Volume 15 | Issue 26
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Regina Gurung Parathi Benu A group of African students hid for two days to avoid an angry mob that attacked a Tanzanian student and her friends before torching their car. The group of five lived on potatoes and tomatoes and only emerged when an Indian friend organised transport, after they ran out of water. The African community in the city is living in fear as messages have been circulated telling them they will be attacked in their college campuses and homes on Saturday. One video, which quickly went viral among African students in Bangalore, shows a dead African man on a median in the city. He came off his bike and died after hitting a signpole. Africans fear he was targeted by a mob and forced off the road. Police are investigating the road death, which hap-
pened on Wednesday. The students who sheltered inside a home for two days found themselves in the middle of an outraged community last weekend after a Sudanese national was involved in a car accident which left one local woman dead and her husband injured. That initial accident happened on Sunday, January 31,, at Ganapathi Nagar in Hesaraghatta in greater Bangalore. . The police have said that they have arrested driver Mohammad Ahmad Ismail, a 20yearold Sudanese national. However, locals have said that Micah Pundungu, a second year BBA student at Acharya College, was actually driving the car at the time. They said they had checked his identity card which was lying in his car after the accident. The deceased woman has been named as Shabana Taj. Her husband Sanaullah was injured. Nearly thirty minutes after the accident, a group of African students travelling through the area in a car were stopped and attacked by a mob. A Tanzanian girl was allegedly stripped and assaulted
by a group of people. The girl reached the spot half an hour later with four of her friends and was beaten up by the locals. When she tried to escape by boarding a bus, she was thrown back out by the other passengers, according to reports. The driver of the second vehicle, Micah Pundungu, was badly beaten. The victim is also a second year BBA student at the Acharya Institute of Technology. Lula(name changed), an African student from Acharya Bangalore B-School, was one of the students who hid from the mob., said, “I had gone to a parlour to braid my hair when Stella(name changed), the parlour owner, got a phone call at 9pm warning that the mob had gone crazy attacking Africans. “I was with four of my friends. We were scared to death. We hid there for a whole day.” At 1am on Monday, an Indian friend of hers arranged a cab and we escaped she said. “I was scared to death,” she added. Stella said that she has since moved out of the area. She gave refuge to the five students in her apartment for
Pic Credit : Sourav Mohanty | www.Karntaka.com
Fear grips African students in the city
Acharya College where Tanzanian girl studies two days. “We lived on potatoes and tomatoes and ran out of water. I was too scared to go out. I have now moved out of that place,” she said. Dr Mahesh, the Casualty Officer at the Sapthagiri Hospital where the victims were treat-
ed, said that the girl returned to her hostel the same day. “She came on that day for a check-up with the police and her friends who got beaten up. She had a few injuries which I treated,” he said. He said that the girl is “totally fine”. -contd in page 3
Kid who complained to CM a no show at school Maqsood Maniyar A handicapped student who complained to the chief minister about not being allowed to go to school is not attending classes. Srikanth, 15, who is wheelchair bound, had complained to chief minister Siddaramiah that he wasn’t given admission in Nithyananda School due to his condition. This happened on 17th November, 2015 during the children’s parliament which was held in the Vidhana Soudha. Nithyananda School is in Jigani Village of Anekal Taluk of Bangalore district. Srikanth suffers from muscular dystrophy. He had studied up to 8th standard in a government Kannada school.
CM Siddharamaih at students meet in Vidhan Soudha The government school does not offer education beyond that and he had to switch to a private school. Manjunath, who is himself differently abled and works with the NGO ‘Mobility India’, said that the school resisted Srikanth’s admission. He said: “Initially there was a problem. Authorities at the school were not co-operative.” He added that women and
child development minister, Umashree, wrote to the BEO (block education officer) who is responsible for Jigani village, Ramamurthy urging him to talk to the administration of Nithyananda high school. After the BEO had intervened, the school agreed to admit Srikanth. Headmaster of the school, Ramesh,has denied the charge that his school had
ever refused to admit Srikanth. “Why wouldn’t he approach us directly? What was the need for him to go through the BEO.After all of that, we did give him admission but he hasn’t turned up. “Hi mother has given us the wrong number. Whenever we dial it, we get an ‘out of coverage area’ recorded message. Please come to our school, I’ll show you a living example. Apart from him, we have three other handicapped children who study at our school. Who are we to deny him education?” Ramesh also said that his school would take steps to accommodate differently abled children. Srikanth said that he wasn’t at school but when he was grilled about the headmaster’s claims he conceded that he had been admitted but decided not to go back to school.
He said that it was too late in the academic year and that he wouldn’t be able to catch up. “Exams are not far away and revision has already begun in school. Travelling to school is also an issue because it is quite far away and it is difficult for me to travel in my condition. I’ll rejoin the school in the next academic year” Srikanth said. Srikanth’s father, Narayana Reddy, concedes that it was about more than just admission. “The classroom is on the second floor and it is very difficult for him to attend classes in such a situation. We hope that the school will conduct classes on the ground floor.” Srikanth said that he was granted admission in December. “I enjoyed the Kannada lessons that we were taught in school.” He said.
2 THE OBSERVER
Thursday, February 4, 2016
OUTLOOK
Picture : Vectorolie FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Let’s make US hate again Maqsood Maniyar
It ain’t easy to Trump him Oindrila Sarkar
The idea that Donald Trump is now a serious candidate for presidency and that his rhetoric is somehow pertinent is a misplaced one. In truth, he does not enjoy the support of the American national majority. He has been preying on the fears of the politically disengaged white working class and it will only take him so far. He needs to reach out to other demographics for him to succeed and he seems to be unwilling to do that. Even the most militant right wingers, such as Nigel Farage of United Kingdom Independent Party’s (UKIP), Boris Johnson of the UK’s Conservative Party and Marine Le Pen
of the French National Front have rejected his plan of banning Muslims from entering America. Trump had withdrawn his nomination from the 2000 presidential polls citing presence of ‘klansmen’ and ‘Neo Nazis’ in the reform party. He had also opposed the invasion of Iraq. This is a far cry from his 2016 presidential campaign, where he has successfully deployed racism, Islamophobia and sexism for political gain.
Who are we to call Donald Trump’s run for the US presidency ridiculous? And who is David Roberts to liken Trump to Loony Tunes when it was the American people who were behind his unbelievable rise in the CNN/ORC poll. Trump became the first Republican Presidential candidate to cross the 30% support base in the race for the Republican nomination, so much so that The Economist termed it as ‘The gravity defying poll ratings.’ On August 6 Trump said,“we need to build a wall and it needs to be done quickly. I don’t mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so people can come into this country legally.” His claims about Mexicans flooding the USA and being responsible
for crimes is not wrong and hence resonates with his electorate. According to the Pew Hispanic Centre there is an enormous wave of Mexican migration to the US. There are more than 11 million illegal immigrants to the US, 60% of which a r e Mexican b o r n . Trump, w a s surely not talking in the air. This real estate mogul and media baron does not have a vague sense of the US economy as has been claimed. He is aware of “Washington’s
Is Trump the real deal ? Trump has based his campaign o n his
This is a far cry from his 2016 presidential campaign, where he has successfully deployed racism, Islamophobia and sexism for political gain personal charisma and macho antics. However, contesting a presidential election is a dif-
bad dream”, of what we can call the Dragon Spell. He names and articulates the Chinese fear openly on the
From building walls along the border, to a database for muslims and imposing death penalty on cop killers Donald Trump has said it all but nothing ever torpedoed him 25th of Aug when he said, “Think of it, they have taken our mon-
ferent kettle of fish. It will be required ofhim to respect his opponent, withstand criticism and win over wider political support. The tough guy act that earned him this popularity is, ironically, what will seal his fate. Recently, David Roberts wrote an article in vox.com where he likened Trump to Wile.E. Coyote, the famous cartoon character from Loony Toons. He has sprinted off the cliff, is hanging mid airand it’s only a matter of time before he falls. So ridiculous is Trump’s run for presidency that there is a conspiracy theory which argues that his
nomination is a false flag operation; that he is there to sabotage the republicans so that Hilary Clinton may win the presidential elections. His vision for the American economy is vague. This is reminiscent of Nazis gaining popularity in post depression Europe. Trump has taken advantage of social and economic problems to exploit white anxiety but the world has changed and he won’t go far with his current strategy. Ted Cruz has managed to beat Trump at his own game and won the Iowa caucuses in the republican primaries. Perhaps, it is a sign of things to come. The race on the right is wide open.
ey and our jobs, our manufacturing, they have taken everything. It is one of the greatest thefts in the history of the world.” Economist Robert Shapiro estimated that American incomes stagnated from 20022013. Americans are struggling to find jobs, paying for higher education. It is this section of the people whose anger and frustration Trump is able to articulate. It is not outrageous. Had it been so the poll numbers would not have held so long. Economic progress in the US has left behind many whites who blame immigrants for all their problems-social, political and economic. No wondermore than half the GOP voters agree with Trump that undoc-
umented immigrants should be deported. On the Syrian refugees he said, “This could make the Trojan horse look like peanuts if these people turned out to be lot of ISIS.” Laugh all you want, but is not the thought of uneducated angry young men filling up peaceful states a cause of concern? From building walls along the border, to a database for muslims and imposing death penalty on cop killers Donald Trump has said it all but nothing ever torpedoed him. His finishing a close 2nd in Iowa is not bad either. The mainstream media after initially blundering,self-corrected and gave him the coverage due to a candidate who has capitalized so brilliantly on his electorate’s anger.
Thursday, February 4, 2016 3
THE OBSERVER
City bears the brunt of global steel crisis Parvathi Benu
India’s steel sector, the foundation of the country’s manufacturing supply chains, is battling overcapacity, falling prices and rising competition from imported steel. The falling price of steel is causing concern among retailers and contractors across Bangalore. “In the past year, we have faced a 20 to 25 percent loss. I think the reason is the abundance of Chinese steel in the market,” said Dileep Bishnoi, who runs Balaji Steels in Bangalore. “The handling of the material was previously done in black money. That is not the situation now. The prices have come down steeply and it is affecting us very much”, said Vishal Shah, who works at Milton Steels, Bangalore. “The industry is running a huge loss from the past one and a half years. The production cost is very high,” said an officer at SAIL who does not wish to be named. He also said that since SAIL has its units in the underdeveloped areas of the country, they have to bear a heavy transportation cost. He also blamed the Modi government for not concentrating more on the steel sector. “The Make in India initiative is not much beneficial to our sector, since most of the tenders are taken up by foreign companies. We are not equipped to compete much with them since SAIL depends more on human power,” he said. Surajit Das, Marketing Head, SAIL, said, “Due to poor demand in steel market, the average NSR in SAIL has come down from Rs.37000 to Rs. 30000 which is almost a 19% drop. Cheaper imports are flooding our market and it has become a game of survival, whoever stays longer will stay till the end.”
“We face a tough competition from the Jindal At the same time, the branch manager at SAIL group. They have an advantage of price in KarnataBangalore declined existence of any crisis. ka, since they have a production unit in Bellari,” he “There is no steel crisis at all. Not just in India, but said. globally too,” he said. He added that no major projects are coming up P.K Singh, the SAIL Chairman, in his 26th Jan, and SAIL is facing a heavy loss especially since the 2016 directive to the company officials writes that, last quarter. “Next few months are going to be very critical in JSW has committed an investment of 35,000 terms of ramping up production from new mills and crore on the very first day of Invest Karnataka, attaining operational excellence. 2016, the three day global investors meet. “ Efforts for cost reduction need to be escalated. He said, “The Indian government is thinking about The changing times make it incumbent upon us to applying Minimum Import Prices (MIP) and Anreinvent ourselves.. ti-Dumping Duty to stop this menace. “We need to play to our full strength to adapt to the “It is the Government’s duty to save the steel changing scenario. I exhort you to gear up for the industries since the import prices are becoming challenging times we are passing through.” cheaper day by day. The World Steel Association Report states that the “Countries are dumping steel in India. If it would steel economy faces a new normal of low growth cost Rs 30, 000 in their country they would avoid with peaking of Chinese steel demand and structurthat and dump it in India for Rs.24, 000. al changes in the world economy. There are some industries which do not want an With Chinese deceleration the world lacks a strong MIP or anti-dumping rule but the government needs growth engine and unleashing the potential of the to think of the thousands of people who are emother emerging economies takes time. ployed in this sector.’ It states that, “India’s new reform initiatives can The World Steel Association, in the World Steel help brighten the outlook.” Outlook 2015-2016 states very clearly that the ‘global macro environment remains difficult.’ It states that overcapacity will stay. Production has been slowing down with strong increase of exports in 2014. Cheaper imports are There had been excessive steel capacity exflooding our market and pansion during the boom period whereas world it has become a game of capacity expansion is in the 70-80% range. So, overcapacity and high raw material prices survival, whoever stays have lowered the profitability for the steel compalonger will stay till the end. nies. -Surajit Das, The abundant availability of Chinese steel has affected the steel industry all over the world. Marketing Head, SAIL Owing to this, Arcelor Mittal has backed out of its upcoming project in Bellari. The company officials denied a comment on this issue.
Fall in Ragi price leaves farmers stranded Raina Paul Manjunath, like many other farmers in Devegere village, is on the verge of giving up on Ragi farming. “I hardly earn anything out of Ragi now. It brings me a huge loss,” he said. Manjunath has been cultivating Ragi on his one-and-a-half acre lands for the past fifteen years. It brought him great profits during the initial years but for the past few years Manjunath has been running the Ragi farm at a loss. “I have not been able to sell 2500 Kilograms of Ragi from last year as the market price has decreased. I last sold 100 kilograms of Ragi for Rs.2100 in 2014,” he added. Manjunath has 10 labourers working on his farm. He has to pay Rs.500 to each. He has to buy an average of 1300kg of DAP (Di-ammoni-
um phosphate) and 300 to 400kg of Uria for manure. “It costs me up to Rs.4500 for manure alone. I have to bear a loss of 15,000 a month,” he said. According to the Report on Selected Agricultural Commodities for Karnataka 2015, the average wholesale price of Ragi was Rs.1563 for 100 Kilograms. There was a 45 per cent decrease in Ragi in the APMCs (Agricultural Produce Market Community) of Karnataka this year when compared to the year before. “Government has been doing everything possible to bring up the small scale and marginalised farmers to mechanise the productions in Bangalore. Apart from this, custom hiring centres are being set up for farm mechanisation,” said Srinivasa, Director of Agriculture Department, Bangalore. “There has been less rainfall this year and this is the reason for lesser yield,” he added.
Custom hiring centres are a state government venture started in 2011 to mechanise farms by upgrading technology for raising agriculture and horticulture crops. The custom hiring centre will give farm machinery on rental basis to farmers who cannot afford to purchase high-end agricultural machinery and equipment. Rudresh, another farmer from Devegere village, said he was not aware of the system. In India, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are the principle Ragi growing states besides Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra. Ragi production in India in kharif 2013-2014 was 1.93 million tonne. According to the report, the total arrival of Ragi in the APMC’s of Karnataka during March 2015 was 30,495 quintals, which is less compared to the arrival of Ragi in the previous year which is 31,511 quintals.
Fear grips African students in the city Contd. from page 1
He denied any kind of mob agitation at the hospital. Rumours about an attack against Africans have left the students in the college panic stricken. Sources have confirmed that many of them have been in hiding for two days because of the incident. A message is being spread among them, stating that there will be an attack against the Africans on Saturday. The students refused to comment on the issue, owing to fear. Alan (name changed), a student from Malawi, said that the students are spreading self-awareness and the college authorities don’t care about their safety. “The college doesn’t care. They haven’t addressed this issue since”, said Nishtha, a 2nd year student. The college authorities declined to comment on the issue. A member from the Associ-
ation of African Students in India said that even though the African students do their best to stay safe, at a time like this their security is at risk.He said that the association is doing their best to pursue justice for the victim and others caught in this tragedy. The local police refused to comment or release the FIR in the case. NS Megharikh IPS, Bengaluru City Police Commissioner said that the attack was based on misinterpretation by the group of people and the girl and her friends had nothing to do with the accident. Attacks against African nationals are not uncommon in Bangalore. A techie from Ivory Coast was beaten up by a group of people in July 2013. In March last year, a group of African Nationals were beaten up near Byrathi. There were also cases were the African students alleged racial discrimination and attack in Bangalore.
4 THE OBSERVER
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Grape farmers bemoan losses Mouli Shree Grape farmers in Karnataka claim they have suffered heavy losses due to crop failure. Haridas, the Deputy Commissioner of excise department, said, “The production of the wine has been definitely low as compared to the previous years because of the irregular rainfall.” Bhimsen Kokare, a farmer who grows grapes for a vineyard in Bijapur, said, “We cannot irrigate properly due to the lack of rain. We have incurred a loss of more than 70 percent in 2015. “We have drought every once in a while and have to bear the cost of additional investments such as mulching which costs Rs10,000 per acre, operation for the pests and additional water tanks at Rs20000 per acre to maintain the garden.” Prasanth Vidhate, a wine maker in the Heritage Vineyard in Chanapatna, said, “Continuous rain in November, 2015, ruined almost 70 percent of grapes in Karnataka and it affected the vineyard.” He said that the National Horticulture Board gives the farmers a 20 percent subsidy to establish their farms. In case of natural disaster, the Government of Karnataka comes to their rescue and gives them anywhere between Rs3000 and Rs4000, which they say is too little. “The insurance policy of government comes with a premium of Rs40,000 which is expensive for the farmers,” he added. India has a long history of viticulture, dating back to the time of Indus Valley civilization
@PMOIndia Our society has a strengthpeople from within our society have fought evils like untouchability in our society: PM@ narendramodi @sshubho A fourth youth left Mumbai in October and is now suspected to be in Kabul (3/3) @DelhiConnect @the_hindu
Red wine being bottled in Heritage Vineyard when grapevines were believed to have been introduced from the near east. Winemaking has existed throughout much of India’s history. In Karnataka, the important grape growing districts are Bangalore (urban), Bangalore (rural), Kolar, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Belgaum, Koppal and Gulbarga. India ranks 77 in terms of wine consumption in the world. Dr. Patil is a freelance consultant for a vineyard called Heritage. He said: “Environmental changes definitely have some negative impact on the expectations of the farmers. In last 20 years there has been a change in rainfall pattern, so this affects the quality of the harvest. “There are more than a hundred varieties of grape seeds, many of which adapt according to the climate, so some of
Irregular rainfall patterns have affected grape farming
them adapt in the new climate and others cannot. “The white variety of grape seed needs to grow in low temperature and these seeds are not seen in Bangalore these days because of the weather conditions. “Viticulture practices change depending upon the climate. In Bangalore we get the crops in the month of March and April, in Bijapur(Taluk) we will get the crop in February, in Hampi (Taluk) we are getting the crops in the month of January.” Narayana Swamy, a grape farmer in Bidarahalli Hobli, Bangalore East, said: “In March 2015, I invested Rs 70,000 but the crop were ruined due to the incessant rainfall. Grape vines can pretty much handle any amount of rainfall as long as there is plenty of drainage, but the stagnant water hampers their growth. I could not cultivate grapes for six months and tried to plant the seed again in September which was ruined again due to the rain.” Vaman Mahishi, another grape farmer from Bangalore said: “I stopped selling grapes to vineyards because there is no profit in the wine production. We suffered lossesdue to wine production . There are no naturally made wines in India because of the fluctuating nature of the climate. “In India people like liquor with high alcohol content.
Wine has only 6 percent of alcohol in it. The market rate of the bottles vary from Rs300 to Rs350 and we sell the bottles at Rs.100150. There is a drop in production of wines in Karnataka due to the changing climatic conditions.” However, Venkatarama Reddy, the Managing Director of the Karnataka Wine Board, downplayed the pessimism and said that wine making was still a desirable activity. He said:“The wine industry has a potential of 100 percent growth rate over the next five years He added that the exact content of alcohol in the wines is decided by thexciseepartment of Karnataka. “In Karnataka, there plenty of opportunities for production of wine because of the best suited climatic conditions for making wine the demand for wine is still high in the local and international markets.” Sarvesh Kumar, the assistant Horticulture officer of Karntaka wine board, also dismissed farmer’s concerns of loss. He said the government intends to promote cultivation of grapes and that this was visible in the financial help they had given the farmers. He also said that wines with a 14 percent alcohol content are termed as fruit wines and those with a 16 percent alcohol content are called fortified wines.
@CPBlr Our society has a strengthpeople from within our society have fought evils like untouchability in our society: PM@ narendramodi @TheHindu K’taka govt goes slow on monitoring mechanism; sex-determination tests continue in State. @investkarnataka Shankarlinge Gowda, Chairman, KERC: We encourage Waste to Energy projects to be implemented in Karnataka and ensure 100% PPA signing. @Ram_Guha The denial of a Pakistani visa to @AnupamPkher (as per this report) newindianexpress.com/nation/ Denied-… is petty, even pathetic @BT_India #TataSteel shares surge 2% despite loss in December quarter; brokerage rating @AnupamPkher “We are limited, not by our abilities, but by our vision. @makeinindia Top entrepreneurs, innovators & creative gurus will feature in #MakeInIndia Magazine. To get your edition, visit #MakeInIndia Week! @Emwatson Wonderful men out there. I’m launching a campaign - #heforshe. Support the women in ur lives and sign up here now! ❤️heforshe.org
Team Observer Editor: Laxmi Narayani | News Editor: Raina Paul | Chief Sub-Editor: Sanskriti Talwar Sub-Editor: Irien Jospeh, Payal Gangishetty| Picture Editor: Oindrila Sarkar | Layout: Maqsood Maniyar