Will the Anti-CAA Protest Become a Movement?
The anti-CAA protests are now more than just about citizenship and individual rights. Ravi Shankar writes in The New Indian Express, of the clash between two of the most divisive nodes of a society: Ideology and religion. He flits from the current context to history, to bring forth the tug-of-war between the immovable government, and the unstoppable righteous indignation of the rebels. In such tumultuous times, democracy undergoes a churn in choppy waters. Will what emerge be the will of the government, or a historic movement?
“The knee-jerk response of governments strong and weak is to punish the objector. But how many students and teachers can they jail? How many film icons can they imprison? How many journalists can they attack? How many writers can be murdered? Some visuals become symbols of history: the faceless man braving the tanks in Tiananmen Square, the sword-bearing rioter in Gujarat and the burning activist in the Mandal agitation. Now, social media power and TV could make the image of bloodied Aishe the face of the CAA protest. It is Youth vs Government. Youth has exuberance, middle-age caution and old age brings reflection. And exuberance can be contagious. Neither Narendra Modi nor Amit Shah, the two pillars of government, are indecisive or prone to compromise. They act swiftly and forcefully according to their beliefs in what is best for India whether on Kashmir, triple talaq or ejecting illegal immigrants. They don’t talk. They act. Modi today is more than just a leader: Modi is a movement. It is clear that the CAA agitation has gone beyond the merits of the legislation, but when a protest becomes a movement, a new bend appears in the river of change. And democracy is choppy waters.”
What the Tale of Train 18 Tells Us About India
If there's anyone who can tell you a riveting story on India that's part travelogue, part philosophy, and wholly political while remaining non-partisan, it has to be Mark Tully.
In his piece in the Hindustan Times, he writes of how Train 18, designed at the Chennai coach factory and manufactured within 18 months, is now back and the drawing board, ostensibly in a bid to change 'good' to 'best'. From Make in India, to inviting tenders from foreign companies, from two fully functional trains to sketchy asks detailing improvements, the future of India's Complete Trains, he says, is yet to get on track.
“Of course, safety is important but could not improvements, if called for, be incorporated in the original trains? As for other improvements, do they justify starting all over again with the delay and the cost involved? Is not this yet another example of ignoring the adage “the best is the enemy of the good”? The defense ministry has a particularly bad record of failing to procure equipment because of this bad habit. Train 18 is the story of a team which overcame the complex bureaucracy, the archaic procedures, and the inter-departmental rivalries that have led to the railways’ failure to realise their potential. The lack of respect for the team’s achievement and their personal humiliation will inevitably encourage another bad habit of government organisations, the habit of doing nothing and agreeing to nothing in order to avoid any risk of getting into trouble. With the intervention of the vigilance authorities in mind, who will want to sign any contract for the new trains, especially now that global bids have been invited? This brings me to a third bad habit highlighted by the Vande Bharat story; the common misuse of vigilance and other regulatory bodies to give a person or a project a bad name. The Indian Railways has given a bad name to people and a project India was rightly proud of.”
Excellence vs Minority Rights – Supreme Court for the Win
In the constant tug-of-war between preserving the rights of minority educational institutions and allowing private educational institutions the latitude to strive for institutional excellence, the Supreme Court has delivered a wonderfully layered judgment.
As Vaidhyananthan writes in The New Indian Express, the Supreme Court has delivered verdict 4.0, post the famous TMA Pai Foundation case, which has taken the issue into an as yet unexplored direction.
“The SC in Para 47 of the order observes that the test accepted by the TMA Pai Foundation case and the balance between institutional excellence and preserving rights of minorities needs to be considered in the context of two categories of institutions. It records that maximum latitude must be given to management of minority institutions that directly aim to preserve their special religious and linguistic characteristics but for those minority institutions imparting purely secular education such as Physics, Chemistry, etc, excellence is of paramount importance. There cannot be a time more appropriate than this to recall former Chief Justice PB Gajendragadkar, who in 1972 said when minority institutions offer generic education with teachers and students predominantly cosmopolitan and have no connection whatever with the protection of the language, culture or script of the minority concerned, then “it may not be legitimate to grant such collegiate institutions the benefit of the absolute right conferred on religious & linguistic minorities by Articles 29 & 30 in general and Art. 30(1) in particular”. In short, the Supreme Court delivers Judgment 4.0.”
On Hangings, Ahead of the Nirbhaya Convicts’ Execution
On 22 January, all four accused in the Nirbhaya rape and murder case are to be hanged to death. For the prison officials, legal officer and the jallad (hangman/executioner) at Tihar jail, this case is reminiscent of the Billa-Ranga execution of 1978. Did you know that the 'last dying wish' ceremony is a myth? And that the wish of a non-vegetarian meal is impossible to fulfill at the Tihar jail, because it is a vegetarian prison?
Shobita Dhar writes a riveting account, in the The Times of India.
“The prisoner is moved to the death cell — jail number 3 — and put on suicide watch. All belongings are taken away, even the pyjama string as it can be used to strangle oneself. Then, sheer mechanics takes over. The prisoner is weighed, his height and length of the neck measured to prepare the equipment for the execution. “The heavier the prisoner, the shorter the fall. It’s very important to follow the procedure because otherwise there’s a risk of decapitation,” says Gupta. The hanging is then simulated with sandbags 1.5 times the convict’s weight just to make sure the noose is strong enough. In his book, Gupta says wax or butter is applied to ensure the rope doesn’t cut; some hangmen like Bengal’s Nata Mullick preferred soap and mashed bananas instead.”
CAA is Government's Bid to Pander to Hard-Line Hindutva Base
Historian and author Ramachandra Guha makes no bones about his criticism against the CAA, and the Modi government's 'insatiable' desire to satisfy its hard-line Hindutva base.
In his piece in the Hindustan Times, he views the abolition of Article 370, the Ayodhya verdict and especially the implementation of the CAA as ill-timed, immoral and illogical.
“The downgrading of Jammu and Kashmir and the building of a temple in Ayodhya were issues of enormous symbolic importance to the BJP. One could understand why a second successive majority in the Lok Sabha emboldened the Modi government to act quickly in these matters. But the CAA was of relatively trifling importance. It was estimated that just a few thousand refugees would get Indian citizenship as a result of its passing. Why then was it given such a high priority? Particularly at a time when the economy was in such a mess, and its revival needed urgent attention? There are perhaps two reasons behind the Modi government’s unseemly haste in passing the CAA through Parliament. The first is bigotry, the ideological compulsion to rub it in even further to the Muslim citizens of the Republic that they live here on the grace or mercy of the Hindu majority. The second is hubris; the sense (or delusion) that since the Muslims of India did not offer any dissent at the abrogation of Article 370 or at the court verdict concerning Ayodhya, this time, too, they would meekly accept this wanton humiliation heaped on them by their own government.”
When a Widow Sells Her Hair for Food
As the country slips from every growth index, including poverty, education and health, Shankkar Aiyar delivers a reality check in his column in The New Indian Express. Recently, a report of a woman who sold her hair to feed her children surfaced. Despite the dozens of centrally sponsored schemes, poverty and hunger are far from being curbed, thanks to a yawning gap in design and implementation. Read on, for more.
“In theory, the social programmes of the government are designed to prevent just this.Think about it. The government runs 30 centrally sponsored schemes – and topping the list is the National Social Assistance Programme designed to prevent deprivation and death. The NSAP is a social security scheme for Below Poverty Line households. It comprises five separate welfare schemes namely, Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme, Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme, National Family Benefit Scheme and Annapurna. It could be argued that the incident in Tamil Nadu is a one-off. Sadly, the data put out by the Niti Aayog in its latest report on sustainable development goals does not inspire the alternate view. The all India average has slipped on the poverty index from 54 to 50, with the number of states in the red (below national average) rising from seven to 14 states. India has also slipped on the hunger index from 48 to 35 with seven states lagging.”
India’s Young Are Our Best Hope for Future
For Karan Thapar, the immediate future he can sense is far gloomier than the one promised to him in a song, as a 13-year-old. In his piece in the Hindustan Times, he speaks of the lost ability to hold differences of opinion without harboring divisions. In light of the implementation of the CAA, among other events that kicked off 2020, his piece is one of gloom, but it ends on a positive note, thanks to India's youth.
“Before you dismiss this possibility, consider the following facts. The de-operationalisation of Article 370 and the division and demotion of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories have created a deep and, so far, unbridged chasm between the Valley and the rest of the country. Now, the prospect of a CAA-NRC combination has humiliated and offended the self-respect of Indian Muslims. But these are only the most recent developments. Going back further, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has boasted it can win elections without having to woo Muslim voters. Neither in 2014, nor 2019, does it have Muslim Lok Sabha Members of Parliament. In fact, in Gujarat, it hasn’t fielded a Muslim candidate in any election since 1989. So might that phrase “tukde tukde gang” also apply to our government and the BJP? Now, if I’m right, many of you may feel 2020, though not even two-week-old, hasn’t begun well. I know several people who are depressed by 2019 and fear the worst is still to come. A lot of the time, I would agree with them, but when I see and hear the voices of India’s young, the gloom begins to lift. Their challenge is our best hope. Their combat could be our survival. Their commitment is the only guarantee we will abide by our Constitution. They alone can light the way to 2525.”
Truth and Reconciliation for the Economy
Swaminathan believes that it is only by coming clean that the government can take the first step towards saving the economy. Drawing a parallel with Nelson Mandela's Truth and Reconciliation committee, he writes in the The Times of India, of the two fudges that all governments are guilty of indulging in.
“Instead of cutting unproductive spending, they resort to two fudges. One is simply not to pay their dues, and let these payments spill over into the next year. This lessens the actual cash outgo in the current year and gives a fictitious impression of prudence. However, this means the next year starts with an inherited burden, which is then countered by even more delayed payments in subsequent years. The amount of fiscal fiction accumulates over time. Even worse, the central government last year demanded and got advance payments for the next year for rail freight from NTPC and Coal India. This artificially reduced the fiscal deficit for 2018-19 but created a corresponding problem for the next year. India must shift from its current “cash accounting” system to what is called an “accrual system” in which due payments are listed as spending and cannot be fudged by delaying payments. That will make budgets more honest and transparent. The second big fudge is to finance fiscal deficits not by formal budgeted borrowing but by what is called off budget borrowing. Instead of central and state governments borrowing to fund their deficits, they force their own public sector entities to do the borrowing. The overall economic impact is the same. Yet the budget gives a false impression of fiscal prudence.”
The 'Emotional Contagion' of Protests
Whether political or apolitical, Hindu or Muslim or Christian, students from campuses across the country have participated passionately in protests. This emotion is more than just angst, says Amulya Gopalakrishnan in the The Times of India.
She attributes the spontaneity of the protests to a breach of 'common sense' by the government. And pegs the scale of the protests to the camaraderie, brotherhood and warmth that seems to overpower anger or ill-will.
“It’s not Muslims alone, and not just other embattled groups or activists. It’s an emotional contagion spreading out to ‘apolitical’ campuses, workplaces and people. Even mainstream Bollywood feels compelled to solidarity: Deepika Padukone, a movie star with nothing to gain materially and much to lose, came to JNU to quietly stand by the students. ‘It’s so bad even the ‘(insert-unlikely-marcher)’ are here’ has been the big theme of the memes.That is because some basic common-sense has been offended. The Centre’s actions over the last six months, including the CAA, come from an alien spirit — which is emphatically not the one this country was built on. Our sentimental education has been different for at least half a century— the Gandhi talisman in our textbooks, the songs and TV and films, the public rhetoric. It evoked compassion for others (peer parayi jaane re), unity in diversity (mile sur mera tumhara).In so many ways, we were taught to think of this country as battered and tolerant and wise, of this democracy as remarkable. It is now okay to be unfeeling about those who are hurt or vulnerable — to mock poor Muslims as puncturewalas, jeer the appearance of trans people, degrade Kashmiris. To make up lies like “tukde-tukde gang” and then chant “goli maaro saalon ko.””
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