04-10-2017 (Important News Clippings)
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Date:04-10-17
Defining Indianness is the main political challenge
T K Arun
A radio jockey contrasts the Indianness of Shankar-Jaikishan with the modernity of R D Burman. The Uttar Pradesh government omits the Taj Mahal from a list of the state’s tourist attractions and its chief minister says that the Taj Mahal does not represent India. It is not easy to spot the common link between that piece of chatter on FM radio and the Uttar Pradesh government’s profession of cultural nationalism.But a link exists. Both are perverse manifestations of loss of cultural confidence and implicit assumptions of what constitutes being Indian. That question is central to the political discourse in the country right now. Economic mismanagement is easy to target and forge coalitions against, but does not define the core of what democratic India confronts today and has to defeat.
Indian vs Modern?
When Indianness is juxtaposed against modernity, the assumption is that to be Indian is to be pre-modern. The radio jockey clearly believes that to be modern is to be western. The notion that western modernity is just one form of modernity among many possible forms of modernity, or that it is possible to be simultaneously both modern and Indian, is firmly outside his worldview. He is not alone.This view of the world is shared by a large segment of those who can prattle along in English, even if they would stoutly deny the proposition if it is put to them. They acquired their proficiency in English by being educated in the English medium, meaning that they have broken their organic link with their own mother tongue and the cultural universe it mediates.
One problem with the defendants of liberal democracy in India is that many of them do battle in English, inviting association with those who peddle supercilious disregard for India’s culture.India is a complex civilisation, whose colonial experience has left it bruised. The intelligentsia that took charge of Independent India and framed a liberal democratic Constitution faced the task of pushing and prodding a deeply hierarchical, unequal and divided society to change into the constitutional ideal.Some resisted change because it took away their privilege. Others resisted it because they thought it meant loss of cultural authenticity and subjugation to foreign ideology.They challenged the constitutional ideal itself, on the ground that equality and democracy meant inability to assert the supremacy of the faith and culture of the majority Hindus.
Yogi Adityanath’s allergy to celebrating the Taj Mahal articulates the view that Indian authenticity can only be represented by Hindu icons and that non-Hindu symbols reek of the subordination of Hindus by Muslim invaders and European colonialists for centuries.The task clearly is to delineate what is Indian and to be retained in the democratic reconfiguration of traditional Indian society. What does that pre-Sultanate authenticity mean for those in the lower rungs of the social hierarchy into which Hindu society has been organised? Even today, those from lowest rungs can be beaten to death for watching a garba, growing a moustache, skinning a cow, refusing to remove a cow’s carcass or otherwise, showing defiance to their superiors, when not choking to death in sewers.
Glorifying Tradition
Nor can women find much comfort in a tradition that holds that they, along with the lowest castes, animals and the drum, are qualified to be beaten, and whose underlying value of subordination is elevated to high canon by Manusmriti’s decree that women, protected at different stages of their life by father, husband and son, do not deserve freedom.But does such inequality and injustice in India’s tradition make a case for its wholesale rejection? That would be as ridiculous as rejecting the Pythagoras theorem on the ground that the Greek culture that produced it was built on slavery of the majority.Ancient India produced advances in philosophy and mathematics, astronomy and medicine, in poetry, art and architecture. To recognise this and to take pride in this heritage of human advance is not to acknowledge the cruelty and oppression of the caste system. But Indian history does not stop with the advent of Muslim rulers. They invaded, yes, some plundered and ravaged the land, but others stayed put and governed the land and its people, adding to the richness of collective human experience and achievement.
What helped them in this process is a combination of polytheism — Hindus worshipped so many gods that addition of a few more hardly mattered — and the philosophy of non-duality, which posited the ultimate unity of the creator and the created and, thus, deemed all difference between things and individuals, and therefore of faiths and peoples as the delusion of the unenlightened. Without such a framework of local thought, outsiders could not have made themselves at home and flourished.Just as caste oppression and women’s subordination were part of Indian culture and must be rejected from what modern India carries into the future, awareness of India’s cultural achievements over the centuries must inform the project of building a democratic India.The success of project democracy in India depends on inclusive Indianness being placed at its core, rejecting atavistic sectarianism.
Date:04-10-17
PM Modi’s welcome warning on Swachh Bharat
ET Editorials
A scheme called ‘Dabba Dol’, where the containers of people performing their ablutions are snatched by vigilantes, operates in Madhya Pradesh, where a policeman recently attempted suicide after being forced to clean toilets. The Madhya Pradesh government has banned nontoilet users from contesting panchayat elections. In Chhattisgarh, those not building toilets are denied access to subsidised food. In Uttar Pradesh, vigilantes force villagers to clean their own faeces by hand. In Rajasthan, civic officials’ attempt to shame people defecating in the open by taking their photographs led to scuffles and one death.The only way to make Swachh Bharat a success, and not turn it into an instrument of oppression, is through voluntary compliance. Once people realise the benefits of Swachh Bharat, they will need no coercion to follow its principles.
क्या पैसा वसूलना ही सरकार का काम है?
प्रीतीश नंदी
Date:03-10-17
Powerful challenge
Taking electricity to every household is a great idea. It will need to be done without imperiling the health of discoms
Editorials
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, on several occasions, emphasised universal access to electricity as a priority for his government. In his Independence Day speech in 2015, the PM promised that 18,500 villages would receive electricity in the next 1,000 days. Two years later, nearly 14,500 of these villages have been “electrified”. The speed with which the grid has reached these villages is impressive. However, the government’s record is sullied by the fact that reportedly more than a fourth of the households in the “electrified villages” do not have a power connection. The significance of the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, or the “Saubhagya” scheme, launched by the PM last week should be seen in this context. The scheme changes the metric for measuring progress in electrification from the village to the household-level.
Beneficiaries for free electricity connections under the Saubhagya scheme would be identified using the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data. The scheme’s document also notes that “Unelectrified households not covered under the SECC 2011 would also be provided electricity connections under the scheme on a payment of Rs 500, which shall be recovered by discoms in 10 installments through electricity bills.” Free — or subsidised — connections will take care of the last-mile connectivity, often seen as among the biggest stumbling blocks to electricity access in the country. By roping in panchayats and other village-level institutions, the government aims to ensure that Saubhagya does not remain a top-down endeavour. However, the government hasn’t found a way out of the other major challenge that afflicts power supply in the country: An electricity connection does not always ensure quality power supply. The government’s claims of being power surplus notwithstanding, it is common knowledge that in many parts of the country, people face outages for several hours.
Ensuring reliable supply requires improving the health of discoms. The UDAY scheme, launched in 2015, has made some headway in improving the finances of the state discoms. The losses registered by these companies have been more than 20 per cent less this year. It will be interesting to see how states square the Saubhagya scheme with the requirements of UDAY. Saubhagya grants them the leeway to lower tariffs to people covered under the scheme. But at the same time, UDAY makes it incumbent on the states to pay for all the future losses of discoms. It will be interesting to see how the states strike a balance between the imperatives of improving access and the demands of keeping the discoms in good health.
The day after Catalonia’s vote
A conciliatory dialogue is still Madrid’s best option after the Catalan vote
EDITORIAL
Catalonia’s defiant vote to secede from Spain is the culmination of Madrid’s costly miscalculations, with potentially serious ramifications for all of Europe. The referendum, marred by violence that left hundreds injured, has further eroded Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s authority to negotiate a settlement out of this impasse. When Catalonians voted overwhelmingly for separation three years ago in a non-binding exercise, Mr. Rajoy enjoyed a comfortable majority in the Spanish Parliament. Scotland’s vote just a few months earlier to remain in the U.K. may have given hope to Mr. Rajoy at the time that the crisis would somehow blow over. But in 2017, leading a minority government, he faces the crisis with his hands somewhat tied. Whatever the merits of his judgment calls in the run-up to the referendum and the police action on the day, the handling of this long-festering question by Mr. Rajoy, a veteran leader of the conservative People’s Party, has left much to be desired. Popular backing for separation in Catalonia reached a high point in the aftermath of the eurozone crisis. But it had appeared to wane in more recent times, despite the narrow 2015 election of a coalition in Catalonia committed to independence. Capitalising on the positive mood and engaging the secessionist forces politically would have been the obvious approach. But the centre-right government merely insisted repeatedly that the vote not take place. Mr. Rajoy was on record as saying there was no need to negotiate with a party that fell foul of the Spanish constitution, which prohibits attempts to undermine the nation’s indissoluble unity.
Once Spain’s highest court nullified the referendum, the government was evidently on a firm legal footing, emboldening Mr. Rajoy to do anything to stop the vote. In the run-up to the ‘plebiscite’, Catalonia was threatened with dire consequences for every euro of government funds that was diverted to the campaign. The confiscation of ballot papers and the blockade of polling stations further vitiated the atmosphere. The mood among moderate sections in Catalonia turned rapidly hostile, as citizens viewed the denial of their say on a question of sovereignty as an affront to their fundamental freedoms. Conversely, legislators in Barcelona dropped any pretence to democratic accountability by deciding on a course of unilateral independence, irrespective of the turnout in the vote. They had earlier side-stepped the opinion of the Council of Europe — the continent’s human rights body — that the referendum comply with Spain’s constitution. More striking is the lack of any clear programme for the region’s future, given the history of the self-determination demand. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont tried to lower tensions by saying he did not have in mind a “traumatic” separation from Spain and sought a new understanding. It is in both Madrid’s and Barcelona’s interest to begin a meaningful dialogue to contain the damage.
Date:03-10-17
The numbers game: IMD forecast for farmers
The India Meteorological Department needs to better tailor its forecast for farmers
EDITORIAL
With the India Meteorological Department getting its monsoon forecast wrong this year, its modelling has necessarily come under the spotlight. In April, the IMD had predicted “near normal”, or 96%, rains and then upgraded the figure to 98% a couple of months later. These percentages refer to the proportion of rains to 89 cm, a 50-year average of monsoon rains. However, the country finally ended up with “below normal” rains (that is, less than 96% of the 50-year long period average). In itself, this is not a problem. Crop sowing is expected to be only a little less than last year, which saw a record harvest, with more districts posting deficient rain. Better drought management has over the years weakened the link between rain shortfall and food production, but the IMD continues to persevere with the meaningless practice of assigning a catch-all number to the quantum of rain expected during the monsoon. While initially conceived as a measure to bring rigour to the task of warning the government about a drought or weak rains, it has now become a numbers exercise, couched in statistical error margins and pedantic definitions, to ward off blame for getting its forecast wrong. While a single number, 96 or 95, has the power to brand rainfall as “near” or “below” normal, the IMD never admits to being in error. It relies on the security of generous error margins. Thus, a 98% forecast, say, implies a range from 94% to 102% and so could span “below normal” to “above normal”.
The fallout of focussing on numbers to gauge a phenomenon as geographically and quantitatively varied as the Indian monsoon is that it has ripple effects of tricking everyone from policymakers to the stock markets that a ‘normal’ monsoon implies all will be well with rainfall distribution. So this year’s floods in Mumbai, Assam and Bihar, and the months-long drought in Karnataka and Vidarbha were all merged under an umbrella number. The Indian monsoon has over the centuries stayed remarkably consistent at around 89 cm during the monsoon months, give or take 10%. The challenge lies in capturing intra-seasonal variation or forecasting a sudden change in global weather (such as typhoons) that can affect rainfall over specific districts. Therefore, simply getting these blanket four-month forecasts right doesn’t really help. While more and more farmers are opting for crop insurance and have far greater access — via mobile phones — to news on weather patterns, what they seek are localised, actionable inputs to guide them on sowing or harvesting decisions. The IMD is increasingly relying on supercomputers and sophisticated models to warn of weather changes at the district level. These localised estimates aim to warn of threatening weather — and are operationally useful — rather than reduce rain to numerical jugglery. The IMD must give momentum to this shift.
ऐसे तो न बच पाएंगी
पंकज चतुव्रेदी
दूर-दूर तक नदी में तेल की परत, रंग, कपड़ों, लकड़ी का ढेर है। मूर्तियां बनाने में लगा प्लास्टर ऑफ पेरिस की कीचड़ कई किलोमीटर तक नदी को मृत बना रही है। पूजा में इस्तेमाल फूल और फलों के सड़ने से बदबू दूर तक लोगों की सांस फूला रही है। केंद्रीय प्रदूषण नियंतण्रबोर्ड द्वारा दिल्ली में यमुना नदी का अध्ययन इस संबंध में आंखें खोलने वाला रहा है कि किस तरह नदी का पानी प्रदूषित हो रहा है। बोर्ड के निष्कर्ष के मुताबिक नदी के पानी में पारा, निकल, जस्ता, लोहा, आर्सेनिक जैसी भारी धातुओं का अनुपात दिनोंदिन बढ़ रहा है। कोलकाता के हुगली तट पर हालात लगभग ऐसे ही ही हैं। उत्तर बंगाल में महानंदा व उसकी सहायक नदियों में हर साल तीन लाख प्रतिमाएं नदी के जल को पूरे साल के लिए जहरीला कर देती हैं। हाल ही में हुई बरसात से जैसे ही नदी में नया जल आता है गणोश चतुर्थी, विश्वकर्मा पूजा, दुर्गा पूजा, लक्ष्मी पूजा, काली पूजा और भंडारी पूजा के नाम पर मूर्तियों व पूजा सामग्री से नदी को हांफने पर मजबूर कर दिया जाता है।
उत्तर प्रदेश के मुख्यमंत्री योगी जी के शहर गोरखपुर में प्रशासन ने अदालती आदेश के चलते प्रतिमा विसर्जन के लिए कृत्रिम कुंड बनवाए थे, लेकिन जबरई से धर्मभीरुओं ने 6500 से ज्यादा प्रतिमाएं राप्ती नदी में ही विसर्जित कीं। जमशेदपुर में सुवर्णरेखा, खरकई नदी व अन्य घाटों पर आस्था के अवशेष बिखरे पड़े हैं। पूजन सामग्री, भगवान पर चढ़े कपड़े, चुनरी, कला घट, दीया, फोटो, छोटी-बड़ी सैकड़ों मूर्तियों के लिए बनाए गए (बांस-लकड़ी के स्ट्रक्चर) आदि प्रदूषण बढ़ा रहे हैं। सबसे अधिक गंदगी सुवर्णरेखा नदी घाट किनारे दिख रही है। अनुमान है कि हर साल देश में इन तीन महीनों के दौरान 10 लाख से ज्यादा प्रतिमाएं बनती हैं और इनमें से 90 फीसद प्लास्टर ऑफ पेरिस की होती है। इस तरह देश के ताल-तलैया, नदियों-समुद्र में नब्बे दिनों में कई सौ टन प्लास्टर ऑफ पेरिस, रासायनिक रंग, पूजा सामग्री मिल जाती है। पीओपी ऐसा पदार्थ है, जो कभी समाप्त नहीं होता है। इससे वातावरण में प्रदूषण बढ़ने की संभावना बहुत अधिक है। प्लास्टर ऑफ पेरिस, कैल्शियम सल्फेट हेमी हाइड्रेट होता है, जो कि जिप्सम (कैल्शियम सल्फेट डिहाइड्रेट) से बनता है। चूंकि ज्यादातर मूर्तियां पानी में न घुलने वाले प्लास्टर ऑफ पेरिस से बनी होती हैं, उन्हें विषैले एवं पानी में न घुलने वाले नन बायोडिग्रेडेबेल रंगों में रंगा जाता है, इसलिए हर साल इन मूर्तियों के विसर्जन के बाद पानी की बायोलॉजिकल ऑक्सीजन डिमांड तेजी से घट जाती है, जो जल-जन्य जीवों के लिए कहर बनता है। देश के हर कस्बे-टोले के जल संसाधनों के यह दुखद हालात तब हैं, जब देश में मिस्ड-कॉल मार कर नदियों की सफाई के संकल्प के बड़े-बड़े विज्ञापन छप रहे हैं। स्वच्छता अभियान के नाम पर खूब नारे लगे, लेकिन जब आस्था के सवाल आए तो प्रकृति, पर्यावरण, कानून के सवाल गौण हो गए। पर्व-त्योहारों को अपने मूल स्वरूप में अक्षुण्ण रखने की जिम्मेदारी समाज की है। इस अनुशासन के बल पर ही प्रदूषण को कम किया जा सकता है।
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