lanka.

News report on LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakan’s death

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E n e rg y

Jaideep A Prabhu

Nuclear Power Is The Only Way Out To meet our electricity needs over the next 50 years, India should be looking, not at 30 or 40 reactors, but 300 or 400. These numbers are not lunacy, they are essential.

T To find out how a nuclear reactor functions inside a power plant to produce electricity, as well as the atomic reaction that releases all that crucial heat

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here has been much debate over the expansion of nuclear energy in India, the arguments covering a gamut of angles from safety and environmental concerns to liability, security, and affordability. However, whether India should go down the nuclear path is a moot question. The issue is not if India needs nuclear energy but how quickly it can expand its capacity. To understand this, a few data points about its present situation need to be kept in mind. As of November 2014, India generates 255 GW of electricity. Of this, some 71 per cent comes from thermal energy, 15 per cent from hydroelectric power, 12 per cent from renewable energy, and a mere two per cent from nuclear energy. Industry consumes 45 per cent of the total capacity, agriculture takes 17 per cent, domestic consumption is 22 per cent, and the rest goes to railways, commercial use, and other odds and ends. India’s per capita consumption of power is approximately 917 kWh and over 300 million people in India still have no access to electricity. By way of comparison, the United States consumes over 13,000 kWh per capita and the countries of Western Europe such as France, Germany, and Britain approximately 8,500 kWh. The connection between energy consumption and economic growth cannot be overemphasised. The present definition of rural electrification employed by the government of India is that a village is considered electrified if 10 per cent of the households have at least one electric point. Even functional electrification—televisions, refrigerators, computers, mobile phones, air conditioning, fans—to all without considering any increase in industrial and other demands would require a mammoth increase in

generating capacity no matter how conservatively electricity is used. The demand for electricity will only increase as India’s economy and population grow, with greater manufacturing capability and a more prosperous citizenry desirous of the many comforts of life. Several studies have predicted that India’s electricity needs will rise some eight times by the middle of this century. In a 2006 study by Ravi Grover and Subhash Chandra, both then of the Strategic Planning Group within the Department of Atomic Energy, a seven per cent growth trajectory was calculated to require the electricity generating potential of 1,400 GW by 2060. This would still be around 5,300 kWh per capita, considerably less than the consumption in other developed countries. Even with a robust, easily achievable and sustainable growth target of six per cent, India’s energy needs would still more than quintuple over the next half century.These numbers do not sound like much out of context; adding capacity will be a challenge, but surely not one beyond India’s reach. The final data point that must be considered in this regard is the limitation of traditional energy sources such as coal. Presently, India consumes some 2.5 per cent of the world’s hydrocarbons and six per cent of its coal; those figures will rise to 10 per cent and 45 per cent by the mid-21st century. Over 45 per cent of the cargo by way of tonnage on India’s railway network is coal. The entire network is already creaking due to these massive shipments and it is difficult to envision even greater volumes of coal being transported by Indian Railways without completely paralysing all other services. Expanding the network is not a complete solution either for two reasons: the sheer quantity of coal required will render V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

all but the most ambitious railway network expansions inadequate, and the subservience of the Railways to the country’s energy needs will restrict other services and goods transport that need to be improved in their own right. Environmental and all other considerations aside, this purely physical bottleneck is one of the greatest arguments for the aggressive expansion of nuclear power in India. The difference in the energy release of chemical and nuclear processes is several orders of magnitude higher for the latter. The fission of one atom of uranium releases as much energy as the combustion of 33 million atoms of carbon. This means that uranium is far more energy-dense than carbon, making transportation far easier. The rapid expansion of nuclear power and a gradual shift from coal will free enormous capacity in Indian transportation infrastructure, saving billions in unnecessary expansion costs for roads, railroads, and ports. This is from merely the logistical benefits of shifting from coal to nuclear—other equally compelling factors have not been considered in this article for reasons of brevity and focus. Can this not be achieved via other means, such as solar or wind power? The short answer is no. It is one thing to reduce the burden on the grid by installing solar panels on residential buildings but domestic electricity consumption represents only 22 per cent of the total. Scaling up renewable energy to meet the demands of the

next century is a challenge of an entirely different magnitude. Again limiting ourselves to analysing logistical difficulties alone, mining the rare earths for the solar paneling and energy storage required is well beyond global manufacturing capabilities. If India is to have ample energy for its economic growth and that story includes high speed rail, electric cars, and other substitutions of electrical power for fossil fuels, it cannot afford not to get bullish on nuclear power. At present, some 40 reactor projects are ongoing or have been stalled due to legal complications but Delhi should not be thinking about 30 or 40 reactors—it should be considering 300 or 400. Even with such a massive investment over the next 50 years, nuclear power will still amount to less than 35 per cent of India’s total energy mix. Indeed, the United States represents a similar energy mix today with a hundred reactors for its 315 million people. Contemplating 400 reactors may seem lunacy at first but a closer consideration of the circumstances shows that these numbers are not fantastic. The ill-informed debate around nuclear energy—and admittedly the less than desired transparency of the government—has diverted attention from the scale of the energy crisis that awaits India. It is high time the authorities unequivocally embrace nuclear power and initiate a vocal programme to inform the public of the risks and benefits of the technology.

The fission of one atom of uranium releases as much energy as the combustion of 33 million atoms of carbon

Jaideep A. Prabhu is a specialist in foreign and nuclear policy; he also pokes his nose in energy and defence-related matters Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

F a n t a s y Shovon Chowdhury

What if the Chinese Had Stayed on in 1962? December 16, 1971. Washington DC. A ferret-faced little man is poised, his sweaty finger on the nuclear button. It’s time to send the Chinese a message. The fate of the world is in the hands of Richard M Nixon 48

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he Imperial British loved making maps, because of the fresh air, and the loyal native bearers. As a result, the borders of India were redrawn repeatedly, by Henry Strachey in 1847, H.W. Johnson in 1865, G.W. Hayward in 1868, T.D. Forsyth in 1874, and many more in the years to come. Inevitably, this led to a lot of lines. They produced Johnson Lines and McCartney-MacDonald Lines and McMahon Lines. Many of the culprits were Scottish. The map of India was re-drawn 11 times between 1847 and 1947. Generations grew up not knowing which country they lived in. Confusion was widespread. Some would say that this was the root cause of the Sino-Indian war of 1962. Another explanation is that war broke out because big men were in peril. The Chinese people were very annoyed with Mao, because of the Great Leap Forward, which started in 1959. Things were not going according to plan, mainly because no one knew what the plan was. Subsequent historical study has revealed that the plan was to keep shooting people until China

became an industrial powerhouse. Casualties were high. Many people also starved to death, because their kitchen utensils and agricultural implements had been melted down to meet steel production quotas. Local officials reported the quotas, but not the deaths, because they were afraid that Mao might shoot them. Nevertheless, by 1962, too many people had died. In January, Mao was publicly criticized, and lost much of his clout. However, his fellow leaders neglected to put him in a mental institution, something that they would come to regret. Mao went into hiding, and began planning his next move. He needed to recover his position. Meanwhile, the Indian public was beginning to have doubts about Nehru’s manliness. This was after an incident at Kong Ka, in 1959, where nine CRPF men lost their lives. In a sign of things to come, the jawans were poorly equipped and heavily outnumbered, and the Chinese occupied the high ground. Our boys fought bravely. The nation was outraged. Will we not have revenge, bellowed the critics of Nehru, who included eminent men like AchaV o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

rya Kripalani, Dr Lohia, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Rajaji. They were upset with Nehru because he kept winning elections. They were loud, eloquent, and astonished at his spinelessness. Editors roared and thundered. The government was roundly denounced for inaction. To any man who had drunk his mother’s milk, it was obvious that we had to go to war. The nation demanded action, and Nehru gave it to them, against military advice. When Nehru found his generals reluctant, he did the only thing that he could under the circumstances. He changed his generals. He found new generals who confirmed that pushing forward was a good idea, and that the Chinese were cowards. “Experience in Ladakh has shown,” said one of them, “that a few rounds fired at the Chinese would cause them to run away.” The truth was, the Chinese had just fought the Korean War, where they had not run away, and they had learnt a thing or two about mountain warfare. During the 1962 war, the Indian Army assumed that the Chinese would stick to the roads, and deployed forces accordingly. But the Chinese kept cheating by using mountain trails, and wading across rivers. This, along with the fact that our generals forgot to stock up on ammunition, winter clothing and food, proved to be a major handicap. They also discovered, as the Americans did in Vietnam, that each of their own boys was not the equivalent

The Chinese have a problem. Both USA and the Soviets prefer Nehru over Mao, mainly because he seems more normal. If China attacks India, will they step in? of 10 Chinese soldiers, although the boys never asked questions, and did the best they could. All this makes Nehru look like a fool, which is exactly how Neville Maxwell would have wanted it. Neville Maxwell is the source for almost everything we know about the 1962 war. In every interview he has given, he calls Nehru a fool. Sometimes, for variety, he calls him an ass. He does not seem to be very fond of India. In 1967, he predicted that India’s fourth general election would be its last. In 1972, in The New York Review of Books, he quoted the old Raj saying—”there is not, and never was, an India”. His glee at the thought is hard to miss. He lived in India in the 60s, as correspondent of The Times. The climate must not have suited him. A less prejudiced person might draw a different conclusion. It can be argued that Chinese perceptions of borders depend on Chinese perceptions of strength. In Haryana, this is known as “who has the lathi, he has the buffalo”. For example, throughout the 50s, the Chinese

For a transcript of Nehru’s conversation with the Dalai Lama, during their first meeting after the Tibetan spiritual leader had escaped to India

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Since the mid1950s, till this moment that you are reading this, every action of China towards us has been the action of an enemy. The only surprise about the 1962 war is, why were we so surprised?

seemed to accept the MacMahon Line. Suddenly, in 1956, once they were confident about Tibet, they started publishing maps in which large chunks of India were shown as part of China. When Nehru asked Chinese premier Zhou Enlai about this, he said the maps “had little meaning”, much like his response. Their strange behaviour bloomed into full-blown paranoia after the Lhasa Uprising of 1959, during which they blew up many Tibetans, and burnt down the Dalai Lama’s house. In this way they proved, in the words of the loyalist Panchen Lama, that “the Tibetan people are patriotic, support the Central People’s Government, ardently love the People’s Liberation Army, and oppose the imperialists and traitors”. Once Nehru gave refuge to the Dalai Lama, the Chinese were convinced, contrary to all evidence, that India wanted Tibet. The details of politburo meetings in Beijing between 1959 and

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1962 show this quite clearly. They believed that Nehru would not rest until the whole of Tibet was his. Mao repeatedly says so, and everyone agrees with him. It’s also possible that Mao was jealous of Nehru, who was much better looking, and was getting girls without threatening them. Nevertheless, until mid-1962, as the Indian troops move forward, the Chinese do retreat. This was because in early 1962, they were facing a challenge from Taiwan, where the nationalists had smoked too much opium, and were threatening to attack the mainland. By June, this threat is over, once the Americans make it clear that they do not favour this plan. But the Chinese still have a problem. Both the Americans and the Soviets prefer Nehru over Mao, mainly because he seems more normal. If China attacks India, will they step in? The Chinese hesitate. Until October 1962, when the Cuban Missile Crisis begins. Suddenly, it V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

looks like war between America and Russia. American schoolchildren are being taught to hide under their desks in the event of a nuclear attack. Suburban families are reinforcing their basements. Bearded men carry placards which say “Repent!” Mao seizes the moment. On October 20, he orders a “self-defensive counterattack” against India, because of its actions in Tibet, and Nehru’s “dark mentality”. The Indian Army stands no chance. Our boys are always outnumbered, and often outflanked. By October 24, the Chinese are 15 km beyond the MacMahon line. At this point, there is a break, in the hope that better sense will prevail. It does not. The Lok Sabha vows to throw the invader off the sacred soil of India, although how the army is supposed to do this without ammunition is not adequately explained. The war resumes on November 14, Nehru’s birthday. Within a week, the Chinese are on the out-

skirts of Tezpur. Assam lies open before them. In the real world, this is the point where Mao gives the order to withdraw, back behind the MacMahon line. But supposing they had kept moving? Mao was a murderous madman, responsible for not one, but two of the great calamities of the 20th century—the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. If there truly is a Hell, he is the centerpiece in the lobby. People often wonder why he ordered his troops to withdraw, but this is pointless. Trying to apply logic to the actions of such a person are futile. But it’s worth remembering that he was the man who once said, “The way to world conquest lies through Havana, Accra, and Calcutta.” Perhaps this seems far-fetched, or too dependent on the whims of one person. Let’s review some facts. In the 50s, India lobbied hard to get China a seat on the UN Security Council. China has always opposed the same for

The Henderson-Brooks Report, the official analysis of the IndoChina war has never been made public. You can read it here

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December 15,1971. The Bay of Bengal is crowded. The US 7th Fleet. The Soviet Task Force. The Indian Army is about to take Dhaka. Pre-empt? Strike? Respond?

The 1974 Hindi film Haqeeqat celebrated the valour of Indian soldiers against overwhelming odds during the war. You can hear its most famous song here

Shovon Chowdhury’s blog, India Update, has horrified nearly 200,000 people. He is also the entire editorial staff of The Investigator, published by Hindu Business Line, which digs for the truth, so you don’t have to. He has recently edited the secret diaries of Manmohan Singh. He has completed one novel, The Competent Authority. His next, Death of a School Master, comes out in December.

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us. India recognized Tibet as Chinese, while Chinese maps change every few months. China helped Pakistan go nuclear, through their wholly owned subsidiary North Korea. China is surrounding us with naval bases. Just a few months ago, Chinese troops were causing border incidents, while we were feeding their President dinner. The food was veg, and there was no alcohol, but that is no excuse. Since the mid50s, every action of China towards us has been the action of an enemy. The only surprise about the 1962 war is, why were we so surprised? Mao looks at the map. Assam lies before him. The greater the victory, the greater his glory, the more thoroughly he can crush his enemies. The two nations have just fought bitterly over barren rocks. Assam is rich in resources. And was Assam not the Kingdom of Ahom for 600 years? Was this kingdom not founded by the Mong Mao, originally from Yunan province, and sworn vassals of the Yuan emperor? The first Ahom king was Chao Lung Siu-Ka-Pha, a fine Chinese name. What could be more Chinese than Assam? Their claim on it is stronger than their claim on Tibet. But the action has to be quick. American ships have sailed. The PLA storms into Assam. Guwahati falls quickly. In four days, they reach the border of East Pakistan. By this time, the US Seventh Fleet is in the Bay of Bengal, in response to frantic calls for assistance from Nehru. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara advises President Kennedy that a nuclear strike on China is the only viable option. Kennedy hesitates, because he has already listened to his advice on Vietnam, and this is not working out well. Mao declares a unilateral ceasefire, and a new line-ofcontrol. There will be no debate or discussion. Assam becomes the Autonomous Republic of Ahom. The Americans advise India to accept the status quo. Nehru resigns, and dies soon after. Lal Bahadur Shastri takes charge. Pakistan attacks in 1965, but this time, India is better prepared. The Chinese do not interfere. They have their hands full with the Autonomous Republic of Ahom, where the rebels are receiving arms from India, and the Nagas and Mizos are proving to be quite a handful. Once more, Calcutta is the hotbed of

revolution, home to rebels of every description. In 1966, the Cultural Revolution begins. In China, the lunatics take over the asylum. By 1971, Indira Gandhi is Prim Minister, and things are hotting up in the east. India supports freedom for Bangladesh. Pakistan sees this as a conspiracy. Across Pakistan, stickers appear on cars, with the words “Crush India”. Pakistani politicians march with the same demand. On December 3, 1971, the Pakistan Air Force launches air strikes on India, using a grand total of 50 planes. They have underestimated the requirements for crushing India, and India responds swiftly, and with force. Indira Gandhi is not fighting for Bangladesh. She is fighting for revenge. She will establish a puppet state in Bangladesh, and she will use it as a base to liberate Assam, and undo the betrayal of her father. She has 11 mountain divisions equipped and ready to strike. On the other side of the border, the Cultural Revolution is in full swing, and the Chinese are busy hunting class enemies and revisionists. She can count on support from the Americans. After the annexation of Assam, they are terrified of Commie expansion. Her will is strong, and her plan looks good. But as her troops enter the outskirts of Dhaka, she has forgotten one thing. Thanks to lavish assistance from the Soviet Union, the Chinese have been a nuclear power since 1964. On December 13, Pakistan begs China for help. Meanwhile, Mao has been having problems of his own. With no one left to persecute, the Cultural Revolution is running out of steam. In September, his deputy Lin Biao died mysteriously. There are whispers of a military coup. The PLA is growing stronger. Mao needs to turn the PLA against an external enemy, to keep their hands from his throat. He orders his marshals to prepare for a nuclear strike on India, which does not have nuclear weapons of its own. By December 15, the Bay of Bengal is getting crowded. The US Seventh Fleet is there, along with a Soviet Task Force from Vladivostok, including a nuclear-armed submarine. The Americans are staunch allies. The Soviet position is unclear. If the Chinese launch a nuclear attack, will the Americans respond? Or will the Americans pre-empt them and strike first? And if they do, will the Soviets respond as well? It is the evening of December 16, 1971. In Washington DC, a ferret-faced little man is poised, his sweaty finger on the nuclear button. He may not be going to China any time soon, but it’s time to send them a message. The Russkies won’t do anything, says Kissinger, because this is what his boss wants to hear. Still, he hesitates. It’s his name that will go down in history. The fate of the world is in the hands of Richard Milhous Nixon. V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

S oci e t y

Mallika Nawal

Warranty Void if Seal Broken! Revirgination surgery for women is the fastest growing segment within the Indian cosmetic surgery industry. But any culture that decides a woman’s worth by the presence or absence of a membrane needs to examine its collective head.

ome winters and it’s time for the Big Fat “Designer” Indian Wedding! From the blushingly beautiful bride (courtesy make-up magicians) to sumptuous gourmet meals (the reason why most people even attend weddings to begin with), the wedding industry is a big fat woolly mammoth. Conservative estimates peg its size at a staggering $40 billion—and!—slated to grow 20 to 25 per cent year on year. Of course, the economics aside, the most important question for any girl (especially on her wedding day) is: “What am I going to wear?” The bride rushes to designer boutiques where tailors (all right, all right—”designers”) custommake their wedding dress. But that’s hardly all. There is still the bridal trousseau to be assembled: the romantic-sounding French word that denotes the connubial accoutrements which will accompany the bride as she beds (oh, I mean…“weds”) her way to marital bliss. The bridal paraphernalia is bountiful. She will shine in her finest designer wear. But there’s another thing that the bride will wear with pride (and “no” prejudice)—her very own, customized, stitched to perfection, brand-new “designer” hymen. Yes, a brand new hymen! But before you start wondering, let me assure you that the bride-to-be is not a guinea pig. PS: A guinea pig, you ask!! Well, let me tell you something. Many girls (if only they knew) would love to have been born as guinea pigs. Of course, not for the lofty ideals of volunteering for experiments in a science lab, no! They’d probably want to be guinea pigs for a purely self-serving (not science-serving) reason—their hy-

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mens grow back. However, before we commence with our cultural conjugal autopsy, let’s do a quick biological recap—in case you bunked or flunked biology. The hymen is a thin membrane that partially covers the vaginal opening and its presence is traditionally—and erroneously—viewed as the mark of virginity. We’ll also do an etymological and a mythological review, but hold your guinea pigs, for now… The days of liposuction, implants, nose jobs, facelifts and botox are passé; there is something new on the cosmetic surgery menu: the whole new Revirgination Specials that promise to leave you spoilt for choice. Whether it’s a simple hymenoplasty (which guarantees to spill a little blood on the sheets, so your future husband can conclude he married a virgin) or a supervaginoplasty (that promises to leave you as tight as an oyster), the cosmetic surgeon has much to offer. And all that the girl simply needs to do is ask: “Can I have an extra order of virgin to go, please?” Of course, to choose one that suits your taste, be prepared to loosen those purse strings. For the sake of reference— while a hymenoplasty will set you back by Rs 30,000, a “Complete revirgination akin to 16-year-old girl” will cost you 75 grand. The surgery will be done by a leading cosmetic surgeon, who even promises to offer concessional rates for girls who cannot afford these high-end (maybe the correct term would be “deep-end”) surgeries. What a Good Samaritan! Plus, his discretion comes free as he promises to be tight-lipped (pardon the pun) about his patients’ identity. In fact, let me put it this way. It’s a simple formula—the looser the purse, the

tighter the vagina. It’s little wonder then that revirgination surgery is the fastest growing segment within the Indian cosmetic surgery industry. In fa world of extreme body makeover, it’s the ultimate plastic surgery. Then again, maybe it’s a good deal after all—for as little as Rs 30,000, you can erase your past and have a future… However, before we erase the past completely—and restitch the future, let me take a walk down memory lane. Once upon a time, I was a young impressionable girl who had just turned 14. A much-older male cousin took it upon himself to transform me into the paragon of virtue. Without badgering me about the birds-and-the-bees, he left me with a simple-yet-profound statement: “Boys divide girls into two categories. The good girls you wed, the bad girls you bed!” Truth be told, what he had said then was reiterated to me, once again—many many years later. Another man, another time…but the same thought. “You know, I really worry—what will I do if my wife is not a virgin,” he lamented, sitting beside me, sipping a golden amber liquid, which I assumed would either be expensive scotch or inexpensive whisky. In his inebriated state or for his desire to be placated (I am not sure which), he was confiding his deepest darkest fear to me. I had known him for quite a while, perfectly aware of his extra-curricular activities, which is why I could not sit back and console him. Instead, I chose to stick my rather big foot in my rather big mouth! “Are you?” I asked him with the sweetest smirk I could muster, foolishly hoping that reason and rationality will save the day (or night). V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

The venomous look he gave me would have put a king cobra to shame. However, he judiciously decided to zip it (figuratively speaking, of course). I haven’t spoken to him since but even now, I wonder—where is he and what did he do when he did/ didn’t marry a virgin bride. But it did teach me an important lesson: The Bedding Barometer had been fixed—it measures the worth of a woman based on a flimsy film of flesh. The same sentiment was echoed by Jessica Valenti, author of The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession with Virginity Is Hurting Young Women, who said: “While boys are taught that the things that make them men—good men— are universally accepted ethical ideals, women are led to believe that our moral compass lies somewhere between our legs. Literally.” So, as a girl, you may lie, cheat, steal,

defraud, but if you left that one “single” membrane intact, you are a “good” girl. It’s not surprising really. In a world that is as prurient as it is prudish (and patriarchal), there will always be a lot of flapdoodle about saving your most precious gift for your husband. Oh, Imagine the shame of the un-bled wife! Hence, it’s not surprising that most women choose the surgeon’s knife, lest it dampens the feverish passion of the wedding night. It also saves them from a cruel fate: flogging for fornicating (whether literally or metaphorically). Well, moving on, let’s dig the grave deeper and move further back in time. After all, I did promise you mythology and etymology, did I not? In Greek mythology, Hymen (or Hymenaios or Hymenaeus) was a god of marriage ceremonies. He inspired songs and hymns. He presided over feasts and

In a world that is as prurient as it is prudish and patriarchal, there will always be a flapdoodle about saving your most precious gift for your husband

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If marrages are made in heaven, why on earth should it take a cosmetic surgeon to stitch a “happily ever after”? festivities. He was, in fact, supposed to attend every wedding. And in case he was conspicuously absent, the marriage was doomed, so the ancient Greeks would run about chanting his name aloud. Not much has changed. Even today, we are silently chanting his name. Although, thanks to technological advancement, in case he’s going to miss the action (thanks to the bride who herself saw some action), he can always make a cameo. By the way, did you know, “virginity” was on the Washington Post ’s 2010 list of the year’s top 13 things to throw out? Truth be told, I think WP was mistaken! All people need to throw out is their hypocrisy and double standards, because virginity, quite literally, left the building a long time ago.

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After all, any culture that decides a woman’s worth by the presence or absence of a membrane seriously needs to examine its collective head. How can a relationship—any relationship for that matter—commence at the gleaming blade of a surgeon’s knife? If marriages are made in heaven, why on earth should it take a cosmetic surgeon to stitch a “happily ever after”? Yes, I know I’ll get hate mail, but I could not stop myself from slamming a frivolous surgery that makes it impossible for a woman to have a past. Before I conclude, I simply want to say something to the fellow homo sapiens: Note to all the men Yes, she probably dated a lot of men, she probably had a few boyfriends too, and she probably

even had a couple o’ lovers—but at the end of the day—you married a woman, not her hymen! And as the French philosopher Voltaire, who said a lot of stuff about 300 years before humans found time to appreciate that stuff, wrote: “It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge.” Note to all the women I know, I know, virgins are a religiously prized possession. They are the prizes that liea-waiting, in heaven, for the man after a hard day of holy war. But just so you know, if you die a virgin, terrorists are up there…waiting for you.

Mallika is a professor-cum-author, doing her PhD in marketing from IIT Kharagpur, and author of three management books which are prescribed textbooks in universities across India. She has taught in India and abroad. She is also the author of the crime novel I’m a Woman & I’m on SALE. V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

E p ic

Abhinav Agarwal

The Best Laid Plans... Karna had a plan and a backup plan to take on Arjuna, his lifelong adversary. How the gods did not favour him, and why he failed.

ailing to plan is planning to fail—so goes a much trite cliche. Karna however can certainly not be accused of failing to plan. He had a plan and a backup plan to take on Arjuna, his lifelong adversary. That Karna and Arjuna were rivals is well known. That Karna got the chance to defeat four of the Pandavas in battle is also known. Only a promise made to Kunti, his mother, stopped him from finishing off these other Pandavas. “Other” as in all but Arjuna. Karna was clear that in an encounter between the two, only one would come out alive. The hostility between the two half-brothers was mutual and implacable. That fateful encounter took place on the seventeenth day on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Karna had prepared and prepared well for that showdown. The first ace up Karna’s sleeve, in a manner of speaking, was the weapon Shakti. However, there are some subtleties about how he got the missile. Karna had been born with earrings and armour—hence the name “Karna”. While he wore these, he could not be killed in battle. Indra, Arjuna’s father, was aware of this protection. It weighed on his mind. He planned on tackling this by taking advantage of Karna’s legendary benevolence towards Brahmins. Surya, Karna’s father, got to know of this and appeared in a dream the night before to warn Karna of Indra’s intentions. He advised Karna to refuse Indra by “citing many different kinds of reasons. Offer him riches.” Karna, however, was a man of his word and would not stray from it: “Like a mother, fame ensures the life of a man in this world.” (Kundala-aharana Parva. Ch 284, Aran-

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Karna’s failsafe weapon, Shakti, was used up to counter an unstoppable Ghatotkacha. His back-up, an equally potent weapon in the form of Ashvasena, met its match through the direct intervention of Krishna

yaka Parva). Surya replied with a more practical counter-argument: “When the body has been reduced to ashes, what use does fame serve one who is dead?...The fame of a dead human is like a garland on one who has lost his life.” (Kundalaaharana Parva. Ch 285, Aranyaka Parva) But Karna could only ask his father’s forgiveness: “Please pardon me. I am not frightened of death as much as I am of falsehood.” (Yes, this does resemble a line spoken by the Sonakshi Sinha character to Salman Khan about slaps and love, in the hit film Dabangg, but haven’t our movies always been inspired by our stories, our mythology?) Surya then counselled Karna to ask Indra for Shakti, the invincible spear, that, “without killing hundreds and thousands of enemies”, did not return. So far so good. The next morning, Indra, in the guise of a Brahmin, approached Karna with the words: “Give me.” “You are welcome,” replied Radheya. Indra came straight to the point and asked Karna: “I desire your natural armour and earrings.” Expectedly, Karna first tried to cajole the Brahmin into accepting other gifts, like cows, rice, women, land, even the kingdom. Expectedly, the Brahmin demurred. Karna told the Brahmin that he knew who he was— Indra, and that it was not befitting for a god to ask a mere mortal for something. Especially if handing that over was as good as signing a death warrant. Karna gently rebuked Indra thus: “You are the lord of the gods himself and it is you should give me a boon...O god! If I give you my earrings and armour, I will be liable to be killed...You will become an object of ridicule.” Karna was not averse to giving Indra what he had asked

for. But not for nothing. He continued, “O Shakra! Therefore, take my earrings and supreme armour, if you so wish. But take them in exchange. Otherwise I will not give them.” Indra relented, but with a caveat, “(A)sk for what you want. With the exception of my vajra (thunder), you can ask for whatever else you wish.” The stage had been set for a memorable exchange. Karna asked for Indra’s Shakti. Indra handed it over, but with the condition that it would, in Karna’s hands, “kill one powerful enemy who roars and blazes. Then, it will return to my hand.” That was what Karna wanted. To use it against one and only one person. Indra warned Karna that the person who he had in mind was protected by Krishna. Fast-forward to Day 17 of the battle. Shalya was the charioteer, Karna the warrior. Krishna and Arjuna facing him on the other side. This single line captures the essence of this duel between the two as felt by Karna: “On seeing the two Krishnas (the dark ones) together on a single chariot, both fear and valour are generated in my heart.” (Ch 57, Karna-vadha Parva) Karna faced Arjuna on the battlefield. but without Shakti. He had been forced to use it, much to his dismay and to Krishna’s unabated delight, against Ghatotakacha, Bhima’s giant son, who had gone on a rampage and was threatening to destroy the entire Kaurava army. The night’s fight in itself has several stories that are striking in their own right. Thus used, Shakti had returned to Indra. Was Karna then without any unfailing weapon against Arjuna? No, not quite. Karna had a second ace up his sleeve. This was an arrow. A special kind of arV o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

row. But before that, we need to go back in time, some 14 years or more, to the Khandava forest. The same Khandava forest that was burned down by Krishna and Arjuna, at Agni’s request. You can read the frisson-inducing account of the destruction of the forest in the Khandava-daha Parva (contained within the Adi Parva). Of essence here is the fact that “in that flaming forest, Agni did not burn down six beings—Ashvasena, Maya and the four Sharngakas.” The stories of Maya and the four Sharngakas deserve their own re-telling. But who was Ashvasena? Ashvasena was the son of Takshaka, the king of snakes. Try as he did, Ashvasena could not escape the burning Khandava forest. In desperation, Ashvasena’s mother rose to protect her son. As she did, Arjuna’s

arrows sliced off her head. In the shower of rain that Indra thereafter produced, Arjuna was momentarily dazed, which allowed Ashvasena to escape. Ashvasena had bided his time, and affixed himself at the head of an arrow in Karna’s quiver. “That terrible arrow had been carefully preserved, washed well, protected well for Partha’s destruction. It had been worshipped and laid down on a bed of sandalwood paste.” (Ch 66, Karna-vadha Parva) Coming back to the battlefield, Karna prepared to shoot the arrow. Shalya advised Karna to prepare another arrow instead. Karna angrily rejected that suggestion and shot it at Arjuna’s head. Seeing this, “Madhava (Krishna)...used his strength to press down on the chariot with his feet. The chariot sank down on

the ground and the horses sank down on their knees...The arrow stuck down the intelligent one’s diadem.”(Ch 66, Karnavadha Parva) The crown was destroyed. Arjuna thus lost his famed crown but saved his head, thanks to Krishna, who did some quick thinking on his feet, and in this case, with his feet.To summarize, Karna’s failsafe weapon, Shakti, was used up to counter an unstoppable Ghatotakacha on the fourteenth night of the battle. His back-up, an equally potent weapon in the form of Ashvasena, met its match through the direct intervention of Krishna. When your failsafe plan A fails, and then plan B also comes a cropper, it may not be a stretch to believe that perhaps the gods don’t favour you. That Karna chose to fight this battle, knowing the odds stacked against him, makes him perhaps the one anti-hero that we identify with the most. (Views expressed are personal. I have used Dr Bibek Debroy’s Mahabharata, Volumes 2, 3, and 8, an unabridged translation of the Critical Edition of the Mahabharata, published by Penguin India in 2010, 2011, and 2013 respectively, as my references.)

Abhinav Agarwal. Son. Husband. Father. IIMBangalore gold medalist. Analytics product manager. Hobbies: reading and photography. Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

P h oto

F e a t u r e

Creators Madhu Kapparath

I have always had a simple, deeply felt interest in the work of of these artists featured here. But I welcomed the opportunity to photograph them with a certain reticence—can a still likeness be a slice of their self ever?

ARUN KOLATKAR You could bump into the poet around the Rampart Row neighbourhood most days. We, the confused, found solace in his being, for he was the first to address the maddening duality of a certain kind of Indian—English and Marathi, vernacular and modern, bhakt and pervert. 60

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SHYAM BENEGAL Watching Yatra, Benegal’s teleserial on the Indian railways in the 1980s coincided with my discovery of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. Both celebrated the railroad, the peculiar cosmology of relationships tied to the duration of the journey, a fascination that has stayed with me until today. V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

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Shabana and Kaifi Azmi Then there was the moment when the bond between the father and daughter lit up the room brighter than the humid afternoon light from the sea at Juhu. Later, Shabana Azmi sat with a bowl of watermelon and there was nothing to say.

NIRMAL VERMA He looked a hobo, nothing like I had imagined. He said he went to Prague long ago, and brought out a book of black and white photographs of Czechoslovakia to show. Then he sat, silently, like a man who had suffered for long. 62

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VAIKKOM BASHEER Basheer was sitting on a perch on his verandah in Beypore, occasionally racked by a bout of rasping cough brought on by asthma. The sound was scary, like that of a very wild animal. Not many remember that he organised an antiBritish movement and edited a revolutionary journal Uprising. The first romantic fiction he wrote was path-breaking: it had a dark-complexioned hunchback as the heroine.

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QURRATULAIN HYDER I couldn’t believe it when she said she worked at The Illustrated Weekly of India in the late 1960s, years after she had published her outstanding novel in Urdu, Aag Ka Dariya. She was looking for a reason to be outdoors on a winter morning, despite her ill-health. A photograph was reason enough.

Atul Dodiya The artist was also grappling with the maddening duality of a certain kind of Indian— and articulating that visually by constructing a multiplicity of references in an image. The references he makes to photographs in his paintings would be worthy of a book someday. 64

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BASU BHATTACHARYA He ignored me, scratched his chest hair, patted his dog, read his papers, smoked numerous cigarettes on his bed in an amazing octagonal room with as many windows he pottered around in all day. Dom Moraes, homeless, lived with him for a while happily. Dom! That says a lot about Basu.

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Francis Newton Souza A raw, brutal energy marks the oeuvre of Souza’s tortured crucifixes and erotically charged nudes. Souza was born to Roman Catholic parents of Goud Saraswat Brahmin ancestry. No wonder! He was the first of India’s modern painters to achieve high recognition in the West and continues to set abuzz the art markets, like at the last Christie’s auctions.

Adil Jussawala You are an aspiring poet. You are broke. And hungry. And it is early in the day. Where do you go? Ask any poet, they always found Adil Jussawala. For a meal and a conversation that helped them on their way. Not to mention that surreal column he wrote for The Daily for years. Look up his much acclaimed book of poems for young people, The Right Kind of Dog.

Om Puri “Oh, you live alone? Then you must learn to make khichdi, comfort food. Let me tell you how.” After that many pivotal roles in landmark films and a Padma Shri, Om Puri hasn’t developed the careful mannerisms of the famous. But he did waltz with Helen Mirren, didn’t he?

Madhu Kapparath is a photographer who works in the documentary tradition. As an editorial photographer engaged in humanitarian issues, he’s documented urban and rural issues in India for over two decades. His editorial work has appeared in Gentleman, Asiaweek, Outlook, India Today, Mint, Marie Claire, Femina, Forbes India and occasionally in publications around the world. As a Photography Editor, he’s worked with editorial teams at leading magazines to set standards in visual storytelling. He is currently Consulting Photo Editor for Forbes Life India.

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R o y a l t y

Biswadeep Ghosh

Who Is The Real King Khan?

For 15 years now, a trio has held sway over the Hindi film market—Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh. An evaluation of the three men who have charted their careers very differently from one another.

To watch Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh together on stage

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ajesh Khanna was the first solo superstar—before him, the Hindi film industry had never really had an undisputed No 1 star. Amitabh Bachchan dethroned him and ruled for much longer. In an environment of betterproduced films and more competition, the media loves to address Shah Rukh Khan as King Khan. Articulate, and with a quicksilver presence of mind, the star’s USP is that he gives more great quotes and witty one-liners in press interactions than anyone else. Maximum coverage is what he gets in return. But fans are fans. Each of the three Khans— Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh (wherever we mention the three together in this article, it is in alphabetical order)—has his own constituency of fans that permits no intrusion. For Aamir devotees, Salman and Shah Rukh are non-competitors. For Salman acolytes, he is the only megastar in Hindi cinema. For the last couple of decades, the three Khans have flourished in a way few had thought

they would at the outset of their careers. The only major threat to their collective dominance came in 2000 when Hrithik Roshan burnt up the screen in his debut film Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai. But Hrithik couldn’t sustain the momentum. Of course, he has had his phases. In 2006, he headlined the cast of two blockbusters: Dhoom:2 and Krrish. In recent times, Krrish 3 and Bang Bang! have earned enormous amounts. But, fourth biggest star is who he is and will be, until one of the Khans stops playing the male lead. The war of the Khans began in the 1990s. Aamir had delivered Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak towards the end of the previous decade. Salman’s Maine Pyar Kiya followed very soon after. Shah Rukh came a bit later, and unlike the other two, he had no “connections” in the trade. His rocket-like rise defied conventional logic: in Darr and Baazigar, he played twisted loverkillers, who tapped into a darkness in the mass psyche—the characters hardly deserved sympathy, but Shah Rukh, through some inspired hamming, got it for them from the audiences. V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

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The Khans’ Share in the top 10 Hindi Movies Male Lead

Collections

Aamir Khan

642

Dhoom:3

Aamir Khan

542

Chennai Express

Shah Rukh Khan

422

3 Idiots

Aamir Khan

395

Happy New Year

Shah Rukh Khan

383

Kick

Salman Khan

377

Krrish 3

Hrithik Roshan

374

Bang Bang!

Hrithik Roshan

340

Ek Tha Tiger

Salman Khan

320

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewaani

Ranbir Kapoor

311

Worldwide Box Office: Top 10 1600

Collections

Movie

800

Rs Crore

Aamir Khan

Male Lead

Collections

Aamir Khan

482

Dhoom:3

Aamir Khan

372

Krrish 3

Hrithik Roshan

320

Kick

Salman Khan

310

Chennai Express

Shah Rukh Khan

301

Happy New Year

Shah Rukh Khan

293

3 Idiots

Aamir Khan

269

Ek Tha Tiger

Salman Khan

263

Bang Bang!

Hrithik Roshan

261

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewaani

Ranbir Kapoor

253

600

Rs Crore

Collections

Dhoom:3

Aamir Khan

3 Idiots

Aamir Khan

My Name Is Khan

Shah Rukh Khan

Chennai Express

Shah Rukh Khan

Happy New Year

Shah Rukh Khan

Jab Tak Hai Jaan

Shah Rukh Khan

Bang Bang!

Hrithik Roshan

Don 2

Shah Rukh Khan

Kick

Salman Khan

Shah rukh Khan

Others

Overseas Box Office: Top 10 90 Collections

Male Lead

Others

1200

Aamir Khan

Movie

Shah rukh Khan

Indian Box Office: Top 10

Collections

Movie

Salman Khan

0 Aamir Khan

Salman Khan

Shah rukh Khan

Others

$ Million

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And then, quite amazingly, he transformed himself into a romantic hero. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ), starring him and Kajol as two NRIs, became a bit of a cultural milestone since the boy tries to find ways to seek permission to marry his beloved from her father, a conservative patriarch for whom preserving Indian values is of primary importance in life. DDLJ’s message strongly appealed to the NRI audiences, and its mega-popularity made Shah Rukh the undisputed No 1 star in the overseas market. Then came Dil To Pagal Hai and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, both huge successes. both in India and abroad. From lover-from-hell to dream soulmate, he had grown to captivate Indian audiences across the world. But nor for too long. A mysterious Salman Khan wave had been gathering strength, and was about to reach tidal wave proportions. In 1994, Salman had delivered a massive hit with Hum Aapke Hain Koun, but the credit had been apportioned equally by the industry between him, Madhuri Dicxit and the director Sooraj Barjatya. Looking back today, that may not have been entirely correct. There is very little proof that he had any desire to take up projects that challenged him as an actor. Apparently it was just the fact that he was his spontaneous self in every film that his fans loved. He was beginning to fill the theatres. His preference for undemanding roles produced utterly formulaic content. Things haven’t changed on that front); “serious” analysts still cannot explain why his films succeed or fail, except that he is in those films, being Salman. In Karan Arjun, Salman and Shah Rukh appeared as the two leads. In Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, the actor didn’t hesitate to play a supporting role in what was a Shah Rukh film. Saajan belonged to Sanjay Dutt; Salman was second lead. Secure in the knowledge that he had the crowds rooting for him, Salman developed into the quintessential non-acting star in the 90s. Aamir, in the meantime, was developing his own plan of action. After Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, he appeared in a number of films distinguished only by their extraordinary mediocrity (does anyone remember Love Love Love, Awwal Number, Tum Mere Ho, Diwana Mujh Sa Nahin, Afsana Pyaar Ka or Jawani Zindabad?), a filmography which seems incredible when you look at the man today. He had had a huge success with Dil (1990), but again, was it him or Madhuri Dixit who drew the crowds? Then he hit paydirt with films like Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, Raja Hindustani and Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin. He had become wiser and wanted control of his career. He was developing a clear sense of what Brand Aamir was, and the brand USP was: “he’s different”. By the time the dec-

ade ended, he had showed, in Rangeela—as a carefree young man in love with a girl who’s besotted with a film star—that the performer in him needed to be separated from his identity of a star and analyzed in an independent context. 1947: Earth was an out-and-out arthouse film based on a Bapsi Sidhwa novel set during Partition. In Sarfarosh, made by a first-time director, he pitted himself against Naseeruddin Shah. In the onscreen confrontation between performing non-equals, Aamir didn’t let himself down. As the 1990s ended, three different men had risen to the top, adopting three different styles. Shah Rukh had range and guts: he had bet his early career on playing psychos and the boy-next-door loser in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa. But he now apparently preferred the safety-first lover-boy route that broke commercial records. Salman had found his safe place: he gave big hits, most of them of the kind that were watched, enjoyed, and forgotten quickly. His fans didn’t mind. They came to watch Salmanbhai do his act, which didn’t require much acting. Aamir had become a mega-stakes risk-taker. He had entered the 21st century convinced that unpredictability was what he should promise his fans. The element of surprise would be his weapon of mass seduction. Fifteen years later, their approaches remain largely unchanged. During this period, Shah Rukh has given two memorable performances. In Swades (2004), he played a NASA scientist who returns to his roots and discovers his true calling in life. In Chak De! India (2007), he was a women’s hockey team coach haunted by his past. Highly appreciated and successful, Chak De! should have encouraged Shah Rukh to try more of the unusual. But he hasn’t shifted from his comfort zone since then, staying put with formula-factory directors/ producers. His 2001 box office monster was Karan Johar’s Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (K3G). But the year belonged to Aamir Khan’s Lagaan, a film which made less money but won more hearts. Today, Lagaan is the film that viewers remember. K3G has been reduced to a haze. Kal Ho Naa Ho, Chalte Chalte and Main Hoon Na were well-packaged products carried by Shah Rukh’s now-familiar mannerisms, irrespective of the character he was portraying. And so it goes…Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Don— dual roles, where he could hold your attention in one role (in each film) and not the other. My Name is Khan. Asperger’s syndrome, post-9/11 suspicion of Muslims in the US—surely the right knobs to push in the Hindi cinema casino? But the story went to pieces towards the end. Reincarnation drama Om Shanti Om was a blockbuster, but the two real big ones in Shah

Shah Rukh had decided to take the safetyfirst lover-boy route; Salman was doing his own act, which didn’t require acting; and Aamir had chosen the element of surprise as his weapon of mass seduction

Fe b ruary 2 0 1 5

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In the last few years, Aamir has been to Hindi films what Sergei Bubka was to pole vault, repeatedly creating records and breaking them himself

The author is Contributing Editor of Swarajya

F e b r u ar y 2015

Rukh’s recent career have been Chennai Express and Happy New Year, the former an overthe-top comedy, and, the latter, a mixed bag of goodies that the audiences bought because of the Godzilla-level pre-release hype that now characterizes every Shah Rukh starrer. Familiar with more lows than the other two Khans, Salman found his career resurrected by Wanted in 2009. Then came Dabangg—Chulbul Pandey, a corrupt cop with a kindergarten samurai code whom all of India cheered. Dabangg wholly deserved all the money it made. But how Ready and Bodyguard almost burst the cash registers is a question that nobody should even try to answer. Salman has delivered three more mega-hits thereafter: Dabangg 2, which was repetitive and weak but loved by the masses, Ek Tha Tiger and Kick, the biggest hit of his career so far. From action to romance to comedy: Salman has been going through the rituals like he always has. He knows he is a star, not a great actor. That awareness makes his performances effortless, which is what his fans wish to see. Aamir, the third Khan, is unique. A better actor than Salman and Shah Rukh, he has also directed Taare Zameen Par, a sensitive film about a dyslexic child. He has associated himself with interesting projects directed and produced by his wife Kiran Rao and other small budget films like Ship of Theseus and Peepli Live. Since 2008, it is Aamir who has been the game changer in Hindi cinema. It started with the Memento-inspired Ghajini, which became the first film to have net collections (gross collections minus entertainment tax) of Rs 100 crore

in India. That led to the birth of the 100-crore club. For 3 Idiots (2009), Aamir, 44, turned into an 18-year-old engineering student. Critics marveled; the film inaugurated the 200-crore club. An increasingly selective actor in big-budget cinema, Aamir’s only release after 2009 which hasn’t been a record-breaking success is Talaash: The Answer Lies Within (2012). The neonoir film was destined to get limited viewership, and failed to enter the 100-crore club. Dhoom:3 (2013) was propelled by the actor’s dual role as twins who rob banks. The film became the first member of the 250-crore club, where PK joined it a year later. And then went on to inaugurate the 300-crore club! In the last few years, Aamir has been to success of Hindi films what Sergei Bubka was to pole vault, repeatedly creating records, and breaking them himself. He has destroyed Shah Rukh’s monopoly in the overseas market while consistently defying the stereotype. The only member in the 250-crore and 300-crore clubs, the only male lead with two films that have grossed more than Rs 500 crore worldwide, Aamir has moved far ahead of Shah Rukh and Salman. PK has grossed well over Rs 200 crore more than Chennai Express, Shah Rukh’s biggest film. Salman isn’t far behind, since he can turn almost anything he acts in into a blockbuster these days. Hindi cinema does have a King Khan. His name is Aamir. Maybe TV show hosts and journalists who use the sobriquet for Shah Rukh need to turn to facts. But will they? Doubtful. Parroting is an addiction which no number of visits to Parrots Anonymous can truly cure. V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

“The art of banking is the management of risk. You run a risk if you do something, but you run a bigger risk if you don’t do anything. We have a moderate risk appetite but are very proactive with management systems, red flags, trouble-shooting actions, well-orchestrated strategies in terms of regulatory processes.”

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Lit e r a t u r e

No Kiddin’ Antara Das

Alice in Wonderland turns 150 this year. You have to be living in a rabbit hole to think it’s a book meant only for children

Alice Pleasance Liddell was the daughter of Henry Liddell, dean of Christ Church, Oxford, where Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) worked. Carroll made up the story Alice in Wonderland to entertain Alice and her sisters during a boat ride in 1862. This photograph of Alice was shot by Carroll in 1858, when she was six. Facing page: Illustration from the original edition by John Tenniel. 74

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n July 4, 1862, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (who wrote under the pen name of Lewis Carroll) took a boat ride from Oxford to the nearby town of Godstow to have tea there on the riverbank. He was accompanied by his friend Reverend Robinson Duckworth and the three young daughters of another friend Henry Liddell: Lorina Charlotte (13), Alice Pleasance (10) and Edith Mary (8). To entertain them, Carroll (1832-1898) made up the story of (fictional) Alice’s fall down a rabbit hole into Wonderland and her fantastic adventures there. He later wrote it down, on (real) Alice’s request, presenting it to her in November 1864 as a ‘Christmas Gift to a Dear Child in Memory of a Summer’s Day’. By November 1865, the first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was out, illustrated by John Tenniel, the political cartoonist of Punch. A hundred and fifty years and counting, it’s never been out of print. Who Lewis Carroll was (really) Carroll was a mathematician and sub-librarian at Christ Church College, Oxford, a tall, lanky bachelor who spoke with a stutter and easily made friends with children. Apart from the Alice books (Alice in Wonderland and its sequel Through The Looking-Glass and What V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

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The edition of Alice published by New York’s Maecenas Press-Random House in 1969 contains 12 heliogravures by Salvador Dali—one for each chapter of the book and an original signed etching in four colours as the frontispiece of the volume. It has become one of the most sought-after Dalí suites of all time.

Alice is immensely popular in Japan. Hospitality firm Diamond Dining owns six Alicethemed restaurants in the country—five in Tokyo and one in Osaka. The quirky décor reflects various Alice themes, there is a Mad Hatter Tea Party room, pizzas are done up like playing-card soldiers, waitresses are dressed like Alice, and dishes range from the Green Caterpillar Sushi Roll to the Mock Turtle Mimosa Salad.

F e b r u ar y 2015

Alice Found There) which were a publishing sensation, he wrote a number of titles on linear equations, geometry and trigonometry. The apparent “nonsense” of the Alice books have been analyzed threadbare, from being satires on Victorian social norms to caricatures of Oxford dons, from being a dark Freudian descent into the unconscious to an expression of Carroll’s discomfort with (then) newfangled notions of symbolic algebra. Who Lewis Carroll was (accused of being) Oh yes, Carroll, like many of his Victorian contemporaries, was also interested in photography. He photographed little girls (Alice Liddell among them), including nude portraits. His love for the nubile female child meant, of course, he was just waiting to be retrofitted by modern feminists into the paedophile straitV o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

jacket. His letters (he mentions at one place: “I am fond of children (except boys)”) did not help his case either. The final word has spared him the shame though: nude photographs of children were apparently a widespread trend in Victorian society as depictions of innocence, and the fact that there is no record of an accusing finger ever raised at him. Was Carroll on drugs though, and was Alice actually “tripping” in Wonderland? Are the hookah-smoking Caterpillar and size-altering mushroom pointers to mind-altering substance abuse, as the psychedelic 1960s would have us believe? The answer, again, is negative, in spite of opium, cocaine and laudanum being legit and widely in use in Carroll’s time. The embedded mathematical and linguistic puzzles and the internal logic of the book are believed to be too coherent for someone “high”. What the Alice books have meant to the creative More than anyone else, artists have had a field day illustrating this riotous journey of the imagination. From Tenniel (who turned Alice Liddell of dark hair with straight bangs into the fictional Alice of the long-flowing mane as we know her), to the surrealist Max Ernst to Salvador Dali and hundreds of others, the story of the Alice books is as much a story of gorgeous illustrations. Movie-makers have reaped a rich harvest too: there are at least 17 adaptations of Alice’s adventures, from a Disney version to a porn musical one. Books, art, theatre, design, animation that use any or many of the Alice allusions are too numerous to mention, though it

would be worth noting that Carroll’s work has had influence on creators as diverse as James Joyce (Finnegans Wake: “Alicious, twinstreams twinestraines, through alluring glass or alas in jumboland?”) to the Wachowski brothers (the Matrix film trilogy) and the makers of gothichorror Alice videogames. What the Alice books have meant to everyone else Alice’s (hardly) tiny footprints are everywhere. If in Tokyo, you might end up at an Alice-themed restaurant that serves Mock Turtle Mimosa Salad by waitresses dressed up as Alice. A particular form of migraine-related disorder which makes it difficult to estimate depth and distance is called Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. Social scientists often use the Alice metaphor when talking of resource allocation (because as Alice kept alternately shrinking and growing, her position on the food chain changed). Alice in India While nonsense has been an integral component of our oral and folk traditions, its literary practice has been rather limited. One of the most exceptional influences of Carroll had definitely been on Bengali writer and poet Sukumar Ray (1887-1923), father of filmmaker Satyajit Ray. His HaJaBaRaLa (1921)—a Bengali novella in which a small boy falls asleep only to wake up in a world of chattering animals only to wake up again and find he was dreaming all along— has a plotline similar to Alice, and Ray’s idiomatic coinages has had a permanent impact on the Bengali language, much like Carroll had on English.

The massively successful Matrix trilogy is filled with references to Alice. The most obvious one: in the first film, The Matrix, during their first meeting, Morpheus tells Neo: “ I imagine that right now, you’re feeling a bit like Alice. Hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole?” Later he offers Neo two pills and says: “You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

Antara Das is Books and Culture Editor of Swarajya

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B ooks Surajit Dasgupta

This Attire of Desolation This is a book for romantics of a culture spun around the belt where once Urdu thrived, the remnant citizens of which believe the late mediaeval era was golden before a romping British Empire abruptly ended the chapter.

The Sun That Rose from the Earth The Sun That Rose from the Earth Shamsur Rahman Faruqi Penguin Books India 600pp Rs 699

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This book was out late last year. Readers who have been through its stories may have had their opinions about the tome, but it is a subject or rather genre that grips a breed of perusers irrespective of the word-of-mouth about it. In one of those quaint corners, one must fit into a squidgy recliner with the thick volume, smoking continuously amid several rounds of tea whitened with milk. Alcohol of any kind is permissible only after you are through—either alone or in the company of friends who know the concomitant culture and, more importantly, relish it and its nuances. Poet, noted Urdu critic, former editor and publisher of Shabkhoon, recipient of Saraswati Samman, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi’s The Sun that Rose from the Earth is a surreal gem set in 17th-19th century India. He challenges what he calls a myth of a declining economy—and hence society—of the post-Mughal pre-British days of the northern cities and towns of this nation with tales that reflect nostalgia of the old scholarly Muslim people whose population is now quite insignificant, yet whose individuals are still noticeable for the chastity in language and the values they hold dear. As Allama Iqbal, who was there to witness the fag end of that era, would say: Yeh gumbad e miinaaii, yeh aalam-e-tanhaaii Mujh ko to Daraatii hai is dasht kii pehnaaii bhaTkaa huaa raahii main, bhaTkaa huaa raahii tuu manzil hai kahaan teri, ai laala-e-sehraaii? (This dome of the sky, this condition of isolation I get scared by this attire of desolation. You and I are both travellers gone astray; Oh poppy of wilderness, your destination’s which way?)

And Mir Taqi ‘Mir’, arguably the greatest Urdu poet of melancholy, whose lifespan was in the middle of that epoch, said of the Delhi of that time: Dilli ke na thay koochay, auraq-e-musavvir thay. jo shakl nazar aayii, tasveer nazar aayii. (Lanes of Delhi they weren’t; they were pages of an album/ Every face that one saw looked like a painting.) Members of other communities have got to be avid students of Urdu—the language of mediaeval-era barracks that developed panache as Persian declined as the language of communication in the small kingdoms, dominions and fiefs of north India—to let what they say seep into the psyche in a state of credulousness. Do note, there have been great authorities in the Urdu language from the Hindu community of the bygone era like Hari Har Parshad ‘Sambhali’, Aftab Rai ‘Ruswa’, Brindaban Das ‘Mathravi’, Raja Ramnarain ‘Mauzun’, Maharaja Shitab Rai, Sarb Sukh ‘Divanah’, Tirambak Das ‘Zarrah’, Kanji Mal ‘Saba’, Balmukund ‘Huzur’, Lachhmi Narain ‘Shafiq Aurangabadi’, Raja Kishan Das Raja, and many others. One from such gentry would prefer Savaar aur Doosre Afsaane, the original book in Urdu, to this English version. For the distant admirer, translation, despite much of the nuance lost in it, must suffice. Faruqi, after all, managed a good crop of new admirers when his Kai Chand of 2006 was translated to The Mirror of Beauty in 2013. The craze for literature—more so for one’s favourite writers and poets—is but a shared trait. Azamgarh’s Beni Madho Ruswa, a smalltime Rajput poet orphaned in the revolt of 1857, is one of that type. He travels from Cawnpore (Kanpur) to Delhi’s Ballimaran neighbourhood V o l u me 5 9 . I ssue 2 5

to get Diwan-e-Ghalib autographed by none other than Mirza Asadullah Khan ‘Ghalib’, befuddling even the witty poet. In the travels and travails of such characters in the fictions pop up poetry, not of the author but of poetic geniuses of Urdu’s classical era, and little glimpses of other historical figures of the epoch. Mir Taqi ‘Mir’ (1723-1810), Shaikh Ghulam Hamdani ‘Mushafi’ (1751-1824), Mirza Mazhar ‘Jan-e-Janan’ (1700-1781), Budh Singh ‘Qalandar’, Umdatul Mulk Navab Muhammad Amir Khan ‘Anjam’ (d 1746), Kishan Chand ‘Ikhlas’ (1683-1748), and Khwaja Haidar Ali ‘Aatish’ (1778–1848) and their compositions occupy centrestage. They chase their love interests, fight their foes, seek patrons for sponsorship, living joy and misery alike poetically. Even where a nonpoet protagonist is seeking his preferred poet, the fan’s hypnagogic life is no less poetic, albeit sometimes in manners this generation will only tenuously appreciate. And the backdrop is historical. Combine the two, and the tapestry impresses. But the correct historical account is that some of the mediaeval Urdu poets we celebrate today were no ideal citizens of their generation. Barring the few who were Sufi, they sulked when not financed lavishly by the feudal lords of the era, as if they were godsend and the world was under some moral obligation to keep them wellfed for, in practical terms, no productive work. For reasons known best to their admirers, many of whom are scholars, while creating today’s academic literature, the professors take nothing away from the “greatness” of these poets even for the fact that these poets could stoop to writing qaseedah (eulogies) for petty kings for the crumbs that the flattered lords would throw at them in return. Mind you, such adulation for these pensionrun poets is not commonplace in Muslim society. The orthodox in the community have always looked down upon these courtier-poets, sometimes reluctantly acknowledging the literary prowess they betrayed when not genuflecting before a piddling overlord. The rest of presentday India comes to know some of these names only when their ghazals, nazms and geets get rejuvenated in music albums. The writer does cover these aspects of the giants of Urdu poetry, but not with the harshness of the critical paragraph above. The unsolicited advances of a gay Mushafi, for example, are dealt with a snide remark. A wretched Mir getting conscious of his “dusty, clumsy” shoes in the rich private chamber of Nurus Saadat is a realistic portrayal, but then the poet is nowhere taken to task for his economic condition. This attitude of going soft on self-inflicted

misery or curable-but-untreated despair perhaps comes from these narrators’—not necessarily including Faruqi’s—humble backgrounds. Many a colossus in Urdu academia indeed have, as children, slept in beds and cots that were a “cantonment, or even tactical headquarters, of a whole army of bedbugs” as the character in the story Timecompression does. To that stratum of society, it wouldn’t be unnatural that the Mirs and Ghalibs looked like lovable losers. And when they are your peers, even if you are from a reasonably affluent family, their general approach towards yesteryears’ versifiers and lyricists rubs off on you. But the perspective about this book would vary among the readership only if it were a mass product. It is not. The niche reader with a taste for this intermediary and euphemistical Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb (Hindu-Muslim shared civilisation), ready to make little compromises with actual history, and with no fetish for material richness or the country’s overall economic progress, will lap it up.

Many a colossus of Urdu academia have come from humble backgrounds. To them, a Mir or a Ghalib (above) looked like a loveable loser

The author is National Affairs Editor of Swarajya

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