India Unplugged

on December 22, 2008

in india and politics

. 2 Comments

(This is a post by Jacob Kuncheria, a friend and well wisher of India Unplugged. Cheri, as he is known to friends, works for Reuters in Delhi and is interested in development issues, Satyajit Ray films and Hindustani music.)

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has suddenly woken up to the gross underestimation of poverty in India. In Rajya Sabha on Thursday Murli Manohar Joshi asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh if the current definition of poverty in India was not a joke on the poor and whether this was not a means to mask the extent of poverty. A noble sentiment indeed, but let the record also show the BJP made no effort to improve upon the faulty schema of identifying the poor when it ruled between 1999 and 2004.Worse, that government, of which Joshi was a cabinet minister, presided over a major fudging of poverty measurement, tweaking the process of data collection to falsely show poverty had fallen under its regime.

It is certainly true that the official poverty estimates in India do not indicate the true extent of deprivation in the country. The poverty line is the cost of the cheapest foods that can supply the barest minimum of energy a person needs. Currently, if a villager earns over 12.26 rupees a day, or an urban citizen earns over 18.36 rupees daily, she is above the poverty line. That sum would not buy a McDonald’s burger even at their happy price menu, to make a rather cruel comparison.

Man cannot live on calories alone, he needs proteins and vitamins and minerals too, but the standard does not see the need to incorporate that. If a person sold her cow, her pots and pans or her land to make buy food, the income increase would actually push her above the poverty line. To add pain, the norm does not concern itself with the question of whether the supposedly un-poor actually eat the food supposedly purchasable at that income.

Studies have shown that the lack of state-provided health care, housing and education lead poor households to spend an increasing amount of their income on private providers. This reduces food consumption, and invariably, the deprivation is pronounced in women, girls and children. It is no wonder India is home to 40 percent of malnourished children, and its record is worse than sub-Saharan Africa. The amount of anaemic women and girls and the ensuing high rate of maternal mortalities, among other damning health statistics clearly point to the inadequacy of the measure. Hence, the poverty line is not just a line under which one is poor. Rather, it is an indicator which says: if you earn below this, it’s a miracle you’re alive.

THE BJP’s “MIRACLE”

Now to the BJP and poverty. The estimation of how many people are poor is done by measuring household income, which is the subject of a survey conducted every five years. Households are quizzed on their spending in the month, and a rise in this indicates increased income. If more households spend more, it means the number of the poor as a percentage of the total population has fallen.

In the 59th round of this survey in 2003, when the BJP was in power and painting rosy images of India Shining, an additional question on weekly spending was asked of households. A minor change, but when posed right before the question on monthly spending, led the respondent to quadruple the weekly answer to give the monthly figure. This number was clearly incorrect, for there are weekly variations in income and consumption, given the fact most of India’s poor have no fixed jobs or wages.The data that emerged gave an inflated consumption number, indicating incomes had risen under the BJP’s rule and the government had been successful in fighting poverty.

The easiest way of ending famine, it seems, is expunging the word from the language itself! And the poor have no idea of their great fortune, they know not how many tears are being shed in their name.

Hotel Taj : icon of whose India ?

Published

on December 4, 2008

in india, media and politics

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Watching at least four English news channels surfing from one another
during the last 60 hours of terror strike made me feel a terror of
another kind. The terror of assaulting one\\\’s mind and sensitivity with
cameras, sound bites and non-stop blabbers. All these channels have
been trying to manufacture my consent for a big lie called – Hotel Taj
the icon of India.

Whose India, Whose Icon ?

It is a matter of great shame that these channels simply did not
bother about the other icon that faced the first attack from
terrorists – the Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station.
CST is the true icon of Mumbai. It is through this railway station
hundreds of Indians from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal
and Tamilnadu have poured into Mumbai over the years, transforming
themselves into Mumbaikars and built the Mumbai of today along with
the Marathis and Kolis

But the channels would not recognise this. Nor would they recognise
the thirty odd dead bodies strewn all over the platform of CST. No
Barkha dutt went there to tell us who they were. But she was at Taj to
show us the damaged furniture and reception lobby braving the guards.
And the TV cameras did not go to the government run JJ hospital to
find out who those 26 unidentified bodies were. Instead they were
again invading the battered Taj to try in vain for a scoop shot of the
dead bodies of the page 3 celebrities.

In all probability, the unidentified bodies could be those of workers
from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh migrating to Mumbai, arriving by train at
CST without cell phones and pan cards to identify them. Even after 60
hours after the CST massacre, no channel has bothered to cover in
detail what transpired there.

The channels conveniently failed to acknowledge that the Aam Aadmis of
India surviving in Mumbai were not affected by Taj, Oberoi and Trident
closing down for a couple of weeks or months. What mattered to them
was the stoppage of BEST buses and suburban trains even for one hour.
But the channels were not covering that aspect of the terror attack.
Such information at best merited a scroll line, while the cameras have
to be dedicated for real time thriller unfolding at Taj or Nariman
bhavan.

The so called justification for the hype the channels built around
heritage site Taj falling down (CST is also a heritage site), is that
Hotel Taj is where the rich and the powerful of India and the globe
congregate. It is a symbol or icon of power of money and politics, not
India. It is the icon of the financiers and swindlers of India. The
Mumbai and India were built by the Aam Aadmis who passed through CST
and Taj was the oasis of peace and privacy for those who wielded power
over these mass of labouring classes. Leopold club and Taj were the
haunts of rich spoilt kids who would drive their vehicles over
sleeping Aam Aadmis on the pavement, the Mafiosi of Mumbai forever
financing the glitterati of Bollywood (and also the terrorists) ,
Political brokers and industrialists.

It is precisely because Taj is the icon of power and not people, that
the terrorists chose to strike.

The terrorists have understood after several efforts that the Aam
Aadmi will never break down even if you bomb her markets and trains.
He/she was resilient because that is the only way he/she can even
survive.

Resilience was another word that annoyed the pundits of news channels
and their patrons this time. What resilience, enough is enough, said
Pranoy Roy\\\’s channel on the left side of the channel spectrum. Same
sentiments were echoed by Arnab Goswami representing the right wing of
the broadcast media whose time is now. Can Rajdeep be far behind in
this game of one upmanship over TRPs ? They all attacked resilience
this time. They wanted firm action from the government in tackling
terror.

The same channels celebrated resilience when bombs went off in trains
and markets killing and maiming the Aam Aadmis. The resilience of the
ordinary worker suited the rich business class of Mumbai since work or
manufacture or film shooting did not stop. When it came to them, the
rich shamelessly exhibited their lack of nerves and refused to be
resilient themselves. They cry for government intervention now to
protect their private spas and swimming pools and bars and
restaurants, similar to the way in which Citibank, General Motors and
the ilk cry for government money when their coffers are emptied by
their own ideologies.

The terrorists have learnt that the ordinary Indian is unperturbed by
terror. For one whose daily existence itself is a terror of government
sponsored inflation and market sponsored exclusion, pain is something
he has learnt to live with. The rich of Mumbai and India Inc are
facing the pain for the first time and learning about it just as the
middle classes of India learnt about violation of human rights only
during emergency, a cool 28 years after independence.

And human rights were another favourite issue for the channels to whip
at times of terrorism.

Arnab Goswami in an animated voice wondered where were those
champions of human rights now, not to be seen applauding the brave and
selfless police officers who gave up their life in fighting terorism.
Well, the counter question would be where were you when such officers
were violating the human rights of Aam Aadmis. Has there ever been any
24 hour non stop coverage of violence against dalits and adivasis of
this country?

This definitely was not the time to manufacture consent for the extra
legal and third degree methods of interrogation of police and army but
Arnabs don\\\’t miss a single opportunity to serve their class masters,
this time the jingoistic patriotism came in handy to whitewash the
entire uniformed services.

The sacrifice of the commandos or the police officers who went down
dying at the hands of ruthless terrorists is no doubt heart rending
but in vain in a situation which needed not just bran but also brain.
Israel has a point when it says the operations were misplanned
resulting in the death of its nationals here.

Khakares and Salaskars would not be dead if they did not commit the
mistake of traveling by the same vehicle. It is a basic lesson in
management that the top brass should never t ravel together in crisis.
The terrorists, if only they had watched the channels, would have
laughed their hearts out when the Chief of the Marine commandos, an
elite force, masking his face so unprofessionally in a see-through
cloth, told the media that the commandos had no idea about the
structure of the Hotel Taj which they were trying to liberate. But the
terrorists knew the place thoroughly, he acknowledged.

Is it so difficult to obtain a ground plan of Hotel Taj and discuss
operation strategy thoroughly for at least one hour before entering?
This is something even an event manager would first ask for, if he had
to fix 25 audio systems and 50 CCtvs for a cultural event in a hotel.
Would not Ratan Tata have provided a plan of his ancestral hotel to
the commandos within one hour considering the mighty apparatus at his
and government\\\’s disposal? Are satelite pictures only available for
terrorists and not the government agencies ? In an operation known to
consume time, one more hour for preparation would have only improved
the efficiency of execution.

Sacrifices become doubly tragic in unprofessional circumstances. But
the Aam Aadmis always believe that terror-shooters do better planning
than terrorists. And the gullible media in a jingoistic mood would not
raise any question about any of these issues.

They after all have their favourite whipping boy – the politician the
eternal entertainer for the non-voting rich classes of India.

Arnabs and Rajdeeps would wax eloquent on Nanmohan Singh and Advani
visiting Mumbai separately and not together showing solidarity even at
this hour of national crisis. What a farce? Why can\\\’t these channels
pool together all their camera crew and reporters at this time of
national calamity and share the sound and visual bites which could
mean a wider and deeper coverage of events with such a huge human
resource to command? Why should Arnab and Rajdeep and Barkha keep
harping every five minutes that this piece of information was
exclusive to their channel, at the time of such a national crisis? Is
this the time to promote the channel? If that is valid, the politician
promoting his own political constituency is equally valid. And the
duty of the politican is to do politics, his politics. It is for the
people to evaluate that politics.

And terrorism is not above politics. It is politics by other means.

To come to grips with it and to eventually eliminate it, the practice
of politics by proper means needs constant fine tuning and
improvement. Decrying all politics and politicians, only helps
terrorists and dictators who are the two sides of the same coin. And
the rich and powerful always prefer terrorists and dictators to do
business with.

Those caught in this crossfire are always the Aam Aadmis whose deaths
are not even mourned – the taxi driver who lost the entire family at
CST firing, the numerous waiters and stewards who lost their lives
working in Taj for a monthly salary that would be one time bill for
their masters.

Postscript: In a fit of anger and depression, I sent a message to all
the channels, 30 hours through the coverage. After all they have been
constantly asking the viewers to message them for anything and
everything. My message read: I send this with lots of pain. All
channels, including yours, must apologise for not covering the victims
of CST massacre, the real mumbaikars and aam aadmis of India. Your
obsession with five star elite is disgusting. Learn from the print
media please. No channel bothered. Only Srinivasan Jain replied: you
are right. We are trying to redress balance today. Well, nothing
happened till the time of writing this 66 hours after the terror
attack.

They will not destroy Bombay!!!

Published

on December 1, 2008

in india

. 0 Comments

South Bombay occupies a special place in the psyche of Bombay (I was born in Bombay, not Mumbai, and Bombay is where my most cherished memories lie). If Bombay is the city of dreams then South Bombay is where the creators of those dreams used to live. South Bombay is familiar to each and every person in this sub continent who has ever watched Hindi cinema. The iconic shoreline of the Queens’ Necklace with Malabar Hills in the background has been used as a backdrop in innumerable Hindi films. This is where prince and pauper come to partake of an experience called Bombay at it most lively. Lovers sit, with their arms around each other or their heads buried in laps and bosoms, on the parapet on Marine Drive facing the sea, symbolically turning their backs on a city that does not, cannot, give them the space to express their feelings for each other. So they expressed it in the open. Not that anyone minded. In Bombay you could walk naked on the streets and no one would give a second glance. It’s that kind of a city.

On November 26 that changed, perhaps forever. On that day terrorists came and ripped the heart out of Bombay. They killed indiscriminately, wantonly, without mercy or compassion. Once again, my beloved city was trampled upon, abused and ill-treated. This time the targets were the landmarks of Bombay, especially Taj Mahal hotel and Victoria Terminus.

My old office, Exress Towers lies just behind the Oberoi-Trident Hotel.

Leopold’s café, which was sprayed with bullets, serves the best beef steak in town. I’ve been there so often with friends, sat on the same tables that were spattered with blood now.

Gokul bar (the cheapest bar in Colaba), adjacent to Bade Miyan hotel is where 8 kg of RDX was recovered from. I’ve eaten so many times at Bade Miyan after a binge with friends at Gokul.

Boarded so many trains at Victoria Terminus (now CST).

Seen so many films at Metro theatre, where Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar and Kamte were gunned down for the audacity of taking on AK 47s with service revolvers.

An 80 year old family friend lives right next to Nariman House, where the terrorists held hostages. Amazingly, she went for a walk with bullets flying all around. She wanted to see what the commotion was all about!

Been inside the Taj hotel many times…

The last one is especially poignant. Why do they target hotels? The same thing happened in Islamabad when the Marriot Hotel was blown up by a suicide bomber. I called up a dear friend in Pakistan that evening. He answered the phone with a weary hello. He sounded tired and depressed. He explained that he had been inside the Marriot many times and there were no words to describe the sense of loss he felt. My phone call cheered him up, if only to reassure him that his friends were with him.

He called me up the day the Mumbai terrorist struck. This time my voice was tinged with sadness. He provided the succor while I listened. We both discussed the futility of violence and the nihilism of terrorism, just like we had in an earlier phone conversation. The only difference was that this time I was listening while he talked.

Rage, frustration, sadness, melanholy, helplessness, anger…

This is what I feel. But they will not destroy Bombay or Mumbai. They will not be allowed to succeed. We will stand united. For ultimately, blind hatred is self defeating.

Mumbai

Published

Anil

on November 29, 2008

in india, media and politics

. 1 Comment

(Cross posted here.)

The guns have finally fallen silent. The staccato bursts of gunfire have died down. The intermittent explosions have stopped. The pigeons which flew away after every explosion have settled down. But something does not feel right. This was not like one of those bomb blasts we have been seeing with such regularity in India over the past few years. The blasts, even though extremely tragic, had a neat closure to them. But this siege was not neat. It was brutal, ugly, bloody and drawn out. To think that a dozen terrorists made the city, the country, nay even the world stand still speaks volumes both of their meticulous planning as well as of the utter failure of our security apparatus.

I’ve never liked Mumbai as a city. I’ve never lived there but while I was in college I visited it every year for four years. And every time I came away irritated by its insane (to me) rush to get somewhere, its ugly contrasts, mixed with a little envy too perhaps that Mumbai was so much more cosmopolitan than Hyderabad. I’ve always thought people made a lot of unnecessary fuss about Mumbai, its so called spirit, character and every other clichéd adjective you can think of. But this time, unlike the many tragic events before, my heart went out to Mumbai and its people. As I followed the breathless TV reporters fall over themselves to bring the rest of the world as many live images as possible of the ‘unfolding situation’ I was filled with a curious mixture of emotions. There was sadness at the needless and immense loss of life. There was multi-directional rage too, at the politicians who seem to mumble the same platitudes every time something like this happens but are soon back to their ways, of dividing this beautifully complex country to suit their narrow needs.

There was rage too at the terrorists, a helpless and hopeless sort of rage mixed with some despair. I’ve tried but I still cannot understand how someone of roughly my age can take a machine gun, walk into a hotel, into a railway station and start shooting indiscriminately. How can he look into the eyes of a woman trying to go home after visiting her relatives and shoot her in the throat? How can he separate people based on their nationality and gun them down? Try as I might I just cannot comprehend this inhumanity, this utter, deep dark hate that someone has inculcated in him. After all, he was not born with it. He was somebody’s son. He must have experienced some love. How do you go from being a human being to someone who does not blink twice before pressing the trigger and pumping bullets into fellow human beings, irrespective of whether that human being is an old man, a woman or a child? This hatred is beyond me.

And that fills me with a certain hopelessness. How do you guard against such unfathomable hatred? How do you tackle it? Will a more proactive intelligence help? Will upgrading our archaic police force into something more modern and efficient help? Perhaps those measures will help in the short term. But in the long run we have to reach out to the source of such hatred and wipe it out. Not with guns or smart bombs as so many have now begun to advocate, the ‘Israeli way’ they call it. For that will only lead to a never ending cycle of violence. But by understanding the roots of such terror and turning people away from this futile murderous orgy; through education, through alleviation of poverty, through better job prospects and through respect. For nothing blunts hatred more than happiness and peace.

Today I am Angry and Ashamed!

Published

on November 20, 2008

in india and politics

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Today, I am angry and ashamed.

Angry about hypocritical ‘hindu’ politicians, the uncaring society we live in, the heartless middle class that inhabits this country and the fate that awaits India if the above three continue on this trajectory.

Ashamed about hypocritical ‘hindu’ politicians, the uncaring society we live in, the heartless middle class that inhabits this country and the confluence of the above three.

Yes folks…welcome to the new Hindu rashtra!!! How long will we continue to sit silent while those Muslim behenc__ds rape, pillage and explode bombs? Of course, we too are proud Hindus. We cannot sit silent. The blood of the Aryans, Europeans, Rajputs, and Huns flows in our veins. We are the descendents of Shivaji, who held the might of the Mughal empire at bay. Hindu samaj is the possessor of all the worldy truths and all the knowledge that has been invented by western science. Our sages discovered the airplane, the atom bomb, fusion and fission technology and plastic surgery long before the white man.

Our seers invented 0, chess, algebra, arithmetic, geology, psychology, philosophy and zoology thousands of years ago.

Our ancestors dabbled into the depths of ontology and the heights of epistemology. Our Vedas, Shastras, Purans, Gita and Upanishads contain all the knowledge that is needed for this world.

We were the masters of dance, drama, art, literature, erotics, and aesthetics when the barbarians of Europe and the Middle east were foraging around in bear skins and loin cloths.

We are the inheritors of the proud Hindu culture….

How can we produce TERRORISTS?

Impossible, incredulous, lies, conspiracy, out to malign Hindus.

Of course, what ‘Sadhvi’ Pragya Singh and Armyman Purohit did is not retaliation or Hindu terrorism (gasp!!!)

They were just reacting to those vile Muslim terrorists. So what if a few explosions kill some people in Muslim ghettos? So what if some more explosions kill some random other people? SO WHAT

Hindus cannot be terrorists, That’s only for Muslims.

Today I hang my head in shame and stew in my own anger.

because yesterday I asked liberal Muslims to stand up and take a stand against terrorism, because the day before that I did believe that all the bomb blasts in this country were caused by ‘Muslim’ terrorist organisations.

because today my ‘Hindu’ neighbours tell me callously, so what? so what if ‘our people’ exploded a few bombs. After all, we are paying them back in the same coin..

Where have I heard that before?

Oh yeah…Buddhadeb Bhattacharya said that about shooting innocent people in Nandigram.

Narendra Modi said that about the Gujarat genocide.

Raj Thackeray is saying that about ‘bhayyas’.

So what’s wrong if we say it. After all, they are only *!*@*%# Muslims…

(fill in your own abuses in the space provided)

Looking back at Amarnath

Published

Karthikeya

on November 10, 2008

in india and politics

. 0 Comments

At a time when commentators were talking of the end of the insurgency and life was returning to normal in the Kashmir valley, the Amarnath crisis and the associated violence this summer of 2008, came as a rude shock to many. The separatist tone of the protests in the valley created a furore in Indian media. If we were to put the facts of the crisis itself aside, the accompanying protests provided a fascinating opportunity to observe the change sweeping the Kashmir valley. Indeed, the Amarnath crisis may have inadvertently acted as a window of opportunity to bring peace back to Kashmir. Policymakers in Delhi cannot therefore afford to miss the positive outcomes generated by the crisis.

Firstly, it is worth analyzing why the protests in the valley against the government’s decision about transfer of land to the Amarnath shrine board started with pro-independence overtones, then acquired religious hues and thereafter a pro-Pakistani tint. The ISI hand if any, was seemingly minimal in these protests. Officials in Islamabad were apparently as surprised as New Delhi to see the pro-Pakistani tenor. In fact, it is entirely possible that the Pakistani flags placed by some elements at Lal chowk in Srinagar on India’s Independence Day were only a ploy to keep the nation’s attention riveted on Kashmir. To get the attention of the Indian mainstream, nothing works better than a Pakistani flag. One only needs to look at how interest in the Bodo-Muslim clashes in Assam in early October rapidly rose after some Pakistani flags were sighted. The Pakistan card is a bogey that separatists have used in the past as well to put pressure on New Delhi. While some Pro-Pakistani groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba tried to piggy-back on the protests and gain propaganda mileage with motorcycle riders shouting anti-India slogans, they were soon drowned out by the pro-independence voices.

Therefore, whatever mix of aspirations drove the Kashmiris, one thing became clear from the protests. There is definitely an indigenous opinion within the valley about the future of Kashmir, one that is not driven by external entities like Pakistan. In that sense, these protests were reminiscent of the protests of 1963-64 after the theft of the Hazratbal relic, which were entirely indigenously spurred (before Pakistan began its decades-long covert intervention in the valley with Operation Gibraltar of 1965).

At the same time, the protests in the valley do not signify a boost for the armed separatist movement. In fact, the Amarnath crisis represents a decisive shift in the nature of political protest the valley – from one of armed violence to one of non-violent protests. It will take some time before the valley rediscovers completely the power of non-violent dissent, but the process has begun. Yasin Malik, the former Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front militant turned separatist leader, was quoted by The Economist recently as saying: “[today’s Kashmiri youngsters] are even more angry than my generation, yet committed to non-violence”. Why this shift has happened amongst the youth is worthy of an entire sociological treatise. In short, the collective failure of insurgency to achieve political goals, the progressive marginalization of Kashmiris in Pakistan-backed militant outfits such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and the emergence of regional parties other than the National Conference, could have all contributed to it. The latter is particularly noteworthy. Although non- National Conference forces have been active in the valley before, never were they able to influence decision making at the Center as they did during the Amarnath crisis. The triangular struggle to win over public opinion between the National Conference, People Democratic Party and All Party Hurriyat Conference during the crisis represents the coming of age of Kashmiri politics and the end of political monopoly.

Another positive outcome of the protest was that they triggered a debate in the Indian hinterland about the future of Kashmir, something that 18 years of insurgency was unable to do. The Times of India actually ran a poll during the crisis asking if Indians want Kashmir to be retained at all costs. To most Indians, such a question would not have arisen even a year ago.

Even at the Centre, the protests saw a departure in the way New Delhi has handled the Valley at times in the past. The Central government neither enforced a media blackout nor denied the content of the protests as Pakistani propaganda, seeking instead a negotiated settlement. While this is in part due to the realities of coalition politics at the Centre, it is nonetheless significant.

The protests in Jammu were equally worthy of attention. While a section of the media sought to cast the protests purely in religious terms, the participation of Gujjars and Dogri Muslims indicates there was a “regional” factor also involved. This in turn may have forced Kashmiri separatist leaders to rethink the costs of secession from India. The Jammu protests hastened the opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway for trade. Not only will this move help build better ties between Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and J & K, the resultant economic prosperity could transform opinions about the future of Kashmir. This has happened before. Peace returned to Northern Ireland essentially after Britain promoted private sector investment and trade in the province, and paved the way for the Good Friday accord. In the case of Kashmir, Article 370 and the law and order situation have prohibited private investment in the past. The alternative therefore, clearly lies in promoting trade across the border. This also creates the possibility of exposing people in PoK to the possibilities of democratic, non-violent solutions to the Kashmir dispute.

One cannot say that the Amarnath crisis was the best thing that ever happened for Kashmir. In fact, one of the most worrisome fallouts of the crisis is the potential of it being exploited by radical groups in the hinterland. (The Indian Mujahideen had cited the blockade of the valley during the Jammu protests as one of their justifications for the Delhi blasts in September.) But the Amarnath crisis has certainly served to put Kashmir as one of the key issues on the 2009 election agenda. Given the importance of the Kashmir dispute to national security concerns, this would not be an unwelcome development.

(This article was originally published in The Indian National Interest Review, Nov 2008 issue)

US and Indo-Pak relations: the Obama view

Published

Karthikeya

on November 10, 2008

in india

. 0 Comments

While Pakistan came up all too frequently during the recently concluded US Presidential campaign, South Asia watchers sat up when Barack Obama spoke of working with India to deal with Pakistan’s concerns about its security, a prerequisite to bring peace to Afghanistan. This triangular dynamic seems common sense in the subcontinent but attracts only peripheral attention in Washington where Pakistan-Afghanistan relations are seen only from the angle of bilateral relations.

Obama’s statement made many wonder if it implied US was going to step into the role of mediator between India and Pakistan. Although this suggestion was dismissed by both Presidential candidates in the light of the progress of the Indo-Pak peace process, some of the commentary that went with suggestions of mediation hinted at it as being necessary to resolve the schism between the two neighbors.

At least one of the problems with a suggestion of US mediation is that it presumes that the conflicting parties are not rational actors – a notion that subcontinentals find repelling. Of course the US has a long and fairly successful history of conflict mediation from the Camp David accords between Egypt and Israel to the Good Friday process that brought peace to Ireland, and the Dayton accords that negotiated peace settlement in Yugoslavia.

However unlike in all these cases, the conflicting parties in South Asia are not inviting the US for mediation. This has to do less with issues of sovereignty and more to do with self-identity. India and Pakistan perceive themselves as rational actors who can resolve disputes bilaterally.

The United States has thus far acted sensibly and even pressed upon by Pakistan and Kashmiri expat groups to intervene, has chosen to say that it supports the Indian stand on the issue, that disputes can be adequately resolved through Indo-Pak bilateral dialog.

But should the US choose to change this policy and attempt mediation, it would have to first start by addressing the South Asians as mature, rational actors. Unfortunately this is easier said than done going by rhetoric in Washington both about Pakistan during the current debates and about India during the ratification of the nuclear deal. India and Pakistan are seen as two trigger-happy children who’ve got hold of dangerous nuclear toys.

I remember a former official in the US’ national security apparatus once mentioning that during one of the post-nuclearisation crises in South Asia, he asked an Indian official whether the nuclear option was being considered. The Indian official said that “Yes, a limited nuclear engagement is possible”. Whether or not the official meant it, the American was stunned…and told the Indian, “You have no idea what you are talking about”.

This is one of the general perceptions that clouds the less seasoned among American diplomats. While this has some roots in the American self-image and exceptionalism, it reminds subcontinentals of Kiplingesque “white man’s burden”.

For instance, doves in Washington often point out how unlike the USSR and the US, India and Pakistan are so close that there would be almost no warning time in case of a missile launch restricting any attempt at protection. Anyone who’s worked in missile defense would tell you that even for ICBMs during the cold war, neither the US nor the USSR had any means to stop or divert a missile once it was launched. Ballistic missile defense systems can hardly shoot down an incoming missile in its boost phase even with the best of technology like the still-born Star Wars program. Hence, the nuclear threat between the US and USSR was comparable and in no way more than the threat faced in the subcontinent. In fact, the Cold war arms race spawned tactical nukes like Davy Crockets and artillery shells which were more lethal than any weapon that has emerged on the subcontinent. Therefore, if the US and USSR could work over their differences without mediation during the Cold war, then so can India and Pakistan.

This is not to dismiss the value a mediator can bring to the table. Conflicts often get exacerbated due to asymmetry of information and a respected mediator can play a vital role by acting as a channel of communication between the two parties. Thus, the United States’ value as a mediator cannot be dismissed. But what is pertinent is how the US dons this role and how it treats the two parties once it dons the role – as sovereign states or quarrelling juveniles.

From The Earth To The Moon

Published

Anil

on October 24, 2008

in india and technology

. 1 Comment

With the successful launch of Chandrayaan-1 ISRO has joined a select league of nations that have launched missions to the moon. While the spacecraft will take a few more days to attain lunar orbit the successful launch is in itself a great first step for ISRO in space exploration.

Inevitably, amidst the euphoria, there have been voices of dissent. There are some who argue that India cannot afford to waste precious money on what they see as a grandiloquent gesture to catch up with China’s far more advanced space program. They also argue that enough is known about the moon and this mission will not advance our scientific knowledge about our nearest neighbor enough to justify the mission.

Let us look at the ‘price tag’ first. Before the USA embarked on their Apollo missions they launched a series of lunar probes to do lunar imaging and impact studies. Total expense: a neat $1 billion. Japan’s Kayuga moon mission cost a whopping $480m! Even China’s lunar probe cost them a cool $180m. Compare these sums to what the cost is for India’s moon mission: $76m! An unmanned moon mission at that price can easily be termed dirt cheap. In terms of expenditure, the Indian mission is obviously the cheapest of all known global moon missions ¹ ².

Coming to the scientific ‘worth’, Chandrayaan-1 is no slouch in this regard as well. The main mission objectives are to create a 3-D atlas of the Moon, study its chemical and mineral composition, look for Helium-3 (a potential future energy source) and search for the presence of water-ice. Towards fulfilling these objectives the moon craft carries a total of 11 scientific instruments of which 5 are Indian, 2 American (NASA), 3 European (ESA) and one Bulgarian (BAS).

Using these instruments ISRO will undertake a high resolution remote sensing of the moon in visible, near infrared, low-energy and high-energy X-ray spectra. This will help create a high resolution 3-dimensional map of the near and far side regions of the moon. In addition, questions about the origins of the moon (whether it was created by a collision with earth of another heavenly body or was an alien body captured by earth’s gravity) might be answered through this mission. On top of this a chemical and mineralogical mapping of the moon’s surface will reveal the distribution of various elements (such as Titanium, Magnesium, Aluminum for example) on the lunar surface and help in determining the nature of the lunar crust. These data will lead to greater understanding of the moon’s evolutionary origin, mineral composition (for potential energy sources) as well as potential sites for a human moon base if water-ice is found on the moon ³ ⁴.

After reading all this you might wonder how does this benefit the common man? How will these questions help anyone apart from satisfying the curiosity of a few scientists? These are valid questions especially from an Indian point of view where $76m might be used for schemes that benefit the common man more directly. But as I’ve argued in a post before when ISRO began taking tentative steps in starting a modest space program in the early 80s many termed it as a waste of valuable money. Now, the many satellites developed and launched by ISRO over the years have helped an average Indian in many ways, from early cyclone warning to something as mundane as satellite TV. With ISRO also becoming a small but important player in the lucrative global satellite launch business and high quality remote sensing it is earning valuable foreign exchange for the country.

When you look at the history of science it can be observed that the potential benefits from basic science research were not always immediately apparent. Bacteria were initially considered curious but useless creatures, flying a heavier than air object was considered a fool’s fancy while DNA was thought to be scaffold for the more important proteins. It is only when the fundamentals of basic science were properly understood and tested out did they result in applications that later helped humanity.

ISRO’s moon mission while not having immediate benefits for the common man might lead to many such ancillary benefits. Even now, the building of the Deep Space Network (necessary for monitoring the moon missions) is generating local employment. There will be an increased demand for science graduates to work for future missions. ISRO plans to launch another mission to the moon in the near future, Chandrayaan-2, which intends to land a rover on the moon to collect and test lunar samples. And ultimately, experience from these missions will benefit future planned missions such the project to put an Indian in space in the next decade as well as send a probe to Mars.

It is a pity that the enthusiasm there was for space exploration in the 60s has diminished over time. From looking out towards the universe and wanting to explore different worlds we have turned insular and limited ourselves to this planet. I hope the recent revival in interest for space exploration, in which Chandrayaan is playing its part, will spark a new space era with humans finally establishing a bridge head on the moon to serve as a base for an eventual manned mission to Mars.

The Kanchanjunga Trail

Published

on October 21, 2008

in india

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India has tourist destinations that are picturesque and off tourist itineraries. Sikkim is one such. Apart from the regular Gangtok-Rumtek-Nathula circuit, one of the most challenging treks in India lies in West Sikkim. Called the Yuksom-Dzongri-Goechala Trek, this 100 km, 7 day trek through rhododendron forests in the Kanchanjunga National Park (KNP) offers stunning views of the Kanchanjunga range.

The base for the trek is the village of Yuksom, which is the entrance to KNP. The park covers the area from Yuksom (1780 m) to Mt Kanchanjunga (8586 m), the third tallest peak in the world. The KNP covers an area of 2192 sq km and was notified by the Sikkim government in 1977.

Arriving in Yuksom is like taking a train ride back in time. Yuksom means ‘meeting place of three monks’ in the local Lepcha language and it is here that the history of modern Sikkim began. In 1642 AD the first king of Sikkim, Chogyal Phuntsok Namgyal, was consecrated by three Tibetan monks. The stone throne where the consecration took place still exists in Norbugang, near Yuksom. Soon after, the first Buddhist monastary in Sikkim was built in Dubdi to establish the Nyingmapa sect prevelant in Sikkim. Yuksom is also the hometown of Bollywood baddie, Danny Denzongpa.

It is with this sense of history that I began the trek on a warm May morning last year after having shopped for groceries for the trek. A word of caution here: it is risky to attempt the trek without guides or porters because there are no villages on the way to buy food. In my case, the guide doubled as cook.

The first day consists of a 16 km trek through dense temperate forests from Yuksom to the small village of Bakhim (2750 m). There is a spacious trekkers hut for the night’s stay. Day two is easy, just 2 km to a small Buddhist settlement called Tsokha (3050 m). The families here are refugees from Tibet and when offered a choice of places to settle down, they opted for a high altitude village. The trail goes through rhododendron forests. These plants reach 10-15 feet in height and bloom in April-May. The landscape is a riotous display of red, yellow, pink and purple rhododendrons. There are stunning views of Mt. Pandhim, Tenzingkhang, Lama Lamini, Narsing and Jophnu. I spent the rest of the day at Tsokha acclimatizing.

In the eighth century AD, guru Padmasambhava, the patron saint of Sikkim, flew over Sikkim on his way to Tibet. He was invited by the first king of Tibet, Trisong Detsen, to rid his kingdom of the many evil spirits who terrorized his people. On the way he hid many treasures in the Kanchanjunga region. According to legend the treasures are still here, safe from prying eyes. As a result, the entire area around Kanchanjunga is considered sacred. In fact, Kanchanjunga means the five sacred treasures of snow in Lepcha, the local language. The mountain has five peaks which contain the Guru’s treasures: sacred books, gold, silver, gems and grain. As I begin trekking on the third day I cannot help feeling that one of the Guru’s treasures must have been the beautiful landscape. The early morning mist parts to reveal snow-capped peaks reflecting the golden sunlight.

I wonder what this terrain must have been like when Padmasambhava traversed this path: lonely, beautiful, exhilarating and awe-inspiring. The nature around me forms a continuous set of beautiful images in my mind, like an impressionistic painting. I try to imagine myself walking in the Guru’s footsteps, but it is difficult to get a sense of serenity in the crowd of other trekkers.

Dzongri, day three’s destination, is 10 km from Tsokha. The trail affords breathtaking 360-degree views of the entire Singalila range (of which Kanchanjunga is part) at a place called Devrala. Dzongri at an altitude of 3950 m is the place where ‘man meets the mountain gods’. It has a small trekkers hut and a meadow where tents can be pitched. Many people will get some form of altitude sickness at Dzongri. I got a headache because of dehydration caused by drinking the local brew Chang every night for the preceding 7 days at the invitation of the locals. Chang is made from fermented millets and served in a long cylindrical wooden bowl with a bamboo straw. It is smoother than wine and one of the best tipples I’ve tasted. It is a good idea to stay a day or two acclimatizing. Short day trips can be made to the Dzongri viewpoint for views of Cabru, Jophnu, and Kanchanjunga. A 4-5 hour side trek leads to Dzongrila pass. According to local belief this is the entrance to the original Shangri-La, or hidden paradise. Fine views of Rathong glacier, Mt Kokthang, and the Frey peak are afforded from here.

Day four or five (depending on how well you acclimatize) consists of a 10 km trek to Thangshing (3930 m). The really hard trek begins the day after. Wake up at 2 am and trek 6 km to high-altitude Samiti lake, and then 6-7 hours to Goechala for clear views of Mt Kanchanjunga. This is as far as trekkers are allowed. This is Yak, Snow Leopard and Blue Sheep terrain.

In 1982 the government opened up this area to outside visitors. The early 90’s witnessed mass tourism in the KNP, which led to a host of problems. There was large scale littering in the forest trails coupled with deforestation because trekkers were cutting trees for firewood. In 1996 some concerned locals formed the Kanchanjunga Conservation Committee (KCC) to mitigate the impact of tourism. Since then KCC has formulated conservation strategies for KNP that have helped clean up the place and regulate tourism. For instance, a clean up campaign brought back 350 kg of garbage from inside the national park while workshops for guides and porters impresses upon them the need to keep the park free for the benefit of tourism. Eco-tourism is prominent among KCC’s objectives for a clean KNP. They have formulated a code of conduct called ‘The Eco-Trekker’ that gives pointers on how to be a toxic-free trekker.

Harmony with nature is ingrained in the Buddhism practiced here. The locals believe that every mountain, lake, stream, tree and cave has its own set of presiding deities. One cannot just jump into a lake or cut a tree or climb a peak without offending the deity. Mt. Kanchanjunga is considered to be the guardian deity of Sikkim and if the peak is violated then disaster will befall the state. Which is why climbing expeditions stop a few feet short of the actual peak in deference to local wishes. The bedrock of local belief treats humans as part of nature.

But a lot of tourists, Western and Indian, are either unaware or unwilling to respect local belief. Like the ugly American, the ugly Indian merrily stomps all over local traditions with his/her family in tow. The rich biodiversity has also attracted bio-pirates. Ten years ago KCC apprehended two Russians who were trying to smuggle 30 species of butterflies and numerous other insect and plant species. Numerous other cases of bio-piracy have come to light.

But, this region is also heavily dependent on tourism. Since only limited agriculture is possible and cardamom, the main crop, started declining, tourism is the main income earner. West Sikkim has seen a boom in guides, porters, cooks, hotels, travel agents and other infrastructure that caters to the tourism industry. Pema, General Secretary of KCC says, “ We can’t expect to stop tourism because it is a revenue earner, but we want tourists who respect the local culture and environment.” Chewang, another member of KCC adds, “ We want guides and porters to accompany tourists for their own safety and also so that they can earn money.”

KNP has strict entry guidelines. Foreign tourists have to obtain a Restricted Area Permit from the Sikkim Tourism Department to trek in KNP, which is not required for Indians. However, all tourists have to register with the police outpost in Yuksom and pay an entry fee.

After spending seven beautiful days in KNP it was time for me to return. A couplet by sufi mystic Firdaus, although used in a different but not entirely dissimilar context, comes to mind:
Agar firdaus bar-e-rooh zaminast,
Haminast, O haminast, O haminast

If there is a paradise on Earth,
It is here, it is here, it is here.
How to get there: Nearest railhead: New Jalpaiguri (150 km), nearest airport: Bagdogra (155 km)
Travel Agencies: Mountain Rangers (kcc_sikkim@hotmail.com)
Denzong Adventures (contact Norbu Bhutia, 09733098737)

DD Kosambi’s Contributions 1

Published

on October 17, 2008

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July 2007 – June 2008 was celebrated as the birth centenary of Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi. DD was a multi-disciplinary scholar who made original contributions in the fields of mathematics, statistics, indology, ancient Indian history, Sanskrit literature, numismatics and archeology. Though he was a mathematician by training and profession he is best known for his contributions to Indology.

DD studied history as a product of the socio-economic and cultural influences of times past rather than merely looking at it as a chronological ordering of ‘events’. Although DD used Marxism as his basic historic framework he didn’t follow it blindly, or blandly. His disdain for the ‘official Marxists’ (OM) is well known. According to DD ‘Marxism is not a substitute for thinking but a tool for analysis’. DD’s scathing review of Dange’s (CPI general secretary) ‘painfully disappointing book’, India from Primitive Communism to Slavery, based on ‘facile pseudo Marxism’ shows his rejection of mechanical application of Marxism.

I will highlight a few of DD’s most though provoking contributions.

Indra and Vritra

DD argued that the tools of violence were curiously absent in the prosperous Indus Valley civilization. The weapons were flimsy and nothing like the sword was found. In the absence of police or an army the unequal distribution of surplus was maintained by deploying religion. According to DD the Mohenjodaro citadel was identical in its function to the Mesopotamian ziggurats while the great bath was a sacred bathing tank dedicated to a mother goddess. Consorting with the temple slaves may have been part of a fertility cult. The picture that emerges is of a fixed class of traders worshipping a feminine deity. The monopoly of the ruling class of traders was secured by the deployment of religion.

This static tradition was broken by the coming of the Aryans. The Rig Veda’s chief war-god is Indra who looted the stored treasures of the godless. DD believed that this was a reference to the Indus Valley people who were defeated by the invading Aryans. The Aryans also destroyed their agricultural system which was the basis of their food production which might explain why the cities went into decline soon after the Aryans arrived. The pre-Aryan system of agriculture depended on damming small rivers and flooding their banks so that silt was deposited which could be ploughed. The Rig Veda mentions that Indra freed the rivers from a demon called Vritra. DD interprets the term Vritra as ‘obstacle’ or ‘barrage’. The Rig Veda says that Vritra lay across slopes like a dark snake obstructing the flow of rivers. When he was struck by Indra’s thunderbolt the ground buckled and the stones rolled away, a good description of breaking up dams.

Flooding would have made the land too marshy for the Aryan’s cattle herds thus leading to conflict between the two groups.

Origin of Brahmins?

Related to this early encounter (whether invasion or not) between the Aryans and the Indus Valley people is DD’s hypothesis that Brahmins belonged to the non-Aryan culture and were probably drawn from the priesthood of the Indus Valley people. To support this view DD drew upon the myth of Indra, the most important of the vedic gods who was later replaced by the trinity of Bramha-Vishnu-Maheshwar. DD attributes this to Indra’s appropriation and subsequent debasement by the Brahmin class who, after negotiating entry into the Aryan fold, would have had the galling task of worshiping and performing rituals to the very god who had destroyed their civilization. For instance, the character of Vritra changes over time and in the Mahabharata he appears as a noble king, magnanimous in defeat whereas the cult of Indra and the Vedic gods was ‘lost’.

Further, this explanation would account for the systematic early development of Sanskrit grammar as the product of studying a complicated foreign language. In the same way the development of religious philosophy in India at a very early age supports the hypothesis of violent assimilation as it speaks of an unhappy existence of the priestly class under the war-like ksatriyas.

The Dark Hero

Of the new gods and goddesses DD’s favourite was Krishna, whose mythos he found inconsistent. Krishna was at once a divine and lovable infant, lover of the milkmaids, promiscuous and yet ascetic renunciate, humble charioteer and omniscient god, man of peace and vilest of bullies in killing his uncle Kamsa and beheading Sishupala, fountainhead of fairness and deviousness personified. Krishna’s popularity had to be understood in terms of his having performed a complex set of socio-economic functions.

In the Rig Veda Krishna is mentioned as a demon. In fact the word Krishna means dark and is used as a generic term for the dark skinned natives that the vedic people encountered. Krishna’s rise to prominence begins with the legend where he holds up mount Govardhan to protect the cowherds who failed to perform sacrifices to Indra from his wrath. This could mark the transition from the vedic cult of sacrifice to a pastoral society. Whether Krishna was a single historical figure or a compendium of people from various points in a historical time line amalgamated into a single godlike figure, for DD Krishna performed a number of complex socio-historical roles.

DD observed that in the 4^th century BCE the Greeks who invaded India found that the worship of an Indian demi-god, whom they equated with Herakles, was the main cult in the Punjab. DD concluded that this was Krishna. In Greek legend, Herakles is a machless athlete who is burnt black by exposure to the sun, who had killed the Hydra (a multiple headed snake like Kaliya), and violated or wedded many nymphs (like the Gopikas). Other commentators have noticed more similarities between the two cults: the demon-horse Keshin with Diomedes’ horse and the bull Arishta with Acheolus.

Further, Krishna’s killing of his uncle Kamsa and making love to his wife Kubja is the only instance of an oedipal struggle in the Sanskrit corpus.

Note: Most of the material here is from a series of articles that appeared in EPW commemorating DD’s birth centennial

The Dilemma of a Chain Smoking Gay

Published

on October 3, 2008

in india and politics

. 3 Comments

A nationwide ban on smoking in public places came into effect on October 2. Violators will be fined Rs 200 each. I can already hear the curses aimed at Ambumani Ramadoss. The Health Minister has been personally involved in the campaign to ban smoking since he became, er…the Health Minister.

Conspiracy theorists believe that the move to ban smoking was initiated to curb Rajnikanth, since the party he belongs to has to contend with Rajni mania in Tamil Nadu. Now, as all of you are doubtless aware, nobody smokes better than Rajni. The Stylemannan (king of style) has a wide repertoire of cigarette tricks and twirls. I find it cynical to believe that Ramadoss would have done this just to put style king in his place, especially since he has had to battle the influential tobacco lobby.

But Ramadoss, for all the accusations hurled at him (fascist, regressive, anti-choice) has proved to be liberal in a crucial matter: he wants to abolish article 377. This relic of the Indian Penal Code from Raj days outlaws homosexuality by describing it as against the law of nature.

Now this is the dilemma of a chain-smoking gay (or lesbian). Should they be pissed or pleased with Ramadoss?

The Indo-US Nuclear Deal – Pre-marital Discord?

Published

Karthikeya

on September 16, 2008

in india, politics and technology

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The nuclear deal refuses to go off the news. Just when India thought that two of the three key hurdles – defense of the deal in the Indian Parliament, a clean waiver from NSG, and ratification of the deal by the US congress – had been accomplished, came word about the White house letter to a Congressional committee in Jan 2008, and Bush’s covering letter referring the deal for ratification to the Congress. The Bush letter shows, irrespective of its content, the extent to which the US government has gone to get the deal approved, as did the Indian government on its end. Why such hardsell? because the nuclear deal isnt about nuclear fuel supply etc anyways. Given that nuclear non-proliferation has been the biggest irritant in Indo-US ties since the 1990s, this deal was about removing the roadblock to building a strategic partnership with US. The Indian communists were right in what they say the deal entailed. They were wrong in opposing it. Because it’s time india moved out of shadows of the Cold War and took an interests-based approach to foreign policy rather than an ideology-based one.

Having said that, we cannot ignore the Bush letter’s content altogether. After the letter was revealed, people wondered if India had been naive in expecting the US to honor the 123 agreement’s guarantee of uninterrupted supply of nuclear fuel. Under the cover of “interpretation” of the agreement, was the Bush administration trying to have its cake and eating it too?

Actually, both India and the US have displayed some naivete in estimating the other side in this deal. India thought it could get a clean waiver with no strings attached. The US thought India could both be made an ally and a confirmant to non-proliferation laws through the deal. Neither side has achieved much in terms of these expectations.
Trust has always been a difficult element in Indo-US ties. American critics think India’s self-righteous posturing cannot be effaced by strategic benefits from the US and that therefore, India will remain a pain. Witness India’s duplicitous dealings with Iran despite American protests. American diplomats believe in reciprocity – willing to give as long as there is something being given. Indian skeptics on the other hand, say that reciprocity difficult when the odds are so heavily in the Americans’ favor. They also feel that the US will never shed its one-sided, self-centered way of dealing and will walk away from any deal it feels uncomfortable with. Witness the US’ unilateral withdrawal from the ABM treaty with Russia. In other words, Americans sees Indians as Machiavellis while Indians see Americans as Vito Corleones.These perception defects would have to change if the real aim of the 123 agreement viz. strategic relationship, is to be fulfilled. And that can only happen through relentless dialog at all levels between the India and the US. But whether the relationship triumphs is something that only time can tell.

As one of the architects of India’s strategic doctrine put it to me recently, “We’ll have to wait and watch if the relationship works. The US has never had partners, only allies. And India’s never had neither partners nor allies”. In some ways, this deal is like a marriage between a male chauvinist and a feminist. Let’s hope it lasts.

West Bengal Panchayat Elections

Published

on August 9, 2008

in india and politics

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Elections in West Bengal are politically charged affairs. The recently concluded Panchayati Raj elections were probably more so than usual. The current round of polls, the 7^th since the first local government elections in 1978, is significant because it comes after a string of incidents in West Bengal. In the last three years issues like land acquisition (including the violent agitations in Singur and Nandigram), the PDS scam, outbreak of Bird-flu, the bungled Rizwan-ur-Rehman case, and the bundling out of Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen have rocked the state. Adding to the volatile mix is the state government’s controversial industrialization policy, of which Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is the most fervent cheerleader. This is the first time in the Left Front’s 31-year-rule that so much dissent has been publicly articulated in their bastion of rural Bengal. No wonder a nervous CPI (M), in the run up to the polls, was trying to protect its turf amid bickering with its own coalition partners and a reinvigorated opposition.

The Panchayat polls were held in three phases on May 11, 14 and 18 for the three tier system: Gram Panchayats (GP) being the lowest representing a cluster of villages, Panchayat Samity (PS) covering a block and the apex Zilla Parishad (ZP) at the district level. The Left Front, specifically the CPI (M), suffered a jolt in its bastion of rural Bengal with the opposition winning 4 of the 17 ZPs in West Bengal. The Congress retained the Malda ZP but lost in Murshidabad, its stronghold which went to the Left Front (LF). But it made up for its loss by wresting North Dinajpur from the Left. Meanwhile the Left lost East Midnapore and South 24-Parganas to the Trinamool Congress and retained North 24 Parganas by a thin margin. The tally of the LF decreased from 15 district councils in 2003 to 13 in 2008. The LF performed strongest in a broad swathe across South and central West Bengal and the districts of Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri in the North. The district that the Left lost, East Medinipur, witnessed a violent agitation against land acquisition in Nandigram. The TMC was the biggest gainer this time round as it won 2 ZPs where it had drawn a blank in 2003.

In panchayat samities the Left won 183 against a combined opposition tally of 137, down 30 per cent as compared to its 2003 tally where it won 285 samities. The TMC gained the most by winning 79 samities up from 12 in 2003. There are a total of 8,798 panchayat samities and 41,516 gram panchayat seats.

The results indicate chinks in the Left’s armour, but it would be hasty to jump to the conclusion that it is a rejection of the CPI (M)’s industrialization policy because it has posted big victories in other districts which have also witnessed land-acquisition: In West Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia and Burdhaman the Left has improved its 2003 tally.

To understand why the Panchayat elections are so important it is necessary to understand how the system was introduced and how it functions. West Bengal was the first state to start the exercise of handing over implementation and maintenance of rural projects to elected bodies of local self-government in 1978. Since then elections to three-tier system have been held on a regular basis every five years. The ruling Left Front, a coalition of left parties of which the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is the major partner, has won an overall majority in every election.

The period when Panchayat raj was formally instituted corresponds to the beginning of LF rule in West Bengal. In 1977, when the LF assumed office the CPI (M) had almost no network or cadres in rural West Bengal. Its urban support base was restricted mainly to Kolkata. The party realized that if they had to stay in power they had to expand in the rural hinterlands. They did this by declaring that jotdars (middle and big peasants) were now welcome to join the party since their interests were not opposed to the Party’s. Hitherto the party had sided with the poor and landless peasants. This action resulted in the jotdars deserting the congress en masse and joining the CPI (M) thus changing its character from a party representing the landless and rural poor to one that represented the interests of the rural elite. At the same time it expanded the party’s base by allowing it to sink deep roots in rural West Bengal. In the 1978 and 1983 elections only 7 per cent and 8 per cent of elected representatives were landless peasants while 93 per cent were from landowning classes.

The process of land reforms initiated by the LF government, known as Operation Barga, further consolidated their hold over rural areas. However, the two processes were not taken to their logical conclusions. Says Debabrata Bandopadhyay, former land reform commissioner of West Bengal, “Operation Barga registered the names of around 15 lakh bargadars, but did not grant them ownership rights over the land. Similarly, the LF government has not devolved any significant power to the panchayats.” In fact, far from empowering villagers at the local level the panchayati raj system has become a “wide nexus of corruption” according to Manoj Bhattacharya former MP and spokesperson of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) an LF constituent. “If people oppose the ruling party then they are deprived of the amenities provided by the panchayat system and threatened,” he adds.

This was illustrated by a visit to Kemia-Khamarpara panchayat on the outskirts of Kolkata in North 24 Parganas district. These are the rural areas adjoining the up-market Rajarhat and Salt lake localities. The urban-rural divide is stark indeed. Driving through Kolkata’s commercial district of Salt Lake is a revelation. Many of the gleaming steel and glass buildings housing IT majors wouldn’t look out of place in Mumbai or Bangalore. The rural hinterland of Kemia-Khamarpara is clearly changing. A board in front of a field announces that this is the site for ‘La Martiniere School for Boys’. Another sign points the way to a ‘vedic retreat’. Manas Ghosh, president of the local Trinamool Congress (TMC) unit is predicting a rout for the CPI (M) because people are fed up with corruption and cronyism by panchayats led by the party. A case in point is the Union Government’s NREGA scheme which guarantees a minimum of 100 days of work per person in rural areas. Since the job cards are issued by the panchayats the party has entered their men’s names in the rolls. “These people do not work, but get paid anyway while the deserving ones go jobless,” says Ghosh. There are also allegations that CPI (M) cadre are intimidating opposition candidates into not filing their nominations.

The fact that the CPI (M) has a vice like grip in rural West Bengal was driven home during the Nandigram uprising in 2007. Nandigram was a solid red bastion till plans for taking over farmland for a chemical hub was announced. Overnight party workers, disgusted with the party attempting to shortchange them, switched allegiance to the BUPC. “One important lesson of the 11 month struggle was the absolute need for unity to defeat the CPI (M),” declares Arjun Sengupta, a government employee and Assistant Secretary of the non-party West Bengal Government Employees Union (WBGEU). One factor that has benefited the LF hitherto was the feeble resistance put up by a disunited and fractious opposition. Post-Nandigram, there seems to be a realization for some kind of united front. Thus an alliance was forged between the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) and the TMC. This unlikely pairing of a “left” and “right” party seems strange till you realize the symbiotic nature of the alliance: the TMC contributes the numbers (it is the only opposition party that has some kind of mass base) and the SUCI contributes the intellectual capital. There is a possibility of many more such informal understandings at the lower levels among parties to defeat LF candidates. Further, even LF front partners may be working to undermine each other and big brother CPI (M). A report in the Statesman on May 20 quotes Left Front Chairman Biman Bose saying that “the LF partners’ incapacity to evaluate their organisational strength has posed a problem in unifying the Left”. The report also quotes him saying that “several thousand candidates of some of the LF partners are contesting against the nominees of other partners. At some seats the LF partners have been contesting on the basis of an understanding with other forces”.

Pravas Ghosh, Secretary of the WB unit of SUCI, explained the alliance in terms of putting up a common front to “break the nexus of vote-bank politics controlled by the rural gentry and mafia that the panchayats have turned into.” The SUCI is contesting 1,775 gram panchyat, 427 panchayat samity and 63 zilla parishad seats throughout WB.

On the other hand is ‘Babu Sheik’ of Chanduli village in Bardhaman district. Babu was with the CPI (M) and a member of the party’s village committee. The village committee has the final word on implementation of local projects by the panchayat. Babu was aghast with the rampant corruption regarding the distribution of rations at the fair price shop. “Rice and wheat meant for above poverty line (APL) and below poverty line villagers was diverted to the open market where it was sold at a profit,” he says. When he protested he was suspended and implicated in a number of false cases in the local police station. He then joined the CPI, an LF constituent, but is working to split the left vote to defeat the CPI (M) candidate.

The PDS scam hit the headlines in late 2007. The basic issue is that fair price shops, through which essential commodities like rice, wheat and kerosene are distributed has been misused by the ruling party. Essential supplies are sold in the open market while the BPL people do not receive their share. Villagers in Bankura, Birbhum and Bardhaman took matters in their own hands and demanded their rightful share outside ration shops and in many instances beat up the dealers and burnt the shops. Many of the dealers were connected to the ruling party. This surge of rural anger came right on the heels of the Nandigram violence.

The political space vacated by the CPI (M) is being filled by other political parties. For instance, CPI (ML) Liberation is trying to represent the rural poor, a constituency that was once the calling card of the CPI (M). CPI (ML) Liberation is one of the splinters of the CPI (ML) party formed after the exodus of an extreme-left faction of the CPI (M) in 1967 after the Naxalbari uprising. I traveled to Mahipalpur village in Hooghly district to see how CPI (ML) Liberation was planning to contest the polls. Hoogly, incidentally, is where Singur – which witnessed a violent agitation against land acquisition for Tata’s Nano car factory – is located.

CPI (ML) liberation is contesting in 2000 odd GP seats throughout WB. The party is positioning itself as the guardian of the rights of the landless peasants, or so claims Shankar Baul Das, who is contesting on a party ticket for the 28 Bolagarh ZP seat. Some of the demands on which he is canvassing include raising the number of work days under NREGA from the current minimum of 100 to 200 and raising the minimum wage to Rs 100 per day. The party has found some traction here after a near revolt of agricultural labourers after the CPI (M) dominated panchayat reneged on wages owed to them. Then there is the issue of Singur. The issue of land acquisition will play some part in determining the fortunes of candidates who contest on various party tickets though it is difficult to predict its exact impact on the final outcome. Land acquisition is also contentious because of the sheer number of people who depend on agriculture in WB. According to a Liberation activist, there is a lot of disguised unemployment in agriculture in the state because productivity has peaked due to the intensive use of machinery and pesticides. This has led to a lot of out-migration of agricultural and other labour from West Bengal. So is industrialization the solution, I ask him? “How can fertile farmland be handed over to industry even as food prices are rising. In any case, instead of inviting new industry how about reviving all the sick industrial units in the state,” he retorts.

The wider debate about industrialization is West Bengal has been sidelined by political nitpicking. But the fact remains that the CPI (M) remains as committed as ever to it. On May 1 I was on a bus traveling to North Bengal when I saw something interesting. It was an advertisement issued by the government in the English-language newspapers commemorating May Day. But instead of the traditional hammer and sickle, the sickle had morphed into an industrial style cog-wheel with serrated edges and the hammer had also acquired industrial appendages!

North Bengal is known for its tea estates. Darjeeling tea is famous worldwide. A lower grade of tea is grown in neighbouring Jalpaiguri district, known as Dooars chai. The problems affecting agriculture in North Bengal are well documented, but officially unrecognized. Jalpaiguri – which lies at the confluence of Northeastern India, Sikkim, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Bihar and Nepal – is home to a variety of people. There are 131 tea gardens in Jalpaiguri employing 2.5 lakh workers, mainly adivasis from Jharkhand and Nepalis. The town of Banerhat near the Bhutan border lies close to a cluster of tea gardens. I visited some of them with Victor Basu who is trying to organize the labour there. As I rode with him I noticed graffiti scribbled on the tea garden fences: We demand the immediate creation of Gorkhaland. The old agitation for Gorkhaland had flared up again under a new leadership. The Indian-Nepalese concentrated in Darjeeling want their own state to be carved out of the hill areas of WB. There is a substantial population of Indians of Nepali descent here and there is talk of including certain blocks of Jalpaiguri in the proposed new state.

Earlier in the day I was talking about the role of panchayats with Sarita Pradhan, a labourer from Kathalguri tea garden, in the office of Dooars Jagran, the organisation the Victor runs. Kathalguri shut down in 2002 when the owner ‘abandoned’ it and left the workers to their fate. Since then Dooars Jagran has recorded 525 starvation deaths in Kathalguri alone and another 300 in Ramjhoda. Victor estimates the total number of deaths in Jalpaiguri’s closed tea gardens at between 900-1000. Of course, the statistics and cause of death are disputed by the government.

Panchayati raj was introduced in the tea gardens only in 1997. There is a lot less awareness about the role of panchayats. Sarita didn’t show any enthusiasm to vote because no benefits have accrued from local self-government. A ‘people’s manifesto’ is being prepared by Dooars Jagran in association with the West Bengal Education Network (WBEN), a statewide coalition of activists, NGO’s and self-help groups. The manifesto contains 12 demands to be presented to the candidates in the polls when they come canvassing for votes in the tea gardens. Among them: implementation of NREGA, social audit of public finances and provision of proper education facilities.

At Diana tea garden Vijay Singh, a temporary worker at Diana points out that the integrated child development scheme which is implemented by the panchayat is not functioning properly because the ICDS centre has no building. The scheme is meant for taking care of the children of working women. But when it rains, which is quite often, the children have to remain at home. “The government declared the formation of gram unnayan samities in every panchayat in 2004 to ensure greater participation to solve just these issues, but it has not been vary effective,” says Vijay. The Sampoorna Grameen Rojgar Yojna, another Central scheme to be implemented by the panchayats, has not functioned effectively here. Under SGRY Rs 62 has to be given out per worker per day which includes a minimum of 5 kg of rice at a rate of Rs 6/kg. Party controlled panchayats have given less and pocketed the difference.

The final halt on my way back to Kolkata was at Malda. This district is one of the more backward ones and has a host of rural problems: trafficking of women, rural poverty, etc. But what I found was even worse. From Malda I headed to Bangitola GP, which lies in Kaliachak 2 block, bordering the Ganga. There is a huge problem of soil erosion in the villages bordering the Ganga. For the past 50 years around 40,000 families in Malda have lost their land due to soil erosion. The problem began with the construction of the Farraka barrage further downstream, near the border with Bangladesh. The barrage destroyed the natural flow of the Ganga which started overflowing its banks upstream.

I was sitting in the office of the Ganga Bhangan Pratirodh Action Nagric Committee (Ganga PAN). Ironically, their office had to be relocated here from Panchanandpur three years ago because that village went underwater! Some of the members of the organization had lost their homes and fields 6-7 times. Khitir Bux, an office bearer of Ganga PAN committee says, “We estimate the number of displaced people here at 2 lakhs”. People who cannot afford to buy new land simply move into shantytowns or migrate. Malda has one of the highest out migration rates in West Bengal. With poverty and migration come the inevitable trafficking of people, which includes women and children. There are a lot of women from these areas who are promised jobs and marriage outside the state by touts, but instead end up in bars and brothels. In fact, studies by NGOs have shown that a disproportionate number of women working in the ‘dance’ bars and brothels in Mumbai are from West Bengal. “Every day around 350-400 people leave Malda,” says Ruhul Amin a resident of Bangitola.

The results of the panchayat polls may not necessarily reflect the turbulence in West Bengal’s politics. That there has been a dent in the Left’s support and the opposition has gained is undeniable, but overall, the Left still has a majority, though not as commanding as in the past. One question that will confront the Left and which will have to be resolved is how to continue the industrialization project in a manner that does not alienate the population at large.

Note: A shorter version of this article appeared in Himal Magazine in July.

Third sex gets official status in Tamil Nadu

Published

on March 16, 2008

in india, media and politics

. 2 Comments

Continuing with the theme of alternative sexualities…today’s front page lead story in the Bombay edition of the Sunday Times of India is interesting, to say the least.

Transgendered people in Tamil Nadu can now mark their sex as T in official documents instead of M and F. This is a real step forward in recognising the fact that there are people who define themselves outside the sexual binaries of ‘male’ and ‘female’.

Follow this link for the story, though I am afraid the full story is in the print edition.
Now, how long will it take for the next barrier to be breached? I am talking about article 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalises homosexuality. When will this relic from the raj era be struck down?

A Month in an ‘Alternative’ World

Published

on March 15, 2008

in india

. 3 Comments

When I entered the living room, Krishnendu was in his usual place, sitting on the sofa with his face glued to his laptop and a cigarette clutched tight between his fingers. The circular turtle-backed ashtray on the coffee table in front of him was full of burnt out stubs. I mumbled a half-hearted hello. Krishnendu didn’t respond. He never did, at least not in the usual ways. He was glued to the screen, with a manic expression on his face. He was chatting online, one of his passions, and occasionally a hint of a smile would cross his face.

I had grown used to Khrishnendu’s moody ways over the course of the month that I stayed with them. Actually, he was my friend’s flat-mate. I was new to the city and was staying with them till I got my own accommodation. Krishnendu and Anand (my friend) worked in an NGO that worked among HIV affected groups. It was a community outreach NGO: by the community, of the community and for the community of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people or LGBT. One of the stipulations of the NGO was that HIV positive people would constitute a certain percentage of its employees. Another was that it employed only gays.

The flat was a ten minute walk from their workplace and Anand had assured me that I could stay with them till I found my feet. It was a large, spacious house with two bedrooms, one for Krish and one for Anand. A young Nepali cook prepared the meals and flirted with the kirana girl downstairs when he went out on the pretext of grocery shopping every evening.

It was a good life and I slowly discovered the world of my flat mates. I used to be out on work all day and return late in the night exhausted, only to find my two mates along with office colleagues and assorted friends gathered around the mahogany coffee table in the living room. Anand would be in a ‘compromising’ position with ‘Indu’ (Indus actually) swigging cans of beer and making risque comments. “Arre, andar aati kya kothi,” he would hoot to cheers. “Abhi nahi re panthi, baad mein chalti hoon main,” they would reply (Kothi and panthi are terms used among MSMs to refer to the active and passive partners during sexual intercourse. The term kothi is an amalgamation of two words according to urban legend: kothi [Telugu for monkey] and kut [Persian for ass]. The first denotes friskiness or playfulness). Krish would be blowing out immaculate smoke rings clad in a white towel. The moment I entered all the men would wolf whistle and pass faux comments. Often Krish winked at me and indicated the bedroom. Sometimes they openly hinted that I should have sex with one of them. A deadpan expression or a lame joke was the only way out. But to be honest, I secretly enjoyed watching them interact, not least because their ‘world’ was a completely new experience for me, one that I hadn’t even imagined existed, let alone experienced.

It was uncomfortable being around Krish. He was not the most expressive person at the best of times. Silent, brooding, intense. Everyone walked on tiptoes around him. I knew that Krish valued his privacy and resented sharing his space with strangers. And though I shared a flat with him, I did not know anything about him apart from the bare bones: He was gay, he worked with MSMs (men who have sex with men) and he had AIDS.

Krish had contracted HIV seven years ago from one of his partners and it had developed into fullblown AIDS. The prevalence of AIDS is high among MSMs (almost three times the rate among lesbians). Though there is no known cure for AIDS yet, with proper care a patient can live for upto 10 years. Krish could have, if he took proper care of himself. He didn’t. He abused his body like there was no tomorrow. Apart from his chain smoking and binge drinking he never wore a shirt inside the flat, increasing his chances of contracting a chest infection. He never had his meals on time and when he did he nibbled at his food. He was oblivious to everyone’s pleadings that he look after himself.

I had never before known a person who was even HIV positive and now I was sharing a flat with someone whom the doctor had given a year to live. Since we lived in the same house there were a lot of things of daily use that Krish and I shared; utensils, mugs and buckets, books and newspapers. I knew, at some abstract level, that AIDS is not transmitted through the sharing of household items. And yet a lot of people would never live with a person who had AIDS, much less drink coffee from the same mug or sit on the same commode. And yet, at no point did I feel I was in a dangerous situation. I was gaining an insight into alternative sexuality; the passion, politics, stoicism and, dare I say it, the suffering. It is an issue that is shoved under the carpet in India.

Krish was reserved with me. We didn’t converse more than what was absolutely necessary: maybe a word about the house keys or coordinating timings so that none of us would be locked out. Hi’s and bye’s were redundant in his scheme of things. Krish often got friends home – office colleagues, bosses, but mostly random people he befriended in the neighbourhood. You see, where we stayed was one of the hipper addresses in town. It was also a place where LGBT’s congregated because of the work being done by the NGO.

Most of the ‘boys’ Krish brought home were of the same orientation as him. They would bring food and booze, get drunk and crack jokes. Anand once explained to me that since Krish was HIV + no one wanted to fuck with him. In fact, one of the main problems that MSM’s (men who have sex with men) with AIDS face is the lack of sexual partners. Out of sheer desperation he was forced to befriend random men on the street and have sex with them. It was strange watching Krish in such situations. He would invariably be drunk and pleading with whichever partner he was with at the moment. Once they found out he was desperate they would turn the screws on him. Blackmail him for petty things, money, expensive gifts. Krish would acquiesce, because he didn’t have much more time left.

I’ve often wondered what a person living out a death sentence might experience knowing that you have to die someday but not knowing the exact moment when your body would kick in. Krish was indifferent to life, as if daring it to do the worst it could. He was beyond caring about the ordinary things in life, things that you and I might live for: like a walk in the woods or a drench in the rain.

I once contracted hepatitis and was bedridden for 4 months. Hepatitis is a boring disease because you can’t move as it makes you feel tired and your diet is restricted because of a bad liver. There were times when I felt utter hopelessness. At such moments life seemed bleak indeed, like a dark wall with no future. Impotent rage, born of utter despair, would make me flail out at anything and anybody. But I survived.

Krishnendu conducted himself much better than I did when I was temporarily down. I never saw temper tantrums or emotional outbursts. He never did a self-pity routine either. He just stoically went about life, or what remained of it. Maybe he had withdrawn from the social trappings that oil our daily transactions and keep relations between humans smooth. Maybe he didn’t feel it was necessary to indulge them.

I never asked him how he felt. He didn’t encourage it and I couldn’t nerve myself to ask, however tentatively. Truth be told, his sullen ways were intimidating and he made no effort to dispel the pall of sternness that hung around him. So I continued to observe him while he continued to ignore me. We barely acknowledged each other. For all we were concerned, though we lived in the same flat, we might have been on different planes of existence altogether. Anand once told me that Krish had a ‘crush’ on me. Was I flattered? Maybe.

I didn’t feel sorry for Krishnendu or pity his condition.

Its been over a year since I moved to Bombay and last met Krish. Anand was in town recently with some disturbing news. Krish was terminally ill. He was on his deathbed, barely able to move. It was a question of a few days, at most. His family had signed a bond to the effect that they were washing their hands off him and in the event of his death his NGO should conduct his last rites according to Hindu traditions. They would have nothing more to do with him.

As in life, so in death.

Note: All names have been changed

Thoughts on the Gleevec Controversy

Published

on March 14, 2008

in india and technology

. 5 Comments

We have borne in mind the object which the Amending Act wanted to achieve, namely…to provide easy access to the citizens of this country to live saving drugs and to discharge their constitutional obligation of providing good health care to its citizens.

With these words a Division Bench of the Madras High Court dismissed the petitions filed by multinational drug company Novartis against a key provision of the Indian Patents Act, 1970. The provision in question, called section 3(d) seeks to promote public access to affordable drugs by restricting the granting of frivolous patents on medicines.

Before I dive into the fascinating story of the politics behind public health let me briefly give a backgrounder to the ‘Gleevec issue’.

Gleevec is a drug used to treat a form of cancer called chronic myeloid leukemia. The drug was invented by the Swiss multinational drug company Novartis which has a patent for it. However, the Indian Patents Act of 1970 has provisions that grant ‘process patents’ and not ‘product patents’ (I shall explain the legalese later in this text). What this basically means is that companies could only obtain a patent for the process of manufacture and not on the final product itself. This enabled Indian pharmaceutical companies to reverse engineer the final products and discover new processes to manufacture them, thus giving rise to the generic industry. What this meant in practical terms is that India – thanks to domestic pharma companies that made generic versions of many of the multinational companies’ drugs – went from a net importer of drugs to a net exporter. By the same token, drugs which were overall expensive post-independence became cheap by the 1980s. In fact, global NGO’s working in the field of public health procure affordable drugs from India to use them in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

However, as a member of the WTO and a co-signatory of the TRIPS agreement India had to bring her domestic laws in compliance with international laws. It is in this context that the Gleevec controversy has to be examined.

It is an indictment of our media and society that important issues are given short shrift in favour of fluff and floss. The gleevec issue barely got a passing mention in the mainstream media.

And now we dive headlong into the chemical sludge…

In May 2006 Novartis AG and its Indian subsidiary, Novartis India (henceforth Novartis) filed a bunch of writ petitions before the Madras High Court claiming that section 3(d) of the Indian Patents Act was contrary to the requirements of the TRIPS agreement and article 14 of the Indian constitution as it is vague and ambiguous. But what is section 3(d) about?

In a nutshell, 3(d) aims to prevent the practice called ‘evergreening’ by which drug companies seek to extend monopoly on their drugs by patenting minor variations of that chemical entity. Suppose a drug company has a patent on a chemical entity that is about to expire. What they will do is tweak the drug slightly and patent the new product(s). This guarantees that generics cannot be manufactured and that the patent is extended by another 20 years.

Section 3(d) was introduced into the 1970 Patents Act (the bedrock of Indian patents law and a progressive piece of legislation) via the Patents Amendment Act of 2005. This was done to meet India’s WTO obligations to grant product patents. Now, the 1970s Act granted only ‘process patents’ to agricultural and pharmaceutical products. Only the manufacturing process could be patented for 7 years and not the end product.

India’s WTO obligations meant that product patents would have to be granted. Since India signed the WTO agreement in 1995 she was given 10 years to bring her domestic laws in compliance with WTO requirements. But the TRIPS agreement also permits certain flexibilities. It was in this backdrop that section 3(d) was woven into the Patents Act via the amendment.

What 3(d) says is : The mere discovery of a known substance which does not result in the enhancement of the known efficacy of the substance would not be considered an invention under the act.

Translation: salts, esters, ethers, polymers, metabolites, pure form, particle size, isomers, mixtures of isomers, complexes, combinations and other derivatives shall be considered to be the same substance unless they differ significantly in properties with regard to efficacy (emphasis mine).

There are other safeguards provided in the 2005 Amendment, but I will not get into these now.

Gleevec is the crystalline form of the Mesylate form of Imatinib, a molecule discovered in 1992. It was a revolutionary breakthrough in anti-leukemia treatment. In 2002 Novartis started marketing Gleevec in India and also applied for an EMR. At the same time Indian companies were selling generic versions of Gleevec for a tenth the price Novartis was charging. Consider these figures: Novartis charged Rs 1,20,000 per patient per month while Indian companies were charging between Rs 8,000 to 12,000.

Novartis was granted an EMR on the basis of its patent for Gleevec in Australia. Based on this Novartis dragged some Indian pharma companies to court for selling Gleevec generics. The Madras HC restrained 7 companies. This impacted the procurement of low cost alternatives of Gleevec for cancer patients in India and around the world. In India alone 25,000 people are diagnosed with CML every year.

Several organizations opposed the granting of EMR for Gleevec as a result of which the Chennai patent office denied a patent on Gleevec to Novartis. In May 2006 Novartis filed a petition in the Chennai High Court against the patent office’s decision on the grounds that

• This was not TRIPS compliant
• It violated the equality provision of the constitution
• The terms ‘efficacious’ as used in 3(d) is vague and ambiguous. What does it mean and who defines it. How much more efficacious should a new entity be?

On August 6, 2007 the Chennai High Court dismissed Novartis’ petitions on all counts. The judgement stated that an Indian court wasn’t the proper forum to arbitrate on whether domestic law was in compliance with TRIPS.

Hold the victory celebrations. There are some questions to consider. How does the ‘Gleevec issue’ impact public health and access to cheap and affordable medicines? It is disturbing that not only does India not have a publicly funded universal healthcare system, but also spends less than 1 percent of GDP on health. And in a time of general retreat by the state from essential public services can we afford a ‘let the markets decide’ logic prevail in the health care sector, particularly in a country like India where 25 percent of the population lives below the poverty line?

Paradoxically, medical tourism is the latest buzzword for ‘India shining’. Tourists from abroad come to India to avail of world-class medical facilities in private hospitals at an ‘affordable price’ which is nevertheless out of reach for the average Indian. And poor Indians go to rundown government hospitals where they contract additional diseases by the time they finish filling out forms in triplicate.

Moreover, how do we negotiate the complex regime of intellectual property rights and the legal shields meant to enforce them while at the same time providing a modicum of succor to the people whom it excludes? At the same time evolving a system of intellectual property rights that protects indigenous as well as locally developed knowledge from bio-piracy.

Note: I want to thank Julie George at the Lawyers Collective for her time and excellent paper ‘How the Patent Regime endangers people’s access to medicines’ for insights as also Chan Parks’ cover story in the LC newsletter. Most of the material here is borrowed from these sources.

The Scarlette Saga

Published

Anil

on March 13, 2008

in india and politics

. 2 Comments

The case of Scarlette Keeling’s death in Goa is taking on epic proportions with accusations of cover-up and corruption leveled against the Goan police by Scarlette’s mother while the police seemingly shift from one position to another. First they said it was a case of death by drowning due to drug use in spite of the first autopsy detailing multiple signs of abuse on the girl’s body. After the second autopsy they changed the cause of death to rape and murder and then again flipped by falling back to their original position that it was actually death by drowning all along. Then they started claiming it was the fault of the girl’s mother to leave her alone in Goa while the former traveled elsewhere in India. And now, suddenly, the Goan police state that they have cracked the case with one of the prime suspects confessing to the rape and murder.

It is understandable why Fiona Mackeown, Scarlett’s mother, has no trust in the Goan police and wants a CBI probe. She alleges that the Goan police are in a criminal nexus with drug dealers and since the latter according to many reports are involved in the death of Scarlette she further claims that the police want to cover up the murder to protect the drug dealers. Another theory doing the rounds is that the Goan police wanted to hush up the murder as they did not want to damage Goa’s reputation as a prime tourist destination especially among Britons who comprise 60% of the foreigners visiting Goa.

Whichever way the case may finally turn what is undeniable is that it has completely tarnished the image of Goa and its police. In their bungled attempts to hush up the murder the Goan police have created a sordid news story that is going around the world. End result: Goa’s reputation as a ’safe’ tourist paradise is under threat. Going wider it also threatens to silence the buzz generated by the ‘Incredible India’ tourist campaign. It is only recently that tourism in India has been growing at a strong pace increasing employment and injecting much needed money into the local economies. This case will only add to India’s unfortunate reputation that the rule of law exists only in name in India leading to tourists feeing unsafe and unprotected. One potential method to correct this would be for the Indian government to develop a special section among the police (that is accountable and transparent) to deal with crimes committed against tourists.

Unless the Goan police and the state government act quickly and take steps to restore confidence by punishing those police personnel involved in the cover up (the suspension of the one of the inspectors involved in the alleged cover up is a good first step) and pursue the criminals involved it is safe to speculate that tourist arrivals into Goa will take a hit. And underneath all the allegations and cover ups let us not forget the tragedy of a 15 year old girl who got involved with drugs and was killed while on holiday. While Fiona Mackeown might indeed have been irresponsible to leave her young daughter in the care of a tourist guide the least the Goan police can now do is to ensure that swift justice is delivered to her and her grieving family.

Check out PADMA online…

Published

on March 6, 2008

in india, media and technology

. 2 Comments

…she’s beautiful.

Yes folks, the Public Access Digital Media Archive went live on March 1, 2008. Just type pad.ma in your address bar and the browser quickly navigates you to the site. The first time I tried it was the day it went live from office. The site didn’t appear, but a message did: “if you are using internnet explorer you have bigger problems that not being able to access this site” I laughed out aloud and turned some bewildered heads in the cubicles next to mine. Then I downloaded Mozilla and deleted the evil Microsoft thing from my hard disk.

PAD.MA is premised on the concept that that the image (here I include still and moving) should be free: freely available, free to download modify and distribute. The trigger for the PAD.MA was when some Bombay based film makers realised that a lot of the footage that they shot would get left out in the editing process, footage that could be of potential use to some one else, even if they themselves saw no value in it. Backed by a belief that this footage should be brought out of the cold storage and made freely available to the general public for non commercial use, five organisations teemed up and PAD.MA was born.

The initiators of PAD.MA are Chitrkarkhana/CAMP, Majlis , Point of View, Alternative Law Forum and Berlin based oil 21

As Lawrence Liang, a member of Bangalore based Alternative Law Forum, one of the moving forces behind PAD.MA put it, “Every year 9 billion hours of footage is shot. This translates to around 24 million hours of footage shot each day”. This includes all kinds of footage like film, video, commercials, you tube variety and so on. This footage forms a crucial documentation of our times. In a sense it captures the zeitgeist of our age: why certain projects were documented and not others; why those were shot in a particular way at particular times and angles; who made the decision to shoot them in a particular way and then omit certain images at the editing table and permit others through to be viewed by the consumer and so on.

When a film maker makes a decision to weave together a coherent narrative out of disparate images it is based on the premise that those images form a logical sequence that leads the consumer of that narrative through a visual journey from point A to B. Crucial to this decision is the choice exercised by the film maker to leave out other visuals in their possession because it doesn’t fit into this narrative. What a pity it would be if these poor neglected images never saw the light of day. For, in their own way, they are just as important as the lucky few visuals that made the film, or the documentary. They were just as adept at capturing the sights and sounds, the smells and textures and the colours and vibrancy of the world unfolding in front of their lenses.

Currently, around 100 hours of footage are available at PAD.MA. These are mainly events in Bombay and Bangalore that document political protests, changing cityscapes, discussions, interviews, dialogues and dissent. The footage is available with text annotations by the contributors in the form of commentary, notes and so on. Downloaded material can be layered with more annotations on top of this first layer. The material on PADMA has been licenced under the PAD.MA General Licence or PGL. Members can avail of all rights granted under PGL which includes the right to download, distribute, make changes, and incorporate into their own work. However, this can only be done under the resolution under which the video has been made available.

At its best, PAD.MA lets members download, distill and recontextualise the available material in new ways that expand our understanding of the image beyond the known tropes of the documentary, news report or feature.

For more updates on PAD.MA tune in right here.

Private Treaties for Public Consumption

Published

on February 29, 2008

in india and media

. 0 Comments

The Times of India is the largest selling English broadsheet in the world with a circulation of 2.4 million. This makes the holding company, Bennet Coleman & Co. Ltd. the richest media empire in India. However, this is not just due of the reputation of its media assets.

The Times of India has had the distinction of being considered the newspaper of record in India since it was founded in 1838. Many distinguished journalists in India served in the editorial ranks of ToI. In fact, as the saying goes, ‘if you haven’t done time with the old lady of Boribunder you haven’t done anything’. That was till the 1980’s, the last of the glory days of Indian journalism. Since then ToI has morphed transformer-like from an autobot into the journalistic version of a decepticon.

ToI’s entire approach to journalism started changing from the late 80’s onwards. It is a cardinal principle in journalism that news and advertising should be kept apart. Publications like NYT and WSJ in fact go a step further and separate fact and opinion. It is well known that the WSJ has separate management structures for its edit and city reporting pages, who cannot stand each other. Indian newspapers followed the principle of keeping news and advertising separate till B, C&C ltd changed the media scape in India.

This they did by blurring the distinction between editorial content and advertising, giving short shrift to serious stories, focusing more on celebrities and page 3 and tremendous brand building exercises. Now, the latest step in that direction is through ‘Private Treaties’.

Simply put, Private Treaties are agreements between B,C&C and corporates where the former picks up equity in a company in return for advertising rates at concessional rates to free and positive coverage in B, C&C’s many media outlets. Although Private Treaties has been in existence since 2004 it attracted some media coverage only recently.

Its not as if newspapers and magazines have not carried advertorials before. But these are clearly marked as paid for with a disclaimer that the newspaper does not endorse the views therein. However, that distinction doesn’t exist in private treaties. As the website puts it, “As a treaty partner, your company can also avail of a bouquet of professional expertise within the Private Treaties Department. Our three pronged solution encompasses: Advertising Support, Branding Support, Corporate image development.”

Advertising, branding, corporate image development: the life-blood of any mid-size company dreaming of joining the big league. And what better way of doing it than positive coverage in the world’s largest selling English broadsheet and India’s largest selling economic daily (Economic Times). But what about larger questions of journalistic ethics? Suppose a reporter pursues a negative story about a comapany with is B,C&C’s partner, would s/he feel obliged to go soft, assuming the editor does not kill the story. Or, suppose a reporter goes on a junket paid for by a company, will s/he be obliged to write positively about the company or its products.

In late 2007 the editor of The Economic Times sent a mail to his colleagues stating that a senior editorial person would interface with Private Treaties clients at different centres of the paper. What this means in practical terms is that news about clients should not end up looking like a press release on the page, but should mesh with general news reports.

One of the assumptions on the part of the reader is that newspaper content that in not marked ‘advertorial’ is fair, balanced and unbiased. However, the existence of Private Treaties might well compel news reports that are essentially PR masked as news. Compare this with the fact that ToI rarely ever gives any negative coverage of anything or anybody. The philosophy behind this is a psychological reasoning that negative news on a particular page puts the reader off and hence there is a greater chance that advertisements on that page will go unnoticed.

There are about 100 plus companies that B,C&C has signed Private Treaties with in the last four years. Which means that in addition to providing ‘branding and advertising’ support, no negative news story about these companies will be published in any of B,C&C’s numerous media outlets. Also, positive news stories about their rivals will not be published. And its not as if its hidden from public view. The Private Treaties website gives out the ‘investment philosophy’ as well as the clients portfolio. The companies are mostly mid-size unlisted entities dreaming of breaking into the big league, but which may lack the revenue or marketing and media savvy to promote themselves. What B,C&C does is pick up a 5-10 % equity in these companies in return for ad rates well below the market rates and positive news coverage. Its a double whammy because there is no long term capital gains tax while ad revenue is taxed. It is estimated here that profits from Private Treaties have earned B, C&C Rs 500 crores, in addition to the Rs 1,200 crores reported for 2006-07.

In fact, the model has proves so successful that other media companies have started their own Private Treaties units. Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar and HT Media Ltd, publishers of Hindustan Times, are ready to replicate B, C&C’s business model. And in a bow to print, television companies are also getting into the act. TV 18, the holding company of CNBC, CNBC Awaaz, CNN/IBN and IBN 7 has followed suit as has NDTV, Though they claim there will be a tight wall separating ads from editorial and that there will be no conflict of interest. That remains to be seen.

So where does this leave the reader? Out in the cold, unfortunately. Because there is no way of telling which news content was paid for and which is not. According to market rumour, you could pay your way into Bombay times (the daily city supplement of the ToI). Paid for content would contain a small m inscribed inside a circle somewhere on the outer fringes of the photo or news article. This was a sign that the item was sourced through Medianet, an in-house Bennet Coleman company that sourced paid news items. But after criticism they dropped even this residual attempt at warning readers. And frankly, how many readers would take the trouble of searching the net for information on Private Treaties, assuming they even know that such a thing exists.

As journalism goes it sucks, as a business model it is an overwhelming success.