2EAM JAishAnkAr tAkEs rAhul to tAsk on lAdAkh fAcE-off

9sAlivA bAn will MAkE things difficult for bowlErs: shAMi

8why ‘uMrAo JAAn’ is so spEciAl for AbhishEk bAchchAn

tibEtAn govt-in-ExilE slAMs chinA for fAcE-offDharamsala: Tibetan govern-ment-in-exile President Lobsang Sangay on Thursday condemned the death of the Indian soldiers in Ladakh’s Galwan valley and urged both India and China to resolve the issue non-violently and amicably. At the same time, Sangay said, “India needs to learn from the Tibet narrative and how the Chinese leadership mindset works moving forward”.

nEpAl uppEr housE EndorsEs proposAl to updAtE nEw MApKathmandu: Nepal’s Upper House on Thursday endorsed the New Map Amendment Bill (Coat of Arms) unanimously. A total of 57 lawmakers voted in support while none voted against, or abstained. The new bill proposes a change in the map of Nepal to include parts of Indian terri-tory. On Sunday, Nepal ‘s Upper House had endorsed a pro-posal to discuss the Constitution amendment bill to update the country’s map that incorporates parts of Indian territory. This development comes after the lower house of Parliament unani-mously passed the constitution amendment bill to approve the new map, which includes Indian territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura.

rAhul writEs lEttErs to fAMiliEs of MArtyrs New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has written letters expressing his condolences to the families of the 20 Indian Army personnel, who lost their lives in the violent face-off with Chinese troops in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley. One such letter was written to deceased Havildar Thiru K Palani’s family (as shown in the picture). “I am deeply pained by the tragic death of your husband. Thiru K. Palani. Today, the entire nation bows its head to him for his sacrifice. We will never forget his patriotism and spirit. He gave his life to the nation to ensure that every Indian citizen can live in peace and freedom. Gandhi has been targetting the govern-ment over the LAC issue.

19 june 2020 | Issue 49 | new delhi

In a terse statement the Ministry of External Af-fairs on Thursday un-

equivocally told China that India’s activities are well within its side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), and the Chinese too should con-fine their activities to their

side. “Given its responsible approach to border manage-ment, India is very clear that all its activities are always within the Indian side of the LAC. We expect the Chinese side to also confine its activi-ties to its side of the LAC,” said the MEA spokesperson on Thursday. Meanwhile, Indian and Chinese military talks at Galwan Valley over

the violent clashes along the LAC in eastern Ladakh end-ed on Thursday on a slightly positive trajectory, however nothing has moved on the ground. The talks between the two countries’ militaries will continue on Friday.

The MEA also asked Chi-na to strictly respect and observe the Line of Actual Control and not take any

unilateral action to alter it. India reminded China that it was agreed that both sides would implement the disen-gagement understanding of 6 June and that neither side would take any action to es-calate matters and instead, ensure peace and tranquility as per bilateral agreements and protocols.

While talking tough on

territorial issues, India also emphasised on its resolu-tion to resolve the issues peacefully. The MEA said that that the two sides are in regular touch through their respective embassies and foreign offices and that at the ground level the two sides have maintained com-munication at the command-ers’ level. India also clarified

that meetings of diplomatic mechanisms such as Work-ing Mechanism for Consul-tation and Coordination on Border Affairs are under discussion.

While emphasising on the need for dialogue, the MEA made it clear that In-dia would in no way bow down on territorial integrity. “While we remain firmly

convinced of the need for maintenance of peace and tranquility in the borders ar-eas and the resolution of dif-ferences through dialogue, at the same time, as the PM stated yesterday, we are also strongly committed to ensur-ing India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”, said the MEA spokesperson.

indiA tAlks tough, Asks chinA to obsErvE lAc rulEs strictly

Social distancing! what?

People flout social distancing as they walk in a commercial hub to buy household articles, in Chennai on Thursday. ANI

gAlwAn violEncE

‘rApid AntigEn kit’

chhAttisgArh MystErycoMMErciAl Mining

Corona reports in Delhi now within 30 minutes

Sushant death mystery continues as police look at Yash Raj details

covid-19 fEAr MAkEs MAoists AbAndon woMAn coMrAdE

E-auction for 41 coal blocks will make us energy self-reliant: PM

As the MEA goes on diplomatic offensive, Indian Army says that there are no soldiers ‘missing in action’ after the violent face-off with Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh.

Delhi has recorded 2,414 fresh coronavirus cases, the highest single-day spike, taking the tally over the 47,000-mark in the national capital. To ramp up corona-virus testing facilities in the capital, the Delhi govern-ment has started a “Rapid Antigen Kit” test in Delhi›s Containment Zone. The

“Rapid Antigen Kit” test can give results within 15 to 30 minutes. The Delhi govern-ment has also reduced the prices of RT-PCR test by al-most half. Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has temporarily taken charge of the health ministry and oth-er departments which were under Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain as the latter tested positive for Covid-19.

This responsibility will re-main with him till the recov-ery of Satyendar Jain. Since Sunday, he is being treated at the Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital in Delhi.

Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal tweeted on the “Rapid Antigen Kit” test,

“Two important things hap-pened today. Covid-19 test-ing rates in Delhi have been reduced to Rs 2,400 and rapid-antigen testing has started. I hope people won’t face any problem in getting themselves tested now.” He added, “All the laboratories have been told that they will work at the maximum ca-pacity and maximum tests can be done without any restriction; also the “Rapid Antigen Kit” gives its results in just 15-30 minutes. The tests have started on a very large scale from today, so I

don›t think people of Delhi will have any problem with testing from now.»

With the number of coro-na patients also increasing continuously in the cities around Delhi, Home Min-ister Amit Shah chaired a high-level meeting on coro-navirus. Delhi Chief Minis-ter Kejriwal also attended this meeting. Home Minis-ter Amit Shah clearly stated that a common strategy would have to be made for the NCR to stop the spread of coronavirus in Delhi. In the meeting, it has been de-cided that the entire NCR will be considered as one unit to tackle the spread of the coronavirus. Ghaziabad, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad along with Delhi will also give their full contribution in the fight against corona.

this is thE initiAl stEp in thE pAth towArds thE country's finEst dAily nEwspApEr.

shArpEst kid on thE block

top of the day

The mystery surrounding the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput continues as the Mumbai Police is looking into the details of a contract between the actor and Yash Raj Films. In another development, the deceased actor’s close friend Rhea Chakraborty has recently re-corded her statement in the Bandra police station. The Jalebi actress was summoned by the police in connec-tion with the actor’s death by suicide on Sunday.

The police have also recorded the statements of his business man-ager and members of his PR team. His manager revealed that she had worked with him from July 2019 till February 2020. She also revealed that how Sushant was working on four other projects other than acting in films. Till now Mumbai police has recorded state-

ments of 13 people that include his family, friends and house help. All angles ranging from reports of his depression to his problems in the film industry are being considered. On Wednesday, police recorded the statement of Bollywood cast-ing director Mukesh Chhabra, who was also close to Rajput. Police said Chhabra had good relations with the late actor.

Police have also recovered five per-sonal diaries from Rajput’s Bandra residence, which will be reviewed to find any leads to ascertain his cause of depression and trigger for suicide. The late actor had cleared his staff’s dues three days before he took this extreme step.

Meanwhile, the family of Rajput immersed his ashes in river Ganga in Patna. The post-mortem report said that the cause of his death was asphyxia due to hanging. The police said that it was a case of death by sui-cide and that no note was found.

Corona fear has gripped the Maoist heart-land of Chhattisgarh as battalion com-mander and dreaded Maoist Hidma re-moved a fellow Naxal leader and sent her on forced leave in Bijapur district of Bastar. Fearing that Sumitra might be suffering from Covid-19, Hidma ousted her from her role of leading Battalion 1 and abandoned her at a quarantine facility. She was found in the Modakpal area of Bijapur and her samples have been sent for testing at a lab.

She was part of Battalion 1 which is led by Hidma, who is one of the most dreaded Maoist leaders in the Bastar region and is accused of having conducted several op-erations against the security forces includ-ing the attack on Congress leaders in Jeer-am Valley and even the attack on CRPF battalion in Tadmetla area. Sumitra has been a part of the same group for the last

A two-stage e-auction of 41 coal blocks for commercial mining was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. Going to be held through video-conferencing, this auction pro-cess has been adopted for the allocation of coal mines and as a part of the an-nouncements under the “Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan” of the Central govern-ment. The PM called it a major step to-wards making India self-reliant in the energy sector.

This auction process marks the begin-ning of opening of Indian coal sector for commercial mining which will enable the country achieve self-sufficiency in meeting its energy needs and boost in-dustrial development. With the launch

of commercial mining, India has un-locked the coal sector fully with oppor-tunities for investors related to mining, power and clean coal sectors.

According to PM Modi, India would turn the Covid-19 crisis into an oppor-tunity and the economy of the country has been fast returning to normal since Unlock 1.0. He said that the area under wheat procurement and Kharif crops has also increased this year, leading to the betterment of the rural economy as well. The pre-pandemic consumption and demand rate has also been restored in the Indian market.A self-reliant India, according to

Modi, means saving foreign currency on imports by reducing dependency on foreign goods. This can be achieved by developing resources domestically and making India the biggest exporter

of commodities that it was importing till now. In order to achieve this, every sector, every product and every ser-vice had to be worked upon integrally. Hence, in the energy sector, the auc-tion for commercial mining was an important step towards making India self-reliant.“Today, a major step is being taken to make India self-reliant in the energy sector. This event not only marks the implementation of reforms concerning just a single sector i.e. the coal mining sector, but also represents the commit-ment to realise 130 crore aspirations. This marks the beginning of lakhs of employment opportunities for our youth,” the Prime Minister said.

PM Modi said that the launch of com-mercial mining marked both imple-

Brijesh Pandey and navtan KumarNeW DeLHI

urvashi KhonaMUMBAI

shiv Pujan jhaPATNA

P2

P2 P2

P2

PulKit nagar & aishvarya jainNeW DeLHI

meenaKshi uPretiNeW DeLHI

NCR to be treated as one unit to tackle Covid-19 effectively. 

India opens commercial coal mining to private companies for the first time.

coMMErciAl Mining‘rApid AntigEn kit’

‘pEddling MisinforMAtion’ post lAc fAcE-off

protEstcoronA iMpAct

finAnciAl MisMAnAgEMEnt

coronA rEports in dElhi now within 30 MinutEs

Covid-19 fear makes Maoists abandon woman comrade

E-auction for 41 coal blocks will make us energy self-reliant: PM

2 news t h e da i ly gua r d i a n19 j u n e 2 0 2 0n ew d e l h i

Union Minister of External Affairs S. Jais-hankar on Thursday took Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to task for “peddling mis-

information” regarding the India-China face-off in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.

Congress parliamentarian Rahul Gandhi had tweeted a video of a national newspaper on Thurs-day morning, asking why Indian soldiers were “unarmed” during the face-off with the Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on Monday night.

“How dare China kill our UNARMED soldiers? Why were our soldiers sent UNARMED to mar-

tyrdom?” Gandhi had commented, evoking mas-sive response on Twitter. In an unusual reaction,

Jaishankar, who generally stays away from po-litical squabbles on social media, rebutted Rahul Gandhi on Twitter over the issue.

“Let us get the facts straight,” Jaishankar tweet-ed, saying, “All troops on border duty always carry arms, especially when leaving post.”

“Those at Galwan on 15 June did so. Long-stand-ing practice (as per 1996 & 2005 agreements) not to use firearms during faceoffs,” he wrote.

However, many commentators on Twitter asked Jaishankar why the Foreign Minister, and not De-fence Minister Rajnath Singh, was issuing a state-ment on matters related to military protocol and standoff. Some commentators also asked why the soldiers who died did not use their arms, if they were carrying them.With agency inputs

EAM Jaishankar takes Rahul to task on Ladakh face-off

rAilwAys cAncEls rs 471 crorE contrAct with chinEsE firM

CAG report says previous Naidu govt pushed Andhra Pradesh into deep debt trap

CorresPondentNeW DeLHI raKesh singh

NeW DeLHI

saByasaChi roy Chowdhury NeW DeLHI

ashish sinhaNeW DeLHI

loKeswara raoHyDeRABAD

The “Boycott China” cam-paign is gaining momentum after the Galwan Valley inci-dent. The Indian Railways has cancelled the contract awarded to Beijing National Railway Research and De-sign Institute of Signal and Communication Group, though it says the move has nothing to do with the recent India-China face-off in the Ladakh region. This Chinese company was awarded the contract to build the Kanpur-Deen Dayal Upadhyay sec-tion, a 417-km-long corridor.

The Railways awarded this contract in June 2016 for Rs 471 crore and only 20 percent of the total work had been completed in the last four years. Though the

reason for the cancellation was technical, the timing was all political. As per the company agreement, tech-nical documents such as logic design and electronic interlocking had not been submitted for this project. Also, no engineer or officer of the company was avail-able on site.

There was a possibility of

delay in work as the compa-ny had not yet entered into an agreement with any lo-cal agency. So it was impos-sible to speed up the work. The Indian Railways also said several meetings were held with the company of-ficials and despite being re-peatedly made aware of the problems they did not pay attention to it.

Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrab-abu Naidu always says that he is the master of econom-ics and creator of wealth, but a Comptroller and Au-ditor General (CAG) report tells another story. As per its report, the previous Chan-drababu Naidu government had failed miserably to im-prove the fiscal condition of the state, post its bifurcation.

The report for the fiscal year 2017-18, which was tabled in the state Assem-bly and later released on Thursday, is highly critical of Naidu and his misleading claims. It claims that Naidu, as Chief Minister, pushed the state into deep debt trap, thanks to mismanagement and unproductive spend-

ing of the then government. Naidu’s government had taken Rs 45,860.75 crore through ways and means and overdraft but could not repay them on time, and paid Rs 44.31 crore of additional interest on it.

CAG accused that Naidu’s financial policies acted as the death knell to the state of

Andhra Pradesh. By March 2018, the debt piled up to Rs 2,23,706 crore, but no assets were created with the bor-rowed sum. The debt repay-ment increased from 18.22% in 2016-17 to 22.51% in 2017-18. The overall loan outstand-ing of the state to be cleared in the next seven years went up to Rs 91,599 crore.

Making it clear that it was the Chinese who transgressed and showed aggression first, the MEA

said, “While it was our expectation that this would unfold smoothly, the Chinese side departed from the con-sensus to respect the LAC in the Gal-wan valley. On the late evening and night of 15th June 2020, a violent face off happened when the Chinese side unilaterally attempted to change the status quo there. They took premedi-tated and planned action that was di-rectly responsible for the resulting vio-

lence and casualties suffered by both sides. This could have been avoided had the agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chi-nese side.”

Meanwhile, the Indian Army on Thursday said that there are no sol-diers “missing in action” during the violent clash with Chinese troops. In-dian Army troops who were attacked and suffered fatal casualties on Monday night were carrying weapons, said Ex-ternal Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. However, they did not open fire.

Both armies have redeployed troops

in thousands at the site of the clash. Sources said India has made clear to Chinese counterparts that they have to move back. Major General Abhijit Bapat, who is the Commander of the 3 Division of the Indian Army, had raised several points with the Chinese with re-gards to the incident on the intervening night of June 15-16.

These were the first casualties faced by Indian Army in a clash with the Chinese PLA since 1975 when an In-dian patrol was ambushed by Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh. With agency inputs

indiA tAlks tough, Asks chinA to obsErvE lAc rulEs strictly

gAlwAn violEncE

chhAttisgArh

Speak-ing on the high-level meet ing chaired by the

Home Minister, Chief Min-ister Arvind Kejriwal said,

“The discussion with Home Minister Amit Shah was fo-cussed on how we can save the entire NCR unit from Covid-19 because NCR can’t be separated. Delhi, Guru-gram, Noida and Faridabad should be considered as one unit.’’

In order to increase the number of beds and ICUs in Delhi, several meetings have taken place. Radha Swami Satsang has now come forward and the Delhi government has now made it as new corona care centre with 10,000 beds being de-veloped. CM Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia visited the Satsang and said that “this space is being converted into Covid isolation centre. Around 10,000 beds can be set up here.”

mentation of reforms to the coal mining sec-tor and creation of

lakhs of jobs for the citizens. The Modi government has decided to spend Rs 50,000 crore on the infrastructure for coal extraction and trans-port in and from these mines which would again create a lot of job opportunities for locals. 16 “aspirational” dis-tricts, according to PM Modi, had a huge reserve of coal but the locals had to migrate to other cities for jobs they were not benefited from it.

PM Modi said that the tribal lives would also be eased from the reforms and investment in the coal sector as the extra revenue gener-ated from these mines would be spent on welfare schemes. The District Mineral Fund would also help those states which would be generating more revenue and a major portion of it would be used to develop the surrounding areas in terms of essential facilities. It was an irony, he added, that India being the second largest producer of coal and having the world’s fourth largest coal reserve was the second largest coal

importer in the world. He also said that the energy sec-tor, devoid of transparency, had been kept out of compe-tition which hampered effi-ciency and investment.“Friends, this has been our situation for decades. The country’s coal sector was entangled in the mesh of captive and non-captive. It was kept outside the com-petition; transparency was a major issue. Forget about the fair process of auction, everybody is aware of the big scams involving coal mines allocation. For this reason, the coal sector lacked in-vestment and its efficiency was also questionable. Coal would be extracted in one state and sent to another state, hundreds of kilom-eters away and the originat-ing state would wait for coal. It was quite messy,” PM Modi said.

The government had intro-duced coal linkage in 2014 to give momentum to the sector and according to PM Modi, opening up of this sec-tor would not only increase competition, capital and par-ticipation but also increase technological advances. It would ensure new private

companies did not face any hindrance on the economic forefront. The reforms are claimed by PM Modi to hold a win-win situation for all stakeholders as it would also benefit other sectors of steel, cement, aluminium and fer-tilizer. It would vastly help in increasing power generation.

PM Modi also said that while making India self-re-liant, no compromise would be made on the country’s commitment towards pro-tecting the environment. With steps like coal gasifi-cation, the environmental norms would be kept in mind to protect mother nature. A target to gasify around 100 million tonnes of coal by the year 2030 has been set by the Modi govern-ment and four projects with investments of Rs 20,000 crore have been identified.

This is for the first time in more than four decades that the country has thrown open commercial coal mining to private companies, a step which is expected to make the country self-sufficient in energy, sources said. This will also break the 44-year old monopoly of the state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL).

10 years.Based on specif-

ic inputs a team of DRG was sent

to Modakpal to arrest the woman Maoist leader but sent to quarantine centre in place of Jail.

Bastar IG Sunder Raj P. informed the media, “We

have sent her to quarantine centre and samples are being sent for testing. Meanwhile we have also appealed to the locals in the area to be vigilant. If anyone is found to be having symptoms of Corona they can provide the information to the local police station or the nearest

camp. We will facilitate all possible help to them along with medical treatment.”

The ouster of the woman Naxal follows a recent at-tempt by the Maoists in the area to spread awareness about coronavirus. The Maoists had recently dis-tributed pamphlets among

the villagers across Bastar exhorting them to not to allow outsiders in the area and even maintain distance from the police force. The police are planning an in-tensive interrogation as she is suspected of being part of several deadly attacks on se-curity forces.

The Supreme Court has stayed the world-renowned annual Rath Yatra and all re-lated activities at Jagannath Temple in Puri, scheduled to

take place on 23 June, due to Covid-19. The Chief Justice of India nremarked, “Lord Jag-annath will not forgive us if we allow it.”

During the hearing, the SC said, “Such gatherings can-not take place at the time of the pandemic. In the interest of public health and safety of citizens, we restrain Odisha from holding the Rath Yatra to avoid large gathering that

could further spread the pandemic.”

The apex court was hear-ing a petition by an NGO Odisha Vikas Parishad seeking directions to stay the Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra and other related ac-

tivities that would have car-ried on for many weeks af-terwards. The NGO sought an immediate order to stop the yatra since it will lead to a manifold increase in infec-tions. The petition stated: “Religious congregation of such nature will be danger-ous and has been prohibit-ed by the state government vide its guidelines of June 1 and 6.”

Following the killing of 20 Indian soldiers in vio-lent face-off with Chinese troops, there is a sense of anger and outrage across the country. It has led to a demand for boycott of Chi-nese goods. The Confed-eration of All India Traders (CAIT), which represents 7 crore traders nationwide, has launched a nationwide campaign to boycott Chi-nese goods under its flag-ship movement “Bhartiya Saaman-Hamara Abhiman” -- Indian Goods-Our Pride. This movement has been initiated to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi›s call of “Local pe Vocal” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat”. To boost the campaign, the CAIT has requested Bol-lywood and the nation’s sports fraternity to boycott Chinese products and urged all celebrities to immediate-ly stop endorsing Chinese brands.

This campaign has re-ceived widespread support throughout India and the CAIT has set a target of re-ducing 13 billion dollars (ap-proximately Rs 1 lakh crore) of import value from China

by December 2021 with the cooperation of traders and citizens of India.

It is a strategic move of the Chinese brands to rope in Indian celebrities for en-dorsement of their goods in order to gain more control over the India retail market. Such endorsements by ce-lebrities have always influ-enced the choice of custom-ers. Hence, the CAIT has particularly requested Vivo brand ambassadors--Aamir Khan, Sara Ali Khan, Virat Kohli; Oppo ambassadors--Deepika Padukone, Kat-rina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor, Badshah; Mi ambassadors--Sidharth Malhotra; Xiaomi ambassador Ranveer Singh and Realme ambassadors Salman Khan, Ayushman Khurana and Shraddha Ka-poor, to stop endorsing these Chinese brands as a mark of respect for Indian soldiers. These celebrities were also invited to join the CAIT cam-paign.

The CAIT also mentioned various celebrities who have endorsed a number of social projects and initiatives of the government and other social organisations in the past. From Bollywood›s Am-itabh Bachhan, Akshay Ku-mar, Shilpa Shetty, Madhuri

Dixit, Sonu Sood to cricket-ers Mahender Singh Dhoni and Sachin Tendalkar were named as some of the front-liners. The CAIT appreciated their efforts and appealed to them to join hands with the CAIT in influencing Indian citizens to support the gov-ernment and Indian Forces at this crucial juncture with a motto of “Nation Before Self”. It pleaded with the celebrities to propagate the buying of Indian goods against Chinese goods from the market.

“Your participation will be very significant in moti-vating not only the people of India but particularly for the Indian Forces who are stationed at borders of the country to protect the nation from China›s aggression in adverse conditions. The In-dian Forces will use the Bal-let and the citizens will use the power of wallet to make the world know that Indian people cannot be taken for granted and the world will see the power of wallet. We expect a positive and imme-diate response from the In-dian celebrities’ fraternity,” said Praveen Khandelwal, National Secretary General, Confederation of All India Traders.

Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister n. Chandrababu naidu.

trAdEr body Asks cElEbritiEs to stop Endorsing chinEsE goods

SC stalls Puri Rath Yatra, says Lord Jagannath won’t forgive if it’s permitted

external Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.

 As the Covid-19 pandemic swept through the world, Karnataka closed schools in March 2020. This was followed by a complete lock-down across India, aimed at

“flattening the curve” and giving our systems, including healthcare and education, an opportunity to get better pre-pared for a post-Covid world.

In addition to the deadly virus, the Chinese also ex-ported a saying: With every crisis comes an opportunity. Thanks to the pandemic, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hit the reset button and re-examine the purpose of life and education. The “new world” requires new learning! We need to change not just why, but also what, when, where and how we educate our children. 

The primary reason for sending a child to school in India thus far has largely been focused on teaching prior-known information for a year-end exam, getting admission into a good college, followed by a secure job for life. As we are learning, at great cost to humanity, the challenges of the 21st cen-tury cannot be overcome by answering pre-set questions found in a textbook! We need to change our paradigm of success from learning for a test, to enabling every hu-man being to be the best that they can be, and contributing to making the world a better place. 

The key to this is life skills such as learning to learn, be-ing resilient, collaborative, compassionate, adaptable, innovative and entrepre-neurial, and this has to be modelled by our educators, law and policymakers. We have to start with defining our vision for education,

our goals for each child and revamping our education system to enable it. We need a more theme-based, interdis-ciplinary approach to learn-ing, as opposed to teaching independent subjects in silos. Learning should be available to everyone, anywhere, any-time, for life and just in time.

This can be enabled, as Nandan Nilikani said, “By reimagining every school as a resilient system and creat-ing a scalable and resilient in-frastructure.” We need to also empower students, facilitated by their teachers, to be more self directed in their learning journey.

The good news is we all realise this implicitly or ex-plicitly. The stated goal of all stakeholders is to safeguard every child’s #RightToLearn, health and safety, and there is much dialogue on how to achieve this, particularly given the tremendous gap in India. As the Karnataka government’s Primary and

Secondary Education Minis-ter Suresh Kumar said: “We need to understand the divide between India and Bharat, rural and urban areas, and haves and have-nots while taking policy decisions.” The minister said this to back his decision on a complete ban on online education from KG to grade 5 until the state govern-ment, aided by an (yet to be formed) expert committee, comes up with recommen-dations on what to do!

This, while many central board and international schools, which recognised that we will not be able to get back to our physical campus-es any time soon, have been providing online classes for the last three months. The immediate question that haunts us is, how do we tell a child who with less than 24 hours notice had to stop coming to her physical cam-pus in March, that it’s not safe for them to go to school even online and from the comfort

of their homes! What did China, the coun-

try we are reportedly in con-tention with for superpower status, do? Can we learn from their experience? As coronavirus swept through China in January, the Chi-nese government took quick decisive steps to close brick-and-mortar schools and work with seven Ed Tech leaders to create/enhance existing e-learning platforms — Em-power Learning and Edu-cloud. These organisations provide digital K12 curricula, lesson plans for teachers to follow and digital lessons from master teachers whose classes have been recorded over the last few years. Pri-vate schools (35% of total schools) were also given the freedom to teach their students online, with one exception — KG. The local governments therefore of-fered a range of subsidies to KG schools to support them financially. 

 As a member of two global School associations (Round Square and Global Con-nections) no country in the world, to my knowledge, has banned online learning. They have instead facilitated it. 

Contrast this response with what we are experiencing in the home of India’s Silicon Valley — utter confusion! We are confronted with contra-dictory media reports on a daily basis — ban on live face to face interactive classes, fol-lowed by a ban on all forms of online learning including video recordings! This went from being prohibited for KG, to KG to grade 4, then KG to grade 5, KG to grade 7... and even a news alert for a one-year holiday for all school children!

The key problems the gov-ernment claims to solve by the ban includes -- the digi-tal divide, cost and (in)conve-nience for parents and screen time for children. All very well meaning and under-

standable, but 2-3 months too late, given the new academic year has already started.

To ban or not to ban… should that be the ques-tion? I doubt that as a coun-try with the world’s largest population of school-going children in the 21st cen-tury, we should be debat-ing this. The government/expert committee should not ban online learning for any length of time but work in collaboration with schools with experience in catering to different socio-economic segments to de-velop guidelines and share best practices and learning resources. Tech companies in India’s Silicon Valley can help build and provide scal-able tech solutions. Virtual schools could also sync tim-ings with working parents to ensure their work is not disrupted. The writer is Founding Man-aging Trustee, Inventure Academy.

India is perhaps the most ancient among nations in the world. It existed from

the unimaginable reach of time far before even the an-cient civilisations of China, Egypt and Greece.

Over a hundred years ago, in 1904, at a function at Gov-ernment College Lahore, Sir Mohammed Iqbal, at the re-quest of his favourite student Har Dayal, recited the now famous “Tarana-e-Hind”, for the first time. He poeti-cally described India as “Saare jahaan se achcha Hindustan ha-mara” (Better than the entire world is our Hind), and added that in a world where ancient Greece, Egypt and Rome have all vanished, our attributes, name and sign still live on.

India’s significance to hu-manity is its several thou-sands of years of inward journeys to look within for answers to the mysteries of life and death, the purpose of good and evil, the perception of the soul, and its connection to the entire universe. Since antiquity, this land remained the most passionately spiritu-al and positive zone on earth giving birth to the world’s great faiths and created the works of great power and its

many sages and saints deliv-ered words of wisdom.

At the first Parliament of World Religions, on 11 Sep-tember 1893, in Chicago, Swami Vivekananda won the hearts of millions of Ameri-cans just with the opening words of his speech: “Sis-ters and Brothers of Amer-ica”. His short but ground-breaking discourse that day brought out the essential ele-ments that have made India the paradigm of tolerance and universal acceptance. Less than three years later on his first visit to India, American writer Mark Twain recon-firmed Swami Vivekanand’s revelations and stated, “Noth-ing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraor-dinary country that the Sun visits on his round. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked.”

The American humorist added, “India was the cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of leg-end, great-grandmother of traditions, whose yesterday’s bear date with the modering antiquities for the rest of na-tions — the one sole country under the sun that is en-dowed with an imperishable interest for alien prince and alien peasant, for lettered and ignorant, wise and fool, rich and poor, bond and free, the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the world combined.”

Poet Firaaq Gorakhpuri too

made a poetic observation about the perennial saga of India, “Sar-zamín-e-hind par aqvám-e-álam ke ‘firáq’/qáfile baste gaye hindostáñ bantá gayá” (On the land on India, the caravans of people from all parts of the world kept pass-ing through on our land, that led to the formation of India).

At the end of the devastat-ing World War II in 1945, the victors formed the United Na-tions to bring peace on Earth. At around the same time in 1947 India gained Indepen-dence by destroying the greatest colonial empire the world had ever known and built from scratch the largest democracy in human history.

Today the United Nation’s Security Council (UNSC) remains the most powerful international organisation as it can validate wars and im-pose unbearable sanctions on its members. Its rulings are mandatory and all member states have to uncondition-ally accept them. This high table of the world that can effectively impose its view on the rest of the planet has only five permanent members — France, United Kingdom, United States, Russia and China — collectively known as P5. These P5 nations have monopolised the UNSC and the only major missing world power is India, even though it is among the top economy, population, and military force on Earth. Further, it has been observed that the P5 has unfairly used its privi-leged status of veto to protect national interests rather than impact international affairs. Peace and security consider-ations have been ignored for economic and political gain. Many members of the United Nations are confounded by the deliberate exclusion of India from the P5. It is now a known fact that the P5 does not want to see the weaken-ing of its powers by admit-ting the next global leader. Further some P5 members perhaps privately resent the

rise of India.Consequently, India plays

a bit part on the world stage. The recent election of India to the non-permanent seat of the UNSC with the overwhelm-ing 184 votes out of 192 is the sign of the changing world order. But it is not a cause of celebration as it’s just a con-solation prize. Given India’s worldwide stature in 2020, there can now be no doubt whatsoever that India de-serves a permanent seat in the UNSC. And with each passing decade that India is kept out of the P5, it further invalidates the final decisions of the world body.

Once India, the land of democratic and inclusive traditions, takes its seat as a member of the P5 it will make UNSC more transparent and accountable. It will bring to the UNSC enormous moral authority and goodwill of the world community. The youthful, forward-looking and information technology-led nation will give the world

body the required legitimacy in dealing with the insur-mountable problems facing humankind.

Now in the middle of 2020 in a world populated by over seven billion humans, vac-cines need to be discovered, modern governance mod-els that believe in the ballot and not bullets must be ac-cepted, and nuclear weapons should be banned. The latest technological advancements have to be combined with equal human rights, eco-nomic equity, and wellness for all members of the hu-man family.

At this juncture human-kind despite its success sto-ries need to turn to India that over a millennia contributed the most influential ideas to planet Earth for human-kind’s progress and onward journey through the diffi-cult times — reflections like compassion (Karuna) and mindfulness (Satipatthana), the realisation of the power of insightful meditation and

intuition (Vipassana) and the understanding of the cycle of birth and rebirth (Samsara). By turning to the wisdom of India and developing a posi-tive attitude through our ac-tions, work and deeds, the human species will be suc-cessful in its quest for world peace, global prosperity, and international egalitarianism. And one day, not so far away in the future, we will reach our next stage of evolution and live in perfect unison of being, consciousness and bliss (Satchitananda). And then arrive at the ultimate state for humankind -- en-lightenment.

The Indian leadership at the high table of the world is no longer just an option, it is a necessity. The UN Security Council must accept that the world awaits India.Bhuvan Lall is the author of ‘The Man India Missed The Most: Subhas Chandra Bose’ and ‘The Great Indian Genius: Har Dayal’. He can be reached at writerlall@gmail.com.

The world awaits India as permanent UNSC memberOnce India, the land of democratic and inclusive traditions, takes its seat as a member of the P5 it will make the UN Security Council more transparent and accountable.

File photo of the United Nations Security Council at work.

Education

nEw world ordEr

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reaction to this week’s LAC face-off is more than just paying hom-age to the martyred soldiers. In fact, his words were firmly weighed with his own assessment of current China under the embattled leadership of his once close friend -- Xi Jinping.

The Chinese President is facing an internal cri-sis, threatening his own leadership amidst the murmurs of rebellion in the CCP for the former’s handling of the corona crisis, the worst ever global humiliation inflicted on China, and the world econ-omies shutting doors on Beijing. With the global economies of the West and those like Australia and Japan in the Pacific snapping trade ties and the US all out to teach China a lesson in Pacific waters over Dragon’s mischief over Taiwan skies and its aggres-sion in the South China Sea, Beijing is faced with a multilateral war front already.

Being a Gujarati who reads the markets before doing a business, PM Modi seems to be in the driver’s seat with full research done about the situation both within the country about its own defence capabilities and what the enemy (China) is going through currently. This is now emerging as a war for survival between two old friends -- Na-rendra Modi and Xi Jinping. Both are nationalists to the core, play to the gallery, have roused high hopes among citizens and have set stiff economic and strategic agendas. While PM Modi made the most of Covid-19 pandemic by winning friends and trade and investment prospects globally, China, in-stead, has lost a major share of its global supplies and its economy is not what it used to be till a few months back. Unemployment is growing and the world is shutting doors on Beijing with its most lucrative Huawei becoming the first casualty. In fact, insiders say that Jinping and top Beijing lead-ership are frustrated at India being projected as China’s competitor and next alternative after Co-vid-19 pandemic crisis turning world economies upside down.

While giving a stern warning to China, PM Modi knows the fact that the world is on India’s side. And that is something worrying many in Beijing circles. In fact, a report in South China Morning Post on Thursday wrote that China’s decision not to release details of how many soldiers might have been hurt or killed in a clash with Indian troops on Monday is probably motivated by a desire to play down the matter ahead of a key meeting between the Chinese and the US delegations in Hawaii. China wants to play it down, says the report.

PM Modi’s message is also a signal that India is ready to take Dragon head on as we may be un-matched in strength of Chinese sea power in the Pa-cific and the South China Sea, but perhaps Beijing missed the point that we have added to our defence strength by many counts, including our nuclear sta-tus, air strips on the borders for speedy mobility to logistics and infrastructure creation, which we had none in 1962.

Chinese social media is already buzzing with the Chinese casualties. All is not well with Beijing and PM Modi knows that well. The quick defence deal to buy 33 Russian jets is just to frustrate Beijing further and keep Russia neutral, if not completely on New Delhi’s side. Purely business instincts of PM Modi!Maneesh Pandeya

perspectiveLadakh face-off

china tastEs india’s tough rEsolvE at lac

Covid-19 offers opportunity to re-imagine learning in India

3comment & analysisthe daily guardian19 june 2020

new delhi

Today the UNSC remains the most powerful international organisation as it can validate wars and impose unbearable sanctions on its members. Its rulings are mandatory and all member states have to unconditionally accept them. This high table of the world can effectively impose its view on the rest of the planet.

opinionBhUvaN LaLL

opinionNooraiNe FazaL

Terming “horrendous” and “barbaric” the brutality with which 20 Indian soldiers were killed by the Chinese forces in Galwan Valley, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder on Thursday demanded accountability for the loss of precious lives in the violent clash. Demanding the end of the “Hindi-Chini Bhai-Bhai” charade, he said the whole na-tion was expecting a befitting response from the government to this horrific attack on its men.

“Our soldiers at the front should be clearly told that if they kill 1 of ours, you kill 3 of theirs,” said an emotional Captain Ama-rinder Singh, making it clear that he was not speaking as a politician, but as a man who had been part of the Army and still loved the institution. He pointed out that his stand on such issues has always been the same and even after the Pulwama attack, he had de-

clared that if they kill one of ours we should kill two of theirs.

Questioning why no orders to fire at the Chinese were given in the face of the brutal attack on the Indian soldiers, the Chief Minister said, “Somebody failed to do his job out there and we need to find out who that was.” If the unit was armed, as is being claimed now, the second-in-command should have ordered firing the moment the commanding officer fell to the Chinese treachery, said Captain Amarinder, adding that “the nation wants to know why our men did not retaliate in the way they are trained to do, and why they did not open fire if they were carrying arms.”

“What were they doing sitting out there while their colleagues were getting killed,” he asked. “I want to know, every soldier wants to know and every Indian wants to know what happened,” said the Chief Minister.

Captain demands end of Hindi-CHini, BHai-BHai CHaradeAnil BhArdwAjCHAnDIGArH

With growing ten-sion on the Line of Actual Control

(LAC) in eastern Ladakh, es-pecially after the death of 20 Indian soldiers, the chorus to shun Chinese goods is grow-ing across the country, and one section which fears the big backlash is the dominant Chinese mobile companies, currently holding almost 72 per cent of Indian market.

India has seen an exponen-tial growth in smartphone manufacturing from just two factories a couple of years back to nearly 258 now, with billions of dollars investment and lakhs of direct and indi-rect jobs being created. As per an IANS report, the mobile supply chain has deep roots in China and Indian brands — Micromax, Intex, Lava and Karbonn famously known as MILK — have already been decimated. The last report-ed market share for MILK brands in 2019 was, the IANS report says: Micromax at 1.1 per cent, Intex at 0.1 per cent, Lava at 1.2 per cent and Kar-bonn, 0.2 per cent (according to Hong Kong-based Coun-terpoint Research).

According to Counterpoint Research, Chinese smart-phone brands captured 72 per cent of India’s market in 2019, compared to 60 per cent a year before that.

Behemoths like the BBK Group (the parent company of OPPO, Vivo, Realme and OnePlus brands) captured 37 per cent market share while Xiaomi (along with Redmi and POCO brands) stood second at 28 per cent. Led by Xiaomi and BBK Group, the Chinese brands have invested heavily in manufacturing de-vices and accessories in India. Xiaomi currently has seven smartphone manufacturing plants in India in partnership with Taiwanese multination-al electronics company Fox-conn and Singapore-based

technological manufacturer Flex Ltd.

More than 99 per cent of smartphones that are sold in India are manufactured locally. Across these seven plants, IANS report says, Xiaomi has employed more than 25,000 people (95 per cent are women). Xiaomi also locally sources and assembles PCBA (Printed Circuit Board Assembly) in India. It has in-vested in setting up a smart TV manufacturing plant in partnership with Dixon Tech-nologies in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. The company last year infused Rs 3,500 crore into its Indian business unit.

According to industry experts, there are three dimensions to the new de-velopments, at a time when

the Covid-hit smartphone industry has started seeing good sales once again.

“One is emotional where cit-izens are feeling bad about the recent developments which has a possibility to impact the sales, albeit temporary,” Faisal Kawoosa, Founder & Chief Analyst, techARC, told IANS.

Second is to adopt a bal-anced approach to the current situation. “We have to look at the kind of investments, transfer of technology/skills and building up of a complete ecosystem over the years by the Chinese companies,” he added.

For instance, Chinese brands will be among the first to leverage and make India a export destination for electronics including smartphones with recently announced schemes like the Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for large-scale electronics manufacturing.

“Third dimension is mar-ket realities. It took Chinese brands over three years to reach this level. If we abruptly take them off the chart, then who will fill the void?” said Kawoosa.

There is no doubt that Indian companies need to

be stronger in electronics manufacturing but that is a long-haul exercise and can’t happen overnight. With a three-pronged strategy (re-start, restore and resurgence), India can achieve $100 billion in mobile phones and nearly $40 billion in component ex-ports by 2025, according to a new report by industry body, the India Cellular and Elec-tronics Association (ICEA) and consultancy major EY.

Nearly 198 countries im-port mobile phones, and till recently, only two countries — China and Vietnam — were among the exporters. India joined the ranks as a third with a modest $3 billion exports in 2019-20 and now aims to target the number two spot.

From just two mobile phone factories in 2014, India now has become the second larg-est mobile phone producer in the world, according to the IT Ministry. The time is not to let the momentum die and instead plan for the future to boost domestic manufac-turing, while simultaneously hand-holding Indian brands to help recover and stand up against the fierce competi-tion.With inputs from IANS

CHinese moBile Brands fear Big BaCklasH

ladakH ClasHlaC faCe-off

our correspondentneW DelHI

news plus the daily guardian19 june 2020new delhi4

The Chinese smartphone manufacturing companies captured 72% of India’s market in 2019, compared to 60% a year before that.

Civilizational talK

DiGital inDia

legally speakingthe daily guardian19 june 2020

new delhi 5

Last October, this au-thor was invited to take part in a public

debate at a leading National Law School in Southern India (not “South India”) on the topic “Do We Need a Nation-Wide NRC?”. The debate, a video of which is available on YouTube for public consumption, was organised in the backdrop of the publication in September of the consolidated yet not fi-nal National Register of Citi-

zens (NRC) prepared exclu-sively for the State of Assam. The consolidated list result-ed in the exclusion of 1.9 mil-lion persons, mostly Hindus, who must prove their bona fides through appellate mechanisms in order to be included in the list. In the debate, this author took the position that while, in prin-ciple, a nation-wide NRC must be undertaken to deal with the silent cancer of ille-gal migration which is eating into the vitals of the coun-try, the flaws in the process which have been exposed by the Assam NRC must be addressed before the mech-anism is implemented on a national scale at consider-able expense to the taxpayer. This author further argued that along with a national NRC, the Union Govern-ment must work with State Governments to strengthen

the options available under the Foreigners Act, 1946 to expedite the process of de-portation of illegal migrants, or to render them electorally and politically redundant at the very least in the interest of civilizational security.

The subject of the instant piece is neither the NRC nor the author’s position on the merits of the NRC, but the characterization of the posi-tion as being rooted in “eth-nocentrism” at the end of the debate by one of the organis-ers. Of course, everyone has the right to form and express their opinions on a given po-sition, and no individual or individual’s position is the subject of discussion here. However, what is relevant to the instant piece is the broader issue of “ethnocen-trism”. Given the leitmotif of this column i.e. understand-ing Bharat as an Indic civili-zational state, it is important to unpack the definition of “ethnocentrism” and the as-sumptions underlying it so as to understand if Bharat’s construction as an Indic civilizational state is but a sophisticated way of advanc-ing and defending ethnocen-trism or xenophobia.

The general understanding of “ethnocentrism” in cultur-

al anthropology and social sciences is the belief in the superiority of one’s culture or way of life, which is typi-cally attributed to ethnic her-itage. Ethnocentrism exists in several parts of the world and in several societies based on a variety of premises, in-cluding racial, religious or both. Some cultures make the claim that their way of life is the only universally valid way of life, but stop short of imposing it on those who don’t belong to their group because they value their exclusivity as “the Cho-sen People”. Some believe that their way of life must be imposed on everyone “for their own good” so that their “souls may be saved” and they can be lifted out of their “wretched existence”. Some believe that while there could be several ways of life, theirs is best suited for their geography, circumstances

and temperament and have no interest in evangelising or imposing their worldview on others. Then there are those who believe that it is pos-sible for several individual ways of life to exist within each group, all of which are oriented towards a common ideal or goal, so as to enable each individual to choose what is most apt for her or him in order to reach that goal. In fact, even this com-mon goal is not imposed but is left to voluntary adop-tion by the individual. In this category, a missionary approach, be it peaceful or otherwise, to spreading “the only true path” is missing thanks to its fundamental faith in the validity of diverse paths.

In view of the above, the term “ethnocentrism” can-not be equally applied to the approach of all of the above categories because the re-

quirement of the belief of superiority in one’s culture is not uniformly or at all pres-ent in all of them. Simply put, this brand of othering does not manifest itself to the same degree and in the same manner across cul-tures, which makes a world of difference to an individu-al’s freedom of thought and conscience in a culturally, and hence morally diverse universe.

Critically, the natural, le-gitimate and fundamental human aspiration of a people or a civilization to preserve the integrity of the one place it can call its natural home-land, must not be mechani-cally and ignorantly equated with “ethnocentrism”. This is because calling a geogra-phy one’s natural home is more a statement of fact, and is not remotely the same as proclaiming the superior-ity of one’s culture. After

all, it cannot be denied that every culture and its way of life has a specific geography which it is historically iden-tified with, notwithstanding the fact that those who don’t share its values are accom-modated within that geog-raphy for multiple reasons, mostly owing to the twists and turns of history. It must be appreciated that as long as identity exists and mat-ters at the individual level, the cultural or civilizational identities of geographies will continue to matter be-cause individual identities ultimately contribute and lead to group identities, and this is not “ethnocentrism”. In fact, this is how societies take shape.

Also, in the context of a civilization such as the Indic Civilization, which has mul-tiple sub-cultures, identities (“sub” here does not mean subordinate) and ways of life, all of which are united by a common idea instead of a racial or ethnic commonality, the appropriate term would be “Civilizationalism”, and not “ethnocentrism” or even “nationalism” since the premise is not a “nation” but a “civilization”. Pertinently, if a living civilization happens to be a minoritized group i.e.

a group which behaves like a disenfranchised community despite its significant num-bers on account of the per-secution that it has suffered owing to its beliefs and ways of life, it would be a blatant furthering of elitism and co-loniality if “ethnocentrism” were to be used as a whip to quell, subdue and stifle the civilization’s attempt to re-claim its indigeneity and its safe space, namely its natural homeland.

It must be clarified without mincing words that none of this is an excuse or apologia for xenophobia. That said, unfortunately terms such as “ethnocentrism” and “xeno-phobia” have become loosely used buzzwords to deny the still-relevant basic human impulses which have cre-ated societies for millions of years. If the idea is to create an open, inclusive, diverse and egalitarian society, it would be a grave mistake to assume that this goal can be reached by denying natural truths and historical facts. If the goal is reconciliation, truth is and must always be the starting point. J. Sai Deepak is an engineer-turned-Advocate practising be-fore the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Delhi.

The Indian telecommuni-cation sector has traversed an arduous path, from be-ing a monopolistic market to gradually transforming into a sector dominated by private players. The Government, which was a key participant, has transcended to a purely regulatory role.

The Indian telecom indus-try, has been rapidly trans-forming, the journey has been disruptive and eventful, with huge debts, declining revenues and mounting loss-es. With the entry of Reliance Jio in 2016, the key market players struggled to remain competitive amid increas-ing pressure on subscriber base, decreasing revenues and lower costs. Amongst the chaos the industry wit-nessed a wave of consolida-tion. Many small operators like Reliance Communica-tions Ltd. and Aircel have been completely wiped out. Other minor players such as

Tata Teleservices and Tele-nor were acquired by Bharti Airtel while Idea Cellular got merged with Vodafone India.

As per the Telecom Regu-latory Authority of India (TRAI), India hit the 1 bil-lion mark for its mobile subscriber base in October 2015. However, the world has moved on now and what matters more is ‘data’. Smartphones, coupled with increasing data usage among consumers/subscribers, have emerged as the new age ‘trad-ing platforms’ facilitating trade and business transac-tions. With the increasing penetration of smartphones, Reliance Jio was the first to recognize this opportunity by introducing affordable data packs and free voice calls. This resulted in a de-cline in average revenue per user (ARPU), triggering intense price wars and dent-ing profitability of most other telecom operators.

After creating transforma-tional waves and disruption in the Indian telecom sector, Reliance Jio is again creating headlines, with Facebook Inc. announcing the largest ever FDI in Indian technol-ogy sector. This mega-deal is expected to have major impli-cations on India’s retail and internet landscape. 

Facebook-Jio dealOn April 22, 2020, Face-book entered into a non-exclusive deal with Jio Platforms (a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd.) and bought a 9.9% stake in Reli-ance Jio for Rs. 43,575 crore (USD 5.7 billion). The in-vestment makes Facebook the largest minority share-holder in Jio Platforms. Si-multaneously, a commercial partnership agreement has also been signed between Reliance Jio, Reliance Retail and WhatsApp, for Reli-ance’s e-commerce platform JioMart. This arrangement intends to offer consum-ers the ability to access the nearest hyperlocal gro-cery stores (kirana stores), which would home deliver products and services to consumers by transacting with JioMart using What-sApp Pay. Although, Face-book, WhatsApp and In-stagram are all household names in India, WhatsApp which boasts of a 400 mil-lion user base across India (the highest anywhere in the world), is likely to be the dominant player offer-ing B2B services. Thus, the entire deal revolves around the development of e-com-merce and e-payment busi-ness in India.

This could be the trans-formation of JIO from a pure play telecom player to emerge as a full service digi-tal company, including and not limited to e-commerce, fintech, telephony and me-dia.• The deal intends to make WhatsApp Pay the go-to payment solution for consumers and businesses.• Facebook will also be ex-ploring ways to launch its Facebook Pay  feature of-fered through Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram, or integrate it with What-sApp Pay and offer more features.• Further, Facebook-Jio could be creating a super app in the country where users can complete the en-tire business process from marketing to accepting the payment.• The deal is expected to turn over the digital pay-ments sector,  crowd out small players and drive con-solidation.• Because of  Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency ser-vice, this deal could be a step further for experimenting crypto-based payments and blockchain technology on a large scale in India.

key takeaways For Facebook: It is a known fact that Face-book has been struggling to get legitimacy for What-sApp Pay in India for a very long time. The partnership with Reliance could help Facebook navigate the regu-latory environment in In-dia. More importantly, the deal marks Facebook’s long-pending formal entry into

India’s telecom sector and will give Facebook direct access to Jio’s 370 million subscribers and a strong foothold into India’s boom-ing mobile market.

key takeaways For reliance Jio: The deal pushes ahead Re-liance Group’s plans of de-leveraging its balance sheet by cutting down Reliance Industries’ debt. At the same time, this new partnership will accelerate Jio’s planned launch of a nationwide JioMart e-commerce plat-form and integrating it with the WhatsApp Pay platform for digital payments and thus channelizing hyperlocal digi-tal e-commerce in India.

key takeaways For consumers: Going forward, this unprec-edented deal could make smartphones as the ultimate ‘trading platforms’ catering to each and every need of a consumer – from calling, messaging and sharing docu-ments to booking tickets, buy-ing groceries, shoes, apparel or even jewellery, making payments and transferring money to getting loans and filing returns. On the other hand, with such intense com-petition on the telecom front, telcos will have little choice but to upgrade the quality of their networks and services.

key takeaways For the economy: The deal has bolstered con-fidence about potential of Indian economy which has been highly endorsed by this financial partnership. At a time when the COVID

19 outbreak has thrown the world economy in shambles, the country’s digital ecosys-tem will get a massive boost when contactless and cash-less payments are being promoted to maintain social distancing for curbing the spread of COVID 19.

implications For india’s e-commerce and e-payments industry: Although India’s grocery market is highly profitable, it is fraught with big com-petitors like Amazon Pantry, Walmart backed Flipkart and BigBasket that are struggling to create a market share in this field. However, there is a huge potential value asso-ciated with India’s hyperlo-cal grocery stores (kirana stores) which the Facebook-Jio deal is seeking to tap. As per Retailer’s Association of India, India’s grocery indus-try is valued at $ 375 billion. This deal will empower 3 crore small kirana shops to digitally transact in their neighborhoods. Going for-ward, JioMart with the help of WhatsApp Pay could be-come a huge competitor in e-commerce industry while deep-pocketed e-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart will find it hard to compete with Jio-Facebook as they lack the advantage of customer data.

In addition to strategic busi-ness advantage, the deal was perfectly timed to foray into the government-sanctioned payment infrastructure with digital payments on a rapid rise in the wake of the on-going COVID 19 pandemic. Both companies have pay-

ment apps namely, What-sApp Pay and JioMoney that can together dominate the market. This deal provides adequate leverage to these apps to effectively compete against recognized FinTech players such as PhonePe, PayTM, Google Pay and Amazon Pay in the Indian digital payments space.

The Way Ahead: Reliance Jio and Facebooks

coming together carries a lot of promise. The profit maxi-mization from the Jio ecosys-tem (which comprises affili-ated services such as Jio TV, Jio Payments Bank, JioMoney, JioSaavn, Jio Fiber, JioMart, JioMeet and others) could become historical, and with the recent investment from Facebook, the two giants’ combined synergies and vi-sion including arsenal of in-frastructure and availability of deep data, which can be analyzed to interpret and pre-dict user behavior patterns in a more accurate manner could lead to changing and enhancing the consumer experience in the country.

In addition to Facebook, Silver Lake Partners, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR and Mubadala have also recently acquired 1.15 per cent, 2.32 percent (approx.), 1.34 percent, 2.32 per cent and 1.85 per cent eq-uity stake respectively in Jio Platforms. The investments, joint venture and strategic partnerships by all the re-puted global players in tech, financial services, retail and funds in the Indian market space is a befitting acknowl-edgment to our technocrats, professionals and industry and the story of digitization.

Pursuing his vision of a more connected, cohesive and vibrant digital India, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reli-ance Industries Limited is the toast for the business commu-nity in the country. He’s also transforming Reliance from being a conglomerate largely focused on traditional sectors to a new-age tech and digital giant. Not to forget, out of all the telecom companies, Reli-ance Jio is the only one that has successfully managed to reposition itself as a truly digi-tal company with a three sixty degree spectrum of services.

There is no question about the substantial impact that this mega-deal will have on India’s retail and internet landscape, however, a num-ber of concerns like impact on net neutrality, competi-tion and data privacy issues, have also emanated from this deal. Collectively, the compa-nies will have access to a mas-sive repository of data and are likely to be closely scrutinized by the Competition Commis-sion of India and TRAI. 

The synergy between Reliance Jio and Facebook will also help realize India’s “Digital India” mission. The deal includes coming together of two highly capable, highly credible and highly penetrat-ed partners who can not only accelerate the digital revolu-tion but also make it more integrated with entire India.

It is indeed a shot in the arm for the economy, the indus-try especially in the time of COVID and a big win for the consumer.Siddhartha Kumar is partner, Dua Associates. Kritika Sharma is Senior Associate, Dua Associ-ates.

Civilisationalism and Ethnocentrism: What’s the Difference? The natural, legitimate and fundamental human aspiration of a people or a civilisation is to preserve the integrity of the one place it can call its natural homeland.

The Facebook & Jio Deal : A Unicorn

indic viewsJ. Sai Deepak

opinionSiDDharth kumar &

kritika Sharma

This could be the transformation of JIO from a pure play telecom player to emerge as a full-service digital company.

Some cultures make the claim that their way of life is the only universally valid way of life, but stop short of imposing it on those who don’t belong to their group because they value their exclusivity as “the Chosen People”. Some believe that their way of life must be imposed on everyone “for their own good” so that their “souls may be saved” and they can be lifted out of their “wretched existence”.

Do not trouble the trouble until the trouble troubles

you. This is common sense and not Sun Tzu. I suppose that is why the Chinese have not heard of it. At Galwan they did trouble the trouble and they have ended up with more trouble than they have bargained for. Despite all their lies, deception, at-tempting to change facts on ground, disregard for a rules-based order, present-ing themselves as an injured party and more, no one be-lieves them since everyone knows the truth. They have got a taste of what India can mete out to them. They will get more if they continue to ask for it. Ladakh is not South China Sea and India is not a Vietnamese fishing boat which can just be run over.  

I will not get into the in-tricacies of the face-off in-cident at Galwan. There is an overload of information about that. There is live ac-tion going on. The situation is tense between two nuclear powers at loggerheads. This is a wider assessment of how the Chinese cards are stacked. At the outset, Chi-na has miscalculated at each step and achieved results just opposite to what it set out to do. In this sequence, the Galwan clash is a water-shed event. If corona was the Chinese Chernobyl, the Gal-wan incident is like inserting enriched Uranium rods into the reactor. From here to criticality is a matter of time. After that, who knows?

The situation on the Indian front is ugly. While there were plenty of reasons for China to undertake a pre-meditated widespread of-fensive against India from Sikkim to Ladakh using Pakistan and Nepal as its catspaws, it has played a high-stake hand. Funda-mentally it has attempted to shut its far Western ‘Rear Door’ in a preemptive of-fensive when the sea fac-ing Eastern ‘Front Door’ is still intact due to weakness in the US and incoherent global strategic response. It planned this misadven-ture in late April. China embarked on it on 5-6 May as a low-cost low threshold, muscle flexing, demonstra-tive and non-tactical opera-tion. Its strategy was Bellig-erent War Avoidance using classic inner lines. It has not worked. It has hit the Indian Wall. As matters stand ten-sions have heightened and thresholds are fast rising. This is no longer a low-cost affair. There are heavy casu-alties on both sides. China has not disclosed the num-bers in its typical secretive manner. When it does, it will like its virus numbers

-- vastly underreported. Its attempt to obfuscate and al-ter facts has fallen flat. Both armies have mobilized and

built up. Suddenly, China is in a situation that it can-not militarily force the issue across the Himalayas. It does not have the strength to do so. Any reinforcements to ratchet up the stakes must come from the mainland. It will be equally matched by India. That will open the East Coast! More impor-tantly China might have to dip into reserves which are meant for internal control. This rod is highly enriched.

The flareup with India will remain heightened and long drawn. In attempting to tie India down on its land borders China will achieve the opposite effect. It will force India to relook at this dormant border through a different lens. China has unlocked its vulnerable rear door inadvertently. Xinjiang, Tibet, Shaksgam Valley and CPEC are waiting to be exploited in the long term. This line action can start alongside the present situa-tion. Incidentally, the longer this situation, the greater the problem for China. Its troops are not available for other situations. By the way have you noticed -- all that ‘Wolf Warriorism’ has suddenly disappeared from Chinese Diplomacy! They are playing things down.

What is the situation in the South China Sea? Three US aircraft carriers have entered the area. They are going to pivot around Taiwan, which in my opinion is the fourth unsinkable aircraft carrier. Against this formidable force the Chinese have one recently operationalised aircraft carrier and a yet to be operational carrier. Total outmatch. Despite this, the Chinese are still carrying out some aggressively dicey air manoeuvres. One of these days an incident will occur, and they will get their come-

uppance in the East Coast also. Regionally, there is no succour for China. Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines, Singa-pore, and S Korea are all vic-tims of Chinese aggression and Salami Slicing tactics. They will push back at the slightest opportunity. Indi-cations from them point that way. Taiwan and Hong Kong are hot thorns in the Chinese flesh. Any day the front door might go on fire. One is see-ing a hammer and anvil at play. Where is the hammer and where is the anvil? Lada-kh or South China Sea? Take your pick. This rod is getting enriched as days go by.

Where is our Chinese vi-rus? It has either jumped from Wuhan to Beijing through Norwegian salmon or taken the direct route. Does not matter. It has hit Beijing and forced the typical draconian Chinese lockdown in large parts of the city and countryside. There is a pat-tern emerging. We will con-tinue to see an outbreak of about a hundred odd cases in some part of the country. China, like a cat on a hot tin roof will jump and stomp that outbreak by extensive testing and draconian lock-downs. Then another out-break will start somewhere. Another cycle will begin. There will be a perpetual lockdown somewhere or the other. Compare this with other countries. They might have suffered but have learnt to live with the virus and continue life. They will eventually recover faster and stronger. China has used dra-conian communist methods against a very democratic and bipartisan Virus, which does not differentiate its masters from others. It will extract its pound of Chinese flesh over a longer period at greater expense. I have said

earlier that the longer this virus lasts, the more diffi-cult it will be for China and its economy, internal politics, geopolitics, and diplomacy to recover. My views are rein-forced. The longer the virus lasts, the longer the world will remember Wuhan and Chinese bungling, complicity, delayed response, aggression, censorship, greedy mask di-plomacy, wet markets, pan-golins, and bats. This stigma is for life. This rod is weapon grade and highly enriched. It could push China into super criticality.

Who wants Chinese global leadership? Barring some parts of Africa, South America, Serbia, Pakistan, North Korea and some parts of Italy, the China story is un-raveled. One sees Russia also being evasively neutral. The G7 Plus, QUAD, Five Eyes Intelligence etc are bad news for China and they are gain-ing strength. The sentiment in the US is steely across the board and it is anti-Chinese. In the forthcoming presiden-tial election there is a good chance that President Trump and the Democratic contend-er Joe Biden will outdo each other in their anti-China plans. Let us also not forget that the US is putting in place a denial regime encompass-ing educational opportuni-

ties for Chinese, operation of Chinese firms, technol-ogy control, banning flights from China, restricting ac-cess to financial systems, visa restrictions on Chinese and many more measures to hurt China. US resolve and ability to bounce back from disasters is phenomenal. History has shown that every time the US is hit by a disas-ter it has come back stronger. Analyze the Civil War, Pearl Harbor, attack on World Trade Center and Lehman’s Brothers initiated global meltdown. Counting out the

US post this pandemic will only be foolish by China and many more. Where does China stand geopolitically? Isolated. Fourth rod under fast enrichment.

Economically things are not exactly rosy. Exports are under shock therapy. Imports are down indicating low consumption. Growth is staring at negative zones. Factories are losing orders. CPEC and BRI? Almost col-lapsing. The alternate Health and Digital Silk Roads are merely sops. The Made in China 2025 plan stands de-railed. Yuan as international tender? Even Cambodia, a Chinese beneficiary has con-tinued with the US Dollar and said no to Yuan! Mask industry? Collapsed. Unem-

ployment and job situation are grim. People are working even at ¼th of their original salaries. Internal consump-tion -- weak and going down. There is another reality. De-Globalisation, decoupling and relocation of industry and supply chains will hap-pen. It could be around 30% or more in the next five years. The Indian push back will be especially hard. Take any in-dex. It is down. If China had displayed a better attitude and been less predatory, there could have been a huge surplus dividend. China has killed its own dream. China might not collapse. However as things stand and with the current trajectory, Chinese economy might not over-whelm as hitherto fore. This fifth rod is unpredictable but might catalyse other rods in enriching them.

The overall picture is that China has a Navy which is hemmed in the South China Sea. PLA cannot force the is-sue against India. The Virus is active in the center. Its geo-politics and diplomacy are not working. Its economy is misfiring. Internal ten-sions could surface and spill over soon. The Chinese are stretched and under pres-sure. If this continues, they will reach criticality faster than anticipated. If they do not, there will be loss of face internally.

So where does it leave the current Sino Indian Equa-tion? Our PM has made a clear statement. We will not blink. The Galwan in-cident is overshadowing the limited disengagement which was underway. The mobilsed forces have even staged forward. Will we see de-escalation or escalation? Depends on the next few days. However my feeling is that we are in for the long haul. In this period we must

expect Chinese Propagan-da, Threats, Psychological Warfare, Twisted Legalities, Violation of Agreements, Al-tering Facts, Lies and Deceit. China has played its hand and it is our turn now. We need to leverage to get back to status quo ante as of 04 May. That must be led politi-cally. Our response must be politically firm since China has been conducting this entire operation politically. A whole nation approach is the need of the hour. The Indian Armed Forces, in the vanguard, have upheld the honour nation repeatedly. I have full faith that they will deliver again. India does not want armed conflict with China. However if it is thrust on us, China will get more than a bloody nose.

What are the options avail-able to India? In my last ar-ticle I did mention some op-tions. The gallant and brave action of 16 Bihar and the nearby Gunners at Galwan have opened our options further. What is the worst-case option for China? India opening the old silk route with all its insidious im-plications and a resurgent US establishing an Island base in South China Sea. That is now on the table and could be a reality in the long term. If we do not do that it will be a wasted sacrifice by Col Babu and all those who laid down their lives at Galwan defending India. We owe it to them. We owe it to them to also to weap-onise ourselves. If each of us spend a rupee less in buying Chinese items that will be a rupee well saved to honour our gallant soldiers. It is up to us - the people of India to push back against China. In between these options there are a range of options in the political, diplomatic, military, and economic spheres. That

will come in my next article. In conclusion, there is

something fundamental. Ev-eryone says that China takes a long term civilisational view and is always strategic in approach. That is a myth. In the past century there are four distinct periods where China has changed course from Chiang kai Shek’s Na-tionalism, to Mao’s Revo-lutionism, to Deng’s Con-solidation to Xi’s Revisionist Expansionism. There is no evidence that China derives its strategy from the Middle Kingdom. Which civilisation are we talking of? The last generation Chinese Com-munists led by Mao revised and jettisoned every facet of Chinese civilisation. The current generation commu-nists have not revitalized the Chinese civilisation which was inclusive. They have done exactly the opposite by incarcerating minorities and promoting Han nation-alism. They have simply been overtaken by myopic greed to become a superpower at any cost ever. Ever since the corona has made its appear-ance in Wuhan, they are in some illusion that this is a golden opportunity to attain their dreams in double quick time ignoring the world or a rules-based order. All they have achieved is to put themselves in a nuclear reac-tor about to go critical. Why are the Chinese committing strategic hara kiri? Ask the Chinese! They are suddenly realising that they were never ten feet tall. Lt Gen P.R. Shankar was In-dia’s DG Artillery. He is highly decorated and qualified with vast operational experience. He con-tributed significantly to the mod-ernisation and indigenisation of Artillery. He is now a Professor in the Aerospace Dept of IIT Ma-dras and is involved in applied research for defence technology.

AnAlysis

6 defence t h e da i ly gua r d i a n19 j u n e 2 0 2 0n ew d e l h i

WUHAn TO GAlWAn: THE CHERnOByl FACTORIf coronavirus was the Chinese Chernobyl, the Galwan incident is like inserting enriched Uranium rods into the reactor. From here to criticality is a matter of time.

Everyone says that China takes a long term civilisational view and is always strategic in approach. That is a myth. In the past century there are four distinct periods where China has changed course from Chiang kai Shek’s Nationalism, to Mao’s Revolutionism, to Deng’s Consolidation to Xi’s Revisionist Expansionism.

Indian Army trucks move along a highway leading to Ladakh, at Gagangeer in Kashmir’s Ganderbal district on Wednesday. ANI

LT GEN P.R. SHANKAR (RETd.)

One of the most sig-nificant challenges b e i n g f ac e d by

the Government at pres-ent is how to kick start the economy, which is continu-ously declining. The strong workforce of displaced workers (they shouldn’t be called migrant as they are also Indian) is bending to-wards unemployment after losing their jobs, and most of them are forced to head back to their hometowns or villages. Lakhs of inter-nally displaced workers moved from urban centres to rural areas of origin in the last few months. These workers are likely to be ab-sorbed by the agricultural sector despite the abysmal-ly low per capita agricul-tural income. The average monthly income per agrar-

ian households during the agricultural year July 2012- June 2013 was estimated at Rs. 6426, and about 52% of the estimated 90.2 mil-lion farming households in rural India reported out-standing loans. (NSS 70th round, Report no. 576). To tackle such humongous economic problems, the Government has come up with a massive economic package aggregating Rs. 20 lakh crores which primar-ily aims to address the em-ployment generation.

This article attempts to provide an alternative solution in tackling the economic crisis and iden-tifying a possible solution to mitigate the unemploy-ment faced by the displaced workers.

E-CommErCEThe alternative may lie in easing the regulatory com-pliance concerning GST for the small vendors who wish to do business via e-commerce. By doing so, more and more vendors will engage in such busi-ness, thus assuaging the challenge of unemploy-ment and thereby facilitat-ing economic activity.

Ecommerce companies must be encouraged to sign up as many suppliers as possible in small towns and villages to provide these vendors access to a vast market. This system may give them a platform to sell locally manufactured products which have their ethnic value; it may also be used as a tool to promote cultural items such as han-dlooms, terracotta utensils, etc.

Indubitably, eCommerce websites have been picking pace ever since the lock-down is opening up and is estimated to touch a vol-ume of Rs. 7 trillion by the year 2023.

A report by Unicom-merce eSolutions claims that during the first seven days of lockdown 3.0, the sector has recovered 30 per cent of its pre-lockdown or-der volumes. If small pre-cocious vendors from un-touched and remote areas are encouraged to get rec-ognition on an eCommerce website to provide him ac-cess to a broader market, it may open new vistas for him as well as ameliorate his material living stan-dard.

Not only this would give impetus to the economy but also create gainful em-ployment opportunities for the displaced workers during this pandemic and lockdown. With a pros-pect of earning, they will start working to meet the demands emanating from the customers/eCommerce platform.

GST rEGiSTraTionThe biggest possible chal-lenge which may hinder this process is the punc-tilious requirement of GST registration for the vendor on eCommerce websites. Small vendors and manu-facturers in smaller town and villages are unlikely to have even a sizable turn-over which may cross the threshold limit required for GST registration.

As per the provision en-visaged under GST Act, 2017, every person sup-plying goods or services through electronic com-merce operators are re-quired to be compulsorily registered, without any threshold exemption limit (Section 24 (ix) of the CGST Act). However, the Gov-ernment empowered to exempt specified supplier from registration under GST even if their turnover is more than the threshold limit, under section 9 (5) of the Act.

Due to the menace of COVID-19 and lockdown, there has been a steep fall in the GST revenue col-lection in the past three

months. In February 2020, the monthly GST collec-tion was reported at Rs. 1,05,366/- crore, (Ministry of Finance, Revenue Col-lection for February 2020, posted on 01 March 2020 7:20 PM by PIB Delhi) whereas, for March 2020 it is Rs. 97,597/- crore (Min-istry of Finance, Revenue Collection for March 2020, posted on 01 April 2020 5:05 PM by PIB Delhi) and for April, it tentatively stood Rs 49,500/- crore (approximately). The reve-nue collection has declined drastically across India, ranging from 60% to 80% on a monthly basis.

Providing access to the market for the supply of untouched traditional and cultural arts & crafts items from remote corners of vil-lages for, by attenuating GST regulatory complianc-es would generate employ-ment for such displaced workers and also add to their income while preserv-ing our heritage.

USE of aadhaar inSTEad of GSTTo transcend the challenge

of paperwork and compli-ance for GST registration by the small vendors/man-ufacturers, Government may bring an amendment permitting eCommerce companies to use Aadhaar card of the supplier for ver-ification as well as for dis-charging GST. GST Council may also identify districts wherein Aadhaar number of the vendor/manufactur-er can be used as an alter-native to GST registration. Fulfilment of compliance and regulations may be taken care of by the eCom-merce companies, and such cost can be recovered by adjusting it in the margin of profits.

Integration of Aadhaar card instead of GST com-pliances would help these vendors significantly and at the same time help the Gov-ernment to keep a tab on each transaction of the ven-dors for facilitating the GST regulatory compliances later on if required. The in-troduction of Aadhaar for this scheme would be altru-istic in mitigating complex regulatory compliances and providing a balance of

convenience over the influx of income and expenditure.

USE of PoST offiCES aS loGiSTiCSOne of the other impedi-ment which may be faced by such vendors could be logistics and delivery. It is suggested that such eCom-merce companies may tie-up with ubiquitous In-dia Post to overcome the challenge of logistics and end-to-end delivery, given the extensive network of India Post across the coun-try (largest postal network in the world with 1,55,618 post offices). It is pertinent to note that India Post has already launched its eCom-merce website (https://ecom.indiapost.gov.in/) for Indian cultural and tradi-tional products like idols of religious figures, hand-loom products, authentic handmade products, hand-icrafts, organic products including herbal tooth-paste, shampoo among others. Therefore, it would not be an arduous task for it to join hands with such eCommerce companies.

Thus, instead of investing

in a new delivery network, using India Post would be a viable logistic option which in turn would generate rev-enue for the Government as well.

abSorPTion of ThE diSPlaCEd workEr PoPUlaTionLastly, most of the dis-placed workers who have returned to their home-towns would be unem-ployed and looking for work. Such displaced will include skilled and semi-skilled labourers. They are competent and expe-rienced enough to make use of available technology and help in the production of goods which is capable of being sold online via eCommerce websites.

This scheme may help the country and its economy in generating employment for the displaced workers to become ‘Atmanirbhar’ and turning job seekers into to job providers. Gagan Kumar is a practis-ing Advocate and a qualified Chartered Accountant and custodian of Krishnomics Le-gal based at New Delhi.

GST and E-Commerce as a panacea for reverse migrationGovernment may bring an amendment permitting e-commerce companies to use Aadhaar card of the supplier for verification as well as for discharging GST.

As news gets distorted along its path of diffusion, technology and its usage do the rest.

data & information

policy talk

News: “A group of biomedi-cal scientists have found that countries without universal policies of BCG vaccination have been more severely af-fected compared to countries with universal and long-standing BCG policies.”

Social media inference over the next several days: “Indians are immune to coronavirus.”

In the party game of Chi-nese Whisper (or Whisper Game), a player whispers a story into the next per-son’s ear. It is then relayed

to the next person, and so on until the end of the line. When the last player says it out loud, the message is very different. The game is a classic example of how people attribute meanings to messages differently and distortion happens along the way.

The damaging effects of fake news are well-doc-umented. Some advice is even available on how to overcome mental health is-sues related to information overload leading to false interpretations of Covid-19 information. CNN urges us to “slim down” on informa-tion consumption and trust only a few verified sources.

But most studies around fake news revolve around its creation and transmission, i.e., around information that is false at the origin. Fake news-busting portals edu-cate the consumer. Verifica-

tion that comes after the dif-fusion of information at best sets the record straight. But is this enough?

Fake news is not always fiction that masquerades as news from its origin. It is often a cycle of nudges that helps it acquire fakeness. Genuine information often suffers at the hands of this cycle.

informaTion- oSmoSiSThe nature of news diffu-sion is that it often travels in steps. The original news dif-fusion studies showed it as a two-step process, from the media to the first set of re-ceivers, and then from those people to the rest of us.

Over the past decade of social media, this two-step flow from media to social media and the influential relay of messages has only picked up momentum, al-though the definition of an influencer may have broad-ened on the new medium.

The text that we write before we forward a mes-sage is called ‘post’. When news spreaders add their text, they may add their two-cents’ worth, exerting an interpersonal influence over their followers. That influence, coupled with in-

dividual biases—forming ‘echo chambers’ and ‘filter bubbles’—determines the direction in which distor-tion takes place. Trust in the source is of little conse-quence. Rather, consonance with one’s belief set is criti-cal to sharing of informa-tion.

As news gets distorted along its path of diffusion, technology and its usage do the rest. All it takes is a small nudge from each user, conveniently adding or removing a detail from the original. This creates a snowball of false interpre-tations, widening the wedge with the original.

If the post is merely an opinion, it does not add fakeness. But we have often observed on social media how opinion is interpreted

as information, and the next nudge may include that bit. As the diffusion continues, the nudges from people who receive and re-produce the post potentially create an increasingly inaccurate un-derstanding of the informa-tion.

It is true that several re-ceivers may push back at those interpretations. But if a post offers a confirma-tion of our existing beliefs, it is more likely that we will absorb it and react and per-haps even forward it with the next little nudge of our own.

Can ‘nUdGE’ bE ThE SolUTion?Nudge Theory proposes that systemic tweaks can change minds over time. Although I have used the

term ‘nudge’ liberally and in a general sense so far in this article, Nobel Prize winner Richard Thaler originally used the word in the sense of how nudge can be used for positive reinforcement. It is achieved by changing the ‘choice architecture’—the design of how choices are presented to a consum-er and how it impacts deci-sions.

For example, if a govern-ment wants to promote or-gan donation, it can make donating the default option in a digital hospital applica-tion, for example. The user will then need to conscious-ly un-click that option to opt out. When several Europe-an governments tried this method, the opt-ins shot up from 15% to 90%.

Studies on the subject

show that nudging can help overcome cognitive bias. If we can explain distor-tion by the phenomenon of nudge, can we also resolve or undo the distortion using the same concept?

Yes, say some experts, stat-ing that some initial tech-nology is available to curb fake news reproduction through the nudge method. For example, researchers in Cyprus and Portugal claim to have identified 23 mecha-nisms of nudging to remind the social media user about fake news. They called this group of nudges the Nudge Deck. An example is a re-minder of the consequences of the action. Users underes-timate the consequences of their actions. These nudges help them understand those consequences more accu-rately. Some of these nudges accelerate a possible future regret, by projecting that re-gret before the action.

Separately, a group of re-searchers in Belgium claim to have developed a tool that can provide the user with credible choices of sourc-es—including information and varied opinions (an-other distinction that users often may not distinguish).

If a nudge can create or en-hance that tiny bit of fake-

ness, a nudge can also help in raising awareness about the bias that’s at play as we snowball fake news.

As prosumers of informa-tion, we receive and relay information. That’s enough reason why policymakers should focus on methods that address the informa-tion (re)producer in us. Whether the available tech-nology and methods are being tested and furthered, and whether governments are even taking anti-fake news policies seriously, is a moot point. There is no short-term solution to fake news, but it is fair to say that policymakers are not doing enough to address it head-on. After all, fake news could be beneficial for one affected party in a news item. We can only hope that valuable projects that aim to nudge out fake news are picked up and funded, scaled up and plugged into existing systems. Policy-makers in India must work towards sustainable and real achievement of these goals by nudging prosumers of the social consequences of fakeness they produce.The author has led media insti-tutes of repute and is the found-er of media literacy organisa-tion BeingResponsible.

How we nudge information towards fakeness

opinionGaGan Kumar

opinionShaShidar nanjundaiah

As prosumers of information, we receive and relay information. That’s enough reason why policymakers should focus on methods that address the information (re)producer in us. Whether the available technology and methods are being tested and furthered, and whether governments are even taking anti-fake news policies seriously, is a moot point.

policy & politicsthe daily guardian19 june 2020

new delhi 7

CorrespondentMuMbai

preeti sompuraMuMbai

Actress Kiara Advani has penned a post for her fa-ther, who turned a year older on Thursday. Taking to Instagram, Kiara wrote: “He’s always got my back and I have always got his. Daddy’s girl forever. Hap-py birthday papa.” Along with it, she shared a few throwback pictures that depict her bond with her father.

In one of the images, her father is seen holding

baby Kiara in his arms. Speaking of Kiara’s work projects, she has a couple of films in her kitty. She stars in the comedy film Indoo Ki Jawani. She will also be seen opposite Sid-harth Malhotra in Sher-shaah, which is based on the life of Param Vir Chakra recipient Army captain Vikram Batra, who laid down his life in the service of the nation while recapturing Indian territories from Pakistani intruders during the Kar-gil War of 1999.

Actor Abhishek Bachchan has worked with his wife, actress Aishwarya Rai Bach-chan, on several films but he says Umrao Jaan is the most special one of them. Because Abhishek, who met Aish-warya on the sets of the 2000 film Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke, fell in love with her while they were filming their 2006 film

Umrao Jaan. They got mar-ried in 2007. Speaking of his wife Aishwarya, who played the titular role in Umrao Jaan, Abhishek wrote, “Umrao is very special to me also be-cause.... well you know why.” The film, directed by J.P. Dut-ta, was Abhishek’s third col-laboration with Aishwarya after Dhai Akshar Prem Ke and Kuch Na Kaho.

Reminiscing his jour-ney of two decades in Bol-

lywood, Abhishek wrote: “Year-2006...Kabhie Alvida

Na Kehna, Umrao Jaan and Dhoom2 All three films hold

a very special place in my heart.”

Abhishek stepped into Bollywood with J.P. Dutta’s 2000 war drama Refugee. He also worked with him in the 2003 film LOC: Kargil. “Umrao Jaan was my third film with JP saab and my third too with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Suniel Shetty. JP Films is like home for me and working with them al-ways seems to be more of a

holiday than work,” wrote Abhishek. After Umrao Jaan, the two worked together in Dhoom 2, and a year later, they tied the knot.

“Dhoom 2 (my favourite of the series so far) saw a whole bunch of my childhood friends and some newer ones come together to make such a fun film. We had a blast mak-ing this one! Every day was like a huge school picnic,” wrote Abhishek.

Child aCtor reCalls sushant’s Caring side, Co-star questions fake sympathyChild actor Varun Buddhadev, who has worked with the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput in Kedarnath, still can’t believe that he has left for the heavenly abode. “Padhai acche se karna, padhai zaruri hai,” Sushant used to tell Varun all the time.

Varun recalls the late actor as an amaz-ing and caring person. They both shot for a

rain sequence in the movie and after every shot, Sushant used to call for warm clothes and hot milk for him. Sushant also used to help Varun with his scenes and made the atmosphere friendly for the kid so that he is comfortable. “Bhagwan unki aatma ko shanti de,” said Varun in a trembling voice, almost crying. Sushant’s Pavitra Rishta co-star Rith-vik Dhanjani said, “It’s funny how suddenly people have realised that they are going to be there for others. Aise zameer kaise jaag gaya?

I too have been getting these messages which I don’t need and the one who needed it didn’t have it. Somewhere we are all culprits that we could not be there when we could have been.”

His message for those going through a tough time is, “You are not alone and trust me, it’s okay to not be okay. Do not get affected by the fake sense of friendship. You just need one true friend, companion, sibling or teacher who is there to listen to you without judgement. Just find that person.”

shweta VermaMuMbai

Why ‘Umrao Jaan’ is a special film for Abhishek

kiara will be ‘daddy’s girl forever’CorrespondentMuMbai

silver masks beCome the latest fashion fad amid Covid-19

As Covid-19 has made its presence felt across the country, face masks have joined the list of essential items. No wonder, from masks in colourful patterns to dark muted hues, a vari-ety of masks have flooded the market. Even bridal masks have appeared to make the girl not miss out on the style quotient on that very impor-tant day. Now adding to the list are silver masks.

Maharashtra’s Kolhapur jewellers have made a de-signer silver mask for wed-dings and parties. Since the lockdown has almost been lifted, the wedding season has started in Maharashtra. For newly-wed couples, the jewellers have made a mask

from pure silver, which has made a big fashion state-ment, as of now.

Kolhapur has a big jewel-lery market. People from all over Pune and Konkan come to that market to buy gold and silver jewellery. Due to the pandemic, gold is no longer in people’s shop-ping lists. So the kolhapur jewellers have come with a innovative ideas to make a 40-60 gm silver mask to at-tract customers.

Kolhapur jeweller Sand-eep Sangavkar said: “I have

made silver masks of differ-ent style and weight for the bride and the groom, but many people are buying the mask as a wedding gift. In the last week, I had sold more than 50 masks.”

Ratnagiri resident Shekhar Surve has bought one silver mask for himself. He says, “I went to kolhapur and liked the silver mask. So I bought it for myself. It’s easy to re-move and washable, that’s why I bought it.”

Shekhar bought a 60 gm silver mask for Rs 4,000.

8 entertainment t h e da i ly gua r d i a n19 j u n e 2 0 2 0n ew d e l h i

Arsenal central defender David Luiz has accepted his mistake during Arsenal’s 0-3 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday night, saying more than the team’s fault, his errors cost them the game.

Luiz made a string of mis-takes in a forgettable 25-min-ute cameo appearance as 10-man Arsenal were thrashed by City on the English Pre-mier League’s return post the Covid-19 hiatus.

The Brazilian first failed to clear a ball which Raheem Sterling made the most of and scored the opening goal in the first half added time.

Luiz was later sent off for hacking down Riyad Mahrez inside the penalty area four minutes into the second half.

“It’s not the team’s fault, it was my fault,” he told Sky

Sports. “Today I think the team did well, especially with 10 men, the coach is amazing, the players did amazing, it’s just my fault.”

Luiz said, “I took the deci-sion to play, I should have taken another decision in the last two months, but I didn’t. It was all about my contract, whether I stay or not. I have 14 days to be here, and that’s it. Today was my fault. I don’t want to use it as an alibi or an excuse, but it’s my fault and that’s it.”

“I love to be here, that’s why I continue to train hard, that’s why I came here today, that’s why I’ve tried to do everything, that’s why I’m here putting my face up, that’s why I said to the play-ers no one had to speak, I’m happy to show my face and be here. I want to stay, the coach knows, he wants me to stay, and we are just wait-ing for the decisions,” said the 33-year old whose contract at Arsenal is set to expire in the coming weeks.

Ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has said he always wanted to grab Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s attention during his starting days at Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the iconic former India captain always maintained that the off-spinner was ex-ceptionally skillful.

“MS always maintained that you are exceptionally skilful and you should keep doing what you do,” Ash-win told Harsha Bhogle on “Cricbuzz in Conversation”.

“IPL and CSK is a stage that everyone wants. For me it was more about recognition. MSD did not know who Ash-win is, (Matthew) Hayden and (Muttiah) Muralithan did not know who Ashwin is. The first thing that came to my mind was that ‘I will

show these people that Ash-win is here’, said Ashwin who got his contract with CSK, one of the most suc-cessful IPL sides, in 2008.

“I don’t know it was be-ing foolish or arrogant but that was how I was made. Nobody was giving me a chance that Ashwin would play alongside Muralitharan or ahead of Muralitharan. I thought, I will get there ahead of him one day,” he added.

Talking about Dhoni, Ashwin said he got him out during a Challenger Trophy

game and that is when he caught the World Cup win-ning captain’s eye. “I never had massive interactions with him. It was going to the nets and getting MSD... he was hitting Muralitharan out of the park and I thought, if I bowl better than him, I may get to play ahead of Murali.”

“I got his attention when I got him during a Challenger Trophy and celebrated like a crazy kid,” he recalled.

Ashwin also spoke about CSK’s match against Victo-ria Bushrangers in the now defunct Champions League when he offered to bowl the Super Over and Dhoni obliged.

Ashwin did not fare well and ended up conceding 23 runs. He said when Dhoni walked past him after the match, he said: “You should have bowled the carrom ball.”

Why modern sport is not sturdy enough to combat racism yet

arsenal lost to man city because of my mistakes: luiz

dhoni alWays thought i Was exceptionally skillful: ashWin

Q. We are told you have been helping the needy people during the lock-

down. Can you shed some light?A. I think it is the duty of the “privileged” to come forward during these dif-ficult times. To be honest, I did not do anything big, it is that I belong to a fam-ily that has been putting efforts like these. During the pandemic, I saw many people who were strug-gling for necessities like food, water, and shelter; it was disheartening to see them struggle. We started a camp on NH24 and started 6 kitchens that went on for 62 days. Q. Rohit Sharma said that you are the most difficult bowler to face in the nets, why?A. I believe that when you go for the nets, you should think that you playing in a real match. I bowl my heart out at the nets; maybe this is a reason because I do not

give batsman any liberty. Many batsmen come to me and ask me not to ball short-pitch deliveries. Q. How do you see your trans-formation in your career after 2017-18?A. Sometimes, you have run to get to the platform, while as at other times, you have to be there at the platform to catch the train. I was scared to lose the platform in 2015-16 post my injury. However, I promised myself to give my best. And after 2017, I strategised things seriously — made my fitness chart, cut my diet, and did every minute thing I could do to improve myself. I took all the process slow and steady so that my body would not be adversely affected. Q. Tell us about Virat Kohli and his captaincy, and how crucial is it for a captain to handle bowling?A. Virat has tremendous abilities. His will-power and the amount of spirit he puts in the game dis-tinguish him from others.

Moreover, the captain has a very crucial role in the field and I strongly feel that as a bowler you need the back-

ing from your captain, re-gardless of who he is.Q. Do you think to ban on ball-shining using saliva will create difficulties for the pacers? And what is your take on the game post-COVID?A. It will be difficult but you have to follow the rules and we have to prepare ac-

cordingly. Regarding, IPL or the T20 World cup, I am ready for both. It is good to know that cricket is resum-ing, especially in Asia. It will also give a lot of enter-tainment to the viewers at home!Q. What was the reason for you to leave UP and come to Kolkata?A. It’s a very old story. About 17 years ago, I went to Kamla Club Kanpur for state trails. I went to the final round thrice but was not selected. So I gave up playing for UP and went to Kolkata. I played Kolkata Leauge and Kolkata has given me everything since. I owe a lot to Bengal.Q. Your debut was a dreamer’s joy. Can you enlighten our readers with your experience?A. No doubt, it was a dream come true. I was lucky enough to share the dress-ing room with Sachin pa. I bowled my first ball to Sa-chin, and honestly, I was under a lot of pressure. Post the net-session, Sa-chin came to me and put

his hand around my shoul-der and talked to me about my bowling. Those mo-ments are unforgettable. Q. Your video, wherein you were deadlifting a 158-pound barbell, went viral. Is dead-lifting a part of your training routine? A.  Well, (laughs) it was my brother who posted the video. Our family is very concerned about fitness. You can see how we have prepared the ground here. We have good facilities like NCA. My brother also plays cricket so I train with him and my nephews. As a family, we share the mo-ments of joy and despair, in unison!Q. Another video showed your front-foot defending abilities. We thought you just liked to hit the ball harder?A. We were playing one-bounce-out, wherein if a ball bounces once after hit-ting the bat, and the fielder catches the ball, you are given out. And when you play inside your house, you can only defend (laughs).

Saliva ban will make things difficult for bowlers: Shami

black liVes matter

premier league

football

ace spinner

allegation

interVieW

In a conversation with The Daily Guardian, India’s ace fast bowler Mohammed Shami talks about his career, fitness, injuries, and the future of cricket post Covid-19.

Cricketer Mohammed Shami.

David Luiz.

Ravichandran Ashwin.

Rajeev MishRanew delhi

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ouR coRRespondentChennai

sportsthe daily guardian19 june 2020

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The recent protests in the USa after the racially targeted killing of George Floyd have once again brought up the issue of rac-ism to the front. George Floyd’s killing shook the world and set the entire social media ablaze. way back at the 1968 olym-pics, the winners of the 200m Tommie Smith and John Carlos had raised black gloves on the podium of the medal ceremony. The two were promptly dealt

with severe sanctions. Sport is also a reflection of the values of society and thus merely is an exception to the infesta-tion of racism. english Premier league players will have “Black lives Matter” written on their jerseys instead of their names for the first 12 games after the competition resumes next week following the CoVid-19 hiatus. Besides, the league will support players who “take a knee” before or during matches. in Bundesliga too, Borussia dortmund`s Jordon Sancho celebrated his first goal against Paderborn by removing his jersey to reveal a handwritten ̀ Justice for George Floyd` message.

lately, west indies opener Chris Gayle in an appeal on so-cial media, stated that the peril of racism exists in cricket too and that he has also faced racism within teams and across the globe. Recently darren Sammy raised a similar issue he faced in the dressing room of Sunrisers hyderabad.

english fast bowler Jofra archer also called for action after receiving racist abuse on social media. while new Zealand Cricket announced that a 28-year-old man, who admitted the offense had been banned from attending international and domestic games in the country for two years.

although sports bodies do pay up service by sporting banners against racism this has not helped to prevent the issue from raising its head often. however, among all these drawbacks persisting in society and the sporting world, there has been an instance when the sporting world took a consistent and hard stand against South africa for its system of apartheid. The international olympic Committee banned South africa from competing at the olympics.

also, the international Cricket Council banned them from competing against the regular countries in test cricket from 1964 onwards. of course, this ban was followed by a con-certed effort by reformers like nelson Mandela and others to finally dismantle the system of apartheid, after which they were finally re-accepted by the international sporting hori-zons in the nineties. however, with the pre-eminent position of the USa at the olympics and in the world of sport, no one as of yet has thought of taking such a strict action against the USa as they did against South africa.

Sport is much larger than a professional entity and has the power to make a change. however, modern professional sports tend to be dependent on TV revenues and sponsor-ships. That might be the reason that the sporting world is not taking a firm stand against widespread racial injustice. The writer, a former National Junior Champion in Athletics, has studied Sports Science at Loughborough University, UK

Former Sri lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara has asked for evidence after country’s former Sports Minister Mahindananda aluthgamage alleged that team’s 2011 world Cup final against india played in Mumbai was fixed.india won the match by 6 wick-ets as Sri lanka lost their second world Cup final in a row.

“The 2011 Cricket world Cup final was fixed. i stand by what i say. it took place when i was the minister of sports,” aluth-gamage told newsfirst.lk. “however, i do not wish to expose details for the sake of the country. The game against india in 2011, the game we could have won, was fixed. i say this with a responsibility and i can come forward for a debate. The people are concerned about it. i would not involve the crick-eters in this. however, certain groups were definitely involved in fixing the game,” he added.

Sangakkara, who was the captain of the side when Sri lanka suffered the defeat, stated that getting to the bottom of the allegations is the best thing to do currently. “Then no one needs to speculate and can get to the bottom of this. That should be the most prudent course of action,” Sangak-kara was quoted as saying.

india had won their second world Cup title riding on the heroics of Gautam Gambhir and M.S. dhoni. Batting first, Sri lanka posted a commanding total of 274/6 in 50 overs with Mahela Jayawardene (103*) slamming an unbeaten ton.

India are clubbed with the Korea Republic, Australia and Uzbekistan in Group C at the official draw for the AFC U-16 Champion-ship Bahrain 2020 held at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. The four semi-finalists of the competition will earn a direct qualification to FIFA U-17 World Cup Peru 2021. India qualified for the U-16 Finals when they finished as Group B champions in Tashkent from a group which had Uzbekistan (hosts), Bah-rain and Turkmenistan. The Indian colts finished

with 7 points from three matches scoring 11 goals while conceding only one. This is India’s third con-secutive quali f icat ion in the AFC U-16 finals, and ninth overall. India U-16 national team head coach Bibiano Fernandes stated that the “boys are looking forward to it”. “I don’t like to pre-empt any expectations prior to the start of the competition. At this level, all the teams are tough to play against. We as a team have improved over the years. I’m sure that the boys - much like myself, are looking for-ward to it,” Fernandes said. Incidentally, the Indian colts had faced Uzbekistan in

Tashkent in the qualifiers in 2019 where it had ended 1-1. “When we last played Uz-bekistan in Uzbekistan, we discovered that they

were such a composed side. There’s a long gap be-tween the qualifiers and the U-16 finals and it’s un-derstandable that they have

had ample time and op-portunity to improve as a team. But we are ready for the challenge,” he added. The current batch will head

to the Championship in Bahrain on back of some amazing results last year that saw them net score a whopping 28 goals (without conceding any) from five matches on their way to the SAFF U-15 Championship title.

T h e b oys c u r r e nt l y stay unbeaten in eight international matches. In the last edition in 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, the U-16 boys stayed a win away from a direct qualification into the FIFA U-17 World Cup when they lost to the Korea Republic by a solitary goal in the quarterfinals. That was India’s second entry into the quarterfinals, the earlier being in 2002.

India clubbed with Korea, Australia, Uzbekistan for AFC U-16 meetThe four semi-finalists of the competition will earn a direct qualification to FIFA U-17 World Cup Peru 2021.

ex-sl minister says 2011 Wc final Was fixed, sangakkara seeks proof

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