monday, april 8, 2019 the governance dashboard1989 had marked the beginning of what is known as the...
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DELHI THE HINDU
MONDAY, APRIL 8, 20198EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
CMYK
A ND-NDE
EDITORIAL
Pallavi Aiyar
On April 30, Japanese Emperor Akihito will abdicate, literally ending an era. For in
Japan the years are counted notjust using the internationally standard, Gregorian calendar, but bygengo, or ‘era name’, that countsup from the coronation of a newemperor until his death, or as inthe current circumstance, abdication.
The Heisei eraAkihito’s coronation in January1989 had marked the beginning ofwhat is known as the Heisei era,and the end of the ‘Showa’ periodof his predecessor, Emperor Hirohito. This year, 2019, will be splitbetween Heisei 31, the 31st year ofAkihito’s reign until the end ofApril, after which it will becomeReiwa 1, the fi��rst year of the Emperor elect, Naruhito’s rule.
But gengo are not just ways ofcounting years. They also encapsulate a national mood, the zeitgeist. A new era name stops theclock for the nation psychologically, allowing an opportunity for tak
ing stock and recalibrating. The Meiji era (literally: enlight
ened rule), January 1868July 1912,is best remembered as a period ofWesterninspired modernisation,while the Showa gengo (literally:enlightened harmony), December1926January 1989, is associatedwith both Japan’s rapid postwareconomic development, but alsothe militarism of the SecondWorld War.
It is Heisei, however, that is onthe nation’s mind currently. In thedying days of the era, there is anongoing attempt to grapple withhow best to defi��ne the essence ofthe last three decades. Heisei iscomposed of two kanji (Chinesecharacters used in the Japaneselanguage) that taken togethermean ‘achieving peace’.
On the surface, the gengo wouldappear apposite. Through the Heisei decades Japan has eschewedwar and continued to be amongthe world’s more pacifi��st nations.Emperor Akihito himself workedhard to confront Japan’s past military expansionism, including several expressions of remorse andapology for his country’s wartimeactions.
And yet, Heisei has also beencharacterised by unfulfi��lled potential and a spate of natural disasters. In 1989, when the era began,Japan was at the pinnacle of itseconomic might. That same year,
Sony acquired Hollywood’s Columbia Pictures and Mitsubishi Estate bought New York’s iconicRockefeller Center. Japan appeared poised for globaldomination.
Instead, the ‘bubble economy’collapsed, leading to ‘lost decades’of economic stagnation and defl��ation. And while the meteoric riseof China dwarfed Japan’s regionaland international heft, earthquakes and tsunamis ravaged thearchipelago. For many, Heisei conjures up the horrors of the 1995Hanshin earthquake that destroyed Kobe city, and the 2011 EastJapan earthquake and tsunamithat killed over 20,000 people andtriggered one of the world’s worstnuclear disasters.
Consequently, the commencement of the new era, recently announced after months of deliberation as Reiwa, is widely seen as achance to put some of these traumas behind and to defi��ne newhopes for a new epoch.
Reiwa can be interpreted tomean ‘auspicious’ (rei) ‘harmony’
(wa). But, given that kanji can often be understood in multipleways, it is also possible to read reias ‘orderly’ and wa as ‘Japanese’.The latter reading has some Japanese uncomfortable with its authoritative nuance, particularlywithin the context of the current,rightwing government’s emphasison nationalism as a cornerstone ofpolicy.
Japanese Prime Minister ShinzoAbe was open in disclosing the factthat the choice of era name wasmade to refl��ect pride in Japan’s ostensible uniqueness. For the fi��rsttime in history the two kanji comprising the gengo were taken fromJapanese classical literature, rather than Chinese classics, the traditional source for era names.
The new gengo is derived froman ancient collection of Japanesepoetry called Man’yoshu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves) thatfeature poems composed between600 CE and 759 CE. Commentators have been quick to draw a linkbetween this decision to distancethe gengo from Chinese literatureand Japan’s contemporary rivalrywith China.
Name notwithstanding, Emperorelect Naruhito’s Reiwa era willface a formidable set of challenges. The country’s rapidly ageingsociety and declining populationmean that economic growth willrequire either a huge increase in
the number of immigrants or a major technological breakthrough.Japan will also need to innovate toensure it is not left out of the hightech race for leadership at a timewhen artifi��cial intelligence and robotics are reshaping the manufacturing ecosystem. Moreover, China’s dominance in both theeconomic and strategic realms,coupled with the growing unpredictability of the U.S.’s commitmentto Japan’s defence will test Tokyo’sstrategic thinking, forcing it toseek out new allies and accommodations.
Logistical challengesBut fi��rst, the dawn of Reiwa willnecessitate a series of more immediate, logistical changes. Government documents, stamps, newspapers, driving licences, andcalendars will all need to switch tothe new gengo from the Heisei system that’s been in use for the lastthree decades. Computer systemsacross the archipelago are hurriedly being updated for the May 1 handover in what some fear mightprove to be Japan’s Y2K moment.
In his play Romeo and Juliet,Shakespeare famously asked,“What’s in a Name?” In Japan atleast, the answer would appear tobe: A Lot.
Pallavi Aiyar is an author and journalist
based in Tokyo
When a new era dawns, what’s in a name? As Japan’s Emperor Akihito prepares to abdicate, the country gears up for the Reiwa era
AF
P
more letters online:
www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/
Towards the end of the second term of the United Progressive Alliance govern
ment (UPAII), from 2009 to 2014,the corporate sector (captains ofindustry) had become thoroughlydisappointed with the slow rate of“progress” being made. The reputation of UPAII had been tarnished by several highprofi��le corruption scandals. Signifi��cantsections of the Indian elite, bothurban and rural, were also upsetabout the government’s modestwelfare schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme(MNREGS) and also rights and entitlements such as the Right to Information, Right to Education andthe Land Acquisition Act, 2013.
The elites and upper middleincome groups were ready to strikeback and found in Narendra Modian able politician who could spearhead their agenda. He was the vikas purush who would restorehigh profi��tability for the corporatesector and provide a clean government. There was also a populistappeal of “development for all”.
However, the true meaning andsignifi��cance of Mr. Modi’s ascent topower was not lost on those whohad deep knowledge of India.Writing shortly after the 2014 general election, eminent economistand historian Amiya Kumar Bagchiremarked: “The corporate sectorhas now secured undisputed control of the commanding heights ofthe Indian economy and has succeeded in installing a prime minister, of whom they had been vocalsupporters.” We are now at thecusp of another national election,
so it is pertinent to ask what Mr.Modi has been able to achieve inthe last fi��ve years.
It has become common now insome circles to describe the worldthat we live in as “posttruth”. Populism and the rise to prominenceof leaders such as Donald Trump(U.S.), Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil), andViktor Orbán (Hungary) have exposed us to a radically new vocabulary consisting of terms like “alternative facts” and “fake news”. Itseems like evidence is far less relevant in infl��uencing opinion thanfactors like sentiments, emotionsor beliefs.
Backdrop of scarce dataWhile we understand the limits ofclaims made on behalf of “objectivity”, it is very diffi��cult to imagine how a reasoned debate canoccur without adequate evidence.Since Independence, India hascarefully built an enviable reputation in terms of the integrity of itsstatistical organisations and thequality of its economic data. It isperhaps the most remarkable“achievement” of the present government that it has virtually destroyed this reputation by meddling in the work of statisticalorganisations, changing the methodology of computation of key fi��gures (such as GDP), and by suppressing important data.
Given this, it is a major challenge to evaluate the performanceof the present government. Of thevarious attempts that have beenmade to put together scarce evidence, a notable one is the verywellresearched edited volume, AQuantum Leap in the Wrong Direc-tion? It was Nobel laureate Amartya Sen who used the term “quantum leap” to critically describe thecurrent regime, and the volumedoes justice to this loaded metaphor. It examines important dimensions of the present NationalDemocratic Alliance government(NDAII) and the past two regimes,UPAI and II, grouping them
broadly under the subjects ‘Economy’, ‘Socioeconomic Indicators’ and ‘Governance’.
Key parametersTwo issues that are important inevaluating any regime are economic growth and distribution. India, of course, has been celebratedalong with China as the growth engine of the world in recent decades. Has the economy underNDAII outperformed in comparison to previous governments? Recent changes in methodology bythe Central Statistics Offi��ce haverendered such comparisons verydiffi��cult. From the data in this volume, it is clear that NDAII has underperformed in comparison withUPAI and is broadly comparableto UPAII. Average annual growthrates of GDP under NDAII are estimated at 7.4% (the correspondingfi��gures for UPAI and UPAII are8.4% and 7.2%, respectively).
In terms of distribution, ourown research (for the period 19912011) indicates that the Indian economy, after economic liberalisation, was largely driven by inequalityheightening rapid urbangrowth. Farmers and informalworkers in the urban areas havefaced acute distress and witnessedlosses in their income shares.What has happened to inequalityunder the Narendra Modi government? This question cannot be easily answered because the latestsurvey data have not been released. Given this, the volume
draws upon other sources of datasuch as income taxes and the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databaseto make a persuasive case that Indian inequality has continued torise.
The share of the top 10% of incometax payers has increased atthe expense of the bottom half.The wealthiest group (top 1%)owns more than half the nation’swealth today and has consolidateditself during 20142018. What happened to the economic status ofthe most marginalised socialgroups, i.e. Muslims, ScheduledCastes and Scheduled Tribes? Unfortunately, relevant survey datahave not been released. However,one gets a harrowing picture fromthe volume from other data.Crimes against Scheduled Casteshave increased during the period201416. What is noteworthy is thatboth overall crimes and crimes registered under the ScheduledCastes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act have increased in the Bharatiya JanataPartygoverned States such as Gujarat, and Haryana. The media isrife with accounts of cowvigilantism; but to give a statistical picture, Muslims comprised 84% ofthose killed during 201017 acrossthe country. Almost all such attacks (97%) occurred under thepresent government.
Impact of signature policiesThe two major signature policiesthat the government undertook —demonetisation (ostensibly to rootout corruption) and the goods andservices tax (GST) — have provedto be colossal disasters for the economy and the vast majority of Indians. Any doubts about the adverse impact of these policies isdispelled by the analysis in the volume. Comparing the periods before and after demonetisation,while the world economy witnessed improved growth (2.6% to3.1%), the Indian economy suffered a growth decline from 7.8%
to 6.8%. We believe that these twopolicies were launched to servethe longterm interests of the corporate sector at the expense of thevast majority of Indians who reside in cashdependent informaland agrarian economies. It is unsurprising to read in news reportsthat the Indian unemploymentrate is at a 45year high (201718).
While it is amply clear that thecurrent regime has failed to deliver on its promises of developmentand clean government, its true objective has always been to usher ina diff��erent kind of an economy andpolity than the one that the UPAespoused — one that is more corporate and rural elitefriendly. Thewelfare orientation of the UPAI(although it did not go far enoughin our view) was quite unpalatableto the Indian elites.
A correction and reversal wereasked for, and duly executed. Itwas also widely expected that theModi regime would use a majoritarian nationalist mobilisationstrategy (especially if economicgains were not forthcoming for themasses). This is exactly what hasbeen delivered during the Modiyears — a combination of eliteoriented growth and a majoritarian nationalism/Hindutva. Perhaps, in this sense, Mr. Modi’s government has succeeded exactlyin what it set out to do.
Several people who voted forMr. Modi inspired by his promiseof development and a corruptionfree India must now see the failureof his regime clearly on thesefronts. As Rabindranath Tagore refl��ected, if the choice is between anation that is fundamentally exclusionary, and a society that standsfor basic human values and espouses tolerance among a multiplicity of cultures and identities,the path forward is clear.
Vamsi Vakulabharanam and Sripad
Motiram teach Economics at the
University of Massachusetts, in Amherst
and Boston, U.S., respectively
The governance dashboard �� �� The current regime has failed to deliver on its promises of development and clean government
Vamsi Vakulabharanam &
Sripad Motiram
GE
TT
Y IM
AG
ES
Voter holds the keyIn a sort of farewell blog,BJP veteran L.K. Advani hassaid, “those who disagreewith us are not ourenemies”. For the BJP,strident denigration ofopponents and selfpraisepopulism are two sides ofthe same coin that it put incirculation ever since itbegan facing fl��ak for itsfailures on the socioeconomic front. The party,led by the Prime Minister,mounts severe andpersonal attacks on rivalleaders even as theOpposition (for example,the Congress’s leader) saysit has quarrels with policiesand not persons. The BJPbuilt up a narrative on a“corrupt Opposition” thathas since been undone byRafale as the game ofperception can be playedby others too. It is strangethat the BJP, having come to
power solely on thedevelopment plank, shouldnow rely largely on rabblerousing, and the Congresson an inclusive manifesto.In 2019, the Indian votermust yet rely on hisinstincts to seek his destiny.R. Narayanan,
Navi Mumbai
Claims and the truthA U.S.based magazine hascited American personnelas having counted thenumber of F16 fi��ghteraircraft with the PakistanAir Force and found noneto be missing (“Imranaccuses BJP of whipping upwar hysteria”, April 7). Thisreport has confused manyof us who were led tobelieve that India shotdown an F16. India,meanwhile, has stuck to itsstand saying it hasconclusive evidence thatthe aircraft was shot down.
We need to know the truth.Is it so diffi��cult to verify? K.V. Seetharamaiah,
Hassan, Karnataka
A page in historyMany historical events losetheir sheen over a period oftime except when markedby occasional references byacademicians of history(‘Magazine’ section, “Themany meanings ofJallianwala Bagh”, April 7).But Jallianwala Bagh will godown in the annals ofhistory as one of thedarkest chapters in Indiancolonial history. It sowedthe seeds for the ultimateexpulsion of the British. ButIndia paid a heavy price.Unfortunately, Britainnever showed any signs ofremorse, with successivePrime Ministers not eveninclined to off��er an apology,the least one could haveexpected from the British.
Hundred years is no doubta very long period to harpon an issue any furtherwhen political equationshave changed diametricallyin the international arena.It is better to leave bygonesas bygones and insteaddedicate the occasion toliving life in a moreharmonious, civilised andtolerant way cutting acrossborders. That is the besttribute one can off��er to thehundreds who lost theirlives.V. Subramanian
Chennai
■ That the Britishgovernment has been dillydallying to apologise for itsmany errors speaks volumesabout the impact ofcolonialism. I am remindedof several instances of suchinternal colonialism in India,an example being theTelangana movement in the
assistant professors in theKerala Health Departmenthad this: “Who were the fi��rstwomen to have entered theSabarimala Ayyappa templeas per the Supreme Courtruling?” Is this what futureassistant professors ofpsychiatry need to know? K A Solaman,
S.L. Puram, Alappuzha, Kerala
1960s. The message is simpleand clear: one should learnfrom the past.A. Vishweshwara Sharma,
Sangareddy, Telangana
Odd questionNot all public servicecommission examinationshave serious questions. A fewof them are quite funny. Forexample, an objectivetypequestion paper set for
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.
Aforecast of a below average monsoon in 2019, af
ter last year’s erratic rainfall that fl��ooded Kerala
and crippled agriculture in eastern and western
States, is a cause for worry. If the assessment from one
agency, Skymet, is any indication, there is a prospect of
an El Niño, often associated with drought conditions,
taking hold. This must, of course, be considered along
with other factors that seem to weaken the El Niño link,
such as a dipole weather phenomenon in the Indian
Ocean. Should the monsoon, which normally sets in
between June 1 and July 15 across the country, turn out
to be defi��cient, it will add to the pressures on rural em
ployment and the economy as a whole. Things may be
come clearer when the India Meteorological Depart
ment also issues its forecast, although error margins
and the erratic nature of rainfall in diff��erent regions
render the exercise fraught with uncertainty. Last year,
for instance, the realisation of rainfall was 91% of the
longterm average, while the prediction was for 97%.
More immediately, India will go to the polls in the peak
of summer after an intensive campaign. It is the respon
sibility of State administrations to prepare for the likeli
hood of a heat spike, particularly during April and May,
to prevent loss of life and extreme distress to commun
ities. Offi��cial agencies and NGOs should start adopting
the drill on this, using the template drawn up by the Na
tional Disaster Management Authority.
The key elements of protection in a heat wave are
avoiding exposure during the hottest part of the day
around noon, especially in the case of senior citizens,
staying adequately hydrated, wearing suitable clothing
including headgear, and creating shade in public plac
es. These messages and weather alerts can be dissemi
nated through television, mobile phone messaging and
social media platforms. Urban local bodies in particular
have a responsibility to care for the large number of vul
nerable city dwellers. Yet, few cities have drawn up
proper heat action plans to respond to extreme weath
er or made them public. During the current year, there
is apprehension that the focus of administrators will
mainly be on the conduct of the elections, relegating
the public health risk of heat waves to the backburner.
With the availability of advance weather alerts, there is
no reason why local bodies cannot institute remedial
measures. Mitigating the eff��ect of heat waves is vital to
ensuring a high turnout in the elections by making it
safe for voters. India is looking at another uncertain
monsoon, bringing into sharp relief the neglected po
tential of decentralised waterharvesting. It is more
than a decade since the National Commission on Farm
ers suggested the wider adoption of both rainwater har
vesting and aquifer recharge, in order to provide irriga
tion for small farmers. It is time to take measures that
will help communities achieve resilience.
The heat is onLocal administrations must draw up plans to
address heat stress and possible water scarcity
Foreign investors appear to have rediscovered In
dia. The infl��ow of foreign capital into India’s stock
market in the month of March hit a high of $4.89
billion, the biggest foreign infl��ow into Indian stocks
since February 2012. As a result, the stock market rose a
solid 8% in March. Foreign investment in Indian equi
ties stood at $2.42 billion in February, as against a net
outfl��ow of $4.4 billion during the same month a year
earlier, and is expected to be strong in April as well.
Both cyclical and structural factors are behind this sud
den uptick in foreign investment that has helped the ru
pee make an impressive comeback. The rupee has ap
preciated by about 7% since early October, when it was
reeling at around 74 against the dollar. Last year, India
received more foreign direct investment than China for
the fi��rst time in two decades. While the Chinese econo
my has been slowing down considerably in the last one
year, India has emerged as the fastestgrowing major
economy. Doubts over the robustness of the GDP calcu
lation method notwithstanding, it is clear that investors
expect India to be a major source of global growth in
the coming years. Other shortterm reasons may also be
behind some of the recent infl��ow of capital into the
country. For one, there is a sense among a section of in
vestors that their fears of political instability are mis
placed. More important, there are clear signs that west
ern central banks have turned dovish. Both the Federal
Reserve and the European Central Bank, for instance,
have promised to keep interest rates low for longer.
This has caused investors to turn towards relatively
highyielding emerging market debt. Indian midcap
stocks, which suff��ered a deep rout last year, are now too
attractive to ignore for many foreign investors.
The return of foreign capital is obviously a good sign
for the Indian economy. But policymakers need to be
careful not to take foreign investors for granted. Other
emerging Asian economies will be competing hard to
attract foreign capital, which is extremely nimble. Any
mistake by policymakers will aff��ect India’s image as an
investment destination. To retain investor confi��dence,
whichever government comes to power after the gener
al election this summer will need to increase the pace of
structural reforms and also ensure proper macroeco
nomic management with the help of the Reserve Bank
of India. Longpending reforms to the labour and land
markets are the most pressing structural changes that
will aff��ect India’s longterm growth trajectory. The high
fi��scal defi��cit of both the Centre and the State govern
ments and the disruptive outfl��ow of foreign capital are
the other macroeconomic challenges. These are some
issues that need to be solved sooner rather than later.
Capital highTo retain the confi��dence of foreign investors,
macroeconomic management is key
corrections & clarifications:
In his response to a question on rating the performance of theBJPled government at the Centre (Interview, “Is the Army a toolfor fi��ghting an election, asks Navjot Singh Sidhu” (April 7, 2019) theCongress party’s campaigner was reported to have said that the“unemployment in the country is at the lowest level in 45 years, asper the NSSO fi��gures.” It should have been the highest level.
In the story titled “At the international border, a ‘Modi wave’fl��ies above BJP fl��ags” (April 7, 2019), the names of the BJP and Congress candidates had been wrongly given as Raman Bhalla andJugal Kishore Sharma respectively. Actually, Raman Bhalla is theCongress candidate and Jugal Kishore Sharma is the BJP candidate.
In the Ground Zero page story “Encroachers on their ownlands” (April 6, 2019), the name of the Gond Adivasi had been misspelt as “Kureti” instead of “Kumeti”.
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/SSC4Exam https://t.me/Banking4Exam https://t.me/UPSC4Exam
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THE HINDU DELHI
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CMYK
A ND-NDE
OPED
The Deputy Minister of External Aff��airs, Mr. Surendra PalSingh, disclosed in the Lok Sabha today [April 7, New Delhi]that India proposed to hold talks with the Kenya Governmenton the question of repatriation of assets of Indian citizens andIndians holding British passports. He said that the talks werecontemplated to see that these people did not suff��er untolddiffi��culties. Mr. Singh was intervening in the debate on thebudget demands of the Ministry of External Aff��airs. The debate was inconclusive. The need for fi��lling the “power vacuum” in the Indian Ocean that would arise from the withdrawalof Britain was one of the points raised.
FIFTY YEARS AGO APRIL 8, 1969
Talks to be held with Kenya on Indians’ assets
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FROM ARCHIVES
The Satyagraha Committee advised [in Bombay] that for thetime being laws regarding prohibited literature and registration of newspapers may civilly disobeyed. Accordingly, a number of copies of Hind Swarajya, the Sarvodaya or UniversalDawn, the Story of a Satyagrahi, all by Mr. M.K. Gandhi, andlife and addresses of Mustafa Kamel Pasha, were publicly offered for sale this evening [April 7] and found some readybuyers. The hawkers were all prominent Satyagrahis amongwhom were Mr. Gandhi, Mrs. Naidu, Mr. Sobani, Mr. Lakhimdas Tairsee and others. All books sold contained the signatureof the Hawkers. A number of unregistered newspapers, mostlyresembling ordinary posters and leafl��ets both in Print andHandwriting in Guzerathi were also sold.
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO APRIL 8, 1919.
Civil disobedience. Mr. Gandhi Leads.
With the election season getting allthe attention, I wonder whether Mahatma Gandhi would have participated in the election had he been alive.One thing is evident today: whileGandhi is hailed as the founding father of the Indian republic and one ofthe architects of democratic politicsin modern India, it is not recognisedequally well today that we can drawvaluable lessons of political actionand democracy from him. However,it goes without saying that Gandhi isperhaps more relevant now than ever before for our understanding ofelections, at a time when India fi��ndsitself at a crossroads between a hopefor civic republicanism and a practice of demagogic populism.
The need for moral leadersIt is no secret to anyone who lives inIndia and shares time and passionwith Indians from diff��erent walks oflife that the small cast of politiciansand their supporters are not engagedin what Gandhi called “an experiment with Truth”. This is perhapsbecause politics in contemporary India, as everywhere else in the world,fi��nds itself prisoner of the administrative system and the corporatemindset, both of which suff��er from asevere absence of selfexamination.Indeed, what India needs most atthis time of elections is not mass mobilisers but moral leaders.
Considering the profound spiritual nature of Gandhi’s personalityand his deep ethical view of politics,we could say that if he was among ustoday, he would have certainly boycotted the elections. He would havebeen troubled by the Machiavellianessence of Indian politics and its populist and demagogic end results. Assuredly, it is important to graspGandhi’s character above all as aman who remained all through hislife as a person truthful to the ethical.
In a sense, then, Gandhi’s view ofpolitics starts where party politicsends. What Gandhi understands bypolitics is the art of organising society, not the technique of power making and party organising. That is why
Gandhian politics is at the same timeantipopulist and antielitist.
Democracy and mobocracyGandhi has always been consideredas a charismatic leader, but his unmediated appeal to the citizens wasbased neither on a Manichaeanfriendenemy distinction, nor on thesupreme will of the masses. As thehistory of modern India shows us,while political parties have been subservient to the masses and the masses have followed party leaders without questioning, some politicalfi��gures like Gandhi or Ambedkar hadthe courage to turn against mobs.Gandhi considered democracy andmobocracy as opposite forms of conducting politics and organising Indian society. Gandhi affi��rmed:“Those who claim to lead the massesmust resolutely refuse to be led bythem, if we want to avoid mob lawand desire ordered progress for thecountry. I believe that mere protestation of one’s opinion and surrenderto the mass opinion is not only notenough, but in matters of vital importance, leaders must act contraryto the mass opinion if it does notcommend itself to their reason.”
In other words, Gandhi considered contempt for civic virtue as abetrayal of the spirit of democracy.For him, democratic governance, unlike party politics, which alwaystends towards unexamined and obedient masses, was based on the maturity of citizens. Gandhi’s sharpreaction against the Chauri Chauraincident was an expression of his re
jection of mobocracy. After this incident, Gandhi revoked his plans forlaunching mass civil disobedience atBardoli on the ground that the masses were not morally prepared for anonviolent struggle against the British. But it is also worth mentioningthat Gandhi considered masses guilty of what politicians became. As heput it: “We the people make the rulers what they are.” Moreover, Gandhiinsisted on the twin concepts of selftransformation and civic maturity.As a matter of fact, he underlined: “Ifwe reform ourselves, the rulers willautomatically do so.”
Gandhi, therefore, approachedpragmatic politics as a form of characterbuilding and not necessarilyorganising a political party and winning seats in Parliament. He called it“a capacity to regulate national life”.However, inspired by the AmericanTranscendentalist, Henry David Thoreau, he underlined, “If national lifebecomes so perfect as to becomeselfregulated, no representation becomes necessary. There is then astate of enlightened anarchy. In sucha state everyone is his own ruler. Inthe ideal state therefore, there is nopolitical power because there is nostate. But the ideal is never fully realised in life. Hence the classical statement of Thoreau that the government is best which governs theleast.”
Undoubtedly, Gandhi, the moralleader, was not a pure idealist. Hewas a pragmatic practitioner, whowanted to apply ethical values and civilisational criteria to the political or
ganisation of Indian society andbeyond. Strangely, the Gandhiancommon sense is considered as an irrelevant and insignifi��cant matter tothe eyes of those who are ruling Indiaand the world today. Unfortunately,in today’s world, political circumstances and temperaments do not allow politicians to concentrate anymore on the education and duty ofcitizens. That is why, while uncriticaland utilitarian minds are shaped andformed in universities in India andaround the world, originality and exemplarity of future Mahatma Gandhis are killed in the embryo.
But what if Gandhi were alive? Hewould have certainly tried to createawareness in the minds of the younger generation. Let us also agree thathe would have had a strong intervention (example, fasting unto death) inrelation with the cases of corruption,sexual harassment and populist demagogy in everyday politics.
When power politics took overHowever, this would have been toomuch for those who are involved today in politics. Frankly, despite thesymbolic devotion which is shown toGandhi by political leaders, there is afeeling of comfort that a stubbornand critical veteran of democratic action like him is no more around.
In a more sinister manner, weeven fi��nd strong reasons of rejectinga national fi��gure like Gandhi in Nathuram Godse’s analysis of his assassination: “I foresaw that I shall be totally ruined and the only thing that Icould expect from the people wouldbe nothing but hatred and that I shallhave lost all my honour, even morevaluable than my life, if I were to killGandhiji. But at the same time I feltthat Indian politics in the absence ofGandhiji would be more practical,able to retaliate, and would be powerful with armed forces.” Godsewas right. Once Gandhi was eliminated, power politics could take over.India has been independent for 71years based on electoral liberalism inthe name of Gandhi. But for morethan 71 years, politicians have distanced themselves from Gandhi’s legacy. Unsurprisingly, once again Indians will go to the polls withouthaving the Mahatma on their minds.
Ramin Jahanbegloo is Professor, Vice Dean
and Director, Mahatma Gandhi Centre for
Peace Studies, Jindal Global Law School,
Jindal Global University
Considering his view of politics, he would have privileged civic virtue in elections
“Gandhi is perhaps more relevant now than ever before for our understandingof elections.” File photo of Gandhi at Mani Bhavan, Bombay. * THE HINDU ARCHIVES
If Gandhi were alive today
Ramin Jahanbegloo
It may sound unreal. But how do I explain receiving two contradictory mails within aspan of 20 minutes on the role of journalism?One reader wanted to know the Indian parallel to the exclusive investigation by The NewYork Times into Rupert Murdoch, the founder of a global media empire that includesFox News, and its disturbing hold on political outcomes. Each of the media outlets inthat empire has destabilised democracy inNorth America, Europe and Australia. Thereader wanted to know whether the broadcast of NaMo TV shows India as moving inthe same worrying direction.
Claims and counter-claimsAt the same time, I got a mail from a readerfrom Uttarakhand, who questioned this newspaper’s reportage on the U.S.’s count of Pakistan’s F16 fi��ghter jets. Foreign Policy reported a few days ago that it spoke to twosenior U.S. defence offi��cials, who told themagazine that U.S. personnel recently counted Pakistan’s F16s and found none missing.The reader from Uttarakhand was certainthat since the report in the magazine was notissued by an offi��cial channel, it was unverifi��ed and aimed at hurting the electoral prospects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Thisreader refuses to see the overt politicisationof security measures and the use of thearmed forces for political ends.
How did The Hindu report this story? Headlined “U.S. count of Pakistan’s F16 fi��ghterjets found none missing, claims Americanmagazine”, the report from Washington, DCby the newspaper’s U.S. correspondent quotes the magazine as meticulously listing outthe contradictions in the claims made by theIndian security establishment since the aerial engagement between India and Pakistanin February this year.
Various Indian agencies suggested thatWing Commander Abhinandan Varthamanhad downed an F16, based on his debriefi��ng.Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman alsorepeated the claim that an F16 was downed.The Hindu report documents the fact that India had asked the U.S. to investigate whether
Pakistan had breached the terms of its F16deal with the Americans. The count had nowbeen completed and the U.S. said that “allaircraft were present and accounted for”.
How can a report based on information ina respectable magazine be seen as an attempt to play politics? In its response, the Indian Air Force reiterated that the aircraftshot down in a dogfi��ght by a MiG21 in Nowshera sector on February 27 was an F16. Itrejected the claim in the Foreign Policy report that none of the Pakistan Air Force’sU.S.supplied jets was found missing after arecent count. It is crucial to note that authorities tend to hide behind anonymity. The Indian Air Force’s version was circulatedthrough the news agency IANS.
The U.S. magazine report, in the opinionof the foreign policy writer of this newspaper, Stanly Johny, confi��rmed that India lost ajet and a chopper, that an Indian pilot wascaptured by Pakistan and paraded beforecamera, and that there was no evidence thatIndia’s strike in Balakot had hit the actual target and killed terrorists. In a sense, the factsnegate the narrative that has been fl��owingfrom the political establishment. A closereading of the facts raises many questions.
Serving the public goodElections do generate pressure on journaliststo deviate from the core values of journalism. War has the potential to generate passion that sways both the electorate and themedia. It becomes a deadly combinationwhen war machines and the electoral processes are permitted to intertwine. If journalism has to survive and serve the publicgood, it should maintain its critical distancefrom offi��cial propaganda. It needs to retainits ability to pose questions. The New YorkTimes story has come up with some crucialtakeaways in its investigation into Mr. Murdoch’s media industry and the central lessonis that his family sits at the centre of globalupheaval.
What The Hindu did in reporting aboutthe F16 numbering is a part of the essentialelements of journalism. George Orwell oncesaid, “In a time of deceit telling the truth is arevolutionary act.” Taking about the militaryand its claims in a dispassionate manner iscentral to democracy. It is an attempt to retain journalism within the spirit of public inquiry and not reduce it to a force multiplierfor electoral gains.
Retaining the ability to questionIf journalism has to survive, it should maintain critical distance from offi��cial propaganda
A.S. Panneerselvan
FROM THE READERS’ EDITOR
Hyperconsumption is a curse of ourmodern times. Humans generatemonumental amounts of waste, a sizeable portion of which is disposed inlandfi��lls and through wastetoenergyincinerators. However, billions oftonnes of garbage, including microplastics, never make it to landfi��lls or
incinerators and end up in the oceans. This garbage chokesmarine life and disturbs zooplankton, which are vital to theelimination of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Landfi��lls are seedbeds of methane and other greenhousegases, which contribute to global warming. These toxicchemicals poison the soil and their leached runoff�� makes itsway into the oceans. And while they do generate energy,waste incinerators cause health issues such as cancer. In India, nearly 60% of the household waste is wet organic waste,with low calorifi��c value. This makes options such as wastetoenergy incinerators ineffi��cient. We need to design incinerators that are suited to Indian conditions.
It does seem overwhelming, but there are solutions to thegarbage pandemic through the crucial processes of materialrecycling and composting. Effi��cient composting is possiblethrough an optimal combination of microbes and temperature to produce a nutrientdense soil conditioner.
Mathangi Swaminathan, in her article in Economic andPolitical Weekly, sheds light on India’s broken waste management system. In India, less than 60% of waste is collectedfrom households and only 15% of urban waste is processed.
There are several problems in India in how waste is treated. First, segregation of waste into organic, recyclable andhazardous categories is not enforced at source. As a result,mixed waste lands up in the landfi��lls, where wastepickers,in hazardous conditions, try to salvage the recyclables,which are of poor quality and quantity by then. Second,ideally, waste management should not be off��ered free of costto residents. Only if residents pay will they realise the importance of segregation and recycling. Third, there is the issueof logistical contractors who are motivated to dump moregarbage in landfi��lls as their compensation is proportional tothe tonnage of waste. They are also prone to illegally dumpwaste at unauthorised sites to reduce transportation costs.Fourth, and importantly, organic farming and compostingare not economically attractive to the Indian farmer, aschemical pesticides are heavily subsidised, and the compostis not effi��ciently marketed.
We need a comprehensive waste management policy thatstresses the need for decentralised garbage disposal practices, This will incentivise private players to participate. Unlessthese concerns are addressed, what will we tell our childrenwho inherit this planet? That our greatest existential challenge, climate change, was also facilitated by garbage?
The writer is based in Chennai
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Cleaning up the messIndia needs a waste management policythat stresses the need for decentralisedgarbage disposal practices
Madhurika Sankar
EN
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Bicameral legislature
Bicameralism is the practice of having two Houses of Parliament. At the State level, the equivalent of the Lok Sabha is theVidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly), and that of the RajyaSabha is the Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council). A socalledUpper House is considered important in the parliamentarysystem, as only a third of the seats are fi��lled every two yearsand it therefore acts as a check against potential impetuousness of electoral majorities in the Lower House. With members mostly indirectly elected, the Upper House also ensuresthat individuals who might not be cut out for the roughandtumble of direct elections too are able to contribute to the legislative process. Under Article 169, Parliament may by lawcreate or abolish the second chamber in a State if the Legislative Assembly of that State passes a resolution to that eff��ect bya special majority. At present, seven Indian States have bicameral legislatures. Some argue that unlike the Rajya Sabha, theVidhan Parishad does not serve must purpose and poses astrain on States’ fi��nances.
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