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Sep 1st 2014

For a new paradigm of social justice

D. SHYAM BABU

CHANDRA BHAN PRASADIn his address to the nation on Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed hisintention to “take a solemn pledge of working for... the welfare of the poor, oppressed, Dalits, the

exploited and the backward people of our country.” We don’t know just what precise shape his social

 justice vision will take in practice, but it is likely to be a mix of traditional approaches, when

unavoidable, coupled with a new architecture, when feasible.

 When independent India’s founding fathers committed themselves to constitutionalism and

democracy, they were well aware that democracy was a “top dressing on Indian soil, which is

essentially undemocratic,” as B.R. Ambedkar cogently put it. The rigid and deeply maligned social

hierarchies of Indian society meant that a commitment to equality and social justice was hardly a

“natural” sentiment. 

Survey on Dalit entrepreneurs 

Since then, the Indian state has sought to put forth dozens of laws and programmes to attenuate

these deep social inequalities and two-thirds of a century after independence, social inequalities in

Indian society are a far cry from what they were when the country came into being. But there is a

long, long way to go before social justice is a reality for the vast majority of Indians from socially

marginalised communities. It is equally clear, however, that the country needs new thinking

( nayi  soch ) on social justice, as the Prime Minister has argued.

In recent years, the country has been witnessing social change that is gradually weakening the iron

grip of status hierarchies, and India’s Dalits are slowly seeing its benefits. But the gains are more

social than economic. The central policy challenge for the new government is how to sustain the

social gains, ensuring that Dalits can participate more meaningfully in the economy, by sharing in

the fruits of economic growth while contributing as well.

Consider the phenomenon of Dalit entrepreneurs, which challenges both the trope of seeing India as

an aggregation of diverse and often feuding groups, and that we are all one people and divisions are

artificial. In a survey we conducted in collaboration with Professor Devesh Kapur at the Center for

the Advanced Study of India (CASI), University of Pennsylvania, U.S., we have traced the trajectory

of 1,000 Dalit entrepreneurs. These are not the poor self-employed or those running micro-

enterprises in the informal sector, but entrepreneurs in the formal sector who have created

enterprises with sales running from a few crore to nearly Rs.1,000 crore, each providing employmentand paying taxes.

Our initial findings indicate that almost all of the respondents are first generation entrepreneurs.

Most are not well-educated (in terms of fancy degrees); indeed, many have even limited schooling.

The collective turnover of these 1,000 Dalit entrepreneurs is nearly Rs.10,000 crore. Almost none of

them has received support or preferential treatment from the government. They did not even

consider approaching institutions like the National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development

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Corporation (NSFDC) which is mandated to promote entrepreneurship among Dalits. The

transaction costs are simply too high when compared to the very modest amounts of funds handed

out by people who have little knowledge of the issues.

 What’s more, the government was unaware of the fact that some Dalits have achieved noteworthy

success as entrepreneurs until our survey received widespread media coverage. This is a severeindictment of what surveys like the Economic Census capture and the plethora of schemes and

programmes that allegedly strive to promote Dalit welfare.

In a new book, Defying the Odds: The Rise of Dalit Entrepreneurs , we have attempted to map the

trajectories of 21 Dalit entrepreneurs — their humble origins and the grit they displayed in building

successful businesses. Although they are minuscule in number among the 200 million-plus Dalits,

their experiences reveal that they largely succeeded despite and not because of public policy. It also

shows what can now be done to pave the way for more Dalits to become job givers rather than

remain job seekers, a slogan adopted by their trade body, the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce

and Industry (DICCI).

The policy discourse 

It is a sobering thought, however, that for every successful Dalit who defied the odds to become a

trailblazer, there are countless others who have failed and given up, beaten down by life’s impossible

odds. It is also pertinent to remember that three-fourths of Dalits (about 150 million) still live in

 villages. What they don’t need are grandiose government schemes which people ignore with

 justifiable contempt. Instead three policy challenges raised by the Prime Minister in his

Independence Day speech — skills, manufacturing and urbanisation — if addressed well, will do

more for Dalit entrepreneurs, for the community and the country at large, than the dozens of stand-

alone schemes that exist currently.

The policy discourse has so far focussed on the preferential model over and above what ispracticable. Job quotas without jobs are meaningless. Dalits will find very limited economic

opportunities in government jobs for the simple reason that these barely exist relative to the

numbers of Dalit youth joining the workforce. The emphasis should be to ensure universal access to

quality education and health care and other basic public goods for all people and ensure that all

those left out due to a variety of reasons are covered. Currently, we ensure access but pay little

attention to quality or standards. This charade has resulted in millions of poor of all social stripes

having obtained degrees but without any real skills. Indeed, diplomas in engineering have been far

more useful for the Dalit entrepreneurs in our study than college degrees.

Opportunities in manufacturing 

Second, manufacturing offers more scope for would-be Dalit entrepreneurs for the simple reason

that the children of the elite simply cannot take the heat and dust and the distant locations that are

inevitable in setting up a manufacturing unit in India today. They prefer service-related occupations

in metros in air-conditioned offices. If manufacturing takes off in India, Dalit entrepreneurs, with a

little help and nudge, will enter manufacturing supply chains and some of them will grow into large

firms in their own right. Having faced trying circumstances growing up, there are many more willing

to roll up their sleeves and do what it takes to get the job done. But for this they — like most small

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enterprises — face credit constraints because they lack collateral. It is ironic that in India,

nationalised banks are on socialist principles; today, public sector banks have lent tens of thousands

of crores to big businesses but have little money to lend to aspiring small entrepreneurs.

Third, social hierarchies are much more rigid in rural India, and an urbanising India offers better

opportunities for aspiring Dalit entrepreneurs. The metros today are so expensive that entry for newentrepreneurs with few financial resources and limited social networks will be much more difficult.

 An urbanisation strategy that focusses much more on small and medium towns and that attracts

large manufacturing investment (both domestic and foreign direct investment) will create more

opportunities for Dalit entrepreneurs in manufacturing supply chains.

The challenge for policymakers is to create what de Tocqueville termed “equality of conditions”

 wherein anyone can chart his/her own course with initiative, tenacity and an enabling policy regime.

 We rightly take pride in our political freedoms but these are yet to ensure full citizenship rights to

marginalised groups. What is required is a balance between old thinking and nayi soch . For the

government, this means developing a coherent interlinked strategy that combines skill development,

manufacturing and urbanisation. And for the Dalit community, nayi soch requires it to shed old

shibboleths about entrepreneurship and private enterprise and embrace it rather than treat it as a

Baniya activity. Only then will the promise of Dalit entrepreneurship be fully realised.

(D. Shyam Babu is senior fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, and Chandra Bhan Prasad

is a public intellectual and mentor, DICCI. Along with Devesh Kapur they have co-authored the

book,Defying the Odds: The Rise of Dalit Entrepreneurs, Random House India, 2014.) 

 For every successful Dalit who defied the odds to become 

a trailblazer, there are countless others who have failed  

and given up, beaten down by life’s impossible odds. 

The central policy challenge for the new government is how to sustain social gains

while ensuring that Dalits can participate more meaningfully in the economy, by

sharing in 

the fruits of economic growth while contributing as well  

Looking beyond a tattered truce

SYED ATA HASNAIN

 Following the numerous border violations, India must consider that there are enoughareas astride the LoC where its Army can hurt Pakistan much more effectively than itcan perceive

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 OVERWATCH:It needs to be brought to public attention that the Indian Army is not trigger-happy, but neither is itunprofessional not to respond. Its response is focussed and for effect. Picture shows a border patrol unit atSuchetgarh near Jammu.—PHOTO: NISSAR AHMAD

Incidents instigated by the Pakistan military along the frontlines in Jammu and Kashmir are as

predictable as the seasons. It is never too difficult to ascertain when they will begin and end. This

 year too, they are panning out in a similar manner. Over the years, the public has always believed

these to be outside its domain of interest and something for only the Army to handle. But some

things are changing this. First, because of social media, there is more information in the air, though

insufficient for informed opinion. Second, the images from West Asia are all over, causingapprehension about the play of violence nearer home. Third, there is concern about how events in

 Afghanistan will turn out once the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) withdraws. Finally,

the so-called information revolution regularly points out chinks in our armour and the supposed

 weakness in our defensive capability, thus creating a perception of imminent danger.

But why does the Line of Control (LoC) go “live” from time to time and remain “under control” at

other times? For their cause to remain effective, the separatists in Jammu and Kashmir and their

sponsors across the border need turbulence of any form: street protests, criminal acts, terrorist

strikes, or attacks on the security forces. The Army has brought the hinterland militancy in Jammu

and Kashmir under total control. Twenty-five years of violence calibrated at will is dwindling to

levels below the required threshold. The security establishment of Pakistan fears the consequences — normality in Jammu and Kashmir — immensely.

Pakistan’s strategic priorities 

On its side, it is working overtime to control a raging internal militancy even before the U.S.

drawdown from Afghanistan, so as to initiate endeavours to fill the strategic space vacated by the

ISAF. Therefore, Pakistan has three strategic priorities in order of importance: first, its internal

security; second, Afghanistan, and third, Jammu and Kashmir. The third priority would have

remained just there, had it not been for a couple of spoilers: the unexpected emergence of political

stability in New Delhi, the inability to induct or sustain sufficient terrorist cadres and leadership in

Jammu and Kashmir’s hinterland, and the coming election in November in Jammu and Kashmir. Noless, the India-focussed Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) are demanding their

pound of flesh from the Pakistan security establishment, to keep the Jammu and Kashmir situation

in prominence lest it becomes history.

 When the Jammu and Kashmir hinterland is closed to them, it is inevitable that their area of choice

 would shift to the LoC. Here, calibration too is easier; the choice of violent activity resting with the

initiators. It ranges from low-level activity such as planting landmines on routes of Indian Army

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patrols in the immediate vicinity of the LoC, to sniping, small arms firing, use of high trajectory

 weapons, which could go up to the employment of artillery, and the last and the most intense trigger,

the employment of Border Action Teams (BATs) to cause intense casualties on our troops.

The firing this time has apparently been most intense not on the LoC but along the International

Border, which Pakistan calls the Working Boundary. Infiltration through this sector is easier due toshorter distances to the population centres. However, diversions are necessary through firing. The

Kathua and Samba terrorist strikes were perceived as successful and Jammu remains extremely

 vulnerable. This is also happening because the anti-infiltration posture along the LoC fence has

proven to be a major success in the Valley and Rajouri sectors.

There is a misperception that the Indian Army only takes casualties and does not respond in kind to

such provocation. This is incorrect. It needs to be brought to public attention that the Indian Army is

not trigger-happy, but neither is it unprofessional not to respond. Its response is focussed and for

effect. It has a history of spectacular achievements on the LoC. However, the more it gets itself

embroiled in LoC violence, the more it will disengage from the current prime task of counter-

infiltration and that is one of the aims of the adversary.

Mechanisms for stability  

There is an existent mechanism to stabilise the situation in areas where exchanges have occurred.

This is restricted to the Director General Military Operations-level through the routine Tuesday calls

or special communications in emergent conditions. It usually leads to flag meetings at the rank of

Brigadier but these become occasions to place stated claims in front of each other. For any

meaningful mechanism, there needs to be progressive communication links up the channel, proper

empowerment and regular confidence-building meetings between commanders in areas prone to a

frequent breakdown of ceasefire. But denial will still be at the core of Pakistan’s game. 

It were the violent exchanges on the LoC in 2013 which resulted in two major incidents leading to theloss of lives of Indian soldiers and the resultant negativity about the lack of an effective response

from our side. For long the Indian Army has effectively responded in its own unstated way, reserving

the time and the place for such response. It has never brought this to the public domain in the time-

tested way of keeping military actions outside the public gaze. The contextual difference this time is

the public demand to be informed how the Pakistan establishment’s actions are being punished. The

Indian Army’s leadership will have to think this through. It very well knows there are ways to

respond to Pakistan, which will involve taking the threshold of the ceasefire up by a couple of

notches. With 95 violations along the LoC and 25 along the International Border (in “recent months”

according to the Director General of the Border Security Force), this is anyway a tattered truce.

Perhaps the new government in New Delhi will be in a better position to take hard decisions just as it

did while calling off talks between the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries. In doing so it mustconsider that there are enough areas astride the LoC where we can hurt Pakistan much more

effectively than it can perceive. The resultant cost will have to be borne by Pakistan even as it

struggles to achieve its security objectives on multiple fronts.

(   Syed Ata Hasnain is a former General Officer Commanding of the Srinagar based 15 Corps and

currently senior fellow with the Delhi Policy Group and Visiting Fellow with the Vivekanand

 International Foundation.) 

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The contextual difference this time to how the Indian Army responds to LoC

violations is the public demand to be informed how the Pakistan establishment’s

actions are being punished  

 A site for alliance of civilisations

Milestones are evaluator markers to look back in order to look forward. They not only help us to

learn from past mistakes, but also reiterate the positives that have contributed in realising our goals

and dreams. I was invited by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) to be a panellist

in the session about the media conversation across divides in its Sixth Global Forum held at Bali last

 week. This also marks my hundredth column as the Readers’ Editor. 

There is a method in the way I have handled my task as the interlocutor between this newspaper and

millions of its readers. One of the champions of free speech, Salman Rushdie coined an abbreviation

— P2C2E (Process Too Complicated To Explain) — in his modern day fable, Haroun and the Sea of

 Stories . He deftly used P2C2E to talk about censorship, authoritarianism, resistance and aspiration

for justice. An ombudsman does not have the poetic licence to deploy P2C2E. The very nature of his

 work is rigorous application of PI2E, that is Process Important to Explain.

Over the past hundred weeks, I have consciously worked at two levels — addressing the specific

issues of editorial lapses and locating best practices of journalism within the larger global media

scape. The idea of oscillating between the particular and the universal opened up the space for

dialogue with the readers. Our discussions covered a range of issues concerning the media: the legal

and regulatory framework, the balance between freedom of expression and social obligations, the

 judicious mix of two crucial elements of journalism — what the public is interested in and the public

interest, and, most importantly, the relationship between the board room and the newsroom.

It was possible to conduct these interactions in a transparent manner due to three crucial factors:

first, the faith of the readers of this newspaper in this institution of self-regulation and their agency

to ask pertinent questions; second, the commitment of the management of this newspaper to keep

this space open and free, and third, the dedication of the journalists working for this paper to uphold

the cardinal principles and core values of journalism. It was a journey that combined media literacy

 with the demands of ombudsmanship.

In this context, the invitation from the UNAOC is significant. In 1993, in the aftermath of the

collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, Samuel P. Huntington came up with an

idea of the clash of civilisations. His hypothesis was that the principal conflicts of global politics

 would occur between nations and groups of different civilisations and the clash of civilisations woulddominate global politics where the fault lines between civilisations would become the battle lines of

the future. Though scholars like Edward Said and Amartya Sen have effectively questioned

Huntington’s argument, security establishments largely embraced it. 

Global response 

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The UNAOC was a global response to retrieve the space for coexistence. It aims to forge collective

political will and to mobilise concerted action at institutional levels. It wants to improve

understanding and cooperative relations among nations and peoples across cultures and religions

and, in the process, counter the forces that fuel polarisation and extremism. It is one of those rare

intergovernmental initiatives that recognises the role of the media in bridging cultural and religious

divides and respecting diversity. The core assumption of the UNAOC is “differences within and between societies should be neither feared nor repressed, but cherished as a precious asset of

humanity.” 

This intervention was necessitated because of the macro context. Communities across the globe are

at the mercy of propagandists and unscrupulous community leaders, and the role of journalism as a

trusted source of reliable and pluralist information remains central to retain space for peaceful

coexistence. Cutting-edge communication tools sometimes lead to misinformation wars, hate speech

and social networks shaping the agenda of the mainstream media. In this environment, the panel

 was asked to look at: how the media can keep faith with the ethical values of journalism in these

conditions; how journalists can contribute to building better understanding between communities,

 when media-savvy extremists are at work; what are the best practices that governments can

undertake to create the conditions for media pluralism and independent journalism; whether there is

a need for a code of ethics; and, where to draw the line without infringing on the freedom of

expression.

The panel did not have any easy answers to these troubling questions. The new deadline pressure

caused by the 24x7 digital platforms do infringe on the basic tenet of journalism — the act of

 verification. In the rush to be first among the breaking news brigade, the process of cross-checking

and verification, which needs both time and resources, is given short shrift.

 A trusted newspaper like The Hindu strives to be a site for the alliance of civilisations and refrains

from being a catalyst for a clash of civilisations. The core of the narrative is the respect for human

dignity and the celebration of the infinite plurality of humanity. It is a narrative that shuns bigotry but helps to retain curiosity about the other. The core of ethical journalism is to resist stereotyping of

communities and faiths.

readerseditor@thehindu.co.in

The mind and metaphors of U.R. Ananthamurthy

SHAIL MAYARAM

 He was among the rare and sensitive writers who could see through the contradictionofnot thinking about man and his life in the world beyond the dharmasastras

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 LITERARY ICON:The crisis of the Indian bhashas weighed heavily on him. —PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

One of Ramchandra Gandhi’s quips was, yoU aRe (Ananthamurthy), emphasising his being in the

 world.

U.R. Ananthamurthy and Ramchandra Gandhi occupied contrary locations, one subscribing

todvaita (the view of soul and god as separate entities) and the other to advaita . Ananthamurthy’s

reflection on Gandhi’s  Svaraj: A journey with Tyeb Mehta’s Shantiniketan Triptych is as much

about himself — the way his mind works and the metaphors he invokes.

He compares Gandhi’s writing to an illuminatingarati  to the gods in temples. The arati  begins with

the lighting of one lamp and slowly, many others are lit and circulated around the vigraha .

Gradually the whole sculpture is illuminated and made visible for us in the light of the arati  . More

tongue-in-cheek, he describes Gandhi as a jangama(member of a wandering Saivite monastic order

followed by the Lingayats) but with an attachment to his room and the India International Centre

(IIC) who could never settle into any affiliation after he left Hyderabad’s Philosophy department that

he had helped build in protest against the cutting of a tree dear to Sarojini Naidu by the university

administration. “Nobody else in the world has written such a book on [the] art of painting. [The]

 book is a prolonged meditation, where the external painting meets the inner mind to become one,the advaita ,” Ananthamurthy pronounced. The dvaitin could undergo the mystic experience of non-

dual being.

Both were opposed to caste. Ananthamurthy’s blog recorded the story of a group of intellectuals

 whom he hosted when he was vice-chancellor of the Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam.

Gandhi had taken my mother, Francine Krishna, to the Guruvayur temple after she had expressed a

desire to visit it. She was dressed in a sari and had kumkum (vermilion) on her forehead (and was

married to a Hindu), but was not permitted entry on the grounds of being a non-Hindu. Gandhi

protested, refused to enter the temple and returned with a Rishi Durvasa-like temper,

 Ananthamurthy wrote. In his blog (that has since disappeared from the net), Ananthamurthy

mentions his participation in a march organised by Gandhi after the demolition of the Babri Masjidin which a group of participants were led by him singing Rabindranath Tagore’s “  Ekla cholo re ...”

He was undeterred by the mocking passersby and on reaching Birla House, the site of Gandhi’s

assassination, offered prayers. Some Tibetan monks later joined their meeting and offered prayers in

their own style. Though the Tibetan way of praying may sound strange to some of us, the very

strangeness moved us nevertheless, Ananthamurthy wrote. Some individuals addressed the group

 before they dispersed.

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Reflections on caste 

 Ananthamurthy reflected on caste on many occasions, and his novel, Samskara (1965), evokes the

decadent world of a brahman agrahara (settlement), much of it drawing on his own experience of

growing up in one. He belonged to the Madhva tradition, a Vaishnava sect that followed the 13th

century philosopher, Madhvacharya. His name, Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy, asprofessor Arindam Chakrabarti reminded me, bears the signature of Udupi Sri Krishna — the

presiding deity of Madhva Dvaita Vedanta.

 Yet, his novel mocks norms of purity and pollution. Naranappa, the anti-brahmin Brahmin dies, and

the question is who will perform his last rites as he has no son. Till this is done there can be “no

 worship, no bathing, no prayers, no food, nothing.” Naranappa had not only mocked at brahmin

orthodoxy, but drank liquor, ate meat, caught sacred fish with his Muslim friends and rejected his

 wife, living instead with a sudra woman called Chandri. Answers are sought from Praneshacharya,

the head of the village, who is the crown jewel of Vedic learning. He in turn seeks answers regarding

pollution from the book of dharma and then pleads with Maruti, the chaste monkey-god, but gets no

answer. He comes across Chandri in the forest and both discover each other erotically in their

traumatised states, giving Praneshacharya an opportunity for self-transformation.

He decides to perform the last rites, but by then the plague is manifest on Naranappa’s body and

Chandri has already asked a Muslim to cremate the body. The screenplay of the film “Samskara”

(1970) was written by Girish Karnad who played Naranappa.

The novel Bharathipura (1973) is also about a village and the prejudices of reformist modernity.

Jagannatha, the educated, rich zamindar’s son wants to transform his antiquated society, preparing

the way for the advent of secular modernity. He teaches the Holeyaru Dalits, who work as

scavengers, the French and Russian revolutions, then leads them into a temple from which they are

prohibited to smash the stone image of the deity and rid themselves of their irrationality and thereby

enter history. I can recall his powerful telling of the story of the Shaligram and how violent reformisticonoclasm can be, a metaphor for fundamentalisms everywhere. In a lecture on Mahatma

Gandhi’s ahimsa and the significance of the Tibetan struggle for our times, Ananthamurthy

reiterated the importance of Gandhi for the American, South African and Burmese struggles. The

talk concluded with a story of his meeting (along with the writer Nirmal Verma) with the Dalai Lama,

a figure whom he felt continued Gandhi’s practice of non-violence. During the meeting, an ant

climbed up the clothing of the Tibetan spiritual leader. Even as he spoke to the visitors, he carefully

picked up the ant in his hand and placed it on the floor. In his world there is also space for that ant,

 Ananthamurthy remarked.

He often came to the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and was a dear friend to many of

us, bringing with him to our workshops, the vachanas of Allama and Basava, the world of bhakti  andthebhashas . The crisis of the Indian bhashas weighed heavily on him and he spoke on one occasion

of how Kannada had been rendered to the domestic space in his lifetime. This year, in July, he was to

attend a conference on Metaphysics and Politics hosted by the Backwaters Collective in Kochi,

supported by the Narayana Guru Foundation, but could not make it. This is an annual event that he

and Ashis Nandy have been promoting, which is a very special space for reflection on conceptions of

ultimate truth without losing sight of the realities of politics and society.

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I had initially circulated a note on Ananthamurthy to a group of friends. This is what Mukund Lath

 wrote:

“The story of Shankar and the Chandal is well known. Obviously, if  atma is brahma, not only

untouchability but any non-inclusive attitude toward man — towards living beings as such — makes

no sense. But unfortunately Shankar’s atma-darshan is quite divorced from his ideas about howman should live, the institutions he should build. In these matters he falls back on the dharma of the

Smritis. This is irrational. It is, in fact, contradictory to the spirit of his tattva-drsti  . What is true of

Shankar is true of many of our deepest spiritual thinkers, advaitis or dvaitis , who refused to follow

the implications of their deepest understanding of man. Unlike Gandhi, they could not think about

man and his life in the world, beyond the dharmasastras . Ananthamurthy was among those rare

sensitive souls, poets, writers, who could not only see through the contradiction, but feel it in his very

 bones. With Ananthamurthy, this feeling, this sensitivity, could be seen in him also as a deep man of

action. One could feel that his authority — his sense of true adhikara — was inspired by it. This is

how I remember him.” 

(Shail Mayaram is Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.) 

Banking on inclusion

In launching the most ambitious plan ever to extend basic banking services across the country, the

government is fulfilling a promise made by the Prime Minister in his Independence Day speech. The

launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana also marks the completion of 100 days in office by

the NDA government. Many of the details of the scheme were made available in advance, but the

official launch on Thursday was in itself historic. A record 1.5 crore accounts were opened on the day

of the launch, and an upwardly revised target of opening 7.5 crore new accounts by January 26, 2015

looks achievable, given the high levels of enthusiasm seen on the opening day. There has been close

coordination among the government, the States and the bankers, and it is hoped that this will

continue in equal measure to ensure the success of the scheme. For the NDA government, there will be a large number of positive political and economic spin-offs from the successful implementation of

the scheme. Apart from making available basic banking facilities to every household, it is designed to

provide social security through insurance schemes, and in select cases, pension schemes. This will be

no mean achievement, given the absence of even a rudimentary social security cover for a very large

number of people. In due course, the government plans to route cash transfers in lieu of subsidies

through these accounts. That would pave the way for a comprehensive reform of the subsidy regime

for a number of essential commodities.

The sheer size and complexity of the logistics involved in executing the gigantic inclusion plan will

continue to amaze long after the initial glitches are ironed out. To be executed in two phases — the

first will be for a year, while the second phase will be between 2015 and 2018 — the Jan Dhan Yojanaplans to extend financial services in a country where only 58.7 per cent of an estimated 24.67 crore

households have access to banking services. The scheme targets households rather than individuals,

and uses technology extensively to further inclusion. Since opening physical bank branches on such a

large scale is out of the question, the scheme will rely on a large number of business agents or

correspondents for the last mile. It is therefore important to provide incentives to this category of

intermediaries to ensure their total involvement. Experience with mandated inclusion programmes

suggests that the new account-holders need to be kept engaged for sufficiently long periods. The

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RuPay smart card is probably an answer, as it will keep the account-holders connected with the

 banks. For the macroeconomy, the big benefit will be fewer physical cash transactions — a

development that will aid in the implementation of official policies.

Commendable initiative

 At a time when open defecation remains something of a taboo subject and is seldom discussed in

public, it is commendable that Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned the spotlight on the practice

 while addressing the nation on August 15 and brought the discourse straight into lakhs of drawing

rooms. Soon after he urged the corporate sector to “prioritise the provision of toilets in schools”

under corporate social responsibility programmes, the social movement is slowly gaining traction.

Two companies — Tata Consultancy Services and Bharti Enterprises — have committed themselves

to playing their part in achieving the monumental task of ensuring that all schools in the country

have toilets for boys and girls in a year’s time. Hindustan Zinc Limited has increased by 10,000 the

number of toilets it would build in villages in three districts of Rajasthan; its earlier target number

 was 30,000. There is an urgent need for many more companies to follow suit quickly. But building

toilets alone would achieve next to nothing if providing access to water does not go hand in hand

 with it. That over 620 million people in India still defecate in the open is at once a shameful and

disgusting statistic. The ignominy becomes all the more striking as India has the most number of

people in the world continuing with this abhorrent practice; Indonesia is a far second with 54 million

people doing that. That Bangladesh reduced the prevalence from 34 per cent in 1990 to 3 per cent in

2012 is a potent reminder that the war against open defecation has to be won in double quick time.

This can be achieved only if building toilets, both in schools and in households, continues to be a

priority for the government and every other sector in the country.

The ramifications of open defecation are too grim to be ignored. Many of the water-borne diseases — 

cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, Hepatitis A, typhoid and polio — are linked to open defecation. Hence,

it is no coincidence that nearly 14 per cent (over 300,000) of deaths among children in India under

five years of age are caused by diarrhoea-related diseases; diarrhoea is the second biggest killer inthis age group. Also, frequent diarrhoeal events result in malnutrition and, in turn, stunting in

children under five. The absence of toilets in schools is one of the reasons why girls drop out of the

system at an early age. There is a huge economic cost, too. According to a document of the World

Bank’s Water and Sanitation Programme, the economic impact of poor sanitation is about Rs.2.4

trillion (which represented 6.4 per cent of India’s GDP in 2006). It is important to remember that

 building toilets without building awareness and changing the mindset, would still yield poor results.

Extras

Pakistan Violence: Why are Imran Khan, Qadriprotesting against Nawaz Sharif? ExplainedImran Khan and Tahir-ul Qadri, the two leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) respectively, intensified protest against Prime Minister

Nawaz Sharif on Sunday, Aug 31.

 Why are Khan, Qadri and their supporters protesting against Sharif?

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   All supporters and followers of Khan and Qadri have been demanding resignation from

the current Prime Minister of the country -- Nawaz Sharif, the leader of Pakistan Muslim

League-Nawaz (PML-N).

  Nawaz Sharif and his party have been accused of rigging during the election to

Parliament in 2013.

 

The PTI-led by Khan sought Sharif's ouster for a fair probe into the allegations that thegeneral elections of 2013 were ragged.

Murder Charges against Nawaz Sharif:

  Pakistani police registered a murder case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and 20

others.

  Sharif along with 20 other members have been booked for their alleged involvement in

the police shootout on June 17.

   At least 14 civilian protesters were killed during that shootout in Lahore.

 Violent protest in Islamabad:

   Agitators loyal to main opposition party leader Imran Khan and cleric Tahirul Qadri

have been taking part in a sit-in from Aug 15.

   At least eight people have been killed and more than 300 people were injured, claimed

Khan and Qadri. However, government officials overruled reports of any casualty.

  Police informed that more than 100 civilians have been arrested.

  Islamabad police chief Khalid Khattak was quoted as saying, "Many of them (protesters)

 were armed with axes, hammers and cutters, and I'm sure they also have firearms

though we haven't seen one yet."

 Army's intervention:

  Both Khan and Qadri accepted the role of the army chief Raheel Sharif as a mediator and

guarantor in solving the current political impasse.

   After their meeting with the Army chief, blame game began on Aug 28. While PM Nawaz

Sharif claimed that Khan and Qadri had wanted army chief as a mediatator, Qadri

denied such statements.

Protesters entered Parliament of Pakistan:

  Reports of clashes have been reported from Islamabad's Constitution Avenue.

  Clashes took place between the police and stone-pelting, baton-wielding protesters, some

of whom have broken into part of the parliament and threatened other government

 buildings in Islamabad's red zone.

  Citing tremendous protest in Islamabad, Nawaz Sharif on Aug 31 left the city and

reached Lahore where he has been residing at his residence.

  Roads leading to his residence have been blocked as police feared that protesters may try

to enter his house as protest has been scattered in other cities of the country.

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A disastrous turn of events 

LAST evening the political crisis that has captivated this country for three weeks

 boiled over.

First, there were indications that somehow the government had acceded to the most

extraordinary and wretched of capitulations: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was,

according to feverish rumour, to go on a month-long enforced vacation while a senior

minister ran the government and the Supreme Court-led judicial commission

investigated the allegations of so-called widespread fraud in last year’s election. 

If the allegations were found to be true, again according to the mooted deal, the

 National Assembly would be dissolved and fresh elections would be held. That the

deal was rumoured to have been reached just hours after Mr Sharif had spoken

scornfully of the protesters and their number and impact in Islamabad suggests thatthe government had already lost all control of the situation.

Then, late into the evening, came another spectacular, shocking turn of events. Imran

Khan, Tahirul Qadri and their respective protesting camps decided to move from their

venue outside parliament towards Prime Minister House.

That suggested a deal –  any kind of deal –  was off and that the government’s foes

were going for the political kill. In retaliation, the government bared its teeth against

the protesters and mayhem ensued as tear gas shells were fired and the civilian-run

 police –  not the military –  were used to repulse the protesters onwards movement. Never –  never –  has the capital witnessed such scenes in its history and events, at the

time of writing these lines, could well end up as a disaster.

Surely though the events of Saturday evening were highly choreographed and scripted

 by some power other than Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri.

The very idea that a few thousand baton-wielding protesters can march towards Prime

Minister House without some explicit assurances behind the scenes is absurd. Quite

what those assurances are and what the endgame ultimately is will be known soon,

 perhaps overnight or in a day or two.

The biggest question: can Nawaz Sharif survive? The answer, in these frantic hours,

must surely be a miserable, despondent no.

If that is in fact the case –  if Mr Sharif’s third term as prime minister is at or near an

end –  what does that say about the PML-N supremo? Is he a failed leader or a political

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martyr? Piecing together the events over the last year and especially over the past few

months, the answer seems to be Mr Sharif is a failed leader.

This was a political crisis that was mishandled from the outset. Too much confidence,

too much scorn, too much arrogance –  and very little nous. For five years, from 2008

to 2013, Mr Sharif mostly said and did the right things.

The democratic project had apparently –  and thankfully –  become larger than Mr

Sharif’s whims. But one year into his term, in his handling of the forces determined to

undo the project, Mr Sharif has proved himself a leader very much out of his depth.

 Published in Dawn, August 31, 2014 

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