Defence Secretary teStS poSitive for coviD-19Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar, a 1985-batch IAS officer, who had been at the forefront in battling the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, has report-edly tested coronavirus-positive, sources told IANS. The portion of South Block on the Raisina Hill complex in Delhi has been sealed and is in process of sanitisa-tion. After the reports of Kumar reportedly tested positive came in the corridors of South Block, many top Ministry of Defence officers did not attend their office. It was also reported that Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also did not attend the office. The ministry is carrying out an extensive contact tracing, and disinfection of offices in South Block is underway.

one terroriSt killeD in encounter in J&k’S raJouriOne terrorist was killed on Thurs-day in an encounter which broke out between security forces and terrorists at Kalakote area of Ra-jouri, police said. “Security forces have neutralised one terrorist in an encounter in the Kalakote area of Rajouri,” Jammu and Kashmir Police said. Earlier in the day, Jammu and Kashmir Police said, one civilian was injured after a terrorist attack on a police party in south Kashmir’s Kulgam.

MaharaShtra cyclone killS 6, raigaD bearS the brunt The trail of devastation left by cyclone Nisarga — which claimed 6 lives — was spread across nearly one-third of Maharashtra with Raigad bearing the brunt of its fury, officials said. In Raigad, an estimated few lakh homes have been damaged, while around 13,000 ‘kutcha’ houses destroyed, around 100,000 trees uprooted, thousands of electric poles, 14 electric substations and 1,962 transformers were razed, 500 mobile towers have fallen, 10 fishing boats damaged, over 5,033 hectares of farmland have been destroyed.

2raJinikanth ShoulD be the king, not the kingMaker: khuShbu

8WanteD to JuMp off balcony: uthappa

6navy’S green footprint to itS blue-Water operationS

05 june 2020 | Issue 37 | new delhi

India and Australia on Thurs-day signed seven agreements, including landmark pact on

access to military bases for logis-tics support, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Austra-lian counterpart Scott Morrison held a virtual summit.

India has already signed similar agreements with the US, France and Singapore.

The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) will allow militaries of the two countries to use each other’s bases for repair

and replenishment of supplies besides facilitating scaling up of overall defence cooperation. The other pacts will provide for bilateral cooperation in areas of cyber and cyber-enabled critical technology, mining and minerals, military technology, vocational education and water resources management.

India and Australia also de-liberated on a host of key issues including dealing with growing threat of terrorism, maritime se-curity challenges in the Indo-Pa-cific region, reform in the World Trade Organisation and ways to deal with the coronavirus crisis.

According to a joint statement issued after the PM Modi-Scott Morrison talks, both sides dis-cussed the issue of taxation of offshore income of Indian firms through the use of the India-Aus-tralia Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) and sought early resolution of the issue.

It said both sides also decided to re-engage on a bilateral Com-prehensive Economic Coopera-tion Agreement (CECA) while suitably considering earlier bi-lateral discussions where a mu-tually agreed way forward can be found.

The two countries recognised

that terrorism remains a threat to peace and stability in the re-gion and strongly condemned the menace in all its forms and mani-festations, stressing that there can be no justification for acts of ter-ror on any grounds whatsoever.

The joint statement said both sides support a comprehensive approach in combating terrorism, including by countering violent extremism, preventing radicali-sation, disrupting financial sup-port to terrorists and facilitating prosecution of those involved in acts of terror.

The two sides also called for early adoption of a Comprehen-

sive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).

In his opening remarks, PM Modi also pitched for a coordinat-ed and collaborative approach to come out of the adverse economic and social impact of the epidemic that has infected around 65 lakh people and killed 3.88 lakh glob-ally.

He said a process of comprehen-sive reforms covering almost all areas has been initiated in India as his government viewed the coronavirus crisis as an “oppor-tunity”.

Referring to the virtual sum-mit, the Prime Minister termed it

“a new model of India-Australia partnership, a new model of con-ducting business”. It was the first time that Modi held a “bilateral” virtual summit with a foreign leader.

The Prime Minister described his talks with Prime Minister Morrison as “an outstanding discussion”, covering the entire expanse of ties between the two strategic partners.

“Our government has decided to view this crisis as an opportunity. In India, a process of comprehen-sive reforms has been initiated in almost all areas. It will soon see results at the ground level,” the

Prime Minister said.PM Modi also conveyed his

appreciation to Prime Minister Morrison for taking care of the Indian community in Australia, especially the students during the “difficult time”. Morrison too complemented PM Modi for his “constructive and very positive” role including at the G-20 role in pushing for a concerted global ap-proach in dealing with the coro-navirus crisis.

PM Modi said he believed that it is the “perfect time and perfect opportunity” to further strength-en the relationship between India

aMiD lac StanDoff, inDia anD auStralia Seal Deal to uSe each other’S Military baSeS for logiSticS Support

The missing river

Free-floating aquatic plants have completely covered Gomti river at Kudiya Ghat, on the eve of World Environment Day, in Lucknow on Thursday. ANI

lanDMark agreeMentS

abhorrent act

claMpDoWn big loSS773 neW beDS

Pregnant elephant was fed with bomb, not cracker-stuffed pineapple: Maneka Gandhi

Mha banS 2,550 foreign tablighi MeMberS froM entering inDia for 10 yearS

Legendary director Basu Chatterjee passes away at 93

If numbers grow, Delhi will have more Covid hospitals: Kejriwal

The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement will allow militaries of the two countries to use each other’s bases for repair and replenishment of supplies besides facilitating scaling up of overall defence cooperation.

The brutal death of a preg-nant elephant in Kerala has triggered a massive protest across the nation. Former Union Minister and BJP MP Maneka Gandhi spoke to The Daily Guardian and called it a murder. She also alleged that an elephant is killed every three days in Kerala. Excerpts: Q. A pregnant elephant died of eating cracker-stuffed pineapple in Kerala. What action do you demand from the Kerala govern-ment over its abhorrent death?A. I am sad for the country today because it is a murder. There are bomb factories

running in Malappuram; the pregnant elephant was not “fed” with a “cracker-stuffed pineapple” since you need to burn a cracker to fire it. This was a profes-sional bomb, which means in Kerala bomb factories are running. Today an elephant died because of it, tomorrow anyone can die in Delhi as well. The government needs to bust this bomb factory and the people making these bombs. Three months ago, the Kerala government gave nod to manufacture bombs to kill wild pigs. When these wild pigs smell the bombs, they do not come near them. These bombs are being fed to elephants.

An elephant is killed every

three days in Kerala. The Kerala government is so in-sensitive that animals are dy-ing every day. Around 600 elephants died last year and there was no natural death in the last 25 years. Kerala is also stealing elephants from all over the country and those who have died came from Assam, Bihar and Odis-ha jungles. They have already killed their own elephants long ago. Their insurance should be stopped imme-diately. For instance, I can own and keep an elephant in Kerala, get it insured for Rs 5 lakh and later kill the animal for insurance money which I bought for just Rs 50,000.Q. How can the Kerala govern-

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SharpeSt kiD on the block

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In a major decision, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has clamped down the foreign Tablighi Jamaat members who came on tour-ist visas to join the Markaz. These foreign attendees have been banned from coming to India for 10 years.

According to information received from top sources, these foreign attendees came to India on tourist visas and were involved in the activities of Tablighi Jamaat. These for-eigners are now banned for 10 years for violating visa regulations. It is being told that 2,550 foreigners were members of the Tablighi Ja-maat, who visited India and

participated in religious ac-tivities across the country on tourist visas. It is being speculated that the number may increase further.

According to information from sources, blacklisted foreigners include citizens of Mali, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Djibouti, Tanzania, South, Africa, Myanmar, Thailand, Bangladesh, UK (OCI card holders) Australia and Nepal. The Nizamuddin Markaz is the largest centre of Islamic education in the world. People from many countries keep coming here. More than 5,000 people came here from 1-15 March to attend the Tablighi Jamaat.

In these, citizens of many countries came to join, in-

Legendary filmmaker Basu Chatterjee, who is remem-bered for milestone films like Rajnigandha, Chitchor and Chhoti Si Baat passed away in Mumbai on Thursday. He was 93 and the cause of his death is cited as age-related ailments.

Chatterjee’s death was con-firmed by filmmaker Ashoke Pandit, who is also the presi-dent of Indian Film and TV Directors Association. “I am extremely grieved to inform you all the demise of Legendary Filmmaker Basu Chatterjeeji. It’s agreat loss to the industry. Will miss you Sir. #RIPBasuChaterjee,”

tweeted Pandit. Chatterjee was a pioneer

of the seventies middle-of-the-road cinema that was a precursor of what is known as content-driven multi-plex fare today. Along with Hrishikesh Mukherjee, he ushered the small-to medi-um-budget entertainer of the era that highlighted the everyday stories of common people.

In this genre of film was also born the realistic, guy-next-door-hero who stood as an alternative to the larger-than-life male protagonist of masala cinema of the era, typified best by Amol Pale-kar in films like Chhoti Si Baat (1975), Chitchor (1976), Ra-

Battling the surge in the number of corona-positive patients, the Delhi govern-ment has come up with a strategy. According to the government, if the need in-creases, hospitals that were earlier asked to reserve 20% of their beds for coronavirus patients will now see them turn completely into Co-vid-19 hospitals.

There are two reasons be-hind this–first, the increas-ing number of cases in the city; and second, some hos-pitals are not able to manage in dealing with both regular and coronavirus patients.

Delhi Chief Minister Ar-vind Kejriwal has said that as the number of patients in

Delhi grows every day, the city will see a correspond-ing increase in Covid-19 hospitals.

There are 61 private hos-pitals in Delhi that have converted 20% of their beds into Covid-19 specific units. Now, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has made it clear that any hospitals facing difficulty in treating regular patients can be turned into only dealing with the pandemic.“61 hospitals in the city were ordered to turn 20% of their beds into corona units. Till now, we have turned five government and three pri-vate medical institutions into complete corona hospi-tals. Three more private hos-pitals were added to this list on Wednesday–Ganga Ram,

Moolchand and Saroj Hospi-tal. They will now only treat coronavirus patients,” said Manish Sisodia.

With the addition of these three new hospitals, 773 new beds have now been added to the list--508 beds in Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, 126 in Mool Chand Khairati Lal Hospital and 139 beds in Sa-roj Super Specialty Hospital.

This adds to the existing list of private hospitals fully dedicated to dealing with the pandemic. The list includes 2,000 beds in Lok Nayak Hospital, 500 beds each in Rajiv Gandhi Super Special-ity Hospital and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and 200 beds each in Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital and Satya-vadi Raja Harishchandra

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Rakesh kumaR singh NEw DElHI CoRRespondent

MUMBAI

The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to convene a meeting with states of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to evolve a common policy and procedure for movement of commuters between the three states of the National Capital Region. While the Centre said that the decision to open or close state borders rested with respective states, the top court has asked states to arrive at a common ground and decide in a week’s time.

The Supreme Court was

hearing a petition challeng-ing the decisions of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh admin-istrations, claiming it was “unconstitutional” on their part to restrict movement for permissible activities in areas falling within the NCR through “blanket orders of sealing borders without rea-sonable exceptions”.

Earlier the Uttar Pradesh government had filed an af-fidavit in the Supreme Court stating that it was cautiously allowing only registered entries into the state, and at present there is no such situation that all people can

be allowed to come to Delhi. The affidavit stated: “More important than money and industry, is the health of the people. There is no messing with the health of people. We believe that if the movement is fully opened in this period of pandemic, it can cause trouble… People of NCR can-not be given an open freedom to travel to Delhi.”

Weighing public health over money, the state govern-ment had then compared the presence of 293 Covid-posi-tive people in Noida to over 11,000 cases in Delhi, despite a much smaller population.

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Singhvi, while addressing a press conference, asked Piyush Goel to resign over his failure as Rail Minister and for allegedly making false claim with regards to Shramik Special trains.

Singhvi, while attacking Goel, said that in the Su-preme Court, the Solicitor General had submitted that Shramik trains are running and the cost would be borne by receiving or sending

states. On the contrary, the Home Minister and Railway officials have said that all the journeys are 85% subsidised, there was no mention of the Centre in the cost list.

Asking the Rail Minister to resign, Singhvi came out with the death and delay data surrounding the Railways. He said that of the 3,740 Sh-ramik trains running during that period, 40% were eight hours late, 10% were 24 hours late and 38 trains were over 35 hours late. Till now 81 casualties have occurred, though he didn’t rely on the official figures, he said.

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pregnant elephant WaS feD With boMb, not cracker-StuffeD pineapple: Maneka ganDhi

Legendary director Basu Chatterjee passes away at 93

If numbers grow, Delhi will have more Covid hospitals: Kejriwal

2 news t h e da i ly gua r d i a n05 j u n e 2 0 2 0n ew d e l h i

The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the la-bour wing affiliated

with the Rashtriya Swayam-sevak Sangh (RSS), plans to organise a nationwide pro-test on 10 June against the Central government’s plan of privatisation in numer-ous sectors. The protest will be carried out under the motto “Save Public Sector, Save India” with all its units associated with the public sector in protest against the government›s aggressive pri-vatisation drive.

According to sources, a meeting of the National Co-ordination Committee of Public Sectors of BMS was

held on 2-3 June 2020. The representatives from nu-merous sectors criticised the move to commercialise the coal sector; corporatisa-tion of the defence ordnance factories board and railways; strategic sale of public sector units (PSUs), merger and privatisation of banks and insurance sector; and to at-tract more foreign direct investments (FDIs) into the country.

“The meeting was held to decide the plan of action of BMS against the process of privatisation aggressively pursued by the Central gov-ernment in different names and in different sectors, like the commercialisation of coal sector, corporatisation of defence ordnance facto-

ries board and Railway, Stra-tegic sale of PSUs, merger and privatization of banks, Insurance, increasing FDI cap etc,” BMS said.

“BMS will organise pro-test programmes in all the above-mentioned units in the form of daylong dharna, protest meetings, and cam-paigns, at the unit level. It is being observed from past few decisions of the govern-ment that it is trying to push and impose its unjust deci-sions on the workers of the country. The BMS is com-mitted to fight until it stops the government from taking the anti-public sector and anti-worker decisions,” BMS general secretary Vrijesh Upadhyay said.

“The meeting hailed the

contribution of the public sector to the national econo-my as well as the service to the people and demanded to stop of privatisation to save the nation and stakehold-ers,” Upadhyay added.

The BMS further criticised the Centre saying, “Govern-ment is justifying the dire need of money to run its ma-chinery. However, it has no moral right or authority to sell national assets created by its predecessors.”

BMS alleged that earlier the government tried to make a strategic move in the name of selling loss-making units; but since no sensible pur-chaser was ready to take up loss-making units, now the government is forced to move to their main motive

of selling highly profitable sectors like Maharatna/Navaratnas to lure the pur-chasers.

In a statement issued, BMS said “The advisors to the Government are in the dearth of ideas to generate revenue, hence the only way out they provide to the Gov-ernment is ‘Corporatise and Privatise’. Such predatory advisors are working against the interest of the nation and are keen to keep real experts away from the Government even in times of difficulties.”

“The government should shed its reluctance in social dialogue and start consult-ing stakeholders to find out other means to address fiscal deficit and revenue genera-tion,” Upadhyay said.

rSS-backeD labour Wing callS for proteSt againSt govt’S privatiSation Drive on 10 June sabyasaChi Roy ChowdhuRyNEw DElHI

latha sRinivasanNEw DElHI

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shiv pujan jhaPATNA

and Aus-tralia. “We have immense pos-sibilities to make

our friendship stronger,” PM Modi said, adding: “How our relations become a ‘factor of stability’ for our region and for the world, how we work together for global good, all

these aspects need to be con-sidered.”

The PM said India was committed to expand its re-lations with Australia on a wider and faster pace, not-ing that it is important not only for the two countries, but also for the Indo-Pacific region and the world. “The

role of our comprehensive strategic partnership will be more important in this pe-riod of global epidemic. The world needs a coordinated and collaborative approach to get out of the economic and social side effects of this epidemic,” he said.wiTh agency inpuTs

ment be so insensitive towards animals?A. On every front,

the Kerala government is in-sensitive, be it human or ani-mal. They are repeat offend-ers. Whether it is children being sold in orphanages in Malappuram or people being killed, look at the crime rate in this city. Nothing is being done. Communal conflict is highest here. Malappuram is famous for such incidents and is India’s most violent district. For instance, they throw poison on roads so that 300 to 400 birds and dogs die at one time. During Covid-19, they have spread poison everywhere to kill all dogs. Since the last 30 to 40 years in Kerala, nobody has been nabbed for killing an elephant. In the last seven years, 11,000 elephants have been killed. Currently in In-dia, only 19,000 elephants are left among which 800 are males. How long el-ephant species will sustain

in India, hardly five years, which is extremely painful and shocking.Q. Congress leader Rahul Gan-dhi is also an MP from Kerala. Do you think he should be vocal about this issue?A. Yes, I think Rahul Gandhi should speak about this issue. When such incidents happen, he should come forward and talk to his government in Kerala that they should find the bomb factories and perpetrators. It creates quite a dangerous situation for elephants and other ani-mals. They should stop these heinous crimes immediately and ban private ownership of elephants. If the Kerala government acts on these suggestions, then dying of elephants will stop imme-diately.Q. What are your demands from your government in the Centre?

A. I am demanding the above-mentioned measures from the Central government as well. They should remove

“vermin” word from their dictionary as no animal is vermin including blue bull, monkey and other animals as jungles are completely dependent on them. In Delhi, six elephants used to beg on the streets and survived on roots and stems of trees. It took me five years to get a nod from the Delhi govern-ment to send them to the rescue centre.Q. Will you also move to the Supreme Court to take up this matter?A. For the last five years, I am fighting the case in the Su-preme Court and meanwhile, 11,000 elephants have been killed. The Supreme Court is extending the case by giving us further dates. The govern-ment and Centre should act on this at the earliest and the Supreme Court should listen to the case which it hasn’t for a single day.

cluding Mali, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Tanzania, South

Africa, Bangladesh, Indone-sia, Malaysia and Thailand, etc.

Action against the foreign Tablighi Jamaat members was first taken after 2,300 people including 250 foreign-ers belonging to the Islamic organisation were found to be living in the headquarter

located at Delhi’s Nizamud-din soon after the nationwide lockdown was announced in March. Several of these mem-bers had tested positive for corona.

The Jamaat’s leadership is already being probed for violating norms under the epidemic diseases law, while its volunteers from abroad have been booked for violat-ing visa norms and the For-eigners Act.

Hospital.Knowing the

government’s readiness to fight

the corona pandemic, five hospitals of Delhi govern-ment are fighting the battle with corona completely. With the government now increasing private hospi-tals’ participation, the total number of beds in Delhi is over 8,300. About 3,440 pa-tients suffering from the vi-rus are currently admitted in

these hospitals. The city has about 408 ventilators for these patients, out of which 255 are in use. Meanwhile, the government is repeat-edly emphasising the need to stay at home and medi-cate according to what doc-tors have suggested even for mild symptomatic patients.

Satyendra Jain, Delhi’s health minister, said: “If you have only mild symp-toms, stay at home and treat yourself according

to what your doctors tell you to. Only get admitted if you have moderate to severe symptoms. If you are breathing 15 times in one minute, then your case is moderate. If you are breathing 30 or more times, you have severe symptoms,”

Delhi accounts for about 10% of India’s coronavirus patients. With more than 25,000 cases and over 600 deaths, the city is one of the worst affected in the world.

jnigandha (1974) and Baton Baton Mein (1979).

Chatterjee also made TV serials

like Byomkesh Bakshi and Ra-jani, the two iconic serials of the Doordarshan.

Among Chatterjee’s other best-known films are Piya Ka Ghar (1972), Khatta Meetha

(1978), Shaukeen (1982), and Chameli Ki Shaadi (1986).

His last directed film was Gudgudee in 1997, starring Anupam Kher and Pratibha Sinha, which failed to do much at Box Office.

Born in Ajmer, Rajasthan, on 10 January, the noted direc-tor is survived by two daugh-ters. wiTh agency inpuTs

claMpDoWn

Mha banS 2,550 foreign tablighi MeMberS froM entering inDia for 10 yearS

aMiD lac StanDoff, inDia anD auStralia Seal Deal to uSe each other’S Military baSeS for logiSticS Support

lanDMark agreeMentS

While the BJP has already echoed the poll bugle in the election-bound state of Bihar, the opposition still has much cobbling to do in order to put a united front against the grand al-liance of the JD-U, the BJP and the LJP. With the Election Commission getting into the poll mode, it’s getting clear that the electoral process might be as per schedule in October or early November.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had much earlier put to rest all the speculations on the alliance with

the JD-U, stating that the elections in Bihar would be fought under Nit-ish Kumar and that he would be the captain of the team. However, the two allies have sailed through trou-bled waters and despite differences on issues like Triple Talaq, Citizen-ship Amendment Act (CAA), and National Register of Citizens (NRC), the JD-U and the BJP have managed to bury the hatchet. Even the LJP ap-pears to be on the same page and has already girded up its loins for elec-tions.

This stands in sharp contrast to the situation in Mahagathbandhan (the grand alliance). Jeetan Ram Manjhi,

the leader of Hindustani Awam Mor-cha (HAM) which is the part of the Mahagathbadhan, is a sulking man, like Upendra Kushwaha of the Rash-triya Lok Samta Party (RLSP).

Both Manjhi and Kushwaha have been for long demanding the set-ting up of a coordination committee within the Mahagathbandhan. How-ever, the plea landed on the deaf ears as Tejashwi Yadav seems indifferent. The coordination committee could have at least brought the conflicting partners with personal ambitions on a common platform to send out the semblance of an alliance with no difference.

Recently, there have been clandes-tine meetings between Manji and Kushwaha and even Mukesh Sahni of the VIP party to chalk out the fu-ture course of action. Speculation was rife that they wanted Sharad Yadav to spearhead an alliance as Tejashwi Yadav was not acceptable to them. Manjhi came out in open against the RJD recently when Te-jashwi Yadav decided to march to Gopalganj to protest the triple mur-der in the family of one of his party workers, saying he was not consult-ed. He went to the extent of question-ing the rationale of the protest only for the Gopalganj killings.

She made her debut in cin-ema as a child artist in Hindi films before she became a number one heroine in Tamil cinema ruling the 1990s. In fact, Khushbu Sundar be-came so popular in south cinema that fans even built her a temple in Tamil Nadu. The actor moved into the po-litical arena in 2010 when she joined the DMK and later the Congress in 2014. The Con-gress national spokesperson is someone who has always stood up for women’s rights and doesn’t mince her words when it comes to politics ei-ther. Excerpts:Q: In Chennai, there’s a lot of anger against the government as they haven’t been able to contain the spread of coronavirus.A: To be honest, if there was a complete failure on the part of the government, we’d have seen a huge spike across Tamil Nadu and not only just Chennai. They’re able to sus-tain the spread of Covid-19 in other districts and this gives a lot to think about. When I step out today, I see people having a lethargic attitude, not wearing masks and not maintaining social distanc-ing. So, tell me, how much can the government do if people aren’t aware? We need to look at the positive side — the rate of recovery here is 65% and death about 1%.Q: There has been extensive criti-cism to the Centre’s handling of Covid-19 and the migrant issue. In fact, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has offered 1,000 buses in UP to send migrants home. But the BJP accused Rahul Gandhi of play-ing “politics with misery” and not helping migrants in states they were in power.A: This is not the time to play politics. It’s there for the world to see how the Central government has failed com-pletely in working on the basics of implementing the lockdown. This was about millions of migrant workers who needed to get back home -- with no transport, how will they get back home? When Rahul Gandhi spoke about the seriousness of corona-virus in early February, he was told that he must not talk about it because it was not a national threat. But here we are, sitting at seventh posi-tion in the world in terms of highest number of Covid-19 patients. If we had taken it

more seriously back then and planned it better with regard to the migrant workers, the businesses, the poors, etc, we wouldn’t be in this situation. Parliament continued till 23 March because they wanted to bring down the govern-ment in Madhya Pradesh. When the WHO said this would be a pandemic and when Tablighi Jamaat hap-pened, they should have shut it down. Priyanka Gan-dhi Vadra was trying to send buses and the UP CM tried to stop this. And the blame game started. Even an actor like Sonu Sood could send so many migrants back home in a week’s time! It took the Cen-tral government more than 70 days and yet they have not got it right. The Shramik special trains have started running but there are no fa-cilities, water or food; more than 80 people have died and it’s so painful. Q: The IANS-C Voter State of the Nation 2020 Survey shows that Rahul Gandhi’s national approval rating is lower than the CMs in Congress-ruled or alliance-led states.A: People should stop being obsessed with Rahul Gandhi; he is just an MP from Way-anad now. I don’t understand why these surveys, the media or the BJP are obsessed with Rahul Gandhi. You don’t want to give him chance, yet you continue to say he is not of any hope. Let him live his life and you live your life. The minute you keep talking about him, plant trolls and memes and keep defaming him, shows how obsessed people are with Rahul Gan-dhi. We should be concen-trating on Moody’s India’s credit rating which has been downgraded in the six years of BJP rule.Q: With the 2021 elections ap-proaching in Tamil Nadu, is the Congress alliance with the DMK still going strong? A: I wouldn’t be able to an-swer that. I am a national

spokesperson, so I leave it to the senior leaders and the TNCC president to speak about this. Now, the elec-tions are not about J. Jayala-lithaa but an individual called Edappadi Palaniswami and how well he has done as the CM. We will know only at the time of elections since we don’t have the two stalwarts, Amma Jayalalithaa of the AIADMK and Dr Kalaignar of the DMK. It’s going to a different election altogether in Tamil Nadu. For the first time, we are going to see an election where both parties have two new leaders.Q: Two of your friends from the film industry, Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, are now in the political sphere. If Rajinikanth steps into politics, how will it impact the political scenario in Tamil Nadu?A: Since we don’t have the two stalwarts, Amma Jaya-lalithaa and Dr Kalaignar, there is definitely a vacuum. People can also look for the third front but we’re not sure we can form a triangle. We still don’t know what Rajini-kanth’s ideas are for the state and the people, while Kamal Haasan has done well for himself in the last elections. I hope Rajinikanth starts his party early because I want people from the film indus-try to come into politics — it shouldn’t end with Rajini-kanth and Kamal Haasan — but other youngsters should come and make a difference. If you have backing of the people and they trust you, then whoever is interested in politics should take the plunge. I must also say that Rajinikanth shouldn’t be the kingmaker but he also has to be the king. Only then people are going to vote for him. Q: With regard to women’s issues and rights, you have been one of the strongest and most powerful voices. How important is it for women to stand up for them-selves? What advice do you give your daughters?A: The only advice I give my daughters is stand up for what you feel is right. Only when you believe in yourself, you can speak with honesty, conviction and confidence. You cannot be a parrot repeat-ing what someone else says. It pains me to see in the 21st century that despite women have moved ahead, we’re still talking about women break-ing the glass ceiling. We have moved way beyond that!

Rajinikanth should be the king, not the kingmaker: Khushbu

SC asks Centre to hold meeting of Delhi, UP & Haryana on movement

Congress demands Piyush Goel’s resignation

Opposition divided as ruling alliance sounds poll bugle

Khushbu sundar

India, we were being repeatedly told, had discovered new magic.

Suddenly, the world wanted to be where we were. And we wanted to be ever where in the world. From the High Table of world powers to a putative member of the re-formed UN Security Council. Political leaders unknown to the world till yesterday except for unwholesome memories of Gujarat 2002 were aspir-ing to outstrip Jawaharlal Ne-hru. Then the CAA protests got noticed across the globe; doubts were voiced in Tur-key and Malaysia. Gradually the OIC and Kuwait changed their tenor. Then in quick suc-cession the UK and other European friends began to demur. Closer home, Bangla-desh and Sri Lanka began to underscore concerns, albeit mildly. Then suddenly Nepal and China exploded. The best laid plans of mice and men went awry. Covid-19 added its bitter taste.

The details of the points of contestation on the Chinese front, as indeed the Nepal front, have been widely pre-sented in the national media with a degree of incredulous-ness but thankfully with con-trolled negativity. But it is well beyond the pretense that it is something routine or minor. Maps with unpronounceable remote stations are common place in the media.

Indian soldiers admit-tedly have been engaged in a standoff with their Chinese counterparts along the LAC about which the countries are said to have a difference of perception. As New Delhi somewhat belatedly gathered its best brains to prepare a strategy to resolve the latest dispute with China, another neighbour, Nepal, discovered

sudden belligerence.India’s latest diplomatic row

with Nepal erupted on 8 May when New Delhi announced the inauguration of a Himala-yan road link that Kathman-du believes passes through the disputed area of Kalapani for some 17 km. Under intense pressure from the opposition, civil society and the Nepali press, Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli took the unprecedented step to have Parliament endorse a new political map of the country, showing Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura within its borders. India naturally ob-jected to the new Nepal map having “included parts of the Indian territory”. In Novem-ber 2019, India’s new political map showed Kalapani within India. The step saw Nepal’s capital Kathmandu rocked in protest giving vent to a sim-mering feeling of some time, but the Indian government chose to shrug it off.

An ill-time remark by In-dian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane, suggesting that Kathmandu might have acted at the behest of someone else (read China) provoked Nepal’s Defence Minister Ishwor Pokhrel to call General Naravane’s com-ments an insult to the Nepali soldiers working in the In-dian Army. Nearly 40,000 Nepali Gurkha soldiers are part of 40 battalions. Be-sides, the Indian Army Chief is also an Honorary General of Nepalese Army. Prime Mi-nister Oli’s remarks about the “Indian virus” spreading the coronavirus pandemic into Nepal was the unkindest cut of all. We must understand that Oli’s hard nationalist posturing is conditioned by his domestic audience as well as to consolidate his slippery position within his party. Knowing that China is all too keen to take advantage, our hyper nationalist media and TV Rambos might irre-versibly hurt Indo-Nepalese relations. But then how long will the pigeons not come home to roost?

It is pointed out that Nepal has objections to the 2015 bilateral agreement between

India and China that opened up Lipulekh for trade. Nepal’s position thus has remained consistent despite successive governments.

India on the other hand has consistently argued that the road is completely within its territory, but Nepal says that the road crosses over to the east bank of the Mahakali river and therefore into their territory. This is based on the 1816 Sugauli treaty signed with British colonial rulers.

Nepal’s biggest-selling newspaper, purportedly, pre-sented the historical evidence: Five British-Indian maps is-sued between 1819 and 1894 that show Limpiyadhura as the headwaters of the Ma-hakali; a 1904 letter written by then Prime Minister Rana Chandra Shamsher to village chiefs of the triangle; and evi-dence of a 1958 voter list and the 1961 Census by Nepali authorities in the region.

The core of the dispute is in the cartographic interpreta-tion of the headwaters of the Mahakali river. Nepal insists Limpiyadhura is the location of the headwaters; India re-gards a smaller stream flow-ing down from Lipulekh as the river’s headwaters. The dispute is to be seen in the context of the presence of Indian troops in Kalapani from before the 1962 war with China.

The disagreement appears to have hardened consider-ably the Nepal Prime Min-ister’s earlier observation on a possible solution of road leasing to India, which seemed promising and con-sistent with our historical attitudes, but since then, we have only seen moves from both sides that have raised the temperature giving it a political flavour that makes resolution difficult. Dialogue more difficult. Nepal’s earlier demands were focused on the withdrawal of troops from Kalapani; its recent position now includes the insistence of Limpiyadhura as the head-waters.

The presence of the Indian Army at the trijunction be-tween India, China and Ne-pal complicates the matter. Strategically withdrawal of troops, as Nepal demands, is obviously unacceptable to India now. Past proposals where India would withdraw its troops while Nepal would guarantee Indian security in-terests in the region are non-starters, especially now.

The situation is critical to In-dia-Nepal relations but in ad-

dition there is the background of the India-China border dispute along the Line of Ac-tual Control (LAC). Then we must not forget that Nepal’s ruling Communist Party has reached out to China for in-vestment and better connec-tivity in recent years, which is a matter of discomfort for India. Yet, Beijing’s guarded position that Kalapani is a bilateral issue between India and Nepal is interesting since the road in question from In-dia’s point of view is a result of its 2015 agreement.

These tensions with our neighbour — the second over Kalapani in six months and the most serious bilateral dispute since the 2015 unof-ficial blockade — do not auger well for India as it searches for a more prominent place in world affairs.

Meanwhile all is far from well on the Chinese front. Video clips and photographs of Indian soldiers in custody of the PLA are being cir-culated. India has moved additional troops along its northern border in a parallel move to the Chinese deploy-ment of about 5,000 soldiers and armoured vehicles within its side of the disputed border in the Ladakh region. India is adding a similar number of troops as well as artillery guns along the border to fend off the continuing incursions by the Chinese army. Reports of the Chinese having intrud-ed up to 15 km into Indian territory takes us far beyond the conventional difference of perception about the LAC explanation.

The most recent standoff began on 5 May, when troops clashed on the banks of Pan-gong Tso — a glacial lake at 14,000 ft in the Tibetan pla-teau — leaving scores of sol-diers on both sides injured. Since then we have seen a steady build-up of troops amid continuing reports of face-offs and inconsistent statements by government sources. Transgressions that used to make the BJP fume are being treated as common place events. Diplomats of the two sides have swiftly sought upgraded talks after negotiations between Indian and Chinese military officials on 22-23 May brought no re-sults. China’s current move to step up incursions at two different locations along the 3,488-km undemarcated LAC is a marked deviation from its restrained attempts to intrude and depart without raising things to a pitch that

led the two nations to go to war in 1962.

Despite these developments, Beijing has reiterated its commitment to safeguard-ing peace and stability in the border areas. Foreign Minis-try spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that the two countries had good border-related mechanisms and communi-cations channels. But then why should these face-offs be taking place?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reported to have discussed the stand-off with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and chiefs of its three armed services. A somewhat timo-rous media reported that the meeting centred around op-tions available to India, and that it was decided to go the diplomatic route while main-taining a tough military pos-ture at the border. One might guess where that is coming from.

It is not hard to see that China’s actions along the Indian border coincide with its attempts to consolidate po-litical and strategic positions across Asia and to harden its positions on the US. The de-velopments in Hong Kong, raised tensions in the South China Sea by continuing re-jection of the Arbitral Award to thwart the efforts of Viet-nam, the Philippines and Ma-laysia to exploit oil, gas and fishing resources off their shores, a sustained campaign to prevent Taiwan rejoining WHO even as the US ques-tioned the world body’s integ-rity on the Wuhan virus issue and along with Europe and Australia severely criticised China for its handling of the pandemic, have all somewhat isolated China. The latter, in turn, has accused the US of pushing the world into a new Cold War.

Despite PM Modi’s public display of friendship with President Xi Jinping by inter alia sharing a swing, surely China has not been oblivious of India’s tilt towards the US. The presence of important Indian personalities at in-ternational gatherings that discuss containment plans for China and sidelining China through conceptualising the Indo-Pacific paradigm might have been seen as In-dia going too far even as we see China’s footprints in the Indian Ocean, particularly Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh getting too deep for comfort. India must — and will have

to — sort out the landscape for itself instead of following the self-interest of the US, and that too under President Trump.

The immediate trigger for the current tensions with India may have been the completion of a road and bridge in the Galwan sector in Ladakh. Over the period In-dia has been building border infrastructure that was woe-fully lacking and certainly far below what the Chinese have. As they have moved air force squadrons closer to Indian territory, we have had to ac-tivate high-altitude air strips and roads for emergency landings. The Lt General talks now proposed might de-escalate immediate tension but can hardly address the larger issue. PM Modi is sup-posed to have a dream team that includes NSA Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, credited with the resolution of the Doklam crisis. Will they find repair-ing relations with China un-der PM Modi’s watch easier than the State Department does under President Trump? That is truly a million dollar, well yen, question.

Chinese border intrusions appear to have escalated last year when India changed the status of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh in August 2019 to bring them under Central government control. Now if experts are to be believed, the current standoff is far more serious than the Doklam crisis of 2017, particularly as it comes after and despite moving on from there. Have we been telling the truth and the whole truth to the coun-try over the months? Or, is the disturbed dust of the LAC swept under the carpet with self-congratulatory ges-tures even as it accumulates for another day of reckoning. Perhaps it is still not too late to take an honest stock and find the right balance between our inclination to play the big-league games of world diplo-macy and sorting out prob-lems of history in our own backyard. We might begin with asking a fundamental question, “What does China want?” and “What does India want?” The answer will have a great deal to do with what is honestly possible. Sterile mind games must give way to pragmatism. Telephone calls must be made between Xi and Modi, not Modi and Trump.The writer is senior Congress leader and former Minister of External Affairs.

Sterile mind games must give way to pragmatismRow with Nepal and border standoff with China expose Modi govt’s diplomatic shortcomings.

World EnvironmEnt day

diplomacy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “jet-setting di-plomacy” in his first term didn’t get the praise as desired. But five years later, the overseas reach out by PM Modi had brought more in diplomacy dividends than by the entire budget spent on the publicity of “Incredible India” by the country’s Tourism Ministry.

The virtual summit between PM Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison on Thurs-day was beyond the diplomatic protocol and a message to collaborate comprehensively to maxi-mise the Indo-Australian relations, which have been most underrated and underexplored. Both leaders, while admitting that despite sharing the common values, traditions and threats -- terrorism and China – the two countries haven’t moved to forge a strategic partnership as desired. The same could have resulted in a far stronger counter to the rise of China in the Asia-Pacific and also in the South China Sea to thwart attempts of the Dragon to harass ASEAN nations and disturb the regional security, including up to Australia and Japan.

Today’s virtual summit spelt out the gaps which need to be bridged urgently like science and tech-nology, maritime security partnership, free and balanced trade relations, logistics sharing and defence cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region to moving on other issues like cyber, education, tourism, infrastructure and food. The last can be the game-changer as Australia, which is home to wine and wheat, can trade with India on a lot of food items, processed and packaged for its people; Australia is currently facing abrupt supply chains due to snapped ties with China. Australia has al-ways voiced for India’s entry into the UN Security Council and consistently slammed Pakistan for encouraging cross-border terrorism. A strong ally like Australia in India’s strategic diplomacy char-ter under PM Modi will set the tempo for “correct realisation’’ of the Act-East Policy.

We have to reach out to Australia correctly and urgently to forge “comprehensive trade and secu-rity pacts” to be a strategic player in the emerging geopolitical dynamics, epicentre of which is the In-do-pacific region. India must start with two critical areas -- becoming a vital regional security partner with Australia to maintain maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region; and exploring the mu-tual trade potential to bridge the gaps created by China’s exit from the Pacific nation’s trading chain.

The Quad -- an alliance of the US, Japan, India and Australia – needs to go beyond table talks and diplomacy roundups and must become a strategic defence and security arrangement like the NATO to protect the Indo-Pacific region and international waters through intensive naval exercises, air sur-veillance and regular talks with other stakeholders in the region -- Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore. The Quad can always be on their sides in the time of anticipated Chinese intrusion as re-ported in the South China Sea in recent months.

Not to forget, the pace of building this strategic partnership to secure the East, including the seas, is the most critical in containing the Dragon. It’s time to match the speed of China in securing the Indo-Pacific with Australia!Maneesh Pandeya

perspectivePro-active diPlomacy

timE to play thE Quad gamE to contain china

The theme for the World Environment Day this year is biodiversity. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Na-ture, India is a megadiverse country. Our landscapes ranging from mountains to wetlands support 45,000 species of plants and 91,000 species of animals. Although

we cover 2.4% of the world’s land area, we have 7-8% of the recorded species. Our biodiversity hotspots like the Sundarbans, the Himalayas, the Western Ghats and the Northeast are threatened by habitat destruction, poach-ing and climate change.

Biodiverse forests have great value. We are all aware that they sequester carbon but they also have economic vale, potential cures for dis-eases and food sources we are not even aware of. It is estimated that the services provided by biodiversity are worth $125-140 trillion which is more than one and a half times that of the world’s GDP.

During the pandemic, the

Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has taken a few shocking steps that compromise some of India’s most biodiverse regions. The Standing Com-mittee of the National Board for Wildlife has cleared mul-tiple projects through online meetings. Some of these are highway construction pass-ing through the Mollem Wildlife Sanctuary and the usage of 98.59 hectares of reserve forest in the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve for open cast coal mining. The Forest Advisory Council has been deliberating clearing parts of Arunachal Pradesh’s rich rainforests in the Dibang Valley. The entire Environ-ment Impact Assessment

Notification is in the process of being diluted.  

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the steps taken by the ministry seem extreme-ly short-sighted. Scientists have long warned us that deforestation displaces wild animals which then puts them in closer proximity to one another and to us. This increases human exposure to new infectious diseases. Economic growth and job creation are justifications propounded by our policy-makers for such irreparable environmental damage. The economic benefit that comes from destroying our bio-diversity is temporary and there is a far greater price that we will need to pay in

the future. For example, ac-cording to the Global Climate Risk Index, India is the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change. By the year 2050, 200 million people will be displaced as a result of climate change, many will be Indians. The poor will be the most vulnerable to ecological degradation. The situation is grave and it needs to be taken far more seriously by those in power. Our policymakers need to lead more innovatively; we need to develop but not at the cost of the environment that sustains us.

The question that we are often faced with is: if those in power do not take sen-sible decisions which sup-

port India in the long run, what can people like us do? The fact is we can take small strategic high-impact steps. As a start, we must hold our political leadership ac-countable and ask elected representatives for their cli-mate change agenda. When political parties campaign for votes, we must demand environmental/sustainabil-ity goals be added in their manifestos. We can build ca-pacity amongst our bureau-cracy, develop coalitions, invest in research and create advocacy groups. We need to take ownership of our environment and the need to protect it. As citizens, we need to think bigger. Taking steps to make our own lives

sustainable like turning the lights off when we leave a room are positive but there is so much more that we can and must do. In our battle against climate change, each one of our skills are vital and we must be heard. This is an issue that impacts our survival as a species and we must, like in our fight against Covid-19, band together with single-minded focus.

A good example for us to study is that of the Nether-lands. The Dutch govern-ment recently announced significant cuts to coal us-age and limited its livestock herds. The impetus for these measures did not come from the Dutch government but from a Supreme Court rul-

ing. The Urgenda Founda-tion, a non-profit, and over 800 co-plaintiffs filed a climate change litigation in 2013 which led to the pres-ent cuts. However, it is note-worthy that the government adopted 30 of the proposals in Urgenda’s “54 Climate So-lutions Plan”. 

Our political leadership will act on the issues that are important to us. We need to place biodiversity high on our agenda and if this does not lead to sustainable cli-mate sensitive leadership, then perhaps India’s natural environment needs a climate action lawsuit.The writer is a lawyer, environ-mentalist and animal rights activist.

Protecting India’s biodiversity should be on our agendaAmbikA HirAnAndAni

3comment & analysisthe daily guardian05 june 2020

new delhi

opinionSalman KhurShid

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has asked party members, especially the kisan (farm-er) cell, to raise the issues related to farm-ers and their plight during the lockdown. Pursuant to this instruction, Kisan Congress has carried out a campaign to connect with the farmers at every level in the country.

The cell mobilised a massive social media campaign to raise the issues of farmers. More than 2.5 lakh tweets marked the social media campaign in support of farmers.

Kissan Congress made five demands from the Modi government: 1. Rid farmers of debts; 2. Ensuring purchase of products from farmers; 3. An amount of Rs 10,000 per month be given to farmers till next harvesting; 4. Health insurance for farm-ers and 5. Rs 20 as subsidy on diesel for farmers.

It wrote several letters to the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, and Agricul-ture Minister, raising these demands. It even held a small peaceful demonstration in front of Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s residence and met him where he was urged to pay special atten-tion to the issues of farmers.

Kisan Congress recently launched the “Kisan Ki Pukar, Nahi Sun Rahi Sarkaar, Mahamahim ko Guhaar”, under which a nationwide two-day programme was held by the cell as part of which it submitted a memorandum to district collectors of their areas. Kisan Congress delegates also went to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to submit memorandum.

After Nana Patole was appointed the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Rahul Gandhi handed over the responsibility of Kisan Congress to Suren-der Solanki.

Cong kisan Cell holds online Campaign on farmers’ plight Ajit MAindolANEw DELHI

Mayday! Mayday! Pollution, climate chaos and now

Covid-19, Spaceship Earth needs to take a desperate re-set, before all systems burn down. Nature is fed up, and on this World Environment Day 2020 as India battles devastation of Nisarga and Amphan, we need to reori-ent our “mind’s eye” to see real wealth -- our biodiver-sity, and not currency. For, otherwise, rapture may only be far away.

For centuries, people, hills, rivers, nations, etc, have been scarified at the altar of “money”, so that our “im-perialist business leaders” and “hedge fund manager” can buy their way into El Dorado.  

History teaches us that our “Brave New World” needs to be violently subjugated for gleaning maximum profits, most efficiently. Meanwhile, our children are condi-tioned to believe wealth comes from “bankers” and “capitalists”, and “orange juice from the refrigerator”. Their innocence is molested with images of misinforma-

tion, fear and violence as our environment -- air, water, etc -- and even the informa-tion in our brains are pollut-ed. Advertising even spills into our dreams. Also, our slanted economic system is rapacious, so much so that a skilled worker/craftsman (for example, a cobbler) in Bihar, working 24x7, cannot even earn in a month what his counterpart in the US earns in a day! 

Money can never be the real wealth, as it is tempo-ral, contingent and only a means to something else. Predatory corporatism forces countries to abandon welfare policies and priva-tise all our common proper-ties -- forests, oil, water, etc. It happened in the US, the UK, Russia, et al. Colonisa-tion of the world by Europe disrupted local economies. For example, the East India Company, after its victory at Plassey, set a new con-version rate: one English Pound was made equal to 15 Indian coins (although the Indian coin was stronger and had more silver/gold in it). The current economic system is based on imperi-alism and acts to propagate the money economy, which

is completely different from wealth.

How can we define wealth, then? Buckminster Fuller, American architect and philosopher, rightly re-garded it as “our organised capability to cope effectively with the environment in sustaining our healthy re-generation and decreasing both the physical and meta-physical restrictions of the forward days of our lives.” This should be our goal. But problem occurs when we take the messenger to be the message -- money to be the wealth. Money is not the real wealth.

So, how can we recreate sustainable and organic communities that nourish all? For answer, we need to go back to ancient India. Our 10,000-year-old civili-sation has emerged from the forests; our wisdom comes

from the Aranyakas. Our sages lived in these forests, to unravel the mysteries of the universe, while our ancestors learnt secrets of medicine and agriculture from them. In fact, each Veda has Aranyakas associ-ated with it.

The forest and our biodi-versity are alive, and they are the only tools of regen-erating Earth we have. They trap the energy of the sun and transform it to meet all our needs – food, medicine, etc, so that we Humans and other animals can sustain ourselves. In return, Space-ship Earth is replenished with solar radiation too. If we examine closely, oil is nothing but transformed ancient forests and solar energy. It is now available to us after millions of years, as an emergency source for energy.

The true energy source is the sun, and the real wealth is biodiversity. Without bio-diversity life is not possible on Earth. From the native cultures of the Amazon to rainforest of Indonesia, a fire of greed is burning away our real wealth – trees and biodiversity -- for money. While our rivers are being

poisoned, air has been pol-luted. By separating from nature, we are losing mi-crobiome system that gives health and immunity.

We must think globally and act locally to preserve biodiversity. We need to adopt non-violence towards Earth and replace synthetic goods with biodiverse and sustainable products that help heal small communities and our forests. We need to even increase the biodiver-sity of our thali -- by adopt-ing millets, seasonal veg-etables and heirloom seeds.

In the end, we must re-member that Earth, forests and our gut are all connect-ed. The ancient wisdom in the Upanishads tells us: “We become what we eat.” So, let us eat healthy and biodi-verse food. We need to work to bring back biodiversity in our lives, whether through a potted plant or the replace-ment of white sugar with jaggery in our kitchen. It is time we synchronised our efforts to regenerate our planet with the help of bio-diversity or be doomed to become “Polluto”.The writer is Director, Policy and Outreach, National Seed Association of India.

money isn’t the real wealth, biodiversity is

debt trapworld environment day

indrA ShekhAr Singh

news plus the daily guardian05 june 2020new delhi4

We must replace synthetic goods with biodiverse and sustainable products that help heal small communities and forests.

Civilisation talkv

know your tax

legally speakingthe daily guardian05 june 2020

new delhi 5

In the last piece, this au-thor had presented a broad summary of histo-

rian Radhakumud Mookerji’s book The Fundamental Unity of India to understand how indigenous scholarly voices, which existed well before 1947, saw Bharat. In reading and interpreting works of history, it is critical to under-stand that history has always been a fertile battleground because it could either make or break a people’s relation-ship with their past, which, in turn, affects their sense of self. Therefore, decoloniality demands that the political utility of history should never be underestimated, which makes it imperative to pay attention to the ebb and flow of politics and power struc-tures surrounding a work of history. How is this relevant to the discussion at hand?

The fact that Mookerji and other such Indic voices oper-

ated in an extremely hostile colonial atmosphere, wherein Western-centrism was even more normative than now, is well-documented. Sam-ple this 21-page paper titled “The Origins of Indian Na-tionalism According to Na-tive Writers” authored by an American Professor of History, Bruce T. McCully in 1935, which was published in The Journal of Modern His-tory. The stated object of the study was “to determine the origins of Indian nationalism as indicated in the works of native writers”. However, McCully’s coloniality, which reveals it-self through his language of sheer condescension and contempt for the works of Mookerji and other “native” voices such as K.M.Panikkar, V.V.S.Aiyar, B.S.Rao, Har Bi-las Sarda, Sukumar Dutt and K.S.Ramaswami Sastri who largely shared Mookerji’s po-sition, is best captured in his own words:

“The attempt to interpret the unity of ancient India in terms of religion and culture, aside from the improbability of this theory in the light of historical research, appears to be more in the nature of a rationalization to support the contention that India has always possessed certain of the component elements of nationality than an explana-

tion of the origins of nation-alism….

…With their somewhat romantic attachment to the past glories of India in con-trast to the despised present, these writers seem to invite criticism by their cavalier disregard for the evidences of history….Far more weighty in number, diversity, and value are the writings which attri-bute the origins of Indian na-tionalism to the influences, on the whole beneficent, flowing into India as a consequence of British rule.

…The evidence indicates that an overwhelming major-ity of the writings examined prefer the latter thesis, there-by inclining to admit that Indian nationalism is not of indigenous origin but exotic, implanted not by native but by foreign hands, and germi-nating only under conditions and influences supplied by a foreign nation and people. It is equally apparent that a majority of the writers believe that the British supplied not only environmental and other factors necessary to evoke a national consciousness in India, but also the germ in the form of the nation-idea which they acknowledge to have been originally entirely foreign to the Indian mind.

The evidence further dem-onstrates that at least a few of the writers have perceived the profound significance upon the origins of the movement of socializing agencies carried into the land by the British; it seems to suggest that in the course of time Indian writers and commentators will tend increasingly to emphasize the influence of the British-born institutions which have tend-ed to bear upon every part of

the social fabric, rather than those institutions having a strictly political character.”

Sadly, McCully’s prognosis of the future was prophetic. Having said that, notwith-standing the colonialised attitude of Indian elites to-wards this land’s history which resonates with that of McCully’s, it is equally important to appreciate that history lends itself to multiple and constantly changing in-terpretations. This is often be-cause of the emergence of new sources, frameworks, politi-cal thoughts and processes to understand history, apart from the role that advance-ment in technology plays to help historians sift through the sands of time better. Why is this caveat relevant?

Throughout his book The Fundamental Unity of India,

Mookerji credits “the Ary-ans” and the spread of “the Aryan Civilization” with the evolutionary consciousness of what constitutes “Bharata-varsha/Bharat” territorially and civilizationally. He has clearly articulated that there exists an unavoidable and ir-refutable nexus between the “Aryan Civilization” and the “Indian/Indic Civilization”. Stated otherwise, according to Mookerji, the boundar-ies of Aryan territory were defined by its civilizational spread, reach and presence. This school of thought com-mands significant contem-porary purchase among au-thentic Indic scholars and presents a fascinating rela-tionship between civilization and geography. As discussed in earlier pieces, civilization needs a fixed geography as a

prerequisite for its birth, sus-tenance and for it to flourish. And then, perhaps, both civi-lization and geography enter into a symbiotic relationship and contribute to each other’s growth.

Coming back to the rel-evance of the caveat, given the political and racial under-tones the word “Aryan” has acquired and the continuing debate on the validity of the “Aryan Invasion Theory” and its counterview, namely the “Out of India Theory”, it appears more sensible to not hold forth with certitude on the subject when even schol-ars are tentative in their con-clusions. This note of caution applies all the more to those who are not trained in the subject but are keen on push-ing their respective ideologi-cal positions.

Be that as it may, what emerges from the works of a host of reputed scholarly Indic voices is that, regard-less of the origins of Aryans, the birth of the Aryan civili-zation must be traced to the area traversed by the rivers mentioned in the famous river-hymn of the Rig Veda, namely Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Sutudri (Sut-lej), Parusni (Ravi), Asikni (Chenab), Vitasta (Jhelum), Arjikiya (Vipasha/Beas) and Susoma (Indus). Such works also note how other rivers such as Narmada, Godavari and Cauvery were added to the later Pauranic adaptations of the hymn as the civilization’s geography expanded. To put it in the language of decoloniality, these are indigenous sourc-es of Indic identity as well as the repository of indigenous epistemology which cannot and must not be ignored or dismissed.

In a nutshell, notwithstand-ing the ultimate result of the ongoing tussle between scholars on the “racial origins of Aryans”, the fact remains that the Indic civilization’s religious traditions venerate the land itself. Further, it is this sub-continent, this land-mass, that has been associat-ed by indigenous history and tradition with the civilization of the Aryans, which gave it the name Bharat. Impor-tantly, no turn of history, no matter how devastating, has had the effect of erasing this uninterrupted civilizational identity notwithstanding the changing sovereigns or their faiths. After all, an exception proves the norm instead of denying its existence

This continuity in In-

dic consciousness and the proof of the Indic civiliza-tion’s “living” status lies in the fact that Clause 8 of the Objectives Resolution of the Constituent Assembly, which was adopted on January 22, 1947, recognized that India (i.e. Bharat) is an “ancient land”. When coupled with Article 1 of the Constitution, which acknowledges that In-dia is Bharat, it leads to the undeniable conclusion that constitutionally speaking, Bharat is an Indic civiliza-tion State.

By adopting a name, which harkens back to a civiliza-tional identity that antedates the arrival of non-native cul-tures and faiths into India, the Constitution precludes the application of the para-digm of a “nation state” or any other form of “non-na-tion state” such as a “multi-national state”. That said, far from othering and marginal-ising those identities whose origins and situs of devotion lie outside Bharat’s civiliza-tional fabric, the Constitution promises fair and equal treat-ment to all those who (a) wish to be a peaceful part of its di-verse canvas and (b) respect its civilizational identity, both being conjunctive and mandatory requirements. This is consistent with the values that the Constitution has inherited from the Indic civilization. Every provision of the Constitution and every constitutional value must necessarily be interpreted and given effect to in light of this grundnorm.

This author will build on this position in the next piece. J. Sai Deepak is a practising ad-vocate before the Supreme Court of Indian and Delhi High Court.

In the wake of the global pandemic COVID-19 cri-sis, which has not only lead to months of nation-wide lockdown and curfew, it has also ‘almost’ crippled the economy and needless to say, this will go down in the world history as a rather tragic and an unprecedent-ed situation the 21st century had to face. The Modi led Indian Government has an-nounced 25% reduction in the TDS/TCS slabs on non-salaried specified persons, to improve liquidity/dispos-able finances in the hands of the people. Before we dwell into this further, let us un-derstand what are the TDS provisions as per the Tax Regime and then we can at-tempt to understand the ef-fect, if any, of the 25% reduc-tion in the TDS/TCS rates.

Tax DeDucTeD aT Source (TDS) proviSionS TDS is only an alternative method of collection of taxes. The purpose of deduction of tax at source is not to collect a sum which is not a taxable in law, it is to facilitate the collection of tax lawfully leviable. The law of TDS is merely a machinery and a collection provision and is not related to charge-ability of income. In other words, it has nothing to do with determination of the tax liability of a person. The TDS provisions ensures col-lection of taxes payable by a payee (recipient of income) by directly imposing upon the payer an obligation to withhold the tax due from his income and deposit it with the Government at the time of making the payment to the payee/ recipient of the income. Such tax is depos-ited to the credit of the payee and not the payer.

Hence, TDS is only part of the existing tax liability arising from the income of a person and the burden of paying it is shifted onto the payer, who directly deducts a certain % from the pay-ment made to the payee/recipient of the income and

directly deposits it to the Government. At the year end, the payee is entitled to get the benefit of the TDS already deducted, towards calculation of its final/net tax liability. Thus, while TDS contributes by merely giving a credit/benefit of the TDS already deducted, it has nothing to do with the determination of the taxability of a receipt or tax rates leviable or the tax li-ability of a person.

neeD for TDS proviSionS in lawTo my mind, there are many benefits of the TDS provisions. It ensures transparency, reporting of all transactions by the payers, increases account-ability, reduces distortions, increases collection of rev-enue at regular intervals rather than revenues flow-ing in only at the year end and the tax collection base is also widened. It enables authorities to bring within their fold all such persons who are liable to come within the network of tax payers. It may even work as a measure of ‘checks and balances’ in some given situ-ations. From the perspective of the payee/recipient of the

income, a certain % of the income is deducted at the very source and is already contributed towards its fi-nal tax liability and hence makes it convenient.

coviD-19 Tax meaSureSNow, it is important to un-derstand that by reducing the TDS/TCS rates, the Government has not re-duced the tax rates. It has merely recasted an obliga-tion on the payer, to deduct a lower % as TDS from the payments being made to the payee/recipient.

As a natural corollary, when a lower % as TDS is deducted, at the year-end a lower credit/benefit of the TDS deducted will be available to the taxpayer towards calculation of its final/net tax liability, and apart from those who would still be entitled to refunds on filing of Tax Returns, the taxpayer will now at the time of filing of its Tax Returns, be liable to make good this lower % of TDS deducted, by pay-ing more tax from their own pockets at that point to eventually meet their yearly tax liabilities. Hence, ultimately the tax liability

remains the same.Accordingly, this TDS/

TCS rate relaxation effective 14.05.2020 is a short-term cash flow measure which enables more liquidity in the hands of the payee/recipient. It is not a reduction in the tax rates and there is no tax ben-efit granted, however, it tem-porarily increases liquidity and facilities to resolve the cash crunch problem in the midst of the COVID-19 cri-sis. Hence, one may at best refer to it as a ‘timing issue’ wherein taxpayer is now entitled to have lesser TDS deducted while receiving any payment, thereby lead-ing to more disposable funds in its hands. However, this is a temporary benefit and ultimately, at the year end, taxes will be paid as per the prevalent/existing tax rates and there is no benefit as re-gards the overall tax liabil-ity. It only defers payment of taxes deductible as TDS for a temporary period and hence to that limited extent allows more cash flow in the hands of the payee/recipient. This may, in many cases, also get negated by the advance tax installments payable by the taxpayers, to which there has been no corresponding change.

unreSolveD TerriTory This reduction in the TDS/TCS rates aims to boost li-quidity, however in terms of quantum it is extremely insignificant for many, as if one is entitled to 2% TDS deduction, now it is reduced by 25% of 2% i.e., new rate of 1.5%, which is a mere 0.5% reduction. Even if we take 10% TDS deduction, now reduced by 25% of 10% i.e., new rate is 7.5%, it is a 2.5% reduction and this 0.5% and 2.5% reduction respectively is only temporary as there is no ultimate reduction in the tax liability and in the existing tax slabs and the taxpayer will eventually pay tax equivalent to this 0.5% or 2.5% also, when the tax-payer files its Tax Return at the year end.

Though cash fluidity mea-sure may be a welcoming step, it is far from being the medicine one needs to re-solve the issues of both the payer and the payee/recipi-ent. The payer gets no relief and no benefit whatsoever since whatever is deduct-ible under TDS gets depos-ited to the Government and the remaining goes to the payee/recipient. The payer’s liquidity/cash crunch issues

remain unaddressed (spe-cially in cases of employers, business houses, tenants, professionals etc.) and the payee/recipient only gets the benefit of holding ‘a rather small amount’ of ‘its own money’ in ‘its own hands’ for a longer duration. Does it really attempt to provide any relief? Perhaps not, be-cause problems of the pay-ers remain unaddressed. How will the payers meet the COVID-19 crisis and contribute towards kick-starting the economy again, remains unaddressed from a pure tax perspective. Legiti-mate expectation lead people to hope that the Modi led Government will announce more effective tax measures to address the current finan-cial incapacity of the people, however, the announce-ments over the past few days, didn’t pave the way for this hope.

As regards the payee, the current disposable funds, may meet immediate needs of some, however, it does not address the ‘elephant in the room’, i.e., the larger problem in terms of meeting these unforeseeable circum-stances created during the COVID-19 crisis. Unfortu-nately, this 25% TDS/TCS

reduction is not available to the salaried class as, for rea-sons because known to the Government, this notifica-tion is not made applicable to salaried payments.

While it understandable that the Government also its own limitations and fiscal debt, the point is the busi-nessman/the employer/the employee/the payer/ the payee/the recipient, all are squeezed at the moment and some tax reforms, tax measures, tax concessions are required to allow nor-malcy.

One can only hope that in the weeks to come, the Gov-ernment realizes tax mea-sures to be an important aspect, which more likely than not will act as a cata-lyst in revenue generation and boosting the economy, helping all stakeholders to eventually face and recover from the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis and sail and swim through these challenging days. Ananya Kapoor is an Advo-cate, Delhi High Court and spe-cializes in tax litigation and tax advisory. She has completed her Masters in Law (BCL) from University of Oxford, UK on a full scholarship and graduated with a Distinction.

Bharat: An Indic Civilisation StateRadhakumud Mookerji said the boundaries of Aryan territory were defined by its civilisational spread, reach and presence. Civilisation needs a fixed geography as a prerequisite for its birth, sustenance and for it to flourish.

25% reduction in the existing TDS/TCS rate slabs: a taxing contribution?

opinionJ.Sai Deepak

ananya Kapoor

physical Map of india.

Environment protec-tion and green ini-tiatives have always

been a key focus area of the Indian Navy. A responsible multi-dimensional force, the Indian Navy has embarked on reducing its environmen-tal footprint through energy conservation, minimising marine pollution and use of alternative sources of energy. The ‘Indian Navy Environ-ment Conservation Road-map’ (INECR) has been the guiding document and key enabler for progressively achieving this vision of the Indian Navy to add a Green Footprint to its Blue Water operations.

Captain D.K. Sharma (retd), former spokesperson of the Indian Navy and an officer who has been actively in-volved in the Navy’s green projects, said: “Indian Navy is embracing the best prac-tices in the world to reduce the carbon footprint on board all its platforms as well as in all its bases/estab-lishments ashore to ensure the protection of the envi-ronment and reduce marine pollution. All our assets are MARPOL compliant and we have made a great beginning towards this noble cause. With the passage of time and increasing awareness

it‘s been a concerted effort at all levels to go green and preserve the nature in every which way possible.”

The World Environment Day has grown to become a global platform for raising awareness on environmen-tal issues such as marine pol-lution, global warming and sustainable consumption. Indian Navy conducted the World Environment Day this year adhering to the lockdown measures in force. Educational awareness programmes, lectures and webinars were conducted over electronic media in Naval stations in lieu of the otherwise regular outdoor activities. GREEN ACTIONSWith the aim of reducing pollution from engine ex-hausts, the Indian Navy collaborated with Indian oil Corporation (IOCL) to revise the fuel specifications. The new specification surpasses international norms and in-cludes reduced sulphur con-tent which in the long run will reduce emissions levels as well as maintenance re-quirements onboard. Whilst recognising the significance of biodiversity, which in-cidentally is the theme for World Environment Day-2020, ample emphasis is being accorded within the Navy in protecting ocean ecology.

Indian Navy has volun-tarily implemented all six schedules of International Convention for the Preven-tion of Pollution from Ships (Marine Pollution-MAR-POL) regulations. All naval ships have been fitted with MARPOL compliant pollu-tion control equipment such as Oily Water Separators (OWS) and Sewage Treat-

ment Plants (STP) for treat-ing waste generated onboard. Further, to ensure upkeep of harbour waters, accelerated bioremediation technology has also been developed through Naval Materials Re-search Laboratory (NMRL), Mumbai.

An ongoing area of focus within the Navy, is the re-duction of overall power

consumption through a progressive induction of energy efficient equipment. Substantial efforts have yielded a near-complete transition from convention-al lighting to more energy efficient solid-state light-ing. Other notable energy saving measures incorpo-rated across Indian Navy establishments include use

of capacitor banks to main-tain high power factor, use of transparent acrylic sheet roofs to harness natural light, SCADA (Supervisory Con-trol and Data Acquisition) based electricity metering for effective monitoring, use of occupancy sensors, sky-pipes and turbo-ventilators in workshop floors, to name a few.

E-ACTIONSIn efforts to reduce carbon footprint, measures have been brought in force for a steady increase in utilisation of e-vehicles such as e-cycles, e-trolley and e-scooters. As a long-term strategy, it is being planned to gradually reduce the usage of fossil-fuel based vehicles during working hours through use of e-vehicles or bicycles. To promote the same, units observe ‘No Vehicle Days’ regularly and the concept of a ‘Vehicle Free Base’ is also being introduced in some Naval establishments.SOLAR STEPSIn line with emerging trends and Govt of India policy, ef-forts have also been made in the Navy to enhance the share of renewable energy. 24 MW of Solar Photo Voltaic projects are at various stages of imple-mentation in the Navy’s shore establishments. In addition, individual units have also installed solar powered ap-pliances which have progres-sively replaced conventional equipment.WASTE MANAGEMENTAll naval units have adopted aggressive waste handling processes for collection, segregation and subsequent handling as per GoI green norms. An Integrated Solid Waste Management Facil-ity (ISWMF) is being setup at Naval station, Karwar,

which includes a central-ised waste segregation plant, Organic Waste Converter (OWC) for wet waste and a facility to handle dry/un-segregated domestic waste. Green Initiatives of the Navy have also been augmented by afforestation and planta-tion drives. In the past one year, over 16,500 trees have been planted which would mitigate an estimated 330 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide.

Community participation has played a major role in implementation of these initiatives. Successful insti-tution of green measures in the Navy has been possible through a self-conscious Na-val community, well-aware of the necessity of environ-ment remediation and en-ergy conservation. To foster a sense of responsibility towards the environment, various mass participation events such as mass ‘shram-dan’, coastal cleanship drives, etc, are organised regularly. Further, a trophy introduced to recognise the unit adopt-ing best green practices for the year, has proved useful in encouraging units to em-brace Green initiatives.

Overall, Indian Navy has maintained a steadfast focus towards sustainable future while integrating energy ef-ficiency and environment conservation within its op-erational and strategic roles.

EnvironmEnt protEction

covid-19 AppointmEnt

rEcognition

6 defence t h e da i ly gua r d i a n05 j u n e 2 0 2 0n ew d e l h i

indiAn nAvY’S grEEn Footprint to itS BLUE-WAtEr opErAtionS

176 Indians complete quarantine at naval base

New Commander-in-Chief of India’s only Tri-Service command: Lt Gen Manoj Pande

UN award to Army Major Suman Gawani

Indian Navy maintains a steadfast focus towards sustainable future while integrating energy efficiency and environment conservation within its operational and strategic roles.

Major Suman Gawani, an In-dian Army officer who served as a women peacekeeper with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in 2019, has been awarded the prestigious “United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award”. She re-ceived the award from the UN Secretary General An-tonio Guterres during an online ceremony organised at the UN headquarters. Major

Suman received this award along with a Brazilian naval officer commander Carla Monteiro de Castro Araujo.

Major Suman served as

a Military observer in UN-MISS from November 2018 to December 2019. While at the mission, she was the prin-cipal focal point of contact for

gender issues for Military Observers in the mission. The officer encouraged par-ticipation in joint military patrols to maintain gender balance, irrespective of the hardships under extreme field conditions. She visited various mission team sites across South Sudan to inte-grate gender perspective into the planning and military ac-tivity in the mission.

The officer was selected to attend a specialised training on Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) at Nairobi

and participated in various UN forums to demonstrate how a gender perspective can help in protecting civil-ians, especially from con-flict related sexual violence. Apart from supporting the UNMISS Force initiatives, she also trained the South Sudan government forces on CRSV related aspects. The officer also commanded the UN Peacekeepers Day Parade organised at UNMISS, where she commanded 12 contin-gents of UNPOL, military and civilians.

Ashish singhNew Delhi

Ashish singhNew Delhi

Ashish singhNew Delhi

Ashish singhNew Delhi

At least 176 Indians from Bahrain and Oman com-pleted their mandated quar-antine period at Naval Base Kochi on Thursday. The resi-dents of the Southern Naval Command (SNC) Covid Care Centre (CCC) for the past two weeks would now travel back to various parts of the country.

Explaining about the efforts put behind this Commander Sridhar Warrier, the Minis-try of Defence spokesperson in Kochi told The Daily Guard-ian, “The corona care centre of the Southern Naval Com-mand with a provision for approximately 200 persons which was created during the initial phase of Covid-19 outbreak and being used for the requirements of in house quarantining of SNC was quickly turned around. It was swiftly converted on the directives from the De-partment of Military Affairs (DMA) to house deportees from the GCC countries as part of the Indian Navy‘s commitment towards aiding the civil administration in the handling of the fallout due to the pandemic situation.”

Explaining further about the CCC at SNC Commander Warrier further added, “The facility was quickly prepared after shifting its inmates to an alternate area. The deportees initially from Bahrain and subsequently from Oman were housed for a period of two weeks wherein they were provided specialised medical attention and in

some cases minor financial assistance too. The depor-tees have all left satisfied with their experience and the facility is now going to be used for the quarantining re-quirements arising out of the official movements of naval personnel post declaration of Unlock 1.0.”

Forty-nine Indians from Oman were the last to de-part the CCC on Thursday, whilst 127 from Bahrain left the Indian Navy Facility between 01 & 02 Jun. The Navy‘s Quarantine facility at Kochi with a 200-bed ca-pacity was set up in Mar 20 and has been serving as a transit quarantine camp for naval personnel returning to Kochi on duty after leave. It was modified at short no-tice to cater for the arrival of personnel from Bahrain &

Oman. The Camp is being managed by trained naval doctors and personnel from the School of Naval Airmen (SFNA) at Southern Naval Command.

During their stay at the CCC they were provided with all meals, personal hy-giene kits, supervised medi-cal care, WiFi and telephone facilities, new BSNL SIM cards as well as currency ex-change, amongst other basic amenities. All residents un-derwent the RT-PCR tests during their stay and have tested negative prior to dis-charge.

“The Indian Navy has spared no effort in support-ing the nation in its battle against Covid-19 and con-tinues to fulfil its resolve to-wards dedicating Har Kaam Desh Ke Naam,” said Warrier.

Indian nationals from Bahrain and Oman completed their mandated quarantine period at Naval Base Kochi on Thursday.

Amidst land and maritime border tension with China, the Ministry of Defence has appointed a new Commander-in-Chief of India’s only Tri-Service command. Lieuten-ant General Manoj Pande took over as the 15th Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman & Nicobar Command (CINCAN).

Since the time the Department of Military Affairs headed by Gen-eral Bipin Rawat has been created with the primary purpose to in-crease the integration among In-dian Army, Navy and Air Force, all eyes have been on how the lessons can be drawn from India’s only established Tri-Service command where all three services have been working together for more than a decade. Since the A&N command is the most important from the Indian military reforms and war prepar-edness point of views, the CINCAN

becomes one of the most important faces in executing the tasks set by the Indian government for the im-mediate future who plays an ex-tremely crucial role even after his CINCAN tenure ends.

The new CINCAN appointment is the first one after the creation of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) post. Hence the new CINCAN has been appointed with the specific tasks to be performed to integrate India’s three armed forces further in coordi-nation with the DMA & CDS.

The tension brewing along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between In-dia and China, if not resolved quick-ly, may easily spill over into the mari-

time domain where the CINCAN will play an extremely sensitive role.THE NEW CINCANAn alumnus of National Defence Academy, Lt Gen Pande was commis-sioned into the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers) in December 1982. He is a graduate of Staff Col-lege, Camberley (United Kingdom)

and attended the Higher Command Course at Army War College, Mhow and National Defence College (NDC) at Delhi.

During his 37 years of distin-guished service, he has taken active part in Operation Vijay and Par-akram. He commanded an Engineer Regiment along the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir, an Engineer Brigade as part of the Strike Corps, an Infantry Brigade along the Line of Control, a Mountain Division in High Altitude Area of Western Ladakh and a Corps deployed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as also in Counter Insurgency Operations area in the North East. He has tenanted important staff assignments and was posted as Chief Engineer at the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

He was Director General at Army headquarters dealing with subjects of discipline, ceremonial and wel-fare, prior to assuming the CINCAN appointment.

Major Suman Gawani.

Lieutenant General Manoj Pande.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has laid out a

10-point road map to re-vive growth and navigate the challenges of loss of lives and livelihoods posed by the global pandemic Covid 19 that has forced countries across the world to reset their growth paths. CII’s new theme for 2020-21 Building India for a New World: Lives, Livelihood, Growth was unveiled by the newly elected president Uday Kotak in an online meeting on Thursday.

Emphasising on the im-perative to bring back growth, the CII president said, “Growth is a necessity that should lead to creation of more jobs while CII works as a knowledge partner with the Government for building self-reliant and competitive India that is deeply engaged with the World”. CII’s press conference comes a day after its special Annual General Meeting held, for the first time, on a virtual platform, as CII commemorates and celebrates 125 years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the chief guest, in-augurated the AGM and laid out his expectations from CII and industry to get back growth. 

COVID-19 has changed the status quo of the World and we need to focus our ener-gies to manage growth, lives and livelihoods while con-sidering the challenges asso-ciated with life after COVID Kotak said, while presenting the following 10-point road-map to revive growth in the post Covid world. “We are in uncharted territories and are grappling to find new ways to brave the changes.

But we are confident of the resilience of Indian industry and its innovative skills to beat every such challenge,” he said.1.Protecting lives and liveli-hoods

India, like many countries, is facing the challenge of sav-ing lives and livelihoods. As India restarts, Centre, State and local authorities must work together to ramp up testing infrastructure along with robust identification of containment zones and an agile health and safety re-sponse to control the spread.

As 80% of the employ-ment is in unorganised sec-tor with no social security, addressing the protection of livelihoods will need mea-sures to increase formalisa-tion of employment through labour and regulatory re-forms which would also en-courage businesses to move towards formal sector.

The government has an-nounced that labour re-forms would be brought in the coming days. Some states have already an-nounced new labour laws in the states. Industry will need to work in partner-ship to help create more jobs while bringing in more of the workforce under formal sector.2. Prioritisation of Health-care and Education:

The pandemic heighted the need for a robust health-care system on the same strategic priority as defence. India’s public health spend-ing at 1.3% of GDP calls certainly for higher invest-ment in public health. A long-term strategy of deal-ing with future pandemics through high quality pre-ventive healthcare, focus on nutrition, sanitation and hygiene needs to be estab-lished. India has tremen-

dous shortage of healthcare professionals at all levels. Education plays a key role in achieving the required levels of standards in deliv-ery of healthcare, nutrition and hygiene.

Given the vast expanse of India and penetration of broadband connectivity, the e- healthcare and e-educa-tion interventions alongside the traditional methods of delivery, can play a very vi-tal role.3. Mother nature

The increase in the inci-dence and the intensity of natural calamities, locus at-tacks, and spread of disease calls for maintaining har-mony with nature. COVID has shown us that the cli-mate change is for real and that industrial activity is an important contributor to cli-mate change. India has been at the forefront of climate change mitigating measures; however, we would need to deepen our work and accord attention to sustainability in all our economic activities. This is one area that CII has been engaged in deeply in many of our activities as we have helped industry adopt sustainable business opera-tions be it in energy usage

and conservation, water use and emissions through our Centres of Excellence.4, Fiscal deficit and financial stability

Government spending has been supporting the economy over the last few years.  For substantive eco-nomic recovery, government spending would be crucial. However, this would mean higher fiscal deficit and ris-ing public debt which would run the risk of rating down-grades and flight of capital besides leaving the currency vulnerable. Financial stabil-ity should also be an impor-tant factor while deciding the fiscal stance. Finding the fine balance will be of utmost importance at this crucial juncture as various stressed sectors of the econ-omy will look for relief and stimulus packages.5. Distribution of economic pain

The pandemic has caused significant loss to the eco-nomic systems including in-dividual & businesses, Gov-ernments and the financial sector. While the first loss is taken by individuals and businesses, the government will need bear the heavy burden of losses by stepping

in as a key buffer. A battered industry will need support from government in many forms, including investment friendly policies that will drive demand and measures to help tide over the liquidity crisis.6. Role of digital and physical

The shift to digital during COVID from physical will have a lasting impact in the post COVID times in terms of consumer behaviour. As industry find new business models, the role of Science and Technology becomes important. This tilt in fa-vour of the digital, also has the potential to widen the rural versus urban divide. The rural population is less skilled to participate in an economy with higher digi-tal component and bring-ing digital skills to rural In-dia is key to enhance rural jobs. The bright side is that connectivity to hinterlands through the telecom and digital services is growing significantly and this can be built upon to work on a more inclusive agenda.7. Future of jobs and social security

The post COVID world is likely to see some trans-formational changes in the

context of jobs in the typical sense.

CII will work closely with Government to provide in-centives and facilitation to companies wanting to shift their manufacturing opera-tions out of China as part of their de-risking strategy. This will help India develop as manufacturing hub for the world. In addition, front loading of the National In-frastructure pipeline will not only create demand for industries like steel and ce-ment but will also provide jobs. Government’ focus on enhancing agriculture infra-structure, linking farm pro-duce to markets by APMC reforms will also help in-crease farm incomes and livelihoods.8. Rural-urban re-balance

For the first time in In-dia, reverse migration was experienced with migrant workers going back. Indus-try should be encouraged to set up operations in the ru-ral hinterland. The reforms announced in the minerals and mining sector should be expedited as most mining projects are in rural areas. Similarly, development of agro based clusters could be expedited in rural areas. A

vibrant rural industrial sec-tor will also de-risk the im-pact of COVID on economic activities as spread of COVID is far less in rural areas.

Further, industry and government should make available amenities in terms of housing, education and healthcare for workers who chose to come to the cities to work.9. Four levers for growth:

Out of the four engines of growth – consumption, in-vestment, net exports and government spending, the economy has been primar-ily growing on government expenditure. This is not sustainable as the fiscal situation is under pressure. Hence, it is essential to re-start the other engines of the economy. Given demand uncertainties, private invest-ment remains a challenge. Exports need a quantum jump and to achieve this integration with global and regional value chains is im-portant besides being com-petitive.

In this scenario, CII will continuously deliberate on how the private sector can play a role in igniting the growth engines of private investments, exports and the

forces of entrepreneurship.10. Getting growth back is non-negotiable

Getting growth back is essential to protect as well as generate jobs and liveli-hoods. CII will work in-tensely and closely with all stakeholders to bring back investments. Government spending in public infra-structure and direct ben-efits cash transfers may help boost demand initially but we need to find ways to sus-tain demand particularly in such uncertain times when consumers tend to save and get risk averse. The need of the hour is for government and industry to work togeth-er to return to a sustainable growth path.

In addition to these chal-lenges, Kotak said that India will have new Governance Standards driven by a Digital world. Industry will have to work with its vendors, espe-cially with MSMEs to ensure that progress is across the value chain. Hence, Indus-try has a major role to play along with the Government in bringing inclusive and sustainable growth back.

As alluded by the Prime Minister at the CII Annual Session, CII would work as a knowledge partner for the Government to build India for a new world after CO-VID, Kotak said.

Referring to Prime Minis-ter Modi’s clarion call at the CII AGM to accord impor-tance to five “I”s namely in-tent, inclusion, investment, infrastructure and innova-tion, the new CII president said CII’s work through the course of the year, and be-yond, will be guided by 10 lenses enumerated above and will be focused towards finding optimum solutions to the challenges that lie ahead.

10-point roadmap for inclusive growth : CII President Uday KotakCII and Government will work to provide incentives and facilitation to companies wanting to shift their manufacturing operations out of China as part of their de-risking strategy, said Kotak.

This knowledge gap is seen as a constant factor in society, and the effort has been to narrow it. The less educated, the less would one be interested in serious social, political or economic issues. But new, inexpensive, digital ways—such as mobile phones—of acquiring information made a difference to the gap.

Dean’s Desk

national Discourse

A newspaper reported on May 27 that the Rashtriya Kamadhenu Aayog in Guja-rat has begun clinical trials of what it claims is medicine for Covid-19 made from cow dung, cow’s urine, milk, but-ter and ghee. If you wish to believe in this form of medi-

cine, you might feel a rush—I call this “belief rush”—to fortify the argument by un-derstanding better the argu-ments behind that medicinal claim. Detractors may do a pushback nudge and ridicule the claim, offering a ton of reasons why it can’t work. If authentically monitored, the trials will reveal who’s right.

This rush is such a com-mon process these days that it is hard not to do it auto-matically. Nudged like in a Chinese Whisper game, the story bounces around on so-cial media, sometimes going as far as fake news through what people write in their post. The function of the ac-tual information—that the

clinical trials have begun—is relegated to a supporting role. The social media is a ruthless machine where its faceless denizens constantly demand our side of every story, forcing us to peg our argument on something that sounds credible. Whether we choose to articulate that argument or not, the fact that we feel the urge to take sides means we have a new dependence on the media to fortify our beliefs. Thereby, that’s the new function of the media—to educate us enough to confirm and reinforce our beliefs for social media ar-ticulation. But when such reinforcement is either not forthcoming, some denizen or the other on social media will fill that gap, often form-ing the basis of claims.

We don’t need no education. Or so Pink Floyd sang. To an educator like me, this new phenomenon has been truly illuminating because it marks the true nature of what we assumed would be a new form of democra-tisation. Right until the last

decade, I strived for access to the latest, the most detailed information. But now, I am more selective, choosing drops from the welter.

One of the media’s tradi-tional functions is to set the agenda for the society. Sim-ply deciding the inclusion of position of a story is a form of agenda-setting. But in the digital age, newspapers should continue setting the agenda while their digital counterparts produce a vo-luminous number of stories as they happen. So, in theory, the new democratisation should take away control over content, rendering me-dia platforms agnostic to the pitfalls of political and ideo-logical biases, and bringing a new concept of balance to the equation. The new forms of news and information fill our knowledge gap and with the impressive penetration of the smart phone, the gap gets even narrower.

This knowledge gap is seen as a constant factor in society, and the effort has been to narrow it. The less

educated, the less would one be interested in serious social, political or economic issues. But new, inexpensive, digital ways—such as mobile phones—of acquiring infor-mation made a difference to the gap. But it seems that knowledge is no longer an all-round understanding of issues that we are told. We are selective in what we want to know, leading to the creation of echo chambers that are conveniently (and algorithmically) accessed on social media.

From knowledge-seeking to belief-seeking. Now that my informational need bucket is doing fine, I must turn my attention to the next bucket in line, the need to reorganise my circles around my beliefs. Processing each piece of in-formation and storing in a binary bucket has developed into such a compulsion that over the past year or two that relationships have been col-lapsing over political or ideo-logical binaries. The “agree / disagree” binary is the new trigger, whereby the brain

seems to retain arguments that will serve their purpose on those provocative and pesky WhatsApp group messages.

Traditionally (and I mean since earlier this century!), echo chambers, which rep-resent the organisational function, have been rejected as blinkered places to operate from—mostly as anti-demo-cratic and against the prin-ciples of a healthy debate. This is not to say echo cham-bers have not existed before social media, or to claim the primary and causative link between social media and polarisation. But for the sake of focus, I will limit this dis-cussion to the link between our use of media and of social media.

While documenting Don-ald Trump’s Twitter com-munication during his 2016 campaign, I observed two functions of social media discourse—the “organisa-tional” and the “instrumen-tal”. Trump first used popu-lar messaging to galvanize support within his support

groups on Twitter (organi-zational), and then expanded those messages on televised debates with opponents (in-strumental)—thereby also showcasing the interplay between the social media and mainstream media.

Some research indicates that fair-minded individu-als will check official news sites to “temper” their own beliefs. But it also observes that somewhat counter-intuitively, the social media is the very reason we are exposed to and aware of the counter-narrative. Each day, I am bombarded not only by information, but also by the accompanying debates. I often hear people complain-ing about the social media as anti-sanity. The lamentation is especially loud against “closed apps” like What-sApp, whose architecture does not allow us the liberty of staying in a group for so-cial reasons while ignoring (except “muting” notifica-tions) the often-political messages. But do we really want to process so much

information and arguments each waking hour? The “Friends” option on Face-book is sometimes safer than the “Public” option because social media is not a disserta-tion defence—although some arguments may often appear that way.

Echo chambers have been a safe haven to protect our-selves from hypercommu-nication. The argument that may work counter to the above research finding is that we strive for self-esteem and sanity. That is why, why echo chambers seem too easy an asylum of sanity, they also find some legitimacy in the position that debates can be addictive, toxic and demean-ing after a point.

The echo chamber pre-cedes the debate chamber. Yet, as eternal learners as we humans are, both are in-evitable in varying degrees. FOMO (fear of missing out) and JOMO (joy of missing out) are joined at the hip.Shashidhar Nanjundaiah has headed colleges and institutes of mass communication.

Binary buckets: Echo chambers are important organisational rooms

opinionShaShidhar NaNjuNdaiah

policy & politicsthe daily guardian05 june 2020

new delhi 7

Tarun nangia new delhi

uday Kotak, President, Cii. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister. Chandrajit Banerjee, director General, Cii.

India batsman Robin Uthappa has opened up on his battle with depression, saying that he even wanted to jump off the balcony, but cricket held him back.

Uthappa was a part of Rajasthan Royals founda-tion’s live session titled “Mind, Body and Soul” and it was then that the batsman opened up on his personal battle. “I remember dealing with it for a couple of years, it was around 2009-2011, the feeling was constant and I would deal with that on a day to day basis. There were times where I was not even thinking about cricket, it was probably the farthest

thing in my mind,” Uthappa said during the live session.

“I was thinking about how I would survive this day and move on to the next, what’s happening to my life and in which direction am I head-ing. Cricket kept my mind off of these suicidal thoughts but it became really difficult during the off-season,” he added.

Talking further about his

battle, he said: “On days, I would just be sitting there and would think to myself on the count of three, I am going to run and jump off of the balcony but something kind of just held me back.”

The 34-year-old also said that he started maintaining a diary first to write down whatever he was feeling and then he started to seek professional help. “I started the process of just under-standing myself as a person. I then also started to seek outside help to make the changes I wanted to make in my life,” Uthappa said.

Uthappa has played 46 ODIs and 13 T20Is for India so far, and has managed to score 1,183 runs across both formats.

Former India batsman VVS Laxman on Thursday heaped praise on Javagal Srinath, saying the pacer triggered a bowling revolu-tion in the country. Laxman shared a photo of Srinath as part of his initiative of paying tribute to his team-mates who influenced him immensely.

“A tearaway fast bowler from a relative cricketing outpost of Mysore, he trig-gered a revolution in Indian

pace bowling. Even in most unhelpful conditions, he always responded to the team’s needs with unflinch-ing zeal. Sri’s strength was his hunger to perform under adverse conditions,” Lax-

man tweeted.Srinath made his first-

class debut in 1989 for Karnataka and he took a hat-trick in his very first match which was played-against Hyderabad.

I wanted to jump off balcony: uthappa opens up on depressIon

srInath trIggered bowlIng revolutIon In IndIa: laxman

In the previous tour to England, West Indies (WI) won the series 2-1.

Currently, the squad final-ised for the tour to England consists of nine such players who had played in that se-ries. However, three crucial West Indian players — Dar-ren Bravo, Shimron Het-myer and Keemo Paul – on Wednesday refused to tour England for next month’s proposed three-match Test series, which will be con-ducted in a bio-secure envi-ronment to combat Covid-19 threat.

English conditions conge-nial for the orthodox swing bowling adds to the hopes of West Indian bowling, though the English team is geared up for the vendetta. The Caribbean pace battery would include experienced bowlers like Kemar Roch, Azari Joseph and captain Jason Holder himself. More-over, the presence of Chemar Holder and Raymon Reifer is going to augment their bowl-ing arsenal.

The squad does not lack crucial spinners either. Off-spinners Roston Chase and Rahkeen Cornwall would lead the spin department

from the West Indian side. Chase, who took eight wick-ets at the Kennington Oval, Bridgetown, and proved to be a match-winner against the English giants, is going to be an ace card in the lon-ger form of the game, as he sets up the show with his bat too. Rakheen Cornwall also has decent bowling figures against Afghanistan and India.

However, the batting of the Caribbean side seems wobbly at the moment. The average of the top five batsmen—John Campbell, Kraigg Brathwaite, Shai Hope, Roston Chase and Shamarh Brooks—is nearly

30 or less. Both the openers–John Campbell and Kraigg Brathwaite–have not been able to score even half a cen-tury during the last England tour.

Batting line-up of the cur-rent West Indies side does not ignite much hope. There is little to mention about achievements as far as the Test match is concerned. Braithwaite is a veteran with 59 caps, with his top score of 212; he has a batting aver-age of 34.83. R.L. Chase has played 32 Tests, and his av-erage is 31.38. Shai Hope has scored just 2 centuries in 31 tests. Jermaine Blackwood has 24 appearances and just

a single century. ShaneIt is difficult to win a Test

match in England, where pitches are known to aid bowlers by facilitating sharp swing, without taking 20 wickets. Hence, the extra burden lies on the shoulders of Kemar Roach, the right-arm fast-medium bowler who is on a spree to touch the 200-wicket mark. Jason Holder, six and a half feet tall all-rounder, is an imposing figure; on the greens, he is expected to give his colleague Roach an able company. That would not be difficult for Holder as he is experienced and has scalped 106 wickets in 40 Test matches. Alzarri

Joseph is another right-hand fast bowler in the squad. He has played only 9 Tests so far but the youngster is show-ing promise. Raymon Rei-fer, left-handed-all-rounder, played his last Test in 2017 against New Zealand and is a surprise inclusion.

Roston Chase, the 28-year-old batting all-rounder, who was named “Cricketer of the Year and Test Cricketer of the year” by the West In-dies Player’s Association in 2017, is expected to contain English batsmen with his mystic spin. He has scored five centuries and has taken 50 wickets for the national side in his 29 Tests. An-other spinner on the tour is the greenhorn off-break bowler Rahkeem Cornwell, who has just played 2 Test matches.

Chemar Holder is mak-ing his debut on the back of impressive pace bowling in domestic cricket. Nkrumah Bonner will debut as a bats-man, who could also be a useful part-time spin bowler. Jermaine Blackwood has to prove himself with the recall in the squad as well.

Undoubtedly, West Indi-ans are excelling in T-20. They are ruling the roost in various leagues around the world.

England all set to avenge last loss to West Indies

revelatIon

praIse

crIcket

The Caribbean side might have won the previous series in England, but this time its batting seems shaky and unreliable.

English cricketers celebrating a dismissal in a Test match.

Cricketer Robin Uthappa.

Former cricketer VVS Laxman.

Vijay anandnEw DELHI

our correspondentnEw DELHI

sports the daily guardian05 june 2020new delhi8

our correspondentnEw DELHI