Achhe din are here again. In case you missed it – chances of which are slim given the media blitz – Reliance Jio has latched on to the most awesome brand ambassador ever: India’s model Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On Friday morning, readers of Times of India and Hindustan Times in Delhi and Mumbai were greeted with a picture of a Narendra Modi sporting his Mona Lisa smile, wearing a sleeveless jacket in Jio blue, splashed across the front page. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
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ToI subscribers in Chandigarh and HT’s Jaipur readers also woke up to this ad. Curiously enough, no edition south of the Vindhyas was part of this promotional campaign.
Many on Twitter saw this as a problem. Including, of course, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
But where others see a problem, we at Newslaundry see an opportunity.
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Move over, Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. The Prime Minister is here, and there’s nary a slogan that he can’t embody perfectly.
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There is, of course, a caveat. According to Section 3 of The Emblems And Names (Prevention Of Improper Use) Act, 1950, no one can use, “for the purpose of any trade, business, calling or profession, or in the title of any patent, or in any trade mark or design, any name or emblem specified in the Schedule or, any colourable imitation thereof without the previous permission of the Central Government or of such officer of Government as may be authorised in this behalf by the Central Government.”
Section 9A of the Schedule places restrictions on the use of the “name or pictorial representation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj or Mahatma Gandhi or Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Shrimati Indira Gandhi or the Prime Minister of India except the pictorial use thereof on calendars where only the name of the manufacturers and printers of the calendars are given and the calendars are not used for advertising goods”.
Considering the fact that they went with full page ads using the PM’s portrait and a shoutout to the prime ministerial Digital India campaign, and the front page of the newspaper is not a calendar, one can safely assume Mukesh Ambani’s company obtained the necessary permissions.
What does warm the cockles of our heart is the Reliance Jio campaign could well bring the Prime Minister closer to the public like never before. A bill that seeks to amend the Consumer Protection Act is expected to be passed in the next session of the Parliament. One of the provisions is to make brand ambassadors accountable for the products they endorse. Which basically means each time any Jio subscriber’s call drops or data blips, they can hold Modi responsible.
.@PMOIndia After 75 GB is up will it automatically downgrade to 3G or Edge? Pls have a rep call me. Thanks.
In 2015, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) made a return to Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union’s (JNUSU) central panel after 14 years. ABVP’s Saurabh Sharma won the election for the joint secretary’s post by just 28 votes. As an outgoing office bearer, Sharma feels JNU gives space only to “communist” history and literature in the syllabus. He added that other ideologies and specifically ‘Right’ content should be accommodated in the syllabus too.
Responding to a question on the Kashmiri protestors who are demanding freedom, Sharma said, “Patthar marenge to goli khaenge (if they throw stone, they will get bullets).”
Interestingly, this ABVP activist supports those demanding freedom for Pakistan’s Balochistan province. He added that it fits Parishad’s “akhand bharat (undivided India)” agenda.
Sharma, who joined JNU in 2014, played a crucial role in attacking Left-wing student organisations on campus after the controversial February 9 sloganeering. “Those who raised anti-national slogans and those who supported them are anti-nationals,” said Sharma. Watch the whole interview here.
For Khushiram, the 30-year-old ex-employee of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. and a member of the Maruti Suzuki Provisional Committee, the day of all-India general strike that would see workers from all sectors come together, was spent in the Manesar police station.
Khushiram is one of the 546 workers who were terminated by the Maruti management after the 2012 agitation. He along with twelve other people, two of whom are current office bearers of the Maruti Suzuki Workers’ Union while the others are currently Maruti employees, were picked up by the police at about 6 am in the morning. They were detained in the Manesar police station, which is in the Industrial Model Township (IMT) for about six hours.
All central major trade unions had called for a Bharat Bandh against the “anti-labour policies of the government”. It’s the 17th such strike that India has seen since the process of liberalisation was initiated in 1992.
Despite the detention of the Maruti workers and a number of nurses by Delhi Police, workers who were leading the strike in the Gurgaon- Manesar area claim this was the most successful strike ever. Satbeer Singh, member of the Centre of India Trade Unions, said that this was the largest, with almost 20 crore workers taking part in it. He and other trade unions claimed approximate 1,000 factories were on strike in the Gurgaon-Dharuhera-Bawal area in Haryana, with workers from factories like Maruti, HeroMotoCorp and Endurance participating.
Daily activity in Tamil Nadu was barely affected much, with transport services and educational institution functioning normally. Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru saw the workers of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) join the strike, which threw a massive spanner in the public transport’s works. Many schools and colleges remained closed as a precautionary measure. Kerala too had most of its public conveyance services off the roads. Conditions were seemingly normal in Maharashtra, but some rural areas, especially in Buldana district had ‘rasta roko’ (block roads).
West Bengal saw clashes between the striking workers and the party workers of the Trinamool Congress in different district districts. According to a report, the Mayor of Siliguri Municipal Corporation, Ashok Bhattacharya, was arrested along with 15 other protestors and a North Bengal State Transport Corporation bus was vandalised in Cooch Behar. Otherwise, public transport remained largely unaffected. Further east in Tripura, there was no unrest, but the state went into complete shutdown. “The strike was total and successful. People from all walks of life spontaneously supported the strike to denounce the BJP-led central government’s anti-people labour policies and demanded increase of wages,” said Manik Dey, of the Tripura unit of Centre of Indian Trade Unions’ (CITU).
Odisha had a strong call of strike coming from the All India Government Nurses Federation and about 2,000 nurses stayed away from work. Train services were disrupted in areas like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Rayagada and Berhampur. In areas like Patna, Purnea, Muzaffarpur, Begusarai, Bhagalpur and Gopalganj of Bihar, banks remain closed and private and public sector employees faced major difficulty in reaching offices. The situation was similar in Tripura with buses off the road and colleges, government offices and banks shut.
The only big central trade union to not participate in this strike was the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). BMS had pulled out of the nationwide strike in April (it did the same the last time too).
Khushiram’s experience indicates that in certain areas, there seems to have been an effort to ensure union leaders could not join the strike. He and the other twelve workers were released by the police after being charged with Section 151 (causing disturbance of public peace) and Section 107 (instigating others to do the same) of Indian Penal Code. Khushiram alleged the Haryana police went to neighbouring villages and forced those who were on strike to join work. ACP Dharambir of Manesar refuted these allegations. He told Newslaundry that the 13 workers were detained after the management from Maruti Suzuki complained against them.
As life returns to normal today, the Left will take satisfaction in the fact that in terms of numbers, this Bharat Bandh was a success, making its presence felt both on the ground as well as on social media. However, in terms of making an actual impact and securing the revisions that are in the Centre of Trade Unions’s list of demands, the road ahead is long.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal fired MLA Sandeep Kumar when an ‘objectionable cd’ showing Kumar having sex surfaced, but should Kumar have been fired? And why is the media getting its knickers in a twist? There was a naked Jain monk in the Haryana assembly preaching misogyny, Rahul Gandhi came out as less of a wuss in his case against the RSS. Mihira Sood, a Supreme Court lawyer joins this episode of NL Hafta to discuss backlash against the conviction of Mahmood Farooqui. And bringing joy to homes in North India, PM Narendra Modi posed for Reliance Jio ads. Listen up as Abhinandan Sekhri, Anand Ranganathan, Madhu Trehan, Deepanjana Pal and Manisha Pande, along with our special guest discuss this week’s top news. This time, instead of a song, we have a poem dedication, read by Amitabh Bachchan. Enjoy!
If you ask anyone today to close their eyes and picture the Parliament in their head, they get an image of Members of Parliament going crazy inside the House. You picture them storming the well with placards, shouting slogans, while the speaker sitting on his throne-chair tries to make the MPs behave.
Something not unlike this:
This is a video of the debut of Dr Subramanian Swamy in the Rajya Sabha back in April this year. The moment he mentions Sonia Gandhi (00:35), the Congress goes insane. One of the defining features of Parliament for the past few years has been constant disruptions, endless name-calling and bickering. All our MPs need is a little spark right before every session. Next thing you know, they’re Delhi and doing the Harlem Shake!
This week, we bring you a ready reference of issues that your elected representatives have cared about ‘deeply’ for the past two and a half years, ever since the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government came to power in May 2014.
Keep a watch on the news cycle right before a parliamentary session commences. A definite pattern slowly emerges before every session, in which there’s one major controversy that gets the attention of our leaders in Parliament. The controversy is made worse when the government reacts to it, the opposition counteracts, so on and so forth.
Session II (July-August 2014): Congress had filed an adjournment motion on ‘rising incidents of communal violence in the country’.
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Accusations flew thick, where the Opposition Leader Mallikarjun Kharge even mentioned that ‘riots’ were happening across the country. But our dear Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu would have none of that! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).
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The context of this notice was unclear. It *seemed* like Congress was just trying to posture and show it was still relevant after its miserable defeat in the2014 general elections. The ghar-wapsi incidents were cropping up at this point of time.
Session III (November-December 2014): Adjournment motions were repeatedly filed on ‘recovery of black money from foreign sources’, especially by the Congress.
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Due to the continued disruptions, Amit Shah *probably* got frustrated and used the words ‘Chunavi Jumla’ for the first time on national television. The words have stuck to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) like a leech ever since.
One more issue that dominated this session was the devastating Kashmir flood on December 2, 2014.
Session IV (February-May 2015): Land Acquisition Bill created quite a furore during this session. And I won’t be incorrect if I say that BJP used every trick in the book to push this bill for two whole sessions, but eventually failed.
Basically, this happened:
Industry: “Oi BJP… Where will we build factories and all? You promised Make in India and Ease of Doing Business only!”
BJP: “Oi Farmer… We want your land for building infrastructure and stuff!”
Farmers: “Umm. No.”
Congress:
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Drought dominated the agenda for this session as well. A 193 discussion was held on ‘agrarian crisis’ pretty much throughout the session.
Session V (July-August 2015): The Land Acquisition battle was still raging, but it had mostly shifted to the Rajya Sabha. Lalit Modi came into the picture during this session. Sushma Swaraj was caught in the eye of the storm with Lalit Modi going Twitter crazy from London. Modi (the other one) shared murky details about him meeting Robert Vadra and Priyanka Gandhi with random Photoshopped anti-corruption banners.
The situation was utterly confusing. Nobody really had any idea who was to blame for what. But everybody wanted to scream about it in Parliament anyway. The Speaker went bonkers, trying to control the protesting MPs:
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In the end, Sushma Swaraj’s reply was one of fine piece of oratory. Definitely worth listening to.
Session VI (November-December 2015): Intolerance time! This was when the Dadri lynching issue dominated the agenda. This session was mostly lost in disruptions as everyone was mighty angry that the one section of the country was becoming ‘intolerant’ and another section was consuming a lot of beef fry.
The government countered it (quite cleverly) by initiating a discussion on ‘India’s commitment to its constitution’ on the occasion of BR Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary. November 26 was declared Constitution Day and some interesting debates took place. Here’s the full text of debates, in case you want to browse through.
On that day, for once, our leaders were talking about larger issues and trying to make sense of the situation by extrapolating from historical events. Even PM Modi gave an excellent speech.
Session VII (February-March 2016): The beginning of this session was dominated by the Rohith Vemula suicide and the JNU sloganeering incidents (Azaadi!). The Budget was presented right after this and then the session adjourned for recess.
Sidenote: Usually the Budget session includes the recess and then the following remainder of the session as well. However, this year, the session got prorogued after the first half due to the Uttarakhand crisis. The President had to issue fresh summons for the remainder of the Budget session.
Session VIII (April-May 2016): The second half of the session saw much screaming about the Agusta-Westland scam. The Lok Sabha functioned quite smoothly, despite some minor disruptions. Some important bills were passed in this session as well, including the amendment to the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act which allows political parties to accept funds from foreign sources and the amendment to the Reserve Bank of India Act that enables the formation of the Monetary Policy Committee. Both of these amendments were sneakily inserted in the Finance Bill 2016 and passed as money bills.
After the session, Mr Jaitley must be like:
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But but but, the highlight of this session was the grand entrance of Dr Subramanian Swamy (aka the Subramanianator). The only man alive to give Ornob Goswamy a taste of his own medicine.
Session IX (July-August 2016):
And finally, we come to the last Monsoon session (ze latest one). The big issue of disruption was the Kashmir crisis, but surprisingly, the last session was quite civil. Perhaps that is the very reason the GST Bill was passed and also the *cough* Voldemort Bill *cough*.
Your dear columnist has been writing about this session obsessively, you can find the posts here:
Now, you can go right ahead and impress your drunk friends at Parties by telling them about how much you know about the Parliament. Keep the link to this post handy!
Disclaimer : The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Newslaundry.com. Newslaundry.com does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. If the article carries photographs or images, we do not vouch for their authenticity.
I was planning to write a feedback since long but am too lazy to do so. However lately, Abhinanadan has pushed me to write this email. I don’t want to say what is good, what is bad, what I like or don’t like in NL Hafta, because that is not why I am writing this email. I am writing this email to tell NL Hafta team that in recent episodes Abhinandan has asked so many times to subscribe, that it has irritated the hell out of me, and just out of that irritation I am subscribing to NL now. I hope it has done the same to many other listeners and enough people would also be subscribing to NL out of this irritation, so that we get NL Hafta without Abhinandan shouting “SUBSCRIBE” in bold letters every week.
Also, I have been told that only if I praise Abhinandan in my letter, he would read this letter on Hafta so here it goes – I do not subscribe to any ideology that Abhinandan supports (Have had couple of arguments with him on Twitter), but his interviewing skills are something that glue me to my laptop screen. I hope he does more “I Agree” in near future. I really hope his interviews are seen by larger audience. (Joking ofcourse, I really admire the way he inerviews people)
Ms. Trehan, a lot has been said about your new haircut, so can we have a new DP on Twitter now 😉
Anand is the big reason why I have dived into data analysis of social issues. So big thumbs up to him. A big admirer of him. However, I don’t see his “Rahul Roshan sir, XX aur YY ladh rahe hai, jaldi aao” tweets anymore. Anand come on, you have to keep us on latest catfights of twitter.
Deepanjana and Manisha, I knew the answer of your question regarding Harry Potter quiz – “Who is panju?” I was just too lazy to answer. Later found out, nobody did answer that question. Only if I would have written to you then.
Keep it up Hafta team, next time any of you are in Germany, beer is on me. Also have a Saravana Bhavan here in Frankfurt so Anand can get his mysorepak 🙂
Well, I think i fit into the pattern of your typical subscriber, half a tamizh-half a bong, a scientist by training and trying to get a start up to fly out of Lausanne, Switzerland. I am indeed a subscriber and i have a strange observation with regards to your subscription page, it does not let you give more than 60 dollars, maybe add an option for higher amounts?
Anyways i love listening to you guys and Hafta mostly comes out to be pretty balanced. Given that i am rather the sickular (atheist to boot) to use modern parlance, i like listening to views that are right-ish. In fact, i think the right has a crucial role to play in politics and its a shame that its represented by crazies all over the world in the present day, hafta gives a voice to the sane right through some of your participants and that makes me happy. Apart from that I think Anand is a valuable asset being a scientist. Science is very badly communicated world over and the amount of irrationality that is floating around is shocking as a result. Given Anands profile i think you could potentially add a small section in hafta where he could highlight something exciting in science every week and you guys as critical laymen can talk about it and give a perspective which is more accessible to the common man. This need not necessarily be technical stuff alone it could be policies and things that might affect the common man in a more immediate sense.
Apart from that, maybe this is something of my personal taste but i will let you know anyways, i find it irritating sometimes when in the middle of a discussion there is a digression into jokes etc. I actually “like” the jokes but maybe try to confine them to the interlude between discussions? Anyways, thats a quibble and you guys should not do something that obstructs your style in the big picture. On a slightly more serious note, this coming from the start up founder in me, I know that you do not want advertisers and i support that but you might want to consider advertising Newslaundry itself. I accidentaly found you and most people i speak to have never heard of you guys. Anyways, i know its a complex question with finances, philosophies and multiple things involved, was just a suggestion.
Overall, thanks a lot and as the title goes, kudos.
P.S – a special shout out to Dipanjana with the new podcast as well, I look forward to the “hello, hello” every week 🙂
I am Srikanth, writing from Germany, i work in Berlin.
I am a regular listener of NL Hafta. I have been listening to NL Hafta from the 1st episode to the 82nd.
It has informed me, challenged my opinions at times and helped me widen my perspectives on many issues. Thank you for producing and running this show.
I would like to share my thoughts in few sentences about all the participants of the show.
Manisha
I often agree with her opinions, except for religious issues.
Her best quality is that she wouldn’t talk unless she has something meaningful to add to the conversation. Its often under appreciated (Ask Abhinandan to know how difficult a skill that is :P)
Anand
My views very closely match with Anand’s on almost all topics. I share his approach of constructive skepticism. Seeing the data before forming opinions.
Our views diverge only when he starts with his “There comes a point in everyones life, which is a defining moment” logic. Which i completely disagree with 🙂
Madhu
I watched some of Newstracks videos on youtube, in which Madhu presents news like a BBC anchor, in a very calm and collected tone, where reason takes priority over emotion. But on hafta she speaks like all of us, loud, often interrupting and with emotions over reasons. I want to ask her what caused this change?
Her experience and insights into the past brings a lot of perspective to many issues being discussed.
Abinandan
He makes the discussion more common man like as a true AAP supporter, with his high dose of emotional responses and “Hume aise bahut dekhe hai” arugments 🙂
I like his humour and please keep the cuss words. They add some flavour to the discussions.
I am a podcast addict and i like recommendations he comes up with every week.
Deepanjana
She is a great addition to the team, she brings a touch of class to the discussion.
A much needed Bengali representation in the team
I must say i miss Arunab Saikia, after he left there is no one who can challenge Anand as strongly and meaningfully as Arunab did.
My biggest grouse with all of you, is the lack of reporting/discussions on issues from South. I did not subscribe to NL until now in protest, but now i made the first move i have subscribed. Its your turn to cover south india news and issues.
When south indian pays for news south indian has to be served …..hahaha
If imitation is art, Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) elections are a masterpiece. They provide scaled-down versions of parliamentary elections, with scope of influence being the only factors that are reduced. Display of money and muscle power has taken over these elections to such an extent that students in Delhi University have grown to expect freebies — such as free food coupons and movie tickets — along with extensive traffic jams caused by party campaign vehicles.
In response to all this, in 2005, the Supreme Court decided to set up a committee to ensure measures that would curb unrest caused by college elections and introduce an age limit for candidates so that students did not keep picking one course after another, just so that they could participate in elections.
Following the Supreme Court order, the Ministry of Human Resource Development constituted a six-member panel headed by former Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh. The committee submitted its report in May 2006 with guidelines regarding eligibility criteria of candidates, transparency in expenditure during elections as well as barring candidates from re-contesting, irrespective of whether they’ve won or lost in the election.
The Lyngdoh Committee has, however, been largely denounced by student unions due to its restrictive nature. It is seen to be limiting the democratic functioning of student unions. Students are generally the sole authority for conducting student elections and the Lyngdoh Committee has been criticised for allowing intrusion of university authorities in the process.
The disallowance for candidates to re-contest elections has been seen as a big hindrance as it limits the number of candidates. It is also restrictive — why should a candidate not be re-elected if she/he has been doing commendable work during their year in the student union?
All India Students’ Association (AISA) member Sunny Kumar said, “AISA is against Lyngdoh Committee recommendations as it seeks to restrain the democratic rights of the students. Besides, DU itself is not willing to implement the recommendations on ground level. Money and muscle display goes on by the student parties funded by their parent organisation; freebies are handed out, posters are pasted all over the campus, so called ‘cultural events’ are organized to entice students.”
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It does not take an economics major to recognize that all of this expenditure definitely exceeds the Rs 5,000 limit set by the Committee. Apart from cultural events, student organisations arrange large-scale freshers’ parties to entice students at the beginning of academic sessions. These often have performances by artists who are expensive.
The National Green Tribunal ordered on July 18, 2016 that DUSU polls must be conducted without excessive wastage of paper (essentially, posters and pamphlets). The NGT order declared that, “Only allow candidates contesting elections or their pre-notified student agents to utilise handmade posters at certain notified places, not exceeding two on each campus.”
Anoop Panwar, of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)’s Delhi State Working Committee, maintained that ABVP was working according to the guidelines laid down by the Committiee and NGT orders. He said, “We have taken the social media route this time to attract more voters and cut down on the use of posters.”
However, take a look at the writing on the wall. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
(Images have been sourced from Facebook. Links are : Image 1, Image 2)
The Committee’s effectiveness thus comes under serious scrutiny. Even though the NGT re-ordered for implementation of the committee’s orders, the rules have by and large been flouted. As visible in the images, far more than two posters have been put up in the campus and none are handmade.
The fact that most recommendations of the report have been denounced by student organisations and the rest are being blatantly ignored begs the question that do DUSU and other student unions require a fresh set of guidelines to follow?
If you start watching the pilot of the new web series The ‘Other’ Love Story, having read the numerous articles announcing it as a lesbian love story, and expect to be taken straight in the middle of the romance, you’ll have to hold your horses. The story, written and directed by Roopa Rao, who has co-directed Kannada and Tamil feature films like Vishnuvardhana and Kurai Ondrum Illai, takes time to unfold. The first episode, called ‘The Meeting’, is 10 minutes long, and we only see Aadya (Spoorthi Gumaste) and Aachal (Shweta Gupta) talk to each other for about four of those 10 minutes.
Set in Bangalore in 1998, the series is set up to reflect the late 1990s, not only with landlines and small doctors’ clinics, but also in its pace. It’s nice, because you know that there will be more — it’s as much a love story as it is about old Bangalore, and friendships.
The opening scenes of the series set the tone for the first episode. We see Aachal sitting in a Tata Sumo between her mother and aunt on the way to Yeshwantpur railway station, and in the background, you can hear Anuradha Paudwal singing, “Hum tere bin kahin rah nahin paate, tum nahin aate toh hum mar jaate”. With that one fragment of background score, Rao transports us smoothly to 1991 (Paudwal sang the song in the Sadak soundtrack).
Throughout the first episode, the men are silent and unimportant – not even hovering irritatingly in the background – and the women are doing the talking. Aadya’s father is an extension of the furniture and while Aachal’s brother has more to do, all he radiates is his “extra” status. Early in the episode, he tells his mother that Aachal is crying at the station. He doesn’t seem to have it in him to talk to her himself. At the end of the episode, in the middle of a flashback, he is seen sitting on a bed while Aachal irritatingly feeds him cough syrup, saying, “Muh kholo, muh kholo(Open your mouth),” as though he’s a toddler rather than a teenager. The episode is propelled entirely by the women, who are given time to develop. We only know them through each other or individually, with no relation to the men.
The ‘Other’ Love Story is crowdfunded — Rao says that finding producers for the series was tougher than she had ever anticipated it to be. She knew she wanted two girls who looked of college age to play the roles of Aadya and Aachal, and so she approached college students. Those who seemed to suit the role had parents who said they couldn’t be part of such a series. “Some producers would ask us if it was porn and how many sex scenes it had,” Rao said. Another producer who had agreed to be a part of series suddenly disappeared mid- correspondence.When he returned, he said his family had found out about the series and didn’t want him to go ahead with this.
Finally, it was produced by Harini Daddala.
But what made everybody so hesitant to produce this series? Were they only afraid of showing physical intimacy between two women? Rao says she hadn’t planned to have any sex scenes anyway, so that shouldn’t have been an issue. “I grew up in the ’90s and loved Yash Raj films,” said Rao. “It’s going to take a long time for them [Aachal and Aadya] to realise they’re in love; I wanted to explore that slow journey of discovering first love.”
In the pilot, we see Aachal and Aadya meet outside a doctor’s clinic, and a quiet Aadya is awkward in front of the more extroverted Aachal. She almost grudgingly gives Aachal her number – a landline number – telling Aachal she isn’t used to talking on the phone much. When Aachal calls her anyway (after 10 pm!), and invites her home, Aadya says, “I don’t really go to anyone’s home without a reason. My mom’s a strict teacher, and she doesn’t really like me hanging out and all that.”
We’re shown the Kannada household that is Aadya’s. Before we know anything about how lost she feels, we hear a slow Kannada song and see the pale pink walls of her house. Then we notice her sitting on a bed in their small living room reading a statistics textbook, where the wooden side table has a white cloth, and the shelf behind her has dusty-looking awards and fat textbooks. There’s also the all-too-familiar Bangalore Press calendar on the wall (Aachal’s house has a Hindi equivalent of this). Aadya’s mother is sitting on the other side of the living room correcting school papers, and the first Kannada we hear spoken is by her mother asking her to total the papers she is correcting.
There’s something so endearingly ordinary about this exchange and it’s with this sense of normalcy that Rao underscores how expansive the changes have been in the past two decades, in the way that we approach and engage with each other; particularly as women.
Ask Rao about the series, and she laughs and says her hair has gone grey, and that she hasn’t slept in months. Rao wrote the story 10 years ago, and decided that it now seemed like the right time to make The ‘Other’ Love Story. Most of the difficulties that they faced once they began shooting involved making it seem like it was set in 1998 — “We couldn’t have WhatsApp beeps in the background, or phones ringing,” she said. The other challenge was making Gumaste and Gupta comfortable with each other in the intimate scenes. The camera has a keen eye for discomfort, Rao pointed out.
Rao has given interviews in which she has described the series as being about “two human beings falling in love who happen to be girls”; “It’s about mainstreaming a story like this,” she says. What she wanted to do was to show the love. “Physical intimacy for me should be an extension of love, of what is happening inside,” she said, after explaining that she finds identity tags like those related to sexuality smothering. That’s why she is careful to not call the series a “lesbian love story”.
In showing us all this, the series doesn’t restrict the women to types like other movies on lesbian love seem to quickly do — remember Girlfriend, with Isha Koppikar and Amrita Arora, where Koppikar played the psycho lesbian who falls out of a window and dies? Or even Khanum, from Margarita with a Straw, who, after everything else in the lovely movie, tells us a story of coming out to her parents that we have heard in movies multiple times? The ‘Other’ Love Story seems to choose to give these women the time to tell their stories, so it doesn’t seem to matter that we only get a glimpse of Aadya and Aachal together, because everything that we’ve seen of the world around them has come together to make these women who they are, to guide the way the both see and present themselves.
At the end of the episode, both Aachal and Aadya, with their eyes lowered, allow themselves a hint of a smile. That’s when you know that for all the paraphernalia that might fill the screen, it’s their love story and no one else matters.
Ila Ananya writes for The Ladies Finger, a leading online women’s magazine.
Disclaimer : The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Newslaundry.com. Newslaundry.com does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. If the article carries photographs or images, we do not vouch for their authenticity.
In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the joke goes that if you want the entire perspective on a story, watch the story on a Telugu news channel owned or patronised by one political party and then switch channels to watch the same story on another network, owned by the rival political party. Or do the same with two newspapers. With most politicians turning media barons either directly or through the benami route, finding a TV channel or newspaper that is ‘neutral’ on all stories, is like searching for a needle in a haystack.
In this atmosphere enters Telangana Today, an English newspaper from the same publishing stable (Telangana Publications Private Limited) that also prints Namaste Telangana, a Telugu newspaper whose proprietor is close to Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. The link to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) can be seen both as an advantage or a dent in the newspaper’s credibility, depending on how you look at it.
K Srinivas Reddy, editor of Telangana Today, who spent much of his career in The Hindu editions in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai, says he would prefer the content to do the talking.
“KCR does not directly own the newspaper but yes, the tag is there. But my objective is to make it a neutral product, not like Namaste Telangana, the sister Telugu publication which it is important to note, was launched in 2011 during the Telangana agitation and therefore had a particular brief,” said Srinivas Reddy.
Telangana Today is expected to hit the market sometime in September (some say, the search for an auspicious date is on) and will add to the crowded English daily market in Hyderabad, that is already home to six newspapers.
K Nageshwar, who edits The Hans India believes there is space given massive expansion of English education in small towns, even among “non-elite families.” And that the new entrant will only help expand the English readership.
“When Sakshi newspaper came into the Telugu market, the same question was asked. But the readership is only expanding. Many children in Telugu families cannot read the mother tongue and would prefer an English product. Moreover, English is seen as vertical mobility to better employment,” said Nageshwar.
In a market where Deccan Chronicle and The Times of India in that order are the market leaders, Telangana Today believes there is scope for a new player in the hyperlocal news space. The editorial team of Telangana Today that recruited talent from the existing players in Hyderabad is taking one edition at a time. It is aware that it is up against “exceptionally strong brands” and hopes to redefine local content to make a mark.
“Deccan Chronicle is in Hyderabad’s DNA but over the past few years, the local content has gone down. The Hindu was never perceived to be local. The Times of India runs aggressive campaigns but there is a trust deficit as a local product. Hans India has not been able to develop a character and Metro India was never recognised as a standard English newspaper,” said Reddy.
Media watchers feel that an association, however distant, with the ruling dispensation will ensure that funds, marketing and reach aren’t much of an issue for Telangana Today. The challenge will however, remain to ensure it is not seen as an English version of Namaste Telangana.
“Being a new state, it would help to have a newspaper with Telangana management. But it should survive independent of the management and not patronise the ruling party,” said D Amar, Secretary General of the Indian Journalists Union.
The management too would hope it does not go the Namaste Telangana way. Because despite being the only 100 per cent Telangana daily in terms of ownership, the Telugu daily has not been able to dent the circulation lead of Eenadu, Andhra Jyoti and Sakshi, even though the management of all three newspapers are seen as pro-Andhra.
“The look and feel of Telangana Today will be good but the newspaper cannot write against the TRS or the KCR government,” predicted Nageshwar.
The TRS already owns T-News, a Telugu news channel, that serves as the mouthpiece of the party and the government. KCR, soon after he took over as Telangana chief minister in June 2014, was upset with two Telugu channels – ABN and TV9 – for broadcasting what was seen as offensive content, denigrating Telangana culture. The two channels were subsequently taken off air by the MSOs and KCR even threatened to “bury the channels 10 feet under the earth if they insulted Telangana”.
That had the desired effect. TV9 started a Telangana channel, Jai Telangana to ensure it did not get squeezed between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh’s warring political establishments. Today most TV channels think twice before reporting anything negative about the TRS and its first family in particular, for fear of being pulled off air.
“Telugu channels and newspapers work in Telangana under fear. English newspapers, comparatively have not surrendered. They still write stories critical of the government. Which is why the establishment feels it needs an English newspaper,” said Amar.
Telangana Today is perhaps the first instance of a politician in south India indirectly backing an English newspaper as earlier ventures by netas in different states have been in the vernacular language. It can also help in perception management among the non-Telugu readership. KCR’s son and Telangana IT minister KT Rama Rao often refers to Telangana as India’s start-up state. Telangana Today is preparing for the tomorrow.
The author can be contacted on Twitter @Iamtssudhir
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There are some striking parallels that can be drawn between how the market operates and how diplomacy functions. Just as in the market, a product is purchased if it satisfies a need, in diplomacy a position is taken based on interests of countries; if saleability of a product in the market depends on its attributes, desirability and quality, so too is the case with the saleability of a policy or position in diplomacy; in the market, brand image of the seller is very important, so too in case of diplomacy where the image of a country that is trying to garner support on any issue is critical; advertising campaigns of duff products receive as much traction in the market as propaganda campaigns of duff policies receive in diplomacy; companies which persist with anachronistic products get left behind and end up as bit players, which is exactly what happens to countries that persist with anachronistic policies.
Before embarking on yet another massive international propaganda campaign, which in the words of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif seeks to ‘shake the collective conscience of the international community’ against India’s alleged human rights violations and repression in Kashmir, Pakistan would have done itself a favour by first examining what exactly is it selling, and whether there is any appetite in the international community for what it is selling. From India’s point of view, however, the Pavlovian response of its neighbour from hell often offers an opportunity to sell its own narrative more convincingly and compellingly. The reason for this is simple: Pakistan’s deep seated hatred for India makes it adopt positions which damage it more than any damage they cause India. But when the national psyche is ruled by the Punjabi dictum of ‘bring down the wall of your enemy, even if you come under’, then Pakistan’s self-destructive policies and propaganda should surprise no one.
In its latest campaign against India, the Pakistanis have used the dead terrorist Burhan Wani as an icon and claimed that his killing unleashed the unrest in Kashmir. Talking of Wani, the Pakistanis don’t hide that he belonged to Hizbul Mujahedin, an unabashed Islamist/Jihadist organisation that is listed as a terrorist organisation by the US. Although the Pakistanis are trying to portray him more as a social media activist, Wani himself wasn’t shy of being pictured wielding a gun and declaring that he was in the business of waging war against the Indian state. The chief of the Hizbul Mujahedin has not only defended suicide attacks but also threatened such attacks in India. Now imagine how this will play out in the international community, especially at a time when countries in Europe, Middle-East, Africa, Asia and North America are reeling under terror attacks by organisations that share their ideology with groups like Hizbul Mujahedin.
Clearly, Pakistanis have shot themselves in the foot by pitching their campaign on Burhan Wani, because there is hardly any sympathy, much less any appetite, in most countries of the world with Islamists and jihadists. Also, remember those pictures of Kashmiri youth in which they wave ISIS banners and Pakistani flags side by side? All India needs to do is to plaster these pictures in full page advertisement in top newspapers in all those countries where Pakistani lawmakers will be going to ‘shake the conscience of the world’. Besides the fact that ISIS is really the plural of ISI, these pictures are a terrible advertisement, not just for the Kashmiris but also for the Pakistanis who are lumped together with the ISIS.
For nearly two months now, Pakistan’s hysterical propaganda has nothing to show for it, except for a pro forma statement from the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and a demand by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) secretary general asking India to hold a referendum in Kashmir. Now if Pakistanis are banking on Ban Ki Moon then good luck to them. As for OIC, its rather rich of its secretary general to demand a referendum in the world’s largest and most raucous democracy when bulk of the OIC members don’t even hold local, forget national, elections. In any case, OIC members have perfected the art of toeing the Pakistani line from the OIC platform and ignoring it completely in their bilateral dealings with India. Even Pakistan’s ‘all weather friend’ China has, so far , desisted from weighing in on the side of Pakistan.
As often happens when Pakistan finds itself getting zero traction against India, they start to lament about lack of morality in international relations. This too is rich coming from the Pakistanis, who have shamelessly supported Turkey’s atrocious policies against the Kurds, Chinese repression in Tibet and Xinjiang and even backed China’s belligerence in South China Sea. Even a human rights based campaign by Pakistan falls flat on its face considering that Pakistan shares the dubious distinction of being a country that is among the top three in the world in administering death penalty to its own citizens. And here one is not even counting the extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances by Pakistani security agencies in Balochistan, Karachi or other parts of Pakistan. This number runs in thousands. If anything, as far as human rights are concerned, Pakistan’s record is amongst the worst in the world. For Pakistan to, therefore, take the human rights route on Kashmir, is disingenuity of the worst kind.
Finally, there is Pakistan’s latest diplomatic card of inviting India for a dialogue on Kashmir to show to the international community that they are being reasonable and that it is India that is being obdurate. This is quite typical of the low cunning and too clever by half manoeuvres by Pakistan, something that rest of the world which has suffered Pakistan’s duplicity and deceit in Afghanistan should be quite familiar with. Ironically, Pakistan’s wanting a dialogue because of what it calls ‘a grave situation in Kashmir’ actually reaffirms India’s position on export of terrorism by Pakistan. Besides being a case of the arsonist playing fireman, if Pakistan has nothing to do with the disturbances in Kashmir, what purpose will be served by holding a dialogue with it, except perhaps for allowing Pakistan to insert itself into India’s internal affairs; conversely, if Pakistan has a hand in the disturbances, then India’s stand that only terrorism be the focus of any dialogue is unexceptionable.
Unless Pakistan is living in cuckoo land (the possibility of that cannot be entirely ruled out given the delusional frame of mind of many Pakistanis), it must know that there are going to be no takers for what it is selling on Kashmir. If Pakistan is still persisting, then perhaps it has more to do with domestic politics than international diplomacy. Nawaz Sharif, who is getting boxed in by both the opposition and the military, wants to ride the Kashmir tiger to cement his position inside Pakistan. The problem with riding the tiger lies in dismounting. That is to say that once the international campaign runs out of steam without having anything to show for it, Nawaz Sharif’s political position will become even weaker than what it is currently.
While it is almost a given that Pakistan’s propaganda will fizzle out sooner rather than later, India would be making a big mistake if it thinks that Pakistan’s failure on the diplomatic front gives India a carte blanche in Kashmir. India will have to tread very carefully and will need to get its political and administrative act together in the restive state and do so smartly and sensibly. What is more, India cannot afford to be complacent on the diplomatic front. India must engage various countries and explain its position, rather than leaving the field open to the Pakistanis and their proxies and apologists in India. But most importantly, India needs to quickly end the disturbances and violence in Kashmir so that the space is created for the political and developmental outreach.
Disclaimer : The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Newslaundry.com. Newslaundry.com does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. If the article carries photographs or images, we do not vouch for their authenticity.
In 2003, Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy, leader of Opposition in then undivided Andhra Pradesh, undertook a 1475-kilometre-long padayatra. Billed Praja Prasthanam, the campaign did not just help mobilise farmers — it also brought Congress back to power in the state. Come September 6, a Congressperson will embark on the longest campaign in the party’s recent history. Not just any Congressperson, though — the party leader in question is Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
Hoping to propel India’s Grand Old Party back to power in Uttar Pradesh, Gandhi will launch the Deoria-Delhi Kisan Padayatra from Rudrapur in Deoria district. From there, it is scheduled to cover 2,500 kilometres across India’s most populous state, reaching two crore people. Along with state Congress leaders, Gandhi is expected to travel across 42 districts, covering 225 Assembly and 55 Lok Sabha constituencies. The yatra will end with a farmers’ rally in Delhi on October 2.
The USP of the campaign is a unique form designed to woo the state’s marginalised farmers. Designed in consultation with Prashant Kishor, the party’s poll strategist for the UP elections, the Kisan Maang Patra promises debt waiver and halving of power tariff using a ‘promissory note’ by Gandhi. The form’s backdrop is a photo of parched land. Next to a picture of Gandhi is the slogan, “Karza maaf, bijli bill half, samarthan mulya ka karo hisab (debts waived, power bills halved, minimum support price revised)”.
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The Kisan Maang Patra will be given out during the Congress’Deoria-Delhi Kisan Padayatra
The form asks for details like name, address, phone number and loan amount. It has a counterfoil with a red-coloured seal saying “karza maaf”. As per the strategy, party workers will visit 25,000 households and ask them to furnish the details. Once the form is filled, the counterfoil will be given to the farmer. “It’ll work as a promissory note of the party,” said Congress spokesperson, Akhilesh Singh. “The idea is to hold our party accountable for poll promises.”
The form will be enclosed in an envelope with two stickers, one big and one small, featuring the party’s election slogan, “27 saal UP behaal (After 27 years, UP is helpless)”. Once a farmer fills the form, the big sticker will be pasted on his front door with his permission. The farmer will then be asked to give a missed call on a dedicated number of the Congress media cell so that his record is maintained in a database of debt-ridden farmers. The missed call will be returned with a recorded message from Gandhi, promising loan waiver once Congress is in power in UP. “The small sticker will then be pasted on the farmer’s mobile,” said Singh.
Congress poll strategists feel this strategy will benefit the party in two ways — it will win the farmers’ confidence, and take the poll slogan (“27 saal UP behaal”)to a larger audience.
Predictably, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dismissed the move as an election gimmick. According to a recent survey by the party’s state unit, UP’s farmers have a cumulative debt of Rs 50,000 crore. “Most of the time, Rahul Gandhi is on vacation in foreign destinations,” said UP BJP office bearer Santosh Singh. “He remembers farmers only during election time.”
Congress retaliated by saying it has always thought of farmers and “does not believe in jumlas”. “After the 2009 general elections, we waived farmers’ loans,” said Akhilesh Singh, who is also overseeing preparations for Gandhi’s campaign. “This time, we will do the same in the state.”
Bheem Bhoj for Dalits, Brahmin sammelans for the forward castes, and now a Padayatra for the farmers – Congress is leaving no stone unturned to gain a foothold in UP, a state in which the party has been out of power since 1989.
In Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) history is in making as far as the Left students’ movement is concerned. For the first time since its inception, All India Students’ Association (AISA) has joined hands with another party in JNU campus to fight the might of Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP). The AISA and Student Federation of India (SFI) are contesting JNUSU election together. Interestingly, All India Students’ Federation (AISF), whose member Kanhaiya Kumar currently holds the presidential post, has decided not to contest elections this year for the sake of left unity.
Being kept away from the alliance, DSF (SFI’s splinter group) has decided to field its candidate for only one position (Join Secretary). The reason for this are two-fold- lack of influence amongst students on campus and the perception that DSF has always tried to split left’s vote-bank in the elections.
The Left has in recent years been all over the ideological-pragmatic map. In the recent Bihar assembly elections, the three main Left parties — Communist Party of India (CPI), CPI-Marxist and CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation — banded together and contested, not joining the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) – Janata Dal United (JDU) mahagathbandhan. In the Bengal assembly elections, the CPI(M) had an alliance with the Congress, it’s traditional rival. And in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, in the Varanasi constituency where Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal were running, the CPI(M) fielded its own candidate Hiralal Yadav, while the CPI(ML) Liberation student wing, All India Students Association (AISA), sent its cadre to ostensibly campaign against Modi.
On the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus, the situation is like this: the 2015 JNUSU election results shook the Left. AISA, the behemoth incumbent that had won every seat in the two years prior, failed to secure enough votes to win the President post, with its Dalit base eroded by the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association (BAPSA) candidate as well as anti-establishment sentiment among the general public that eventually favoured All India Students Federation’s Kanhaiya Kumar (AISF’s parent party is the centre-Left CPI), viewing him as non-partisan.
AISF is generally considered a weak party and was discredited since the Emergency days when CPI had supported the Indira Gandhi regime. BAPSA did not contest for any other central panel post. AISA managed to win the Vice Presidential and General Secretary posts, exposing the looming caste-discontent in the student community. What was most alarming for Left student parties was the rise of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) student wing Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). It bagged joint secretary post in the central panel, clearly demonstrating how the right-wing vote remained undivided.
This year, the public has had enough of fiery rhetoric against “fascism” outside campus and the practice of petty sectarianism inside campus, especially in the light of political attacks on the entire university community from February 2016 onwards. The ordeal of February has sprouted another group: Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Students Organisation (BASO), which has no parent party, led by those who had been targeted the most during the media trial of the university, including Umar Khalid.
Initially, every party had made a call for unity. AISA made one on the third of August, titled “Let Us Reassert the Spirit of #FightBackJNU With Unity In (sic) All Fronts”. It argued, “As the attack on the very heart and soul of JNU is being intensified through numerous new means, the united spirit of #FightBackJNU must be asserted once again in all fronts, in struggles as well as in JNUSU elections.”
Students’ Federation of India (SFI) gave a similar call in a pamphlet titled, “Unity is the Need of the Hour” on August 17, without specifically using the term “electoral unity” or alliance in the piece.
Weeks passed. An apprehensive public was prepared for yet another year of factionalism, though it was sick and tired of establishment politics of fear mongering for votes.
Out of the parties, AISA has been historically the most reluctant to unite, as it enjoys the status of a pre-eminent incumbent and has the largest cadre base in the post-Lyngdoh era, in JNU. Like the SFI used to be in its dominant days in JNU, AISA had acquired a big brotherly nature. It would refuse to unite with smaller parties, thereby increasing the threat of an ABVP victory, forcing voters to vote for the biggest Left Party in order to defeat the undivided vote of the Right.
Lighting struck in the form of the rape charges against JNU student and AISA senior leader Anmol Ratan, on August 21, barely a few weeks before the elections. This raised the grave matter of campus rape in a central university that has the highest reported rate of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment in India. This put AISA on the back foot, and gave the smaller Left parties some ammunition to band together and denounce the bigger rival. The party felt politically threatened enough to be forced to immediately denounce, condemn, expel and disown the accused. The latest University General Body meeting regarding the coming elections was overshadowed by the rape incident that called into question the most established party on campus.
The public pressure and the political backpedaling created an opportunity for AISA to give in, and for the remaining parties to use their boosted leverage. Complete Left unity, however, has not emerged as of now. Looking at the alliance that is coming up, a combine of SFI, AISF and AISA – the fourth major Left party, Democratic Students Federation (DSF), a dissenting offspring of SFI in JNU – , has been excluded. Ostensibly, the complaint is that DSF had carried a huge smear campaign against AISA on the Anmol Ratan case and that DSF’s position on Kashmir and the February #StandWithJNU movement was too right-wing to be compatible with the alliance.
The real reason, one suspects, behind DSF being excluded from a left alliance is that excluding DSF enabled AISA to demand and get two out of the four central panel seats in the alliance. Further, the move allowed its arch-nemesis SFI to wipe out DSF completely.
Further, soon it emerged that AISF was no longer part of the alliance either. The smaller left brothers were pushed aside and thrown under the bus in the name of the greater good.
JNU has a higher percentage of non-Delhi students out of all of universities in the capital. Dalit and OBC students represented by BAPSA and United OBC Forum have not been given a place in the alliance, which lack a major lower caste candidate. The Left has, over the past year, conveniently appropriated the Rohith Vemula slogans but is reluctant to bring those like him into the political process. Yet the current crumbs of a Left alliance claim to be defending and representing those very groups that they have electorally excluded.
Three months after the attacks of September 11, 2001, Congress officially charged the Smithsonian and the National Museum of American History with collecting and preserving artefacts that would tell the story of that day.
But where to start? If you were given the task, what objects would you collect?
Fifteen years later, the collection includes more than a thousand photographs and hundreds of objects, among them memorials, thank you letters, pieces of the Pentagon, first responder uniforms from the World Trade Center, personal items such as wallets and clothing, Emergency Medical Technician equipment, parts of fire trucks, and portions of the plane from United Flight 93 recovered from Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The objects in the museum’s September 11 collection show both the ordinary and extraordinary moments in the midst of the devastation, reminding us of the chaos, the bravery, the loss and the unity that we all felt that horrifying day.
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Flight Attendant Log Book, Flight 93, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, September 11, 2001 | National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
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World Trade Center Stairwell Sign, September 11, 2001 | National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
We see it in the handwritten note from Daria to Frank Galliard. Both worked at the Pentagon, and in the chaos after the attack, not knowing one another’s whereabouts or condition, they each separately made their way to a prearranged emergency meeting spot. Daria arrived first and scrawled a note in black pen on a scrap of yellow paper: “Sweetie I am okay,” the “okay” underlined three times.
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September 11, 2001 Iron Worker Clean-Up Crew Hard Hat, World Trade Center | National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
We see it in the hard hat of Dennis Quinn, an ironworker from Chicago who journeyed to New York to help clear debris. The skullguard-style helmet is practical—it’s designed to withstand high temperatures and is equipped with welder’s lugs. But it’s also personal—the owner’s name and union affiliation are carefully written in permanent black marker, surrounded by union and 9/11 stickers bearing the American flag, a bald eagle, and the statue of liberty.
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Fuselage from Flight 93, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, September 11, 2001 | National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
And we can see it in the twisted metal and scratched stripes of blue, pink, and orange in the fuselage of Flight 93, whose passengers and crew lost their lives fighting to ensure that no more buildings would be hit.
To commemorate September 11, the National Museum of American History is offering visitors the opportunity to interact and respond directly to select objects from our collections. The artefacts will be presented in an unmediated physical display, with no glass or casework between the visitors and the collection. We invite visitors to share their memories and thoughts, either in conversations with staff and other visitors, or by sharing through our Talkback boards, which provide the opportunity for written comments.
As historians, we continue to ask ourselves: How will Americans remember these events 25, 50, or 100 years from now? What questions will future generations ask? We can’t know for sure, but we do know that places like the National Museum of American History enable us to reflect on what it means to be a part of history, to contemplate how historic events affect our lives as individuals and as a nation.
Disclaimer : The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Newslaundry.com. Newslaundry.com does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. If the article carries photographs or images, we do not vouch for their authenticity.
I spent two and a half years from December 1968 to May 1970 on the Cease Fire Line (CFL) – as the Line of Control (LOC) was known then. The CFL was based on the 1949 Karachi Agreement while the Line of Control on the 1972 Shimla Agreement. The situation along the CFL in my time was dormant and the principle of ‘live and let live’ prevailed. While I did two spells in Jammu and Kashmir in 1975-1977 and 1988-1990, I did not get a chance to serve on the LOC.
By late 1970s, as the Pakistani Army recovered from the debacle of 1971, the situation along the LOC had dramatically altered. There were regular exchanges of small arms fire and occasionally artillery fire with the aim of causing maximum casualties to each other. A new military term – ‘Line of Control Warfare’ – came into being. The defences on both sides were strengthened and heavy direct firing weapons were placed on the posts along the LOC. Old anti-aircraft and artillery guns in direct firing role, and anti-tank missiles were used to destroy defences. This competitive conflict continued for a decade. However, both sides generally followed an unwritten code of not physically violating the LOC.
The situation escalated post-Siachen, in 1984. Attempts were made to capture isolated posts and occupy tactical features not physically held. Even isolated bunkers became bones of contention. With effect from December 1989, a new dimension was added to the competitive conflict along the LOC. The nullahs and forested areas along the LOC became routes for infiltration by terrorists and the LOC itself became the first line of defence against the proxy war.
Our defensive posture and tactics also underwent a change. Not only did we have to continue the competitive firing for moral ascendency, our primary focus had to be on counter infiltration, which was being facilitated by Pakistani firing. This required tiered ambushes in the gaps between the posts. Operations along the LOC became even tougher than actual battle, where a cycle of ‘storm’ and ‘lull’ generally prevails. The troops now had to fight a 24-hour, 365 days’ battle. Trans LOC raids by both sides made the situation even more complex.
In 1981, I was transferred to the Mechanised Infantry and spent the next 18 years in the Mechanised Forces environment, divorced from the exciting life along the LOC. I had a yearning to go back to my roots. I had commanded a Combat Group consisting of one mechanised battalion and two armoured squadrons in Ladakh from 1988 to 1990, with an operational role on and across the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Exciting as it was, as we were the pioneer Combat Group, but it was nothing compared to the ‘war’ going on along the LOC. I had to wait for another 10 years before I got involved with LOC Warfare.
I had commanded an armoured brigade and was Brigadier General Staff of a Corps when in 1999, I approached the Military Secretary’s Branch for ‘active duty’ in an operational area. In January 2000, I was appointed Commander 192 Mountain Brigade and was responsible for Batalik – Yaldor – Chorbat La Sector, six months after the Kargil War.
This Sector was known as the Batalik Sector before the Kargil War and used to be held by only one infantry battalion, which looked after a frontage of 70km along the LOC. However, physically only
approximately 20km stretch extending on either side of the Indus River was held. East of this area, the present day Yaldor Sub Sector was the scene of major Pakistani infiltration that was upto eight to ten km deep and some of the major battles of Kargil War were fought here. Jubar, Point 4812, Point 5203, Munthodalo, Khalubar were the heights where the major battles were fought. We were occupying a frontage of 70km with gaps varying from one to three kilometres, due to nullahs and non-tactical terrain. These were covered by fire and ambushes. We were manning 40-50 posts along the LOC and in depth.
Since bulk of the sector was not held earlier, our main focus was on development of defences, laying minefields and making pony/donkey tracks/roads. Most of the posts were eight to 12 hours (one way) marching distance from the bases located at the road heads. This sector had the most difficult terrain after Siachen Glacier, with heights of the posts varying from 14,000 feet to 18,000 feet, situated on the formidable Ladakh Range and the ridges emanating from it. The fast-flowing Indus River divided the Batalik Sector. By November, the Pakistani Army had recovered from the shock of Kargil defeat and the LOC became active.
On taking over the brigade in January 2000, I made my policy clear. Complete moral ascendency had to be achieved and no quarter was to be given to the enemy. We made a bid for additional heavy weapons and soon managed the allotment of two L 70 anti-aircraft guns, two 75/24 MM mountain guns, six anti-tank recoilless guns and 12 extra machine guns. Most of these weapons were either obsolete or were not fit for their primary role (due to defects) and were allotted without crews. The self-reliant infantry battalions rose to the occasion. We got help from artillery and air defence units to train the jawans to handle the L 70 and 75/24 MM mountain guns. Other additional weapons were infantry weapons and posed little problem.
The next task was to move the heavy weapons to the high posts from the road heads. Over one month, 500 men and animals – that added up to 15,000 men, ponies and small donkeys altogether – were utilised per day to place the weapons and ammunition at selected posts. Simultaneously, weapon emplacements were prepared. We also moved some our 81 mm mortars to the posts for crew-observed, line-of-sight firing. Movement was only at night and was extremely slow. To maintain surprise, the movement was only at night. By first light, the weapons were camouflaged in situation and movement commenced again after last light. The ‘man days’ were put in by both by soldiers and civilian labour, consisting of local Ladakhis/Balti Aryans and Gurkhas, and even Biharis who had reached the sector for better wages. The role of Zanskar ponies – the most surefooted animal in the world – and small donkeys (popularly known as SDs) was notable. While the former is a handsome animal, the latter is exactly the opposite: smaller than normal donkeys, sickly and relatively ugly. At first sight, it appeared that this unique animal of the area will never carry a load as its thin legs barely supported its own weight. Yet, it could carry 40-50 kg weight. More than that, it was shown the general direction and asked to move with a peculiar call by the owners and it never stopped thereafter. We also bent the rules for this herculean task and tripled the daily wages for men, ponies and small donkeys. Consequently, many audit observations had to be answered later.
By end-February, we had everything in place. In the interim period, I had physically walked to most of the posts and showed my presence in full regalia to the Pakistani posts, as part of the moral ascendency. We also placed loudspeakers on all posts, to blare patriotic and Hindi/Punjabi film and pop songs. To our amusement, the Pakistani troops would request for special numbers of choice from posts that were in shouting distance.
But this bonhomie was short lived as we had decided that the issue of moral ascendency had to be settled once and for all.
It was a bright sunny day after a week of bad weather and Pakistani troops were busy sunning themselves. On a code word, all hell broke loose. We engaged all posts, but the ones which were dominated by us received special attention. Surprise was total and the enemy troops were caught unawares in the open. In the critical first two minutes, substantial casualties were caused before the troops scurried for cover of the bunkers. We then focussed on the bunkers, which, compared to ours, were in a poor state. The heavier L 70 Air defence gun, which fires 330 rounds per minute, and 75/24 mountain gun wreaked havoc. The training and effort put in to haul them to the posts had paid dividends.
Our fury lasted two hours and in the ensuing lull, white flags came up on some posts for collecting casualties. We had destroyed 35 Bunkers and approximately 25 – 30 enemy were killed and wounded. Complete moral ascendency had been achieved and was maintained aggressively thereafter.
There is a misinformed perception that our rules of engagement are strict and rigidly-controlled by higher headquarters, with troops having no freedom of action to fire on the LOC as opposed to the adversary. Nothing could be further away from the truth. There is a popular saying that those who seek orders get orders; and those who seize the initiative, run away with the orders. No rule or regulation takes away the right of a commander to act as per the operational situation, for safety of his troops and for mission accomplishment within the overall intent of the higher commanders. My constant guiding principle was: “Inaction is the most serious crime against the spirit of the Indian Army”.
This column will not be complete without an anecdote. At the end of the Kargil War, fighting units had left behind 25 – 30 tons of surplus ammunition. As per rules, since the ammunition was no longer in sealed boxes, it was to be back-loaded to Ammunition Depots for destruction. I intervened to stop the back-loading and we put the ammunition to good use on the LOC. It was reported to me that in the ammunition dump, there were 20 Flame Throwers which were imported post haste for the Kargil War. Most readers would have seen the classic flame thrower in war movies, on the back of German soldier. It consisted of inflammable liquid and gas under pressure, in a container with a tube and nozzle. It could shoot a tongue of flame upto a distance of 30 to 40 feet. The flame thrower was one of the most dreaded weapons of World War II. However, what we had was a one-time use incendiary rocket of Russian origin, which is fired from a discardable tube and has a range of 1000 meters. I directed that these be put to use on the LOC. To my chagrin, I found that none of the units had used this weapon. The reason was not hard to find out. During the war, one of the units had an accident due to mishandling the flame thrower resulting in three casualties. This gave birth to a myth of it being a dangerous and unreliable weapon. Keen to break this unsoldierly belief, I directed one of the units to test it. After a few days the Commanding Officer (CO) sheepishly requested that his unit be taken off the task as there was no operating manual for the weapon and given the weapons’ dubious reputation, he did not want to take a risk, especially since the unit had suffered heavy casualties during the war. I refrained from using the prerogative of command to enforce the order and tasked another unit for the same task. After two days the second CO also came up with the same excuse. This time I was firm and told him that if he did not test the weapon, then I personally would test it.
The weapon was tested by fixing it with sand bags and pulling the trigger with a string from a safe distance. Within minutes, I got a “eureka” report singing praises of the weapon. Another firing was conducted physically by the crew and the weapon was proven. I asked the CO as to from where he got the operating manual. He replied that he still did not have one, but they had learnt to operate the weapon by hit and trial. So far, I had not seen the weapon. I asked for one of the discardable tube to be sent to me. What I saw was straight out of “Psychology of Military Incompetence.” The firing instructions were printed on the discardable tube!
The balance of the weapons was put to effective use on the LOC. The troops discovered that handling this weapon was as safe as handling their own rifles. I mounted the discarded tube on a stand and placed it outside my office. While interviewing Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) and Non Commissioned Officers (NCOs), I would narrate the story to drive home the point about importance of detail for grass root soldiering.
My adventures with the flame thrower continued in later service too. As an Army Commander in 2007, I had a situation in which 700 tons of ammunition blew up in an Ammunition Depot. Yes, due to mishandling of the same “dangerous and unreliable” flame thrower and that too by an expert. But that is another story.
During a recent visit to Kargil, I narrated this episode to a group of senior officers, which included the present Commander of 192 Mountain Brigade. He thanked me for the “lesson in ‘detail'” and mentioned that the discarded tube was still in front of his office, but he could never fathom the reason as to why it was there!
Disclaimer : The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Newslaundry.com. Newslaundry.com does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. If the article carries photographs or images, we do not vouch for their authenticity.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a landmark visit to Vietnam on September 2 and 3, en route to Hangzhou, China for the G20 Summit.
This was the third substantive visit by PM Modi to South-East Asia. It can however be stated with little risk of contradiction that this visit was by far the most momentous of all his forays to South-East Asia. It was the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Vietnam after 15 years. Both countries mark the 10th anniversary of strategic partnership and the 45th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations next year.
The 2,000 year-long heritage of civilisational, religious and economic links between India and Vietnam makes the relationship special. India-Vietnam relations have been exceptionally friendly and cordial since their foundations were laid by Prime Minister Nehru and President Ho Chi Minh more than 50 years ago. The traditionally close ties have their historical roots in the common struggle for liberation from foreign rule and the national struggle for independence. Pandit Nehru was one of the first foreign visitors to Vietnam after its victory against the French in 1954. President Ho Chi Minh visited India in February 1958 on a state visit. President Rajendra Prasad visited Vietnam in 1959.India strongly condemned American action during the Vietnam War and was also one of the few non-communist countries to assist Vietnam during the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
What makes this visit by Modi particularly significant is the verdict on South China Sea (SCS) by Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague on July 12, 2016, on a complaint filed by Philippines against recent assertions and actions by China. The verdict was a comprehensive rebuke to China, declaring that the latter had no historical claim on SCS and that it was causing great ecological harm by constructing artificial islands to buttress its claims in the waters.
Although Vietnam was not a party to the dispute, it has substantial interests relating to harvesting energy and fishery resources from its Exclusive Economic Zone. It has been experiencing difficulty for last many years to exploit resources due to harassment by China, which led to violent clashes resulting in death and damage to property in the past. Two recent attacks in June 2015 led to injuries to Vietnamese fishermen and damage to their boats near Paracel Islands which are a subject of dispute.
India issued a measured statement after PCA Award was announced, emphasising the importance of freedom of navigation, maritime security and the imperative need to abide by the provisions of the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). China has adopted a belligerent attitude, declaring the PCA had no authority to adjudicate on the issue.
We have a significant interest in ensuring the openness of sea-lanes of communication in SCS as more than 50 per cent of India’s foreign trade flows through these waters. India has also contracted with Vietnam to prospect for oil and gas in areas which fall within its Exclusive Economic Zone.
Modi’s visit also saw 12 agreements being signed, which promise to further cement the alliance between Vietnam and India. It was decided to upgrade bilateral ties from ”strategic partnership” to ”comprehensive strategic partnership”. This change in nomenclature goes beyond mere symbolism. PM Modi said this decision ”captures the intent and path of our future cooperation. It will provide a new direction, momentum and substance to our bilateral cooperation.”
The most consequential area identified for enhanced engagement between Vietnam and India is defence. During President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Hanoi in September 2014, India had offered assistance of US$100 million for procurement of four patrol boats. During the current visit, Modi extended an additional line of credit of US$500 million to further bolster defence ties. Discussions on export of sophisticated Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles (jointly produced by India and Russia) and Varunastra, the new, indigenously built, anti-submarine torpedoes to Vietnam are at an advanced stage. Defence partnership between the two countries assumes greater significance in view of increasing militarisation and belligerence by China in recent times.
Economic and commercial cooperation is a significant element of bilateral ties. Currently bilateral trade stands at around US$ 7 billion. Both sides are committed to enhance this to US$ 15 billion by 2020. This is a challenging target, but eminently achievable. India’s private sector is getting increasingly engaged in promoting bilateral trade and investment. Tata Power is constructing a 1,320 MW power plant, with an investment of US$1.8 billion. ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL), NIVL Ltd, KCP Industries Limited, Ngon Coffee Manufacturing, Tech Mahindra, CCL are some major Indian companies that have invested in Vietnam’s oil and gas exploration, mineral exploration and processing, sugar manufacturing, agro-chemicals, IT, and agricultural processing. Conclusion of negotiations under Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and operationalisation of India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement on Investment and Services will provide a further fillip to bilateral economic engagement. Vietnam’s membership of Trans Pacific Partnership could open up fresh opportunities for increasing exports by Indian companies which invest in Vietnam.
Capacity building, training and human resource development is also important. Vietnam is one of the largest beneficiaries, barring India’s neighbours, of scholarships under the India Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) and Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) programmes. Cultural cooperation and people-to-people contacts – Buddhism, yoga, Bollywood, Indian tele-serials and classical music and dance – have strengthened the already-strong bond between the two countries. An Indian Cultural Centre is expected to be established soon to provide further impetus in this arena.
The disintegration of Soviet Union in 1991 provided an opportunity to India to strengthen ties with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), in which Vietnam has become an important player since its membership in 1995. Prime Minister Narasimha Rao launched the ‘’Look East Policy’’ in 1992, which played an important role in upgrading multi-faceted relations between India and the ten-member ASEAN. Since 2014, Modi’s administration has worked to expand the scope of its ties with ASEAN member states under its ”Act East Policy”. The recent visit to Vietnam is the latest example of this policy in action.
India’s engagement with Vietnam has become a benchmark in New Delhi’s rapidly-evolving policy towards the region. As India’s ties with China become more contentious, Hanoi is likely to play an ever more critical role in New Delhi’s strategic calculus.
The author can be contacted on Twitter @asajjanhar
Disclaimer : The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Newslaundry.com. Newslaundry.com does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. If the article carries photographs or images, we do not vouch for their authenticity.
Gurdial Singh was a writer of realism. Far away from romance, myth and mere wordplay. Simple. Sensitive. Conversational. Laying emphasis on thought. No beating around the bush. The topics he spoke about in his writing about were critically important, but there was an innate simplicity to Gurdial’s language, logic, and flow, to the way he portrayed his subjects.
Gurdial is no longer with us and when I think about his work, I’m reminded of three things. First, Gurdial’s literature is powerful enough to reflect the past of Punjab and gives a perspective of changing equations of its future. Second, his works have created a rupture in contemporary literature in the way he used language and form. Third, his literature is deeply rooted in Punjab’s cultural consciousness.
Flashback: it’s the 1960s, and Punjab is changing very rapidly. This is the period when feudalism is mutating into capitalism in Punjab. Social structures are changing, the economy is changing, the Punjabi mindset is changing; change is evident everywhere.
In Punjabi literature, this change was first presented in Gurdial’s literature. His novel Marhi Da Deeva is published. If you read the first chapter, chances are that you will be surprised and feel that Gurdial Singh has a feudal mentality. You might feel that Gurdial is watching this changing society, but his outlook is that of a feudalist. It’s as though he is feeling bad that his tie with feudalism is breaking, though we’re told that when feudal relations break down, a man is freed from slavery.
So why is a writer like Gurdial hurt when these chains are broken?
Because we know that in a feudal, agrarian system, the labour who works in field is ‘Siri’ (or a contract labourer), a slave for 24 hours, for generations. In the capitalist society, his fortune changed, his working hours were fixed. He was no more a slave. Yet Gurdial has his doubts about this new world order and so he feels sad when this tie with feudalism breaks.
You can oppose him, accuse him, but read on and you realise why Gurdial despairs as he does. There isn’t any scope in this Punjab, no road ahead, no hope. That is what troubled him and that was why he spoke so emphatically. In his debut novel itself, Gurdial could see Punjab moving towards capitalism and how this would change everything. He was also changing. The relations between different parts of society were changing. Even language was changing. Getting neither excited nor depressed, as a writer and a bard of Punjab, he pondered upon the impact of this change on the future and felt an uneasiness that was almost visionary.
How can we not talk about Gurdial Singh’s language as we remember his literature? He used to say that his characters wear khadi, so how could their language be sophisticated? And because of this unsophistication, we can feel as we read his language, soak in the influence of Punjab’s Malwa region. His language, using the Malwa dialect, was simple and lyrical, carrying in words the culture and rituals of that part of Punjab.
Despite the farmer’s primacy in an agrarian economy, Gurdial Singh chose a farm hand to explain the change taking place in Punjab. He chose the voice of the marginalized, because there was a critical change taking place in the relationship between the farmhand and the famer. Punjabi literature witnessed this kind of sensitivity for the first time in Gurdial’s work. Dalits, for the first time as farmhands and as the marginalised, as those from the village, surfaced thanks to Gurdial Singh’s words. Punjab appears in a state of panic as a new economic order establishes itself. What happens to the Dalit in Punjab’s new economy is reflected in Gurdial’s two other works — Anhoe and Anhe Ghorey Da Daan. Slipping into the lives in these novels, we realise Gurdial’s anxieties are not glorifying feudalism. Instead, they are expressions of fear – fear that has proved itself valid with passing time.
In these two novels, you can deeply feel what capitalism has done to Dalits, to the marginalised. You can feel that reality in these works. Punjabi thinker Dr Surjit said about him— Marhi Da Deeva and Anhe Ghorey Da Daan challenge the established myths that say the capitalist process of development frees a Dalit from the feudalist system of villages, frees them from the evils of caste discrimination and gives the Dalit a fair and free chance of development. Especially in Punjab, capitalism changed the status of Dalits from contract labour to daily wage labour Siri to a daily wage labour who don’t have a sustainable source of income. In contrast, the days of feudalism and being a farm hand actually meant small earnings – which in turn meant they got freedom; a pathetic, humiliating version of freedom.
Gurdial’s novels show how closely he watched Punjab, how closely he heard the rhythms that oppressed Dalits and others. And for that, for his ability to understand their pain and tell their story in a way that remains relevant to us, I pay my obeisance to him.
Disclaimer : The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Newslaundry.com. Newslaundry.com does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. If the article carries photographs or images, we do not vouch for their authenticity.
Much has been speculated about Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti’s (CYSS) exit from the Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) elections this year. Aam Admi Party’s (AAP) student wing, CYSS,, forayed into the student elections for the first time last year. Riding high on its parent party’s success in 2015 Delhi elections, the party came in with much enthusiasm, but failed to leave a mark. What it did manage to do was divide the vote share so that All India Students’ Association (AISA) saw a drastic drop in the number of vote in its DUSU election kitty.
CYSS has decided to not contest the elections this year, right after the loss of debut elections. There are a lot of speculations regarding why the party chose to sit out the elections this year. Anmol Panwar, CYSS Secretary, said, “We decided to follow Lyngdoh Committee regulations from our first elections itself, but a lot of parties did not. The university largely does not prosecute those who violate the rules, even after having sufficient evidence to take action. Thus we decided to boycott the election to send a strong message against such blatant violation of election rules.”
But can the boycott actually make a difference in how the union elections function or is it just limiting the choices before university students? Panwar said, “See, the students are well aware of the current problem. Many students do not vote simply to stay away from the hooliganism that happens in campuses, which truly limits the democracy on campus. CYSS’s boycott is a strong message to show that such activities must be done away with.”
Questions have also been raised regarding the fact that leaders from AAP, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, came to Delhi University to promote CYSS, which is a contravention of election guidelines. So does CYSS really have the moral high ground to talk about transgressions of other parties? Panwar said, “ Last year, our party legislation along with Kejriwal did come to the university, but it was just to appeal for honest politics and not to promote CYSS. And if violations were made, why did the other parties stay silent? No violation was made; else we would have been served a notice by the DU election commission.”
However, not everyone is ready to buy the argument that CYSS is sitting out for such noble causes. Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s (ABVP) Delhi State Working Committee member Anoop Panwar said, “CYSS is afraid of losing second time in a row to ABVP. They know they cannot defeat us and are well aware that this loss could possibly affect the outcome of Punjab elections. Rather than getting humiliated by another loss, they are pretending to hide behind Lyngdoh committee excuse.”
AISA echoed the sentiment. Its DU unit president Sudhanshu Kumar said, “CYSS needs its student union members to woo Punjab right now. They need all their resources focused on winning seats in Punjab and have thus sent their members to work there. Is CYSS claiming it will absolutely not come back till all the money and muscle power is gone? Sounds very unlikely.”
Anmol Panwar of CYSS clarified that the boycott has nothing to do with upcoming Punjab elections. He said, “We have sufficient strength to tackle Punjab election with CYSS’s Punjab cadre. There is no need for Delhi volunteers to campaign all the way over there. Student and youth of are the flag bearers of our party and are working tirelessly for the election campaign. People of Punjab have seen the good work of AAP in Delhi and recent surveys show that we will win over 100 seats in Punjab.”
Finally, Panwar is confident that the boycott of DUSU elections is a step in the right direction. He added, “We were always in favor of student politics. We will appeal to university administration and we are hopeful that the new DU Vice Chancellor will listen to our demands. We aspire to hold elections in such a way that the necessary information can come to students without wastage of resources.”
CYSS has taken a stand against the way union elections take place right now, and although the party may not be as honest as it is claiming itself to be, it is a definitely a step that will garner support against the abuse of political power taking place currently. Will the party stick to its promises and continue to protest against current practices or simply jump back on the DUSU election wagon when the time feels right?
After a two-day visit to Kashmir that yielded no real results, the all-party delegation led by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is back in Delhi. The situation in Kashmir remains as grim as it was 60 days ago, and is unlikely that normalcy is restored any time soon.
Billed as a major political initiative which will help peace efforts gather momentum in the Valley, the all-party delegation has, on the contrary, only deepened the deadlock. Both the Centre and the separatists have been left with fewer options to bring the ongoing unrest to a dignified end.
Those keeping an eye on Kashmir politics feel it is a catch-22 situation for Hurriyat now. By rejecting courtesy talks with leaders who visited their residences, the separatists are left with no option but to continue with the unsustainable strategy of endless shutdowns and protests.
This has also cast doubts on Hurriyat strategy. “You can’t sustain a struggle for azadi by presiding over the economic decimation of the people on whose behalf you are leading the movement,” Bilal Nazki, a businessman who is feeling the pinch of Hurriyat’s shutdowns, told Newslaundry. “This will only lead to an early onset of fatigue and end the uprising”.
Many locals taking part in the on-going protests feel that the situation has spiralled out of control of Hurriyat. “It is do or die for us this time,” Niyaz Ahmed, a 21-year-old arts student, told Newslaundry. “Both the Indian government and Hurriyat have failed us.” He said that while protestors had, in the past, followed Hurriyat’s calendar of protest, the situation this time was different. “It is a people’s movement now,” added Niyaz.
To stay relevant, Hurriyat is doing what it can to keep the anti-India stance alive. A day after refusing to meet the all-party delegation, the separatists argued they had not been officially invited by the government. In an e-mail to local journalists, the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) said, “We were never officially invited and at the same time India is blaming us for rejecting the dialogue. It is not only shameful but speaks volumes about their truthfulness, sincerity and clarity. They tried to play a game of win only for them as they just wanted to discredit us. So we ignored their casual personal gestures… India is scared of any meaningful dialogue with Hurriyat and Pakistan, as they have occupied this land illegally and forcefully by their military might using repeated lies and unabated surplus violence”.
Hurriyat leaders’ insistence on engaging Pakistan in tripartite talks is also worsening the crisis. With Singh clearly saying Jammu and Kashmir was, is and will remain an integral part of India and that the Kashmir issue is an internal matter of India, engaging Pakistan in talks is a strict no-no as far as India is concerned.
“Though the situation in Kashmir began as a spontaneous public response to Burhan Wani’s killing, a distinct Pakistan factor has since crept into the situation,” said an academic who did not wish to be named. “And Pakistan will not help ease the situation in Kashmir or urge Hurriyat to exercise restraint when India is making it difficult for Pakistan in Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan”.
Delhi, meanwhile, is hoping that the crisis in Kashmir will wind down once winter sets in. “Delegations from Delhi are seen as ad hoc tools of state craft sent to temporarily address the situation,” Mubasir Husain, a journalist from Kashmir, told Newslaundry.
With the stalemate continuing and stakeholders not finding a middle ground, leaders like Sharad Yadav of Janata Dal (United) (JDU) — who was part of the all-party delegation — say the onus is on Delhi to keep a dialogue going. “Kashmir ki samasya koi ek din mein sulajhne wali samasya nahi hain. Isme samay lagega,” said Yadav. “Hum apne taraf se prayas karte rahe, yeh jaroori hain (The Kashmir issue can’t be solved in a day. It will take some time. What’s important is we keep trying from our end).”
It was like something out of a Bollywood caper. Despite the police protection that accompanies money from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) travelling from one spot to another, Rs 5 crore disappeared from a moving train last month. It was a daring heist that left the police scratching their head. Out of the Rs 342 crore cash being sent to RBI in Chennai, someone took Rs 5 crore.
Serious as the crime might be, there’s a Robin Hood-quality to this particular incident that makes the robbery applaud-worthy. What it hints at, however, is a very grave issue: security in the Indian Railways.
According to the recently-released National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, there has been a 52 per cent rise in registered crimes on railways – from 25,737 in 2011 to 39,239 in 2015, with a 24 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) increase from 2014 to 2015. This is the highest ever y-o-y rise in the past five years.
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As many as 29,686 theft cases were registered in 2015, an increase of 28 per cent from 23,231 in 2014, while kidnapping & abduction cases increased marginally from 265 in 2014 to 270 in 2015.
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State-wise, the highest number of crimes in railways registered in Maharashtra followed by Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Delhi’s reputation as a crime capital remained firm here as well – it was ranked fifth in terms of crimes in railways.
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Most alarming is the sharp increase in the number of violent crimes that appear to be taking place in trains and at railway stations.
As many as 247 murder cases in railways’ properties were registered in 2015, a decline of 20 per cent from 309 in 2015. However, the number of rape cases increased by 66 per cent (from 44 in 2014 to 73 in 2015). West Bengal reported the highest number of murder cases on railways at 32, followed by Bihar and Haryana, while Maharashtra and Delhi recorded the highest number of rapes at 15 each.
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One reason that crimes on trains and at stations are considered separately is that the Railways have their own security staff – the Railway Protection Force – who are entrusted with passenger safety. It has the power to arrest, investigate and prosecute criminals. As a result, someone who has committed a crime on a train isn’t able to get away because they’ve got out of a state police’s area of jurisdiction. However, what the data suggests is that the RPF isn’t adequate to handle the threat that it’s facing.
In June this year, S Swathi, a 24-year-Infosys employee was brutally murdered in broad daylight at the Nungambakkam Railway Station in Chennai. The incident triggered huge outrage on social media and raised concerns about safety of women. The investigation in still ongoing, but in response to the incident, Southern Railway has roped in Special Forces of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) to enhance the safety of women passengers. Companies of the Special Forces drawn from the Centre have been deployed on trains and railway stations as part of the intensified security arrangements on railway premises. Southern Railway Additional General Manager P.K. Mishra told The Hindu that “Closed circuit television” (CCTV) network would be established in all suburban stations in Chennai Division by the end of March 2017. Funds were allocated for the installation of surveillance cameras in 136 stations in the zone, of which 82 were in the Chennai Division.
Prevention of crime, registration of cases and maintenance of law and order over station premises and trains is the statutory responsibility of states, which is being discharged by them through Government Railway Police (GRP) and 50 per cent cost of GRPs is born by Railways.
GRP is a wing of the state police and functions within respective state boundaries and about 38,000 GRP personnel are deployed by different states over Indian railways, according to a Lok Sabha reply given by Minister of State (MoS) for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in December 2015.
Sinha’s response further states that a total of 202 railway stations have been identified for installation of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras, under integrated Security System (ISS) over Indian Railways. Of these, CCTV cameras have been installed at over 88 stations under ISS and at 114 stations, installation of CCTVs is under process. On an average, 2,000 trains are escorted by RPF personnel daily and the escorts in long distance trains run in continuity in batches, covering the whole distance during the nights.
In June this year, the Railways announced a plan to set up 35,000 CCTV cameras that will scan every corner of 1,000 railway stations. It would utilise Rs 500 crore from Centre’s Nirbhaya Fund. The project has been accorded top priority as the Finance Ministry sanctioned it within three days of the meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office and allocated Rs 200 crore of dividend-free money for this financial year.
The project would not overlap with the existing, now age-old project of installing surveillance cameras in 200-odd stations which Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha had mentioned in his Lok Sabha response.
As India moves ahead with the massive Rs 1 lakh crore bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, it may serve well for Suresh Prabhu to have a detailed look at NCRB statistics and decide as whether passengers need safety first or swanky bullet trains.
The author can be contacted on Twitter @devanikindia
Disclaimer : The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Newslaundry.com. Newslaundry.com does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. If the article carries photographs or images, we do not vouch for their authenticity.
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