7 July Frontline Magazine PDF

VOLUME 34 NUMBER 13 JUNE 24 - JULY 07, 2017 ISSN 0970-1710 WWW.FRONTLINE.
IN
THE STATES COVER STORY CINEMA

Marathi films reclaim
Rural revolt the box office 98
Interview: Shanta Gokhale,
Farmers in BJP-ruled M.P., Maha- film critic 100
rashtra, Haryana and U.P. rise in revolt O B I T U AR Y
and spoil the Modi government’s third
Behind the revival of
Gorkhaland demand 40
anniversary celebrations. 4
S P A CE
Era Sezhiyan: Sentinel of

democracy 102
J A M M U & K A S H MI R
Facts of a ‘dirty’ war 105
GSLV-MkIII: ISRO’s
cryogenic gain 44 MEDIA
Swadeshi success 48
R E L A T ED S T O R I E S
W O R L D A F FA I R S
Madhya Pradesh: Mayhem in Mandsaur 9
Rajasthan: Garlic producers’
bumper problem 12
Maharashtra: Chief Minister gives in 15 Gagging the media 107
Interview: Ashok Dhawale, AIKS 16
Uttar Pradesh: Scheme sans substance 19 C L I M A TE C H A N G E
U.K.: A victory in defeat Haryana & Punjab: Forced into distress sale 21 Trump announcement
is pure theatre 126
for Jeremy Corbyn 51 Tamil Nadu: Drought in the delta 24
West Asia: Qatar’s Assam: Rotting potatoes & neglect 26 T H I S FO R T N I G H T
isolation 57
Dairy sector: Turning sour? 28 Kerala: Prohibition goes 110
U.S.: Russian nexus 61 West Bengal:
SCO summit 64 Cattle trade restrictions End of student unions 112
The big backlash 31 Media: Award for
W I L DL I F E
Abattoirs in crisis 34 Frontline journalist 113
Impact on leather industry 36
Datacard: Beef bogeyman 114 BOOKS 83
Government in a policy trap 116
L E T T E RS 130
Rallying point 119
A wake-up call for Centre 123
Secret lives in a
nature reserve 67
On the Cover
I N T E R V I EW Activists of the Bharatiya Kisan Union at a mahapanchayat in New Delhi
against the killing of farmers in Mandsaur.
Gabor Lanczkor,
Air Surcharge:
Hungarian author 93 COVER DESIGN: T.S VIJAYANANDAN
Colombo - Rs.20.00 and
PHOTOGRAPH:KAMAL SINGH/PTI Port Blair - Rs.15.00
For subscription queries and delivery related issues Contact: Pan-India Toll Free No: 1 8 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 8 7 8 or customercare@thehindu.co.in
Disclaimer: Readers are requested to verify & make appropriate Published by N. RAM, Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002 and Printed by T. Ravi at Kala
enquiries to satisfy themselves about the veracity of an advertisement Jyothi Process Private Limited, Survey No. 185, Kondapur, Ranga Reddy District-500 133, Telangana on behalf of
before responding to any published in this magazine. Kasturi & Sons
Limited, the Publisher & Owner of this magazine, does not vouch for Kasturi & Sons Ltd., Chennai-600 002.
the authenticity of any advertisement or advertiser or for any of the EDITOR: R. VIJAYA SANKAR (Editor responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act). All rights reserved.
advertiser’s products and/or services. In no event can the Owner, Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.
Publisher, Printer, Editor, Director/s, Employees of this magazine/
company be held responsible/liable in any manner whatsoever for any e-mail: frontline@thehindu.co.in
claims and/or damages for advertisements in this magazine. Frontline is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites.
JULY 7, 2017 . FRONTLINE 3

C O V ER S T O R Y
RURAL REVOLT
Farmers in the BJP-ruled States of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,
Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, distressed by demonetisation and
government inaction, rise in revolt and spoil the Narendra Modi
government’s ambitious third anniversary celebrations.
BY VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN AND PURNIMA S. TRIPATHI
FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017 4

A . M . F AR U Q U I
PTI
P OLICE A N D PA R AMILITARY personnel in action after farmers throw vegetables on the road during a protest at
Shajapur in Madhya Pradesh on June 8. (Right) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan greets Prime Minister
Narendra Modi at the Kisan Mahasammelan at Sehore in February 2016.
HUMONGOUS WAS THE WORD USED WITH cities. The plans visualised included Modi writing two
pride by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders to describe crore letters and sending 10 crore SMS messages to
the plans for the third anniversary celebrations of the common people, front-page advertisements in 400
Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance newspapers across the country displaying Modi’s visage
(NDA) government when they were announced in mid and listing his government’s achievements, 30- and 60-
May. The multidimensional celebrations that were to be second advertisements on television and radio on all the
conducted from May 25 to June 15 by the BJP, the ruling 22 days of the celebration period, and 300 multimedia
coalition and the government were programmed to start exhibitions in various States. Apart from this, each Union
with the launch of the eponymously named event, Ministry launched hundreds of booklets titled “Then and
MODI, or Making of Developed India. It was to be Now (UPA and NDA)”, evidently to highlight how the
followed by Modi’s address to the nation from Guwahati, country had marched ahead under Modi’s regime. The
the capital of Assam where the BJP was elected to power agriculture sector, with particular emphasis on the so-
for the first time in 2016. The celebrations were to called farmer welfare programmes initiated in the past
continue in 900 cities and towns across the country, with three years, is given special focus in the booklets.
the Prime Minister himself participating in the events in This self-aggrandisement project ran to the
Bengaluru, Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata, Pune and other major satisfaction of the various organisers for about a week,
5 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

that is, until June 1, the day farmers’ organisations in 2022 and uniting the fragmented markets to achieve the
Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra started separate goal of “one nation, one market”.
agitations raising some common demands and a few However, barely a week after the commencement of
region-specific ones. The common demands were farm the farmers’ agitations, the grandiose third anniversary
loan waiver and a hike in minimum support prices (MSP) celebration plans were in a shambles, thoroughly
in tune with the promise made by the BJP governments exposing the hollowness of the government’s claims,
at the Centre and in the two States. The BJP had especially about enhancing the rural economy and
promised during the campaign to the 2014 Lok Sabha boosting farmers’ interests. The eventful one week
elections that it would implement the recommendations witnessed intensification of the agitations in the two big
made by the National Commission on Farmers chaired States, with farmers dumping milk and vegetables on
by M.S. Swaminathan in its report submitted in 2006. roads and damaging vehicles, resisting attempts by the
The report had suggested that the MSP incorporate a 50 police and the security forces to quell them. The escalated
per cent profit margin on input cost. violence resulted in the killing of six farmers in police
Significantly, the government’s promotional firing at Pipliya Mandi near Mandsaur in Madhya
programmes did not make any reference to its pre- Pradesh on the night of June 6 (see report from
election promises on the agricultural front and its failure Mandsaur on page 9). The news of the killing spread
to fulfil them. Instead, the report card sought to focus on across not only Madhya Pradesh but also several other
the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the States, where farmers launched protests to express their
near compulsory crop insurance implemented in the past solidarity with the farmers of Madhya Pradesh, to extend
two years, and the large amounts allocated for irrigation their sympathies to the families of the slain farmers, and
projects to help farmers who depend on monsoon rains. to raise their own demands.
The promotional booklet also talked about the The initial responses from the BJP leadership,
government’s ambitious rural development initiatives including Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis of
aimed at doubling farmers’ incomes in real terms by Maharashtra and Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya
guarantee that the resentment in the two States and in
the farm sector in the rest of the country will subside.
Already, farmers in Haryana have launched an agitation
demanding loan waiver. In Maharashtra, Raju Shetti,
leader of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, one of
the leading organisations in the agitation there and a
political ally of the BJP in the State, has issued a warning
that farmers will wait only until July 25 for the
government to fulfil its promise. “If the promises are not
kept, the agitation will resume with greater vigour,” he
said.
In Madhya Pradesh, too, there are signs of farmer
organisations regrouping to launch a more concerted
movement. Reports from Hoshangabad district
highlighted the suicide of two farmers who were unable
to repay the loans they had taken from private
moneylenders. This, apparently, has added to the unrest
in the State.
POLITICAL BRINKMANSHIP
Commenting on the state of play, Anupam, leader of the
Swaraj Abhiyan, an organisation that has been taking up
farmers’ issues consistently, pointed out that the
promises made by Fadnavis and Chouhan and the Union
government had not adequately addressed the
underlying short-, medium- and long-term factors that
had forced farmers to take the path of agitation. “These
leaders have been dictated by political brinkmanship
throughout, and this does not help in finding lasting
F A RM E RS C L AS H with the police solutions to farmers’ grievances. The current
at Phanda near Bhopal on June 9. announcements fall in the same bracket,” Anupam said.
This point was underlined in the course of the
PTI
developments in June. In fact, the demand for loan

waiver came up in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra
because the Prime Minister himself spearheaded this
Pradesh, were to brand the agitations as politically
motivated vandalism sponsored by the opposition
Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
They continued to insist that the farm sector was
successful under the Modi regime and that the farmers’
agitations were entirely unwarranted. So much so that
both the leaders either refused to initiate talks with
farmers’ representatives or sought to be selective about
which farmer organisation and leaders to invite for
discussions.
But none of these tactics succeeded. The
developments since June 1, including the Mandsaur
killings and the nationwide response it evoked, put the
two Chief Ministers on the back foot. Both Chouhan and
Fadnavis succumbed in different ways to the pressure
exerted by the agitation. While Fadnavis announced a
loan waiver for farmers with less than two hectares of
land, Chouhan, after launching a dramatic indefinite fast
to bring peace and calm down the agitating farmers,
VIJAY SONEJI
announced that purchasing farm produce at rates lower

than the MSP would be treated as a crime.
While these announcements led to a truce of sorts
between the agitating farmers and the government A C O N TA I N ER T R U C K transporting cars set on fire
agencies, leading to a state of relative peace, there is no by agitating farmers at Mandsaur on June 8.

brinkmanship during the campaign for the Uttar seasonal pattern, prices of vegetables also fell markedly
Pradesh Assembly elections when he promised loan from July (2016) and bottomed out in January 2017, with
waiver for farmers in the State if the BJP was elected to fire sales during the demonetisation period accentuating
power. Such was the rhetoric that Modi said the loan the fall. The seasonal uptick that typically occurs in the
waiver would be the first decision of the new Cabinet. He pre-monsoon months has been muted so far. In the fuel
also said the Union government would contribute group by contrast, inflation surged across the board.
towards the expenditure incurred by the loan waiver. The Prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene
BJP was elected to power in the State and the new rose in sympathy with international prices even as the
government, under Yogi Adityanath, was forced to live subsidy was set on a path of calibrated reduction. Fuel
up to this rhetoric and announce loan waiver. It is this used by rural households rose for the third month in
that triggered the current phase of farmers’ agitations in succession, narrowing the wedge between fuel inflation
other States. The Uttar Pradesh government is, however, facing rural and urban households.... The abrupt and
finding it difficult to implement its decision, which has significant retreat of inflation in April from the firming
resulted in growing resentment on the ground (see Uttar trajectory that was developing in February and March
Pradesh story on page 19). has raised several issues that have to be factored into the
The government’s failure to address real and concrete inflation projections. First, it needs to be assessed as to
factors relating to farmers’ distress was evident from the whether or not the unusually low momentum in the
way the movement built up in Madhya Pradesh and reading for April will endure. Second, the prices of pulses
Maharashtra. In both the States, the agitation gathered are clearly reeling under the impact of a supply glut
strength not in areas where there was crop failure but in caused by record output and imports. Policy
places where crops were abundant but farmers were interventions, including access to open trade, may be
denied remunerative prices. For instance, Madhya envisaged to arrest the slump in prices.”
Pradesh saw growth in the area under tur (arhar) dal, Clearly, the RBI highlights the enhanced arrivals in
soya bean and onion cultivation as the farmers got a good mandis and fire sales during the demonetisation period
price for these crops in the previous years. “The hype over as two major factors leading to the falling prices. But
pulses and onions last year made farmers sow these crops there are no signs of accepting or addressing this factor
in abundance, but the market crashed this year. Tur dal, even as quick-fix suggestions are bandied about in the
which was selling at around Rs.10,000 a quintal last year, name of pacifying distressed farmers.
came down to Rs.3,000 this year; onion, which was Pointing out the determined refusal or inability to
selling at Rs.40-50 a kilogram last year, did not even address comprehensively issues pertaining to the farm
fetch Rs.4-5,” said Sudheer Gupta, the BJP Member of sector, Dr Krishan Bir Chaudhary, president of the
Parliament from Mandsaur, underscoring some finer Bharatiya Krishak Samaj, told Frontline that while
details. Madhya Pradesh farmers were also aggrieved measures such as loan waiver might bring temporary
that the State government was propagating falsehoods relief to farmers in the respective States, larger policy
about the farming sector. The Shivraj Singh Chouhan initiatives were required to bring lasting stability to the
government had been claiming a 20 per cent growth in farm sector. “There is need for substantive policy
agriculture in the past five years. (The government initiatives and incentives in the sector. The single most
received the Krishi Karman award (excellence in important thrust of these initiatives and incentives
agriculture) five years in a row for this.) should be to rescue the farming sector from the
Sajjan Singh Verma, former Congress MP from predations of the corporate sector and their interests.
Dewas, said: “This was like rubbing salt into the farmers’ This predation has been marching on and on over the
wounds. On the one hand, farmers were agitated that the past two and a half decades. Governments after
crop was not fetching them the expected returns, the cost governments and political parties after political parties
of production had gone up, and the promises of loan have asserted they understand the dynamics and perils of
waiver and power and water charges waiver were not this predation, but at the level of policy and governance
materialising, and on the other the government was they have all played the facilitator role to the deprivations
patting itself for a bumper agriculture growth. This was a of these forces. The big question is whether any
tailor-made situation for a flare-up such as the one government will show the political will to take on this
witnessed in Mandsaur.” problem and thus protect the farmer and through that
The BJP Chief Minister and the rest of the party the country itself,” he said. Chaudhary is also of the view
leadership have also sought to underplay the role of the that as things stand now, there is not much hope for this
Prime Minister’s demonetisation drive in creating fundamental course correction. $
agrarian distress. On June 7, a day after the Mandsaur
killing, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released its
second bimonthly “Monetary Policy Statement” of the Datacard: Page 114
Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), indicating how the In a policy trap: Page 116
demonetisation drive had caused a state of panic in the Rallying point: Page 119
farm sector. The statement noted: “Propelled by A wake-up call: Page 123
significantly higher arrivals in mandis relative to the
CO VER ST OR Y
Mayhem in
Mandsaur
The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government remained complacent as
resentment was building up among the farmers of Madhya Pradesh over
the unremunerative prices of farm produce. Then came Mandsaur to wake
it up. B Y PURNIMA S. TRIPATHI I N M A N D S A U R
BY S P E C I AL A R RA N G E M E N T
AN OUTBURST OF INDIGNATION FROM A G IT A T IN G F A RM E R S staging “chakka jam” with

members of the farming community, who had been the body of a farmer killed in the police firing on the
loosely gathered for a protest at Pipliya Mandi near Mhow-Neemuch highway in Mandsaur district on June 7.
Mandsaur in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh on
June 6, spiralled out of control. Blood and thunder Pipliya Mandi to stage a protest. Soon they went on the
followed. rampage, forcing shops, particularly vegetable shops, to
Farmers’ resentment had been gathering strength for down shutters. The agitation quickly spread to Indore,
some weeks in the State. Distressed farmers had called Dewas, Shajapur, Sehore, Bhopal and other places in the
for a 10-day agitation from June 1 to draw the govern- State. The government was not prepared for such a
ment’s attention to their plight: abundant crops but low massive agitation. On June 5, completely unaware of the
returns. On June 6, thousands of farmers gathered at storm that was brewing, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh

P U R N IM A S . T R I PA T H I
A P R I V AT E V E H I C LE that was burnt by the farmers. tion in the State as there was no issue at all for an
agitation and that it was a conspiracy by the Congress to
Chouhan had announced, in the presence of some farm- defame the BJP government.
ers affiliated to the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, that the The farmers, based on the previous years’ experience,
farmers had called off their agitation in the State. had sown and reaped a bumper harvest of pulses, soya
The next day, angry farmers blocked the national bean, onions and wheat. But the prices crashed following
highway, torched buses and trucks, looted and set fire to a glut in the market, forcing them to hold on to huge
shops and forced the closure of markets, especially fruit stocks of the produce, which was not fetching them even
and vegetable mandis, in order to cut off supply to the a fraction of the production cost. This resulted in a
cities. The police and paramilitary forces opened fire on situation where the farmers began to dump truckloads of
the stone-throwing farmers, killing five of them instantly onions on the roads because they did not have the storage
and injuring several others. One farmer succumbed to capacity and no agency was ready to purchase the pro-
injuries three days later. What prompted the firing is a duce. Farmers became restive and demanded that the
mystery. On camera, the District Collector, S.K. Singh government declare a minimum support price for the
(who was subsequently transferred), denied giving or- produce and buy pulses, onions, soya bean and wheat
ders to open fire. The Home Minister also said no order from them at remunerative prices.
had been given to open fire. The situation in Mandsaur Resentment kept simmering. These were localised
was so volatile that the government imposed a curfew. agitations, but these did not evoke any response from the
The government tied itself up in knots explaining the government. Then one farmers’ organisation sprang out
whole situation. of the blue, held parleys with Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and
The Home Minister, who was in denial mode, admit- the Chief Minister promptly declared, on June 5, that the
ted after two days that the police had indeed opened fire. “farmers” had accepted his offer of Rs.8 for a kilogram of
The Collector and the police chief were immediately onion and decided to withdraw the stir. This infuriated
replaced and the government announced a compensa- the agitating farmers as the new outfit had not even been
tion of Rs.5 lakh each to the family of those killed in the a part of their agitation. They announced that they would
firing. It subsequently increased the compensation to intensify the agitation, and on June 6 tried to force a
Rs.10 lakh and again to Rs.1 crore. All this, however, only complete bandh. During an attempt to force the closure
added to the farmers’ angst because senior Ministers of shops at Pipliya Mandi as part of the bandh, a few
continued to maintain that farmers were not on an agita- traders beat up some farmers, who then went on the
The violence at Pipliya Mandi had its echo elsewhere
in the State. Four Volvo buses were torched on the Bho-
pal-Indore highway, arson and mayhem was witnessed
in Shajapur and Dewas, and in Sanchi an ugly situation
erupted, but the administration managed to control it.
Senior officials, who were roped in to control the
situation, admitted to Frontline that “this was big time
intelligence failure because an agitation of this scale must
have been planned elaborately, it could not have been
done overnight”. They also admitted that the Chief Min-
ister’s kid-glove treatment in the beginning worsened the
situation. “He kept saying jyada sakhti mat karo [do not
be too strict]”, a senior official told Frontline. Govern-
ment officials said the Chief Minister erred in his judge-
ment because he simply could not believe that farmers,
who are relatively well off in the Malwa region, would
actually go on the rampage.
Most of the farmers belong to the Patidar and
Dhakad communities. Hardik Patel, who had mobilised
Patidars in Gujarat successfully, has made several visits
to Madhya Pradesh in the past three months. Shiv Kumar
Sharma, who has emerged as the face of the farmers’
agitation in Madhya Pradesh, had his own reasons to be
upset with Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
He was the head of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak
Sangh-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh in the State and
had successfully organised two massive farmers’ protests,
in December 2010 and in May 2012, highlighting their
PTI
problems. However, he was removed from the post at the

behest of the Chief Minister. He now heads the Rashtriya
C H I EF M I N IS T E R S H I V RA J S I N G H C H O U H AN with Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh, which is mobilising farmers
the family of a farmer who was killed in the police firing across the country. Since these activities were taking
at Pipliya Mandi on June 14. place over a period of time, Shivraj Singh Chouhan
should have been more alert, but he was complacent in
rampage. They started throwing stones, looted and burnt his belief that he was popular with farmers, being a
passing trucks and buses and almost lynched a jawan of farmer himself.
the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) forcing his Like everywhere else in the country, farmers in Mad-
colleague to open fire, in which a farmer was killed. When hya Pradesh are in distress. Not getting remunerative
the news of the death spread, farmers gathered near the prices is their biggest complaint. According to senior
Pipliya Mandi police station in protest. Soon things star- government officials, demonetisation has had a cascad-
ted getting out of control and the police opened fire ing effect on the farm sector because rural banks do not
killing four farmers. have enough cash and even if farmers sell their produce
Six farmers, who were wounded in the firing, were through the government machinery, their payment is
taken to MY Hospital in Indore. Dashrath Gayri, a received in the form of cheques, which take days or
farmer from Jalodia village in Mandsaur, told Frontline months to be encashed. Compensation for crop loss is not
that farmers resorted to stone throwing, and chaos pre- paid in cash. Officials admit that these factors do add up
vailed as the police lathi-charged and beat them up. He to the farmers’ distress and cause resentment to build up.
said the police firing began without a warning. Although BJP leaders are at pains to prove that the
When this correspondent visited Mandsaur, there Congress was behind the unrest in view of the Assembly
were telltale signs of a violent agitation. Trucks carrying elections next year, the Congress had a minimal role in
cars and bikes and heavy machinery lay gutted along a the Mandsaur agitation and only tried to gain some
two-kilometre stretch on the Mandsaur-Neemuch high- media visibility and make some political capital out of the
way. There were at least 16 trucks, some of which were situation. Party vice president Rahul Gandhi’s sudden
still smouldering, and flames could be seen leaping out of burst of energy during his visit to Mandsaur was more of
them. Even private cars were not spared. “They were a knee-jerk reaction.
simply torching everything that came in their way,” said The Mandsaur violence is simply an outcome of the
Lalchandra Saini, a dhaba owner on the highway, who mismanagement by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan govern-
was witness to the violence. His shop, too, was damaged ment. In his bewilderment, the Chief Minister took resort
by the rampaging crowd. to a fast and an emotional appeal to the farmers. $

CO VER ST OR Y
Bumper problem
With low market prices and little help from the government,
Rajasthan’s farmers, especially garlic producers, are in a financial mess
in a good crop year. B Y T.K. RAJALAKSHMI I N K O T A
T. K . R A J A L AK S H M I
GARLI C CR OP S T A CKE D UP at a farmer’s house in Kota.

RUMBLINGS OF DISCONTENT WERE PALPABLE port price,” a bystander told the agitating farmers. “Kisan
in Kishanpura Takia in Kota district, Rajasthan. The ko Bhagat Singh banna padega, [the farmer will have to
village, with a population of 5,000, was holding on to its become like Bhagat Singh]. It’s a do or die situation,”
harvested garlic crop, refusing to take it to the mandi. observed Radheyshyam Paralia of the Kisan Sangharsh
Eighty per cent of the households had cultivated garlic, Samiti.
and stacks of garlic bulbs were stored in every house. The Duli Chand Meena, AIKS State vice president, told
farmers refused to accept the minimum intervention Frontline that the situation was grim, more so because
price of Rs.3,200 a quintal announced by the State gov- the governments in the State and at the Centre were in
ernment on June 14. They said they would not settle for denial. For the past four years, the soya bean crop had not
anything less than Rs.4,000 a quintal. They argued that taken off as it was stricken by pestilence, fungal infec-
the government offered Rs.3,200 for the best-quality tions and climatic changes. Hailstorms in 2014 affected
garlic and that not all of the produce would be bought at both kharif and rabi sowing. Meena said at least 60
that rate. Last year, one quintal of garlic fetched farmer deaths in Hadothi (comprising the districts of
Rs.8,000. One farmer, Suresh Chand, told Frontline that Kota, Jhalawar, Bundi and Baran) could be attributed to
they would hold on to the produce until November, crop failure and low remunerative prices. The govern-
hoping to get a better rate. “After that, the crop will begin ment was yet to give any compensation in all these cases.
to sprout and it will be of no use for us or the consumer,”
he said. The farmers said they were not keen on deploying GLOBAL AGRI-TECH MEET
labour to clean the garlic as that would mean an addi- After Sri Ganganagar district, Kota has the second
tional cost. They would hold on to the crop until the largest area under irrigation, coming as it does under the
government declared a price that covered the cost of Chambal Command Area. Like soya bean, the coriander
production. crop in this region, which accounts for 65 per cent of the
Anger had been growing as the government refused country’s output, also succumbed to pests. Garlic, an
to intervene when prices crashed owing to a glut in the export crop that is highly perishable, had been sown in
market. The Agriculture Minister had reportedly taunted nearly 1,38,000 hectares and farmers depended entirely
farmers by saying that he had not asked them to bring on the market price for returns. The crop, farmers said,
huge swathes of land under garlic cultivation. Incident- was neither superior in quality nor pest-resilient like the
ally, garlic farmers had taken their crop to the Pipliya garlic imported from China. “There is no competition
Agricultural Produce Marketing Centre at Mandsaur in either in productivity or quantity. Despite the region
Madhya Pradesh, the epicentre of farmers’ unrest in that being a garlic-producing area, no research and develop-
State. The other markets they approached were ment of any kind, including seed development projects to
Neemuch (also in Madhya Pradesh) and Kota. Last year, boost quality and productivity, has been undertaken,”
one kilogram of garlic fetched Rs.105 at the Neemuch said Duli Chand. There were no storage facilities either.
Agricultural Marketing Centre. This year, the Neemuch It was an irony that in May, the district played host to the
market offered Rs.40 for 1 kg of the crop. global Rajasthan agri-tech meet to discuss best agricul-
“If the government is interested in defusing the farm- tural practices.
ers’ anger, it must give a proper price for the garlic crop,” There is a huge potential for agro-processing in Kota.
cultivators of Kota district, who were on an indefinite Duli Chand said the government could set up units to
protest, said. They had gathered under the aegis of the All produce garlic paste and garlic powder for domestic and
India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and the Kisan Sangharsh export markets. He said more than 60 per cent of the
Samiti, a broad coalition of farmer and peasant organisa- garlic produced was lying unsold with the producers.
tions. The banners at the venue of the agitation showed “The minimum intervention price of Rs.3,200 a quintal
that it was not just loan waiver but issues such as crop offered by the government was merely to assuage the
price and forcible land acquisition that were agitating the farmers; the government was planning to procure only
farmers. The new notification on cattle trade was an 10,000 tonnes of the 10 lakh tonnes produced, that is 1
additional sore point. per cent of the total produce,” he said. The bulk of the
harvested garlic was of middle-level quality. High-qual-
SPILLOVER EFFECT ity garlic could not be produced as the seeds were not of
The police firing on farmers in Mandsaur had its spillover high quality and there were no extension services.
effect in Rajasthan. The issues confronting farmers in
Rajasthan were not dissimilar. So, the solidarity they DISTRESS SELLING
expressed with their counterparts in Madhya Pradesh It was not only the garlic crop that was causing angst
was not a contrived response. In fact, all farmers’ organ- among farmers. The minimum support price (MSP) for
isations in Rajasthan, cutting across political affiliations, wheat was Rs.1,625 a quintal but commission agents
declared their support to the agitating farmers in the gave farmers only Rs.1,400 a quintal. The price offered
neighbouring State. In Kota district, three organisations, for coriander was Rs.3,000 a quintal compared with
broadly affiliated to three political streams, declared Rs.7,000 a quintal in 2016; fenugreek (methi), which
their intent to take on the State government. fetched Rs.7,000 a quintal last year, was sold at Rs.2,200
“Ask for cost of production price, not minimum sup- this year; chana dal, which was purchased at Rs.10,000 a

T . K. R AJA L AKSHM I
FARMER S I N KOTA getting ready for an indefinite protest on June 12.
quintal last year, fetched only Rs.4,000. Amra Ram, sion revises the pay scales of government employees
president of the AIKS, said mustard and groundnut, too, regularly. Why does the recommendation of the only
were purchased at much below the MSP despite the commission set up for farmers get ignored?” a farmer
Minister of State for Finance, Arjun Meghwal, announ- asked. Farmers say agriculture is an “udyog” (industry)
cing that the government would buy groundnut at MSP and they ought to be given social security benefit like
rates. “When Uttar Pradesh could announce loan waiver, pensions.
why not the other States?” asked Amra Ram. He said all
the 25 Members of Parliament from Rajasthan belonged MSP REQUIRED, NOT LOAN WAIVER
to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but not one of them Farmers have huge debts and not all their loans are from
had spoken in favour of farmers. cooperative banks. The loan limits are low in cooperative
Harish Chandra, a cultivator, told Frontline that his banks and not all banks extend loans to the maximum
onion crop matured in May, but he opted for distress sale limit of Rs.1.5 lakh. The mismatch between the loan
as the price offered was low. He threw away a substantial repayment period and the harvesting period is another
quantity of the unsold crop. “In 2015, I got Rs.60 a kg; reason for loan defaults. All loans have to be cleared by
this year, it was Rs.3 a kg. Traders have storage facilities September and March while crops are sold in the mar-
so urban consumers like you pay three times what we get kets in January and June. More importantly, farmers
for our crop,” he said. The government does not offer take loans from various sources, even from commission
storage facilities for onions. agents. “They take loans from fertilizer suppliers, pesti-
“Farmers should decide the price of their produce, cide suppliers, commission agents, and cooperative
not politicians,” a farmer protesting in Kota said. There banks. The majority of the loan goes for pesticides,” said
were complaints that farmers had been compelled to buy Duli Chand. The figures of indebtedness covered only the
fertilizers from private agencies owing to the unavailabil- banks and cooperative societies, not the other sources
ity of fertilizer supplies with cooperative societies. Imple- from where loans were sourced. The demand for loan
mentation of the recommendations of the National waivers, while important, comes from a limited area.
Commission on Farmers chaired by Dr M.S. Swam- Guaranteeing an MSP is more important than loan
inathan, relating to a pricing and procurement policy waivers for most farmers.
[that the MSP should be 50 per cent more than the The crisis is not over yet. Farmers are expecting a
weighted cost of production], has become a common bumper pulse crop this year and are apprehensive that
demand in every farmer homestead. “The Pay Commis- another round of distress selling will follow. $
CO VE R ST OR Y
United action
Maharashtra farmers drive a hard bargain, forcing the Devendra Fadnavis
government to concede their demand for farm loan waiver. B Y LYLA BAVADAM
PTI
NOT SINCE THE SHETKARI SANGHATANA’S F A RM E R S T H R O WI NG vegetables on a road in

agitation in 1982 for remunerative prices for primary Nagpur during a protest as part of the Maharashtra bandh
milk producers in Maharashtra has there been a united on June 5.
farmers’ action on the scale that the State witnessed in
early June. So when the Devendra Fadnavis government 78 per cent of the farming community. These small and
conceded the farmers’ demand for a waiver of farm loans marginal farmers practise rain-fed agriculture since the
on June 11, it was a vindication of their just demands. majority of the irrigated land in Maharashtra is owned by
Numbering about 1.37 crore, farmers are possibly the big and corporate farmers. Already caught in a debt trap,
largest single group of toilers in Maharashtra and yet these farmers are unable to borrow from cooperative
they have none of the clout that would normally be societies as the cooperative banks that lend money to
associated with such numbers. Instead, they are among these societies are bankrupt, the political powers that
groups that are the most invisible and thus the most control them having siphoned off the money.
exploited by the state. The worst affected are those who Although small farmers are eligible for crop loans,
own less than two hectares of land; they constitute about they do not get loans for agricultural infrastructure. One

‘Systemic political change needed
for systemic agrarian change’
Interview with Ashok Dhawale, joint a mandatory buying guarantee like the old cotton
monopoly scheme?
secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha.
You are absolutely right. The Narendra Modi gov-
BY L Y L A B A V A D A M ernment came to power in 2014 on the promise that it
would implement the Swaminathan Report. It has not
THE Devendra Fadnavis government’s first reaction to kept that promise.
the largely spontaneous farmers’ strike in Maharashtra Implementation of the report is the responsibility of
was casual. But escalating events such as the rasta roko the Central government. The AIKS has begun efforts to
and the dumping of produce and milk on the roads, the bring together all farmers’ organisations throughout
June 5 Maharashtra bandh, the June the country to build a powerful move-
6 killing of farmers in police firing at ment for the implementation of the
Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh, and Swaminathan Report, which has other
the June 8 Nashik convention where a excellent recommendations besides
decision to stage a rail roko agitation the key issues of remunerative prices
on June 13 was made, all played a part and a buying guarantee.
in forcing the government to view the
matter seriously. Some observers say loan waivers are
After an initial attempt, Fadnavis BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT not a long-term solution.
left the negotiations to a group of Min- In the present situation of deep
isters headed by Revenue Minister agrarian crisis, when nearly four lakh
Chandrakant Patil. The team negoti- debt-ridden farmers have committed
ated with a 35-member core commit- suicide in the past 25 years since the
tee consisting of representatives from advent of neoliberal policies, loan
farmers’ organisations. waivers will certainly provide the
On June 11, Patil took aside six much-needed relief to the peasants.
members of the core committee to have a heart-to-heart
talk to resolve the crisis that began on June 1. Dr Ashok How did the tide turn in favour of farmers at the
Dhawale, joint secretary, All India Kisan Sabha, was meeting with Ministers?
one of the six. In an interview to Frontline, he spoke The reasons for this were as follows. The June 3
about the inner workings that helped resolve the crisis announcements were rejected by the peasantry and the
and what the way forward should be. Excerpts: strike continued. The June 5 Maharashtra bandh, in
support of the just demands of the farmers, was a
This has been a successful strike. How seriously do smashing success and an eye-opener. The June 6 brutal
you think the government will take farmers’ issues police firing in Mandsaur was a grave warning of the
now? shape of things to come. The farmers’ unity and their
Yes, it has been an unprecedented 11-day strike by fighting spirit were on display at the joint State conven-
the peasants of Maharashtra. And the outcome of it in tion at Nashik on June 8, and the State-wide rail roko
the form of a farm loan waiver and an increase in milk and rasta roko call for June 13 given at that convention
price has been historic. All the credit must go to the unnerved the government.
united struggle of farmers of the State. As we can see,
the struggle for a loan waiver and for remunerative Farmers have received support from the Swadeshi
prices is spreading to other States. The government will Jagran Manch (SJM) and the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh
be forced to take farmers’ issues seriously as a result of (BKS). What does it say about the Bharatiya Janata
this experience. However, it is not the State but the Party (BJP) government, two of whose affiliates are
Central government that decides the minimum support against its policies?
price [MSP] for various crops. So the State body will The BJP-Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh combine
have only a limited role. is notorious for its forked tongue, with its different
organisations speaking in different voices.
What is the plan of action to have the Swaminathan The so-called support to farmers by the SJM and the
Commission Report implemented? Should there not be BKS falls in this category. We need not read too much

farmer summed up their plight thus: the bank would
into this. At crucial junctures, they always fall in refuse to provide a loan to dig a well because there is no
line with the dictates of their parent body. guarantee that it can reclaim the well, whereas it would
give a loan to buy a motorcycle.
How easy will it be for farmers to get new credit The economist and former State Planning Commis-
since cooperative banks are in the doldrums? sion member Professor H.N. Desarda said: “There is a
The government should make determined ef- subterfuge here. To be eligible to borrow you have to pay
forts at all levels to revive the cooperative banks and back, but obviously the farmer cannot pay back. So he
get them out of the doldrums. The banks and the borrows from moneylenders so as to be eligible to get
Central and State governments must enhance the bank loans.”
quantum of rural credit substantially. The present In the past few years, there seems to have been some
scandalous situation, where a large part of rural attempt to assist the farmers. The Congress Chief Minis-
credit is cornered by the corporates and the rich, ter Prithviraj Chavan had suggested smaller check dams
must be reversed. Poor and medium farmers must and wells to manage and use water resources locally and
be given priority in bank and institutional credit so to raise groundwater levels. Digging of wells gave the
that they are not pushed into the arms of rapacious work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Em-
moneylenders, as is the case now. ployment Guarantee Act a boost. The plan was good on
paper but did not work well. Chavan’s term was beset
Should cooperative land mortgaging banks not be with problems of a coalition government. The Congress
revived so that loans are given for agricultural was defeated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the
infrastructure too? 2014 Assembly elections.
Yes, their revival is necessary. During the election campaign, Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi promised to implement a minimum support
The agrarian crisis is a complex situation. The price (MSP) for farm produce, but when Fadnavis took
appearance of a solution can be quite different over as Chief Minister he did not honour the promise and
from the reality that farmers face. What are the instead launched the Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyaan, a promise
fundamental and systemic changes that are to make Maharashtra drought-free by 2019. The scheme
required for a long-term revival of the agriculture was not different from Chavan’s plan (which in itself was
sector? a mere reiteration of what farmers had been doing for
That is a cardinal question. First, it is clear that generations). Fadnavis used film stars to add appeal to
the present agrarian crisis has been aggravated by his water project.
the neoliberal policies. Peasants, agricultural work- Fadnavis has tried to tackle the farmers’ issue in the
ers, the working class, the middle class have all been way he knows best, that is, politically. After the elections,
adversely affected by these policies. These policies he coopted the Swabhiman Shetkari Sanghatana, a
need to be dumped and an alternative trajectory of powerful farmers’ organisation, by appointing one of its
development needs to be put in place. Second, in all leaders, Sadabhau Khot, as Minister of State for Agricul-
agrarian policymaking on vital issues such as in- ture, Horticulture and Marketing. But it did not take long
puts, prices, credit, employment, food security, ir- for the ground realities to unmask the political moves.
rigation, power, crop insurance, markets, Trouble started brewing in 2016 with the government’s
cooperatives, infrastructure and social security, the policy flip-flops on onion exports and its failure to set a
best interests of the millions of toiling farmers and reasonable MSP for soya bean. This was followed by
agricultural workers must be clearly made the focal demonetisation, which destroyed all possibilities of con-
point, not the best interests of corporates, landlords siderable profits a good harvest would have brought.
and the urban and rural rich. Third, the land issue The real trigger was, of course, the government’s
must be squarely addressed. unwillingness to set an MSP for tur (arhar) dal (see
Unjust and unnecessary land acquisition from Frontline, March 26, 2017). Farmers saw this as the
farmers for the corporates must be stopped. The ultimate betrayal. The bumper harvest was a blessing
Forest Rights Act must be implemented stringently after two years of agricultural drought. In the previous
as has been done by the Left Front government of season, tur dal growers were given higher support price
Tripura. The vital question of land reforms must be because of a scarcity, and this had encouraged them to
brought back on the agenda. But all this requires expand the area under tur cultivation. The bumper
political will, which the ruling classes can never pulses crop and the government’s inability to buy much
summon owing to their very class nature. of the yield led to a crash in prices. Farmers were forced to
Hence, while united struggles for winning the sell their produce at Rs.2,500 a quintal when they had
demands of the peasantry must be intensified now been promised Rs.5,050 a quintal. Although procure-
and in the future, in the long run, it is only a ment began, it was so slow that about 1,000 quintals are
systemic political change that can ensure a systemic yet to be paid for despite farmers holding the tokens that
agrarian change. are issued as proof of purchase.
The farmers launched a full-fledged State-wide

VIVEK BENDRE
protest on June 1. They gave the government adequate A T A MA R K E T yard at Niphad near Nashik on June 9.
notice, but Fadnavis seemed to rely on politicking rather Traders were unable to dispatch onion to other States
than understanding and resolving the situation, thereby during the agitation.
displaying his naivete, like many in the BJP, on rural
matters. A source, who requested anonymity, said Fad- police cases against activists and farmers, except those
navis’ “lack of knowledge in these matters is embarrass- who indulged in looting, were withdrawn immediately.
ing… he is like a boy in a school debate”. Further discussions would be carried out by a 10- or
The Chief Minister had not banked on the opposition 12-member committee, consisting equally of farmers’
rallying around and joining the protest or on the vocifer- representatives and government officials. The govern-
ous support of the BJP’s alliance partner, the Shiv Sena, ment, however, deflected the main issue of implementing
to the agitating farmers. In any case, both were politically the Swaminathan Commission report by saying that the
motivated moves. The previous Congress-Nationalist Centre had to take a decision on it.
Congress Party government shied away from implement- Fadnavis, however, promised to lead a delegation to
ing the reports submitted by the National Commission the Centre to argue for the implementation of the reports.
on Farmers chaired by M.S. Swaminathan between 2004 The farmers set July 26, two days after the start of the
and 2006. monsoon session of the Assembly, as the deadline to
In his initial dealings with farmers, Fadnavis had said implement the promises, failing which they would re-
that the State could not afford to waive loans. But, his sume the protest.
government has pledged to install a statue of Chhatrapati While the points above are crucial, hard-headed bar-
Shivaji at a cost of Rs.3,600 crore in the sea, not wanting gaining is needed to make systemic changes such as
to offend the powerful Maratha lobby. True, there is a adding a buying guarantee clause to bolster the Swam-
huge difference between Rs.3,600 crore and the inathan Commission report, reviving land mortgage
Rs.31,000-crore debt of small and medium farmers, but banks since they provided loans for agricultural infra-
the question of principle in this cannot be dismissed. structure, modernising irrigation techniques, and res-
Desarda pointed out that the Centre was willing to write cuing the cooperative system from politicians.
off a likely Rs.4 lakh crore debt of the telecom sector, but Desarda said: “It is not kaarj maafi [debt waiver] but
farmers, who are not organised in the political sense, kaarj mukti [freedom from debt] that is required.” For
were sidelined. this, he suggested remunerative prices for produce linked
The main victories the agitating farmers achieved to guaranteed purchase by the government, minimum
were an immediate blanket loan waiver for those owing wages for agricultural labour, and reintroduction of the
less than two hectares, with the option of immediately Employment Guarantee Scheme as a notional guarantee.
applying for a fresh loan. Milk sellers would get 70 per “It should be like the fire brigade; ideally there should be
cent of the selling price. They now get only Rs.20 a litre, no fire but if it occurs there should be someone to put it
while milk is sold to the consumer at Rs.50-60 a litre. All out,” he said. $
CO VER ST OR Y
Scheme sans substance

The Yogi Adityanath government’s waiver plan, constrained by resource
crunch, is a non-starter. B Y VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN
THERE IS LITTLE DOUBT THAT ONE OF THE ation. To start with, the waiver was confined to crop loans
triggers of the farmers’ agitation across India in May and up to Rs.1 lakh that small and marginal farmers sourced
June was the decision of waiver of farm loans by the Yogi from banks in the financial year 2015-16 to procure seeds,
Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) govern- fertilizer and pesticides. Second, only outstanding farm
ment in Uttar Pradesh at its very first Cabinet meeting on loans until March 31, 2016, are being waived. The im-
April 4. The Chief Minister claimed that his government pression that the BJP leadership, including Prime Minis-
was fulfilling the promise made by the BJP during the ter Narendra Modi, gave during the campaign for the
election campaign. Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, was that there would
“If Uttar Pradesh can do it, why not our government”, be a comprehensive waiver of agricultural loans. There
was the refrain that came up, almost immediately, from was no reference to confining the scheme to a particular
farming communities in other parts of the country. The section of the farming community. The tweaking, both in
refrain gathered momentum in the next one month and terms of the category and the time frame, has certainly
culminated in intense agitations in Madhya Pradesh and not gone down well with large sections of the farming
Maharashtra and relatively lesser shows of resentment community.
by farmers in Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. Following Fateh Singh Bhatti, a farmer based in Harnauti vil-
this, the BJP governments in Madhya Pradesh and Ma- lage of Sikandrabad area in Bulundshahar district of
harashtra announced waivers. But, even as these devel- western Uttar Pradesh, called the scheme “downright
opments were taking place, the farmers of Uttar Pradesh, chicanery concocted by vile administrative and political
the first beneficiaries of the farm loan waiver of 2017, barons”. Bhatti was more annoyed with the time frame
debunked the government’s announcement with varied set for loan waiver than with the classification restricting
epithets such as “sleight of hand”, “treachery” and “down- it to small and marginal farmers. The farmer, who has
right chicanery”. been cultivating both grains and vegetables for a long
Responses to the scheme obtained from different time, pointed out that the time frame had been set in such
parts of the State, including the agriculture-intensive a manner as to exclude a large number of debt-ridden
western Uttar Pradesh, almost unanimously reflected farmers from the scheme.
this sense of indignation. Bhatti said: “Crop loans in Uttar Pradesh are of two
The farmers are rankled by several aspects of the categories. One category is loans disbursed by banks for a
waiver scheme, including its conception and implement- nine-month term at an interest rate of 3 per cent. If you
A FA R MER S PR A YING
pesticides in his potato field in
Moradabad district of western
Uttar Pradesh.
R . V . MO O RT H Y

do not repay them in nine months the in- because the Prime Minister himself
terest jumps to 9 per cent. Obviously, loans was involved in propping the loan
of a longer term and higher interest of 9 per waiver idea in the campaign. But after
V E N K IT E S H R A M A K R I S H N AN
cent is not preferred by farmers. So, the Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh fol-
normal practice among small and marginal lowed suit with the scheme and the
farmers is to opt for the nine-month loan emphatic statement of Finance Minis-
and somehow repay, even taking personal ter Arun Jaitley that State govern-
loans at usurious rates, before the cut-off ments will have to find their own
period. Of course, they would take yet an- funds, Uttar Pradesh is practically in a
other loan later, for the next nine months. quandary.” While a plan and budget
Normally, nearly 90 per cent of the farmers F AT E H S I N G H B H A T TI , for the loan waiver is yet to be drawn up
take the loans in May and June, before the a farmer based in Harnauti formally, initial estimates are that the
sowing of the kharif crop in July. In Febru- village in Bulundshahar. schemes would cost the State ex-
ary and early March, the farmer gets some chequer Rs.30,729 crore. Writing off
money from the rabi harvest and he makes it a point to non-performing assets (NPA) accumulated by commer-
repay the loan taken the previous year. So, honest farm- cial and cooperative banks in the agriculture sector
ers who want to sustain their vocation in the long term would add Rs.5,630 crore to the expenditure. So, the total
take these short-term loans, repay them and take loans amount to be spent on this count would be Rs.36,359
again. Only habitual defaulters would be found to be crore.
having an outstanding loan in March. Evidently, this The Uttar Pradesh government plans to float a farm-
scheme has been devised by a devious brain that knows ers’ relief bond corresponding to the composite farm loan
about this behaviour pattern of farmers. In my estimate, waiver amount to generate funds for the scheme. Offi-
only four or five hand-picked farmers in each block will cials admit that the scheme, if implemented properly,
benefit from the waiver scheme and scores of needy will would benefit only one-fourth of the small and marginal
be left out. No doubt, they are playing games with honest farmers of the State. Government and bank records show
farmers while promoting defaulters and a culture of loan that as on March 31, 2017, the total agricultural loan
defaults.” outstanding in Uttar Pradesh was Rs.1,30,000 crore. In
Pravesh Sharma, a sugarcane grower from Bhainswal March 2016 it stood at Rs.1,21,000 crore. Since the base
in Shamli district, pointed out that though the scheme figure is accounted for as it existed in 2016, the proposed
was announced in early April, no initiatives were taken by scheme involving Rs.30,729 crore would meet approx-
the administration or the banks to implement it. “Who imately 25 per cent of the total outstanding agricultural
knows when they are going to make a concrete move in loan of Rs.1,21,000 crore accrued in 2015-16.
this direction? If the track record of payment of arrears to In terms of population, the proposed scheme is to
sugarcane farmers is any indication, it is bound to be a benefit about 86 lakh of the estimated 2.15 crore small
long-drawn process. and marginal farmers of Uttar Pradesh. The total num-
Suresh Kumar Rana, Minister for Sugarcane Devel- ber of farmers in the State is estimated to be 2.3 crores.
opment, who hails from Shamli, has been claiming that Apart from this, the proposed scheme will involve writing
the payment for sugarcane farmers has touched record off the agricultural sector NPAs of about seven lakh
highs under this government, but the fact of the matter is farmers. Thus, the total number of beneficiaries under
that we are still being paid arrears from January and the scheme would be approximately 43 per cent of the
February. If this is what they call record, you can imagine small and marginal farmers of the State. Naturally farm-
how this government will function in the normal course.” ers like Bhatti are angry.
Sharma did not hide his disappointment with the way in “You have devised the scheme to deliberately leave
which the Adityanath government was going about ful- out 57 per cent of the small and marginalised farmers. So
filling its tasks and responsibilities. you claim that you have fulfilled your election promise
though the majority will get no benefit even if that the
ABSENCE OF RESOURCES project is implemented in a foolproof manner,” Bhatti
Large sections of the bureaucracy Frontline interacted said, adding that Uttar Pradesh may well see the emer-
with pointed out that while it was indeed the duty of the gence of Mandsaur-like situations, since the hope gener-
official machinery to facilitate the fulfilment of the ruling ated by the loan waiver announcement was fast
party’s election promises, its government cannot conjure crumbling even as the farmer was getting a price that was
up resources for it at will. Officials of the Departments of far from fair for his produce.
Finance and Agriculture said that resource generation “The Adityanath government is fortunate in that
for this purpose had become even more cumbersome there are no spirited farmers’ organisations with militant
following the decision of Maharashtra and Madhya Pra- leadership in the State like in Maharashtra and Madhya
desh to announce loan waivers. Pradesh. The existing organisations lack credibility and
A senior Finance Ministry official in Lucknow told tenacity. But the sense of hurt that thousands of farmers
Frontline: “Earlier, there was hope, albeit faint, that the in Uttar Pradesh feel will not subside for long,” Bhatti
Centre would help out with some allocation, especially stated in a tone of finality. $
CO VER ST OR Y
Diminishing
returns
Farmers’ organisations in Punjab and Haryana are determined
to continue their agitation. B Y T.K. RAJALAKSHMI
THE ANGER OVER THE KILLING OF SIX their personnel to keep an eye on “solidarity protests” in
farmers in Mandsaur by the Madhya Pradesh Police had the State. The communique dated June 9, which is avail-
its resonance in Punjab and Haryana. Various farmer able with Frontline, contained names and numbers of
and peasant organisations held peaceful protests to ex- farmers’ leaders and their organisations, who as per the
press their solidarity with the farmers of Madhya Pra- Intelligence Department had the “potential to create
desh and also highlight their long-pending demands. violence” in the State.
Apprehensive of a Mandsaur-like situation, intelligence The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) in both Haryana
agencies in Haryana circulated a communique among and Punjab and other farmers’ organisations such as the
P TI
FARMER S B LOCK the national highway in Ambala, Haryana, on June 16, during a protest against the police firing on
agitating farmers at Mandsaur.

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), perceived sometimes as
representing big landed interests, organised and led
protests in both the States and submitted memoranda
with a list of demands. The issues ranged from loan
waiver to timely procurement and purchase by state
agencies of food and cash crops at minimum support
price (MSP) rates or wherever applicable, market inter-
vention scheme rates, implementation of the recom-
mendations of the M.S. Swaminathan Commission on
crop pricing, the consequences of the ban on cattle trade
imposed by the recent Central government notification
and harassment of farmers by self-styled cow vigilantes.
Farmer representatives Frontline spoke to in Haryana
and Punjab said the protests against the ban on cattle
trade would pick up in the coming months as farmers
were agitated with the government notification.
“The issues faced by farmers across the country are
the same. For the past three years, farmers have had a
tough time. It is the commonality and gravity of the
issues that has compelled opposition parties to take them
up,” Inderjit Singh, vice president of the Haryana unit of
the AIKS, told Frontline.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in
Haryana was particularly unresponsive to farmers’ is-
sues, it was felt. The agitation for reservation by a section
of the Jat community in 2016-17 was a reflection of the
agrarian and unemployment crisis in the State. On
March 8, farmer and peasant organisations with broad
Left affiliation organised a rally in Chandigarh and re-
quested an appointment with Chief Minister Manohar
Lal Khattar. Inderjit Singh said a representative of the
Chief Minister announced at the rally that an appoint-
ment would be arranged. But it never happened.
Although an MSP was fixed for several crops, farmers
were forced to sell their produce at lower rates. For
instance, while the MSP for mustard was Rs.3,700 a
quintal, farmers sold it at Rs.3,300-Rs.3,400. The MSP ture. Cotton prices, for instance, used to be Rs.7,000 a
for bajra, a coarse grain, was fixed at Rs.1,260 a quintal, quintal 15 years ago. The rates have remained un-
but it was purchased by agencies at Rs.1,100. Delays in changed. For some varieties of paddy, no MSP has been
purchase and the multiple conditions placed by the pur- declared. The rates are decided by grain trader cartels.
chasing agencies were some of the reasons for farmers For a certain variety of Basmati rice, for which the con-
selling below the MSP. From the farmers’ point of view, it sumer pays Rs.100 a kilogram (Rs.10,000 a quintal), the
amounted to distress sale as they could not keep the crop farmer receives Rs.1,500-Rs.2,000 a quintal.
for long. The lack of storage facilities and the absence of There are other issues, too. With the National Demo-
procurement by state agencies compelled farmers to ac- cratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre unable
cept whatever rate private commission agents offered; to get the amendments to the Land Acquisition Rehabil-
the rates invariably failed to cover the production cost. itation and Resettlement Act, 2013, passed in Parlia-
On the other hand, the consumer was charged three or ment, the BJP government in Haryana created
four times the rate offered to the farmer. “e-Bhoomi portals” to encourage voluntary sale of land by
High costs of fertilizer, diesel and pesticides had farmers for government projects developed by the Hary-
pushed farmers across the two States into high indebted- ana State Industrial Development Corporation. The os-
ness. At a macro level, the conversion of agricultural land tensible objective of the portal was to prevent distress
for non-agricultural purposes rendered several families sale of land and also to enable hassle-free sale of land by
landless and reduced farm productivity. “The govern- landowners.
ment has been encouraging distress sale of land and it is The biggest scam was the much-touted Pradhan
solely responsible for farmers losing interest in agricul- Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the crop insurance
ture,” said Inderjit Singh. scheme launched by the NDA government. “It should be
Non-remunerative prices for crops are among the called the Pradhan Mantri Farmer Barbadi Yojana,” said
major reasons for the growing lack of interest in agricul- Inderjit Singh. There was a huge gap between the money
take the task. The government responded by imposing
the Essential Services Maintenance Act to ensure deliv-
ery of services.
In Punjab, the spate of farmer suicides, which began
in 2010, has continued unabated. Indebtedness has been
one of the primary reasons for farmer suicides. Suicides
and indebtedness were the main issues in the recent
Assembly elections. During the campaign for the Febru-
ary/March Assembly elections, the Congress promised to
waive farm loans. After coming to power, the party con-
stituted a committee of experts headed by D.T. Haque,
former Chairperson of the Commission for Agricultural
Costs and Prices (CACP), to assess the total debt and to
suggest mechanisms for loan waiver, as promised in its
election manifesto. The committee, which was consti-
tuted on April 16, was to have submitted its report in two
months. Farmers’ organisations have been reminding
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh of his electoral promise.
However, it is well known that State governments do not
have the resources to waive loans. Yet, what is more
important than loan waiver is that farmers get their due
for their crops.
Sukhwinder Sekhon, general secretary of the Punjab
unit of the AIKS, told Frontline that 70 farmers had
committed suicide in the first half of this year. Most of
these deaths occurred in the Malwa belt comprising the
districts south of the Sutlej and constituting 69 Assembly
constituencies. A condolence resolution for the deceased
farmers was moved in the Assembly, which was an offi-
cial acknowledgement of the crisis.
A K H I LE S H K U M A R
Despite the grim situation, the purchase price quoted

for the crops was much below the MSP. For instance, the
MSP for sunflower seeds (for the production of sunflower
oil) was fixed at Rs.3,950 a quintal but the farmers
received Rs.2,700 a quintal from the traders. Likewise,
the MSP for maize, which was Rs.1,240 a quintal, was
P U N J A B F A R M E R S , led by the BKU and other farmer procured by traders in the range of Rs.800-900 a quintal.
organisations, holding a demonstration in Patiala as part Punjab farmers are demanding a hike in the current limit
of a Statewide protest on June 12. on crop loans by government agencies. The Amarinder
Singh government had promised that agricultural lands
collected as premium and the amounts disbursed to- of farmers who did not repay their loans would not be
wards claims. Figures tabled in Parliament revealed that auctioned, but Sekhon said the government should en-
while the premium collected by insurance companies in sure that these farmers were not denied loans in the
2016-17 was Rs.21,500 crore, what was disbursed was future.
only Rs.714.14 crore, which was 3.31 per cent of the total He expressed concern over a concerted campaign by
premium collected. In Haryana, three private insurance some sections that the groundwater was depleted owing
companies were given the responsibility of collecting to its overexploitation for agriculture. He said it was
premium. One of the demands of the AIKS is that industrial units that had depleted and polluted ground-
premium be collected by State insurance agencies and water to dangerous levels. None of the dyeing units and
that it be voluntary. It has been left to the States to other industries that used water has installed water treat-
implement the PMFBY. Interestingly, the scheme is not ment plants. The units release the effluents to the ground
applicable in Punjab. thereby contaminating the groundwater. “We have been
In September last year, officials of the Haryana Agri- told to undertake crop diversification. But the MSP has
cultural and Farmers’ Welfare Department, who had not been fixed for the diversified crops,” Sekhon said.
been instructed to undertake a crop damage assessment As in Haryana and Rajasthan, farmer organisations
or crop cutting experiment as part of the PMFBY, went of various hues in Punjab are determined to raise their
on a strike saying that it was not their responsibility but concerns in the coming months. The police firing on
that of private agencies. They also cited manpower short- farmers at Mandsaur has provided the impetus for a
age and lack of resource as reasons for refusing to under- renewed agitation. $

CO VE R ST OR Y
Under stress
The farmers of Tamil Nadu blame the agricultural policies of the Centre
and the State government for their plight, which, they say, has been
compounded by monsoon failure. B Y ILANGOVAN RAJASEKARAN
I N T A MI L NA DU, 70 P ER C EN T OF TH E February 2017. The report further claims that rice cultiv-
population is engaged in agriculture in one capacity or ation was undertaken on 29.55 lakh acres (one acre = 0.4
the other. Farmers and farm labourers are in distress hectare) last year and 17.95 lakh acres this year. The
because farming activities have virtually come to a stand- coverage area of pulses, cereals and oilseeds, too, has
still in the State as a result of drought. The farmers have dropped significantly.
demanded of the Central and State governments an “ac- The repeated failure of the monsoons resulted in crop
ceptable drought relief” package besides a satisfactory loss and a fall in farm incomes and a bulging debt burden,
minimum support price (MSP) for their crops. which led to the farmer, faced with a blow to his dignity,
They blame the agricultural policies of the State gov- to take his own life. Though different farmers associ-
ernment and the Centre for their plight. Faulty imple- ations and the media claim that about 150 farmers have
mentation of various infrastructure and welfare schemes committed suicide in the past six months, the State gov-
meant for the farm sector, coupled with unresolved inter- ernment maintained that only 17 had committed suicide
State river disputes, the worst-ever monsoon failure for because of agrarian distress. “The rest were suicides for
two consecutive years in 100 years or so, and demonetisa- reasons other than farming distress, and due to heart
tion are among factors that have crippled both rain-fed attacks,” it said.
and irrigated agriculture. The State normally receives an Amid this distress came projects such as the drilling
average annual rainfall of 921 millimetres against the of oil wells, as part of the Centre’s Discovered Small
national average of 1,200 mm and has a gross irrigated Fields policy, in the Cauvery delta region and Pudukottai
area of 33.94 lakh hectares, 79 per cent of which is under district. Local farmers feared that drilling-related activit-
food crops. ies would ruin agriculture, besides polluting groundwa-
For its part, the Centre hit the farmers with a double ter. Experts and activists, however, blamed the suicides
whammy. The November 8, 2016, demonetisation of
Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes reduced the currency-de-
pendent farm-based rural economy to a shambles. Even
as the farmers were trying to recover from the setback, a
second blow was dealt in the form of fresh notifications
under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulations
of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017, banning the sale of
animals of slaughter in cattle markets.
A shortage of cash in the aftermath of demonetisation
was reflected at the major cattle markets in Erode and
other districts in Tamil Nadu, with business down by
more than 50 per cent. The failure of monsoon had made
fodder dearer, forcing farmers to resort to panic sale of
livestock. The lack of cash flow meant that agriculturists
could not buy seeds and fertilizers and pay wages to
labourers, thus forcing them to turn to moneylenders
who promptly flocked to the agrarian belts. Tamil Nadu,
according to a Government of India report, recorded a 29
per cent year-on-year drop in overall crop sowing until
A G I TA T I N G F A R ME R S from Tamil Nadu symbolically

“eating” a mouse at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.
on drought and demonetisation. “Though drought has and dispatched its Ministers to the districts to assess the
been the main reason for farmers’ suicides, demonetisa- situation. It released over Rs.2,000 crore as relief, but
tion cannot be brushed aside,” said K. Balakrishnan, farmers claim the amount is measly compared with the
president of the Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, affili- magnitude of the distress. The Madras High Court direc-
ated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He said ted the State government to waive all cooperative farm
demonetisation was a severe blow to farmers. “They loans irrespective of the size of the landholdings.
could neither withdraw money from the banks nor take Contrary to the situation on the ground, the State
loans from cooperative banks; they could neither sell government’s agricultural policy note for 2016-17 is drip-
their produce nor purchase inputs for their crops. The ping with optimism. It hopes to “usher in a Second Green
rural economy has been totally shattered,” he said. Revolution”.
Nearly 40 deaths were reported from the Cauvery The crisis prompted the farmers to take the issue to
delta region where almost all farmers depended on loans the national capital. A group of farmers from Tamil Nadu
from agricultural cooperative banks, the primary source sat in protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi for 41 days,
of rural lending. with a set of demands that included a Rs.40,000-crore
“The cooperative societies and rural banks went cash- drought relief package, farm loan waiver, MSP for their
less. The farmers did not know whom to approach to tide produce and the setting up of the Cauvery Management
over the crisis. And drought came with a vengeance. Board. The agitation was called off on April 23.
Today agriculture in Tamil Nadu is in total distress,” P. Ayyakannu, president of the National South India
Balakrishnan said. The present crisis has affected not River Linking Farmers Association, who led the stir, said
only the Cauvery delta, which has missed the kuruvai their objective in displaying human skulls, symbolically
paddy crop for the second consecutive year owing to low eating mice, rolling naked on the road, and threatening
storage levels in the Mettur reservoir, but also the entire to drink urine, was to shock the collective conscience of
State. the nation.
“It is time for us to evolve a holistic approach to the Talking to Frontline in Chennai recently, the 70-
entire issue. Farmers demand good price for their pro- year-old activist said farmers were being treated like
duce. The government must come forward to implement beggars and slaves and were viewed as extremist ele-
the recommendations of the M.S. Swaminathan Com- ments whenever they protested. “We are fighting for our
mission report. The report suggests that the cost of cultiv- rights, which have been neglected for long. No one cares
ation plus 50 per cent as profit should be fixed as the basic about us when we die in the fields. As our agitations in
price for a produce,” said S. Ranganathan, general secret- Tamil Nadu did not evince the response we expected, we
ary of the Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Association. shifted the venue to the national capital to make everyone
With the Cauvery being a “deficit river”, he said the understand our anguished living today,” he said.
implementation of the Cauvery Management Board Ayyakannu said farmers from Madhya Pradesh, Ma-
would solve many issues relating to agriculture, a sugges- harashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab supported their
tion other farmers’ representatives endorse. agitation in New Delhi. “In fact, we provided the spark to
In January, after assessing the situation, the Tamil the farmers’ stirs across the country today. We formed an
Nadu government declared the State as “drought-hit” All India Kisan Coordination Committee on May 21 so
that farmers’ bodies across the country could unite and
fight under a single banner. I am one of its conveners. The
committee will chalk out its plan of action soon,” he said.
He staged a two-day stir in Chennai on June 9 and 10.
The agitation was withdrawn after Chief Minister Edap-
padi K. Palaniswami’s promise to intervene in the issue.
Although the protest has been suspended, it highlights
the precarious agrarian situation in the country in gen-
eral and Tamil Nadu in particular. Farmers have urged
the State government to take immediate corrective meas-
ures to prevent further loss of lives. Several fora, includ-
ing the Makkal Adhigaram [People’s Power], attribute
the farm crisis to the Centre’s move to “corporatise” the
farm sector. To condemn this and to discuss other liveli-
hood issues concerning farmers, it is organising a confer-
ence in Thanjavur on August 5.
The last time New Delhi witnessed a farmers’ agita-
tion was in 1988 when five lakh farmers from Uttar
Pradesh laid siege to the national capital. Prime Minister
V. SUDERSHAN
Rajiv Gandhi readily agreed to look into their demands.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not meet the Tamil
Nadu farmers despite repeated requests. $

CO VER ST OR Y
Assam’s hot potato

Rising costs and price collapse force the State’s farmers into
distress selling. B Y SUSHANTA TALUKDAR I N G U W A H A T I
W ORKER S CLEA N I NG potato fields in Bamundi village in Barpeta district.
THE CASCADING EFFECT OF DEMONETISATION Rs.2 to 3 a kg. Residents of Mandia allege that heaps of
coupled with a lack of market support has forced potato harvested potatoes are rotting along the village roads.
growers of Assam to resort to distress sale of their pro- About 10 kilometres off the district headquarters
duce even as consumers in the capital city of Guwahati town of Barpeta, Mandia is the largest hub of potato
have to cough up Rs.20 a kilogram for the vegetable. farming in the State.
Last year, potato growers of Gingia in Biswanath The Agriculture Department has attributed the dip in
Chariali subdivision in northern Assam’s Sonitpur dis- potato prices to bumper yield following the introduction
trict were forced to dump their produce on the streets as of two new varieties, Kufri Pukhraj and Kufri Khyati.
prices collapsed following demonetisation, which resul- “The yields of these two varieties were found to be
ted in shortage of currencies of smaller denominations. much more than the traditionally used varieties. In
Potato growers were forced to sell at Rs.1 a kg and huge formal crop-cutting experiments conducted in Marigaon
stocks in cold storage remained unsold. district, the yield was estimated at 23,700 kg a hectare,
This year, potato growers of Mandia in lower Assam’s much more than the estimated 16,000 kg a ha recom-
Barpeta district, most of them landless peasants, have mended in the Assam Agricultural University’s package
been forced to resort to distress sale of their produce at of practices. The new varieties became popular among

the farmers because of their higher yield,” states a report
of the Department of Horticulture.
Official statistics tabled on the floor of the Assembly
show that the State requires about 40 lakh tonnes of
potato every year. However, the production of potato for
2013-14 and 2014-15 stood at 11 lakh tonnes and 17 lakh
tonnes respectively. The State procures 20 to 25 lakh
tonnes from other States to meet its requirements.
PROCUREMENT POLICY
Tafizuddin Ahmed, a member of the State council of the
Assam State Kisan Sabha (ASKS) affiliated to the All
India Kisan Sabha, however, punched holes in the pro-
curement policy of the Bharatiya Janata Party govern-
ment in the State.
He said: “Farmers are dependent on potato seeds H A R V E ST E D P O TA T O E S left to rot on the village
brought from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, roads in Mandia.
which involve transportation cost. Illegal syndicates op-
erating en route also increase seed procurement cost. grown on 20 bigha, while the potato grown on the re-
Besides, most farmers are landless and they have to take maining 70 bigha was sold for more than Rs.6 a kg.
land on lease for growing potato. The cost of cultivation is “Potato is cultivated on more than 50,000 bigha of
rising due to non-availability of fertilizer subsidies. land in Mandia. The yield per bigha this year was 30
Potato growers have to buy fertilizers at market prices quintals. This works out to a total production of 15 lakh
from private suppliers. These suppliers often supply poor quintals in greater Mandia area this year. Against this
quality fertilizers that harm the plants. On the other total production, the government’s procurement was a
hand, the price of medicine required to treat blight in meagre 5,000 quintals. On the other hand, the farmers
potato has been soaring every year at 20 to 30 per cent. stocked potatoes and did not sell the crop to private
All these have increased the cost of potato cultivation. potato traders hoping that the government procurement
Ironically, there are no buyers for potatoes from these at the rate of Rs.5 a kg will fetch them at least Rs.2 to 3 a
growers at remunerative prices. There is no cold storage kg more. However, after the government procurement
for farmers to preserve their produce. Landowners stopped at just 5,000 quintals, a huge quantity of pota-
mount pressure on potato growers to harvest potato and toes remained unsold and rotted,” he added. The farmer
clear the land for paddy cultivation. The farmers are left said that apart from the ASKS, other organisations such
with no option but to harvest potato even though buyers as Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti and the Assam Man-
pay just Rs.2 or 3 a kg while the cultivation cost is Rs.9 a dia Krishak Mahasabha had been raising the issues of the
kg. So, they incur loss of Rs.6 to 7 a kg and have to pay the affected potato growers.
land owners the lease amount and repay the loan taken to Elaborating on the crisis facing the potato growers,
purchase fertilizers, pesticides and medicines.” Kamal pointed out that the production cost of potato for
He said the ASKS had been mobilising farmers and each bigha was around Rs.28,500, which included
demanding that the government procure the produce so Rs.2,600 for ploughing, Rs.4,500 for fertilizers,
that the growers need not go for distress selling. Rs.4,500 for purchasing five bags of seeds (1,500 per
Tafizuddin said when the government announced its bag), Rs.1,000 for planting the seeds, Rs.2,000 for buy-
decision to spend Rs.1 crore to procure potato at Rs.5 a kg ing vitamins, Rs.1,000 for pesticides, Rs.2,000 for dis-
from the growers, the farmers demanded that the Assam ease-resistant medicines, Rs.3,000 for harvesting and
State Agricultural Marketing Board (ASAMB) meet the Rs.8,000 for payment of lease amount to landowners.
cost of the bag (50 kg each) and its transportation from Against the total production cost of Rs.28,500 for each
the field to the main road so that the farmers’ burden is bigha, the Mandia potato growers earned only Rs.6,000
reduced. to Rs.9,000 a bigha. He said though the government
Data on the ASAMB website show that it purchased fixed the procurement price at Rs.5 a kg, the farmers
10,940.25 quintals from Gingia and 6,083.30 quintals actually got Rs.4 as they had to spend Re.1 in purchasing
from Mandia with Rs.1 crore received from the Food, the bag, packaging, loading and transporting the pro-
Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department. duce to the procurement centre.
Sharing his bitter experiences, Kamal Hassan, a Making matters worse for the farmers, the per bigha
potato grower of Bordoloni village in Mandia, said his yield of a popular government certified paddy variety
family had grown potato on 90 bigha (1 bigha equals 7.5 (No. 837) grown on the same plots after potato is harves-
hectares) taken on lease. Erosion caused by the ted was only three to five maunds (one maund equals 37
Brahmaputra forced the family to shift from Gorola vil- kg) this year against the normal production of 30 to 40
lage in Baghbor area to Mandia about 28 years ago. An maunds. However, the government seems to be least
Arts graduate, Kamal said they could not sell potato bothered, Tafizuddin and Kamal feel. $

CO VER ST OR Y
Turning sour?
India’s thriving dairy sector, which provides farmers with an
alternative source of income, is beset by challenges, including the
S . S UD E R S HA N
government’s new restrictive rules on cattle trade. B Y ANUPAMA KATAKAM

THE DAIRY SECTOR, WHICH HAS LARGELY purchase cows or buffaloes henceforth,” she said.
been a stable one providing farmers with an alternative According to the National Dairy Development Board
source of livelihood, is now facing challenges from the (NDDB), an estimated one crore farmers are engaged in
current agrarian crisis and the new rules restricting sale dairy farming. Most of them are small or marginal farm-
of cattle. Farmers and industry experts said that this ers owning two to five milch cows. The new cattle regula-
could severely jeopardise the sector. tions could potentially affect a staggering number of
India was the world’s top milk producer in 2015-16 farmers.
with 155.5 million tonnes. Dairying is an integral part of “Why would our government want to shoot itself in
the farming system and shares a symbiotic relationship the foot? The fallout of the new rules will really affect the
with agriculture. milk industry, which is thriving,” an analyst said.
“Recent announcements by the Centre have been India’s milk production has been growing at over 4
very detrimental to cattle farmers and this will have an per cent per annum since 2000 and is projected to touch
adverse impact on milk production,” said Sunil Son- 160 million tonnes in 2017, according to the United
awane, a farmer in Kolhapur district, Maharashtra. “The States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
advantage with milk is that in case of crop failure or any On no account can we afford to let milk production
agrarian crisis, most farmers will have a few cows and decline, said Mohan Jadav of the Gokul Cooperative Milk
buffaloes that bail them out. Sale of milk helps tide over Union in Kolhapur. “The milk industry is a lifeline for
difficult situations and provides an extra income if the lakhs of farmers. If the cooperative they belong to is doing
crop is successful. If this source of income is put at risk, well, then as members profits are divided among them. It
which they are doing with the new cattle sale regula- is an added income,” he said.
tions, the farming community faces a very bleak future,” An executive with a private dairy in Baramati said:
he added. “India’s milk consumption has increased with the intro-
The new rules prohibit the sale of cows in animal duction of a range of dairy products. Yogurt and fla-
markets for slaughter and to non-agriculturists. This will voured milk, for instance, are new to the Indian palate
deprive the farmer of the income that traditionally came but have found consumers. Tetra packaged milk is con-
from selling non-milch and ageing cattle. Agriculturists sidered more hygienic by the higher income strata and
are now the only ones permitted to buy cattle, but they the demand apparently is increasing. India may be the
will not be interested in non-milch or ageing animals, largest producer of milk in the world. Its consumption,
which are of little use to them. Feeding and maintaining however, is almost entirely domestic. There is potential
livestock involves substantial costs and if an animal is of for the industry to become a significant exporter and a
no use, the already distressed farmer is left with a massive global player. These new rules will affect milk [pro-
liability. spects].”
“We will have to stop keeping cows if we cannot sell
them to traders. We keep cows because the milk collected SILVER LINING MAY FADE
gives us a little money to run our day-to-day lives. If we In these times of agrarian distress, the milk industry has
get more, it helps maintain the land. The sale of animals been a silver lining for lakhs of farmers. However, experts
sometimes pays for marriages, tuition, college fees, etc.,” believe that unless close attention is paid to a few critical
said Sonawane, who owns three cows and a few buffaloes. areas, the lining could fade. To begin with, the issue of
“When they banned the sale of cows to slaughterhouses in procurement price needs to be addressed. Farmers have
order to ban beef, we felt the loss. This new rule adds been demanding an increase in the price, which is Rs.21-
further problems,” he added. 24 per litre across States. Jadav said rising input costs
Savitri Salunke owns two cows which she keeps in the and low procurement prices were pushing farmers into
famous tabelas (milk yards) of Mumbai. She earns about debt.
Rs.600-650 a day from each cow. The monthly take- During a strike in Maharashtra in June, dairy farmers
home amount after paying rent and animal maintenance protested by pouring milk on the streets and demanded
would be approximately Rs.15,000 per animal. “What an increase in the procurement rate. Chief Minister De-
will we do when the cow stops producing milk?” she vendra Fadnavis said that the rate would be revised to
asked. “An old cow can get us between Rs.15,000 and Rs.27 a litre from July onwards.
Rs.20,000. Now we will have to take whatever the trader Jadav said this would provide some relief to the farm-
gives us. I have no bargaining power left.” ers. However, it may come as a minor blow for cooperat-
She added that buying a milch animal costs about ives. While Gokul is among the more profitable ones,
Rs.80,000. Dairy farmers make the purchase because there are several in the State which are incurring loss or
the return on investment is very good and reasonably barely breaking even. “Another issue is paying the farmer
quick. “If the economics are not favourable, we will not on time. We have a 10-day cycle and ensure they get their
payments accordingly. Not all cooperatives or even
F A RM E R S and workers from the Jai Jawan Jai Kisan private companies are regular on this front. It must be
party discard thousands of litres of milk during a protest in very clearly understood that the farmer is dependent on
Nagpur on June 3 demanding crop loan waiver, higher these small amounts. It is part of the cooperative model
procurement prices and free electricity. and it must be followed strictly.”

While the cooperative model has been extremely suc- dairy should be given a huge boost,” an analyst said.
cessful in most States, post-liberalisation the sector has The government has been introducing a series of
taken a few hard knocks. To begin with, some of them schemes to encourage the dairy sector. For instance,
posted losses owing to blatant mismanagement and the loans are given for the purchase of high-yielding milch
inability to keep up with economic reforms. The entry of cattle and for expanding herd sizes. Additionally, farmers
private players led to competition in the milk sheds are urged to modernise and improve fodder and nutri-
(regions designated to a particular dairy cooperative), tion of the animals. “While in theory this is a good move,
which were later protected by government regulations. with so much flux in agriculture, farmers end up trapped
Still, private companies put the cooperatives at risk. as they spend so much but do not gain in the same
Furthermore, the new entrants in the milk sector proportion,” said the analyst.
introduced products that took the market by storm. Dif- The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) govern-
ferent types of cheese, yogurt and flavoured milk, which ment introduced the Rashtriya Gokul Mission in 2014
were new to the Indian home, were happily embraced by which focusses on improving the genetic potential of
urban and rural households. Many of the larger cooperat- indigenous breeds. The average milk yield of indigenous
ive dairies had developed brands of their own, such as cattle and water buffaloes is 2.5 kilograms and 5.2 kg a
Nandini, Gokul, Sagar, Aavin and Warana. They need to day respectively, while the figure for exotic/crossbred
step up to the plate by riding the new trends or remain as cattle is 7.2 kg. However, the upkeep of crossbreeds was
collection centres subject to the vagaries of the market. substantially higher, an agriculture expert said. “We need
Clearly, sensing new trends and the market potential, the to encourage indigenous livestock for the long term,” he
bigger cooperatives have moved forward by modernising added.
and entering the market with their own brand of dairy Meanwhile, the NDDB is implementing phase I of
products. The smaller ones, however, are lagging behind the National Dairy Plan (NDP I) in 18 States, which
and, as a result, doing little for the farmer members. stretches across the period between 2011-12 and 2018-19.
Jadav pointed out that since milk was a perishable NDP I is focussed on increasing milk production and
commodity, the cooperative would lose not just milk but productivity of animals through support in areas such as
profits if the supply/cold chain and other infrastructure breeding services and animal nutrition. The programme
were not sound. For instance, big dairies with deep pock- also aims at enhancing village-level procurement sys-
ets have put these systems in place, as a result of which tems such as milk weighing, testing, collection, and cool-
farmers in the western region of Maharashtra benefit. ing, as well as extension services and dairy cooperative
However, those in Marathwada and Vidarbha are left development.
with thousands of litres that cannot be used because of The country’s three-tier cooperative dairy system
poor facilities. The farmer may still get his payment but (comprising village-level cooperative societies, district-
the cooperative runs into losses and eventually that will level unions and State-level federations) has been a
affect the farmer who may be a member of the union. champion at protecting producer prices and regulating
Dairy cooperatives are committed to supporting the consumer prices. The country boasts 96,000 local dairy
farmer, and private companies claim they do but in cooperatives, 170 milk producers’ unions and 15 State
reality they do not. If the demand was low, Jadav said, the cooperative federations.
private player would not pick up the milk. This, once However, when India’s neoliberal reforms identified
again, affected the farmer, he pointed out. dairy as a high growth sector, the policies shifted focus
“Goa, Karnataka, and Haryana give their cooperat- from the small farmer and became industry-centric. In
ives a subsidy. For Rs.20 a litre given by the dairy, the 2011, the government allowed the entry of foreign dairy
State government adds another Rs.2 or Rs.4, which is players with 100 per cent foreign direct investment in
paid to the farmers directly,” said Vaishali Nagawade of food processing, including milk and milk products, and
the ailing Mahanand Dairy in Maharashtra. She told also provided several tax breaks to them. “This shook up
mediapersons after the government announcement on the socio-economic model of dairy and if there is a long-
hiking the procurement rate that this would not only help term vision for the sector, it does not include the small
the farmer but the cooperatives too. She added that farmer,” an agriculturist said.
cheaper milk coming from other States into the big dair- Operation Flood, or the “White Revolution” launched
ies in Maharashtra had also added to the problems of in 1970, transformed India from a milk-deficient nation
struggling cooperatives. “The State government should into a milk-surplus one. It was the world’s largest dairy
impose a tax on this and give the benefits to the farmer,” development programme. In 30 years it doubled milk
she said. available per person and made dairy farming India’s
largest self-sustainable rural employment generator. The
CONSUMPTION ON RISE ideology was that milk would not be just mass-produced
India’s per capita consumption of milk is 97 litres a year, but produced by the masses.
compared with 285 litres in the United States. Yet, con- However, if the problems of the dairy sector are not
sumption is growing at a healthy 4.5 per cent annually, taken seriously, it could have far-reaching consequences.
compared with just just 1.5 per cent in the West, accord- What took decades to build could collapse in a matter of
ing to the USDA. “The market is massive in India and years. $
CO VE R ST OR Y
Big backlash
The Centre’s notification imposing restrictions on cattle sale leads to
widespread resentment and charges of undermining States’ rights and
interfering with the dietary habits of specific communities. B Y T.K. RAJALAKSHMI
THE MAY 23 NOTIFICATION OF THE MINISTRY

of Environment and Forests and Climate Change under
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act proscrib-
ing the sale and purchase of bovine species has caused
widespread anger in the farming community, which is
already reeling under huge levels of debt. The notified
Rules (Regulation of Livestock Market Rules 2017, and
the Care and Maintenance of Case Property Animals
Rules 2016) are the latest challenge to livestock owners
and cattle traders who have been at the receiving end of
self-styled vigilante and cow protection groups since the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) came to power in 2014.
The most recent incident of cow vigilantism
happened in Rajasthan’s Barmer district on the night of
June 11 when officials of Tamil Nadu’s Animal Hus-
bandry Department were accosted and beaten up by
around 50 vigilantes for transporting livestock, all legally
purchased and accounted for. The animals—cows, bulls
and calves—had been purchased from villages in Jais-
almer for breeding purposes. The miscreants attempted
to set fire to some of the vehicles and a few of the officials
suffered serious injuries.
The memory of the April 1 murder of a Mewat agri-
culturist by cow vigilantes as he returned from a cattle
fair in Rajasthan was still afresh in people’s minds when
the Centre’s notification came, followed by the vigilante
attack. The closure of slaughterhouses and abattoirs in
Uttar Pradesh on flimsy grounds had already impacted
the sale of cattle for slaughter, compounding the distress
of people, especially in the northern region, whose liveli-
hood depended on agriculture, livestock and the meat
industry.
The notification was challenged in various courts,
M . G O V AR T H A N
including the Supreme Court. The Madurai Bench of the

Madras High Court granted a four-week stay on the
notification on May 30. The State Assemblies of Kerala
and Meghalaya passed unanimous resolutions demand-
A T A C A T T LE M A R K ET in Erode, Tamil Nadu, where ing the withdrawal of the notification. The governments
drought was driving farmers to resort to distress sale. The of West Bengal, Karnataka and Tripura also declined to
Centre’s May 23 notification comes as a severe blow to abide by it.
such farmers. The resolution passed by the Meghalaya Assembly on

June 12 stated that the notification would “impact the said the price of the much-valued high-yielding Murrah
economy of the State and the food habits of its people”. buffalo had come down because of the slump in bovine
trade. It is common knowledge that the male calf is not of
MEGHALAYA RESOLUTION much use except for insemination purposes. It made
Tabled by Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, it said: “This practical sense for livestock owners to keep the best stock
House takes a strong note of the shortcomings and in- for breeding and sell the rest for slaughter. “The clauses
firmities in these Rules” and “resolves that the same may are outright stupid. One of them says medicines cannot
be withdrawn by Government of India with immediate be given orally without consulting a veterinary doctor.
effect so as to maintain the federal and secular character Where are such doctors in villages today? There are
of our Constitution or be faced with a situation where the several traditional experts who treat animals based on
law prohibits some activity while the everyday life prac- local knowledge and such treatment has been found
tices it on a large scale due to harsh economic realities, a effective,” said Inderjit Singh.
situation surely to be avoided at all costs.” The notifica- The notification also had sections that prohibited
tion, the resolution stated, went way beyond the scope of decoration of the animal or colouring of the horns, both
the preamble of the PCA, 1960, and thus infringed upon of which were part of traditional celebrations during
the rights of States to regulate the items that are in the festivals.
State List. In Rajasthan, the Bhairon Singh Shekhawat-led BJP
Media reports quoted Mukul Sangma as saying that government in 1995 enacted a law that banned the sale of
“beef was an integral part of the dietary habits of tribals of male calves that were over three years old. A male calf
Meghalaya” and that prohibition of the sale and purchase ceases to be one after three years, maturing into a full-
of cattle for slaughter would affect the livelihood of 79 per blown bull, and was of little use to farmers apart from
cent of households in the State. being unaffordable. Subsequent Congress governments
On June 15, the Supreme Court, hearing a clutch of did little to revoke the ban. Commercial farming was a
pleas challenging the notification, sought a reply from hitherto unknown concept for farmers in Rajasthan and
the Centre within two weeks. During a brief hearing, the 95 per cent of the State’s agriculture was of the subsist-
Central government, through the Additional Solicitor ence type. Livestock rearing and selling was the only way
General, said the notification was aimed at the “regula- the farming community stayed afloat. AIKS president
tion of cattle trade” and that there was already a stay on Amra Ram said most of the Congress leaders did not say
the notification granted by the Madurai Bench of the anything against the Central government notification.
Madras High Court. One of the main petitions challenging the notification
and admitted in the Supreme Court was from Hydera-
ASSURANCES bad. The petitioner, Mohammad Abdul Faheem Qure-
Perhaps sensing the negative feedback from farmer or- shi, president of the All India Jamiatul Quresh Action
ganisations and protests in various States, including in Committee, contended that various State governments
the north-eastern region, Union Minister for Law and had spoken out against the notification. According to
Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad clarified that the govern- reports, on May 31, Tripura Agriculture and Animal
ment would not bring any law that would interfere with Resources Minister Aghore Debbarma said that “the new
the eating habits of any community. Similar assurances cattle trade and slaughter rules are against the interests
were made by Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and M. of the people. We will not implement them.” Reports also
Venkaiah Naidu. said that on May 30 Karnataka Chief Minister Siddara-
Farmers’ representatives told Frontline that in Pun- maiah announced that it was not mandatory to follow
jab and Haryana almost every farmer kept livestock. every notification issued by the Central government and
Even some landless labourers owned cattle. In Punjab, that the matter was a State issue.
an All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) functionary said, in
cattle fairs that were held every month in every district THE QURESHI JUDGMENT
the sale of unproductive cattle had gone down drastically. The petition quoted a judgment of a Constitution Bench
Traders who used to come from Meerut and Kolkata to of the Supreme Court (M.H. Qureshi vs State of Bihar,
pick up unproductive livestock stayed away fearing vigil- AIR 1958 SC 731), which held as follows: “The mainten-
antism at the State border, he said. ance of useless cattle involves a wasteful drain on the
Farmers’ representatives have pointed out that while nation’s cattle feed. To maintain them is to deprive the
cow vigilantism has been on the rise, cow protection laws useful cattle of the much-needed nutrition. The presence
have been strengthened in BJP-ruled States with strict of so many useless animals tends to deteriorate the
penalties, and slaughterhouses have been closed for lack breed.”
of proper licences. The Central government, they added, Faheem Qureshi’s petition contended that State laws
had no plan to deal with the menace of wild animals and that provided for a total ban on the slaughter of bulls and
stray cattle, both of which caused great harm to standing bullocks had been quashed by the Supreme Court and
crops and human beings. that any freedom under Article 19 could be restricted only
Some of them termed the notification as ridiculous. by a law made by the legislature and not by a delegated
Inderjit Singh, vice president of the AIKS in Haryana, executive fiat that had no sanction in the parent Act. “The
backward class community of India to furnish a declara-
tion to the Animal Market Committee and to retain it for
The Prevention of Cruelty a period of six months from the date on which it is
furnished [and] on demand made by an Inspector at any
to Animals Act did not reasonable time during that period produce such declar-
ation and allow a copy of it or an extract from it to be
perceive slaughter of taken”. Fourth, Rule 22 (d) (ii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) imposed
an “absolute ban upon the cattle trader to buy and sell the
animals for food to be an animals in the cattle markets and permitted only the
agriculturist on production of their revenue records and
act of cruelty. with a declaration not to sell the animal within a period of
six months from the date of purchase”.
complete ban of sale or purchase or resale of animals This, the petitioner said, was an act of discrimination
would cast a huge economic burden on the farmers who against cattle traders as it imposed “unconstitutional
find it difficult to feed their children today but would be restrictions from using the cattle markets for the trade of
required to feed the cattle as it is an offence under the Act cattle”, which was their “ancestral and traditional occu-
of 1960 to starve an animal or to fail to maintain it,” pation being carried on from their ancestors with no
stated the petition. other skills to get employed or adopt any other profes-
The 1960 Act provided exceptions where slaughter of sion”. It was a forceful imposition (Rule 22 (v)) on the
animals for food was not perceived to be an act of cruelty. agriculturist “to maintain the cattle for a minimum fixed
The Act also did not prohibit or restrict the slaughter of period of six months after purchase irrespective of his
animals for food or for religious sacrifice or the sale of financial liabilities towards his family members”. Rule 22
animals for the same, the petition stated. The Rules were (e) (i) (iii) mandated that the buyer of the cattle should be
also violative of Article 29 of the Constitution that protec- an agriculturist and could sell the cattle after six months
ted the cultural identities of communities. to any other buyer who should also be an agriculturist
The petition contends that the Rules contravene the and the purchased animals shall never be sold for the
main Act and that changes to the main Act cannot be purpose of slaughtering even if it does not remain a useful
effected by an executive fiat but only by the legislature. It animal. This was yet another imposition, as per the peti-
contends that under Section 29 of the Act the animals tion.
could be forfeited on a second and subsequent conviction The petition also raises several moot points pertain-
only, whereas the new Rule 8 was inconsistent and over- ing to the principle of federalism, which several State
riding of Section 29 of the parent Act as it empowered the governments, too, have raised. It says that the fields of
magistrate to deprive the accused of ownership of anim- legislation concerning “markets and fairs” and “preserva-
als and forfeit seized animals to an infirmary, pinjrapole, tion or protection and improvement of stocks” fell within
the SPCA, an animal welfare organisation or a gaushala “entry 28 and 15 of the State List and thus it was only the
on first conviction or on pleading guilty. “Similarly Rules State legislature that was empowered to make laws on
8 (2) and 3 (b) were also inconsistent with Section 35 of the said fields of legislation”. The parent Act itself does
the Act as they prohibited the owner to have the interim not deal with the regulation of markets for sale of animals
custody of his own animals during pendency of litigation or their slaughter, and the Central government could not
and even after being acquitted he would lose the amount make the rules entering into “fields of legislation occu-
deposited for transporting, care and maintenance of an- pied by the State legislature by their respective enact-
imals which may exceed the cost of the animal due to long ments”, it contends. As an illustration, the petition points
pendency of the case in the court,” contended the out that “States, District Municipalities Act and the Pan-
petitioner. chayat Act permit a person to hold animal markets”.
Equally significantly, restrictions on the sale of cattle
specified under various subsections of Rule 22 “prohib- VIOLATIVE OF RIGHT OF CHOICE
ited the owner of a young animal to bring to an animal The Rules, contended the petition, were ultimately viol-
market” a young animal, defined under 2 (o) of the new ative of the right of choice of food, privacy and personal
rules as one under the age of six months. Pointing out liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution, and the ban
various inadequacies in the rules, especially those that on slaughter of animals for food would deprive citizens of
imposed restrictions on sale, purchase and maintenance the right under the said Article.
of cattle, the petitioner contended that “it was an unreas- The matter may or may not be settled by courts, but
onable and illegal restriction which prohibits the cattle what is eminently clear is that the agrarian community is
trader to trade for the purpose of breeding and rearing.” none too happy with the notification. If the strong reac-
Second, Rule 22 (b) (iii) “unconstitutionally” prohib- tions from several State governments and BJP function-
ited the sale of cattle for slaughter imposing an absolute aries in some north-eastern States are a barometer of the
ban on the purchase of the animal in the cattle market for general mood, the prudent option for the Central govern-
slaughter. Third, the petition stated, Rule 22 (c) unneces- ment seems to be to withdraw its contentious and divisive
sarily “imposed a condition upon the most educationally notification. $

CO VE R ST OR Y
An industry in crisis
Controversial policy decisions and the activities of cow vigilantes have hit
the abattoirs in the country hard, adversely affecting not only meat
exports but the entire rural economy. BY DIVYA TRIVEDI
SLAUGHTERHOUSES ACROSS INDIA ARE to spend more to feed unproductive cattle. “We don’t
under severe duress. The once-thriving meat industry have money to feed our children, how will we take the
has been pushed to the edge. Three key policy decisions of burden of feeding cattle?” said a farmer from western
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can be held responsible Uttar Pradesh.
for this state of affairs. First, the demonetisation initiat- Second, fulfilling his election manifesto, Chief Minis-
ive in November 2016 placed severe constraints on the ter Yogi Adityanath led a crackdown on Uttar Pradesh’s
cash-based rural economy. Despite the tall claims of the illegal slaughterhouses in March, bringing the entire
Digital India programme, the reality on the ground was meat business in the State to a grinding halt. There were
that there was no connectivity. “The nearest ATM is reports of licensed units not being allowed to function.
seven kilometres from our village and that too does not Those who applied for renewing existing licences were
have cash half the time,” said a farmer from Bihar who shown the door by the authorities without giving any
used to sell his old or infirm cattle in the cattle market reason. Lakhs of people associated with the trade were
which would then make their way to one of the many left in the lurch. The worst hit were the poorest of the
abattoirs in north India. But demonetisation brought poor—daily-wagers who transported cattle, cleaned
such trade to a halt for several months, reducing even abattoirs and were involved in other menial labour
middle-income farmers to penury. The National Sample around the trade. While thousands of butcher shops
Survey Organisation’s latest estimates pegged the without licences shut down, those that were perfectly
monthly average income of a farmer in the country at less legal operated at less than half the capacity as the supply
than Rs.6,500 a month. Selling a buffalo used to bring in of raw material dried up. As cow vigilantes, animal rights
Rs.20,000 to Rs.30,000. This enabled the farmer to have activists and the police patrolled the streets, fear of har-
access to several months’ income in one go. With the new assment and physical violence spread, and farmers,
rules, a farmer will not only lose this income but will have transporters and buyers were wary of carrying on the
AP/RAJESH KUMAR SINGH
B U T C H ER S
play cards at a
slaughterhouse
in Lucknow
during a strike
to protest
against the
crackdown on
abattoirs and
meat shops in
Uttar Pradesh,
on March 31.

trade. In the past one year, more than 10 cases of lynching 10 state-of-art mechanised abattoirs-cum-meat pro-
of cattle traders by Hindu right-wing mobs have been cessing plants in various States based on slaughtering
reported. In many of the cases the police were mute buffaloes and sheep,” said an APEDA statement. In
spectators. 2015-16, India earned Rs.26,685 crore and in 2014-15,
Abattoirs in other States too were affected. As the Rs.29,289 crore from buffalo meat export. In 2016-17,
supply of buffaloes stopped, an abattoir in Kolkata had to the earnings fell to Rs.26,307 crore. The exporters either
shut shop. Set up by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, bought carcasses from abattoirs or purchased unpro-
it was touted as the first fully automated abattoir in the ductive buffaloes directly from weekly animal markets.
country. States such as Jharkhand that did not have a India was also a leading supplier of halal meat to Islamic
single abattoir were badly hit. Farmers in these States countries. With 57 per cent of the total buffalo population
were left with the choice of either taking their cattle of the world in India, the country was considered home to
across State borders and risk being lynched or postpone some of the finest breeds of buffaloes. It figured among
the sale indefinitely. As it became dangerous to travel the largest exporters of bovine meat, sending competit-
with cattle, transport costs went up. If the supplier had to ively priced frozen buffalo meat to 65 countries, claimed
pay off a vigilante, the police or animal rights activists for exporters.
safe passage, the cost was built into the buyer’s purchase With the onset of Ramzan, meat exporters had to deal
price, making the entire exercise costly. As a result, con- with delayed and slumped exports in what is otherwise
sumer prices in several places shot up. The fallout was the busiest and most profitable season for them. The
that consumption of chicken soared. Reports indicated Allana Group, one of India’s largest exporters of pro-
that several wedding parties had to be cancelled because cessed food products and agro commodities, exported its
of the unavailability of meat. products to over 85 countries and claimed to be one of the
largest net foreign exchange earners in the country, with
ILL-THOUGHT-OUT MOVE a turnover of Rs.3,500 crore during 2008-09. It had been
Third, the BJP government at the Centre banned the sale exporting halal meat for 45 years. For the first time in
of cattle for slaughter at animal markets through a noti- decades, this year its business suffered a setback of
fication under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, Rs.700-800 crore compared with the previous year.
1960. The definition of “cattle” was expanded to include Speaking about global competition, Fauzan Alavi,
buffaloes, bulls, cows, bullocks, steers, heifers, calves and spokesperson for Allana, said that despite costs going up,
camels. And, cattle could only be sold to another farmer. the company was unable to sell at a higher rate abroad.
This decision might turn out to be the most ill-thought- “Business is down by 11 per cent, which is huge for our
out one by the BJP government after the demonetisation industry. Overseas, the Brazilian and Australian curren-
drive, feel experts. India is a key player in the interna- cies have devalued, and therefore we are unable to sell at
tional market for buffalo meat, and its entire economy a higher price,” said Alavi. He also wondered how the
stood threatened with this decision. The major buffalo government intended to double farmers’ income without
meat-producing areas are Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pra- providing an impetus to livestock farming. “It is said that
desh, Maharashtra and Punjab. Buffalo meat was expor- 300 million poor families in the world survive on income
ted to more than 70 countries across the world, with generated from sheep and goat. India has so much live-
Vietnam, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United stock potential, which we must not overlook. The govern-
Arab Emirates (UAE) being the main markets. ment waiving loans of farmers cannot be a permanent
There are about 3,600 slaughterhouses in India, ac- solution. If the government really wants to give freebies,
cording to the Agricultural & Processed Food Products they should give sheep, goat and lamb. There is 100 per
Export Development Authority (APEDA). There are 24 cent buyback there. Livestock is like a cash crop today
meat-processing plants, with 13 export-oriented units and animal husbandry is the way to go.”
engaged in the export of meat products. In addition, Mohammed Aqil Qureishi, president of the Buffalo
there are a few animal casing units engaged in collecting, Traders Welfare Association in Delhi, said that the busi-
cleaning, grading and exporting sheep, goat and cattle ness had suffered a 40 per cent slump after the an-
guts. nouncement on the ban of sale of cattle for slaughter. An
Before the brouhaha over the ban on selling cattle for abattoir in Ghazipur, run by the Municipal Corporation
slaughter, the government acknowledged that the export of Delhi, had the capacity to handle 2,000 buffaloes and
of animal products (buffalo meat, sheep and goat meat, 3,500 sheep and goats a day but was functioning much
poultry products, animal casings, milk and milk below capacity, he said. “The abattoir was renovated by
products, honey, etc.) made an important contribution to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi with an investment
the Indian agricultural sector. Citing Ministry of Food of Rs.200 crore, but look at it now,” he said. Farmers who
Processing Industries data, Nirmala Sitharaman, Minis- come from all over north India to sell their cattle would
ter of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, be the worst hit by this move of the government, followed
said in December 2015 that the meat-processing industry by consumers in Delhi, he said. “Contrary to popular
was worth $5,026 million. “The recent trend in India is to belief, 80 per cent of the people in Delhi are meat eaters.
establish large abattoirs-cum-meat processing plants If the supply to slaughterhouses stops, where is the meat
with the latest technology. India has already established going to come from to cater to these customers?” $

CO VE R ST OR Y
No skin in the game

The new rules banning the sale of cattle for slaughter at animal markets
have taken a huge toll on the leather trade, which provides livelihood to
lakhs of people and functions as a crucial component of the livestock
ecosystem. B Y RAVI SHARMA R E C E N T L Y I N A M B U R A N D R A N I P E T ( V E L L O R E D I S T R I C T , T A M I L N A D U )
FARHAN QURESHI’S FAMILY HAS BEEN IN His biggest customers are the 410-plus tanneries located
the business of trading in raw skins and hides for over in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district, which account for over
three generations. Based out of a small town in southern 40 per cent of India’s leather production.
Maharashtra, Farhan and his associates are in regular The Vellore cluster of tanneries and leather indus-
touch with butchers, slaughterhouses and smaller tries, which are located primarily in five small towns in
traders within his State and in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala the district—Ambur, Ranipet, Vaniyambadi, Melvis-
and Karnataka—wherever there is substantial consump- haram and Pernambut—employs over 100,000 people
tion of meat. Scouting for raw hides (skin of cattle) and directly and another 250,000 indirectly and clocks an
skins (of sheep and goats), Farhan plays a crucial role in annual sales turnover of around Rs.5,000 crore. Besides
helping slaughterhouses get rid of hides and skins and the tanneries, the five towns also house around 120 shoe
supplies the leather industry with its chief raw material. factories, 25 jacket-producing units, 20 units manufac-
P H O T OG R A P H S : R A V I S H A R M A
T A N N E D hide ready for dispatch at a tannery in Ambur, Tamil Nadu.

turing leather accessories such as handbags and suit- harashtra but have now been forced to negotiate with
cases, and 10 industrial, riding and fashion glove elements from a regional, jingoistic, right-wing political
companies. At Pernambut, over 50 units use buffalo hide party.
to produce shoe soles, the only ones to do so in the Traders told this correspondent that they had to pay a
country. certain amount of money (some say Rs.20,000) for “pro-
The region exports leather products worth around tection” for every truckload of hides and skins. Besides
Rs.2,800 crore annually and several major global brands, the goons of corrupt political outfits, overzealous animal
such as Clarks, Cole Haan, Florsheim, Guess, Hush Pup- lovers who want every domesticated animal taken to an
pies, Tommy Hilfiger, and Timberland, have strong busi- animal shelter, corrupt officials and cow vigilantes pose
ness links with factories in the region. But all that is set to additional problems for traders like Farhan. The vigil-
change as uncertainty looms large over the sourcing of antes may publicly declare their love for animals and beat
raw skins and hides. up hide/skin transporters, even occasionally setting on
Already stymied to a large extent by the enactment, in fire a fully laden truck or two, but they are more than
March 2015, of the Maharashtra Animal Preservation willing to look the other way if the right deal is struck.
(Amendment) Act, which broadened the ban on the All this has meant uncertainty and irregularity of
slaughter of cows to include bulls and bullocks (which supply, higher landing costs, and loss of business for the
had been allowed earlier based on a fit-for-slaughter $12 billion Indian leather industry. According to the
certificate), traders like Farhan have now been further hit Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s Directorate
after the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, in
Climate Change on May 23 notified the stringent Preven- 2016-17 the sector exported leather and leather products
tion of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Mar- worth $5.66 billion and was among the top 10 foreign
kets) Rules, 2017, under the Prevention of Cruelty to exchange earners.
Animals Act, wherein, among other stiff regulations, the
sale and purchase of cattle at animal markets for the LEATHER TRADE
purpose of slaughter are banned. According to the Council for Leather Exports (CLE), an
The new rules threaten to push the slaughtering of autonomous non-profit body founded in 1984 that func-
cattle for meat and the supply of the primary byproduct, tions under the aegis of the Ministry of Commerce and
raw hides, further underground. Traders like Farhan Industry, the Indian leather industry is “bestowed with
continue to source and deliver raw hides even from Ma- an affluence of raw materials” as India, with 20 per cent
R A W S K I NS being tanned using the “wet blue” process.

A CA T T L E B R O K E R from Tirupattur tries to find buyers at the village fair close to Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu.
of the world’s cattle/buffalo population and 11 per cent of Jolarpettai, who bought two rather famished bullocks for
the goat/sheep population, produces around three bil- Rs.10,500 after protracted bargaining, said the govern-
lion square feet of leather annually, which accounts for 10 ment’s rules were unfair and sounded the death knell for
per cent of the world’s leather requirement. Raw hide his livelihood. “I earn hardly Rs.200-300 when I strike a
traders are unable to procure material to supply to tan- deal. Farmers only sell their cattle when they are in dire
neries primarily because butchers are also feeling the need of money and also when the animals are past their
heat of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation prime. How will a farmer look after an aged animal?” he
of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017. With the new rules said. Agriculturists who were looking to sell their bul-
stating that cattle cannot be sold at animal markets, a locks echoed Ghausali’s views. S. Govindan from Mal-
sense of fear hangs over both meat markets and village lapadi said: “It costs over Rs.100 a day to feed the animal.
cattle fairs. Water is also an issue. A tanker of water costs us Rs.800.
When this correspondent visited a couple of weekly Will the government compensate us for all this?”
fairs at villages close to the town of Krishnagiri in Tamil Saleem Sheikh, a cattle trader from Ambur who has
Nadu, the apprehension and uncertainty were all too been sourcing cattle from animal fairs for over 30 years
evident. There were hardly any cattle. Although the and who occasionally slaughters them for the meat and
Madurai bench of the Madras High Court had granted on sells the hides, said: “How can I go to villages and directly
May 30 a four-week interim stay on the implementation buy cattle from the farmers? How will I know who wants
of the rules banning the sale of cattle for slaughter in to sell? It will be too time-consuming and impractical.”
animal markets, there was no denying the fact that most With reports of vigilantes forcefully freeing animals,
cattle traders and butchers were terrified to admit that many agents are also afraid of leaving with the cattle they
animals were being bought or sold for slaughter. have bought.
Mohammed Ghausali, a cattle trader from nearby No slaughter means no hides and skins for Vellore’s
Experts said the government’s decision would be

counterproductive since it would push the trade
underground and increase the price of raw hides and skins.
They are coming from Kerala and West Bengal. And
since there is no duty on finished leather, hides are being
smuggled in from Bangladesh.”
On an average, around 5,000 skins (each costing
under Rs.200) or 1,000 to 1,600 hides (average cost
between Rs.600 and Rs.1,200 a piece depending on the
size and quality) are loaded on to a truck. A raw hide can
weigh anywhere between 10 to 30 kilograms. Once
tanned, the semi-finished hide commands an average
price of Rs.150 per sq ft, with the price varying depending
on the quality and size. The bigger tanneries in Vellore
are capable of processing 10 truckloads a day, but given
the high risks of goons and inspections, transporters
demand that they be paid even before the consignment
lands at the tannery, and some are even refusing to ship
raw hides and skins.
According to Ramesh Prasad, joint secretary of the
South India Tanners and Dealers Association, the new
rules have caused enormous suffering to the industry.
“Fear of the new rules is preventing animals from being
brought to the animal markets. While earlier we used to
get 100 hides, we are now getting 10. Production over the
last 30 days has halved. I am trying to balance the short-
fall by using imported hides. But then importers have
immediately hiked their price by $3 a kg,” he said.
Most of the associations and trade bodies have made
a representation to the government to roll back some of
A F A M IS H E D bullock that was sold for Rs.6,500. the rules. Said Faiyaz Ahmed S. M., Secretary of the
Ambur Tannery Association: “We have requested that
tanneries and leather industry. The tanners are a worried the Central notification extending the restrictions on cow
lot. Hides and skins from animals slaughtered at abat- slaughter to buffaloes be relaxed. Buffaloes are not of
toirs are bought by traders who cure them with salt for 10 religious significance to people of any particular faith. If
to 14 days. The raw pelts are then dispatched to tanneries this is not done, over 50 units that process hides for shoe
in lots either by piece or by weight, where they are tanned soles will collapse.”
either with chemicals like ammonium sulphate, chrome V. Sundar, general secretary of the North Arcot Dis-
tanning salts and sulphuric acid, or by the East India trict Tannery Workers Union, said this “could become a
method, first popularised by the English East India Com- law and order problem, since the micro-economy of the
pany in the early 1800s, where the tanning is accom- district will also collapse”. K.R. Vijayan, who runs a
plished using ingredients like lime, tanning bark from tannery at Ranipet, added: “The rules do not ban
shrubs and trees like the pungam, avaram, konnam, slaughter of cattle, but there are so many restrictions.
velam, myrobalan, and vegetable oils like pungam oil. And going to an animal market and buying an animal for
Once tanned, the semi-finished leather is processed fur- slaughter is not possible. I have started working with
ther at finishing units before it becomes finished leather imported leather from Brazil and Argentina. There is no
and sent to the leather factories to be made into shoes, alternative.”
jackets, bags, shoe uppers, gloves, and so on. Terming the newly notified rules as akin to “placing a
According to tanners and experts from the leather wedge in the natural livestock ecological system”, N.
industry, the Union government’s decision will be coun- Shafeeq Ahmed, chairman of the Indian Finished
terproductive since it will push the trade underground Leather Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said
and increase the price of raw hides and skins. A tanner that farming, the meat industry and the leather trade
who deals in hides said: “We generally used to avoid were all part of the same ecosystem. He explained: “It
buying the hides of female cattle since the fibres in the depends from which part of the ecosystem you take the
pelt would have expanded and become loose owing to animal and for what purpose. Every part of the animal is
pregnancies. The hides of calves were also avoided since used right across society, and up to the bones. If you stop
they are small. In any lot of, say, 10 hides [the average size or place a wedge in the system, it will fall apart, with
of each piece being 18 to 20 sq ft], at the most you could disastrous consequences. There is no clarity on the new
find one piece that was small. Butchers had a choice of notification. The government is banning the sale of cattle
animals. There was an inbuilt safety mechanism. Today, in the animal markets. From where will butchers buy
without that choice, butchers will slaughter the first an- their animals? The practice has been for traders to buy
imal they get. And it is not that hides aren’t coming at all. the animals and then resell it to the butcher.” $

TH E ST AT ES
Unrest in the hills

After years of relative peace, memories of the prolonged and violent
agitation for Gorkhaland are revived and north Bengal teeters on the
precipice. B Y S U H R I D S A N K A R C H A T T O P A D H Y A Y
THE uneasy truce between the the hills. After six years of relative sonnel were injured. The police
Trinamool Congress government of peace, memories of the prolonged countered with baton charges and
West Bengal and the Gorkha and violent agitation for a separate tear-gas shelling. All the while, the
Janamukti Morcha (GJM) of the State of Gorkhaland were Chief Minister and her 31 Cabinet
Darjeeling hills has been shattered. reawakened. Ministers, who were in Darjeeling to
The GJM, which for the last six years In a clearly premeditated action, announce development work done in
had kept the separatist agitation in thousands of GJM supporters the hills, remained confined to the
the hills at bay, launched on June 8 launched an attack on the afternoon Raj Bhavan. The State government
the most violent agitation seen in re- of June 8 barely 200 metres from the thought it necessary to requisition
cent years, requiring the Army’s in- Governor’s House in Darjeeling the Army, and as of June 13, six
tervention to contain the situation. town, where Chief Minister Mamata columns of Army personnel were sta-
The following day, the GJM called a Banerjee had just finished holding a tioned in Darjeeling.
12-hour bandh in the hills and an- Cabinet meeting. (It was the first The GJM declared a 12-hour
nounced an indefinite shutdown of Cabinet meeting to be held in Dar- shutdown on June 9, with the prom-
government and public offices from jeeling in 45 years.) For over two ise that more intense agitation would
June 12. On June 15, after GJM su- hours, they threw stones and bombs follow. In order to allay the worries of
premo Bimal Gurung’s house was at the police and burnt public tourists in Darjeeling, Mamata
raided by the police and a huge cache vehicles. According to reports, 12 po- Banerjee delayed her return to Kolk-
of arms was recovered, the GJM an- lice vehicles and a public bus were ata and was out in the streets inter-
nounced an indefinite total bandh in torched and more than 50 police per- acting with local people.
PTI
A B U S ( L E F T) and a police vehicle that were set on fire in Darjeeling on June 8 by Gorkha Janamukti Morcha supporters.

The violent outburst was the cul- ence in the hills was, if not a threat, a
mination of a simmering feud source of irritation for Gurung. A
between the State government and separate group emerged in Ka-
the GJM over the last few months. limpong with friendly ties with the
The discontent found an outlet when Trinamool, under the leadership of
the Chief Minister announced in Harka Bahadur Chhetri, a former
May a new language policy making heavyweight member of the GJM. In
Bengali compulsory in the school this background, the municipal elec-
curriculum as a second or third lan- tions held in May must have given
guage. The GJM’s response was to cause for concern to the GJM. The
declare a two-day strike in the Mirik municipality in the hills elec-
schools in the hills on June 1 and 2. ted the Trinamool to form the
Mamata Banerjee yielded, saying board—something that was incon-
Bengali would not be made compuls- ceivable earlier.
ory in the schools of Darjeeling and As the GJM continued its agita-
in certain areas of the Terai and the tion, Mamata Banerjee accused the
Dooars (the foothills). But the GJM organisation of trying to drive a rift
remained on the path of agitation. between Bengali- and Nepali-speak-
For the GJM, this was an oppor- ing people. She even threatened the
tunity to reassert its position of su- GJM leadership at a public rally in
premacy in the hills in the face of Mirik: “Those who have the murder
rising opposition and the onset of an case of Madan Tamang pending
anti-incumbency sentiment. Its im- against them have the audacity to
age took a beating in 2010 when threaten me. It will take me just one
PTI
Madan Tamang, leader of the Akhil minute…. But I do not believe in vin-
Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL) CHIEF MINIST E R Mamata dictive politics.” Many felt that this
and an outspoken critic of GJM su- Banerjee in Darjeeling on June 9. challenge to Gurung’s supremacy in
premo Bimal Gurung, was hacked to the region left the GJM with no op-
death in broad daylight, allegedly by free environment in the hills to facil- tion but to react with a display of
GJM activists. Following the estab- itate development and peace after muscle power. Gurung said: “She
lishment of the autonomous nearly three decades of continuous [Mamata Banerjee] is the Chief
Gorkhaland Territorial Administra- strife. The GJM’s opponents saw this Minister of West Bengal. I am also an
tion (GTA) in 2011, the GJM’s de- as a serious compromise on the elected leader, chief minister of the
mand for a separate State of promise of Gorkhaland, and for the hills. If she can show her power, so
Gorkhaland appeared to have lost first time an erosion was detected in can I.”
steam, particularly since it shifted its the party’s support base. The Trin- The GJM blames Mamata
agitation to Delhi, opting for a strike- amool Congress’s increasing pres- Banerjee for the deterioration of re-
PTI PTI
GJM SUPPORTE R S protesting on June 8.

D I P T E N D U D U T T A / AF P
PTI
ARMY PER S ON N EL patrolling a street in Darjeeling on June 9.
lations between the two parties. “The tourists could stay behind in Darjeel- political stability. The Chief Minister
State government’s high-handed- ing at their own risk. The situation set up separate boards for the welfare
ness and its policy of suppression took a turn for the worse on June 15 and development of indigenous
over the last six years compelled us to when the GJM declared an indefinite communities in the hills—Lepcha,
resume the agitation for Gorkhaland bandh following a raid on Bimal Tamang, Sherpa, Bhutia, Limbu,
in the Darjeeling hills,” GJM general Gurung’s house. “We had informa- and so on—and thus prised away
secretary Roshan Giri told Frontline. tion that the GJM was gathering some support for the Trinamool
Once again demanding a separate arms and accordingly raids were from the grip of the GJM. But
State, the GJM declared an “indefin- conducted. We recovered bows and Gurung’s show of strength proved
ite agitation”. Beginning on June 12, arrows, three or four firearms and a that the GJM was still the most dom-
all government offices in the Darjeel- large amount of cash…. We do not inant force in the region. It is clear,
ing hills, including the State’s rev- think any peace-minded person will too, that the demand for Gorkhaland
enue-generation centres such as store such arms,” said Akhilesh continues to be the most vibrant and
electricity bill-payment counters, Chaturvedi, Superintendent of Po- unifying political call in the hills.
will remain closed; banks will work lice, Darjeeling. Roshan Giri, how- The revival of the Gorkhaland
only on Mondays and Thursdays. ever, claimed that the bows and demand has also taken the wind out
Courts and emergency departments arrows were for archery practice. of the opposition’s sails. Sandip C.
and services have been exempted. Jain, editor of The Himalayan
Giri said: “The closure is only for A POLITICAL COMPULSION Times, said: “The moment the GJM
government offices. Hotels, shops, The unrest in the hills has been a revived the issue of Gorkhaland, it
transport, schools and colleges are all setback of sorts for Mamata Baner- blew away all opposition parties.
open. We assure the tourists that jee. One of her biggest success stories Whatever gains they may have made
they are welcome in Darjeeling. We after assuming power in 2011 was over the last few years will now be
will also be organising regular pro- that she brought back peace in the reduced to insignificance.”
cessions and torchlight rallies de- hills. After the establishment of the At an all-party meet called by the
manding Gorkhaland.” On the eve of GTA, barring a few stray incidents, GJM on June 13, most of the local
the strike, however, Bimal Gurung the hills seemed to be looking for- parties, including the Gorkha Na-
gave cause for alarm by saying that ward to a period of prosperity and tional Liberation Front (GNLF) and
SHU TT ERED S HOPS in Darjeeling on June 13 during a general strike called by the GJM.
the Gorkhaland Rajya Nirman masses further. It announced an “in- June 11. We have written that we are
Morcha, the Communist Party of Re- definite agitation” but stopped short no longer satisfied with the GTA.”
volutionary Marxist and the Bhar- of a total shutdown. After several With GTA elections due in July,
atiya Janata Party (BJP), set aside years of stability in the region, the last thing the GJM wants now is
political differences and pledged to Gurung did not wish to risk the to put itself in a corner. Many feel
fight for Gorkhaland. Only the ABGL people’s ire by shutting down the this is a desperate effort by the GJM
and the Trinamool were absent in tourism industry, the mainstay of the to retain power in the hills and defer
the meeting. Interestingly, the region’s economy. He was finally the GTA elections, as the possibility
GNLF, founded by Subhas Ghising, compelled to call an indefinite bandh of losing in the elections is not as
who began the Gorkhaland move- when he was cornered following the remote as it would have been con-
ment in the mid 1980s, was for long raid on his house. “The State govern- sidered earlier.
the Trinamool’s electoral ally. “The ment forced it on us. This was a polit- “Bimal Gurung has proved that
GNLF wholeheartedly supports the ical movement, not a law and order he is still the big boss in the hills, but
demand for Gorkhaland. We should problem,” said Roshan Giri. he is absolutely clueless about what
go according to the wishes of the The State government has to do next. If he backs down, he will
people,” said Neeraj Zimba Tamang. stepped up pressure on the GJM by appear weak; and if he intensifies the
Admitting that his party was in an ordering a special audit of the funds agitation, the people may just get fed
electoral understanding with the that went not only to the GTA but up with yet another prolonged
Trinamool, Tamang clarified, “The also the three hill municipalities of period of deprivation,” an informed
GNLF will stand with anyone who Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kur- political source from Darjeeling said.
raises the demand for Gorkhaland.” seong. The GJM has turned to the As of June 15, with the hills once
BJP-led National Democratic Alli- again heading for a prolonged period
NOT THE GJM OF OLD ance (NDA), with which it has a of violence and agitation, it remains
Notwithstanding the renewed ag- political understanding. Giri said: to be seen how the GJM leadership
gressiveness of the GJM, the current “We have requested the Centre to can find a solution that will bring
agitation shows that the organisa- intervene on our behalf. Our presid- about stability in the hills without
tion is no longer able to take any ent wrote to the Home Minister on appearing to compromise on the is-
extreme measure lest it alienates the June 10 and the Prime Minister on sue of Gorkhaland. $

ISRO
SP A C E
IN THE
BIG LEAGUE
India’s successful maiden launch of its heaviest
launch vehicle, built entirely indigenously to
put into orbit its heaviest satellite yet, signals
ISRO’s arrival on the global stage for
developing cryogenic engines for launch
vehicles. B Y T . S . S U B R A M A N I A N
“TOWARDS Sustained Self-reli- angan, then Chairman of the Indian

ance in Accessing Space” announced Space Research Organisation
a huge poster on a wall in the cabin of (ISRO), had formally constituted the
S. Ramakrishan, the first Project GSLV-MkIII project with Ra-
Director of the Geosynchronous makrishnan as Project Director. The
Satellite Launch Vehicle–Mark III primary objective was to develop a
(GSLV-MkIII). It was October 2002 launch vehicle that would put a four-
and only five months earlier, in May, tonne satellite into the geosynchron-
the Central government had ap- ous transfer orbit (GTO, with a peri-
proved the development of the gee of about 180 km and an apogee of
GSLV-MkIII. Frontline was visiting about 36,000 km). The rocket would
the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre be a “totally new, powerful animal”,
(VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram, on Ramakrishnan told Frontline on
whose vast campus was situated, by that 2002 visit.
the seashore at Thumba, a small Fifteen years later, the gigantic
building that housed Ramakrish- GSLV-MkIII D1, weighing 640
nan’s cabin on the ground floor tonnes, roared into the sky at 5:28
where the GSLV-MkIII project was p.m. on June 5 from its launch pad at
taking shape. The massive vehicle, as Sriharikota in what was its first de-
I saw in the poster, was called velopmental flight (D1). The heaviest
“gsLVM3”, or launch vehicle Mark 3, rocket that ISRO has built was well
India’s “Next Generation Launch and truly on its way to making his-
Vehicle”. tory as its two strap-on motors, each
On October 2, 2002, K. Kasturir- guzzling 200 tonnes of solid propel-
T H E G S L V M K II I (facing page) being moved from the Vehicle Assembly

Building of the Second Launch Pad to the launch platform for the June 5 launch
at Sriharikota. The vehicle has two S-200 strap-on motors, which hold 200 T H E G S L V M K II I , carrying
the GSAT-19 communication
M. PRABHU
tonnes each of solid fuel, strapped to the core L-110 liquid stage. Above the
liquid stage sits the cryogenic stage (black colour) followed by the ogive-shaped satellite, taking off from
payload fairing in which the satellite is enclosed. Sriharikota on June 5.

lants and together producing 800 stage in the mission that lasted 16 which did not fire. The vehicle car-
tonnes of thrust, worked with gusto. minutes and 20 seconds can be ried a 3.75-tonne CARE module. At a
“Strap-on motors’ performance nor- gauged from the fact that its engine height of 126 km, the module separ-
mal”, “L-110 [liquid engine] ignited” performed with precision for 10 ated from the dummy cryogenic
came the voice from the Mission minutes and 40 seconds (640 stage and went into a sub-orbit. It
Control Centre (MCC) situated seven seconds). Of the total velocity of 10.5 started descending immediately and
kilometres from the launch pad. km a second needed to put the 3,136- splashed down near the Andaman
“Strap-on motors separated”, “L-110 kg GSAT-19 into the GTO, the cryo- archipelago where it was recovered
performance normal”, “heat shield genic engine contributed more than by the Coast Guard. The entire mis-
separated”, “plus four minutes”, and 5 km a second. sion from lift-off to splashdown las-
“L-110 core stage separated” were the The triumph signalled India’s ted about 20 seconds and the
other announcements from the self-reliance in space technology strap-ons and the core liquid stage
MCC. Then came the announcement with a robust, cost-effective vehicle performed exceedingly well.
that everyone was waiting for: “Cryo made possible by its mastery over the Given this background, the re-
stage ignited”. Its performance too cryogenic technology that is needed laxed atmosphere at the MCC on
was normal. Finally, at the end of the to put heavier communication satel- June 5 was not surprising. The mis-
mission that lasted 16 minutes and lites into their initial orbit. sion was so flawless that a journalist
20 seconds came the all-important The GSLV-MkII rockets, with in- covering it could not help comment-
announcement that “GSAT-19 [the digenous cryogenic engines, could ing, rather inappropriately, that
satellite] has separated”. put satellites weighing 2.2 tonnes “there was no thrill” in reporting it.
It was a remarkable success for a into a GTO. Now ISRO does not have ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Ku-
totally new vehicle on its debut flight. to depend on Arianespace to put its mar called it “a historic launch” and
As ISRO’s top brass stressed, it was a four-tonne satellites into orbit. The “the culmination of a large amount of
vehicle built indigenously from GSLV-MkIII can also put satellites work done over decades”. About 200
scratch: its strap-on motors, its core weighing 10 tonnes into low-earth tests had been done on the vehicle’s
liquid stage, its cryogenic upper orbits. The vehicle can carry a crew various systems since 2014 and
stage and the ogive-shaped payload module with two or three astronauts ISRO was, therefore, confident
fairing (heat shield) with a massive into space or even segments of a about the mission’s outcome, he said.
diameter of five metres. Each of these space station. “But there were some butterflies in
was conceived, designed, developed, the stomach,” he conceded. The
realised and tested in India. Each of BREAKING THE JINX GSLV-MkIII needs one more suc-
the three stages was the largest that The success broke the jinx that had cessful developmental flight before it
ISRO has built so far. The crucial plagued ISRO’s earlier generations can be declared an operational
cryogenic upper stage had no refer- of vehicles. Be it the Satellite Launch vehicle, and this flight will take place
ence to the Russian cryogenic en- Vehicles (SLV-3s), the Augmented in less than a year, Kiran Kumar
gines of the GSLV-MkI series of Satellite Launch Vehicles (ASLVs), announced.
vehicles. At 640 tonnes, the GSLV- the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles The just-concluded mission
MkIII D1 was 50 per cent heavier (PSLVs), the GSLV-MkIs (with Rus- came about in a year and a half. K.
than GSLV-MkII, which weighed sian cryogenic stage) or the GSLV- Sivan, Director, VSSC, called it “a
414 tonnes. MkIIs (with Indian cryogenic stage), marvellous technological achieve-
The 43.43-metre-long GSLV- in all of them the first flight failed. ment” made possible by the meticu-
MkIII D1 had a simple configuration But an extraordinary confidence pre- lous planning by various ISRO
with only three propulsion stages. vailed in the various ISRO centres centres and the “very fast” fabrica-
The two solid strap-on motors, called when it came to the GSLV-MkIII D1 tion of hardware by industries.
S-200, clung on to the core liquid mission. The mission had “no technolo-
stage, called L-110, on either side. Those failures were seen as step- gical element borrowed or adapted
The liquid stage, four metres in dia- ping stones to success. The failure of from anybody”, asserted S.
meter, used more than 110 tonnes of the first GSLV-MkII flight with an Somanath, Director, Liquid Propul-
liquid propellants. Above the core li- indigenous cryogenic engine on sion Systems Centre (LPSC). “I am
quid stage sat the cryogenic stage April 15, 2010, was followed by four proud to say that the ISRO team has
called C-25, which used 28.3 tonnes consecutive successes for the vehicle mastered the cryogenic technology”
of cryogenic propellants, that is, li- from January 2014. with this success, he added.
quid oxygen and liquid hydrogen in ISRO had also drawn its lessons
the mission. On top of the cryogenic from the LVM3-X/CARE Mission of ADVANCED SATELLITE
stage sat the GSAT-19 surrounded by December 18, 2014. The crew mod- The success of the “advanced vehicle”
the payload fairing, which was 10.3 ule atmospheric re-entry experiment also lay in the fact that it put into a
metres tall and five metres in (CARE) mission was a replica of perfect orbit GSAT-19, “an advanced
diameter. GSLV-MkIII D1 but with a crucial communication satellite”. It carries
The importance of the cryogenic difference. It carried a C-25 stage Ka/Ku-band “throughput commu-
nication transponders” that have “no and the upper cryogenic stage before explained why the GSLV-MkIII D1
physical presence” and are “virtual the ISRO Propulsion Complex was a totally new vehicle and why
transponders”. It uses multiple fre- (IPRC) at Mahendragiri, Tamil ISRO developed it. While the PSLV
quency beams to send down data and Nadu, was hived off from the LPSC could put a 1.1-tonne satellite into
is hence called a throughput commu- on February 1, 2014. It was in the the GTO, the GSLV-MkII, with an
nication satellite. The satellite car- sophisticated test stands of the indigenous cryogenic upper stage,
ries a payload called Geostationary IPRC, after it became a separate fa- had double that capacity. However,
Radiation Spectrometer (GRASP) to cility, that the liquid stage and the 10 years ago, building a new class of
study the nature of charged particles cryogenic stage were tested and qual- communication satellites that
and the influence of space radiation ified. The three stages of the vehicle weighed four tonnes became the
on satellites and their electronic and the satellite were married up on norm.
components. a massive mobile platform in the “Augmenting the capacity of the
Tapan Misra, Director, Space Vehicle Assembly Building of the existing vehicles will not solve the
Applications Centre, ISRO, second launch pad at Sriharikota. problem. Doubling the capacity is
Ahmedabad, which made the pay- Ramakrishnan, who went on to huge. So we had necessarily to go in
loads in the satellite, called it “a game become Director, LPSC, and also for a new vehicle,” Sivan said.
changer communication satellite for Director, VSSC, asserted that the ISRO was clear that the new
India”. The satellite was tantamount GSLV-MkIII D1 was “a totally new vehicle should be able to reduce the
to a constellation of six or seven com- vehicle because all the systems, in- cost of the launch. “The cost of the
munication satellites of earlier cluding the S-200 stage, the L-110 launch vehicle may be more, but it
generations. stage and the C-25 stage are new”. should be able to take a heavier satel-
P.K. Gupta, Project Director, The C-25 stage with its cryogenic en- lite into orbit so that the cost of
GSAT-19, called the satellite “a test gine called CE-20 underwent only launching per kg of satellite will
laboratory in space” because it car- two tests—it was fired for 50 seconds come down. This was the main cri-
ried 15 critical technologies that on January 25, 2017, and it under- terion,” Sivan said.
would be validated during its went a full, flight-duration test for Secondly, the vehicle’s design
lifespan in space. These technologies 640 seconds on February 17. “We should be simple and it should be a
would form the mainstay of the next started work from scratch on this reliable vehicle. Reliability entailed
generation, heavier satellites. cryogenic engine. It is not similar to that the vehicle should have the min-
GSAT-19 was integrated at the ISRO the cryogenic upper stage of GSLV- imum possible number of propulsion
Satellite Centre, Bengaluru, whose MkII. It has no reference to the Rus- stages to put a four-tonne satellite
Director is M. Annadurai. sian cryogenic engines used in the into orbit.
It was a networking of various GSLV-MkI flights. It is a totally indi-
ISRO centres and industries that led genous cryogenic engine,” Ra- LOCATIONAL CONSTRAINT
to the GSLV-MkIII D1 mission’s suc- makrishnan asserted. An area of major concern was the
cess. The VSSC designed the vehicle launch constraint imposed by the
and developed its two powerful solid ALL-NEW VEHICLE location of Sriharikota, India’s space
motors. The LPSC developed and In an interview to Frontline in his port. The launch had to take place
realised the core liquid engine stage office at the VSSC on May 27, Sivan eastward from the island to put a
communication satellite into the
GTO. This did not offer “full free-
dom” because after the vehicle
cleared the Bay of Bengal, the In-
donesian land mass appeared on the
scene. The launch vehicle debris—
from the jettisoned stages—should
not be allowed to fall over Indonesia.
Sivan said: “We had seen that
when the vehicle reached a velocity
BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
of more than 5 km a second, the In-

donesian land mass came in. So we
had a requirement of designing a
launch vehicle that will have a capa-
city of reaching [a velocity of] 5 km a
second. But it is the lower stages that
should produce that velocity of 5 km
T H E FU L L Y B U I L T C R Y OG E N IC E NG I N E , which forms part of the a second. We then needed one more
cyrogenic stage of the GSLV-MkIII D1. It was developed entirely indigenously stage which will produce another 5
at LPSC, Valiamala, near Thiruvananthapuram. km a second of velocity. There can-

not, however, be an intermediary 5 km a second after the vehicle put a four-tonne satellite into orbit,
stage. [A total of 10.2 km a second crosses the land mass. So we had to we needed a cryogenic stage which
velocity is required to put a four- necessarily go in for a cryogenic stage will use 25 tonnes of propellants.
tonne satellite into the GTO.] After that will give 5 km a second at a That is how the C-25 stage came into
the vehicle crosses the land mass, its stretch and carry the four-tonne the picture.”
stages should not come down. They satellite into orbit. To put a 2.2- In other words, while the
should continuously burn and go tonne satellite into orbit, we had a vehicle’s lower stages will provide a
into orbit. That means we should cryo stage with 12 tonnes of liquid velocity of about 5.2 km a second, the
have a stage that should give another oxygen and liquid hydrogen. But to cryogenic stage will provide another
Swadeshi success
in India, including machining
works, to handle a heat shield of
such a diameter and height,” said
Venkitakrishnan, who was associ-
BEHIND the success of the GSLV- Propulsion Laboratory [JPL, Pas- ated with the GSLV-MkIII D1 de-
MkIII D1 lay 15 years of develop- adena, U.S.] of India,” declared P.V. velopment from its inception to the
mental efforts of the vehicle’s Venkitakrishnan, Director, IPRC. end at the VSSC, the LPSC and the
massive strap-on motors, the core “It is a world-class facility in terms IPRC.
liquid stage and the crucial cryo- of its integration centres and The entire infrastructure for a
genic stage. At 640 tonnes, it is the massive test stands. These facilities vehicle of this mass and size had to
heaviest vehicle ISRO has built so are tailor-made for India. They can- be developed for the first time, and
far. It required the setting up of not be copied from elsewhere and Indian industries rose to the occa-
brand new infrastructure facilities set up here,” he told Frontline on sion. They included private indus-
at various ISRO centres, chiefly the May 30, six days before the launch. tries such as Walchandnagar
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre According to S. Ramakrishnan, Industries Limited (WIL); Larsen &
(VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram; the the first Project Director of GSLV- Toubro; Godrej; MTAR Technolo-
Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre MkIII, as early as 2000 the Launch gies Private Limited, Hyderabad;
(LPSC), Valiamala, 30 km from Vehicle Design Group (LVDG) at and public sector undertakings such
Thiruvananthapuram; the ISRO the VSSC was giving shape to the as MIDHANI, Hyderabad; and
Propulsion Complex (IPRC) at Ma- GSLV-MkIII. The LVDG’s report HAL, Bengaluru.
hendragiri near Nagercoil in Tamil described the GSLV-MkIII as “a MIDHANI equipped itself to
Nadu; and the Satish Dhawan vehicle capable of launching four to handle the four-metre class hard-
Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota. 4.5 tonnes into GTO or about ten ware for the liquid L-110 stage
The mission also led to ISRO tonnes into low-earth orbit. The which was developed by 2006. “It
fabricating a payload fairing, or heat vehicle will use efficient boosters was done in record time,” said Ven-
shield, that was five metres in dia- and stages with state-of-the-art ma- kitakrishnan. Drawings, civil works,
meter and 10.7 metres tall, the terials and design methods to real- equipment facilities, hardware fab-
largest composite hardware realised ise a rugged, least-cost and reliable rication and validation of hardware
by ISRO so far. It protects the satel- launcher.” were all done in four years. By 2010,
lite inside during the vehicle’s as- The payload fairing that encases the LPSC had developed the
cent into the atmosphere. the four-tonne satellite has a dia- massive core liquid stage, and the
When the mission turned out to meter of five metres. “It was the first big test stand in the IPRC had fired
be a spectacular success on June 5, a time we were going to make a pay- and tested it. The static test of the
big slice of the credit belonged to the load fairing with a diameter of five two solid booster motors were done
IPRC. A key centre for the mission, metres. But there were no facilities at Sriharikota. By then, Ramakrish-
it had realised, tested and qualified
the vehicle’s cryogenic stage (C-25)
and the core liquid stage. Besides, it
was here that the cryogenic and li-
quid propellants needed for the
mission were made. “Our ISRO
Propulsion Complex” is the “Jet
A VI E W O F T H E I S R O Propulsion
Complex at Mahendragiri near
ISRO
Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu.

5 km a second. Thus, the entire the core liquid stage which uses 110 had seven propulsion motors: four
vehicle would generate a velocity of tonnes of liquid propellants and a liquid strap-on motors around the
10.2 km a second to put a four-tonne third, cryogenic upper stage which core solid stage, then the liquid stage,
satellite into the GTO. uses 25 tonnes of propellants. This followed by the cryogenic upper
Since ISRO wanted to build a configuration can carry a four-tonne stage to put a 2.2-tonne satellite into
vehicle with a minimum number of satellite into GTO,” Sivan said. In orbit.)
stages and minimum complexity, fact, the core liquid stage had two Sivan added: “Thus, we con-
“we prepared a configuration with Vikas engines. figured a simple system with the gen-
two S-200 strap-on motors around (In comparison, the GSLV-MkII eral requirement of reducing cost,
nan had become Director, LPSC, pellants Space Booster Plant What gave Team ISRO the con-
and N. Narayanamoorthy had taken (SPROB) to cater to the require- fidence about the GSLV-MkIII D1
over as Project Director, GSLV- ments of GSLV-MkIII class mission was the first successful fir-
MkIII. The development tests of the vehicles. A new Solid Propellants ing of the cryogenic stage for 50
booster motors and the liquid stage Plant (SPP) was built to produce the seconds on January 25, 2017, at the
were done under Naray- S-200 motors exclusively for GSLV- towering test stand at Mahendrag-
anamoorthy’s leadership. MkIII vehicles. It has now been iri. “If any problem were to be there,
Qualifying the liquid stage and made versatile in terms of enabling it would show within the first 50
the strap-on motors was not an easy the production of solid motors for seconds. After that, the engine will
job. “The L-110 core liquid booster the PSLVs and the GSLV-MkII stabilise. There will be combustion
of the vehicle uses two Vikas en- vehicles. The Solid Stage Assembly stability,” said Venkitakrishnan.
gines. They should perform identic- Building (SSAB) at Sriharikota, After this test, the flight stage, that
ally. There should not be any where the solid motors of the GSLV- is, the D stage, was prepared with
differential thrust between them. If MkIII are integrated, has also been minor modifications using the res-
the thrust between them differs, the made versatile. It has been modified ults of the 50-second test. This stage
vehicle will topple. The same is true for the integration of the first stages was fired successfully for the full
with the two strap-on motors. Their of the PSLVs and the GSLV-MkII flight duration of 640 seconds on
performance should be identical,” vehicles. Besides, big facilities have February 17, 2017. It was this stage
said Venkitakrishnan. come up at the launch pad to service that went into the actual flight on
From 2010 to 2015, Venki- the cryogenic stage of GSLV-MkIII June 5.
takrishnan was in charge of the de- vehicles with liquid oxygen and li- V. Narayanan, Project Director,
velopment and testing of the quid hydrogen. They include refri- C-25 Cryogenic Project, and Associ-
cryogenic stage at the LPSC. This geration, pipelines, engine chilling, ate Director, LPSC, said: “We are
demanded development of several liquid oxygen tanks and so on. All one of the few countries to have de-
strategic materials and superalloys these have state-of-the-art safety veloped this cryogenic technology.
used in the fabrication of the cryo- features. The cryogenic engine used in the
genic engine. These materials were P. Kunhikrishnan, Director, GSLV-MkIII D1 mission was totally
developed indigenously with a SDSC, Sriharikota, said that during indigenously conceived, designed,
number of participating industries. the lift-off of the GSLV-MkIII D1 an developed, realised, tested and
The aerospace division of HAL, acoustic suppression tower built at qualified. This gives us a great ad-
Bengaluru, provided the propellant the second launch pad sprayed 600 vantage.”
tanks for the cryogenic stage. Soon tonnes of water in order to reduce After the GSLV-MkIII D1 suc-
the cryo engine development was the noise levels that might damage cess, Venkitakrishnan said: “In
completed and stage engineering the rocket and the satellite inside 2002, we were wondering how to
done. the heat shield. (When the GSLV- make a heat shield with a diameter
In fact, a special titanium-alpha MkIII lifts off, its two strap-on mo- of five metres, how to make the ma-
alloy developed to make the helium tors together generate a thrust of chines for it and so on. This vehicle
gas bottles used in the vehicle led to more than 800 tonnes. The sheer had more swadeshi elements than
a lot of weight being saved. This, in volume of noise produced then can any other vehicle. The superalloys
turn, led to a gain of 60 kg in pay- damage the rocket and the satellite.) and strategic materials needed for
load (satellite) weight. The develop- Kunhikrishnan said a second the vehicle were made here.
ment of the gas bottles using the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), All the machines were con-
titanium alloy was done at the three times bigger than the present ceived, designed and realised by
LPSC, said Venkitakrishnan. one, would be ready in some our industry. We have gone on the
Massive infrastructure was built months. Once the second VAB is right path from the beginning in
at the SDSC, Sriharikota, to aug- ready, the frequency of launches 2002.”
ment the capacity of the Solid Pro- would go up. T.S. Subramanian

increasing reliability, using the sys- The liquid engine continues to fire phase of the flight “very crucial for
tems already developed and taking until five minutes and 17 seconds any launch vehicle mission”. As the
less development time. All these after the blast-off. launch vehicle ascends the atmo-
combined together, we arrived at this Somanath said: “When the four sphere, its velocity builds up fast. But
configuration.” motors are working together, we the atmospheric density comes
“We have two strap-ons in GSLV- have algorithms which can make use down. Winds would be large. The
MkIII which are among the most of all four nozzles. Two solid motors dynamic pressure acting on the
massive strap-ons in the world,” said are working. Two liquid Vikas en- vehicle would be the maximum.
S. Somanath, Director, LPSC. gines in the liquid stage are working. When the loads acting on the vehicle
“Though they are called the strap- All of them are under control. The are large, the disturbance will try to
ons, they are the primary propulsive moment the S-200s are shut down, tilt the vehicle. “When this disturb-
stages. They provide the entire lift- you have to change the algorithm ance is trying to tilt the vehicle, the
off thrust. Unlike in the PSLVs and and transfer the control to the liquid vehicle’s control systems will work in
the GSLVs, the strap-ons in GSLV- stage motor. It should be done the opposite direction to correct it.
MkIII are the primary propulsion smoothly, without any jerk or So a breaking effect will be there. The
stages. That way the basic design of problem.” vehicle will break as if it were a stick,”
the vehicle is different.” What made the GSLV-MkIII D1 the VSSC Director said.
But the introduction of such big different was that instead of using Besides, the ebb and flow occur-
boosters, each of which used more explosive separation bolts or springs ring over the vehicle will create a lot
than 200 tonnes of solid propellants, to push down/jettison the spent of acoustic noise. The acoustics will
entailed problems. In stages, ISRO used six be so high that they could harm the
the PSLVs and the small motors in each sensitive instruments in the satellite
earlier GSLVs, the per- of the strap-on stages which is seated inside the payload
formance of the strap- to kick out the spent fairing. It should be ensured that the
on motors “was not solid stages. “Here we acoustic level outside the vehicle is
very critical” to the cannot use the springs benign. So the payload fairing of the
mission and “a slight because the motor GSLV-MkIII D1 was modified, after
difference in their per- weight itself in each the LVM3-X/CARE mission in
formance would not strap-on is 35 tonnes. December 2014, to withstand severe
S . R . R A G H U N AT H A N
make an issue”, the We have, therefore, aerodynamic loads. “Our aim was
LPSC Director said. used six small motors that internal acoustics for the satel-
However, in GSLV- in each strap-on to lite should be benign. The payload
MkIII D1, since the push the 35 tonnes fairing was changed to an ogive-
two strap-on motors away. The motors shaped curve,” Ayyappan said. The
were extremely power- A . S. K I R A N K U M A R, have to be fired at the normal “straight-on” nose cones of
ful, their performance Chairman, ISRO. moment the strap- the strap-on booster stages were
was very critical to the ons have to be separ- modified to slanted types. “The shape
mission and they had to produce ated,” the LPSC Director said. and size of the payload fairing and
identical thrust. “The entire vehicle G. Ayyappan, Mission Director, the head-end segment of the solid
will topple if the thrust-level is not emphasised that after the LVM3-X/ motors were modified so that there
identical. They have 400 tonnes of CARE mission in December 2014 will be minimum disturbances act-
propellants. Their matched perform- “we made this vehicle more robust in ing on the vehicle. The launch vehicle
ance is very critical,” said Somanath. terms of aerodynamics”. As the was thus made more aerodynamic-
The thrust differential should not ex- launch vehicle climbs into the atmo- ally robust,” said Ayyappan, who is
ceed plus or minus ten tonnes. sphere, it experiences turbulence, so also the Project Director,
What also set apart GSLV-MkIII ISRO developed a new kind of pay- GSLV-MkIII.
DI from the PSLV and the earlier load fairing, called ogive payload As P.V. Venkitakrishnan, Dir-
GSLVs was “the philosophy” of the fairing, to protect the satellite inside. ector, IPRC, Mahendragiri, said, the
core liquid stage taking over from the Ayyappan explained: “During the at- GSLV-MkIII D1 turned out to be “a
two strap-on motors. All the three mospheric phase of the flight, the grand vehicle in terms of
fire together for some time before the loads experienced by the vehicle are everything”: in its high-performance
solid strap-on motors burn out and directly proportionate to the dy- cryogenic engine, the smooth func-
the core liquid stage fully takes over. namic pressure and the angle of at- tioning of its two solid strap-on mo-
What happens is this: after the tack. Our aim was to reduce as far as tors, the firing of its liquid engine
S-200s erupt into life on the ground possible the dynamic pressure and and, of course, its capability to put a
at T-minus zero, the L-110 starts fir- the angle of attack so that the vehicle four-tonne satellite into GTO. And,
ing one minute and 54 seconds later. will have a smooth passage through above all, in terms of realising the
The three together fire for 26 seconds the atmosphere.” dream of “sustained self-reliance in
before the two strap-ons separate. Sivan called the atmospheric accessing space”. $
W O RL D A FF A IR S
VICTORY
IN DEFEAT DA NIEL LEA L-OLIV A S/A F P
L A B OU R L E A D ER
Jeremy Corbyn arriving at
the party’s headquarters in
London on June 9 after the
election results were
announced.
The Labour Party’s showing in the recent election in the United

Kingdom well and truly debunked the widespread assumption
that a left-wing party would not be able to engage with the
wider electorate. Jeremy Corbyn will take over as Leader of the
Opposition from a position of strength.
B Y V I D Y A R A M I N L O N D ON
JE F F J. M I T C HE L L /G E T T Y I M A G E S
PRIME MI NI S T E R THERESA MAY speaking outside 10 Downing Street on June 9 after returning from Buckingham
Palace where she had gone to seek the official invite to form the government. Her husband, Philip May, is also in the picture.
IN EARLY OCTOBER 1994, A YOUNG, CONFIDENT following year. While Blair’s rhetoric impressed and con-
and energised Tony Blair, who had just been elected vinced many in the party, there were sceptics. Speaking
leader of the Labour Party, took to the stage at the party’s to the BBC, while others enthused, Jeremy Corbyn, a
conference in the seaside city of Blackpool to convince young and bushy-bearded MP then, expressed his con-
the party to make a major break with the past by revising cerns about the lack of detail in Blair’s speech and the
its constitution. The biggest change would involve elim- direction of his commitments. “I can understand the
inating Clause IV in which was enshrined the party’s desire for good presentation, but we are slightly missing
commitment to the “common ownership of the means of the point. People on low wages, the unemployed and the
production”, which the party had maintained since 1918. desperately poor, they need to know Labour is going to
This was essential, he said, for a “modern party living in deliver those things and is prepared to take the economic
an age of change. It requires a modern constitution that and taxation decisions or we will lose them…. I want to
says what we are in terms the public cannot misunder- see a much stronger commitment to the welfare state.”
stand and the Tories cannot misrepresent…. The next Blair’s vision for the party triumphed, and his elect-
election will offer us the chance to change our country, oral success three years later, in May 1997, seemed to
not just to promise change, but to achieve it—the historic bolster his insistence that to succeed, Labour needed to
goal of another Labour government. Our party, new “reinvent” socialism and move decidedly to the middle
Labour; our mission, new Britain. New Labour, new ground. It is a perspective that remained dominant
Britain.” within the parties for well over a decade afterwards, even
The move caught many off guard, but the party’s after Blair’s personal standing took a drastic hit from his
National Executive Committee accepted the changes the stubborn commitment to take the country to war against
Iraq despite strong public opposition. Critics, of course, them a voice,” said Emma Dent Coad, the new Labour
remained, such as the Socialist Campaign Group, and MP for Kensington.
left-wing candidates such as John McDonnell and Diane Labour’s success also helped restore Britain’s two-
Abbott regularly stood for elections in leadership con- party system as other parties got the smallest share of the
tests, with little success. vote since 1970.
In an interview with the BBC last year, McDonnell The front pages that greeted the British public on
recalled the moment that Corbyn was persuaded to June 9 made it clear that victory lay with Corbyn rather
stand, albeit reluctantly. The resignation of Ed Mil- than Theresa May. “Queen of Denial” was the headline of
liband, following Labour’s poor showing in the 2015 Evening Standard (edited by former Chancellor of the
general election, triggered a leadership contest, and vari- Exchequer George Osborne). “Mayhem” declared the
ous left-wing groups within the party held a meeting to right-wing The Sun newspaper; the day before it had
mull their options. McDonnell admitted to being scep- headlined a picture of Corbyn emerging out of a dustbin
tical of whether it would be worth fielding a candidate, with the words “Don’t Chuck Britain in the Cor-Bin”.
convinced they would face a “crushing defeat”, but the
groups eventually decided to do so. When McDonnell, CORBYN’S JOURNEY
who had stood twice previously, declined, as did Diane Corbyn’s journey to this result has been complex and
Abbott, everyone looked to Corbyn, who had never done riddled with highs and lows and involving a process of
so and who then agreed to saying: “Oh, go on then.” personal learning and growth. To a man used to standing
The impact of that decision is being felt across Britain firmly by his principles on pretty much anything for
as the Labour Party’s “shock success” in the snap general decades (he had rebelled against the Labour government
election on June 8 shook the consensus held within the in power between 1997 and 2010 over 400 times), and
party and across the country that left-wing politics re- who was used to being the voice of protest, leadership
main fringe and would relegate the party to the political proved challenging at times, perhaps inevitably. After all,
wasteland. his epic rise was unplanned, and he did not have by his
This was a view that persisted from the time Corbyn side the seasoned political advisers that have come to
made it onto the ballot (partly thanks to some MPs who characterise leadership across the political spectrum in
did not agree with his politics but thought it important to Britain. He was propelled to leadership not through the
have a “token” left-wing candidate on the list). In July usual back-room negotiations to win support from par-
2015, as polls showed Corbyn taking the lead in the liamentarians and influential unions but through the
leadership campaign, Blair appealed to Labour members grass-roots movement that rallied around him as he
to reject the “traditional leftist platform” of Corbyn. travelled across the country to engage and inspire.
“Don’t for heaven’s sake move back,” he said, advising
those who wanted to follow Corbyn to “get a heart trans-
plant”. The cover of The Economist in September 2015
after Corbyn thrashed his opponents in the Labour lead-
ership contest was “Backwards, comrades”, warning that
Perhaps most emblematic
he was leading Britain’s Left into a political time warp.
The Conservatives won the largest number of seats,
was the Labour victory in the
but theirs was a hollow victory as they lost 13 seats,
leaving them dependent on the Far-Right Democratic
London constituency of
Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland to form the
government. The validation that Prime Minister Theresa
Kensington, which had
May had sought for her party’s direction on Brexit and
beyond is nowhere in sight. The Labour Party by contrast
always been Conservative.
gained 30 seats, and Corbyn has increased its share of the
vote more than any other of the party’s leaders in any The vicious assault, and at times barrage of down-
election in post-War Britain. The Labour’s vote share right lies, that followed was unwarranted and unpreced-
rose 9.5 per cent, which is just shy of Clement Attlee’s ented. In a study published by the London School of
10.4 per cent swing in 1945. Economics that examined coverage of Corbyn from
It succeeded in taking constituencies that had been September 1, 2015, to November 1, 2015, academics con-
Conservative for decades, such as the south-eastern his- cluded that Britain’s press had moved from being a polit-
toric town of Canterbury, which had voted for Brexit. ical “watchdog” to an “attack dog” and raised “serious
Perhaps most emblematic was the Labour victory in the ethical questions as to the role of the media in a demo-
London constituency of Kensington, one of the city’s cracy”. The report said that Corbyn was “represented
most affluent areas, which had been Conservative unfairly by the British press through a process of vilifica-
through its entire history. “Clearly, this election was not tion that went well beyond the normal limits of fair
all about Brexit, not around the country and not in this debate and disagreement in a democracy. Corbyn was
constituency. The people of Kensington have spoken and often denied his own voice in the reporting on him and
have voted for someone they can trust and who can give sources that were anti-Corbyn tended to outweigh those

that support him and his positions. He was also systemat- A DE M O NST R A T IO N IN L O ND O N on June 10 against the
ically treated with scorn and ridicule in both the broad- Conservative Party’s alliance with the Democratic
sheet and tabloid press in a way that no other political Unionist Party.
leader is or has been. Even more problematic, the British
press has repeatedly associated Corbyn with terrorism website Medium last year, he warned that the Labour
and positioned him as a friend of the enemies of the U.K. Party was missing opportunities to cut through to the
The result has been a failure to give the newspaper electorate. “A clear coherent message that would reson-
reading public a fair opportunity to form their own ate with people who aren’t signed up left wing activists
judgements about the leader of the country’s main op- that addressed people’s everyday problems and aspira-
position.” tions has yet to be created,” he wrote. Richard Murphy, a
Over the course of the months that followed, Corbyn prominent tax justice campaigner and early supporter of
faced criticism even from former supporters, particularly Corbyn, wrote a scathing piece on the rise and fall of
over his failure to stand on a platform with Conservatives “Corbynomics”, warning that his team had left the im-
campaigning to remain in the European Union (E.U.) in pression that “they had created a movement that hates
last year’s referendum. Owen Jones, a left-wing activist, what’s happening in the world and can get really angry
political commentator and early supporter of Corbyn, about it, but then has not a clue what to do about it”.
was one of those to voice his concerns. Writing for the Many who had been willing to work alongside him within
When the election was declared on April 18, many
decried the cynical move by the Conservatives, assuming
it was not a case of whether they would have a landslide,
but by how much. The campaign proved a decisive mo-
ment for Corbyn and his supporters, now seasoned polit-
ical operators, who had learnt from the repeated attacks
upon them. It offered Corbyn the opportunity to do what
he was perhaps best at: talking directly to the public and
setting an agenda free from the strictures of parliament-
ary politics. His down-to-earth, approachable and earn-
est manner, which had sometimes been ridiculed in
Parliament (his decision to base Prime Minister’s Ques-
tions around questions sent in by the public was also
ridiculed by some, particularly on the right), proved to be
just the thing on the campaign trail and was in contrast to
Theresa May, whose ham-handed attempts to engage
and talk to people across constituencies failed to pay off.
A striking example of this was an interview conducted
with the chief reporter of The Plymouth Herald, a local
newspaper of the port city on England’s south coast,
which went viral. Writing about his three-minute inter-
view with the Prime Minister, after she had “chatted with
fishermen earnestly at the nets and buckets”, the reporter
concluded she had given him “absolutely nothing”. His
questions were highly specific (and non-confrontational)
and addressed issues such as concerns about the impact
of cuts to the military on the local economy, but her
answers were infuriatingly generic and unconvincing.
POLICY DISASTERS
While a series of political U-turns and policy disasters
(including over social care for the elderly, which hits a
core Conservative constituency) made Theresa May’s at-
J A C K T A Y L O R / G E T TY I M A G E S
tempts to look “strong and stable” increasingly come

across as questionable, her positioning of herself as a
“bloody difficult woman” with regards to Brexit negoti-
ations rang alarm bells across the country, suggesting
that the Conservatives had greatly misread the mood of
the people, anxious over the terms under which the
country would exit the E.U. Her open declaration that
she would not participate in any head-to-head debates at
the start of the campaign initially looked confident but
the party deserted. Writing for the online publication rapidly backfired as it fed into the picture being built up
“LabourList”, the MP Seema Malhotra explained that she by Labour and other opponents that she was not willing
was leaving the Labour shadow cabinet because she be- to debate because she was on shaky territory. Her explan-
lieved the country needed new and “strong leadership”. ation of why she did not participate in a BBC debate—
Even after Corbyn survived a vote of no confidence, which Corbyn joined at the last minute—was widely
the scepticism remained, so convinced was the British ridiculed as she suggested it was because she was getting
political establishment that Labour under Corbyn was on with the process of preparing for Brexit (many pointed
bound for failure. “The collapse of the Labour Party out this was hypocritical given it was she who had forced
means that we face a prolonged period of uninterrupted Britain into the election, with the result due less than two
and unchecked Conservative government at Westmin- weeks before Britain began negotiations).
ster,” said Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the Scottish Na- Corbyn by contrast was in his element, drawing large
tional Party, when she announced plans to push for a crowds as he toured the country pledging to create a
second referendum on Scottish independence in March. government that would serve “the many not the few”. A
In April, the Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron de- clever online strategy spread Corbyn’s message via social
clared his intent to make his party the main opposition media while parodying the Conservatives and their at-
party and described Corbyn as the “worst leader in Brit- tempts to attack him. “Weak and Wobbly” was the re-
ish political history”. sponse to Theresa May’s “strong and stable” play, and in

the days running up to the election, the hashtag #last- levels of support for Corbyn among the young. The
minuteCorbynsmears poked fun at the attempts by the turnout of 68.7 per cent (2 percentage points higher than
Conservatives and the media that supported them to in 2015) suggests that this did indeed contribute to
frighten voters away from Corbyn. But perhaps what was Corbyn’s victory, but it alone cannot explain the failure of
most decisive of all was Corbyn’s engagement with the the Conservatives to take on Labour in its heartlands in
wider party and in drafting the party’s manifesto. The the north (a part of the country that Theresa May visited
manifesto was a radical one, committing Labour to rein- on a number of occasions) or Labour’s success in some
troducing public ownership of key infrastructure (essen- traditional Conservative territory. The Conservatives lost
tially going back on the rejection of Clause IV) and six seats in London alone and failed to fully exploit the
raising taxes for corporations and those with salaries of collapse of the UK Independence Party elsewhere in the
over £80,000. Corbyn and his team relentlessly targeted country as some of its supporters shifted to Labour
the years of austerity that had pounded the public and hit (though analysis has suggested the vote did by and large
education, health care and even the police (an issue that move to the Conservatives).
proved particularly in tune with public sentiment follow- The coming weeks will be a crucial time for Corbyn
ing the three terrorist attacks that had taken place in the and his team. With the assumption that a left-wing party
country). He did not shy away from difficult political would not be able to engage with the wider electorate well
discussions, such as raising questions about Britain’s and truly debunked, Corbyn will take over as Leader of
interventionist foreign policy just days after the attack on the Opposition in a far stronger place than ever before.
the Ariana Grande concert in While the media attacks, particularly
Manchester, which killed 22 people. from the tabloids, are likely to con-
The election was called purportedly tinue unabated, he will probably be
over Brexit but became about some- less hindered than in the past by op-
thing much bigger, thanks to the position from within his own party,
Corbyn campaign. which unified behind him, to a certain
At the same time, he gave way on extent at least, in the weeks leading up
issues that many in the “mainstream” to the election. Theo Bertram, a
of the party felt strongly about, such as former adviser to Blair and Gordon
committing the party to renewing Bri- Brown, wrote in “inews”: “A decade
tain’s nuclear deterrent Trident. working for Blair and Brown taught
Corbyn deftly rejected criticism that he me that Corbyn would lose. I’m so
had given up on his principles, point- happy I was wrong ...for Labour, it is
ing out that it showed that he listened, time to reconcile the inspirational and
learnt and engaged with his party. As pragmatic: not make them enemies of
the party rapidly closed the gap in the each other.”
polls, many previous critics began to There will be challenges, of course.
speak out, some cautiously in favour, Immediately after the election, the di-
others wildly ecstatic. Writing in The visions over Brexit resurfaced as Mc-
Guardian, Calum Campbell—the son Donnell’s insistence that Britain
of Alastair Campbell, Blair’s former would in all likelihood be unable to
adviser and campaign strategist—en- remain in the single market was pub-
J U S T I N T A L L I S / A FP
thused about a leader he had once licly challenged by others in the party.
thought would lead the party to elect- With the Conservative leadership
oral disaster. “What this campaign has now on the back foot, particularly over
shown is just how out of touch I was. its decision to ally with the DUP,
Britain is a country that is desperate F O RM E R P R I M E M I N IS T E R whose stance on issues ranging from
for change.” “Like father like son Tony Blair. In July 2015, he climate change to abortion deeply
though fair to say his enthusiasm appealed to Labour members to troubles many even within the Con-
>mine!” tweeted Alastair Campbell, reject the “traditional leftist servative Party, and Theresa May fa-
who earlier this year had described platform” of Corbyn. cing great personal pressure, Corbyn
Corbyn’s leadership as a “car crash”. and his team are more confident than
“He’s had a very positive campaign and he has grown ever before. They have rejected the suggestion of coali-
in his leadership and as an electoral campaigner,” said tions and plan to present a vision for Britain’s future in an
Seema Malhotra, on the campaign trail. “People have “alternative” Queen’s speech when Parliament reopens
seen the policies of the Labour Party and that is having later this month. Corbyn may not have been the one to
quite an impact in terms of changing the conversation. have driven to Buckingham Palace to seek the official
We are at a changing point now where we’ve seen Labour invite to form the government, but it is the political
acting with tremendous unity in this campaign.” gauntlet that he and his team have thrown down that the
Ahead of the election, many had argued that the rest of the political establishment, the Conservatives and
results would depend heavily on turnout, given the high beyond, will have to respond to. $
W O RL D AFF AI RS
WEST ASIA
Qatar in crisis
A tripartite alliance of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Israel, with the blessings
of the U.S., seeks to isolate Qatar accusing it of sponsoring terrorism and
supporting Iran, but its real grouse is that the Gulf state backs groups such as
Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. B Y J O H N C H E R IA N
A P / K UN A
THE ONGOING ATTEMPT BY SAUDI ARABIA K U WA I T ’ S E M I R Sheikh Sabah al Ahmad al Sabah with
and its allies in the region to isolate and undermine the Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani in Doha,
Emirate of Qatar has the blessings, at least for the time Qatar. Kuwait’s Emir travelled to Qatar to help mediate an
being, of United States President Donald Trump. Behind end to a crisis that has seen Arab nations cut off ties with
the scenes, Israel is encouraging Saudi Arabia in its the tiny energy-rich nation.
dangerous game of provoking a war against Iran. The
immediate trigger for the latest crisis involving Qatar was Qatar’s support for Hamas is well documented, but
an alleged speech made by the country’s Emir, Sheikh Hizbollah and Qatar are on opposite sides in the war in
Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in which he questioned the Syria. Qatar, like Saudi Arabia, adheres to the conservat-
wisdom of a confrontation with Iran. In his speech, ive Salafi version of Sunni Islam, which considers Shias
which Qataris claim was hacked, the Emir is said to have as apostates. Hizbollah, a Shia political party, is part of
praised the role of resistance movements such as Hamas the government in Lebanon. Qatar was accused of paying
and Hizbollah. “ransom money” to the so-called Shia terror groups in
Iraq. In the second week of June, Iraqi Prime Minister
Haider al-Abadi said that the $500 million ransom
Qatar paid to secure the release of 25 Qatari hostages
was lying in the Iraqi Central Bank. Saudi Arabia and its
Gulf allies had insisted that the money was paid directly
to a Shia militia.
The main charge against Qatar is that it is not faith-
fully implementing the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
line on isolating Iran. The other charge is that the tiny
emirate continues to provide assistance and succour to
terrorist groups. But the real grouse of Saudi Arabia and
its main allies in the region is that Qatar continues to
back political movements and parties such as the
Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. Israel, Saudi Arabia,
the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and a few other
countries consider them terrorist groupings. On a visit
to Paris in the second week of June, the Saudi Foreign
Minister, Adil al-Jubeir, once again raised the demand
that Qatar should cut off all relations with the Muslim
Brotherhoood and Hamas. Hamas, which won the
Palestinian legislative elections held in the Gaza Strip
and West Bank in 2006, is in power in the Israel-
blockaded Gaza, and affiliates of the Muslim Brother-
hood are active in the politics of Tunisia, Morocco,
Jordan and other Arab countries. Most of the top leader-
ship of the Brotherhood in Egypt are incarcerated, with
many of them facing the death sentence.
Saudi Arabia was particularly unhappy with the has explicitly forsworn terrorism. The previous Barack
Qatari government’s support to the short-lived Mo- Obama administration in the U.S. had done business
hamed Morsi-led Muslim Brotherhood government in with the Brotherhood.
Egypt and Brotherhood-affiliated parties after the suc- The other major demands Saudi Arabia has made on
cess of the Arab Spring revolution there. The Muslim Qatar include its immediate severance of diplomatic rela-
Brotherhood was voted to power in Egypt in 2012 but tions with Iran, expulsion of Hamas and Muslim Broth-
was ousted from power soon after. Political observers erhood operatives from the emirate, and suspension of
maintain that if free and fair elections are held once the Al Jazeera network. Qatar and Iran share the giant
again, the results will be the same. The Brotherhood South Pars gas field, the biggest in the world. Cooperation
in the hydrocarbon sector is crucial for both the countries.
Besides, many of the Gulf emirates such as Oman, Kuwait
and, for that matter, Dubai would like to have good
relations with Iran. Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, which
controls the UAE with its immense oil-generated wealth,
are currently driving the GCC’s foreign policy.
Saudi Arabia and its allies in the GCC made their
move against Qatar soon after Trump’s visit to the region.
The move to isolate Qatar, at least on the surface, ap-
peared surprising as the country hosts one of the biggest
U.S. military bases in the region. More than 10,000 U.S.
servicemen are based there. The Al Udeid airbase is the
biggest U.S. Air Force base in the region. The forward
A F P / SA U D I P R E S S A G E N C Y
headquarters of the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) is

also located in Qatar. The Pentagon has maintained that
the base has been crucial to the U.S. military in its opera-
tions in Syria and Iraq. Even as the U.S. Secretary of State,
Rex Tillerson, was busy trying to effect a truce among the
Gulf kingdoms, issuing statements on the need for a
negotiated settlement to the stand-off, Trump undercut
S A U D I A R A B I A ’ S King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud him by tweeting a second time that Qatar was guilty of
with the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa, in aiding terrorists.
Jeddah on June 7. Trump, it seems, has bought the Saudi view hook, line
hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of
tonnes of military weapons into anyone who could fight
Assad, except the people who were being supplied were
Al Qaeda and al Nusra and the extremist elements of
jihadis coming from all over the world”.
The U.S. State Department has been arguing that an
alliance of the Gulf states is important for the goal of
combating Iran and defeating the Daesh in Iraq. But
Trump seems to be of the view that Qatar, the world’s
biggest gas exporter strategically located near the Straits
of Hormuz, is of no real consequence. In fact, he issued
two back-to-back statements that Qatar was aiding and
funding terrorism. The last presidential statement was
issued immediately after Tillerson urged calm and the
easing of the economic blockade imposed unilaterally
against Qatar by Saudi Arabia and its allies.
Qatar has a population of around three million, of
which more than two million are foreigners, most of
them workers from the Indian subcontinent. The gas-
rich emirate is completely dependent on food imports to
feed its populace. With its land borders sealed by Saudi
Arabia and its neighbours prohibiting the use of their
airspace for transportation of goods, Qatar has been
pushed to a corner. Almost all its food and other basic
necessities used to come through Saudi Arabia. Now
AP
Qatar is forced to airlift food from Turkey and Iran.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has been
U.S. PR ES I D ENT Donald Trump and Qatar’s Emir at forthright in his criticism of Trump’s role in the new crisis
a bilateral meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 21. in the Gulf. He attributed the escalation of the dispute to
the dangerous “Trumpification” of regional politics.
and sinker that Iran is the principal sponsor of terrorism “Such a Trumpification of relations with one another is
in the region and that Qatar is not far behind. In fact, dangerous in a region that is already rife with crises,” he
Trump gave a good character certificate to Qatar after his said in an interview with a German newspaper. Germany,
meeting with the Emir during his visit to Riyadh in May.
“Our relationship with the country [Qatar] is extremely
good,” he declared. Trump said he had good discussions
with the Emir, and high on the agenda of discussions,
according to him, was the sale of “beautiful American-
made weapons”. Qatar, which is already brimming over
with weapons of all kinds, did not sign a multibillion-
dollar deal with the U.S., unlike Saudi Arabia. Immediate
ostracism followed, with Trump discovering that Qatar
was in fact an aider and abetter of terrorism all the time.
In 2011, Trump described Saudi Arabia as the
“world’s biggest funder of terrorism” and added that it
was using “our own petrodollars to fund terrorists that
seek to destroy our people while the Saudis rely on us to
protect them”. After Saudi Arabia inked the $110-billion
arms deal during his visit to Riyadh, it has suddenly
become a good guy in the eyes of the multibillionaire
President.
The former Vice President, Joe Biden, had in a speech
at Harvard said that “the Saudis, the Emirates, etc. were
so determined to take down [Bashar al-] Assad and
TH E N E W Y O R K TI ME S
essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war that they poured
THE COMB I NED Air Operations Centre at the Al Udeid air

base in Qatar. The centre provides command and control of
air power over Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and 17 other nations.

along with Turkey and Iran, is openly supporting Qatar promote,” the statement said. The attack was the first of
in its stand-off with Saudi Arabia. Germany and Turkey its kind since the late 1980s to hit the Iranian capital.
are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif called the White
(NATO). The U.S. and the United Kingdom, the two House statement “repugnant”. The Daesh claimed re-
major arms suppliers and backers of Saudi Arabia, are sponsibility for the attacks. The Iranian authorities poin-
also part of the military alliance. Any military move ted out that the attacks had taken place after Trump’s
against Qatar could create serious ruptures not only in visit to Saudi Arabia.
the Gulf alliance but also in the Western military alliance. The Qataris, like Saudis and the emiratis, have vehe-
Turkey has a small military base in Qatar and is rushing mently denied any links with terrorist groups. Most of the
additional troops to the emirate. kingdoms in the Gulf region, barring Oman, have been
Egypt is angry with Qatar for its continued backing of active players in the efforts to undermine the secular
the Muslim Brotherhood and the Al Jazeera network, governments in the region. All the three countries sup-
which Egyptians claim is a mouthpiece for the Brother- ported terrorist groups in Libya, though many of them
hood. Interestingly, even the Maldives has broken diplo- are on opposing sides now. Saudi Arabia and its allies
matic ties with Qatar and is supporting Saudi Arabia. prefer groups linked to the al Nusra Front while Qatar
Riyadh has invested heavily in the tourism industry in the and Turkey prefer to route their money and weapons to
country whose present government is pursuing an Islam- the Daesh and groups associated with it. Qatar is not the
ist agenda. Israeli policymakers are happy with the latest only state challenging Saudi Arabia for influence in the
developments in the Gulf as Saudi and emirati policies in region. The UAE, though a staunch ally of Saudi Arabia
the region have now started working in tandem with in Syria, Libya and other places, is trying to carve out its
theirs. Iran is now their common enemy along with own zone of influence in Yemen, Libya and the Horn of
Hamas and Hizbollah. Africa.
After the terror attack in Tehran in the first week of Saudi Arabia and the UAE are, however, united on
June, the White House did not even have the courtesy to the question of seeking regime change in Qatar. They are
send a straightforward message of condolence to the apparently on the lookout for somebody from the royal
people of Iran. Its statement instead implicitly blamed lineage to replace the current dynasty. An abortive at-
Iran for the act of terror. “We underscore that states that tempt was made in 1996. Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh
sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani said his country
“will never surrender” to the demands made by its Gulf
neighbours. He has visited Russia, Germany and other
countries to mobilise support. He said Qatar had more
friends, “more than others think”. The senior counterter-
rorism adviser to the Qatari Emir reiterated that the
“policy of domination and control” of the country’s neigh-
bours would not succeed. The spat within the GCC shows
no sign of abating, especially after Saudi Arabia and its
allies released a “terror blacklist” of 56 individuals. Figur-
ing in the list were senior Qatari royals and former
Ministers along with exiled leaders and clerics sympath-
etic to organisations such as Hamas and the Muslim
Brotherhood.
The Arab street will not have much sympathies for
any of the protagonists involved in the latest Gulf crisis.
The key players involved are to a large degree responsible
for the dire humanitarian situation in Syria, Iraq and
Yemen. The Saudi bombing and blockade of Yemen has
led to the worst humanitarian crisis the world is facing
today. In Syria and Libya, Qatar was in the forefront of
arming and funding extremist groups. Qatar was the first
to cosy up to Israel. Now its finds itself a target of Israeli
machinations. Ten U.S. legislators, who received more
than $1 million for more than a year from a lobbying firm
having links with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE,
sponsored a piece of legislation that threatens to impose
AP
sanctions on Qatar for supporting the “Palestinian ter-

A HA N D OU T G R A P H I C provided by Flight Radar shows ror”. Pro-Israeli groups such as the Foundation for Pro-
how Qatar Airways flights are managing bans on flights moting Democracy have now started openly
through the airspace of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE campaigning for Saudi Arabia and the UAE. This tripart-
and Egypt, by flying over Iranian airspace. ite alliance could come out in the open if Qatar falls. $
W O RL D AFF A I R S
UNITED STATES
Russian nexus
The focus of Donald Trump’s opponents is on the alleged Russian role in the
presidential election; they are apparently not interested in the larger issue of
corruption in international business of which he is a product. B Y V I J A Y PRA SH AD
D O U G M I L L S /T H E N E W Y O R K T I M E S
J A M ES C O ME Y , former FBI Director, testifies at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in Washington on June 8.
UNITED STATES PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP lenged. Comey said that he had given details of these
is struggling to edge away from an issue that has dogged meetings to a friend so that the press could be alerted.
him since his victory in the presidential election last Finally, Comey said that he was fired on May 9 not
year—Russian interference. On June 8, former Federal because of his incompetency, as Trump argued, but be-
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey cause he refused to shut down the probe on Russian
went before the Senate to make several incendiary interference in the U.S. election.
claims. Comey said that Trump had lied to impugn the What Comey did not say, and what the new Special
reputation of the FBI (and Comey) and that he—
Comey—had documented each meeting with Trump to
make sure that the President’s lies did not go unchal- Diary from Trumpland
Prosecutor Robert Mueller (formerly of the FBI) will not unequivocally. Attacks directed at Comey and the de-
investigate, is that Trump’s world of international busi- fence of his person were all that was on offer.
ness is steeped in corruption. It is normal for Trump to The question of Russian interference in the U.S. elec-
hold meetings with people of dubious reputation and to tion will refuse to dissipate. It is what drives the Demo-
raise finances and political capital from all quarters. cratic Party, which has seized on this issue as the Achilles
International arms deals and real estate deals are well heel of the Trump presidency. Other issues are, of course,
known for the bribes and intimidation involved in to be considered as points of debate, but the Democrats
them—this is what is normal in the world of business. see this issue as posing a particular vulnerability for
Trump’s entanglements from this world of international Trump. It has certainly divided the country and provided
business are now on display, but it is not this world that the focus for the Democrats to deny Trump any legitim-
will be indicted. It is a much smaller problem, namely acy. Trump’s evident frustration with the inquiry led him
whether the Russian government meddled in the U.S. to ask Comey to drop the investigation and then to fire
election. Far graver issues—the stranglehold of corrup- Comey. This provided the Democratic Party with more
tion over international business—remain outside any ammunition against Trump, whose intemperate manner
investigation. does him no favours. With each outrageous tweet or
statement, Trump gives the Democrats more evidence of
RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE his illegitimacy.
In the clearest statement from Comey yet, he said: “The Behind closed doors, the contours of the investigation
Russians interfered in our election during the 2016 cycle. are being drawn up. Leaks suggest that Special Counsel
They did it with purpose. They did it with sophistication. Mueller will not probe too closely into Trump’s own
They did it with overwhelming technical efforts.” A day family, notably his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has
after Comey gave his testimony to the Senate Intelligence extensive ties to the Russian oligarchy. Rather, the in-
Committee, Trump told the press in his laconic style: “No vestigation will be content to remain at the edges of the
collusion, no obstruction, he’s a leaker, but we want to get Trump team, with the main focus being on advisers such
back to running our great country.” Trump’s lack of as General Michael Flynn who have already been set
concern for the possibility of Russian interference in the aside. Last December, Kushner, now Trump’s adviser,
U.S. election struck many observers—why did he not met with the head of Vnesheconombank, Sergei Gorkov.
utter even the most meaningless phrases about his con- This bank has been on the list of institutions under U.S.
cern for the integrity of the electoral process and his sanctions since 2014. If Kushner discussed any business
support for the work of the special counsel who is looking activity with the bank, he is liable to spend 20 years in a
into these matters? Trump preferred to defend himself U.S. prison. It has been suggested that Kushner only met
A N D R EW H A R N I K / A P
P R E SI D E N T T R U M P at a press conference on June 9 in Washington.

with Gorkov to open a channel of commu- world of international business is
nication with Russian President Vladimir stricken with political corruption, with
Putin. In March, Gorkov released a routine finance raised often from disreputable
statement that Kushner had met him in his corners and with large bribes paid to
capacity as CEO of Kushner Associates and politicians on a routine basis. The World
not as a Trump official. FBI officials had Bank Institute recently said that over $1
been eager to pursue the Kushner link to trillion was paid in bribes each year, ten
Russia. But there was pressure on them not times the amount provided for develop-
to open that scab. Whether the new investig- ment aid. “Corruption is the cancer of
ation by Special Counsel Mueller will be able globalisation,” said Angel Gurria, the
to go after Kushner is crucial. head of the Organisation for Economic
EVAN VUCCI/AP
Cooperation and Development (OECD),
WHIFF OF CORRUPTION in 2007. Little has changed.
Outside the parameters of the Russia probe
sit other uncomfortable business deals that R O B ER T M U E L L E R, CRITICISM OF THE FCPA
carry the whiff of corruption. The Donald Special Counsel overseeing Long before his entry into the White
Trump Foundation and the Eric Trump the federal investigation into House, Trump spoke often against the
Foundation, both charitable entities, have the alleged coordination Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA),
been accused of criminal tax evasion. The between Russia and the which, in its own modest way, tries to
work of these foundations has also leaked Trump campaign. crack down on the business of interna-
into the Russian interference investigations. tional corruption. Trump has called this
Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, who is on the board of a “horrible law” and has vowed to weaken it. As President,
the Eric Trump Foundation, was involved in trying to Trump set aside a rule that prevented U.S. energy com-
broker a peace deal for Ukraine. Cohen entered Trump’s panies from paying bribes. The FCPA was passed in 1977
world as a man who could bring in finance from Russia to prevent U.S. corporations from using their financial
and Ukraine for the Trump organisation. A few days after muscle to gain political influence overseas. Defence be-
Trump’s inauguration as President, Cohen met the hemoth Lockheed paid bribes to politicians from West
Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Artemenko in New Germany to Japan, with $3 million paid to Japanese
York City. Artemenko gave Cohen some documents to Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka through the offices of the
deliver to Flynn, who was Trump’s National Security underworld’s Yoshio Kodama on behalf of Lockheed.
Adviser at that time. Artemenko, a close friend of the Exxon paid millions of dollars to the Christian Demo-
Cohen family, told the Ukrainian press that he had been cratic Party to secure benefits for its partner Esso Itali-
working with the Cohens since 2016 on a peace deal. It is ana. The FCPA did not stop this behaviour, but it did
the murkiness that inflames the scandal. Cohen has busi- make it more inconvenient for U.S.-based international
ness interests in Ukraine’s ethanol industry and would corporations to operate in the normal manner, namely
gain from a less tense environment in the region. Arte- through bribes and political intimidation.
menko made his money in arms deals and is using polit- In 2012, Trump went public with his criticism of the
ical influence to better his own portfolio. FCPA. “Now every country goes into these places and
they do what they have to do,” Trump said. What he
NORMAL CORRUPTION meant is that international businesses are able to pay
The Artemenko-Cohen story is just one more seam in a bribes and finance their activities with illicit money. This,
rich mine of corruption. If the Special Prosecutor decides for Trump, is normal as it is indeed normal in the world of
to put on his miner’s helmet and enter the bowels of these business. What the Russia probe reveals is not so much
linkages, he will need a sensitive canary to check for Russian interference in the U.S. elections as the normal
noxious gases. What he might find is not merely that the world of sleaze and corruption. This is the world that
Russians tried to influence the U.S. elections through produced Donald Trump, petrodollars mingle here with
cyberwar and through money paid to valuable players in the ill-gotten gains of the Russian oligarchy, swilling in
the Trump team. That is the tip of the iceberg. It is what the pigsties of U.S.-based international corporations.
the Democrats would like the Special Counsel to concen- Trump cannot understand the outrage at his dealings,
trate on. It would merely indict Trump for his collusion in murky as they are, because these are normal in the world
election tampering. But far more is at stake here, which of big business. But he can be comforted with the news
Special Counsel Mueller does not have the authority to that Special Prosecutor Mueller and the Democrats are
investigate. not interested in this much deeper root of corruption. It is
Trump is the first international businessman to be enough for everyone to dance around the question of the
the head of government in the U.S. All previous Presid- hacks and the meetings. If anything, the investigation
ents since the Second World War have been either public might reaffirm an old saw: that Russia, and only Russia,
servants (even military officers) or professional politi- is too corrupt for international business. What it will not
cians. None came to the White House directly from the adopt is a new saw: that international business is too
world of business, let alone international business. The corrupt for the world. $

W O RL D AFF A I R S
SCO
In Shanghai Eight
India, along with Pakistan, becomes a full-fledged member of the SCO, an
umbrella organisation to promote cooperation in trade and
counterterrorism efforts. Will it join OBOR next? B Y J O H N C H E R I AN
INDIA AND PAKISTAN FORMALLY BECAME powers, Russia, China and India, under its umbrella.
members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Forty-four per cent of the world’s population, 25 per cent
(SCO) at the summit of the grouping held in Astana, the of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP), and three
capital of Kazakhstan, in the second week of June. The out of five BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
two countries had enjoyed observer status in the organ- Africa) countries are part of the SCO. The primary focus
isation for many years and have now been elevated to full of the grouping at this juncture is on counterterrorism
membership. Iran is the next country that is expected to and other security-related concerns. The SCO has estab-
join the grouping in the near future. The original mem- lished a Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS),
bers of the grouping that was established in 1995, initially headquartered in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.
known as the Shanghai Five, were Russia, China, Kaza- Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking at the SCO sum-
khstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. It was rechristened mit, emphasised that “security is the prerequisite for
SCO after Uzbekistan joined the grouping in 2001. Ori- development”. In a signed article written for a Kazakh
ginally, the SCO was viewed as a security pact and as an paper, he pointed out that the SCO had “put in place
emerging rival to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation cooperation mechanisms on combating terrorism, separ-
(NATO). But in recent years it has evolved into an organ- atism, extremism, drugs and transnational crimes”.
isation more preoccupied with counterterrorism and the In recent years, the militaries of SCO member coun-
promotion of economic cooperation and trade. tries have participated in joint exercises. Russian officials
With India and Pakistan now part of the grouping, have talked of the Indian Army joining such exercises in
the SCO has emerged as one of the biggest organisations the future. With Pakistan too a member now, it would be
of its kind in the world, with three significant world quite a diplomatic feat to get the armies of all member
maintaining sustainable development based on the prin-
ciple of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit”.
President Xi said that the SCO would put in place bilat-
eral security mechanisms for OBOR to ensure the secur-
ity of gas pipelines and big infrastructure projects in the
region.
In his speech, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
specifically welcomed the Chinese President’s suggestion
of a five-year treaty of good neighbourliness to be signed
by all the SCO members. The expansion of the SCO,
Sharif said, had come at an “opportune time”, noting that
it coincided with the launch of OBOR and the con-
sequent transformation of the global economic land-
scape. “In Pakistan, we are diligently implementing the
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is a flag of the
OBOR,” he said. “What is more, these mega projects will
benefit the entire SCO community.”
WORLDWIDE BACKING
OBOR now has the backing of most countries worldwide.
R E U T E R S / SP U T N I K
Even the United States and Japan, which were supposed

to be India’s all-weather allies in their opposition to
OBOR, sent high-profile delegations to the OBOR sum-
mit held in Beijing in May. Japan’s Prime Minister,
Shinzo Abe, declared that Japan was willing to cooperate
with China on OBOR. The Japanese government, like its
H E A D S O F G O V E R N ME N T of the eight full members right-wing counterpart in India, is of the view that OBOR
of the SCO in Astana on June 9: (from left) Indian Prime is a tool to advance China’s strategic and economic goals.
Minister Narendra Modi, Presidents Shavkat Mirziyoyev But at the same time, Tokyo has realised that by not
(Uzbekistan), Xi Jinping (China), Nursultan Nazarbayev jumping onto the fast-moving OBOR train, it would be
(Kazakhstan), Vladimir Putin (Russia), Emomali left to play second fiddle to China in the Eurasian region,
Rakhmon (Tajikistan), Almazbek Atambayev (Kyrgyzstan) besides losing out on lucrative business opportunities in
and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. high-speed rail and infrastructure projects. OBOR plans
to connect Asia and Europe by both land and sea. India’s
countries to participate in military exercises organised membership of the SCO could signal the first step, albeit
under the auspices of the SCO. Both India and Pakistan hesitant, to joining OBOR.
were admitted under the strict unwritten condition that At the Astana summit, Prime Minister Narendra
they keep their bilateral disputes out of the SCO arena. Modi once again raised the issue of “territorial integrity
With Central Asia becoming the crossroads for pipelines and sovereignty” while referring to the grand infrastruc-
and international trade routes, the SCO will be paying ture projects being planned for the region. India has
even more attention to its economic agenda. When the objected to the $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic
SCO was formed, the five original members had pledged Corridor (CPEC) infrastructure project, which is an im-
to enhance regional economic cooperation. That goal has portant component of OBOR, as being intrusive on In-
since become a reality in most countries of the Central dia’s sovereignty. The only route possible for goods to be
Asian region. transported to and from China is through the road and
The One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative of the rail network passing through the “disputed territory” of
Chinese government saw the enthusiastic participation Gilgit/Baltistan, which is part of Pakistan-administered
of all the states in the region and beyond. Only one Kashmir. Beijing has repeatedly tried to convince India
country, India, along with Bhutan, has given OBOR the that the passage of the railway through the territory does
pass. Bhutan has really no choice in the matter as its not in any way signal a change in its Kashmir policy.
foreign policy is dictated from New Delhi. All the leaders The International North-South Transport Corridor
attending the SCO summit in Astana, barring the Indian (INSTC), which India wants to develop, can be done
Prime Minister, supported the OBOR initiative. The de- much better in coordination with OBOR. India’s at-
claration issued at the end of the summit “praised the tempts to develop the Iranian port of Chabahar have,
results of the Belt and Road Forum for International reportedly, run into problems, accentuated by the Don-
Cooperation” that was held in Beijing in May this year. ald Trump administration’s growing military and eco-
The leaders spoke “in favour of their implementation, nomic threats against Tehran. The nearby port of
including by means of coordinating international, re- Gwadar, meanwhile, is all ready for business and is a key
gional and national projects aimed at cooperation in hub of the OBOR initiative. Chabahar was supposed to be

PTI
T H E I N D IA N A N D C H I NE S E D E L EG A T I ON S , led by Prime Minister Modi and President Xi respectively, meet on the
sidelines of the SCO summit in Astana on June 9.
India’s gateway to the Central Asian market. India had India is the major power. China has observer status in
committed $500 million for the development of the port SAARC at present. The SCO, unlike SAARC, seems more
after the Barack Obama administration lifted the sanc- cohesive. SAARC is not even able to hold annual sum-
tions on Iran last year. As of now, only Chinese firms are mits. Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar told the
bidding for contracts to supply heavy machinery for the media in Astana that the “entire spectrum of bilateral
Chabahar project. European companies are reluctant to relations” was discussed during the talks between Modi
bid for the tenders, fearing future moves by the Trump and Xi.
administration against Iran. Speaking to the media after his meeting with Modi,
Although the Prime Ministers of both India and Xi Jinping said that given the profound and complex
Pakistan were present at the summit, Modi and Sharif political changes that the world was witnessing, China
did not meet for talks on the sidelines, like they had and India, as the world’s fastest growing economies,
during a previous SCO summit in Ufa, Russia, in 2015. “should pay more attention to cooperation and go ahead
Surprisingly, the Chinese President also did not schedule with each other as partner”. He said that the two coun-
a meeting with Sharif, given the fact that the two countries should also boost trade and investment cooperation.
tries are the closest of allies. It has been speculated in the It was a thinly disguised invitation to India to rethink its
media that the Chinese side was conveying its displeasure reluctance to join the OBOR initiative. Xi was careful to
over Islamabad’s handling of terrorism, especially in the avoid giving the impression that he was trying to arm-
restive province of Balochistan. Two Chinese school- twist the Indian government in any way. He said that his
teachers were kidnapped and later killed by Daesh (Is- country would be willing to cooperate with India within
lamic State) terrorists in the first week of June, just the SCO format. The Chinese side said that it would not
before the SCO summit in Astana. Peace and stability in beg any country to join OBOR. “We are willing to see the
Balochistan is crucial for the success of the CPEC/OBOR initiative help build a cooperative platform for countries
project. along the route, but China does not need to beg any
Modi did, however, have “cordial” talks with Xi. It countries, Japan and India included, to join the initiat-
was the first meeting between the two leaders after In- ive,” said Global Times, a newspaper that is known to be
dia’s refusal to participate in the OBOR summit in close to the authorities in Beijing.
Beijing. The Indian government is still miffed with Chi- The Chinese Foreign Ministry was slightly less diplo-
na’s reluctance to give it entry into the exclusive Nuclear matic while describing the Modi-Xi talks. Its spokesper-
Suppliers Group (NSG). Modi conveyed to the Chinese son said in Beijing that both countries “should also
President the important need to respect each other’s address sensitive and major issues”. She went on to add
“core concerns”. According to the Indian External Affairs that the two sides should strengthen the complementar-
Ministry spokesperson, Modi told the Chinese leader ities of development strategies and press ahead with
that the two sides should strengthen communication and major cooperation projects in areas such as energy and
cooperation in international affairs. He conveyed India’s railways. The spokesperson also stressed the need for
gratitude for China’s help in India’s inclusion in the SCO. cooperation between the two countries to speed up con-
The Prime Minister acknowledged that it would have nectivity and infrastructure development in the
been difficult to get SCO membership without the back- Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) corridor.
ing of China. China no longer expects reciprocity from The OBOR initiative has many important projects in this
India in the form of a membership in the South Asian corridor. The logical next step for India should be to join
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), where OBOR and be part of the international mainstream. $
WILDLIFE
SECRET LIVES
IN A NATURE RESERVE
ANA NT ZANJ ALE
TH E B A R N O W L. The species is threatened outside protected areas.

Kanha is home to not only the
tiger but also a wide range of
lesser faunal species that
lead interesting lives and play
important roles in the
ecosystem. Kanha’s network
of camera traps gives us a
glimpse of their world.
BY RAKESH SHUKLA
IT was the waning-moon fortnight in October, and it

would be another two hours or so before the moon would
shine. We were driving through a pure sal patch at the
Kanha Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, when the head-
lights of our vehicle fell on an Indian, or black-napped,
hare, often wrongly called a rabbit, an animal that does
S A N J A Y K . S HU K L A
not occur in the Indian subcontinent. Startled by the

light, the sprinter darted along the straight forest road,
zigzagging in quick leaps, freezing strategically with
amazing suddenness, and then resuming the dash again.
This fascinating and vulnerable creature has large eyes
that are positioned to allow for excellent broad-field
vision and are adapted to its crepuscular (dawn and dusk
time) and nocturnal activity patterns. I stopped the
vehicle and watched the lagomorph, a group of plant-
eaters and among the most hunted animals outside pro-
tected areas, disappear into the pitch darkness. The local
belief is that once you see a hare, you do not see any other
animal in the jungle. Fortunately, I had already seen
three of the four almost leopard-sized cubs of the tigress
T65, also known as Neelam, some time ago on the way.
A well-conserved, verdant forest, with densely fo-
liaged tall trees, thick undergrowth and grassy plains
stretched all around me in many different shades of
darkness, extending refuge to some awesome and iconic
and so-called lesser, but also amazing, creatures. Amid
the seasonal fragrance of the forest, the relaxing and
hypnotising chorus of cicadas and crickets, the rustling
leaves and the soft calls of a nearby barred jungle owlet, I
wondered about the significance of these commonly un-
seen species in the field of biodiversity conservation.
These animals, big and small, are generally overshad-
owed by their “big brothers” in popularity, but they do
lead interesting lives, anthropomorphically speaking,
and play important roles in a wildlife ecosystem.
A habitat is home to a wildlife population, including
all big and small species, and essentially includes the
S A N J A Y K . S HU K L A
space, food, cover and shelter required for its survival.

Depending upon the food and other habits of an animal
species, it may require more than one habitat type for its
existence. It is, therefore, desirable that there is good
A VE R DA NT F O R ES T area in the Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh.
NEE LA M TH E TIG R ESS and her cubs crossing a waterbody.

intermixing of different habitat unit types and that they
are well distributed and not clumped into one area. This
ideal situation helps animals minimise energy loss. The
landscape of Kanha offers the full spectrum of habitat
types, which require periodic monitoring and managerial
interventions to remain healthy and sustain these popu-
lations. There are broadly three habitat types: forest,
grassland and water. A finer classification of habitats
could be given as follows: sal forest, miscellaneous forest,
miscellaneous forest with bamboo, grassland, grassland
with groves, large clearings, forest-grassland edges, ri-
parian (along water streams), and water itself in different
waterbodies. Kanha supports a wide range of microhab-
itats that are different from the pronounced and extens-
ive habitats. Trees, including snags, which are dead and
dying trees, offer rot holes, nesting sites and crevices.
Some special habitat sites with geomorphological ori-
gins, such as caves, dens, overhangs and bouldery aggreg-
ates, have a significant bearing on lesser faunal species.
There are also many identified aquatic wildlife species, A BLACK- FACED
either vertebrate or invertebrate, that live in water for LANGUR taking
most or all of their life. Such species occur in and around refuge in a tree
waterbodies of the protected area. hole in summer.
Kanha supports thousands of animal species that
coexist in natural segregation on the basis of ecological
niche partitioning in terms of food habits, habitat types
and other specific ecological needs. Nature has helped
these species evolve different hunting/feeding strategies
and mobility patterns to reduce competition between
them. For instance, the hunting techniques of a tiger, a
leopard or a pack of wild dogs are quite different. Tigers
stalk large-sized quarry through stealth. While leopards
usually go for small-sized prey and also kill common dogs
and goats near villages, wild dogs chase and kill their
prey. Similarly, different herbivore species have different
food preferences and foraging tactics. Some are grazers,
while others are browsers and coarse feeders. Likewise,
smaller species have their own food habits and ecological
niches that help lessen competition among them.
SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL
Kanha supports several endangered faunal species, in-
cluding those listed in the Red List of the International
Union for Conservation of Nature and in Schedule I of
the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Besides the most
talked-about “big brothers” such as carnivores like tigers,
leopards and wild dogs and herbivores like gaur, baras-
ingha, sambar and chital, Kanha is home to a wide range
of the so-called lesser faunal species: 325 species of birds;
30 of mammals; 40 of reptiles, including 25 of snakes
and 15 of lizards; 15 of frogs; around 500 of insects,
including moths and butterflies; 115 of arachnids; and
several species of crustaceans, molluscs and fish. There
are also a large number of smaller life forms belonging to
different phyla and classes of the animal kingdom. Al-
ANANT ZANJALE
though attention is focussed mainly on the management

of the larger mammals in the tiger reserve, the less iconic
wildlife species have their own ecological roles and im-
portance in the Kanha ecosystem and their protection
CAMERA-TRAP IMAGES
CAMERA TRAP PHOTOGRAPHS: WILDLIFE INSTITUTE OF INDIA/KANHA

A L EO PA RD FAMILY on the lookout for prey. It is unusual to see an entire family of this elusive and solitary animal.
S L O TH B EA R C UBS taking a ride on their mother’s back, a rare sighting.

AN IND IAN PANGOLIN with its characteristic THE HONEY BADGER. It is an omnivore with very
self-protective large scales. sharp teeth.
AN IND IAN PYTHON and porcupine. Pythons sometimes AN INDIAN HARE uncomfortably close to an
eat porcupines, only to die later. Indian python.
T HE SMA LL INDIAN CIVET. A mostly arboreal species, T H E P A L M C IV E T. This variant of the species has
it is nocturnal and an omnivore. characteristic white patches.
A PO RC UPI NE MOTHER-YOUNG DUO. Porcupines are large rodents with quills for self-defence.

A J ACKAL making off with an animal leg.
THE RUSTY SPOTTED CAT. One of the smallest wild cats, it lives on trees and rocky hides and is found only in India,
Sri Lanka and Nepal. Mostly nocturnal and elusive, it feeds on small-sized prey. It is also hunted for food in several areas.
THE HYENA. It is an amazing animal with powerful jaws and strong teeth.

A S M ALL PA CK OF WIL D DOGS at a sambar kill.
A C O MMO N MO NGOOSE mother with her young.
A S M OO TH-C OATE D OTT E R near a waterbody. It is a critically endangered species.

emanates from overall conservation efforts, the tiger be-
ing the umbrella species for all these lesser animals.
All these species are distributed at Kanha over time
and space. While some species are diurnal, others are
nocturnal or crepuscular. Each animal has its own bio-
rhythm, which is a recurring cycle in its physiology and
daily functioning, such as sleeping, waking and also emo-
tional responses. Some cryptic species have camouflaged
bodies or colouration as an anti-predator strategy. How-
ever, this could also be a strategy among predators to
confuse and deceive prey species. Some of the lesser
species remain arboreal most of the time, while others
live in burrows, tunnels and thickets. Most of these spe-
cies remain elusive even to those who patrol the protected
area day and night, let alone tourists.
While it is easy to see and photograph large animals,
lesser faunal species are elusive and difficult to monitor
using normal conservation methodologies. Nowadays, a
THE MOUSE DEER. It is the smallest deer nature reserve is expected to document evidence of the
species, is nocturnal and lives in tree holes. presence of as many species as possible. Even data on
presence/absence can provide important ecological in-
formation on the protected area. And there is no better
evidence than photographic documentation. Besides, it
is also interesting to get a peek into the secret world of
creatures and gain insights into their behaviour when
they are alone. Monitoring large animals through regular
photography while staying hidden can serve the purpose
to some extent as can long hours of video shooting after
habituating the target animals. For small, cryptic and
nocturnal animals, systematically designed camera traps
have become popular but, of course, they have their
limitations. These cameras trap images of animals and
record dates and time and even distribution patterns of
different species. Kanha has a network of around 450
camera traps. The cameras function day and night, snap
all the animals passing in front of their field of view and
store the images on a memory card. The card is removed
periodically and its contents are downloaded.
THE INDIAN FOX.
WAYS OF ANIMALS
The tiger is extremely photogenic, equally peripatetic,
with almost fixed routes for movement, and provides
ample opportunity for general photo-monitoring. The
more interesting and insightful images include those of
mother and cubs, playful cubs, and animals at kill. These
images bring out a wide range of emotions: the tender-
ness and concern of a mother, the cheerfulness and care-
freeness of the cubs, and the famed aggression and
ferocity of a tiger, the spirit of the Indian jungle.
Unlike tigers, leopards, which may be called the
“ghost cats” of the plains, are mysterious and elusive.
With their rosette-patterned body markings, they are
perfectly camouflaged. It is extremely unusual to see an
entire family, with a male, female and cub. Even sightings
of a male-female pair are not common. Solitary by
nature, they hunt small-sized prey at night. They also
lurk in the vicinity of habitations and prey upon dogs,
small cattle and pigs.
A J UNGLE CAT with a mouse. The wild dog, or dhole, ranks third in the predator

A NA N T Z A N JA LE
A NA N T Z A N JA LE
T HE CHANG EA BLE HAWK EAGLE with a mongoose that it has hunted.

A MA LE S LO TH B E A R rubbing his back against a tree trunk for chemical communication with breeding females.

hierarchy of the Kanha ecosystem. Excellent runners,
fearless and ruthless, with highly collaborative social
groups, dholes are also known as “whistling hunters” as
they emit a continuous high-pitched yelping sound that
resembles whistling to keep the members of a pack to-
gether. Their sense of smell is highly developed. Watch-
ing the pack kill an animal is a rare sighting. The
endangered striped hyena is a poorly understood carni-
TH E IND IA N vore species. Basically a nocturnal scavenger, the animal
G IA NT SQ U IR R EL. lives off carrion and carcasses of cattle and ungulates. Its
It is an amazing food habits restrict its distribution to near human habita-
arboreal animal that tions, and the core zone of the tiger reserve hardly offers
lives in multiple sightings of it. Although the buffer zone has a number of
nests and comes villages, sightings of this amazing animal, with its power-
down only to drink ful jaws and strong teeth, are not frequent.
water. A long muzzle, a body covered with dense hair, a
well-developed sense of smell, and poor eyesight and
hearing are some of the distinguishing features of the
sloth bear. An omnivore, it feeds on termites, ants, roots,
tubers and fruits. It is an expert tree climber, and the
males rub their bodies against trees to chemically com-
municate with breeding females. The mother is ex-
tremely protective of her cubs, and it is an interesting
sight to see cubs taking a piggyback ride on their mother’s
back. The small Indian civet and common palm civet
RA J N E E S H S I N G H
belong to the Viverridae family. The Indian civet is gener-

ally an arboreal nocturnal omnivore, also referred to as
“toddy cat”. It feeds on fruits, small mammals and in-
sects. As the cat is fond of honey, it is said to have a sweet
tooth. It lives in hollow trees, burrows and in thickets.
The common palm civet is ring-tailed, with three to five
lines on its back. This cat is solitary, generally arboreal,
and prefers nocturnality. It feeds on rodents, lizards,
birds, snakes, fruit and roots. Camera traps have shown
that it also comes down from trees to hunt.
The mouse deer is rarely sighted in the core zone. It is
regarded as the smallest deer in India. Neither sex has
antlers, but it has long canines. The animal usually makes
its den in a tree hollow and is very shy, with no vocalisa-
tion. The Indian, or long billed, vulture has been categor-
ised as “critically endangered” because of its rapidly
declining population. These birds are important scav-
engers and are an essential part of the food chain. Car-
casses of domestic animals treated with certain
TH E B A MB O O veterinary drugs are reported to be responsible for its
P IT VIP ER . decline. Consequently, Indian vultures have disappeared
It is a poisonous from many of their traditional natal areas in the country.
snake that hunts The honey badger, also known as ratel, is an omni-
mostly at night. vore that feeds on honey bee larvae, roots, scorpions,
snakes, eggs, birds and small mammals. It also scav-
enges. The animal has very sharp teeth and tough body
skin and is active during the day and the night. It digs
burrows in the ground to rest in. The Indian giant squir-
rel is a canopy dweller that feeds on a wide range of plant
parts and comes down only to drink water. It builds
ANANT ZANJALE
multiple globe-shaped nests, or dreys, for sleeping in and

as nurseries. These amazing mammals are seriously
threatened outside protected areas. $
Rakesh Shukla is Research Officer, Kanha Tiger Reserve.

A N A N T ZA N J A L E
A B A RK ING DEER PAIR at a watering hole. It is a mostly solitary animal.
RA HU L S HA RM A
IND IA N V ULTURES feeding on a sambar deer carcass.

BO OK S in review
War on Indus waters?

The Indus Waters Treaty was not unfair to India, and the belligerence
over it under the present regime is harmful for peace between the two
nations. BY A . G . N O O R A N I
T HIS book not only

makes a timely ap-
pearance but does so with a
river by about 100 kilo-
metres before it joins it
through the Wullar Lake
bang. It is 50 years since near Bandipore in the
Aloys Arthur Michel’s Baramulla district. The
definitive work The Indus Kishenganga is known as
Rivers: A Study of the Ef- Indus Waters Treaty Neelum after it enters
fects of Partition was pub- Political and Legal Azad Kashmir. The dis-
lished. In 1973, the leader Dimensions pute was referred to the In-
of India’s negotiating ternational Court of
By Ijaz Hussain
team, Niranjan D. Gulhati, Arbitration (ICA) under
Oxford University
published his able work In- Press, Karachi the treaty.
dus Water Treaty: An Ex- India sought to build
ercise in International Pages: 563
the dam in furtherance of
Mediation. One hoped for Price: Rs.2,595
its Kishenganga Hydro-
a comparable work by a electric Project (KHEP).
Pakistani scholar. Dr Ijaz sounds better), which is the case. Thirdly, it did so Pakistan contended that
Hussain has provided such part of the agenda of the because its delegation be- the diversion would inter
a work, eminently. His charter of July 31, 1987. It haved impolitely towards alia adversely affect the
work covers the period now falls under the Com- the neutral expert who re- operation of the Neelum-
from 1947, beginning with prehensive Bilateral Dia- acted by deciding against Jhelum Hydroelectric Pro-
Sir Cyril Radcliffe’s dis- logue (pages 202-229). it.” This is a typical com- ject (NJHEP), which it
honest award, to 2016. It The author believes “there ment the like of which one sought to build on the Nee-
has detailed analyses of is- are indications that India does not find in works of lum river downstream of
sues from the perspective is ready to make adjust- scholarship. Such ques- the KHEP. Involved were
of international law be- ments to the design of the tions abound. The patriot’s two distinct issues—the di-
sides the politics of the barrage which may facilit- subtext is—Pakistan version and the depletion,
affair. ate an agreement” (page should never lose a case; it which would bring the
New issues have arisen 229). 3. The Baglihar Dam is always right. Ijaz Hus- reservoir level of run-of-
since the Indus Waters on the Chenab River in sain’s Indian counterparts river hydroelectric plants
Treaty (IWT) was signed at Doda district of Jammu held similar views. As for below dead storage level.
Karachi on September 19, (pages 229-272). A neutral the dispute, it seems to This is permissible only in
1960, by Prime Minister expert was appointed un- have run its course. an emergency.
Jawaharlal Nehru and der the treaty, whose de- 4. The Kishenganga On December 21, 2013,
President Mohammad cision on February 12, Dam on the Kishenganga, a the court gave its final
Ayub Khan. The book cov- 2007, the author angrily major tributary of the award. (A partial one was
ers them all. 1. The dispute contests. “Why did Jhelum River in Kashmir given on February 18,
over the Salal Dam on the Pakistan lose the case?” he (pages 281-301). It involves 2013.) The diversion was
Chenab, which was re- asks and proceeds to diversion of water from a upheld. On the second is-
solved by an agreement in provide a myriad of causes. dam site of Kishenganga sue, depletion, Pakistan’s
1978 (pages 215-221). 2. First, an engineer’s “strong through a 22-kilometre objection was upheld. This
The Wullar Barrage on the bias” and “secondly tunnel to another tributary is of greater consequence.
Jhelum River (India ob- Pakistan lost because its of the Jhelum, the Bonar Professor John Biscoe of
stinately calls it the Tulbul delegation, including the Nallah. This diversion will Harvard, a former World
Navigation Project; it legal counsel, mishandled change the course of the Bank adviser, opined: “The
Baglihar decision would Committee’s report issued ments of both sides, comments quoted earlier
appear to have provided in 2011 endorsed this as- Pakistan and India, with reveal that. This quote re-
India with a green light to sessment: “The number of full references, maps and veals his mentality. It is the
build these projects with as dams under construction graphs. His comment at U.S. Secretary of State
much live storage as they and their management is a the end of his survey is that Dean Acheson’s remarks
chose (as long as they clas- source of significant bilat- “there are indications of on Nehru, whom he called
sified it as ‘for sediment eral tension. … While stud- corruption” (page 115). “slippery” and “a monu-
flushing’). What is enorm- ies show that no single Such comments and worse mental snob”, in addition
ously important is that the dam along the waters con- mar a scholarly work. to observing that he
ICA has, according to early trolled by the Indus Wa- For good measure, the “[l]ikes to be surrounded
press accounts, addressed ters Treaty will affect book covers in useful detail by beautiful and dumb wo-
this issue head-on and, de Pakistan’s access to water, India’s river disputes with men, the more beautiful
facto, concluded that the the cumulative effect of Nepal (the Kosi, Gandak and the less intelligent, the
Baglihar finding in this re- these projects could give and Tanakpur agreements happier”. The relevance of
gard undercut the central India the ability to store and the Mahakali treaty) this cheap remark in a
compromise of the Indus enough water to limit the and with Bangladesh (the work on the Indus Waters
Waters Treaty, was wrong supply to Pakistan at cru- Farakka Barrage). It did Treaty could be evident
and should not be applied cial moments in the grow- Nehru no credit when he only to one like Ijaz
to future projects. The ICA ing season.” The Modi denounced, on March 26, Hussain.
has apparently ruled that government is well aware 1956, the Barcelona Con- He goes to some length
the design and operation of this opportunity. vention and Statute con- to establish deficiencies in
of Indian hydropower pro- 5. The Nimoo Bazgo cerning the Regime of other books on the subject.
jects on the Indus, Chenab Dam on the Indus in Leh Navigable Waterways of Political comments reveal
and Jhelum cannot in- and the Chutak Dam on its International Concern, ignorance, besides partis-
clude more live storage tributary Sunn in Kargil. 1921. The Teesta River anship. Sample this gem:
than allowed under the Both projects were com- Dispute is unresolved. The “The Muslim League ap-
IWT, even if the justifica- pleted (pages 311-312). Sir Creek Dispute between parently accepted the
tion for such storage is silt 6. India intends also to India and Pakistan, over- ‘other factors’ formulation
management. build four hydroelectric ripe for solution, is also in the hope of getting Cal-
“This finding is of far projects on the western discussed (page 412). So is cutta without ever suspect-
greater significance than rivers, which the treaty as- Afghanistan, on which Ijaz ing that the British and the
the one-off (and correct, in signed to Pakistan—Ratle, Hussain flies off at a tan- Congress leadership would
my view) finding relating Miyar, Lower Kalnai, and gent to level charges reach a secret understand-
to Kishanganga. It restores Pukal Dam. The Ratle against India. ing to award the famed city
the central protection— Dam is located on the He rightly complains to India.”
put into question by the Chenab in Kishtwar of conformism in the In- Calcutta had a mere 23
Baglihar finding—which between Dul Hasti and dian media (pages 414- per cent of Muslims. The
Pakistan had acquired Baglihar (pages 315-316). 415). But is the media in entire district had 32.5 per
when Nehru and Ayub It bids fair to become a sore Pakistan any different? It cent. The author is ob-
Khan signed the IWT in issue. is clear that in his scholarly sessed with conspiracies by
1960.” The author discusses pursuits, objectivity never others and lapses by
He also said: “The cu- each of these cases in de- figured and, worse still, Pakistan’s representatives.
mulative storage of these tail, setting out the argu- maturity eluded him. The None of this is reason
dams will be large, giving for neglecting the book. It
India an unquestioned ca- is a work of solid scholar-
pacity to have major im- ship. The author went to
pact on the timing of flows great pains. He toiled hard
into Pakistan. Using Bag- in the Library of Congress
lihar as a reference, simple and the archives of the
back-of-the-envelope cal- World Bank, which medi-
culations suggest that once ated in the dispute since
it has constructed all of the 1952 and is a party to a
planned hydropower couple of key provisions of
plants on the Chenab, In- the treaty. The biblio-
dia will have the ability to graphy lists the documents
effect major damage on he consulted. To appreci-
Pakistan.” ate this work of labour, the
The United States Sen- reader must separate the
ate Foreign Relations chaff from the wheat. He
THE HINDU ARCHIVES
K A R A C H I, S E P TE M B E R 1 9 , 1 9 6 0 : Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and President Ayub Khan signing the IWT.
will find the wheat well- Punjab that the rivers Ravi and Fazilka 75.12 per certain limited agricul-
grown and nutritious. and Sutlej irrigated. The cent). However, the award, tural uses. Similarly, it al-
The narrative begins headworks of the Ravi in violation of the partition locates all the waters of the
from the 19th century and River was located at Mad- principle outlined above, western rivers “for unres-
picks up speed with Rad- hopur in the district Gur- allocated Ferozpur and tricted use” to Pakistan.
cliffe—boundary by daspur, whereas that of Zira tehsils to India.” India is under obligation
award. “The genesis of the Sutlej was situated at a There is a thorough and not to interfere with them
water dispute over the In- place called Ferozpur in an excellently documented while they flow on Indian
dus Basin is found in the area known by the same discussion of the origin territory except for do-
award that the Punjab name. According to the and course of the World mestic, non-consumptive,
Boundary Commission 1941 census, district Gur- Bank’s mediation. and certain limited agri-
rendered. The Congress daspur was a Muslim ma- The treaty divides “the cultural uses as well as
party and the Muslim jority area as three out of Indus rivers” and allocates generation of hydroelec-
League leadership had in- its four tehsils had a three rivers called the tric power. The treaty al-
structed the latter ‘…to de- Muslim majority (Gur- “western rivers” to lows India to build a
marcate the boundaries of daspur 51.1 per cent, Pakistan (the Indus, the maximum of 3.6 MAF
the two parts of the Punjab Batala 55.06 per cent, and Chenab and the Jhelum) storage on the western
on the basis of ascertaining Shakargarh 51.3) and only and three called the “east- rivers within specified
the contiguous majority Pathankot had a non- ern rivers” to India (the parameters whose details
areas of Muslims and non- Muslim majority (77 per Sutlej, the Beas and the are laid down in Annex-
Muslims. In doing so, it cent). However, Gur- Ravi). It allocates all the ures C, D and E. It provides
will also take into account daspur, Batala, and Path- waters of the eastern rivers a detailed procedure for
other factors’. The division ankot were allocated to “for unrestricted use” to conflict resolution.
of the Punjab was a very India and only Shakargarh India. Pakistan is under During the massive
tedious affair because the came to Pakistan. Simil- obligation not to interfere military build-up by India
province had been de- arly, the headworks of Sut- with the waters of the Sut- on the Line of Control in
veloped as a single unit lej were also located in the lej Main and Ravi Main or Kashmir and on the inter-
which included the com- Muslim majority area as its their tributaries when they national border with
mon irrigation and hydro- tehsils had Muslim major- flow through Pakistani ter- Pakistan, the then Na-
electric system. There were ities (Ferozpur 55.2 per ritory except for domestic, tional Security Adviser,
large tracts of land in the cent, Zira 65.2 per cent, non-consumptive, and Brajesh Mishra, covertly

instigated a media cam- Commissioner to Pakistan was one G. Parthasarathi. book in 1967. “In agreeing
paign for the abrogation of warned: ‘Should we not His views reflected more to recognise Pakistan’s
the IWT. First, one editor consider measures to de- than lack of professional- right in perpetuity to virtu-
splashed this demand as prive Pakistanis of the wa- ism, for, the treaty cannot ally all the waters of the
news on his paper’s front ter they need to quench be abrogated legally or three western rivers (In-
page. Two bogus defence their thirst and grow their politically. The advocacy of dus, Jhelum, and Chenab),
“experts” and two former crops? Should we not seri- use of water as a weapon India was really giving
High Commissioners to ously consider whether it is reflects a barbaric outlook. away only one stream, the
Pakistan constituted the necessary for us to adhere The treaty is not one bit Chenab, that she could
pack. The author recalls to the provisions of the In- unfair to India as Michel really use herself (by diver-
that “a former Indian High dus Waters treaty?’” He pointed out at page 8 of his sion into the Ravi or Beas).
India & CPEC position of the other

party.’”
He explains how this
disagreed with the pro-
posed text on the grounds
that India did not con-
A PERUSAL of the record of the water dispute. was done. “They decided sider Kashmir a territ-
of the negotiations on the With this perspective, the not to mention any work orial dispute. It was, in his
Indus Waters Treaty provision became handy that Pakistan was con- view, an Indian territory
(IWT) in Ijaz Hussain’s and was inserted in the structing in the disputed which Pakistan had illeg-
book suffices to expose draft Treaty. William B. territory nor provide any ally occupied. He felt,
the utter falsity of India’s Iliff, the chief negotiator indication that India had however, that it was pos-
avowed reason for its re- on behalf of the World agreed to it. Despite this sible to devise a formula
fusal to adhere to China’s Bank, acknowledged this understanding, the issue to take care of this prob-
Belt and Road Initiative, fact in a letter that he ad- of constructing dams and lem. Subsequently,
namely because one link, dressed to N.D. Gulhati reservoirs in Azad Kash- Pakistan and India suc-
China-Pakistan Eco- [the leader of India’s del- mir [by Pakistan] presen- cessfully negotiated the
nomic Corridor (CPEC), egation] in these words: ted considerable drafting following text during the
passes through Azad ‘My recollection of the difficulties. [Jawaharlal] London talks.” This was
Kashmir. As Liu Jinsong, understanding reached Nehru feared that if he on December 9, 1959.
Minister and DCM of the in the course of our con- gave formal consent to Article XI of the
Chinese Embassy, re- versation with the Indian the construction, for ex- Treaty says: “(I) It is ex-
called in a speech on April authorities in Delhi is ample, of the Mangla pressly understood that
21, 2017, “The China- that … India was con- Dam, Pakistan might (a) this Treaty governs the
Pakistan Karakoram– cerned that the actual construe it as a waiver, by rights and obligations of
Kunlun Road was built in construction of a reser- India, of its claim of sov- each Party in relation to
the 1960s and put into use voir at Mangla [in Azad ereignty over Azad Kash- the other with respect
in the 1980s. Therefore, it Kashmir] should not mir or what India termed only to the use of the wa-
is no fresh news for India carry an implication that as Pakistan-occupied ters of the Rivers and
that China and Pakistan’s India’s sovereign rights in Kashmir (PoK). In this matters incidental
transportation connec- Jammu and Kashmir vein, he referred to the thereto; and (b) nothing
tions and related cooper- were in any way or to any protest that India had contained in this Treaty,
ation surpass the degree eroded. I there- already lodged with the and nothing arising out of
Kashmir region” (News fore wished to find a for- United Nations against the execution thereof,
from China, Embassy of mula that would the construction that shall be construed as con-
the People’s Republic of therefore protect her in Pakistan had already un- stituting a recognition or
China, May 2017, page this respect…. The gen- dertaken. Iliff tried to waiver (whether tacit, by
53). eral principle underlying show a way out of the im- implication or otherwise)
Ijaz Hussain records the Bank approach was passe by suggesting a of any rights or claims
how the Kashmir dispute that neither party should, clause in the proposed whatsoever of either of
was bypassed in the nego- on the one hand, seek to treaty along the following the parties other than
tiations leading to the gain, in or from the Water lines: ‘Nothing in this those rights or claims
signing of the IWT. “The Treaty, any support for its Treaty should be con- which are expressly re-
parties tried to bypass the own general position on strued as prejudicing the cognised or waived in this
dispute over Jammu and the Kashmir issue, or, on rights or claims of either Treaty.”
Kashmir through this the other hand, should India or Pakistan in any The parties were de-
article in the settlement seek to erode the general territorial dispute.’ Nehru termined to settle and

She was gaining undis- to dry them up entirely if Minister, the belligerence away the treaty. The au-
puted possession of the she so chooses.” of 2001-02 acquired a thor cites one “secret cable
waters of the three eastern Ijaz Hussain does a menacing colour. He has sent by Mulford, the U.S.
rivers (Ravi, Beas, and Sut- service in pointing out the publicly declared that In- Ambassador in New Delhi
lej) in perpetuity after the new factor of climate dia will make the max- on 5 February 2005, which
transition period ends in change and environment, imum use of those treaty stated that ‘there are sev-
1970 or at the latest in devoting the whole of provisions that give it eral hydrological dams
1973. These are the rivers chapter 7 on the subject; some rights on the western planned for Indian Kash-
that are really useful to In- the discussion is based on rivers for the construction mir that might be ques-
dia, and the Indus Waters good research. of the run-of-river hydro- tioned under the IWT’, he
Treaty gives her the right With Modi as Prime power plants—that is, eat expressed the fear that ‘In-
agreed to put a non-issue formed. The studies made earlier assigned to lands jections to its construction
out of the way. India has by us of the potential of that were now in Pakistan in Pakistan-held Kashmir
other reasons for not join- the Mangla dam had con- and of all the surplus in territory, it was decided
ing China’s Belt and Road vinced us, since early those rivers. A few days that there should be no
Initiative. The CPEC 1957, that this would later, on 11th October, mention in the treaty of
through Azad Kashmir is provide the most eco- 1958, Eugene Black and any work to be constructed
a false excuse for a wrong nomical arrangement for Iliff met the Prime Minis- by Pakistan and no indica-
decision. rabi replacements.” Eco- ter Nehru.” An under- tion that India had agreed
Gulhati confirmed nomics prevailed over standing was reached. to, or had any responsibil-
Ijaz Hussain’s account in politics. In fact the matter was ity in regard to, any such
his memoir Indus Water Thus, “a realistic view almost resolved at an work. On 9th August,
Treaty. He wrote: “The was taken about the earlier stage. “At an early 1959, when discussions
broad basis of the discus- Mangla Dam, the con- stage of the discussions were in progress in Lon-
sions, initiated with the struction of which was be- relating to the draft of the don, India lodged her
participation of the Bank, ing undertaken by treaty, some guiding prin- third protest to the Secur-
had set forth: ‘The water Pakistan in spite of In- ciples were accepted to ity Council about the con-
resources of the Indus dian protests. I was au- enable discussions to pro- struction of the Mangla
basin should be cooperat- thorised to furnish to the ceed smoothly: In the dam. Iliff told me that
ively developed and used Bank our detailed com- light of the disagreement Black was much perturbed
in such manner as most ments on Pakistan’s Lon- between India and by this action, but he was
effectively to promote the don plan along the lines Pakistan on the status of assured by the Govern-
economic development of indicated by me in my Jammu and Kashmir, it ment of India that this re-
the Indus basin viewed as note to the Cabinet Com- was agreed that effort be newal of protest did not, in
a unit. The problem of de- mittee. I was also permit- made to write the treaty any way, alter the under-
velopment and use of ted to put forward a plan in such manner as to by- standing reached between
these waters should be of our own which would pass the problem of Black and the Prime Min-
solved on a functional and adequately provide for re- Jammu and Kashmir. ister in New Delhi.
not a political plane, … in- placement but taking care There was no other way to “In conformity with
dependently of political to see that no work in- reach agreement that the principle of good
issues.’ The objection to cluded in this plan should would be accepted by the neighbourliness, it was
planning of works in lie in Pakistan-held Kash- two parties. It was thus agreed that, in making
Pakistan-occupied Kash- mir territory, in order agreed, at Iliff’s request, use of the waters alloc-
mir territory was thus not that there should not be that neither party should, ated to it, each party
consistent with either un- any implied recognition on the one hand, seek to would seek to avoid any
dertakings and, although by us of Pakistan’s rights gain, in or from the water action which might cause
my colleagues and I had to undertake construc- treaty, any support for its ‘material damage’ to the
not made any commit- tion in this territory. Thus own general position on other party; the term ‘ma-
ment, on behalf of India, the danger from within the Kashmir issue, or, on terial damage’ was not
the Mangla dam had fea- was warded off, and my the other hand, seek to defined as what might be
tured prominently in sev- colleagues and I once erode the general position material under one set of
eral informal discussions again took up, in right of the other party. circumstances might not
between the Bank group earnest, our fight for the “As Mangla dam was be in so different set of
and us; government hav- use in India of the waters part of the Pakistan plan, conditions.”
ing been kept fully in- of the Eastern Rivers in the light of Indian ob- A.G. Noorani

dia’s dams in Jammu and our rights but, at the same
Kashmir & IWT

Kashmir have the poten- time, I will say this: that if
tial to destroy the peace we can get a solution which
process and even lead to we can live with, we shall
KASHMIR’S leaders Pakistan and the east- war. Again, the Intelli- be very foolish not to ac-
were kept in the picture ern rivers (Ravi, Sutlej gence Community Assess- cept it. Now when I say
fully on the Indus Wa- and Beas) to India, the ment report issued in 2012 that, I am in fact saying to
ters Treaty, as N.D. Ministry of States has put on notice that myself because I shall have
Gulhati recorded: “Ad- wrote urgently to Bak- ‘[p]hysical infrastructure, to take the responsibility
vantage was also taken, shi Ghulam Mo- including dams has been for the solution. The re-
during my visit to New hammed, Jammu & used as convenient and sponsibility does not lie on
Delhi in the first half of Kashmir’s Chief Minis- high publicity targets by any one of you, so let me
August, to review the ter. It stressed the need extremists, terrorists, and tell you very plainly that
provisions of the treaty to coordinate a case for rogue states threatening the policy is going to be
with its annexures with protecting Jammu & substantial harm and will mine. I shall consult you
representatives of the Kashmir’s existing and become more likely beyond whenever I am in doubt re-
State governments of future uses of the the next 10 years. Finally, a garding technical details,
Himachal Pradesh, Jhelum and Chenab group of more than twenty but if any one of you inter-
Jammu and Kashmir, (the Indus main chan- U.N. bodies in March feres with policy, I shall
Punjab and Rajasthan nel flowing wholly out- 2009 warned that given deal with him myself. This
as well as with Secret- side Indian-held the rising tension over the problem, if not tackled
ary, Law Ministry.” territory). Ordinarily, water issue between properly, may mean the
Daniel Haines goes State governments of Pakistan and India the end of the country. I mean
further in his book In- the Indian Union had a world would be perilously every word of it. So, don’t
dus Divided. “During limited role in the In- close to its water war” let any one make any mis-
the 1950s, water policy dus negotiations, and (pages 427-428). take about it….
was part of New Delhi’s both India and Ayub Khan’s account “When one is dealing
steps to integrate Pakistan expected of the internal debate in with a sensitive problem of
Jammu & Kashmir Kashmir to be a water Pakistan on signing the this nature, one has to be
State more closely into supplier rather than IWT provides a textbook realistic and judge the situ-
the Indian Union. As consumer. On this oc- lesson for statesmen in all ation dispassionately in or-
early as 1949 Niranjan casion, though, the such situations. It deserves der to formulate a rational
Das Gulhati, a senior Ministry wanted in- to be quoted in full: “But approach. Very often the
engineer in India’s formation on Jammu before I write of the negoti- best is the enemy of the
Ministry of Works, & Kashmir’s (small- ations with Eugene Black, good. We abandoned the
Mines and Power and scale) existing and pro- I should like to describe chase of the ideal and ac-
later (from 1954) jected water needs so the confrontation that I cepted what was good after
leader of the water dis- that the delegation in had with our own technical a careful and realistic ap-
pute negotiating deleg- Washington DC could experts and administrat- preciation of the overall
ation, advocated represent these as part ors. I sensed that they did situation. Had we not done
incorporating Kashmir of the total Indian re- not fully realise the gravity that, we might have drifted
rights on existing and quirement for river wa- of the situation and were into a conflict at a time
future withdrawals ters in the Indus asking for [the] moon when many factors were
from the Jhelum and Basin.” when we were in a position against us. The basis of the
Chenab in any settle- This reveals a lot, of weakness all along the agreement, therefore, as
ment with Pakistan on indeed. line. They were also trying far as we were concerned,
the canal waters dis- Now, 60 years to dictate policy and were was realism and pragmat-
pute. Gulhati’s recom- later, when the Kash- trying to take up extreme ism. Emotions had no
mendation rather mir dispute has as- positions. Some thirty or place in it, nor could they
contradicted contem- sumed different forty of them were as- be allowed to have any
porary Indian asser- dimensions, formula- sembled in Government place where the future and
tions that the canal tions similar to Article House, Lahore, where I safety of millions of people
dispute was about Pun- XI of the IWT can be addressed them. I said: depended on a solution.”
jab alone. When the worked out, provided Gentlemen, this is of far (Ayub Khan; Friends, Not
1954 Bank Plan pro- there is a will to join the reaching consequences to Masters; pages 109-110
posed assigning the Belt and Road us. Let me tell you that and 112.) These words
western rivers (Indus, Initiative. every factor is against should be inscribed on the
Jhelum and Chenab) to A.G. Noorani Pakistan. I am not saying table of every leader who
that we should surrender makes policy. $
BO OK S in review
Talking ties
enunciation of the Five
Principles of Peaceful Co-
Existence, essayed a rein-
terpretation of Panchsheel
“in the globalised context
of the 21st century”. To
The author seeks to explore the potential synergy quote Ansari: “We need a
between China and India and how it can change the new paradigm for global
action. Our destinies are
course of geopolitics. BY K . P . F A B I A N intertwined. Our quest is,
should be, for a framework
in which opportunities and
T HE author, Pisupati
Sadasiva Suryanaray-
ana, has worked as foreign
challenges for the better-
ment of our societies coex-
ist. In this endeavour,
Smart Diplomacy
correspondent of The Panchsheel can act as a
Hindu for 35 years and is Exploring China-India catalyst to help us better
currently Editor (Current Synergy coordinate our efforts, en-
Affairs) at the Institute of By P.S. hance mutual understand-
South Asian Studies Suryanarayana ing, share development
(ISAS) in Singapore. His World Century experiences and tackle
book is on a theme of en- Publishing transnational threats more
Corporation,
during significance, New York, effectively.”
rendered even more relev- 2016 The reader might won-
ant by the current tensions Pages: 317
der why the two countries
in the bilateral relations Price: Rs.6,945
cannot “better coordinate
between India and China. [Hardcover]
their efforts”, “enhance
His purpose is to explore mutual understanding”,
the potential synergy and so on without invoking
between China and India element of Sinolatry (wor- Talking the Walk Towards. Panchsheel all the time.
and to figure out how it can ship of China), rather fash- The appendices are China’s After all, foreign policy is
be exploited and how the ionable these days, in such Perspective on India, In- based on interests.
course of geopolitics might a world view? dia’s Perspective on China, Younger readers might
change if it is exploited. The author, “thinking and An Internationalist wonder why there is so
In his foreword, Am- the unthinkable”, has con- Perspective on China-India much ceremony and fuss
bassador Tommy Koh of ceptualised the idea of a Ties. about Panchsheel. For the
Singapore says that after “China-India Smart Zone The author has devoted 50th anniversary, K.R.
the United States-China as a shared mindscape that many pages to discussions Narayanan, former Presid-
relationship, the China-In- might become a postmod- on the origin, meaning and ent, went to Beijing. Why is
dia relationship is the ern sequel to the old geo- relevance of Panchsheel. it that no anniversary is
second most important bi- cultural Indochina, the First proclaimed in 1954, celebrated in India to
lateral relationship in the two being completely dis- Panchsheel is an ideology. which a VVIP from China
world. There was a time tinctive, though”. Zhou Enlai and Jawaharlal comes?
when India and China to- There are, in all, six Nehru “purveyed them as In fact, the author fails
gether accounted for al- chapters and three appen- products of the cerebral— to raise fundamental ques-
most half of the world dices. The titles of the as well as emotional—intel- tions about the motiva-
economy. Koh believes chapters and their sequen- ligence of both their coun- tions of the two
that the two economies are cing show the thorough- tries”. It is “conceivable” proponents of Panchsheel,
likely to become the two ness of research and that the adoption of Panch- namely, Mao Zedong’s
largest ones in the future. presentation: Sunrise sheel reflected the first at- China and Jawaharlal
The reader will note Powers of the Twenty-First tempt at generating Nehru’s India. Mao hon-
that for Koh it is China’s Century, Ideologies of the “diplomatic synergy”. estly believed that political
bilateral relations, whether Heart and the Mind, In- Vice President Hamid power came from the bar-
China-U.S. or China-In- terests and Concerns, Syn- Ansari, speaking in Beijing rel of a gun. For him, polit-
dia, that matter above ergies and Power Politics, on June 28, 2014, on the ics was war without
those of others. Is there an A Creative Scenario, and 60th anniversary of the bloodshed and war was

politics with bloodshed. 1949, and told President Nehru’s granting asylum ments. The West
Why did Mao, with such Harry Truman of his in- to the Dalai Lama and “justified” the intervention
ideas, sign Panchsheel, tention to recognise the wanted “to teach [Nehru] by invoking Security
which agreed more with PRC. Nehru explained that a lesson”. Council Resolution 1973.
Nehru’s idea of inter-state the PRC was not a threat to The author raises a few On page 267, the au-
relations? peace in Asia and that the questions about Panch- thor says: “As I visualise, a
China, when it was U.S. should accept the sheel, and some of them key economic issue to be
planning and building a political realities. Truman are rather odd. One such watched, going forward,
road through Aksai Chin, a resented what he was told question is, Did China viol- will be whether India will
territory it knew India and rejected Nehru’s re- ate Panchsheel in 1962? remain a Least Common
claimed, wanted to lull In- quest for financial The answer is incompre- Denominator (LCD) coun-
dia into believing in Chi- assistance. hensible: “In those histor- try and whether China will
na’s benevolent and pacific World Culture pub- ical circumstances, Mao’s sustain itself as a Macro
intentions. Once the road lished in China reported withdrawal from India Economic Denominator
was completed and after that Nehru had gone to the after the Himalayan War (MED) country.” Frankly,
Nehru granted asylum to U.S. to express his “will- left open the question of the reader would have ap-
the Dalai Lama in 1959, it ingness to accept the role China’s adherence to the preciated some explana-
was time to let India know of the principal slave of letter and spirit of the Five tion of LCD and MED.
where it stood. U.S. imperialism in the Principles” (emphasis The first appendix is an
Far East in the campaign added). interview with Ambas-
PERPLEXING against Communism” The author has argued sador Luo Zhaohui, in
The author’s historical (emphasis added). The in- that since Mao’s “Great which he gives a Chinese
narration is at times per- sults continued, but Nehru Proletarian Cultural Re- perspective on India. He
plexing. “Within five years urged the United Nations volution” from May 1966 talks at length without say-
of the founding of the PRC to seat China as a perman- to October 1976 “coming anything much. The
[People’s Republic of ent member of the Security pletely overshadowed” next one is an interview
China], Chairman Mao of Council. China never Panchsheel, its restoration with Shyam Saran, former
the governing Communist thanked India for champi- by Deng Xiaoping in 1988 Foreign Secretary, easily
Party of China (CPC), and oning its cause. It assumed is of great significance. The the best part of the book.
Chinese Premier Zhou En- with the arrogance of the argument does not hold. The last appendix is the in-
lai devised a strategy of be- “Middle Kingdom” that The author makes the mis- terview with Ambassador
friending India” there was no need to ex- take that many Indian Koh, who reiterates his
(emphasis added). The press gratitude. China was scholars, and even the In- well-known views on the
reader would like to know permitting India to serve dian government, have growing importance of
why China waited for five it. Young readers would made from time to time: to Asia, meaning China.
years and what it was do- have expected the author think textually rather than Obviously, China does
ing during those five years. to put India-China rela- contextually. If official an- not believe in practising
In July 1949, Liu Shao- tions right from 1949, in- nouncements are to be the “smart diplomacy” ad-
chi in an article under the cluding the 1962 war, in a taken seriously without vocated by Suryanarayana.
title “Nationalism and In- proper historical context. taking note of intentions Otherwise, why is China
ternationalism” described Often the author tends and actions, analysis gets making so much fuss
newly independent coun- to see the history of India- paralysed. about India’s entry into the
tries such as India, Burma China relations through a The author discusses Nuclear Suppliers Group ?
and a few others as “colon- lens made in China. The R2P (Responsibility to The author is reluctant to
ies and semi-colonies”. discussion on the genesis Protect) and argues that say in plain English that
Nehru went to the U.S. of the 1962 war is unsatis- the R2P concept, “as sys- Nehru tried to mobilise the
weeks after the foundation factory and will leave a tematised by the U.N., is synergy between India and
of the PRC on October 1, young reader rather con- based on safeguards China and failed. We know
fused. It is not suggested against wilful external in- why that happened. If
that the author should sur- terventions in the internal China wants to mobilise
Many pages render to patriotism and affairs of any sovereign the synergy, it should show
give an account that puts state”. The reader will find its willingness through ac-
are devoted all the blame on China. A it difficult to agree, consid- tion and not words. This
to the origin, holistic account of the ering the aftermath of the central point he has missed
1962 war should have been North Atlantic Treaty Or- out. The author is not
meaning and given. There were mis- ganisation (NATO) inter- alone in this regard. $
relevance of takes on India’s part, but
essentially Mao, as he cla-
vention in Libya, which
currently has three gov-
Ambassador K.P. Fabian
is author of Diplomacy:
Panchsheel. rified later, resented ernments and two parlia- Indian Style.
BO OK S in review
Glimpses
the Communist Party of
India (CPI) led by the bril-
liant P.C. Joshi.
One Congress leader
into 1942
stood out in bold defiance,
the wise Chakravarti Ra-
jagopalachari. He was for
conceding Pakistan, thus
throwing the ball in Mo-
A rich collection of documents that offer insights hammad Ali Jinnah’s
into the political currents that rocked the year court—what now? Apart
from Rajendra Prasad, Ra-
1942 in India. BY A . G . N O O R A N I jaji had done his home-
work. Punjab and Bengal
would have to be parti-
T HE year 1942 was of

great consequence not
only for India but for the Towards Freedom
tioned on religious lines if
Pakistan was accepted. Ra-
jaji’s plan envisaged a dis-
world. It saw the turning of Documents on the trict-wise decision. In
the tide in favour of the Al- Movement for 1942, this would have led
lies in the Second World Independence in East Punjab’s Muslim
India: 1942; Part 1
War. The editor rightly re- landlords to leave the
marks that the year, and a Edited by Bipan League. The volume has an
few days before it, “deeply Chandra with intelligence report that
Visalakshi Menon
affected the course of and Salil Misra said the Congress had
events in India in 1942”. Indian Council of plans for the partition of
Japan’s attack on Pearl Historical Research; Punjab if it left the Union.
Harbour on December 7, Oxford University Jinnah knew he could not
1941, brought the “unsink- Press get all of Punjab. An early
able aircraft carrier”, the Pages: 998 concession would have
United States, into the war. Price: Rs.5,495 prevented much blood-
Hitler’s attack on the So- shed. Jinnah misled his fol-
viet Union in 1941 also lowers. He also opposed
strengthened the Allies. and rail, an official report sembly with an option to the Quit India resolution.
This significance was lost said. There was an exodus the Provinces to secede by a The volume has a whole
on Gandhi, who was “af- from Bombay [now Mum- vote of their legislatures chapter on him and on all
fected” by Japan’s ad- bai] as well. As in Bengal, and a plebiscite if its vote the major themes, includ-
vances, which were sure to there were fairly large- for the Union was less than ing student politics, the
reach a dead end. It des- scale withdrawals from 60 per cent. Congress Socialist Party
troyed the British ships banks in Mumbai. Gandhi The Congress rejected and organisations of wo-
Prince of Wales and Re- and Sardar Vallabhbhai it and launched the Quit men and Dalits. The
pulse off the coast of Thail- Patel believed that Japan India Movement. It volume contains much
and on December 10, 1941. would win the war. Jawa- wreaked havoc and failed hitherto unpublished ma-
On December 7, it invaded harlal Nehru flatly dismally and predictably. terial and is indispensable
the Philippines. On Janu- disagreed. Gandhi had sent for any student of India’s
ary 15, 1942, came the sur- The volume covers the Madeleine Slade (Mi- history.
render of the British naval efforts of Sir Stafford raben) to the Viceroy, Lord The Governor of Sind,
base in Singapore. On Cripps to secure a compre- Linlithgow, before the Quit Sir Hugh Dow, shrewdly
January 20, 1942, Japan hensive settlement among India resolution was predicted on March 22,
invaded Lower Burma. all the three major passed. He was surprised 1942, that Jinnah would
The Allied counter offens- parties—the British, the and disoriented by his ar- accept a Centre if he were
ive was mounted only in Congress and the Muslim rest. “The last throw of the given dominance in Pun-
early 1944. League. Its basis was inde- gambler” had failed. jab and Bengal. He accep-
“One-third of the pop- pendence after the war, an Massive arrests of Con- ted the Cabinet Mission’s
ulation have left Madras interim set-up, and an gressmen left the field open Plan of May 16, 1946,
[now Chennai]” by road elected Constituent As- to the Muslim League and which gave him that to

Muslim League was ready
to accept Cripps’ proposals
of March 29. Rajaji wrote
to Gandhi on July 2 after a
meeting with Jinnah to say
that he was “genuinely de-
sirous of a Congress-
League settlement and
would welcome negoti-
ations for that purpose”.
Rajaji had held four inter-
views with Jinnah lasting
over 14 hours. Sadly, we do
not have their transcripts.
He wrote to the Congress
president, Maulana Azad,
four days before the Quit
India resolution of August
8, 1942: “We have no right
at this juncture to plunge
the country into disorder.”
T HE HI N D U A R C HI V E S
Morally, Rajaji was su-
perior to Gandhi; intellec-
tually, to Nehru. He was as
good an administrator as
Patel but more far-sighted
and liberal, and he was
W ARDHA , JA N UAR Y 1942: C. Rajagopalachari and Jawaharlal Nehru with other
wiser than Azad. There is
Congress leaders at a meeting of the All India Congress Committee. Rajaji was not in
not a single definitive
favour of the Quit India Movement launched later that year.
scholarly biography of the
man. Vallabhbhai Patel
some extent. The Hindu publicly predicted on July
minority in each Province 29 that the Quit India
was economically more Movement “will be short
powerful and socially and and swift and will be fin-
educationally more ad- ished within a week… no
vanced than the slender Indian would remain aloof
Muslim majority. An In- from the coming struggle.”
telligence Bureau report of The volume contains a
March 3 said that Jinnah good record of the CPI’s
was prepared for a change of policy—how
compromise. after Hitler’s attack on the
This volume confirms Soviet Union an “imperial-
what one discovered in the ist war” became a “people’s
British documents on war”. The British lifted the
Transfer of Power in India. ban on the CPI after N.M.
The Intelligence Bureau Joshi provided assurances
(I.B.) had thoroughly pen- on its behalf. Particularly
etrated the Congress and useful are the excerpts
the Muslim League and from the famous Deoli
had full reports of what Thesis hammered out in
TH E H I N DU AR C H I V E S
every member said at jail.

meetings of their Working P.C. Joshi raised the
Committees. Both parties CPI to heights it never
had members who dis- reached after he was ous-
agreed with the dictators ted as general secretary in
who led them—Gandhi 1948. The ones who fol-
and Jinnah. Were it not for MARCH 27, 1942: Sir Stafford Cripps with lowed bickered relent-
the Congress rejection, the Mahatma Gandhi. lessly in Marxist jargon. $
INT ER VI EW
Humanism in crisis
Hungarian author Gábor Lanczkor on the cultural and political landscape in
his country, on history, and what it means to be a poet and writer today in
Hungary. B Y M A R G I T K Ö V E S
GABOR LANCZKOR was born G Á B OR L A N C Z K OR (centre) at the launch of the book “Sound Odyssey” at the
in 1981 and belongs to a generation Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre in Delhi, with Prof. Rita Malhotra
of Hungarians who grew into adult- (left), one of the translators, and Dr Zoltán Wilhelm (right), the director of the
hood during the political changes of centre.
1989-90, availing themselves of the
opportunities that the new political stances), a new-found personal free- cultural and political landscapes of
system and Hungary’s eventual entry dom, changes in lifestyle and Hungary and Europe have facilitated
to the European Union offered, such personal relationships, and the abil- the birth of outstanding works, such
as academic scholarships through- ity to voice one’s opinion, though he as this year’s Oscar-winning short-
out Europe, the freedom to travel also remains aware of the insecurit- form documentary, Sing, the 2016
abroad (even if in modest circum- ies of the system today. The changing Oscar-winning foreign-language
“In my writing based on my Indian experiences, my

goal was to avoid being ‘postcard-like’. It’s a trap for
Europeans to regard India simply as an ‘exotic’
country....”
film, Son of Saul, Ildikó Enyedi’s Ber- of union, but, as it’s a democratic
lin Biennale award-winning On community, in tough situations
Body and Soul, Krasznahorkai’s We proceeded when quick decisions are desired,
Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming, The sail stretched, some disadvantages can clearly be
and recent works in art and culture And I won’t deny: I felt seen.
that have catapulted Hungary to the sympathy
centre at the international level. For the ideas of socialism. You were born a few years before
Poetrywala, a Mumbai publish- But when our ark left the the upheavals of 1989. What did it
ing house, has published his book swift waves mean for your family?
Sound Odyssey, translated into Eng- Of Oceanus, I was born in 1981, so I experienced
lish by the Indian poets Rita Malho- We landed on the island of the final days and the fall of the soft
tra, Ashwani Kumar, and Terry Aeaea, illegally—our loved dictatorship that was János Kádár’s
Varma. Rita Malhotra and Ashwani ones regime as a child. I grew up in Szom-
Kumar used the English translations Did not know whether we bathely, a city near the Austrian fron-
of the Hungarian translator Zoltán lived or rested in the bellies tier and I remember well when the
Lengyel. Jeremy Faro, an American Of fish here and there—, we border was opened and we could go
writer and translator, translated howled gods trekking deeper into the hills there,
Lanczkor’s Goya’s Deaf House Out of bushes. The Sun steps since the highest point in Trans-
(2008) and edited the collection. To the sky from here, danubia is just at the Austrian bor-
This is Lanczkor’s eleventh book: He keeps his house on this der. Sir Winston Churchill probably
prior to Sound Odyssey, he had pub- island, thought he was being very witty
lished four volumes of poetry, four And his dance floors—we when he coined the term iron cur-
novels, two children’s books, and his made our offerings tain, but for me, to see rusting rolls of
doctoral thesis on ekphrasis, entitled For him, burned the unbur- barbed wire along forest paths wasn’t
You Can’t Live There, a quotation ied dead, drank a lot of wine funny at all. It was a pure material
from John Ashbery’s poem, on the tasting like truth—history without meaning, as I
poetic description of works of art by Honey; revolution, revolu- later interpreted it for myself. I think
Rainer Maria Rilke and John Ash- tionary Proletariat, the reserved, distanced way in which
bery as well as Hungarian poets La- Overthrowing the civilian I observe politics is rooted in these
jos Kassák and György Somlyó. rule of early experiences.
The first part of Sound Odyssey, The bourgeoisie—to extract
“Table”, mainly comprises poems the one-time taste of Your poem “We Proceeded” reflects
which have not yet been published in freedom a specific political attitude that is
Hungary in book form, while the From the daze of the past; I characteristic of Hungary and
second part, “Goya’s Deaf House”, saw Eastern Europe. A sceptical,
comes from an earlier collection in The sirens in advance. distanced relationship is expressed
2008. The third part is “Sound Odys- Early in the morning we set in “We Proceeded”, where the
sey”, and the fourth, “Coins from Am- out contemporary merges with
rita”, is made up of Lanczkor’s poems For the abyss of the water. Odysseus’ journey. Another poem,
about Amrita Sher-Gil. The wild sea “The Table”, begins with the lines “I
In “Coins from Amrita”, some Waved beyond the broken cannot be/A humanist.” Humanism
poems speak in the voice of Amrita ring-bay. has been part of Hungarian culture
Sher-Gil, and some in the voices of I whispered wax since the rule of King Matthias in the
family members. As Lanczkor noted Into the ears 15th century, when the first
in his readings at the Ambedkar Uni- Of my partners. publisher, András Hess’s printing
versity in Delhi, at Delhi University, (Translated by
house, came into being, soon after
and at the Hungarian Information Zoltán Lengyel and
Gutenberg, along with Renaissance
and Cultural Centre in New Delhi, he Ashwani Kumar.)
palaces, and the libraries
sought to write about his sometimes- themselves, among them the
overwhelming Indian experiences in famous Corvina Library.
the voice of Hungarians or interview he gave Frontline: In the poem, I connect the concept of
Europeans who lived and worked in humanism to Hungary and Europe’s
India. Lanczkor has visited India How do you see Hungary’s position past. There is no doubt that Europe
eight times, after the first one as a within the European Union? was built on cruel conquest and ex-
tourist in 2002. We are a country of just 10 million ploitation of the rest of the world. In
In 2016, he was invited to the people, so we don’t really have any that sense, the whole concept of hu-
Long Night of Literature, organised political or economic significance. At manism is in crisis.
by the Cultural Institutes of the the moment, I can’t imagine any-
European Union. Excerpts from an thing better for Europe than this type In the course of your talk in Sahitya
Akademi last year, the issue of haven’t been to the cinema at all. I this statement of his to be a cour-
history came up. How do Hungarians saw Son of Saul on a rare occasion, ageous one.
deal with history? What are the and it is a memorable film. It had a
dividing lines in Hungarian society? cathartic effect on me, and I still ROLE OF POETRY
Yes, it did come up. I have the sense clearly remember stepping out of the
that history in India means some- movie theatre after I saw it in Ta- You and your wife, Krisztina
thing different from what it does in polca. This community near Lake Lanczkor-Kocsis, came to India last
Europe. If you look at architectural Balaton had a sizeable Jewish popu- year on a project called Poetry and
styles as imprints of who has been in lation, and 98 per cent of those Jews Community: Art and Music in
power, in India you don’t see signific- were killed. Their synagogue was Hungarian Literature. What is the
ant differences between temples turned into a cultural space. I felt the role of art and poetry in your lives?
built in the 14th and the 18th cen- beautiful landscape there also be- I don’t have a regular job other than
tury—but compare a Gothic and a longed to the Jews. writing and my wife is also on mater-
rococo building. I have the feeling Some time ago, I saw another nity leave at home with our younger
that Europe, and Hungary as part of short film by the same director, daughter, who was born last year.
Europe, have a rash or hasty relation- László Nemes Jeles, titled With a Living as we do in a village which is
ship with their history. The 20th cen- Little Patience, which is also related far away from the capital, we have a
tury in my country was an extremely to the Shoah [the Holocaust]. I liked very atypical life, I would say. We
tragic one: the First World War, the it very much because of its fine man- don’t have a television; we only have
Austro-Hungarian empire falling to ner and its minimalism. It’s defin- the Internet in the house. We get one
pieces and the Hungarian kingdom itely necessary to talk about the weekly newspaper; that’s it. It’s not
losing more than 60 per cent of its Holocaust, but it’s an extremely hard compulsory to go crazy in Hungary,
traditional territory. task to do it in an artistic way. Many not even these days. That’s the role of
In the Second World War, we who have tried, and keep trying, end poetry and music in our life.
watched the Germans kill half a mil- up with some form of kitsch. Even
lion Hungarian Jews; the Hungarian Imre Kertész considered himself a In your lecture at the Sahitya
state collaborated with the Nazis. “Holocaust clown” after receiving the Akademi, you spoke about a new
Then came the dictatorship, backed Nobel Prize for his novel Fateless- seriousness and a new objectivity as
by the Red Army. Far too many his- ness. I really like Kertész and found defining features of Hungarian
torical traumas, too many injuries to poetry. Who are the important new
those who were opposed to the re- poets?
gime, souls who suffered under these Yes, I spoke about the labels we re-
regimes; and others who reaped be- ceive from critics, just to elucidate
nefits. The dividing lines in our soci- our relationship to the previous gen-
ety now look like the sharp edges of a eration of poets. My favourite young
broken mirror. poets are Roland Orcsik, who came
to India in October for the Long
Last year, László Nemes Jeles’s film Night of Literature, Márió Nemes Z.,
“Son of Saul” won an Oscar; the film Dénes Krusovszky, Marcell Szabó
takes place in Auschwitz. This year, and Mátyás Sirokai.
a documentary film, “Sing”, by
Kristóf Deák, won an Oscar. The film The world knows the names and
“About Body and Soul”, directed by perhaps the work of Hungarian
Ildikó Enyedi, won first prize at this writers, for example, Kertész, Péter
year’s Berlin Biennale. What role Nádas, Péter Esterházy and László
does the Holocaust and Hungary’s Krasznahorkai. Besides them, who
participation in the Second World “I have the sense are the other important new
War (when Hungary was an ally of writers?
Nazi Germany) play in the that history in János Térey writes great narrative
Hungarian consciousness? How do poetry, poems in verse, like Vikram
you see authoritarianism and its India means Seth. And I like Árpád Kun’s latest
acceptance in the public novel a lot. Unfortunately, none of
atmosphere? This is what “Sing” something them have been translated into Eng-
and “About Body and Soul” are lish yet.
about. different from
I haven’t seen Sing and About Body Like Péter Esterházy (1950-2016),
and Soul yet, so can’t speak about what it does in you speak about being a Catholic,
them. I live in a tiny village with my and saints such as Philip St Neri and
family, so in the last few years, I Europe.” the Catholic Church figure in your

“I connect the concept of humanism to Hungary
and Europe’s past. There is no doubt that Europe
was built on cruel conquest and exploitation of the
rest of the world.”
work in an unorthodox way. In an ing to St. Matthew, Medea, and Oed- their lives on the pavement beneath
interview you gave, you spoke about ipus Rex. skyscrapers. I wanted to capture a
yourself as an anarchist Catholic, very different quality of the place.
and in your last novel, “River Are Hungarians religious on the And for that I required mediators:
Goddess”, the priest, Gellei, whole? What was the role of the Amrita Sher-Gil, Ervin Baktay, Alex-
discovers that he is homosexual and church after the political upheaval? ander Csoma de Ko rös, whom I knew
has sex with a hermaphrodite. What do you feel about a possible back home and with whom I became
From a certain point of view, I radical role for the church, a role much closer after my travels in the
worked in quite a naive way as a arising out of liberation theology for subcontinent. They were at home not
young poet—one can still be a great instance? only in India and Hungary, but they
poet without reflecting on one’s own In Hungary, I see no possibility of managed to build a corridor between
status during the writing process. It anything like that happening. The the two, which still exists as a space
was after publishing three volumes Hungarian Catholic Church is a in its own right.
of poetry that I started to write my deeply conservative and retrograde
first novel, and I suddenly realised institution. And the majority of those What is the literary establishment
that I’d need to recall my religious attending Sunday mass I wouldn’t like in Hungary? Is it easy for a new
experiences as fiction. even call religious. For many of them, poet to publish his or her work? Are
Of course, this was strongly con- it’s just an inherited habit or a way to there large publishing houses? Are
nected to the subject of the novel, exercise their political opinions. books selling well there?
insofar as it tells of a miracle per- In Hungary, there are two societies
formed by a 17th century Italian INDIAN CONNECTION which help young writers and poets.
saint, San Filippo di Neri. Born Cath- They organise readings for those just
olic, the only possible way for me to You have been to India seven times. starting out, and more importantly,
reach the spiritual core of my exist- What brings you back here? they publish the books of the young-
ence was through my own religious It’s hard to tell. It’s hard to define a est generation of poets. These
experiences. Though, I must admit, I relationship based on love. volumes are not meant to be best-
haven’t practised religion for quite sellers, but to encourage authors to
some time. To answer the second Apart from an undefinable love, find their voices. After publishing a
half of your question, artists such as your poetry shows your deep successful volume—which is what I
the Baroque painter Caravaggio and involvement with Hungary’s would call one that is well-reviewed
the 20th century writer-poet-film- connection to India. You explored by critics—the next step is the more
maker Pier Paolo Pasolini, who ap- the art of Amrita Sher-Gil in your difficult one: finding a large publish-
proached their subject matter from cycle of poems “Coins from Amrita” ing house. Cultural life in Hungary is
the Christian tradition in a subvers- and your play, “Malaria”, deals with still financed by the state through
ive yet faithful way, are very import- the life of Alexander Csoma de state institutions, but this support is
ant to me. Ko rös . Did you get to know their ever-decreasing, and those publish-
work while you were in India? What ers who are able to promote and dis-
Which aspects of Pasolini’s work do attracts you to India: the landscape, tribute their books widely rely on the
you like specifically? Is it his visual the plants, the buildings and art, the market and that means the authors
imagery, the art embedded in people? Or is it just Hungary’s must often make some compromises
religion? connection to the place? in order to gain popularity. But I see
It’s not embedded. In an ideal case, In my writing based on my Indian that our approach functions better
this relationship should be much experiences, my goal was to avoid than the one in India, where poets
more complex, and dynamic in every being “postcard-like”. It’s a trap for depend entirely on private individu-
sense. What do I like the most about Europeans to regard India simply as als and their networks.
Pasolini? The poetry volume The Re- an “exotic” country, where nature is
ligion of My Time, his novel Amado beautiful and contradictions are so What is the relationship between
Mio, and his films The Gospel Accord- sharp that you can see the poor living politics and literature in Hungary
now? Is there any direct influence or different from other villages? What as a poet, and not as a person. As a
subordination? are Hungarian villages like? Are child, I spent a lot of time with my
Not where I’m coming from, but in traditional occupations still alive? grandparents, so I can speak the
the world of theatre, especially in the What are the property relations like local dialect and know how to com-
countryside, yes. In this sense, the in Hungarian villages? municate with the people of the
situation has become worse in the Our village is set in a picturesque Henye area. Whenever the county
past five years. valley near Lake Balaton. Many of newspaper publishes something
the old country estates there were about me, I can feel that the villagers
What is the contact between turned into summer residences for are proud of that.
Hungarian literature and literature relatively wealthy families from Bud-
in other languages like? Are foreign apest. In winter, we are just a few The name of your band is Médeia
literatures well known in Hungary? more than a hundred people. As for Fiai, the Sons of Medeia. An
Until the political transformation of traditional occupations, wine cultiv- experimental play about the death
1989, poetry in translation was a ation is still very much alive in the of Tibor Hajas (1946-80), the avant-
busy and well-paid industry in Hun- region, and a few of the locals raise garde artist, is structured like a
gary, but since the end of the 1980s, animals, mainly chickens and pigs. classical Greek play. How do you
that has changed entirely. Following Our region is supposed to be one of relate to the classical era? And what
the global trend, most Western po- the wealthier ones, but the natives of is the project of Theatre of
etry collections sell in very small Balatonhenye live much below the Landscape Wounds?
numbers in today’s Hungary, which Central European [living] standard. For me, all of these things hang to-
means many important contempor- It would take too long to explain how gether: my poetry, my prose, the
ary poets are not being translated and why this happened, but I’ll say band, my private music project,
into Hungarian. When it comes to that, for the past 25 years, the Hun- which is called Anarchitecture, and
foreign fiction, though, the situation garian countryside has been in the Theatre of Landscape Wounds,
is far better. I might add that in this agony. My paternal grandparents are which is an intentionally long-term
age of e-books, the youngest genera- from a village just north of Balaton- series based on the interplay between
tion of Hungarian writers has begun henye, but there, there’s no lakeshore poetry, theatre, performance, and
to read in English. and no summer residents coming photography. It’s a project with Sza-
from the capital. That village is now bolcs Varga, who is a photographer.
You came to India with your wife and nearly 90 per cent inhabited by the For the European avant-garde, and
your young daughters. What do art elderly, as my father’s generation left the later neo-avant-garde, classical
and music mean for children? What it behind for good. I remember 30 Greek culture remained and remains
is their role in education in years ago there was at least one cow an important source of inspiration. I
Hungary? How important were art in most courtyards, and now? believe that Hungarian literature did
and music in the 1980s, when you There’s not a single one in the entire not tolerate avant-garde poets and
and your wife, Kriszti, were village. phenomena much; for example, La-
children? jos Kassák (1887-1967), who was a
In those years, we lived within an Are you considered a sort of talented artist in addition to being an
artificially maintained and isolated stranger in Balatonhenye? important poet and novelist. The
world. In every primary school, Hun- Not really, maybe just a bit, but only élite founders of the journal West
garian children were taught music (Nyugat) chose to ignore him, as did
according to the Kodály Method; my the Hungarian literary movements
wife and I now sing the folksongs we of the late 19th and early 20th cen-
learned at that age to our daughters turies. Artistic experimentation by
now. It was an odd arrangement, but, “I think the Miklós Erdély (1928-68), Tibor
in that era, in the 1980s, high culture Hajas and their circle was sup-
endorsed by the Hungarian estab- reserved, pressed by the establishment. For
lishment reached the general public. Sophocles, and for Tibor Hajas as
We were the last generation of chil- distanced way in well, it was just reality that all of
dren who grew up under commun- these things just mentioned worked
ism. I see in my cousin, who is 10 which I observe together, though one need not
years younger than I am, that, among bundle them up and call them by a
those born after me, culture means politics is rooted single name, for example avant-
something quite different, some- garde; just live with them. $
thing that is by nature free, since an in these early Margit Köves teaches Hungarian
artist’s decisions are free, whether language and literature at Delhi
they want them to be or not. experiences [of University. Her research work deals
with cultural exchanges between
How is your village, Balatonhenye, communism].” India and Hungary.

C I NE M A
Reclaiming
the box office
After decades of lull, Marathi films are attracting
audiences once again. B Y L Y L A B A V A D A M
FROM being a pioneer in the to a far wider public than most re- success, it was rated highly by critics.
early days of film-making, Marathi gional language films manage to It won the Golden Lotus Award and
cinema slowly faded away until it achieve. the President’s medal for best film
was almost out of sight for the larger It was in 2004 with the release of (the first Marathi film to win this was
viewing public, relegated to the zone Shwaas that hope surged for the Shyamchi Aai in 1950). Shwaas went
of regional cinema with all its negat- Marathi film industry. Shwaas was on to be nominated as India’s official
ive connotations. But the past few based on the true story of a grand- entry to the Academy Awards and
years have seen a spectacular resur- father who, at the expense of his own was ranked sixth in the Best Foreign
gence, with directors making films eyesight, tried to save his grandson Language Film category.
that are thought–provoking and rel- who was diagnosed with retinal can- The jinx broken, the industry
evant and with an ethos that appeals cer. Not only was the film a box-office went into an upswing. There was a
F R O M Paresh Mokashi’s “Harishchandrachi Factory”.

surge of interest and big media play-
ers started financing Marathi films
and Marathi television channels
fuelled public interest by replaying
old classics. In 2009, Paresh
Mokashi’s Harishchandrachi Fact-
ory, which was about Dadasaheb
Phalke’s struggle to make his 1913
film Raja Harishchandra, was In-
dia’s entry to the Best Foreign Lan-
guage Film category at the Academy
Awards.
The following year saw the re-
lease of debutant Ravi Jadhav’s
Natarang, the fictional story of a la-
bourer who realises his dream of set-
ting up his own theatre company.
The film fired the public’s imagina-
F R O M Sandeep Sawant’s “Shwaas”.
tion and was a blockbuster. After
this, the films rolled out fast—Vihir,
Deool, Fandry, Court, Kaksparsh, ing a Marathi film would probably be ector. The first serves as a track
Yellow, Dr Prakash Baba Amte… what Bollywood would spend on the record that warrants State funding.
some award-winning and all lapped pre-movie publicity of a single film, It has made a rule that every cinema
up by audiences nationwide; but this is changing. About five years house must screen a Marathi film for
Marathi had moved beyond the tra- ago, Mahesh Manjrekar made Kaks- a minimum of four weeks a year.”
ditional Marathi-speaking audience. parsh, a hauntingly beautiful period Besides, tickets for Marathi films
Then, in 2016, two films rocked drama that dealt with events and are much cheaper, averaging at
the industry. Sairat and Natsamrat their outcomes in the family of a about Rs.100. And multiplexes have
did not just wow audiences, they Chitpavan Brahmin living in the given an added boost to Marathi
were the highest grossing Marathi Konkan region. Visually stunning films because of their profit-sharing
films of all time. Nagraj Manjule’s and with strong production values, business model. Shanta Gokhale
Sairat saw box-office takings cross the film reportedly cost Rs.1.4 crore, says, “Multiplexes make screening
the Rs.100-crore mark, while Ma- but its strong storyline paid off and it Marathi films more viable because
hesh Manjrekar’s Natsamrat raked earned about Rs.14 crore. the seating capacity is small.”
in Rs.50 crore. In 2012, Lai Bhaar was made for Subtitles are now frequently
Apart from being the highest Rs.7 crore, a huge figure in the used, thereby widening the audience
grosser among Marathi films, Sairat, Marathi film world, and its returns, base. But Shanta Gokhale holds an-
which means wild, follows certain at about Rs.40 crore, were also im- other viewpoint here: “Marathi films
traditions established by Marathi pressive. Producer Riteish Desh- still don’t get seen so much by non-
film-makers over the decades. A ro- mukh’s risk-taking paid off. The film Marathi audiences despite their be-
mantic musical drama, it plunges was different from the usual in that it ing subtitled. It is only when the Eng-
into the debate on inter-caste mar- was an action-packed one and lish language press wakes up to the
riages. The young couple in the film seemed to appeal to a larger and merit of a film here and there that
are very much in love and, of course, younger audience. Around the same non-Marathis go to see it. This
defiant of social norms. To that ex- time, Timepass was made with a happened with Nagraj Manjule’s
tent the story could be considered budget of Rs.2 crore and brought its Sairat. The amazing thing is that
similar to any Bollywood theme, but producer upwards of Rs.30 crore. Dr even the Mumbai editions of news-
where it veers off drastically is in the Prakash Baba Amte was made with papers don’t carry reviews of Marathi
treatment. In Marathi cinema today, Rs.2.5 crore and returned Rs.12 films.”
storylines do not follow formulas. Is- crore to its producers. The Marathi film industry has
sues are dealt with seriously and of- The Maharashtra government been energised and film-makers who
ten with penetrating intellect. offers considerable assistance to were so far operating in very con-
Similarly, in the choice of casting, Marathi cinema. The films are tax- fined circumstances have got some
unlike Bollywood which is in the grip free in the State and are also offered a breathing space now. Enthused by
of the star system and gigantic Rs.40 lakh subsidy if the proposed the response of filmgoers, directors
budgets, Sairat cast completely un- film retains its regional identity. Ad- are exploring never-before ideas like
known faces in the lead roles. ditionally, says writer, journalist and shooting in foreign locations. The
As always, the budget is the critic Shanta Gokhale, the State “par- new generation of films have been
biggest hurdle. The budget for mak- tially funds the second film of a dir- shot in London, Dubai, Malaysia,

‘Focus is on good, strong story’
Interview with film critic Shanta Gokhale. B Y LYLA BAVADAM
WRITER, journalist and critic Despite this, good films contin-

Shanta Gokhale spoke to Frontline ued to be made in Marathi with
on the decline and revival of writers like G.D. Madgulkar and
Marathi cinema, how strong story G.R. Kamat, who later wrote hit
content is its backbone and how films for Raj Khosla. These catered
Marathi films “promoted reformist to the educated, urban middle class.
values” while Hindi films were However, as more and more indus-
“largely escapist”. Excerpts: trial labour poured in from the
coastal areas and the interior re-
After being a pioneer in cinema, gions of the State, they brought with
when and why did the Marathi them tastes that could not be satis-
cinema industry go into decline? fied with middle-class fare. The con-
The first decline came during tent of Marathi films was adapted to
the Second World War. Raw film the new audience’s tastes, with most
stock had to be imported. It was felt films being about poor farmers and
that the Hindi cinema had a wider cruel moneylenders, the spice being
reach, so it got a major share of the provided by lavani, the erotic song-
stock that was available. The wider and-dance form of Maharashtra.
reach of Hindi films was not only The reason for the decline in the
because Hindi was more widely 1980s was because of the preference
spoken. Prabhat Films had already S H A N T A G O K HA L E . of the Marathi youth for the glamor-
been catering to this larger audience ous Hindi film which overshadowed
by making Hindi versions of their capist and, for that reason, more ap- its regional poor relation.
Marathi films like Kunku (Duniya preciated. Soon, only elderly people were
Na Mane), Manus (Aadmi) and Another reason was that Hindi watching Marathi films. But a pair
Shejari (Padosi). An equally im- films were often financed by black of directors, Mahesh Kothare and
portant reason was that Marathi money, to which middle-class Sachin Pilgaonkar, invested in ad-
films promoted reformist values Marathi film writers and directors vanced technology and made glam-
while Hindi films were largely es- had no access. orous films that aped Hindi films.

Bangkok and Mauritius. But, as also very slick and that was half the
Shanta Gokhale says, the tradition of reason for their wild success. But if
a good storyline continues. “Strong the budget is small, film-makers are
stories are important. Today they are willing to tailor their expenses to it.
also slickly made. The younger film- And if the film is really good, it
makers, many of them trained in doesn’t make a difference. But the
FTII [Film and Television Institute same can be said about the new
of India] (like Umesh Kulkarni) and Hindi films like Masaan which are
many who have been making televi- made on small budgets.”
sion serials (like Ravi Jadhav, who Bollywood remains the uncon-
made the hit films Natarang and tested leader with its humongous
Balgandharva), bring high produc- budgets and superstar cult, but for-
tion values and technical sophistica- tunately it is not the benchmark. Au-
tion to their work. This appeals to the thenticity of milieu, challenging
new audience.” stereotypes, questioning, empath-
ANNIE PHILIP
Pointing out the slickness of ising with the underdog, casting

Sairat, she says: “Its music was re- aside preconceived notions and ex-
corded at Sony Scoring Studios in ploring—these are some of the
D I R E C T O R Nagraj Manjule. Hollywood with the composers Ajay- factors that magnetically draw audi-
(Facing page) A still from his hit Atul conducting the orchestra. ences to this new wave of Marathi
film “Sairat”. Natarang and Balgandharva were cinema. $
These films entertained the young well-known novels to the screen. formulas, but that is not so in
urban middle-class person but not This trend continues even today. Marathi cinema, where issues
the labour class. This class got a film Some of the most successful seem to matter.
director who came from the same Marathi films like Natarang and Marathi film-makers go for a
background as them. Dada Kondke Shala are based on short stories or good, strong story. Entertainment
churned out films and raked in the novels or at least real-life stories like for its own sake doesn’t interest
money, even entering the Guinness Shwaas, which was the second them. And yes, the tradition to focus
Book of World Records. So, the Marathi film to be sent for the on issues in films is very old.
small audience for Marathi films got Oscars. The first had gone 50 years For the last 20 years or more
divided age-wise and class-wise. before. That film, Shyamchi Aai, Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Suk-
This could not be economically vi- was also based on a set of stories thankar have been making issue-
able for too long. written by the socialist leader Sane based films.
This was the story of Marathi Guruji [Pandurang Sadashiv Sane]. Their latest, Kaasav, is about
cinema’s gradual decline until the Even Govind Nihalani’s Ardh Satya, how to deal with depression. It won
1990s. which became such a hit, was based the national award this year for best
on a Marathi short story. feature film, beating Dangal. It
Is there a certain snobbery among hasn’t been released yet.
Marathi directors that made them How difficult is it to find financiers
shun commercial cinema with all for a Marathi film? It is fascinating that the actors and
its associations of being mindless It has become easier these days. directors are [by usual standards]
and pure entertainment? People from different walks of life “small” actors, serious actors,
It wasn’t so much snobbery as who have money to spare put it into actors from the stage, and yet it is
knowing what the audience they a film after their heart. Satish Man- they who make Marathi cinema so
were catering to would appreciate. war’s fine film Gabhricha Paus was exciting. And they are making
Marathi people understand Hindi, financed by an Indian from the money. It is almost as if they are
so Hindi films were always there to Merchant Navy. Films have been defying the whole Bollywood
give them that kind of entertain- financed even by doctors. And now model.
ment. And Marathi people did see Zee TV finances them, so do Mukta The money they make is not in
those films too. But seeing a Arts, Ravi Rai and other non- the same class as that of the stars of
Marathi film about subjects and Marathi producers. Hindi films. But they do take for-
stories that they would never see on ward the tradition of Marathi
the Hindi screen was a special pleas- Is there a mindset among Marathi theatre and cinema of total commit-
ure. The strong story content that film-makers about what their ment to the art. Money is never a big
this audience wanted came because cinema should portray? Most Hindi issue if the story is good and the role
very often film directors adapted film directors go for the standard is challenging.

OB ITU AR Y
Sentinel
of democracy
Era. Sezhiyan (1923-2017), though not the archetypal Dravidian leader,
was one of the last custodians of Dravidian ideals and remained a
staunch advocate of parliamentary democracy, federalism and social
justice throughout his life. B Y A A Z H I S E N T H I L N A T H A N
THE passing away of Era.
Sezhiyan, or Era as he was affection-
ately called by his friends in the cor-
ridors of Parliament, signals the end
of an era. On June 6, Sezhiyan
breathed his last at the age of 94 in
Vellore, Tamil Nadu, where he had
spent his last years. While the demise
of Jayalalithaa and the exit of M.
Karunanidhi from active politics
have already caused a void in Tamil
politics today, the impact of Sezhiy-
an’s departure is different in nature:
He was one of the last custodians of
Dravidian ideals and one of the ori-
ginal faces of the movement that
completed its centenary just a year
ago. This disciple of C.N. Annadurai,
the founder-leader of the Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), was
respected by many as a great cham-
pion of Tamil causes in the face of an
increasingly unitarised centre in
New Delhi for more than three dec-
M . V E D H AN
ades (from the 1960s to the 1980s)

and as a parliamentarian par excel-
lence.
Sezhiyan was not an archetypal
Dravidian leader. In fact, he ceased quite a long period. Nonetheless, as ary democracy, Sezhiyan’s legacy will
to be a “Dravidian leader” in the late an intelligent face of the Dravidian last long. At a personal level, he had
1970s itself when he became a key movement, a political strategist for been a friend, guide and philosopher
figure in the Janata Party that took the DMK during its emergence as a for those who were fortunate enough
shape under the leadership of strong political force, a fearless op- to be associated with him.
Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) during ponent of Indira Gandhi during the Sezhiyan had a remarkable life,
the Emergency. Known for his integ- Emergency, a responsible leader of though a chequered one. Born on
rity and clean image, Sezhiyan was the opposition in Parliament and April 28, 1923, in Thirukkan-
indeed an outlier in Tamil politics for later, a great advocate of parliament- napuram in Thanjavur district,
Tamil Nadu, he was a gold medallist Nadu, the party was in pressing need tional Committee for Review of the
in the secondary school (SSLC) ex- of an alternative goal. Sezhiyan was Constitution and the People’s Union
amination in 1939 and graduated in one of the key persons in Team Anna for Civil Liberties. Unsuccessful at-
mathematics and statistics from An- (others included Karunanidhi and tempts of Indira Gandhi’s Emer-
namalai University, Chidambaram, Murasoli Maran) and helped shape gency regime to arrest Sezhiyan, his
one of the academic nerve centres of the idea of State autonomy as an al- escapes from them and his fiery
the Dravidian and Tamil revivalist ternative agenda for the party. In speeches in Parliament on the ex-
movements in those days. Sezhiyan 1969, when the DMK government cesses that rattled Indira Gandhi
and his elder brother, V.R. Ned- under Karunanidhi appointed the herself made him a star among the
unchezhiyan, associated themselves P.V. Rajamannar Committee to fledgling Janata parivar. When the
with E.V.R. Periyar’s Dravidar study Centre-State relations and opposition collective defeated Indira
Kazhagam and later with its political propose a viable model for State Gandhi in the 1977 general election,
offshoot, the DMK. The brothers, autonomy, both Maran and Sezhiyan Sezhiyan made a major shift in his
whose original names were Naray- provided valuable inputs to the Com- political life. He quit the DMK and
anasami and Srinivasan, re- mittee. Sezhiyan’s views on the sub- became one of the founder-members
christened themselves as ject, delivered during a debate on the of the Janata Party. He later became
Nedunchezhiyan and Sezhiyan in Anti-Secession Bill in Parliament, is a member of the Janata Party’s Na-
keeping with the trend then thanks quoted often even today: “Delhi is tional Working Committee and the
to the Self-Respect Movement, when known to be the graveyard of many Parliamentary Board. However, he
many Tamils shunned their Sanskrit empires. Let not… one more grave- was defeated in the Lok Sabha elec-
names and caste surnames and op- yard be dug here by this measure.” tion in 1977. The next year, he re-
ted for secular and classical Tamil In the 1970s, Sezhiyan estab- turned as a member of the Rajya
names. When Nedunchezhiyan lished himself as a parliamentary Sabha, thanks to the support of the
emerged as one of the top-rung lead- strategist. He mastered parliament- M.G. Ramachandran-led All India
ers of the DMK and became the No. 2 ary conventions and questioned the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
in the party with Annadurai (Anna) treasury benches when they attemp- (AIADMK) in Tamil Nadu.
at the top, Sezhiyan positioned him- ted to breach them. Many a time, he
self as one of the trusted lieutenants stalled what looked like easy passing POLITICAL SHIFT
of Annadurai, who liked him for his of budgets and won cases in the court However, shifting his base from
extraordinary grasp of political ideas on constitutional disputes. As Chair- Tamil Nadu to Delhi midway
and meticulousness in drafting man of the Public Accounts Commit- through his political career was con-
policies. tee (1971-73), he presented as many sidered one of the factors that sealed
Sezhiyan entered Parliament in as 96 reports and fought a related his political future in the State. He
1962 after winning the election from case in the Madras High Court and did not seem to have many options
the Perambalur constituency in won it. However, he never forgot his before him then. If the pull factor for
central Tamil Nadu. He won again in home State. In the early 1960s, when his foray into national politics was
1967, this time from Kumbakonam. the anti-Hindi agitation was about to JP, the push factor was Karunanidhi
It was in the 1967 Assembly election spread all over the State, Sezhiyan and Murasoli Maran strengthening
that the DMK captured power in was one of its key fighters in Chennai their positions within the DMK. In
Tamil Nadu, riding the crest of the and New Delhi. Later, in 1974, he the post-Annadurai period, his
wave of the anti-Hindi agitation of fought the Union government vigor- brother Nedunchezhian, once con-
1965. He continued to be a Member ously when the small island of sidered Annadurai’s successor to
of Parliament, either in the Lok Katchatheevu in the Palk Straits was head the DMK, broke ranks with the
Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, until 1984. transferred to Sri Lanka. Karunanidhi-led DMK and joined
However, he had to wait till 1975- the AIADMK. Sezhiyan, too, found
ROLE IN PARLIAMENT 77, when the Emergency was im- his position becoming untenable in
Sezhiyan was a staunch believer in posed, to unleash his strategies and Tamil Nadu and chose to stay in
parliamentary democracy, and his skills as a great defender of demo- Delhi, which he had become com-
role in Parliament was threefold: de- cracy. Tamil Nadu and India saw a fortable with by then. In 1984, when,
fending parliamentary democracy, different Sezhiyan. The Member of as a candidate of the Janata Party, he
opposing despotic tendencies in the Parliament from a “regional” party lost to Vyjayanthimala Bali, an actor-
Union Cabinet and being a pro- suddenly became a powerful opposi- turned-politician from the Congress,
ponent of the various political ob- tion leader with a pan-Indian reach in the South Chennai constituency,
jectives of the Dravidian movement. and significance. It was in this period Sezhiyan’s innings in the State al-
Sezhiyan was the voice of the DMK that Sezhiyan started to drift away most came to an end.
in Parliament and consistently from the DMK, joining the ranks of Though his political experiments
fought for the State’s rights. In 1962- the Janata parivar under JP, whom with the Janata Party did not bring
63, when the DMK decided to drop he loved and respected deeply. JP him any success, he continued with
the demand for a separate Dravida made him the Convener of the Na- it. In 1988, he was, again, a founder-

member of the Janata Dal, along ings of the depositions before the Sezhiyan, in a way, was a gift of
with V.P. Singh. He was considered commission have been lost and it is Tamil Nadu to India. Along with
instrumental in the party imple- believed that not one copy of its final himself, he took to New Delhi the
menting the recommendations of report has survived within the coun- political ideas of state autonomy, so-
the Mandal Commission report after try” (“The Indira enigma”, Frontline, cial justice and welfare economics—
it formed the government as a con- May 11, 2001). major ideas that defined the affirm-
stituent of the National Front in In 2010, Sezhiyan discovered cop- ative and constructive political
1989, with V.P. Singh as Prime Min- ies of the report in his own home lib- possibilities in Tamil Nadu in the
ister. But after the short life of the rary and decided to publish it. The last 50 years of Dravidian regimes.
Janata Dal government, Sezhiyan historical document was published as When most MPs of national parties
quit the party in 1996. Meanwhile, as Shah Commission Report: Lost, and from Tamil Nadu became subservi-
a senior politician, Sezhiyan was Regained (by Aazhi Publishers, to ent to Delhi, Sezhiyan was always
offered ministerial berths, governor- which this writer belongs). When it the representative of Chennai in
ships and Ambassador posts. He hit the bookstores in the winter of that New Delhi, even during his Janata
chose not to accept any of them. After year, political and legal circles in the Party days. During the last phase of
quitting the Janata Dal, he was with country also rediscovered Sezhiyan. It the war in Sri Lanka in 2009,
Ramakrishna Hegde’s Lok Dal for was, undeniably, a high point in his Sezhiyan circulated a booklet con-
some time as its vice president. Los- life and one of his finest contributions taining images and facts about the
ing faith in party politics and disap- to the Indian political discourse. war crimes committed by the Sri
pointed over all the Janata tamasha, Lankan armed forces among the
Sezhiyan quit active politics in 2001. MPs of both houses of Parliament
and urged them to raise their voices
SHAH COMMISSION REPORT against the pro-Sri Lankan stance of
However, he began engaging with the Manmohan Singh government.
civil society on various issues of polit- He also attracted criticism now
ical and social importance, and hit and then. Dravidian and Left intel-
the headlines again in 2010 when he lectuals did not take kindly to his
unearthed and published the Shah relatively close links with right-wing
Commission Report, which exposed elements who were inherently op-
in detail the “misuse and abuse of posed to the Dravidian ideology. He
power” by the Congress government was often questioned over his rather
under Indira Gandhi during the naive bias towards the AIADMK,
Emergency. The Janata Party gov- particularly at a time when Jayala-
ernment had constituted the Justice lithaa’s brutal and corrupt ways of
J.C. Shah Commission in 1978 to in- governance shocked the people of
quire into the excesses committed the State. These traits were con-
during the Emergency. Everyone be- sidered inexplicable in a person like
lieved that the three volumes consti- Sezhiyan published another gem, Sezhiyan, especially given the ideas
tuting the report had gone missing, Parliament for the People, a compila- he stood for.
and even researchers and authors tion of his speeches in Parliament in Despite such inconsistencies,
were not able get hold of copies of the 2011. In Tamil, he had already pub- Sezhiyan still stands tall among the
report. It was believed that the Indira lished a collection of his columns and leaders of Tamil Nadu who contrib-
Gandhi government, when it re- articles, Samudhaaya Needhiyil uted to its modern history. He was
turned to power in 1980, had system- Arasiyal Adippadai, and a wonderful unflinching in his commitment to
atically recalled and destroyed all biographical sketch of M.K. Thiyaga- the principles of constitutional
copies of the report. A review, writ- raja Bhagavathar, the first “superstar” democracy, federalism, State
ten by Sukumar Muralidharan, of of Tamil cinema. Sezhiyan’s Tamil autonomy, responsive and respons-
The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi by was rich but fact-based, very different ible governance and social justice-
Katherine Frank, in Frontline says: from the colourful style used by the oriented model of development.
“As a family with strong sense of its communicators of the Dravidian And his contributions did not stop
own destiny, the Nehrus were once movements. It was not surprising be- with mere words but extended to
fastidious record keepers. Yet during cause he and his brother Ned- action. A complete life by any meas-
Indira Gandhi’s later tenure as unchezhiyan had published ure. $
Prime Minister, the family proved Mandram, a popular Tamil literary
Aazhi Senthilnathan is one of the
eager to efface certain aspects of the and political magazine, in the early publishers of Era. Sezhiyan and federal
public record. An instance is the J.C. years of their political careers. He was coordinator of Campaign for Language
Shah commission of inquiry into also a regular contributor of well-re- Equality and Rights (CLEAR), a
political excesses during the Emer- searched scholarly articles to language rights movement in India.
gency—many hours of tape record- Frontline. Email: zsenthil@gmail.com

JA M M U & K AS H M I R
Facts of a ‘dirty war’

Pushed to the wall on the political front, the people of the Valley seem
to be coming out openly in support of militants, especially in south
Kashmir. B Y S H U J A A T B U K H A R I
IN 2015, a picture showing 11 nine have been killed. Sabzar Ahmad Wani, he refused, paving the way for
Kashmiri youths posing with AK-47 Bhat, who was a close confidant of Zakir Musa to become the head of
rifles went viral on social media. Burhan Wani, was the ninth in the the organisation. Musa recently
Standing in the centre of the group group to be killed. His journey was stirred a controversy when he an-
was their inspiration, Burhan Wani, also one that owed much to atrocities nounced that his organisation would
who changed the complexion of the committed by the security forces. He hang Hurriyat leaders for talking
militancy in Kashmir and reignited was motivated to join the Hizbul about a solution to the Kashmir
the anti-India movement even at the Mujahideen after Burhan Wani’s problem that was not based on reli-
people’s level. When he was killed in brother Khalid Wani was killed by gion. As the outrage against his state-
2016, Kashmir erupted in an unpre- the Army in the forests of Tral in ment from the average Kashmiri
cedented unrest that locked down 2015. Khalid Wani was not a militant became palpable, he modified his
normal life in the Valley for about six but had, presumably, gone to see his words, sparing Syed Ali Geelani.
months. Nearly 100 people, mostly brother. Though Sabzar Ahmad Another member of the group,
young, were killed, thousands were Bhat was picked to succeed Burhan Tariq Pandit, has surrendered, and
injured and scores were blinded with
pellets. It was a new Kashmir: this
time people did not hide their emo-
tions and rallied behind the
militants.
On the face of it, Burhan Wani’s
death did not faze the Hizbul Mu-
jahideen, the indigenous militant or-
ganisation that had made a
comeback after over a decade. The
group that rallied around Burhan
Wani had been hit by loss of cadre
and affected by the preference
Pakistan gave to organisations dom-
inated by foreigners. Getting the
local people to join the ranks of the
organisation apparently led to “pop-
ular” support for militancy in gen-
eral. Security managers in the Valley
were taken aback in October 2015

when over 30,000 people turned up
for the funeral of Abu Qasim, a
Pakistani who led the Lashkar-e-
Taiba in Kashmir.
Of the 11 young faces in that pho-
tograph who gave impetus to milit-
ancy in south Kashmir and attracted T H E P H O T O GR A P H showing Burhan Wani (centre) with 10 other Kashmiri
more youths into their organisation, youths that went viral on social media in 2015.
only Saddam Paddar is still free. Like tion of the situation in Kashmir as a the Afghanistan front, the number of
most new recruits, the 32-year-old “dirty war” that needs an innovative infiltrations decreased so much so
Paddar had never crossed over to approach. This raises questions that the Army described 2015 a zero-
Pakistan for arms training, and had about the state’s ability to deal with a infiltration year.
been charged with stone-pelting be- situation when similar situations Apart from the support they
fore he joined the organisation. He were handled without such fanfare in seem to be getting from the general
hails from the highly volatile the mid 1990s. No doubt, the dy- public, today’s militants seem more
Shopian district and is now seen as a namic of public support has committed than those who became
possible candidate to head the changed, but it is a “war” that is being militants in 1990, when all roads led
Hizbul Mujahideen in the Valley waged in Kashmir. Defence Minister to Rawalpindi. In most cases, a milit-
since Zakir Musa’s “fate” is not Arun Jaitley recently said that there ant today has actually graduated
known given that the organisation, was a “war-like” situation in Kashmir from being a stone-pelter first. To
which operates under supreme com- and General Rawat talked about begin with, the space for stone-pel-
mander Salahuddin in Pakistan, has treating stone-pelters on a par with ters opened up because of the va-
also distanced itself from his views. militants. cuum created by the absence of
Notwithstanding the fact that political engagement to address the
the Hizbul Mujahideen suffered two DIFFERENT SCENARIOS larger issue. And the way the police
successive major losses in 2016 and Even as it appears that Kashmir is have gone after them has con-
2017, it still has the highest number lost to militancy and the hard-line sequently herded them into the
of militants in its ranks. In south approach is to “crush” it, the scene is ranks of militants.
Kashmir alone, according to official very different from what it was in With a bigger symbolic loss, the
sources, there are 112 militants, 99 of 1996. Looking at what the Govern- Hizbul Mujahideen may find it diffi-
them locals. ment of India told Mehbooba Mufti cult to move on, though it has the
The biggest cover the militants in reply to her question in Parlia- numbers. But as long as people rally
have is the people, who give them ment in 2014, a comparison with the behind it, it will continue to make the
shelter and food and even help them situation in 1996 seems out of place state uncomfortable; two attempts
escape from the security forces. Over and also ridiculous. On August 8, by the Army to corner its members in
a decade ago, local support to milit- 2014, she asked “whether the num- Shopian backfired since the Army
ants had waned and that was why ber of militants operating in the feared collateral damage. South
their numbers had dramatically gone State of Jammu & Kashmir has de- Kashmir becoming the capital of
down. Today, the people of the Valley creased since 1995 and whether the militancy is the result of many com-
support the militants openly and it is government has any proposal for the plex realities, and pushing people to
obvious when people throw stones at withdrawal of security forces for the the wall on the political front is one of
the security forces during operations civilian areas of the State”. In re- them.
and come out in large numbers for sponse, the Home Ministry said that But south Kashmir is also in the
their funerals. The practice of hold- the number of militants operating in news because the militants them-
ing a shutdown when militants are the State of Jammu and Kashmir had selves choose to be seen in public
killed is also back, and the Joint Hur- considerably decreased since 1995. through social media. Burhan Wani
riyat is finding it difficult to avoid it “There were 6,800 (approx) milit- became a poster boy for the militants
lest its leaders invite the wrath of the ants of different tanzeems active dur- as he repeatedly used social media
people. ing the year 1996 in the State which though, as a senior police officer
Going by official figures, 282 mil- has, however, reduced to 240 and wrote soon after his killing, “he had
itants are active in Kashmir today. 199 in the years 2013 and 2014 not fired a single shot”. Compared
Compare this with how deep-rooted (January), respectively.” However, a with the south, the situation is grim-
militancy was in the mid 1990s, and former commander of a militant mer in the north, where there are,
one wonders what makes today’s group says that the number of milit- according to the police, 141 active
armed resistance so powerful that it ants operating in 1995-96 might militants, of whom 118 are foreigners
gets the full attention of New Delhi’s have been around 8,000 to 10,000. and 23 locals. They, however, stay
security establishment. A hysteria According to official data, in away from social media and do not
has been built up around the new- 1995, around 4,390 militants were hype up their presence. That is the
age militancy by both the security arrested and 1,332 were killed. In stark difference between militancy in
establishment and the national me- 1996, about 3,453 militants were ar- the north and in the south.
dia (mostly TV channels), and their rested and 1,332 were killed. The Whether the government can af-
provocative approach is pushing highest number of militants killed ford to use the stick alone to end the
more people into the ranks of milit- was in 2001; a total of 2,421 were current phase is difficult to say, but
ancy. Take, for example, Chief of the killed and with it militancy started more than any action of the govern-
Army Staff General Bipin Rawat’s declining. As 9/11 changed the world ment it is the “war” as it is portrayed
defence of the use of a Kashmiri man view about the Kashmir insurgency by TV channels that is causing more
as a human shield and his descrip- and Pakistan began to be engaged on damage on the ground. $
ME DIA
Gagging the media

The CBI raids on the promoters of NDTV are yet another indication
that the government of the day is intolerant of media dissent and is
quite amenable to using the law selectively to silence it.
BY T . K . R A J A L A K S H M I
PTI
ON June 9, in a show of solidar- N D T V founder Prannoy Roy during a protest meeting in New Delhi on June 9,
ity, mediapersons converged in the along with (from left) Arun Shourie, Fali S. Nariman, H.K. Dua and S. Nihal Singh.
capital to speak out against what
they felt was an attack on the free- conspiracy, cheating and miscon- noy Roy, Radhika Roy, and RRPR
dom of the press. The immediate duct by NDTV’s founder-owners and Holdings Pvt. Ltd, and a correspond-
context for the meeting was the raids some unknown officials of ICICI ing loss to ICICI Bank “arising from
by the Central Bureau of Investiga- Bank. The allegations pertained to their collusion and criminal conspir-
tion (CBI) on the properties and transactions that had taken place in acy”. It urged the media to telecast
homes of the owners of NDTV and 2008-09 and non-repayment of a and publish the full text of the clari-
the registration of a first information loan from a private bank. The CBI fication which it released on June 6.
report (FIR) on June 2 based on a later clarified that the case related It seemed that the government was
complaint (dated April 28) by a not to non-repayment or default of a keen to correct the perception that it
former employee of the media organ- loan but to the “wrongful gain of had not engaged in any wrongdoing
isation. The FIR alleged criminal Rs.48 crore” to the promoters, Pran- and had been impartial in its inquiry.
Senior journalists and former ed- clarification on its perspective of me- news agencies that there were no
itors, including some present and dia freedom was given owing to the raids on the offices of the channel as
past Members of Parliament, spoke uncomfortable glare it found itself the CBI had not entered the premises
out against the raids and condemned in, but it was evident that the govern- of its newsroom or TV studio, the
the attack on the freedom of the ment and its agencies felt compelled searches were carried out through a
press. Journalists such as H.K. Dua, to reassure the media at large that court warrant, the law was taking its
Arun Shourie, S. Nihal Singh, Kuldip there was no witch-hunt. After all, own course, there was no witch-
Nayar and T.N. Ninan spoke on the senior journalists, leading editors, hunt, and the Roys should comply
dangers of a compliant media and a academics and legal luminaries like with the due process of law.
totalitarian government. It was a by- Fali S. Nariman had criticised the The difference, if any, seemed to
gone era redux for some of them who government for the raids. At the be one of delicate semantics. It is
had fought through the draconian meeting called by media organisa- difficult to understand how the
clampdowns on the press during the tions, the senior advocate said that newsroom could be dissociated with
years of the Emergency and also res- he had been invited at the behest of the principal promoters and
isted the Defamation Bill introduced Prannoy Roy. Nariman called the founders of the channel. It is incon-
by the Rajiv Gandhi regime. They raids an “unjustified attack on press ceivable that a raid on the private
also underscored the need to defend and media freedom”. home of the owner-promoter can be
the idea of a democratic and secular dissociated from and unaffected by
India. what goes on in the newsroom
The Central government did not owned by the owner-promoter.
agree that the raids were an attack on It is another matter that accord-
freedom of speech or an attack on the ing to the World Press Freedom In-
freedom of the press. The CBI defen- dex 2017, compiled by the Reporters
ded its action in a detailed statement Sans Frontieres and which was re-
issued to the media, stating that it leased recently, India slipped by two
was not an attack on the freedom of points to be ranked 136 among 180
the press as the raids were not con- countries.
ducted in any registered office of the In its first statement on June 5,
media house, its studio, newsroom or the channel said: “This morning, the
premises connected with media op- CBI stepped up the concerted har-
erations but in the offices and assment of NDTV and its promoters
premises of the promoters. The dis- based on the same old endless false
tinction, if any, was nebulous. And in accusations. NDTV and its pro-
a further clarification, the investigat- moters will fight tirelessly against
PTI
ing agency said that it “fully respec- this witch-hunt by multiple agencies.
ted the freedom of the press” and was M . V E N K A IA H N A I D U , Minister We will not succumb to these at-
“committed to the free functioning of for Information and Broadcasting. tempts to blatantly undermine
news operations”. democracy and free speech in India.
Somewhat defensively, the coun- He said that in furtherance of We have one message to those who
try’s premier investigating agency press freedom under Article 19 (1) are trying to destroy the institutions
explained in its statement that it was (a), the CBI should have, as a matter of India and everything it stands for:
not a case of non-repayment of a loan of constitutional requirement, first we will fight for our country and
but one where the bank concerned inquired from the owners or pro- overcome these forces.”
took as collateral the entire share- moters what they had to say in the NDTV claimed that the loan had
holding of the promoters in NDTV matter before conducting a raid. He been repaid and furnished proof of
and accepted prepayment of the loan also referred to the famous quote of its claim on its website. It also
at a reduced interest rate, from 19 per the Lutheran pastor Martin claimed that it was a victim of a
cent a year to 9 per cent, thereby Niemoller, underscoring the prime witch-hunt. In an updated state-
causing a loss of Rs.48 crore to the sentiment of the quote which was the ment, it said that the raids were a
bank and a wrongful gain to the pro- need to “speak up”. “political attack on the freedom of
moters. The CBI statement spoke of Union Information and Broad- the media”, indicating that these
“unknown officials” of the bank who casting Minister M. Venkaiah were no ordinary raids and that there
were supposed to have entered into Naidu, who is also in charge of the was a clear political intent behind it.
collusion with the NDTV promoters. Urban Development Ministry, Expressing surprise that the CBI had
Quoting a Supreme Court judgment, denied that the raids symbolised an registered an FIR without even con-
the CBI also said that it was well attack on the freedom of the media. ducting a preliminary inquiry, it
within its jurisdiction to investigate Akin to the argument given by the said: “NDTV and its promoters have
cases of private banks. CBI, especially the part relating to never defaulted on any loan to ICICI
It was not clear whether the CBI the “freedom of the press”, he told or any other bank. We adhere to the
highest levels of integrity and inde- ent. He claimed that he and his wife the timing of the action. The alleged
pendence. It is clearly the independ- had not “bribed one person, nor transactions took place some eight
ence and fearlessness of NDTV’s touched one cent of black money” all years ago, but the bank has not filed a
team that the ruling party’s politi- their lives. All their houses, he said, single complaint. The propriety of
cians cannot stomach and the CBI were bought with “white” money. the CBI in entertaining a complaint
raid is merely another attempt at si- He denied the charges of money by a third party is difficult to digest.
lencing the media. No matter how laundering involving GE and NBC On June 1, a day before the CBI re-
much the politicians attack us—We made by the Income Tax Depart- gistered its FIR, an anchor of the
will not give up the fight for freedom ment in Delhi. The department al- television channel and the channel
and the independence of media in leged that NBC’s investment of $150 were accused by a BJP spokesperson
India.” million in an entertainment wing of of having an “agenda” while conduct-
The complainant, according to NDTV in 2008 was a sham transac- ing a discussion on the Centre’s noti-
the NDTV statement, was a dis- tion and that NDTV had sent the fication banning the sale of cattle for
gruntled former consultant and the money through hawala and that the slaughter at village markets. The an-
FIR was based on a “shoddy com- money was round-tripped to NDTV. chor asked the BJP spokesperson to
plaint”. It also said that the com- The government lawyers had sought leave the show.
plainant himself had not acquired a 21 adjournments at the Income Tax In November 2016, NDTV India,
single order from any court. Accord- Appellate Tribunal, with the result the channel’s Hindi counterpart, was
ing to the CBI, the complainant was a that the basic case was not being forced to undertake a 24-hour black-
former NDTV consultant and dir- heard. In a shocking disclosure, he out by the Information and Broad-
ector of Quantum Services Private also said that NDTV had been ac- casting Ministry following
Limited who had filed complaints cused of running a prostitution allegations of having disclosed sens-
with the Enforcement Directorate racket. itive information during the anti-ter-
and the Directorate General of In- In December 2016, responding rorist operations at Pathankot. Not
come Tax alleging that there was to charges on a private website where many in the media believed that this
transfer of ownership and collusion it was alleged that NDTV’s pro- was the case, although the channel
of income tax officials and that the moters had allegedly floated shell had to abide by the recommendation
bank itself was involved in a conspir- companies to evade tax, the media of an inter-ministerial committee.
acy to conceal the true acquirer of house responded thus: “Not one ru- This was the first instance of invok-
NDTV. pee has ever been siphoned from ing the amended programme code of
At the meeting organised by NDTV by anyone or its promoters, as the Cable Television Network Rules
journalist organisations, Prannoy you allege. Rigorous and regular that prohibited live coverage of anti-
Roy said that the charges were flimsy audits conducted by top global firms terrorist operations. The new clause,
and concocted. “They are telling us: establish this, the most recent of Rule 6(1)(p), which came into effect
we will fix you even if you are inno- which were carried out every year in March 2015, says: “No pro-
cent,” he said. He added that the and are published and circulated gramme should be carried… (which)
principal complainant was a tool be- widely. In addition, NDTV has con- contains live coverage of any anti-
ing exploited (by the government) ducted forensic audits of the highest terrorist operation by security forces
and that the complainant’s mother standards. These audits are part of wherein media coverage shall be re-
herself was not supportive of his ac- our commitment to exemplary cor- stricted to periodic briefing by an of-
tions as in her opinion the Roys were porate governance, but of course ficer designated by the appropriate
“good people”. their findings contradict your wild government, till such operation con-
Prannoy Roy said that his criti- and groundless accusations. Too cludes.”
cism was not against the CBI but bad.” The charges of tax evasion were The issue undoubtedly goes bey-
against the “politicians who wanted raised by a journalist who was also a ond NDTV or any media house. The
to manipulate, eviscerate and disem- co-convener of the Swadeshi Jagran June 9 meeting was not just about
bowel our institutions”. He also said Manch. any single media house; it was also
he was open to any inquiry but it The latest raids by the CBI have not about the law being allowed to
should be time-bound and transpar- raised several questions other than take its own course, a fact that every-
one agreed was indisputable and
self-evident. It was the expression of
The complainant, according to NDTV, an angst that was all-pervasive for
many reasons.
was a disgruntled former consultant The issue at hand is also the
growing perception that the govern-
and the FIR was based on a “shoddy ment of the day seems to be intoler-
ant of media dissent and is quite
complaint”. amenable to using the law selectively
to silence it. $

Bars are back
kerala
THE wheel has turned Frontline, September 3,

full circle again in 2014)
Kerala with the State The LDF says it
government’s decision believes that the only way
to roll back the liquor to help people kick the
policy of the previous habit is through
United Democratic Front awareness campaigns
(UDF) administration, that can help them get rid
which aimed at of their craving gradually,
introducing total and not through
prohibition in the State in prohibition. Therefore, it
stages within a decade believes “in making liquor
from 2014. available till then under
K. RAGESH
As part of the policy, stringent norms”.
the UDF had closed down Other highlights of the
712 foreign liquor bars new policy are as follows:
run by private hoteliers in (a) licences, including I N K O Z HI K O D E , the crowd before a Bevco outlet
August 2014, in addition to those for beer/wine following the Supreme Court order directing closure of
10 per cent (or 78) of the parlours, given under the bars and liquor retail outlets within 500 metres of
total retail outlets of the foreign liquor rules, will highways.
State Beverages continue to be granted to
Corporation, or Bevco, all legally eligible litre limit for the without bringing down the
which runs all liquor retail applicants; (b) restaurants maximum quantity of craving for it among
shops in Kerala and that have the necessary foreign liquor a person people had led to the
controls wholesale liquor licence will be allowed to can purchase from retail spread of illicit liquor and
sale to bars. It allowed serve IMFL or beer/wine outlets. The working narcotic and psychotropic
bars to continue to in their banquet halls if hours of bars have been drugs, as was evident
function only in five-star they remit a prescribed cut by half an hour a day from the “phenomenal
hotels (about 20). Each fee; (c) all liquor to 12 hours (from 11 a.m. increase in Excise cases”
year thereafter, it had (including beer and wine) to 11 p.m). In the outlets in the State following the
said, 10 per cent more of outlets located within 500 catering to the tourism closure of bars in 2014.
the Bevco outlets would metres of State and sector, the timings would While 12,904 Abkari
be shut down. national highways (which be from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. cases and 847 NDPS
The Left Democratic were shut down following The licence fee for (Narcotic Drugs and
Front (LDF) government, the recent Supreme Court bars has been increased Psychotropic Substances)
which just completed a order) would be allowed to to Rs.28,000 from cases were registered
year in office, has termed relocate to a suitable Rs.23,000 and for retail during 2013-2014, the
it an impractical policy place within the same liquor outlets run by numbers rose to 25,332
and decided to allow all taluk on condition that the Bevco and Consumerfed and 3,835 respectively in
hotels in and above the workers who lost jobs to Rs.4 lakh from Rs.3 2016-17. “This shows that
“three star” category to when the outlets had to lakh. There is no change as long as the craving for
run bars. This should close down are rein licence fee for most liquor exists in society,
mean the reopening of the employed; (d) other outlets, including total prohibition would
712 bars that had been international and clubs, beer/wine parlours, remain an impractical
shut down in what was domestic airport lounges beer retail outlets, pubs, task,” it said.
seen as an impulsive act would also be allowed to military clubs and It also claimed that
by the then Chief Minister, serve foreign liquor. canteens. the closure of 712 bars
Oommen Chandy, amidst The government has The new policy and 78 retail outlets by the
intense political rivalry also decided to raise the document approved by the UDF government had not
within the Congress party minimum age limit for State Cabinet on June 8 helped much in bringing
and its ruling coalition consuming liquor from 21 said that reducing the down liquor consumption,
(“Old wine, new bottle”, to 23 and retain the three- availability of liquor with merely a 7 per cent
S. M A HI N SHA
V.M. SUDHEERAN, former State Congress president, addressing State government that
members of the anti-liquor people’s front before they took out a gains the most from the
march to the Assembly against the LDF government’s liquor policy, in legal sale of liquor.
Thiruvananthapuram on June 8. According to an estimate,
before 2014, 23 per cent of
drop in IMFL sales alone 4.8 per cent in 2014 and consumption of beer and the State’s revenue came
being registered in “2015- was a mere 0.6 per cent in wine did increase in the from the sale of liquor. For
16 as compared to the 2015. State, the total volume of example, the revenue from
figure in 2010-11”. During As the Frontline Cover liquor sales went down by alcohol stood at Rs.10,615
the same period, there was Story in the April 15, 2015, 7.47 per cent, unlike claims crore in 2014-15, up from
an 80 per cent rise in the issue explained, the UDF’s to the contrary made by the Rs.40.74 crore in 1987-88.
sale of beer. So, it said, “if unlikely war on alcohol was government. Unrecorded sale and
combined consumption of more a result of political Moreover, the number consumption is believed to
IMFL and beer is circumstances than one of of tourists coming to Kerala be double the recorded
considered, there has only sound deliberation. and the total revenue from figure.
been a net increase in However, those who the tourism industry It is yet to be known
liquor consumption”. question the new LDF actually went up as per the how much revenue the new
The policy document policy’s rationale, including figures of the Tourism policy would bring
said the UDF’s Abkari leaders of the UDF and the Department itself, unlike additionally to the State.
policy had created a influential Kerala Catholic what is claimed by the LDF The cash-strapped State
serious crisis in the Bishops’ Council, say that in the policy document, stands to gain much from
tourism industry, a major contrary to the ruling they said. the LDF policy.
revenue earner for Kerala, Front’s claims, the impact In sum, the LDF has But the real impact of
with tourist arrivals falling of the curbs imposed by the removed all curbs on the the new policy will be
from 8.1 per cent to 7.06 earlier government had legal sale of liquor in understood only when
per cent after it became actually proved beneficial Kerala, including the ban benefits in terms of
operational. In the same for the State. on issuing fresh bar revenue, its effects on the
period, tourist arrivals in For example, they say, licences imposed in 2011 tourism industry and the
India as a whole had risen though the number of and the requirement that creation and sustenance of
from 5.9 per cent to 10.2 Excise cases registered new liquor outlets could jobs are balanced against
per cent. MICE (Meetings, went up in the past two only be launched with the the ill effects that the free
Incentives, Conferences, years, the quantity of illicit permission of the local availability of liquor will
Conventions, Exhibitions liquor and narcotic body concerned. have on a society where
and Events) Tourism, which substances seized in Excise It is well known that alcohol consumption is one
registered a growth rate of raids actually went down. liquor is a commodity that of the highest in India.
9.1 per cent in 2013, fell to Similarly, though the is taxed heavily and it is the R. Krishnakumar

End of student unions representatives will have
no say in financial
present socio-economic
scenario nothing can be
west bengal
THE Trinamool bodies. In the case of matters, as the treasurer apolitical and that this is
Congress government colleges, the president both at the college and nothing but another way to
has brought out an and vice president of the university levels will be a silence the opposition’s
order that will not only council will be nominated teacher or an official voice within a college
curb the powers of by the principal/vice nominated by the principal campus. “It is no secret
student union bodies principal/teacher in or the Vice Chancellor that over the last few
in colleges and charge of the college from respectively. years the Trinamool
universities but also amongst other teachers. The new rules are Chhatra Parishad [or
make them apolitical The general secretary, two based on the system St. TMCP, the Trinamool’s
and with no financial assistant general Xavier’s College, Kolkata, student wing] has been
powers. The move is also secretaries and a follows. Chief Minister causing mayhem over
aimed at checking campus maximum of five assistant Mamata Banerjee had on collection of funds in
violence. The order has secretaries will be elected one occasion said: “I think colleges, particularly
come as a huge shock to by the class holding elections every during admission time.
academic circles because representatives who will year [in colleges and This they could do only by
it can break the backbone be elected directly by the universities] is a waste of forcefully capturing the
of the students’ movement students of all classes. energy. I will ask the unions. Instead of taking
in the State’s politics. For universities, the Education Minister to find action against those
The West Bengal president and two vice out whether the St. students, the whole
Universities and Colleges presidents will be Xavier’s model can be student community is
(Composition, Functions nominated by the Vice adopted.” being denied the right to
and Procedure for Chancellor from amongst The new rules did not control union funds. This
Elections to Students’ the teachers of the go down well with a large is an insult to the student
Council) Rules, 2017, university. The general section of the student community. The students’
issued by the Department secretary, assistant community. Madhuja Sen union is the platform for
of Higher Education, lays general secretaries and Roy, president of the West students to express their
down a uniform system for not more than 10 assistant Bengal unit of the views and opinions. The
elections to student bodies secretaries will be elected Students’ Federation of union’s main work is to
and for their composition by the class India (SFI), the students’ place the demands of the
and functioning. The rules representatives. The wing of the Communist students to the
say that “the Students’ notification makes it clear Party of India (Marxist), authorities. Under these
Council of colleges and that the elected student believes that in the new rules, that space for
universities shall not use
any banner or emblem of
any political party in any
manner during election or
campaigning” and that
“every student contesting
in the election... shall be
identified by his own
name, class or section and
roll number and nothing
else”. The term student
union has been replaced
by student council.
Election to these
SANJOY GHOSH
councils will be held every

two years instead of every
year. The notification
brings about huge
changes in the M E M B E R S O F T H E S F I and other student unions during a protest in front of
composition of student Calcutta University, a file picture.
the students will not be
there,” Madhuja told
of Chandannagar College
and a national executive
Award for Frontline
media
Frontline.
It is an undeniable fact
committee member of the
All India Federation of
journalist
that barring a few colleges University and College
and universities, the TMCP Teachers Organisation,
has complete control in told Frontline.
most institutions in the In the culture of West
State. Time and again, Bengal’s politics, student
there have been movements have been
allegations of rigged crucial in creating and
elections on campuses, grooming the political
B Y SP E C I AL A R R AN G EMEN T
and in many instances, leaders of the future. Some
opposition student unions of the important political
have not even been allowed figures in the State,
to contest. Violence on the including Mamata Banerjee
campus has been on the and former Chief Minister
rise steadily, and in places Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,
where the opposition is made their bones initially
absent, vicious infighting in student politics. Many M A H A R A SH TR A C H IE F M INIS T E R Devendra
within the TMCP has been feel that denying those who Fadnavis presenting the award.
a constant source of are of voting age the right
embarrassment for the to exercise their political R.K. RADHAKRISHNAN, Associate Editor, Frontline, is the
ruling party. In fact, many freedom does not bode recipient of the Mumbai Press Club’s RedInk media award
political observers feel that well for society. “We are 2017 in the politics (print) category. The award-winning
the notification is also the young generation. If at article was a two-part series on how major political
aimed at keeping in check this impressionable age we parties systematically bribed voters in Tamil Nadu ahead
the factional feuds within remain disassociated with of the May 2016 Legislative Assembly elections. The series
the ruling party. politics and our political published in the issues dated July 22 and August 19, 2016,
Many feel that the State thoughts and ideas are not was chosen by an eminent panel of judges comprising
government’s move to allowed to find expression, former Supreme Court judge Hemant Gokhale, Economic
remove politics from then how do we speak for & Political Weekly Editor Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and
colleges to address the ourselves later in life?” former Additional Solicitor General of India B.A. Desai.
issue of violence during said Gitashree Sarkar, an The award carries a memento, a certificate and
college elections is just a SFI leader at Jadavpur Rs.75,000. Maharastra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis
way for it to obtain total University. handed over the award at a function at the National Centre
hegemony over student “This is a social of Performing Arts in Mumbai on June 7.
politics. “While it is good engineering measure, The Mumbai Press Club instituted the prestigious
that a much-needed which along with the new National RedInk Awards for Excellence in Journalism
uniformity is being brought West Bengal Higher seven years ago to promote best practices among
about in the composition, Education Act, 2017, seeks journalists and encourage good-quality writing, fair play
function and elections of to destroy higher education and high ethical standards.
student councils, this in the State and strip The menace of cash for votes in an election is nothing
notification is not enough teachers and students of new in India. But there have been few focussed studies to
to address the issue of their dignity and the right establish the extent of bribery during elections.
political violence within the to dissent. The latent Radhakrishnan began working on the cash-for-votes
campus. That channel still agenda is to dismantle and story in January 2016, almost five months ahead of the
remains open for privatise the education elections. The enticements had begun by then and
criminalisation of politics sector,” said Suchetana continued through the campaign. After an exhaustive
within the campus as Chattopadhyay, an study, he asserted that “228 constituencies in the State
mainstream political assistant professor at witnessed large-scale, organised distribution of cash to
parties can still indirectly Jadavpur University. voters”. As proof, he gathered all first information reports
pull strings from behind,” Suhrid Sankar filed during the election process and relied on interviews
Debasish Sarkar, Principal Chattopadhyay with candidates, their agents and even voters.
CO VE R ST OR Y
In a policy trap
While farm loan waivers are a must to address the symptoms of a crisis,
they will not solve the long-standing agrarian crisis, which reflects the
deeper crisis of neoliberal economic policy itself. B Y C.P. CHANDRASEKHAR
THEY ARE BY NO MEANS NEW TO INDIA. BUT the returns from farming, there seems to be little hope
the spate of farm loan waiver announcements, either that most of them will be able to extricate themselves
voluntary or made under pressure, from Bharatiya from that web of debt. If the problem had afflicted one or
Janata Party (BJP)-led State governments suggests that a few farmers, it would have been ignored. But the crisis
the ruling party has been forced to recognise the agrarian in focus afflicts the majority.
crisis. Farmers are burdened with excess debt and, given So starting with the waiver of loans of up to Rs.1 lakh
outstanding with small and marginal farmers in Uttar extend to other States, as a contagion effect. The reality of
Pradesh, in keeping with an election promise, the “waiver the agrarian crisis and farmer solidarity have put the fear
wave” has spread to Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, of the voter into the politicians.
where the governments have been forced by farmers’ Efforts will, of course, be made to dilute or turn back
agitations to accede to generous packages. In both States, the waiver programme. The way the waiver promises
the governments concerned held out against the de- have been worded gives cause for scepticism about the
mands saying they were not financially feasible and intentions of the governments concerned. The Rs.1 lakh
offered some minor concessions instead. But farmers ceiling in Uttar Pradesh will definitely exclude a substan-
were unwilling to accept these even when their “leaders” tial number of affected farmers and had not been spe-
were willing to settle. The argument seemed to be that if cified as a condition when the waiver slogan was being
the Uttar Pradesh government can set aside Rs.36,000 used to mobilise voter support during the Assembly elec-
crore to settle loans, other governments can do that much tions. In Maharashtra, the scheme is being made applic-
or more. able only to so-called “genuine farmers”, or those whose
only source of income is farming. Since the accumulated
CONTAGION EFFECT debt is a symptom of a crisis in farming, to expect farmers
Soon, embarrassed by the strength of the movements to have only farming as their source of income is self-
launched by the farmers and their resilience, the Maha- contradictory. So, whether the announcements of
rashtra and Madhya Pradesh governments had to cave waivers, which many farmers and those advocating their
in. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya cause see as inadequate, will be implemented in full will
Pradesh had to end the drama of an indefinite fast aimed be known only in time. But as of now, farmers in many
at restoring peace and buy peace with a loan waiver regions seem determined not merely to have their debt
announcement that was similar in scale to what Uttar wiped clean but also to get the government to adopt
Pradesh had done. It is inevitable that this wave will now measures that will prevent a recurrence of the crisis.
The current round of loan waivers must be seen in the
context of a long-run reliance on this measure to appease
farmers dogged by crises that burden them with unser-
viceable debt, which often makes them desperate enough
to commit suicide. For example, the United Progressive
Alliance government waived loans amounting to
Rs.60,000 crore in 2009, in the run-up to parliamentary
elections. Since then, there have been quite a few State-
level initiatives, including a 2014 waiver to the tune of
Rs.17,000 crore in Telangana implemented by the Telan-
gana Rashtra Samithi government and a scheme grant-
ing a waiver of Rs.5,780 crore (which the Madras High
Court hiked by a further Rs.1,980 crore) announced by
Jayalalithaa of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu in 2016.
BETWEEN FISCAL REFORM AND

POLITICAL EXIGENCY
The response of the commercial, banking and policymak-
ing elites to these waivers has been that it is a form of
“populism” not in keeping with the requirements of dili-
gent banking and a prudent fiscal policy stance. Reserve
Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel said in April that a
loan waiver “undermines an honest credit culture. It
impacts credit discipline. It plugs incentives for future
borrowers to repay. In other words, waivers engender
moral hazard.” Also, he said, each round of waiver adds to
the fiscal deficit at the Central or State level, especially the
latter. Assuming this process will continue until the 2019
general election, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has
estimated that waiver sums will add up to Rs.2,57,000
F A R ME R S A N D A C T I VI S TS of the Vidarbha Rajya

Andolan Samiti celebrating after the Maharashtra
government announced a loan waiver for farmers, in
PTI
Nagpur on June 12.

crore, or 2 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), seasons and affected the sale of one crop and the sowing
by that date. If that is financed with borrowing, the ratios of another. This made an unbearable burden impossible
of the fiscal deficit and public debt to GDP will cross to endure, leading to the protests that are forcing the
levels considered inviolate by the advocates of fiscal re- hands of both the Central and State governments. Hence,
form. This was what Urjit Patel was referring to when he the waiver wave.
said: “We also need to create a consensus such that loan
waiver promises are eschewed. Otherwise, sub-sovereign INHERENT POLICY CONTRADICTIONS
fiscal challenges in this context could eventually impact If there was reason to believe that a waiver was a magic
the national balance sheet.” bullet, a one-shot resolution, then opposition from even
But with electoral victory and political credibility the elites might have been weak. But as the periodic
under threat, the BJP, despite its staunch commitment to waiver announcements mentioned above suggest, the
neoliberal fiscal and banking reforms, has had to relent. problem does not just go away. This is because of the
The expectation is that State governments will issue contradictions inherent in a neoliberal policy regime that
special bonds (such as the Kisan Rahat Bonds in Uttar prevent resolution of the farmer debt problem. The prin-
Pradesh) and that the Centre will exempt these from the cipal constraints set by fiscal conservatism have reduced
requirements set by the Fiscal Responsibilities and budgetary allocations to the food economy. As a result,
Budget Management Act even though this would be a the government has been loath to implement the M.S.
violation of the law and the tenets of fiscal “reform”. As a Swaminathan Commission recommendation that the
result, an elite that was celebrating the “bold reformism” minimum support price (MSP) should be “at least 50 per
of the Narendra Modi government is forced to complain, cent more than the weighted average cost of production”
but perhaps not with the vigour it would have displayed if so as to improve the profitability of agriculture produc-
some other government were in power. tion. Moreover, procurement even at the MSPs offered
has not always matched farmers’ desire to sell to the
SIGNS OF SPREADING government. Cuts in subsidies that have limited the
The problem the government faces is that the protests spread of the public distribution system and reduced
relating to the agrarian crisis are not confined to opposi- offtake have discouraged procurement for distribution.
tion leaders, a few journalists and sundry academics. If Investments in drainage and flood control have been
that had been the case, those arguments would have been squeezed, and the system of extension services has been
ignored. The protesters also did not take the gruesomely allowed to decay. All of these have adversely affected
passive decision to commit suicide rather than face the productivity and raised costs. And on top of this the
ignominy of being proceeded against or prosecuted for neoliberal policies of deregulating input prices, curtail-
debt default. The protests are ones in which farmers in ing subsidies and freeing imports and lowering import
some States have come out to assemble, march, blockade tariffs have been imposed, subjecting agriculturists to
and even go on strike by refusing to commence cultiva- rising costs and competition from low-cost imports. In
tion. The fact that these protests were showing signs of the event, the viability of crop production has been
spreading across the country made matters worse. And eroded. Farmers borrow to undertake production but are
they were not being withdrawn either in response to tall unable to garner the income needed to be viable. Borrow-
promises without concrete offers or in response to the ing increases until default becomes unavoidable. While it
drama of an indefinite fast for peace that was quickly becomes necessary to address the debt burden and write
withdrawn after negotiations with BJP-linked or BJP- off defaulted loans, the problem of excess indebtedness
inspired farmers. will not go away unless the other problem of the unviabil-
In the event, however reluctantly, the BJP led by ity of crop production because of the impact of neoliberal
Modi and Arun Jaitley has had to go back on its claim to policies is addressed.
be more ardent adherents of a “modern”, neoliberal eco- The difference between the two resolution require-
nomic policy regime. Loans are being waived, moral ments is that while a loan waiver scheme can be presen-
hazard is being flirted with and the tenets of neoliberal ted as a one-shot scheme with attendant violations of
fiscal reform are being grossly violated. The reason for neoliberal fiscal policy rules, restoring viability requires a
this is the intensity of the problem at hand, which de- retreat from the framework of neoliberal policies in the
mands immediate resolution given growing farmer an- medium term. So the first is preferred if unavoidable. But
ger. The severity of the long-ignored rural debt problem since such a resolution does not address the basic causes
hardly bears emphasising. The large number of farmer of the crisis confronting farmers but merely treats an
suicides and the periodic bouts of farmer protests had extreme symptom, the problem of unsustainable
made it clear that the problem of low incomes or negative agrarian debt recurs sooner or later.
returns and unsustainable debt was widespread. Hence, Seen in this light, farm loan waivers while a must to
any small shock was enough to destabilise the farming address the symptoms of a crisis are no resolution to the
community. Among other factors, such a shock was de- agrarian crisis. The crisis reflects the deeper crisis of
livered by indifferent or bad monsoons in 2013-14 and neoliberal economic policy itself. That, however, is a
2014-2015 and by demonetisation, which affected farm- truth the BJP governments at the Centre and in States are
ers extremely adversely since it was imposed between two unwilling to face up to. $
CO VER ST OR Y
Rallying point
The farmers’ protests have provided the basis to build a broad consensus
for a struggle against the policies that have caused agrarian distress and
the loot of forests, land and resources. BY VIJOO KRISHNAN
IT HAS BEEN A LONG SUMMER OF DISCONTENT M E M B ER S O F T H E Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) AF P / PR AKA SH SI N G H
for farmers. Across the country, they have erupted in protesting against the policies of the Central government
anger at the manner in which they have been short- and in solidarity with the farmers’ agitation in Madhya
changed. In fact, the seeds of discontentment were sown Pradesh, in New Delhi on June 15.
last winter, on November 8, when the Prime Minister
embarked on his demonetisation adventure. The collapse Rajasthan (against a power tariff hike), Maharashtra and
of agricultural commodity prices has been unpreceden- Madhya Pradesh, events in recent weeks have shown that
ted in the annals of independent India. Never before have they have spread far and wide across the country. The
prices of all commodities collapsed simultaneously in governments of Haryana, Jharkhand and Gujarat are
such a spectacular fashion. And, while all this has been already bracing themselves for protests by farmers as
happening, the emperors in New Delhi watched the they broaden the range of issues that agitate them. For
tragedy unfold. They have now been woken from their example, struggles on issues such as land acquisition and
reverie by the victims of this great tragedy across the infringement of land as well as forest rights, and restric-
country. What is truly striking is the fact that the protests tions on cattle trade are also gathering momentum.
have rocked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Rural discontent is now being channelised into tangible
States, which were to be the main deliverers of the “achhe forms of protest as an audacious pan-Indian movement
din” promise that Modi invoked on his way to power develops.
three years ago. The Narendra Modi government’s response is on
Though the epicentre of the recent protests were predictable lines. The manner in which protests by

drought-hit farmers from Tamil Nadu were treated in
Delhi was a pointer to what farmers could expect from
this government. The gunning down of six persons in
Mandsaur district (Madhya Pradesh) recently has only
strengthened the perception that this regime is
anti-farmer.
DEADLY DEMONETISATION
Demonetisation happened just before the rabi sowing
season, giving a serious jolt to farmers, for whom cash is
the primary mode of transaction. The All India Kisan
Sabha (AIKS), which organised a kisan sangharsh jatha
at the time, was witness to the misery caused by the move.
Peasants were losing incomes on a massive scale because
of the price crash and loss of perishable crops, especially
fruits and vegetables. Agricultural workers lost employ-
ment and wages owing to reduced agricultural activity
and non-payment of wages for work done. The collapse in
demand resulted in the destruction of vegetables, fruits
and perishables. Farmers were unable to buy essential
commodities and agricultural inputs. The AIKS had
warned then that the rural economy would be thrown
into disarray and normal trade relations would be irre- F R UI T S A N D V E G E T AB L E S lying unsold at a
parably damaged. wholesale market in Mumbai as a result of the
What started with demonetisation did not end even demonetisation drive, on December 8, 2016.
after a semblance of “normalcy” returned. Prices contin-
ued to be in free fall, resulting in more misery being piled Grade A was provided the MSP of Rs.5,050 a quintal.
on the hapless peasantry. Never before have prices of all Farmers are forced to sell other grades to private traders
commodities fallen so drastically and without any signs at a price as low as Rs.4,000 a quintal. It is notable that
of recovery in the near future. The Reserve Bank of India the cost of production calculations for the 2016-17 kharif
acknowledged this in its recent Monetary Policy State- marketing season by the State Agricultural Departments
ment by conceding that the prices of vegetables fell in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka are
markedly and bottomed out with “fire sales” during the Rs.5,722, Rs.6,841 and Rs.5,100 a quintal respectively.
demonetisation period. The November misadventure of The MSP, calculated on the basis of weighted average
Modi, clearly, provides the backdrop for the present wave cost of production and other factors, falls far below even
of protests, even if it is not the exclusive reason. the cost of production in these States. The MSP sugges-
It is true that rainfall has been better this year. But ted by these States were Andhra Pradesh–Rs.8,583; Tel-
rains alone do not make or break agriculture. For in- angana–Rs.10,261; and Karnataka–Rs.6,500 a quintal.
stance, more acreage was devoted to pulses, but the Ironically, a government which talks of “Make in India” is
import of pulses from Africa (notably Mozambique) actually furthering “Make in Mozambique”!
killed the farmers’ hope of getting a better price. Mean- Meanwhile, the government is urging Indian com-
while, the reduction of import duty on wheat, ostensibly panies to shop for land in sub-Saharan Africa and else-
to check inflation, has hurt the peasantry. Prices of most where in order to expand contract farming of pulses.
agricultural commodities are now at levels far below the India has entered into a memorandum of understanding
government-announced minimum support price (MSP), (MoU) with Mozambique to import one lakh tonnes in
even as production and input costs have soared. 2016-17 and double it to two lakh tonnes by 2020-21; it is
The very notion of the MSP as a support mechanism obvious that Indian buccaneers stand to take a fairly
has been rendered a farce because it is not backed by large slice of this opportunity. The government has de-
physical intervention by the government and its agencies. cided to import arhar dal from Mozambique, while as-
The MSP remains purely notional because the state has suring farmers there provision of quality seeds,
not intervened actively in the mandis, purchasing agri- equipment and technology and procurement at an MSP
cultural commodities at the price it had committed itself level of Rs.5,050 a quintal. The entire cost of carriage,
to supporting. Betrayal of farmers’ interests may have transportation and storage would also be borne by India.
taken many forms in recent times, but this is the most Contrast this largesse with the utter neglect of procure-
direct and brutal let-down of the peasantry. ment from Indian farmers at a committed price.
The import duty on wheat, which was 25 per cent
MAKE IN MOZAMBIQUE until September 2016, was initially reduced to 10 per cent
Arhar dal farmers in Gulbarga told this writer early this and exactly a month after demonetisation, on December
year that there was a ceiling on procurement and only 8, totally done away with. The wheat contracted from
The AIKS teams found farmers in a pathetic situation
in different parts of the country. Flowers like marigold
were dumped as they did not fetch even Rs.2 a kg, toma-
toes were dumped on the streets and vegetables were left
on the field as the prices were not enough even to meet
picking costs. A recent media report in a financial daily
noted the plight of a farmer in Haryana selling 43
quintals of potatoes at the local wholesale mandi for
Rs.900. After paying labour charges and agents’ fees, he
was left with just Rs.380—the potatoes had fetched him a
paltry 9 paisa a kg while the cost of production was at
least Rs.3 a kg. In the wake of such distress, despite many
representations, deputations and peaceful protests, the
government stubbornly refuses to pay heed.
The BJP government has done little to stabilise prices
and assure farmers remunerative prices. Farmers in
Y O G E SH M H A T R E
Mandsaur categorically said that they did not need loan
waivers if they were paid remunerative prices for their
produce. This sentiment was echoed by farmers across
the country. In reality, reducing the cost of production by
providing production-enhancing technologies and qual-
ity inputs at subsidised rates, and assuring procurement
Ukraine is currently priced at Rs.1,329-1,431 a quintal, at remunerative price will go a long way in addressing
far below the Indian MSP of Rs.1,625 a quintal. The farm distress. Loan waivers are, at best, a palliative that
policy-induced dumping from other countries, even as can provide temporary relief to a small section of farmers.
India experiences a good harvest, has brought down Tenant farmers, small and marginal farmers, agricul-
prices even further. The case of paddy is no different; tural workers and the landless rarely benefit from it
while the MSP announced is Rs.1,470 a quintal, the unless there is a comprehensive Debt Relief Commission
absence of procurement centres forces farmers to sell at which goes into formal and informal sector loans. Unless
Rs.800-1,100 a quintal in large parts of north and eastern basic and structural issues are addressed and compre-
India. The cost of production of both wheat and paddy is hensive state intervention is made at the levels of produc-
also much higher than the official MSP. In the age of tion, procurement, processing and marketing, with
information technology, when news spreads fast and adequate emphasis on cooperatives, loan waivers will be
across distances in no time, the fact that Kerala procures the easy way out for the political establishment.
paddy at Rs.2,200 a quintal makes farmers elsewhere ask
the natural question as to why their States do not come LITANY OF BROKEN PROMISES
forward to do so too. The BJP had come to power riding a wave of popular
discontent against the Congress-led United Progressive
CRASHING PRICES Alliance (UPA) government, promising that it would
The AIKS team that visited Mandsaur recently found a usher in “achhe din” for farmers and put an end to farm
situation of acute distress as prices of most crops had suicides. Increased public investment in agriculture and
crashed and were about 60 per cent below last year’s rural development, a minimum of 50 per cent profit over
prices. Soya bean, which fetched Rs.5,000-6,000 a the cost of production, cheaper agricultural inputs and
quintal last year, got only Rs.2,200-2,400 a quintal. credit, latest technologies for farming and high-yielding
Chana dal, which fetched up to Rs.9,000-10,000 a seeds, linking of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
quintal was now going for only Rs.4,000 a quintal. Simil- Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to agricul-
arly, the best quality wheat was fetching only Rs.1,200 a ture, a national land use policy to protect farmers’ in-
quintal, which was way below the MSP of Rs.1,625 a terests and food security, farm insurance scheme to take
quintal; last year, it ranged between Rs.1,900-2,000 a care of crop and income losses, expansion of rural credit
quintal in the open market. Farmers complained that the facilities, irrigation facilities, a price stabilisation fund,
government purchased at the MSP only for a little over a welfare measures and more were promised. What more
month and not throughout the season. Garlic prices fell could a farmer ask for? The fact that the BJP had made
from Rs.13,000 a quintal to Rs.1,000 a quintal and methi tall promises in the States, including loan waivers, had
from Rs.9,000-10,000 a quintal to Rs.3,000-2,200 a also raised expectations. Three years down the line, each
quintal. Moreover, after demonetisation, traders are pay- of the promises made to the farmers and the rural poor
ing 2 per cent less for cash transactions. The team found stands betrayed.
bags of the best quality of garlic with a farmer unsold Data from the National Crime Records Bureau on
because it was not fetching even Rs.10 for a kilogram farm suicides showed that a total of 12,602 persons
while the cost of cultivation was around Rs.30 a kg. involved in the farming sector had committed suicide in

2015. Suicides by farmers rose 42 per cent between 2014 in the 19th century. Solidarity action against attacks on
and 2015. Despite the obvious under-reporting, these workers’ rights, women, Dalits and Adivasis and the
figures show an increasing trend when compared with barbaric attacks by vigilante gau rakshaks and restric-
2013 and 2014. BJP-ruled Maharashtra saw an unpre- tions on cattle trade are also increasing.
cedented 4,291 suicides; the BJP-ruled States of Maha- Even those who were ideologically and politically
rashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh accounted with the regime are now raising questions. The BJP has
for 6,535, or more than half of all farm suicides in India. sought to paint these protests as leaderless on the one
Suicides by farmers in National Democratic Alliance hand and, on the other, claim that they are stoked by the
(NDA)-ruled States accounted for 7,723 suicides (61.28 Congress—both of which are far from the truth. It is but
per cent of all farm suicides). natural for opposition parties to articulate demands of
Farmers’ hope for prices recommended by the M.S. farmers in such circumstances; in fact, that is their duty.
Swaminathan Commission, an expectation utilised to the But the fact of the matter is that a constituency that stood
hilt by Modi, was the first promise to be put in cold with the BJP for the past 15 years in Madhya Pradesh, for
storage. The government also filed an affidavit in the over two decades in Gujarat and during the last elections
Supreme Court stating that it was impossible to fix MSPs in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana is turning rest-
recommended by the commission, that is, at least 50 per ive. Splinter groups from the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh
cent above the cost of production. The blatant manner in (BKS) and Swadeshi Jagran Manch, which were the
which the most popular promise was shelved and trivial- BJP’s core support base, are in revolt. Notably, one of the
ised as a mere election jingle has not gone down well with rallying points of the movement in Madhya Pradesh was
the peasantry. It was followed by an undisguised attempt the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh and its leader,
at facilitating a corporate takeover of land through a Shivkumar Sharma “Kakkaji”, the erstwhile president of
draconian Land Acquisition Ordinance, which saw the the BKS, the farmers’ wing of the Rashtriya Swayamse-
first signs of a united resistance, forcing the Central wak Sangh. He is openly recanting and rueing his associ-
government to temporarily hold back and change ation with the Sangh today.
strategy to push it through BJP-ruled States. The erstwhile Sangh ideologue K.N. Govindacharya
Two consecutive years of drought had led to massive and those associated with the Swadeshi Jagran Manch
losses and the government response was seen as insensit- and the BKS are also turning trenchant critics of the BJP
ive. Allocations to MGNREGA were also drastically cut, government’s agricultural policies, especially its pen-
leading to mounting arrears of wages and the average chant for free trade agreements. Raju Shetti of the Swab-
days of work generated getting as low as only 34 days. The himani Shetkari Sanghatana, who was elected as a
government merged different insurance schemes and Member of Parliament from Maharashtra with NDA
came out with the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana support, is one of the faces of the protests in the State. He
with a lot of hype. Schemes for irrigation, price stabilisa- went on a yatra to repent for having enlisted farmers’
tion, welfare measures and other promises also left a lot support to make the BJP victorious.
to be desired. The AIKS united the peasantry and organised
massive mobilisations against the decision of the
SPREADING PROTESTS Vasundhare Raje-led BJP government in Rajasthan to
The spate of peasant movements and the broader issue- hike electricity prices by 40 per cent. The unprecedented
based unity that is successfully being built towards co- mobilisation forced the government to withdraw the
ordinated action against BJP governments at the Centre decision. In Maharashtra, preceding the recent wave of
and in the States is a pointer to changing times. The protests, the AIKS had organised massive mobilisations
protests are providing a basis to build a broader con- that helped in popularising the demands of the present
sensus for the fight against policies responsible for the struggle. Notably, the Maharashtra Kisan Sabha State
agrarian distress and the loot of forests, land and re- Secretary, Dr Ajit Nawale, was unanimously elected as
sources. This, clearly, is a warning bell for the BJP regime the convener of the joint struggle committee. There un-
and the Prime Minister. The first instance of such a broad doubtedly is an organised resistance being built in Mad-
issue-based unity was witnessed in the struggle against hya Pradesh, which, after Mandsaur, has seen an
the Land Acquisition Ordinance when the AIKS played a outpouring of solidarity. On June 16, a day of coordinated
role in bringing together organisations of the peasantry, protests was observed across the country by different
agricultural labour, oppressed sections and civil society organisations in solidarity with Indian farmers.
groups under a banner called Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan. Whether these rounds of protests snowball into a
It played a significant role in building a movement wider resistance against the policies that have under-
against the ordinance and forced the BJP government to mined livelihoods in agriculture remains to be seen. But
retract. it is undeniable that the Indian peasant has clearly sig-
In the days ahead, the peasantry’s struggle is likely to nalled that he/she has joined the fight against the ruinous
spread; efforts are also on in States such as Jharkhand to policies that have taken farm livelihoods in India to the
unite them with Adivasis against the attempts to tamper very brink. $
with the two tenancy laws that were won after the upris- Vijoo Krishnan is joint secretary of the
ings of Birsa Munda and Sido Kanhu against the British All India Kisan Sabha.
CO VE R ST OR Y
A wake-up call
The Modi government needs to move beyond empty rhetoric and
gimmicks to clear policy formulation and implementation to solve the
agrarian crisis, which has been brewing for years now. BY SUDHIR PANWAR
Janata Party (BJP), the principal constituent of the rul-

ing National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre
and the ruling party in the majority of the States. A
remunerative price with a 50 per cent profit margin was
included in the BJP’s election manifesto in 2014. It said
that once in power, the party “will take steps to enhance
the profitability in agriculture, by ensuring a minimum of
50 per cent profits over the cost of production, cheaper
agriculture inputs and credit; introducing latest techno-
logies for farming and high yielding seeds and linking
G.N. RAO
MGNREGA [Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ-

ment Guarantee Act] to agriculture”. The loan waiver
A N G R Y C H IL L I F A R M E R S ransack an eNAM office at concept was addressed by Prime Minister Narendra
the agricultural market yard in Khammam, Telangana, on Modi himself at various meetings during the election
April 30. The farmers were offered Rs.2,000-4,000 a quintal campaign in Uttar Pradesh. It was probably felt, at that
this year while they got Rs.12,000 a quintal last year. time, that the economic plight of farmers after two suc-
cessive droughts necessitated such a measure. Evidently,
MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, IT IS THE TIMING both the issues that form the root cause of the current
of the current, almost nationwide, farmer agitation that farmer agitation were in the radar of the BJP for a
is strikingly unique. It has erupted in a year when the considerable period of time.
farm sector seems to have achieved all the cherished But then, having matters in the radar is not enough.
objectives: an above 5 per cent growth rate and record The schemes that one devises on the basis of one’s under-
production not only in foodgrains but also in fruits, standing need to generate a sense of benefit in the tar-
vegetables and dairy products. It has come at a juncture geted sections of the population. A closer look at the
when the Union government has claimed successful im- various schemes announced, sought to be implemented,
plementation of various schemes for the agriculture sec- and celebrated as great success by the Modi government
tor. But the fact of the matter is that beyond all these as part of its third anniversary celebrations will highlight
seemingly positive factors, there is grave economic dis- this mismatch. This close analysis will also show that
tress in the rural areas in general and in the farming what the government has been touting as positive and
community in particular. It is a crisis that marked the potentially successful initiatives in agriculture relate, in
advent of economic policies of liberalisation in the farm fact, to problems and liabilities for farmers which can be
sector and has persisted right from the early 1990s. This undone and set right only by the farming community
growing distress amidst bombastic growth figures is itself in the long run. In all probability, the think tanks
something that cannot be wished away just by saying guiding the Modi government also know this. That seems
“acche din” are here. At many levels, the two principal to be the major reason why the government is not com-
demands of the agitating farmers—loan waiver and im- fortable with a public debate on these issues and the
plementation of the M.S. Swaminathan Commission re- so-called initiatives relating to them. Antics like the beef
commendations, which provide for a 50 per cent profit ban and the blanket ban on sale of cattle for slaughter
margin on input cost—not only summarise this grave that have been propped up need to be seen in the context
economic distress in rural areas but also point to the of this discomfort over focussed discussion. They are
probable solution of the problems. diversionary tactics and fairly successful ones at that.
These problems were well identified by the Bharatiya Now, for a closer look at the schemes, starting with

crop insurance. At its core, it has nothing to do with claims that more than 400 mandis (markets) have been
increasing farmers’ income but is just a risk coverage for linked to the portal. The target is to connect 585 mandis
which farmers are paying a premium. It could even be with eNAM by March 31, 2018. And what is the object-
argued that the real beneficiary is the government since ive? To allow farmers the freedom to sell their crops. The
the risk of paying compensation in case of crop losses due government claims that as of May 15, 83.57 lakh tonnes of
to drought or flood or other natural calamities has now agricultural produce worth Rs.19,802.98 crore had been
shifted from the treasury to the insurance companies. transacted through eNAM. The figures look impressive.
The loser is the farmer since he or she has to first cough But the reality is something else. Farmers are yet to be
up a premium in order to be eligible for insurance, allowed to sell at a different mandi, not even in a neigh-
whereas earlier he or she was not paying a single penny bouring one, through eNAM. The reason is resistance by
and the government was doling out compensation from commission agents as well as lack of proper infrastruc-
the National Calamity Relief Fund (NCRF). The ture. Who will guarantee that the produce sold by farm-
premium has been cleverly designed in terms of percent- ers adhere to basic standards if the trader who wants to
age to hoodwink farmers, whereas it should have been buy is located 100 kilometres away?
fixed on a per-acre basis. What is happening now is that the data of business
Under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana transacted in a mandi are just being uploaded on the
(PMFBY), crop insurance is compulsory for farmers eNAM site, showing it as having taken place through the
availing themselves of loans in notified areas and volun- portal. That is precisely the reason why the prices of the
tary for non-loanee farmers. A farmer has to pay 2 per same commodities with the same standards are different
cent of the premium fixed by the insurance company for in two locations even if the distance between them is just
all the crops grown during the kharif season and 1.5 per 50 km. According to government data, 45,45,850 farm-
cent for rabi crops. However, for horticultural and com- ers, 89,934 traders and 46,411 commission agents are
mercial crops, it is 5 per cent. The remaining amount of registered on the eNAM platform. Recently, the govern-
the premium is subsidised by both the Centre and the ment mooted an idea of not allowing sale of produce
States under a 50:50 plan. Since these are the initial years priced below the minimum support price (MSP) in
of implementation, the government exerts tremendous eNAM. However, the idea was dropped in the wake of
pressure on the insurance companies to make the scheme opposition from within, which cited it as interference in
look successful, though, on the ground, farmers are see- free market economy. What the Centre could not do, the
ing through all this. The issue-based and focussed farm- Madhya Pradesh government was able to achieve. It
ers’ agitations in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya announced trading below MSP a crime, following wide-
Pradesh against the compulsory deductions of insurance spread resentment among farmers owing to low crop
premium from crop loans and the manner in which the prices that led to violent protests, but without any admin-
Central government was forced to issue directions to the istrative backup.
Uttar Pradesh government to exempt sugarcane crop Another scheme that has found prominence in terms
from the PMFBY scheme are instances of farmers seeing of the Modi government’s agriculture initiatives is the
through the glitz. Significantly, there is no cap on the soil health card. This scheme, launched in a hurry
maximum amount that insurance companies can quote without any homework being done, has been trumpeted
as premium. If any State is unable to mobilise resources as something that would change “earth into gold”, but the
as dictated by the insurance companies, the scheme will result does not reinforce the claims. The scheme is akin to
come to a standstill. employing quacks in every village to attend to the med-
ical and health needs of the people without any arrange-
STATISTICS JUGGLERY ment for medicines.
The government has also been trying to mislead people The concept is good, but it is a long-term and per-
with statistics jugglery. It claimed that the total number manent project which will only start producing results
of farmers covered under the scheme for the kharif sea- after 20 years if implemented seriously and effectively.
son alone between 2014 and 2017 was 56.52 per cent The government did not have the equipment to test soil
more than the number covered between 2011 and 2014. conditions on such a huge scale. Nor were trained techni-
But documentation on the scheme shows clearly that the cians available. Moreover, farmers do not know what to
scheme was implemented only from 2016. The efficacy of do after getting the soil health card. Where do they buy
the much-advertised insurance scheme can be inferred the “medicines” to treat the soil? Who will spend the
from the reply of the Minister of State for Agriculture in money? Is there a guarantee from the government that
the Rajya Sabha on April 7 that out of payable claims of their produce will increase? Unless and until these basic
Rs.3,47,413.37 lakh, only Rs.69,802.45 lakh had been questions are addressed, the soil health card scheme will
paid under the PMFBY, while under the Restructured be an utter failure. Gujarat had apparently achieved 100
Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS), out per cent coverage under the scheme when Modi was the
of payable claims of Rs.79,599.54 lakh, only Rs.1,570.05 Chief Minister, but did it make any positive impact on the
lakh had been paid since kharif 2016. farm economy? There is no concrete data to prove this.
Next comes the achievement of setting up a “national Moreover, the scheme is hardly a novel idea but a con-
agricultural market” called eNAM. The government tinuation of the “apni mitti pahchano” (identify your soil )
scheme set in motion by the United Progressive Alliance products have a demand outside, any curb at any period
(UPA) government. will negate the efforts of exporters, who put in a lot of
Another much-advertised scheme is the use of neem- effort to build a market for their products. Thankfully,
coated urea, which is, again, a continuation of a UPA there has been no export ban on any agricultural com-
scheme, and it has nothing to do with productivity at the modity during the three years of the NDA government.
farm level. Instead, it only checks the industrial use and But, at the same time, there have been no concerted
smuggling of urea to neighbouring countries. The gov- efforts to boost it further and this has resulted in negative
ernment initiated the “Price stabilisation fund” in the growth in export of farm commodities.
2014-15 Budget to protect farmers from market volatil- The problems in the farm sector are complex, but the
ity, but the allocation of just Rs.500 crore showed a lack solution is simple, and that is bringing about parity of
of seriousness and understanding of the problem. agriculture produce with industrial products and ser-
Interestingly, the contradictions in agriculture policy vices, the farmer with the economic worker, and farming
formulation are stark and visible. On the one hand, the with other enterprises. The UPA government had formed
government has been talking about “doubling farm in- a panel under the chairmanship of a current member of
come by 2022” through integrated farming. It has also the NITI Aayog, Prof. Ramesh Chand, who was then
identified allied activities to be covered under integrated Director of the National Institute for Agricultural Eco-
farming, which include poultry, animal husbandry, fish- nomics and Policy, with representatives from the Min-
eries and beekeeping, to name a few. India has been the istry of Agriculture, the Commission for Agricultural
world’s largest exporter of buffalo meat over the past four Costs and Prices (CACP), State governments and farmer
years, displacing Brazil from the top. But there have been bodies. It had rightly identified the problem as follows:
sustained efforts to derail this sector’s growth, using the “Price shocks have become frequent.... The pressure to
political ideology of the ruling party. First came the ban meet family expenditure, to meet the necessities of mod-
on slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh, the largest ex- ern life, has been forcing farmers to embrace risky ven-
porter-State, based on the argument that it needed to be tures by using borrowed funds. Risks unleashed by
verified whether the slaughterhouses were legal or not. market forces and price crash in many cases are leading
Then came the ban on selling cattle at cattle markets for to agrarian distress and sad situations like farmers’ sui-
the purpose of slaughter, and cow vigilantes have made cides.” The panel had presented recommendations as
inter-State movement of cows and buffalos literally im- well, but, like other reports on agriculture, failed to at-
possible. On the same basis, the government also discon- tract the current government’s attention.
tinued the successful “Kamdhenu scheme” of the The current nationwide farmers’ agitation after a year
previous Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party govern- of record production and 5.2 per cent growth is a wake-
ment that had made Uttar Pradesh the top milk producer up call for politicians and policymakers to initiate a
in the country. structural reform so as to provide a “minimum income
guarantee” to farmers, like the MGNREGA does with
MAKING DAIRY FARMING UNSUSTAINABLE labourers. A loan waiver, as many economists and ex-
These stringent rules will render dairy farming uneco- perts argue, can only be a temporary measure but neces-
nomical and unsustainable. The average age of a buffalo sary to correct past imbalances. But the future needs
or cow is about 16 years, of which three to four years are remunerative and deficiency pricing. In short, the Modi
pre-reproductive and four to five years are post-repro- government needs to move in on the agricultural sector,
ductive. As per the estimates of the Animal Husbandry as in other areas of governance, beyond empty rhetoric
Department, the average daily cost of feed for a cow or towards clear policy formulations and implementation.
buffalo is Rs.80. Moreover, half of the population of Cosmetic rechristening and restructuring of pro-
cattle is male, and it is of no use in mechanised agricul- grammes of old governments will not help in this sugges-
ture. How can a farmer survive if he or she is asked to rear ted policy course correction. The current situation and its
unproductive cattle and is not allowed to sell them? political ramifications also ring a warning bell for the BJP
Selling unproductive cattle for slaughter is an integral as far as the 2019 general elections are concerned.
part of dairy farming, which makes it commercially vi- Already, its ally, the Shiv Sena, and the Swabhimani
able. The impact is visible now in Haryana and Uttar Shetkari Sanghatana, led by Raju Shetti, Member of
Pradesh where unproductive animals have become pests Parliament, along with large numbers of landowners and
destroying crops, and the farmer feels helpless. More farmers, are opposed to the current line followed by the
importantly, poultry farming and dairy have not been Modi government. It is equally important to recall the
considered agricultural activities and have been brought finding of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societ-
under the ambit of the Goods and Services Tax. ies (CSDS)-Lok Niti survey that among landowners and
The export-import policies in agriculture trade, farmers in agricultural areas, more than 50 per cent had
based on knee-jerk reactions, are, again, working against voted for the NDA in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. $
the interest of farmers. The imposition of a minimum Sudhir Panwar, a professor at Lucknow University, is
export price to protect the interests of consumers, though the president of the Kisan Jagriti Manch, a collective of
it was brought in earlier, has resulted in a skewed policy farmers, activists and academics engaging with
paralysis against farmers’ interests. If Indian agricultural agrarian policy issues.

CL IM ATE CH AN GE
A lot of hot air

President Trump’s speech announcing the withdrawal of the U.S. from
the Paris Agreement on climate change was short on facts, and he took
the opportunity to take potshots at India and China. B Y R . R A M A C H A N D R A N
“WE are getting out.” With these

words United States President Don-
ald Trump on June 1 ended specula-
tion about how and when the leader
of the world’s largest democracy
would put his presidential campaign
rhetoric of quitting the Paris Agree-
ment on climate change into an exec-
utive decision. The announcement
was, therefore, not surprising.
That it was coming soon had be-
come apparent when the G7 leaders
issued a joint communique at the
Taormina Summit in Italy on May
27. Only a few minutes before it was
K E V I N L A M A R Q U E /R E U T E R S
released, Trump had tweeted: “I will
make my final decision on the Paris
Accord next week!” The commu-
nique, in which six other heads of
state and the European Union (E.U.)
reaffirmed their commitment to cli-
mate change action, said: “The USA P R E S I DE N T D O N A L D T R U M P announcing the decision, in the Rose Garden
is in the process of reviewing its of the White House on June 1.
policies on climate change and on the
Paris Agreement and thus is not in a
position to join the consensus on duty to protect America and its cit- parties to the United Nations Frame-
these topics.” izens,” Trump said in his White work Convention on Climate Change
Under U.S. law, the President, House statement of June 1, “the (UNFCCC) on December 12, 2015, in
acting on bestowed executive au- United States will withdraw from the Paris, came into force on November
thority or by an Act of the Congress, Paris Accord… but begin negoti- 4, 2016, just five days before Trump
can annul the U.S’ participation in an ations to re-enter either the Paris Ac- was declared President-elect. Also,
international agreement regardless cord or [to build] a really entirely according to Article 28.2 of the
of how it became party to the agree- new transaction on terms that are agreement, even if the Trump ad-
ment. This is not the first time that fair to the United States…. And if we ministration were to submit a writ-
the U.S. is pulling out of an interna- can, that’s great. And if we can’t, ten notification on withdrawal to the
tional climate agreement. It with- that’s fine.” U.N. Secretary-General on the very
drew from the Kyoto Protocol on the day of expiry of the three-year period,
grounds that emerging economies PURE THEATRE the notification could take effect only
did not have quantified emission tar- Technically, the U.S. cannot with- after a year from that date, which
gets. The argument now is that the draw from the agreement for a means that a U.S. withdrawal can
Paris Agreement is unfair to the U.S. period of three years from the date on take effect at the earliest on Novem-
and its people. which it came into force. The agree- ber 4, 2020. But the next round of
“[I]n order to fulfil my solemn ment, which was negotiated by 195 U.S. presidential elections would
have got under way the day before. and, very importantly, the Green Cli- Paris Accord is very unfair, at the
So, even if Trump wants to return to mate Fund [GCF] which is costing highest level, to the U.S.” Nothing
the negotiating table, it can only be the U.S. a vast fortune.” But soon can be further from truth consider-
under the next U.S. government. after he assumed office, Trump had ing that the U.S. was the chief archi-
This grand announcement to the already set in motion the rollback of tect of the underlying framework of
world is, therefore, pure theatre. several federal policies and regula- the Paris Agreement. Moreover,
tions put in place by the Barack whatever commitments it had made
NO TO STARTING ALL OVER Obama administration to meet the under the agreement were totally
More significantly, none of the 148 NDC obligations under the Paris voluntary, were in no way “imposed”
countries (of 195) that have ratified Agreement. on it, and are very weak in any case.
the agreement to date is even re- Having bent over backwards to According to its pledges, the U.S.
motely interested in renegotiating it. accommodate the U.S. since COP15 will reduce its carbon emissions from
In fact, from the statements of vari- in 2009 in Copenhagen, all other 2005 levels by a mere 26-28 per cent
ous leaders, including close allies of Parties to the convention now have by 2025. But what the Intergovern-
the U.S., it is clear that no one wants egg on their faces with this denoue- mental Panel on Climate Change
to start all over again. Indeed, there ment of the U.S.’ farcical participa- (IPCC) demands of developed coun-
is all-round reaffirmation of strong tion in climate negotiations. They tries, on the basis of science that
support for the agreement, which, in yielded to the U.S.’ manipulations to takes into account historical, current
any case, is already much diluted serve its selfish interests and accep- and future emissions, is 25-40 per
from the original foundational printed its proposal of a weak, bottom-up cent reduction below 1990 levels if
ciples and intent of the UNFCCC and legally non-binding architec- GHG concentrations in the atmo-
that were articulated when climate ture, where every party says “I will do sphere are to stabilise so that the
negotiations began two and half dec- what I can”, and let the earlier Kyoto temperature increase is limited to 2
ades ago in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Protocol’s top-down and legally °C, the guardrail to prevent the cata-
But what is of significance from binding framework put in place in strophic consequences of climate
the perspective of keeping global 1997 fall by the wayside. change.
warming below an increase of 2 °C by In a bid to ensure that the U.S. From 1990 to 2005, U.S. emis-
the year 2100—the main goal of the remained at the negotiating table, sions actually rose by 17 per cent,
agreement—is not so much the tech- the parties yielded to the many con- making its Paris commitments just
nicality of the U.S.’ withdrawal but cessions it pushed through and 9-11 per cent from 1990 levels. In
the impact of the U.S. not imple- ended up with an agreement in Paris comparison, the E.U. made a com-
menting even the weak commit- that had virtually abandoned the ba- mitment of “at least 40 per cent” re-
ments (called the Nationally sic tenets of the UNFCCC itself, duction from 1990 levels. In reality,
Determined Contributions, or which requires that developed eco- therefore, the U.S. is greatly advant-
NDCs) it has made under the agree- nomies—on whom the historical re- aged compared with the E.U. If
ment. Since even without a formal sponsibility rests for causing Trump wanted to scale down the U.S’
withdrawal, pledges under the Paris disproportionate carbon emissions commitments, he could have done so
Agreement are voluntary and non- during industrialisation (accounting without making the grandiose pro-
binding, this was a matter of concern for 77 per cent of historical emis- nouncement of withdrawal from the
at the 12-day 22nd Conference of sions) and the consequent global agreement, which is a non-starter.
Parties (COP22) to the UNFCCC in warming—should bear the larger Historically, the U.S. is the
Marrakesh, Morocco, in November share of mitigation and the financial largest contributor to climate
2016. The COP22 began just two burden in the present global fight change, responsible for 21 per cent of
days before the impending Trump against climate change. Now the the accumulated stock of carbon in
victory and three days after the U.S., which until recently was the the atmosphere. It is the second-
agreement came into force. In fact, in biggest emitter of greenhouse gases largest contributor (with 14.34 per
January 2014, long before his elec- (GHGs), has quietly walked out, cent share, after China’s 29.51 per
tion campaign started, Trump leaving other countries to carry the cent) to the current flow of global
tweeted: “This very expensive global increased mitigation burden that carbon emissions. It is also well
warming bullshit has got to stop. Our Trump has put on them. With Chi- known that with the current Paris
planet is freezing, record low temps, na’s rapid growth in renewables and pledges, the global temperature rise
and our GW scientists are stuck in its carbon emissions showing signi- by the end of century will be about
ice.” ficant slowing down, the U.S. under 3.3 °C, which means countries need
“Thus, as of today,” Trump said Trump may well re-emerge as the to ramp up their commitments a
on June 1, “the U.S. will cease all world’s biggest polluter. great deal more, not lower them.
implementation of the non-binding The Paris Agreement, Trump de-
Paris Accord and the draconian fin- clared, disadvantaged the U.S. “to FINANCIAL COMMITMENT
ancial and economic burdens the the exclusive benefit of other coun- Trump referred to the financial com-
Agreement imposes on our country tries…. The bottom line is that the mitments under the GCF required of

developed economies as a “draconian
burden”. The financial implication of
the Paris Accord on developed coun-
tries is an annual contribution
totalling to a baseline figure of $100
billion a year to assist developing
countries to fight the consequences
of global warming and climate
change, which are not of their mak-
ing. But GCF contributions to date
have been $10.3 billion, just one-
tenth of the baseline figure. Of this,
the U.S. had committed $3 billion
but has so far contributed only $1
billion.
When viewed in per capita terms,
the U.S. pledge, far from being a “vast
fortune”, ranks 11th in the list of con-
tributing developed countries. Ac-
cording to GCF data, the U.S’ pledge
works out to only $9.41 compared
with Japan’s $11.8, the United King- T H E C O A L- F I R E D P L AN T S C H E R E R in Juliette, Georgia, U.S. It is one of
dom’s $18.77 and Sweden’s $59.31, the top carbon dioxide emitters in the U.S.
which tops the list. The amount of $1
billion already paid in to the GCF tion in global temperature by 2100. this agreement. India will be allowed
works out to just $3 per capita, which The truth, however, according to to double its coal production by
is a little more than South Korea’s projections by the IPCC, is that 2020…. We’re supposed to get rid of
$2. In his federal budget, Trump has global warming will shoot up by ours.”
already removed funding for the more than 5 °C if it is business as What are the facts? Under the
UNFCCC and the GCF, which means usual. The agreement seeks to pull it convention, emissions from develop-
the U.S. will not add to the $1 billion back below 2 °C, but given the ex- ing countries are allowed to grow to
that it has already contributed. tremely unambitious emission re- meet their development goals but at
On economic costs to and lost duction commitments by most a rate that progressively slows down,
jobs in the U.S. owing to the Paris developed countries, all the pledges peaks and then declines. China has
Agreement, Trump quoted highly will limit the increase to only about 3 projected 2030 as its peaking year,
suspect figures from a study of a well- °C. This is still a reduction of 2 °C and but all indications are that emissions
known right-wing organisation not just 0.2 °C as Trump would like are likely to peak much earlier than
called the National Economic Re- the world to believe. that. As regards India, it has never
search Associates (NERA). Some said that its mitigation commit-
time back, NERA published studies STATEMENTS AGAINST ments under its stated NDCs would
for the American Coalition for Clean INDIA AND CHINA be conditional on receiving foreign
Coal Electricity, an organisation rep- Having once called climate change a money. In fact, India has already put
resenting the interests of the coal in- conspiracy and hoax perpetrated by in place many actions towards emis-
dustry, and reports against the Clean China, he found in his June 1 speech sions reduction, and these have been
Air Act and the Mercury and Air Tox- another opportunity to make sweep- funded entirely from the nation’s
ics Standards. These reports projec- ing and false statements about China own resources.
ted huge economic and job losses in and India. “For example,” Trump Ten days before Trump made his
the U.S. and have been freely used by claimed, “under the agreement, unfounded claims about India and
climate change deniers, fossil fuel China will be able to increase these China, The New York Times said in
lobbies and Republican politicians to emissions by a staggering number of an editorial: “Until recently, China
further their agenda against any kind years, 13. They can do whatever they and India have been cast as
of domestic climate change regulat- want for 13 years. Not us. India obstacles, at the very least reluctant
ory action by the U.S. makes its participation contingent conscripts, in the battle against cli-
Another gem from the Trump on receiving billions and billions and mate change. That reputation looks
speech is his claim that even if all billions of dollars in foreign aid from very much out-of-date now that both
nations implemented their commit- developed countries…. China will be countries have greatly accelerated
ments under the Paris Agreement to allowed to build hundreds of addi- their investments in cost-effective
the full it would produce only the tional coal plants. So we can’t build renewable energy sources—and re-
“tiny, tiny amount” of 0.2 °C reduc- the plants, but they can, according to duced their reliance on fossil fuels.
CO2] reduction in 2030 compared to U.S. coal industry. On March 28,
projections made just last year. They Trump issued an “Executive Order
significantly outweigh the poten- [EO] on Energy Independence” on
tially negative effects on emissions the basis of which he started the pro-
from the Trump Administration’s cess of “suspending, revising and res-
proposed rollbacks in the USA of cinding” many policies and
around 0.4 GtCO2 in 2030.” initiatives that had been put in place
It further noted: “[India’s] new to reduce fossil fuel consumption
Draft Energy Plan—issued in and GHG emissions, including the
December 2016—projects that des- Clean Power Plan (CPP). He also re-
pite the increasing electricity de- pealed Obama’s Climate Action
mand, no new coal-fired power Plan. It had provided an overarching
plants, apart from those that are guidance framework for U.S. climate
already under construction, would policy. A number of measures had
be needed after 2022…. As a result, already been implemented, includ-
BRANDEN CAMP/AP
the Draft Energy Plan predicts an ing fuel efficiency standards for
electricity capacity from renewables vehicles, efficiency improvements in
by 2027 as high as 57 per cent, which the building sector, and hydrofluoro-
is much higher than the 40 per cent carbon emission reductions. “With
by 2030 stated in the Indian NDC to activities set in motion by the Trump
the Paris Agreement. If the Draft En- administration,” the CAT statement
It’s America—Donald Trump’s ergy Plan is implemented, we estim- said, “the USA is likely to fail to meet
America—that now looks like the ate that emissions in 2030 in India its NDC by a wide margin.”
laggard…. [T]he tangible progress would be around 1.0 GtCO2 lower The CPP is a regulation that aims
by the world’s number one producer than our estimate of currently imple- to bring down carbon emissions
of greenhouse gases (China) and its mented policies. This moves India from the power sector by 32 per cent
number three (India) are astonish- closer to what is necessary to achieve from 2005 levels by 2030. It was key
ing… and worth celebrating.” the long-term temperature goal of to Obama’s strategy to meet U.S.
the Paris Agreement.” commitments under the Paris
CLIMATE ACTION TRACKER “China,” the CAT summary state- Agreement. Trump has also elimin-
A new study on China, India and the ment said, “is set to overachieve its ated funding for the CPP. In re-
U.S. by Climate Action Tracker contribution to the Paris Agreement sponse to the EO, the U.S.
(CAT), which was released in Bonn, by a wide margin. With continued Environment Protection Agency has
Germany, on May 15, provides the coal abatement, total GHG emis- given notice that it is reviewing the
quantitative basis to this editorial sions are likely to be around 1 to 2 CPP and, if appropriate, will take
perspective. “China’s coal consump- GtCO2 lower in 2030 compared to steps to revise or revoke it. If it is
tion,” the CAT study summary said, our previous estimate…. China is ac- scrapped and is not offset by other
“has declined in three consecutive celerating its pace of limiting and commensurate actions, U.S. emis-
years (2013 to 2016), and the outlook reducing greenhouse gas emissions, sions by 2025 will be higher by 3.4
is for a continued slow decline. India and moving closer to what is neces- per cent, observed the CAT study.
has stated that planned coal-fired sary to achieve the Paris long-term As Robert Stavins, the Albert
power plants may not be needed and temperature limit although a gap Pratt Professor of Business and Gov-
with announced policies—if fully im- still remains.” Despite all this data ernment, John F. Kennedy School of
plemented—it would see a signific- about China and India before him, Government, Harvard University,
ant slowing down in the growth of Trump went ahead and made absurd remarked in his June 5 article “Why
CO2 emissions over the next decade. charges against them. Trump Pulled the U.S. out of the
Both China and India look set to Paris Accord” in the journal Foreign
overachieve their Paris Agreement OVERTURNING POLICY Affairs: “Truly, Trump’s decision to
climate pledges…. This stands in OBJECTIVES withdraw the nation from the Paris
contrast to the decisions of the U.S. Since Trump took office, the U.S’ ob- climate agreement was not based on
administration under President jectives for climate policy at the fed- science or sound economics, but on a
Trump, who appears intent on going eral level articulated under the confused, misguided, and simply dis-
in the opposite direction.” Obama administration have been honest desire to score some short-
“Together,” the summary added, completely overturned. In January term political points with his voters.
“the positive developments in India 2017, Trump announced his “Amer- What he sacrifices in the long term
and China have a significant impact ica First Energy Plan” under which will be immensely more difficult for
on the projected growth global of he said that he would eliminate “bur- the country to win back at the ballot
GHG emissions—on the order of a densome regulations on our energy box: authority, credibility, and influ-
roughly 2-3 GtCO2 [billion tons of industry” and promised to revive the ence.” $

LE T T E RS
IT sector groups have become more aggressive wards social and political empower-
and there are periodic assaults on inno- ment of Dalits and are a grim pointer to
cent people across the country. the entrenchment of caste prejudices in
N.C. SREEDHARAN society. The lackadaisical attitude of the
KANNUR, KERALA State administration and the law en-
THE notification appears to be unilateral forcement agencies in dealing with the
and against the federal structure of the perpetrators of the crime added insult
Constitution. Cattle owners sell their un- to injury.
productive animals and buy new ones Amendments to the Scheduled
using the proceeds of the sale. The sale Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Pre-
of cattle is essential for leather units and vention of Atrocities) Act that would ac-
other industries, which will be in crisis if cord stringent punishment to the
the sale of cattle stops. There will be an perpetrators of such heinous acts
THE mass retrenchment in the IT sector impact on States’ revenue earnings. Al- would go a long way in serving as an
is undesirable (Cover Story, June 23). though the Centre is authorised to issue effective deterrent. A country cannot
While acknowledging the sea change IT any notification it chooses to, it cannot aspire to be a superpower if its margin-
is undergoing, the resource-rich IT gi- force State governments to implement alised and underprivileged sections are
ants should think about utilising their them. It needs to keep the federal struc- perennially discriminated against and
human resources in alternative ways. ture of the country in mind. In the instant oppressed.
With the recent changes in the require- case, the correct procedure was not fol- B. SURESH KUMAR
ments for the H-1B visa likely to affect lowed. “Gau rakshaks”, reportedly en- COIMBATORE, TAMIL NADU
their prospects, the IT giants have be- joying the patronage of the ruling Feluda
come jittery. Let them not forget that dispensation, are being overzealous in I FEEL happy that Feluda is still well
their empire expanded through the ef- this matter. remembered (“Ray’s alter ego”, June
JAYANT MUKHERJEE
forts of their employees. 9). I have read all the Feluda stories. It
KOLKATA
C. CHANDRASEKARAN was so good to read them, and it is truly
MADURAI, TAMIL NADU Justice Karnan sad that there are no new Satyajit Ray
ALTHOUGH the Indian IT industry, the THE misdemeanours of Justice C.S. stories to read.
employer of millions of people, is not on Karnan are condemnable (Cover Story, MADHAV RAHUL B.
an irretrievable slippery slope, it is facing June 9). But the Supreme Court’s order CHERTHALA, KERALA
a dismaying downturn. The Cover Story convicting and sentencing him was Islam
showed that the “Trump factor” was only against the principles of natural justice TODAY, there is a fundamental misun-
the proverbial straw on the camel’s back. and was nothing but an exercise of juris- derstanding of Islam in the world (“Fa-
Robotic process automation, artificial in- diction that is not vested in the court. cets of political Islam”, June 9). There
telligence, cloud storage, specific nature The gag order against the press was an was a need for a book that would bring
of India’s IT prowess, and so on have assault on the freedom of speech and out the real facets of the Islamic charac-
contributed to the slowdown. It seems expression. One Justice Karnan cannot ter and the dirty hands of Wahhabian
that the IT industry’s “hire and fire” shake people’s confidence in the Su- extremists. I believe that Fazzur Rah-
policy, almost an accepted norm for the preme Court. But the court’s knee-jerk man Siddiqui’s work on political Islam
sector, has been replaced by the intimid- reaction certainly did shake people’s will serve both these purposes well.
ating practice of “scare and fire”. confidence in the higher judiciary. The MUHAMMED SHIBIL V.
AYYASSERI RAVEENDRANATH collegium system needs to be replaced KODUVALLY, KERALA
ARANMULA, KERALA with a transparent system to ensure that
Cow slaughter the Karnans of this world cannot don the CORRECTION
SELF-STYLED cow vigilantes are taking robe of judges. The interview with
PURUSHUTTAM ROY BARMAN NASSCOM president
the law into their own hands in the name R. Chandrashekhar (“Of
of cow protection and spreading mayhem AGARTALA uncomfortable truths”) in
and panic among farmers, traders and Caste violence the issue dated June 23
BIJOY GHOSH
wrongly carried the name

others (“In the name of cattle protec- THE atrocities perpetrated on Dalits in and photograph of R.
tion”, June 23).The notification banning Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, was both Chandrasekaran of
Cognizant. The error,
the sale of cows for slaughter will in- shocking and disturbing and made me
committed at the stage R. Chandrashekhar,
crease sectarian violence, and there will wonder whether we are really in the of editing, is regretted. NASSCOM president.
be further communal polarisation, which computer age (“Targeting Dalits”, June
ANNOUNCEMENT
is what Hindutva activists are really after. 9). Such well-orchestrated attacks can
Letters, whether by surface mail or e-mail,
Since Yogi Adityanath became the Chief be attributed to the growing antipathy must carry the full postal address and the full
Minister of Uttar Pradesh, these vigilante and intolerance of vested interests to- name, or the name with initials.

7 July Frontline Magazine PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

7 July Frontline Magazine PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

7 July Frontline Magazine PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

VOLUME 34 NUMBER 13 JUNE 24 - JULY 07, 2017 ISSN 0970-1710 WWW.FRONTLINE.

THE STATES COVER STORY CINEMA

Era Sezhiyan: Sentinel of

JULY 7, 2017 . FRONTLINE 3

FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017 4

5 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

developments in June. In fact, the demand for loan

announced that purchasing farm produce at rates lower

7 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

AN OUTBURST OF INDIGNATION FROM A G IT A T IN G F A RM E R S staging “chakka jam” with

9 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

problems. However, he was removed from the post at the

11 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

GARLI C CR OP S T A CKE D UP at a farmer’s house in Kota.

FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017 12

13 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

NOT SINCE THE SHETKARI SANGHATANA’S F A RM E R S T H R O WI NG vegetables on a road in

15 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017 16

17 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

Scheme sans substance

19 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

21 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

Despite the grim situation, the purchase price quoted

23 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

A G I TA T I N G F A R ME R S from Tamil Nadu symbolically

Rajiv Gandhi readily agreed to look into their demands.

25 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

Assam’s hot potato

W ORKER S CLEA N I NG potato ﬁelds in Bamundi village in Barpeta district.

FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017 26

27 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

government’s new restrictive rules on cattle trade. B Y ANUPAMA KATAKAM

FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017 28

29 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

THE MAY 23 NOTIFICATION OF THE MINISTRY

including the Supreme Court. The Madurai Bench of the

31 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

33 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017 34

35 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

No skin in the game

T A N N E D hide ready for dispatch at a tannery in Ambur, Tamil Nadu.

FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017 36

R A W S K I NS being tanned using the “wet blue” process.

37 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

Experts said the government’s decision would be

39 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

Unrest in the hills

FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017 40

GJM SUPPORTE R S protesting on June 8.

41 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

ARMY PER S ON N EL patrolling a street in Darjeeling on June 9.

43 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

“TOWARDS Sustained Self-reli- angan, then Chairman of the Indian

T H E G S L V M K II I (facing page) being moved from the Vehicle Assembly

45 FRONTLINE . JULY 7, 2017

of more than 5 km a second, the In-