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DELHI THE HINDU
FRIDAY, MAY 3, 20198EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
CMYK
A ND-NDE
EDITORIAL
Divita Shandilya
India is in the middle of a historical election which is noteworthy in many respects, one of
them being the unprecedented focus on women’s employment. Themajor national parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress,have reached out to women, andtheir respective manifestos talk ofmeasures to create more livelihood opportunities in rural andurban areas, which include incentives to businesses for employingmore women.
What data showCurrently, the participation of women in the workforce in India isone of the lowest globally. The female labour force participationrate (LFPR) in India fell from 31.2%in 20112012 to 23.3% in 20172018.This decline has been sharper inrural areas, where the femaleLFPR fell by more than 11 percentage points in 20172018. Socialscientists have long tried to explain this phenomenon, more soin the context of rising levels ofeducation for women.
The answers can be found in acomplex set of factors includinglow social acceptability of womenworking outside the household,
lack of access to safe and secureworkspaces, widespread prevalence of poor and unequal wages,and a dearth of decent and suitable jobs. Most women in India areengaged in subsistencelevel workin agriculture in rural areas, and inlowpaying jobs such as domesticservice and petty homebased manufacturing in urban areas. Butwith better education, women arerefusing to do casual wage labouror work in family farms and enterprises.
Education and workA recent study observed a strongnegative relationship between awoman’s education level and herparticipation in agricultural andnonagricultural wage work and infamily farms. Essentially, womenwith moderately high levels ofeducation do not want to do manual labour outside the householdwhich would be perceived to bebelow their educational qualifi��cations. The study also showed apreference among women for salaried jobs as their educational attainment increases; but such jobsremain extremely limited for women. It is estimated that amongpeople (25 to 59 years) working asfarmers, farm labourers and service workers, nearly a third arewomen, while the proportion ofwomen among professionals,managers and clerical workers isonly about 15% (NSSO, 20112012).
However, it is not the case thatwomen are simply retreating fromthe world of work. On the con
trary, timeuse surveys have foundthat they devote a substantialamount of their time to workwhich is not considered as work,but an extension of their duties,and is largely unpaid. The incidence and drudgery of this unpaidlabour is growing. This includesunpaid care work such as childcare, elderly care, and householdwork such as collecting water. Theburden of these activities falls disproportionately on women, especially in the absence of adequatelyavailable or accessible public services. It also encompasses signifi��cant chunks of women’s contribution to agriculture, animalhusbandry, and nontimber forestproduce on which most of thehousehold production and consumption is based.
Any government which is serious about ensuring women’seconomic empowerment andequal access to livelihoods mustaddress the numerous challengesthat exist along this highly gendered continuum of unpaid, underpaid and paid work. A twopronged approach must entail facilitating women’s access to
decent work by providing publicservices, eliminating discrimination in hiring, ensuring equal anddecent wages, and improving women’s security in public spaces. Itmust also recognise, reduce, redistribute, and remunerate women’sunpaid work.
An ActionAid document, whichhas compiled a people’s agendathrough extensive discussionsacross States, provides critical recommendations to policymakerson issues of concern to Dalits, tribal people, Muslims and othermarginalised communities with afocus on the needs of women. Onthe question of work, women’s demands include genderresponsivepublic services such as free and accessible public toilets, householdwater connections, safe and secure public transport, and adequate lighting and CCTV cameras toprevent violence against womenin public spaces and to increasetheir mobility. Furthermore, theywant fair and decent living wagesand appropriate social security including maternity benefi��t, sickness benefi��t, provident fund, andpension.
Women have also expressed theneed for policies which ensuresafe and dignifi��ed working and living conditions for migrant workers. For example, in cities, governments must set up migrationfacilitation and crisis centres (temporary shelter facility, helpline, legal aid, and medical and counselling facilities). They must alsoallocate social housing spaces for
women workers, which includerental housing and hostels. Theymust ensure spaces for womenshopkeepers and hawkers in allmarkets and vending zones.
Recognition as farmersIn addition, women have stronglyarticulated the need to enumerateand remunerate the unpaid andunderpaid work they undertake insectors such as agriculture andfi��sheries. Their fundamental demand is that women must be recognised as farmers in accordancewith the National Policy for Farmers; this should include cultivators, agricultural labourers, pastoralists, livestock rearers, forestworkers, fi��shworkers, and saltpan workers. Thereafter, theirequal rights and entitlements overland and access to inputs, credit,markets, and extension servicesmust be ensured.
Women also reiterate the needto recognise and redistribute theirunpaid work in the household. Forthis, the government must collectsexdisaggregated household leveldata with suitable parameters. Unless policymakers correctly assessand address the structural issueswhich keep women from enteringand staying in the workforce, promising more jobs — while a welcome step — is unlikely to lead tothe socioeconomic transformation India needs.
Divita Shandilya works at ActionAid India
as Programme Manager Policy and
Research
The gender ladder to socio-economic transformation More than a ‘more jobs’ approach, addressing structural issues which keep women away from the workforce is a must
GE
TT
Y IM
AG
ES
more letters online:
www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/
Azhar listingThe UN Security Councilhas fi��nally designatedMasood Azhar as a globalterrorist and it is a symbolicwin for India (Page 1, “UNSecurity Council designatesMasood Azhar as globalterrorist”, May 2). Now, how much ofterrorism pursued by thisman in India can bearrested remains to beseen. The common manalso needs to know theexact details about thebehindthescenediplomatic activities. Therole of certain countries inWest Asia in supportingterrorism needs to beexposed which could bediffi��cult as the U.S. supportssome of these regimes.A. Bhuyan,
Nagaon, Assam
■ In reality, it is theEuropean countries and theU.S. and the U.K. that playedpivotal roles in pressuringChina to toe the line. Butthere is no denying the factthat the UNSC’s action will beextremely benefi��cial for Indiawhich has also been workinghard to ensure that Pakistanis forced to initiate actionagainst Azhar. India shouldnow mount pressure on theUN and the clutch of nationsthat are on the same page asIndia as far as fi��ghtingterrorism is concerned toensure that India’s mostwanted are extradited to facetrial in Indian courts.C.V. Aravind,
Bengaluru
Election 2019The general election in 2019is a historic one as its results
will aff��ect Indians for manyyears. The narrative this timeis mostly on race and religionrather than an evaluation ofprogress made from 2014.The discerning public wouldlike to know the truth aboutdemonetisation, two crorenew jobs and steps torecover black money. Thiselection is very much aboutthe role of the ElectionCommission of India, whichis supposed to monitor allcandidates and ensure thatthe rules are followed.However, the EC is either tootimid or biased against theOpposition. Most candidatesin the ruling party arepolarising the electorate. Theworst part is the Indianmedia which is not beingobjective. An independentmedia is the backbone ofIndia’s democracy and if it is
being strangled, democracyand freedom will beimpacted. Zen Bhatia,
Ontario, Canada
Against natural justiceIt is unfortunate that theformer Supreme Courtstaff��er, who has allegedsexual harassment by theChief Justice of India hasbeen denied even the basicopportunity of being assistedby a lawyer which goesagainst the principles ofnatural justice (Page 1, “ExSC staff��er walks out of Bobdepanel hearing”, May 1.) Insuch a situation, the judgesconcerned on seeing thewoman’s plight, helplessnessand inexperience, shouldhave come forward to helpher. The obstacles she faced(listed in the report) give the
pitted in an inquiryconducted by SupremeCourt judges. The committeehas to remind itself that thepreamble to theConstitution, which is part ofthe basic structure, beginswith the words ‘We thepeople.’ The committee hasto ensure that the inquiryshould satisfy the people ofIndia that it has been morethan fair.N.G.R. Prasad,
Ram Siddhartha,
Chennai
impression that the inquiry isa mere procedural formality.If this facility had been given,nothing would have beenlost. For example, in Boardof Trustees of the Port ofBombay vs. D.R. Nadkarni,the Supreme Court held thatwhen an employee is pittedagainst trained prosecutors,it would amount to denyingthe principle of equalitywhen an employee is deniedpermission to engage a legalpractitioner to defendthemselves. Such aninference can be drawnwhen a helpless employee is
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.
The death of 15 security personnel in a landmine
attack in Gadchiroli on Wednesday is another
grim reminder of the Indian state’s continued fai
lure to crush naxalism. Less than a month ago, a legisla
tor and some security personnel lost their lives in a si
milar attack in the neighbouring State of Chhattisgarh
ahead of polling. That this attack should occur despite
the deployment of 30 companies of the Central Reserve
Police Force — a company comprises 135 personnel —
and 13 companies of the State Reserve Police Force as
well as 5,500 personnel of the local police in Gadchiroli
and neighbouring Chandrapur district shows not only
the audacity of the perpetrators but also the unprepa
redness of the security forces. A Quick Response Team
was going down the road to Dadpur in Kurkheda where
extremists had set fi��re to three dozen vehicles of a road
construction company earlier in the day when the ex
plosion blasted the team to smithereens. The ease with
which the extremists were able to torch so many vehi
cles is alarming, and the manner in which the response
team blithely drove into an ambush is a shocking exam
ple of poor planning. The naxals set the bait and the se
curity forces blindly took it. In the process, standard
operating procedures, including letting a roadopening
team lead the way, seem to have been ignored. Yet, the
authorities still remain in a state of denial.
It is no coincidence either that the perpetrators
chose the Maharashtra Foundation Day, after the poll
ing in the district, to send this violent message. That the
naxals should be able to control the narrative, remain
on top of the intelligence, stay nimble and several steps
ahead of the security planners should be a matter of
deep concern. It is some comfort that the polling per
centages in both Gadchiroli and neighbouring Chandra
pur have risen, compared to the 2014 Lok Sabha elec
tion, from 70.04% to 71.98% and from 63.29% to
64.65%, respectively. But the path of the voter to the
polling booth in the naxaldominated districts is still
paved with disincentives. And, the security forces de
ployed in the region have not been able to instil in them
a greater level of confi��dence. On top of everything else,
most of the police personnel who perished in this latest
attack seem to have been local citizens. What eff��ect
could this have on the larger process of weaning away
the populace from the naxalites? Reality beckons. Even
in the prevailing circumstances of a hostile external en
vironment, India cannot aff��ord to take the challenges of
internal security lightly.
Lost lives India must meet the Maoist challenge
in a holistic manner
Masood Azhar’s listing as a designated terrorist
by the UN Security Council at long last closes
an important chapter in India’s quest to bring
the JaisheMohammad chief to justice. He eluded the
designation for 20 years, despite his release in 1999 in
exchange for hostages after the IC814 hijack, and his
leadership of the JeM as it carried out dozens of deadly
attacks in India, including the Parliament attack of
2001, and more recent ones like the Pathankot airbase
attack in 2016 and the Pulwama police convoy bombing
this year. China’s opposition to the listing has long been
a thorn in India’s side, given the toll Azhar and the JeM
have exacted, and Beijing’s veto of the listing three
times between 2009 and 2017 had driven a wedge in In
diaChina relations. Despite the frustration over China’s
last hold on a proposal moved by the U.S., the U.K., and
France just weeks after Pulwama, the government has
done well to approach Beijing with what the Ministry of
External Aff��airs called “patience and persistence”.
There is much disappointment, however, over the fi��nal
listing released by the Security Council, with no men
tion of Mr. Azhar’s role in any of the attacks against In
dia, or directing the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.
A specifi��c reference to Pulwama, which was in the origi
nal proposal, was also dropped, presumably to eff��ect
China’s change of mind on the issue. Pakistan’s claims
of a victory in this are hardly credible; Masood Azhar is
one of about twenty 1267sanctioned terrorists who
have Pakistani nationality, and more are based there,
which is hardly a situation that gives it cause for pride.
It is necessary to recognise that India’s eff��orts and those
of its partners in the Security Council have been re
warded with a UNSC designation at its 1267 ISIL and Al
Qaeda Sanctions Committee. The focus must now move
to ensuring its full implementation in Pakistan.
But this is easier said than done. Pakistan’s actions
against others on the 1267 list have been far from eff��ec
tive, and in many cases obstructionist. Hafi��z Saeed, the
26/11 mastermind and LashkareToiba chief, roams
free, addresses rallies, and runs a political party and
several NGOs without any government restrictions.
LeT’s operations commander Zaki Ur Rahman Lakhvi
was granted bail some years ago despite the UNSC sanc
tions mandating that funds and assets to the sanctioned
individuals must be frozen. It will take constant focus
from New Delhi, and a push from the global communi
ty, to ensure that Masood Azhar is not just starved of
funds, arms and ammunition as mandated, but that he
is prosecuted in Pakistan for the acts of terror he is res
ponsible for. Azhar and his JeM must lose all capacity to
carry out attacks, particularly across the border. Global
terror fi��nancing watchdog Financial Action Task Force
will also be watching Pakistan’s next moves closely,
ahead of a decision, that could come as early as in June,
on whether to “blacklist” Pakistan or keep it on the
“greylist”. Both fi��nancial and political pressure should
be maintained on Islamabad to bring the hardfought
designation of Masood Azhar to its logical conclusion.
A global labelWith Masood Azhar listed as a terrorist, India
must work to ensure the mandated sanctions
As reports about those behind the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka emerge,
many questions remain about themotives of the extremists. The fullpicture of the formation of this extremist force and the objectivesbehind their heinous crimes maytake time. However, they have succeeded in creating a spectacle ofdeath, mayhem and fear.
I focus here on the historicalbackdrop and the broader consequences of these attacks. In themonths ahead, the climate of fearis going to drastically shape theworkings of the state, the politicalcharacter of future regimes and relations between communities.
The political leadership in thecountry has descended into ablame game with this being anelection year. The progressiveforces committed to a plural anddemocratic society have a historical challenge before them, as SriLanka is on the verge of falling intothe abyss of polarisation.
Historical turnThe Easter attacks have implantedhorrendous images in the minds ofSri Lankans. The fallout can tearapart the body politic of Sri Lankawith political shifts similar to theU.S. after September 11, 2001 andthe July 1983 pogrom in Sri Lanka.
The “war on terror” in the U.S.after 2001 led to the draconianUSA PATRIOT Act, the detentionand surveillance of Muslims andthe institution of Homeland Security, undermining the democraticand liberal structures within theU.S. With many other countries
sucked into the “war on terror”coupled with the Bush regime’smilitary adventures in Afghanistanand Iraq, great social and politicalturmoil was created in West andSouth Asia, and fuelled extremistIslamist forces.
In Sri Lanka, the “war on terror” manoeuvred an internationalised peace process between thegovernment and the LiberationTigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), bypushing for a deal between a socalled “failed state” and a “terrorist organisation”. Eventually, asthe peace process failed withheightened international engagement, Sri Lanka’s version of a brutal “war on terror” cataclysmicallyended the civil war with tens ofthousands of lives lost in May2009.
On the other hand, the armedconfl��ict itself escalated followingthe governmentorchestrated July1983 pogroms where over 2,000Tamil civilians were massacred.That pogrom overdetermined thepolitical economy of the countrywith an ethnic confl��ict over thenext two and a half decades. Indeed, the Easter massacre leadingto hundreds of casualties is loadedwith dangers of religious forces entering the mix of a country historically fraught with ethnonationalist tensions and confl��icts.
Polarised politicsSome actors are drawing parallelsbetween the perpetrators of theEaster attacks and the LTTE. However, the similarities are limitedto the LTTE’s use of suicide bombings and targeting of civilians. TheLTTE had a clear agenda of creating a separate state and worked tobuild a base within the Tamil community through a combination ofseparatist nationalist mobilisations, totalitarian control andruthless elimination of dissent.
The extremist Muslim youth behind the Easter attacks are a fringegroup and their nihilist politics
without a social base is one of divisiveness and isolation. They havedrawn as much on globally circulating contemporary technologiesof terror as on the alienation ofMuslim youth with rising global Islamophobia, but their politics areeschewed by the Muslim communities in Sri Lanka.
In this context, even though theattacks were mainly against Christian churches, the fallout may takeunpredictable forms. Thus far, theChristian communities’ responsehas been restrained. However,chauvinist Sinhala Buddhist forcessee these attacks as targeting statesovereignty and feel vindicated intheir distrust of Muslims. Their antiMuslim campaigns have greatlyinfl��uenced the Sinhala population’s prejudices against Muslimsover the last decade; the MahindaRajapaksa regime stoked antiMuslim violence and the SirisenaWickremesinghe governmenthardly addressed its continuation.
Even as reports of the perpetrators behind these harrowing attacks unfold, many internationaland national actors are projectingnarratives to suit their geopoliticaland power seeking agendas. Thenumber of international actorsnow providing assistance to confront “terrorism” does not bodewell given the disastrous history ofinternationalised engagement inSri Lanka.
There are social and politicaldangers in projecting hasty solu
tions either removed from or withlimited understanding of problems. While security in the aftermath of the attacks is a real concern, a solution solely focussed onmilitarised policing and surveillance is worrying. For close to adecade, progressives have calledfor demilitarisation. However, thecurrent state of Emergency withmilitarised check points and surveillance are further militarisingthe country. In weeks before theEaster attacks there was much discussion of repealing the draconianPrevention of Terrorism Act enacted in 1979, which in no small measure was linked to torturing andalienating Tamil youth during thewar and Sinhala youth during theJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna insurrection. We are now looking intothe black hole of a far severe legaland surveillance regime, with littlediscussion of its longterm impacton democratic freedoms.
Political ramifi��cationsIn the panic and clamour for a security response, the ideological,economic and political ramifi��cations of the current crisis are missed. Drawing on Islamophobic discourse, Muslims characterised asthe “other” are called to explainand take responsibility for theEaster attacks. There are escalating demands to ban madrasas andMuslim women’s attire without extensively consulting the Muslimcommunity. Furthermore, as withthe previous riots that targetedMuslim businesses, scapegoatingMuslims for future economic problems is a real fear.
The fragile national economy isbound to decline with a major hiton the signifi��cant tourist industry.The July 1983 pogrom and thearmed confl��ict brought tremendous disorder and isolated Sri Lanka at a time when its peers such asMalaysia and Thailand gained economically from major foreign investments. In these times of pro
tectionism, an economic shockaff��ecting international investment,capital fl��ows and trade with SriLanka can lead to a national economic crisis.
Even more dangerously, anauthoritarian antiterrorist leadership is now the kneejerk call forthe upcoming presidential elections. Predictably, the Rajapaksacamp gaining ground over the lastyear capitalising on mounting economic problems, is seeking further political gain out of this disaster. They claim only a strongmanleader can redeem the country.They are projecting their role indecimating the LTTE as the solution for the current crisis. However, the defeat of the LTTE wasabout taking on a totalitarian organisation with a pyramidal military structure, where the decapitation of the leadership led to itsend.
The challenge now beyond theimmediate security concerns ismainly of social and political proportions. The attacks by extremistIslamist forces on the Christianchurches can shift into confl��ictsthat involve chauvinist Buddhistand for that matter Hindu reactionary forces. Hindutva in India,Buddhist extremism in Myanmarand the circulation of their ideologies and practices are imminentdangers for an already fraught SriLankan polity.
The liberal and left forces in thecountry, and the Sinhala intelligentsia in particular, have to fi��ndthe courage and discourse to takeon the chauvinist antiMuslim rhetorical barrage. A likely casualty ofthe Easter attacks is going to be therights of Muslim youth and thebroader freedoms of the citizenry.The challenge before the countryis to turn national mourning andgrief into a call for coexistence anddemocracy.
Ahilan Kadirgamar is a Senior Lecturer,
University of Jaff��na
In Sri Lanka, the challenge is to turn national mourning into a call for coexistence and democracy
Don’t give in to polarisation
AP
Ahilan Kadirgamar
corrections & clarifications:
In the report, “CJI appears before panel probing sexual harassment charge” (May 2, 2019), there was a reference in the penultimate paragraph to the crisis in the Supreme Court when a clutch ofwebsites published allegations against the CJI on Easter Day morning. It should have been April 20 morning.
The Readers’ Editor’s office can be contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300;
E-mail:[email protected]
https://t.me/TheHindu_Zone_official
https://t.me/SSC4Exams https://t.me/Banking4Exams https://t.me/UPSC4Exams
https://t.me/TheHindu_Zone_official
https://t.me/SSC4Exams https://t.me/Banking4Exams https://t.me/UPSC4Exams
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THE HINDU DELHI
FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2019 9EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
CMYK
A ND-NDE
OPED
The Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, has invited Mr. A. Madan Mohan, Chairman of the Telengana Praja Samithi, Mr. S.Venkatarama Reddi, Secretary, and 13 others to meet her inNew Delhi on May 6 for discussions on the Telengana issue.The invitations were conveyed to them through the AndhraPradesh Government. The Prime Minister had already completed a round of talks with the Telengana leaders in pursuance of her statement to the Lok Sabha. The 13 others whohave been invited to meet the Prime Minister are: Messrs. S.B.Giri, Hind Mazdoor Sabha leader, K. Achuta Reddy, M.L.A.(Congress), Badri Vishal Pitti, M.L.A. (S.S.P.), PurushottamRao, M.L.A. (Ind.), Ch. Venkateswara Rao, Sreedhar Reddy,Pulla Reddy, Mallikarjuna, Gopal and Wazahat Qadri, studentleaders, P. Venkateswara Rao and Raghuveer Rao, journalistsand G. Narayan Rao, advocate. Complete hartal was observedtoday [May 2] in Hyderabad and Secunderabad in response tothe call given by the Praja Samithi to protest against the Policefi��ring and “police excesses” in the city yesterday and to mournthe death of those who died in yesterday’s Police fi��ring.
FIFTY YEARS AGO MAY 3, 1969
P.M. invites 15 Telangana leaders for talks
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FROM ARCHIVES
In connection with Rs. 2000 security demanded from the ‘Independent’, the Hon’ble Pandit Motilal Nehru, who represented Pandit Shamlal Nehru, keeper accompanied by Mr. SyedHussain, editor, attended the court of the District Magistrate[in Allahabad] and presented a petition praying for the withdrawal of the order. The Hon’ble Pandit argued at length thatthe Court had no jurisdiction to pass the order. The Magistratein rejecting the application said: If we turn to the plain meaning of the words of the section there is not the slightest reasonfor supposing that the words “may from time to time vary anyorder under section” refer only to the orders calling for security and not the orders dispensing for special reasons with security.
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO MAY 3, 1919.
‘Independent’ Security Case.
There is no doubt that by declaringthat Congress leader Priyanka GandhiVadra will not be contesting againstPrime Minister Narendra Modi fromthe Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency,the Congress has lost this round of public perception to the BJP. There is
hardly any doubt that this has demoralised the party’s localleaders, workers, and supporters. While this decision of theCongress might be viewed as the party fl��eeing from a “serious” race in Uttar Pradesh, it has nevertheless made theBJP’s task slightly more diffi��cult in the State now. KeepingMs. Gandhi out of the contest has sent a silent message —that the only challenger to the BJP in U.P. is the gathbandhan(SPBSP alliance), not the Congress. This might help consolidate the antiBJP votes behind the gathbandhan candidates.
After it failed to form an alliance with the SP and the BSP,the Congress’s decision to contest elections alone raisedspeculation on how much it could damage the electoralprospects of the BJP by cutting into its upper caste — mainlyBrahmin — support base. There was also speculation onwhat impact it might have on the prospects of the SPBSP alliance, especially if there is a shift amongst the Muslim voters towards the Congress.
In many constituencies, Muslims would like to vote forcandidates who are best placed to defeat the BJP, but thecomplexities of making this strategy succeed are sure to result in the split of the Muslim votes between the Congresscandidates and gathbandhan candidates. Studies conducted when the campaign had just begun indicated a signifi��cantpossibility of a split in the Muslim vote, while they also indicated the Congress’ inability to make inroads into the Brahmin vote. The Congress’s announcement has given a clearsignal to the Muslim voters: the real contest in U.P. is between the BJP and the gathbandhan. This will help consolidate the Muslim vote in favour of the gathbandhan.
Half of U.P. has already voted, but there are still numerousconstituencies that head to the polls in the remaining phases, where Muslim votes matter. In constituencies such asAmethi, Lucknow, Barabanki, Faizabad, Sitapur, Bahraich,Kaiserganj, Shravasti, Gonda, Domariaganj, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Varanasi and Ghosi, Muslimsconstitute more than 20% of the total voters. Their consolidation behind the gathbandhan candidate could pose considerable challenges to the BJP.
Further, there was no way Ms. Vadra could have defeatedMr. Modi in Varanasi, even if her candidature against himmight have enthused the Congress workers. Neverthelessthere are enough signals that the weeks of suspense andhype around her candidature may have anyway helped generate an atmosphere favouring the Congress in the constituencies going to polls in the coming phases.
The writer is a Professor and currently the Director of Centre for theStudy of Developing Societies, Delhi
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SINGLE FILE
Priyanka’s U-turn in U.P.Keeping her out of the Varanasi contesthas sent the message that the onlychallenger to the BJP is the gathbandhan
Sanjay Kumar
AP
Lottery
What happens when two candidates in a constituency poll thesame number of votes? According to Section 102 of the Representation of the People Act, if there is equality of votes and ifone additional vote would entitle either of them to win, and ifno decision has been made by the Returning Offi��cer under theprovisions of the Act, then the High Court decides by a lot.The candidate who wins the lottery wins the election. In 2017,for instance, in the election to ward number 220 of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Shiv Sena's Surendra Bagalkar and the BJP's Atul Shah got the same number of votes.The result was decided by lottery, and Mr. Shah won.
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POLL CALL
Denisovans lived in Tibetan Plateau, fossil evidence shows
http://bit.ly/DenisovansVideo
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MORE ON THE WEB 3
In the run-up to the UN Climate Ac-tion Summit in New York in Septem-ber, in a discussion moderated byG. Ananthakrishnan, T. Jayara-man and Navroz Dubash talk aboutthe fairness of the global climate re-gime, and what India could do togreen its growth. Edited excerpts:
How serious is climate changeas an issue today?
T. Jayaraman: Climate change iscertainly the most serious global environmental crisis that we face. It isnot the only environmental problem, but it is unique in its multiscalar characteristic, from the global to the local. And in many ways,it is arguably the most immediate.But there is also a substantial section of the world that does not see itin the same terms. That is perhapsone of the most serious aspects ofdealing with this problem.
Navroz Dubash: I think climatechange has been with us for 25 yearsat least. At one level, for many people climate change has become anexistential problem that risks undermining the conditions for productive life and therefore a problemthat does not override but certainlypermeates all kinds of other issues.For many others, it is a distant problem that is overwhelmed by moreimmediate issues. But this ignoresthe linkage between current issuesand climate change. We don’t havethe option in India of thinking aboutanything that is innocent of climatechange any more.
Global warming has touchedabout 1°C above preindustriallevels. India is not responsiblefor the stock of CO2 in theatmosphere, but can it aff��ord towait for developed countries tomake their move or should itaggressively pursue its ownmeasures?
TJ: I don’t think there is an either/orabout this. We must recognise climate change as a global collectiveaction problem. If one country cutsits emissions to the bone, that is going to be of little use if the others donot follow suit. That country willsuff��er the consequences of climate
change despite the extent of its sacrifi��ce. Equally, waiting for others todo something and not doing something oneself is also not an option, especially in terms ofadaptation.
If India does more mitigation,that doesn’t reduce the risk in India.It is not a local exchange. We have tohave good intent, show it in action,but on the other hand, we must dofar more than we are doing today tocall the developed countries to account. They are nowhere nearmeeting their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) targets.And some countries we don’t evenhave on board, like the U.S. We needto move climate change to the top ofour foreign policy agenda. This is acritical move we need to make.
ND: I agree that the performance ofthe developed world has been verypoor compared to their capacities,wealth and promises.
The extent to which we have toturn around globally is dramatic.Rapidly emerging countries are partof the story, but that does not meancountries that have already emitteda lot and have built their infrastructure shouldn’t actually be creatingspace for countries like India. Sowhere does that leave India? It is abit of a dilemma. We are also one ofthe most vulnerable countries.
I view it in the following way.One, there are a number of thingsthat India could do that will bringdevelopment gains and also lead tomitigation benefi��ts. For example,how we design our cities: we wantmore sustainable cities, cities withless congestion and with more public transport because we want cities that are more liveable. Thosekinds of cities will also be low carbon cities. Two, more mitigation inIndia does not mean India gets tokeep those benefi��ts. Because at theend of the day, we are only 6% or 7%of global emissions. But what we arerecognising is that the global carbonsystem is an interlocked system. So,what we have to think about is theglobal transition to low carbon systems and there are spillover eff��ectsthere, from changes in one economy to changes in another economy,changes in politics in one place tochanges in politics in another place.
In its Paris Agreementcommitments, India hadpledged to reduce its intensityof GDP emissions by 3335%over 2005 levels by 2030, andat Copenhagen, by 2025% by2020. Are we in sync with whatis needed from us? With thegoal of keeping temperaturerise to 2oC or below 2oC or 1.5oC,how does India’s NDC fi��t in?
TJ: The very form of your questionis problematic. You can do whateveryou want with your NDC. It doesn’tmatter. The question is, as a developing country, in the matrix of allother NDCs, where does India fi��tand what are other NDCs like? In thescheme of things as they are, whatare we doing? I think within that weare doing pretty well. I think theproblem for India is hedging its future, not simply what we consumenow or what we expect to gain inimmediate terms. What is it that wewant as our longterm future andhow much of it in terms of carbonspace do we need to hedge? But I repeat, with our NDC, though our performance is good, we cannot respond with more commitments inour NDC until we see serious actionat the international level.
In September, at the UN specialsession on climate, India shouldmake it clear that we won’t play ballunless it is clear that it is not enoughfor you to talk the talk, you shouldalso walk the walk.
ND: The Paris Agreement basicallysaid, every country, please tell uswhat you can feasibly do withinyour country. It was always therefore going to be a relatively low setof pledges, and in that context India’s doesn’t push the envelope very
far, doesn’t do minimal stuff��. So,how do we know whether thepledge is ambitious or not? There’sno good way to know.
The idea of the Paris Agreementis to get countries moving towards alow carbon economy, with the ideathat each country will see that it isnot too costly and not so hard andthere are developmental benefi��ts.
The pledges in an ideal world aresetting the fl��oor not the ceiling —countries will fulfi��l and hopefullyexceed those pledges. And in India’scase, we will probably exceed thepledges, because for reasons like urban congestion and air pollution,we will want to move in the direction of low carbon anyway, quiteapart from climate change.
Now, in terms of what the politicsof it are, we can try and armtwistthe rich countries. They have defi��nitely been recalcitrant, they havedropped their responsibilities. Butat the end of the day, India is a deeply vulnerable country. What wehave learned in the last 20 years isthat countries don’t move furtherbecause of international pressure.Certainly not the rich and industrialcountries. They move further because they found ways, in their enlightened selfinterest, to do so.
If you look at the manifestos ofthe two national parties, climatechange ekes in a small mention atthe end, but it is really not thoughtthrough. In my informal conversa
tions, they are still stuck in the language of saying we still need to havea lot more fossil fuels for moregrowth, when that is an open question in an era when the price of solar power is coming down and theprice of storage is coming down. It isnot a settled debate by any means,but we need to engage in that debate much more vigorously.
TJ: With regard to NDCs, I think weare risking a great deal if we take thecurrent numbers in India in terms ofconsumption, energy as the benchmark for what we need. India stillhas huge development defi��cits. Unfortunately, the intersection between erasing development defi��citsand genuine adaptation has beenpoorly explored. So, every timethere is a drought, some go aroundchanting ‘climate change’ when indeed it is regular climate variability.And we have always left our farmersat the mercy of the drought.
So, I think in adaptation, our focus should be understanding whatour development defi��cits are. At thesame time, a whole new diversionary argument is emerging. There isthis recent paper from the U.S. thathas appeared saying that India lost31% of its potential GDP growth dueto global warming between the1960s and 2011. I don’t buy that.Without accounting most importantly for institutions, if you simplyexamine temperature and GDP, youwill get all kinds of correlations.What we really need to invest in isour conceptual agenda. Take electric vehicle mobility. Everybodysays electric mobility is a goodthing, and cheaper than conventional transport, by factoring in thecost of fossil fuels in terms of health,etc., using the DisabilityAdjustedLife Years concept. But what thatdoes is to make the users of publictransport pay for the wellbeing ofall the people still driving cars. So,arguing that electric mobility ischeaper really does not fl��y. Electricmobility is actually more expensive,in immediate terms, in terms of costper vehicle kilometre.
ND: I agree that the entry point forthis conversation should be the development defi��cits. For example, tosay that we need to fi��nd a way forcleaner transportation shouldn’t actually lead to a conclusion that itshould lead to more electric vehicles – the fi��rst priority has to be im
proved, more accessible publictransport.
What could be the feasibleclimate diplomacy or politicsfor India under the UNframework or outside?
ND: The climate game has nowfi��rmly moved to a series of multiplenational conversations. The ParisAgreement process is an iterativeprocess where countries put something on the table, they try to implement it, they see if they could doit more easily than they thought,and they come back to the global level. It is a twolevel game but thedriving force is at the national level.Countries are not going to be armtwisted by international pressure.We can try, but what will drive themis enlightened selfinterest. Wherethe global role is going to be important is in technological cooperation,in spillover eff��ects. One of the bigsuccess stories is the fall in renewable energy prices, driven by Germany’s domestic programme that supported global prices for renewables.
India has to play a role diplomatically, but our diplomatic game hasto construct a development modelthat takes into account all ourneeds, including climate change,thinks a lot about adaptation, andkeeps the pressure on the West onissues like fi��nance and technology.
TJ: All that we do domesticallyshould be framed in the context ofdevelopment defi��cits. Within thatcontext, whatever we can exploreor do, we should. For instance, howdo we ensure that we double theproductivity of our main foodcrops? If we do something that isconcrete, we will see the nexus between agricultural productivity andclimate and climate variability, andlearn something for the future.
My great disappointment is withthe Indian private sector. They arewilling to donate, willing to tellfarmers how to be sustainable, invest in such kinds of activities outside their fi��rms. But making theirown fi��rms models of sustainability,sustainability within the plant boundary, drivers of innovation, they stillhave to measure up. I think part ofthe reason for our notsocoherentengagement with the internationalprocess is perhaps that we are notdefi��ning our own local priorities asclearly as we could and should have.
Is India doing enough to combat climate change?The challenges in tackling a problem thatrequires a global collective eff��ort
Navroz Dubash is Professor at the
Centre for Policy
Research and
coordinator of the
Initiative on
Climate, Energy,
and Environment
T. Jayaraman is chairperson,
Centre for Science,
Technology and
Society at the Tata
Institute of Social
Sciences, Mumbai
Scan the QR code toread the fullinterview online
REUTERS
<> Everybody says electric
mobility is a good thing.
But what that does is to
make the users of public
transport pay for the well-
being of the people still
driving cars.
PARLEY
ger. He would land up atmy offi��ce quite often withsome lead to a story.Though not a fulltime journalist, he has been a writeractivist, getting a nationalperspective on all issueswhile sitting in a village inBegusarai.
When I dialled his oldnumber, Pushpraj waspredictably campaigningfor Kanhaiya Kumar, former JNU Students Union president and CPI candidatefor Begusarai. Pushprajdoes not have a surname —his grandfather, a freedomfi��ghter who burned hissacred thread and gave uphis caste surname, bequeathed that legacy to thegrandson. Pushpraj’s revolutionary quest has takenhim to Narmada Valley,Bhatta Parsaul, Nandigramand, in recent times, theJNU student agitation andthe protests triggered byPhD student Rohit Vemula’s death.
Pushpraj says he has nomaterial ambitions, and his
In the nearly 16 years sinceI met him last, nothingmuch has changed aboutPushpraj. His beard is nowsalt and pepper and his jho-la has now been replacedwith a backpack. He nowhas a motorbike to movearound, a sign of somemarginal material improvement. Pushpraj lives between Begusarai and Patnain Bihar, and travels allaround the country to anyplace where he fi��nds a subaltern political cause tofi��ght for.
I fi��rst met him in 2003when I was the only reporter for Bihar for a nationalnewspaper, and he, a manfor all seasons. He introduced me to some intricacies of Bihar’s rural politics, and became acompanion in many of mytravels around the Stateduring my twoyear stintthere then. If journalistsare messengers, Pushprajis a messenger’s messen
life is witness to that. Hehas been off��ered a goldenhandshake to back off�� fromthe several agitations thathe has taken part in Bihar.His book, Nandigram Di-ary, was published by Penguin. He has a few acres ofancestral land, which hewishes to sell to fund a CheGuevara centre. “There isno centre for Che in India,”he says. That could be a fastroute to martyrdom, I warnhim, among his landlovingBhumihar brethren. He isalways there to help journalists from all over wholand in Bihar any time, butrues the fact that most Hindi publications, which untilrecent years were keen topublish stories of localstruggles, are no longer doing so. Pushpraj is an unsung hero, and I was happyto connect with him aftermany years.
Patna gave me the bestbottomup perspective oncapitalist democracy during the fi��rst two years of mycareer, and my recent stint
for The Hindu in Washington, DC for three years gaveme the best topdown perspective of it. Hence, returning to Patna after several years was anopportunity to refresh memories that I could processin a more holistic fashion.
It is not only that Pushpraj now has fewer platforms to publish his groundreports; even the the building that used to house several outstation newspaperoffi��ces in Patna — Ojha’sMansion — now wears a deserted look. Most newspapers have shut down theirPatna offi��ces due to the severe business pressure onthe media industry. Pushpraj used to be a regularvisitor to Ojha’s Mansion,recounting stories from thehinterland that he hadcome across and providingstory ideas.
He has not run out ofcauses to fi��ght for, but theplatforms to articulatethose causes have sadlyshrunk.
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NOTEBOOK
Reconnecting with a messenger’s messenger in Bihar
Pushpraj has many causes to fi��ght for but few platforms to articulate them
Varghese K. George
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