EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
DELHI THE HINDU
WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 201910EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
CMYK
A ND-NDE
EDITORIAL
Faizan Mustafa
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), once con
sidered to be just a party of uppercaste Hindus, is beginning to expand its social base. And a partythat has consistently criticised theIndian National Congress for its socalled appeasement policies including subquotas for minoritieswithin Other Backward Classes(OBC) and reservation for OBCMuslims is no longer hesitant inextending reservation to newercastes.
In keeping with this line, onehas seen it introduce reservationfor politically dominant castessuch as the Gujjars in Rajasthan,Patidars in Gujarat and the Marathas in Maharashtra. The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has included 17 OBC castes in theScheduled Castes list. Even thejudiciary that has so far been quiteconcerned about the ‘merit’, ‘effi��ciency in administration’ and interests of ‘general candidates’, hassent out mixed signals on invokingthe strict scrutiny test in examining the constitutionality of a reser
vation policy. The Supreme Courthas refused to stay the Central government’s decision to grant 10%quota in jobs and education to theeconomicallyweaker sections andthe Bombay High Court has nowupheld reservation for the Maratha community.
Infl��uential reachAnyone familiar with Maharashtrawill know that the Maratha community is an infl��uential and politically dominant caste which hasnot faced any systematic social discrimination or exclusion. Most ofthe State’s Chief Ministers havebeen Marathas. While the MandalCommission identifi��ed Marathasto be a ‘forward’ community, twoState Backward Class Commissions, namely the Khatri Commission (1995) and Bapat Commission(2008), recommended not to include them within the OBC category. After the High Court had stayedthe 16% reservation made on thebasis of the recommendations ofnonstatutory Narayan Rane Commission (2015), the matter was referred to the M.G. Gaikwad Commission in 2017, which submittedits report in 2018. The Bill waspassed and brought into force inless than two weeks.
The Mandal Commission had 11yardsticks to determine backwardness. On certain parameters, theGaikwad Commission did gobeyond Mandal; some of the yard
sticks it adopted were controversial. For example, the Commissionnoted that of the total farmer suicides of 13,368) 2,152 Marathafarmers had ended their lives. It ignored the fact that these were notdue to backwardness but becauseof agrarian crises. The Commission also attached great importance to its fi��nding that while 69%Maratha families sought medicaltreatment for jaundice, 9.65%sought treatment from tantrikswhile 0.54% left it ‘to the mercy ofgod’; superstition, and ‘blindvows’ were factored in as proof ofbackwardness though such irrational practices or beliefs are prevalent even among the highercastes as well. The Commission also found that a large number ofMarathas in Mumbai are engagedin the business of dabbawallas. Acceptance of food from them showsthat people do not consider themlow caste. The fi��nding of 71% Marathas owning land of less than 2.5acres was considered a sign ofbackwardness but such smallholdings are due to fragmentation
of land as a result of inheritancelaws rather than it being a sign ofbackwardness. The Maratha shareof 19.5% in government jobs toocannot satisfy the constitutionalrequirement of inadequacy of representation; even the fi��nding thatMarathas constitute 30% of theState’s population is suspect as theCommission excluded Muslims,Jains, Sikhs and unreserved categories in its population count. Infact on most parameters, Marathasare on a par with other forwardcastes and the OBCs. Singlingthem out for reservation is appeasement and not justice. Moreover, the Commission had recommended 12% to 13% reservationwhich the BJP government enhanced to 16%. The sample sizewas too small and it consideredjust 950 urban families; it also excluded Mumbai.
On classifi��cationAfter all, social and educationalbackwardness are but an aspect ofbackwardness and must thereforefall within the OBC classifi��cation.Even conceding that Marathas arebackward and need reservation,they should have ideally been included within the OBC. But theHigh Court upheld the creation ofa distinct class of socially and educationally backward class with justone caste (Marathas) included under it. The issue of Gujjar reservation was struck down in Captain
Gurvinder Singh (2016) thoughalong with Gujjars, four othercastes were also given the benefi��t.Jat reservation, in Ram Singh(2015), was declared unconstitutional because only one caste wasfavoured. Maratha reservationthus borders on class legislationrather than reasonable classifi��cation. Article 14 prohibits classlegislation.
Since the National Commissionfor Backward Classes was not consulted, the constitutionality of Maratha reservation is suspect butthe High Court observed that theNBCC had in no way taken awaythe powers of the State commission. Similarly, the Uttar Pradeshgovernment has ignored the National Commission for ScheduledCastes in according SC status to 17castes.
The weakest part of the judgment is ignoring the 50% upper limit of reservation by relying onthe small window of exceptionpermitted in Indra Sawhney, i.e.the factor of remote or far fl��ungareas and an absence from national main stream. None is availableto the Marathas.
Let the BJP not deviate from itsstated policy on appeasement anddo justice to all including Marathasand Muslims.
Faizan Mustafa is Vice-Chancellor,
NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad.
The views expressed are personal
More appeasement than justice Maratha reservation borders on class legislation rather than signifying reasonable classifi��cation
FIL
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more letters online:
www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/
Once again, the fi��rst weeks ofthe Narendra Modi administration have been
marked by hate crimes — two Muslim men beaten by mobs in Jharkhand and Mumbai, demandingthey shout ‘Jai Shri Ram’, one somercilessly that he died. Anotherman, a tribal, lynched in Tripuraon suspicion of being a cattle thief.Most recently, 24 men accused ofbeing cattle smugglers, beaten andmade to shout ‘Gau Mata ki Jai’, inRajasthan.
This time, however, there is arising tide of concern, both domestically and internationally. Domestically, there have been a number of editorials, OpEds and talkshows calling for action; internationally, India has begun to featureprominently on a growing list ofcountries marked by hate crime,including hate speech in electoralcampaigns.
A rising graphStudies of hate crimes in Indiashow that they have steadily risenover the past fi��ve years. AmnestyInternational India documented721 such incidents between 2015and 2018. Last year alone, ittracked 218 hate crimes, 142 ofwhich were against Dalits, 50against Muslims, 40 against women, and eight each against Christians, Adivasis, and transgenders.The more common hate crimes,they found, were honour killings —that have sadly occurred for decades — and ‘cowrelated violence’, that was rare earlier buthas become more frequent over
the past fi��ve years.According to Hate Crime Watch,
crimes based on religious identitywere in single digits until 2014,when they surged from nine in2013 to 92 in 2018. Of the 291 incidents mentioned by the website,152 occurred in Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP)ruled States, 40 in Congressruled States and the rest inStates ruled by regional parties orcoalitions. Rarely, if ever, did bystanders attempt to stop the violence or police arrive on time to doso. In both studies, Uttar Pradeshtopped the list of States with thelargest number of hate crimes forthe third year, followed by Gujarat,Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Bihar.
These facts are striking enoughto concern any government. ThePrime Minister expressed pain atthe sickening murder of TabrezAnsari in Jharkhand, but clearlyfar more is required. The Rajasthan administration is introducinga Bill prohibiting cow vigilantism,but that deals with only one hatecrime. An omnibus act against allhate crimes, including hatespeech, is required across Indiaand should be a priority of the 17thLok Sabha. Germany, for example,amended Section 46 of its Criminal Procedure Code, dealing withsentencing in violent crime, to saythe sentence must be based onconsideration of ‘the motives andaims of the off��ender, particularlywhere they are of a racist or xenophobic nature or where they showcontempt for human dignity’.
We have a number of sections inthe Indian Penal Code that can beused to punish or even preventhate crime, but they are disparateand few policemen are aware ofthem. Those that are, fear to usethem in areas whose political leaders mobilise through hate speech.Though some Indian analysts debate whether there is a correlationbetween hate speech and hate
crime, worldwide data show thathate speech encourages or legitimises acts of violence and a climate of impunity. France has a adraft Bill to prohibit hate speech,and Germany has already enactedone.
According to a study by NDTVthere are at least 45 politicians inour newly elected union legislature who have indulged in hatespeech over the past fi��ve years; 35of them belong to the BJP. No action has been taken as yet by theparty, though it is in such a position of strength electorally that itwould lose little by acting againstthem.
Court directivesIn 2018, the Supreme Court directed Central and State governmentsto make it widely known thatlynching and mob violence would‘invite serious consequence underthe law’ (Tehseen S. Poonawalla v.Union of India & Ors). Then HomeMinister Rajnath Singh told Parliament that the government hadformed a panel to suggest measures to tackle mob violence, andwould enact a law if necessary.The panel’s recommendations arenot in the public domain, and actsof hate crime do not appear tohave diminished in the year sinceMr. Singh’s promise.
In a May 2019 report, HumanRights Watch India pointed out
that only some States had complied with the Supreme Court’s orders to designate a senior policeoffi��cer in every district to preventincidents of mob violence and ensure that the police take promptaction, including safety for witnesses; set up fasttrack courts insuch cases; and take action againstpolicemen or offi��cials who failedto comply. Those State governments that did comply, the reportcommented, did so only partially.In several instances, the police actually obstructed investigations,even fi��ling charges against thevictims.
Whether it is political hatespeech or police bias on theground, there is little doubt thatthe national bar against hate crimehas been lowered. On television,we see replays of hate speech andvideos of lynching. Though the accompanying commentary is critical, repeated iterations normalisethe hateful. Indeed, anchors themselves resort to invective far moreoften than before — note howKashmiris are routinely heckledand abused on talk shows. Theprint media too is failing. Severalnewspapers now publish triumphalist opinion articles, includingcomments to articles that are hatespeech by any defi��nition. Criticismof blatantly communal government actions such as extension ofrefuge and citizenship on religiousidentity has grown increasinglymuted.
Key steps neededOne of the policy issues that ishigh on the Modi administration’slist is dealing with incitement toviolence through social media. Butthe focus is on hate in relation toterrorism, and it is unclear whether government policy will extendto cover hate crime. Important asit is to do so, the digital media isnot the only off��ender. In fact,
there are several obvious stepswhich would be easier to take andyield more immediate results thanregulation of the digital media.Parliament could enact an omnibus act against hate crime, and theHome Minister could set benchmarks for policemen and administrators to deal with hate crime.The legislature and political parties could suspend or dismissmembers who are implicated inhate crimes or practise hatespeech. The electronic and printmedia could stop showing or publishing hateful comments andthreats. Priests could preach thevalues of tolerance and respectthat are common to all religionsand schools could revitalise courses on the directive principles ofour Constitution.
For Mr. Modi, there is an additional challenge. He has twice spoken out against hate crime, but hiswords of pain have not beenbacked by action, either by hisparty or by BJPled administrations. Does he have so little infl��uence over his own? We have tohope not.
For a demographically diversecountry such as India, hate crimes— including crimes of contempt —are a disaster. Each of our religiousand caste communities number inthe millions, and crimes that aredirected against any of thesegroups could result in a magnitudeof disaff��ection that impels violence, even terrorism. Far less diverse countries than India are already suff��ering the result of hate‘moving into the mainstream’, asUN Secretary General António Guterres recently highlighted. Wecan still contain its spread if we actresolutely. Or else our politicalleaders might fi��nd the lumpen tailwagging their dog.
Radha Kumar is a writer and policy
analyst
The growing power of the lumpen The national bar against hate crime has been lowered, but resolute corrective action is possible
Radha Kumar
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Karnataka crisisThe political charade inKarnataka has come to sucha pass that the BharatiyaJanata Party that hadunsuccessfully formed thefi��rst government after theelection is at governmentformation again by trial anderror and subverting thewill of the people ofKarnataka (Editorial, “Thevisible hand”, July 9). Boththe party and its State partypresident and formerKarnataka Chief Minister,B.S. Yeddyurappa, have ayen to wrest power even ifthey lose elections.Consequently, the partywith a diff��erence hasmetamorphised into aparty of defectors and theMLAs who are raring tocross over have betrayedthe trust of the people. Ifthe JD(S) and the Congressgive rebel MLAs ministerialberths, it will be a surefi��reway for others to rebel. Thisis a vicious circle. Even ifthe BJP manages to form a
government with fl��oatingMLAs, its longevity will besuspect again. This will giverise to a piquant situation.One can safely concludethat democracy inKarnataka is at the mercy ofpowerhungry politicians. Abdul Assis P.A.,
Kandassankadavu, Thrissur, Kerala
■ Even if the BJP forms thegovernment through theback door, it would not thegovernment of, for and bythe people, but of, for and bydefectors. The partyleadership in Delhi mayclaim that it has nothing todo with the the crisis but theacts of their State leadersmake it crystal clear thatthese cannot be withoutclearance from Delhi.Perhaps the time has cometo dissolve the House and letvoters decide who they want.N. Nagarajan,
Secunderabad
■ If the party leadershipsomehow succeeds in
appeasing the disgruntledMLAs they can never betrusted. Amidst politicaluncertainty theadministration will be in astate of inertia. Parties mustthink about dealing withhorse trading and shiftingallegiance in a seriousmanner. Existing antidefection laws are ineff��ectiveand lawmakers fi��nd outample loopholes to escapedisqualifi��cation. Those whovitiate democratic credibilitymust be debarred fromaccessing all benefi��ts aselected representatives. Dr. George Vareekal,
Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh
Quota and casteThe assertion in the article,“Reinforcing castehierarchies” (Editorial page,July 9) is that “reservation isnot the real answer” thoughin the context of its latestavatar, the Maratha quota, isa good enough reason torevisit the time when it wasfi��rst introduced. At that time,
this shortterm specialmeasure was intended tobring the ‘backward’sections to a level that wason a par with others. That itcontinues and expands is anindication of the failure ofthe scheme. Instead of therebeing a scientifi��c assessment,the issue has been treatedpolitically. To perpetuate theshortterm plan and toexpand it in all directions arethe hallmarks of votebankpolitics. How it reduces the‘merit’ element in education,the bureaucracy, legislatureand other sections is agovernance issue. This is thereason why caste hierarchiescontinue and are reinforced.Only proper Constitutionalamendments to deletediscriminatory provisionscan help progress. P.R.V. Raja,
Pandalam, Kerala
■ The objective ofreservation was to uplift the‘downtrodden’ and not toencourage indiscriminate
overlook poor roadinfrastructure as anothermajor cause. Data from thePublic Works Departmentlast year, on Delhi’s roads,showed an average of 2,000potholes along the mainroads. There were alsobroken footpaths, dislocatedkerb stones and treesaff��ecting traffi��c. India ranksvery high in road accidents ifone accesses data from theInternational RoadFederation, Geneva. In areview of accidentprevention, there has to be aholistic view of all factors.Tushar Anand,
Patna, Bihar
profi��teering at the expense ofdeserving candidates. Thesystem today not onlystrengthens the caste dividebut also creates resentmentin communities unable toreap the benefi��ts ofreservation. It may not be anexaggeration to say that‘brain drain’ is aconsequence of thereservation system. Capablestudents prefer to moveabroad where their work andcapabilities are rewarded. Kshitij Mani Tripathi,
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Road safetyThough the human factor isoften cited in fatal roadaccidents, one cannot
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.
Many investors who were hoping for business
friendly reforms were not too impressed by
the maiden Budget of the second Narendra
Modi government. After a moderate negative reaction
when the Budget was presented in Parliament on Fri
day, both the Sensex and the Nifty witnessed their big
gest fall in over two years on Monday. The Sensex in
curred a huge loss of 792.82 points while the Nifty shed
about 250 points. Sectors such as banking, automobiles
and power were the worsthit, each witnessing a loss of
over 3%. Investors were spooked by a variety of propo
sals made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that
are expected to increase the tax burden on them. These
include the proposal to increase long term capital gains
tax on foreign portfolio investors and to tax the buy
back of shares by companies at 20%. The negative sig
nal sent by the increased surcharge on people earning
over ₹��2 crore a year also weighed on markets. This tax
on the “superrich” is unlikely to make much of a diff��e
rence to the government’s fi��scal position. However, it
does damage the image of the present government as a
probusiness one and can aff��ect fund fl��ow into the
country if the wealthy prefer to move to other coun
tries. The proposal to raise minimum public sharehold
ing in listed companies from 25% to 35% is also seen as
an unnecessary intervention in markets. Global factors
like strong jobs data coming from the United States
which lowers the chances of an interest rate cut by the
Federal Reserve, and the potential systemic risk posed
by the troubles faced by Deutsche Bank may have also
weighed on the markets. However, the losses expe
rienced by western markets on Monday were nowhere
as heavy as the losses faced by the Indian markets.
All these aside, the larger issue bothering the Indian
investor may be the Budget’s supposed tilt towards po
pulism as the government expands the size of its wel
fare projects instead of taking steps to revive private in
vestment in the slowing economy. Apart from a few
words from the Finance Minister on simplifying labour
laws and relieving startup investors from the regressive
“angel tax”, the Budget was largely bereft of any major
structural reforms that could instil confi��dence among
investors. The trajectory of markets in the coming
months will depend on the kind of reforms the govern
ment manages to push through, and on the actions of
central banks across the globe. While the Reserve Bank
of India looks to be easing its policy, any global liquidity
tightening can aff��ect foreign fund infl��ows. Despite lack
lustre company earnings and other fundamental is
sues, markets in the past have been pushed up aggres
sively by the ample liquidity provided by central banks.
But without enough reforms to strengthen the funda
mentals that can back lofty valuations, it may be only a
matter of time before markets begin to lose steam.
Losing steamMarkets react negatively to the Budget’s
populism and inability to force reforms
The Union Budget has announced a bold move to
make a transition to electric vehicles, and off��ered
a tax incentive for the early adopters. Its stated vi
sion to leapfrog into an era of electric mobility and
domestic vehicle manufacturing, led by public tran
sport and commercial vehicles, is forwardlooking. It is
also inevitable because poor air quality and noise pollu
tion have sharply aff��ected the quality of life, and pose a
serious public health challenge. As the NITI Aayog has
stated, the goal of shifting to electric vehicles cannot
make progress without deadlines, and a marketdriven
approach sought by some sections of the automotive in
dustry will leave India’s capabilities and infrastructure
for emobility trailing others, notably China. With 2030
as the outer limit, the imperative is to fi��x a realistic time
frame by which scooters, motorcycles, threewheel car
riages and, later, all new vehicles will be battery po
wered. An additional income tax deduction of ₹��1.5 lakh
is now off��ered on interest paid on loans to purchase
electric vehicles, and the GST Council has been moved
to cut the tax on evehicles to 5% from 12%. Both de
mands were made by the industry earlier. There is a sig
nifi��cant outlay under the second iteration of the Faster
Adoption and Manufacturing (of Hybrid and) Electric
Vehicles (FAME) plan of ₹��10,000 crore, to give a fi��llip to
commercial vehicles and to set up charging stations.
The budgetary measures will have an immediate im
pact on the pricing of electric vehicles and bring in
more models, but it will take a sustained eff��ort by the
Centre, in partnership with State governments, to ena
ble a fast rollout of charging infrastructure. The Minis
try of Power issued guidelines and standards for this in
December last year, setting technical parameters for
public charging stations that can enable normal and
fast charging. With price competition, a speedy spread
of electric twowheelers can be expected, given that ov
er 80% of conventional vehicles sold in India come un
der that category. Aff��ordable charging will make these
vehicles and commercial threewheelers attractive be
cause operating costs are a fraction of petrol and diesel
equivalents. Yet, longer range travel will require more
than a chargeathome facility, and this would have to
be in the form of fast charging at parking lots, retrofi��t
ted fuel outlets, new public charging stations, hotels, of
fi��ces and so on. Swapping the battery at convenient lo
cations with one that is precharged, especially for
commercial vehicles that run longer and need a quick
turnaround, is worth considering. A longerterm policy
priority has to be the setting up of lithium battery pro
duction and solar charging infrastructure of a scale that
matches the ambition. The Centre has accepted some
of the demands of the auto industry to popularise EVs.
Going electricThe budgetary measures can speed up
India’s plans to switch to electric vehicles
corrections & clarifications:
The report headlined “Shutdown in Valley on Wani’s death anniversary” ( July 9, 2019) referred to Burhan Wani’s killing on June8, 2016. It should have been July 8, 2016. Also, it talked about slowing down of internet speeds on Tuesday. It should have beenMonday.
An Editorial page article titled “A shot at economic logic” ( July9, 2019) talked about the creation of an African common marketwith a GDP of $3.4 billion. It should have been $3.4 trillion.
The Readers’ Editor’s office can be contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300;
E-mail:[email protected]
https://t.me/TheHindu_Zone_official
https://t.me/SSC4Exams https://t.me/Banking4Exams https://t.me/UPSC4Exams
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THE HINDU DELHI
WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2019 11EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
CMYK
A ND-NDE
OPED
The mail papers from England bring the sensational news that Mrs. [Annie] Besant in interviews to the Press has made the defi��nitestatement that, to her own certain knowledge, German gold energised sedition andunrest in India. Speaking to an interviewerof the London ‘Times’ she declared that “therevolutionary party in India was supportedlargely by German money, which had beenused for many years in the eff��ort to cause unrest. Even before the war, money had beenspent freely on German propaganda work,which was carried on largely by Germanmissionaries who taught children to ‘call forthe German Kaiser’, instead of for our ownKingEmperor. The fi��rst results of Germanpropaganda were the revolutionary movements in Punjab and Bengal. Impatience atthe slow progress made towards freedom bythe old peaceful methods had caused theyounger men in India, particularly the student class, to despair of those methods everproving successful. Their participation in revolution was an act of despair, but the number of this class associated with the purelyrevolutionary movement, who wanted separation, was small.”
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO JULY 10, 1919.
German Gold for Indian Sedition.
A new report, ‘Food and Nutrition Security Analysis, India, 2019’, authoredby the Government of India and the United Nations World Food Programme,paints a picture of hunger and malnutrition amongst children in large pockets of India. This punctures the imageof a nation marching towards prosperity. It raises moral and ethical questionsabout the nature of a state and societythat, after 70 years of independence,still condemns hundreds of millions ofits poorest and vulnerable citizens tolives of hunger and desperation. And itonce again forces us to ask why despiterapid economic growth, declining levels of poverty, enough food to export,and a multiplicity of government programmes, malnutrition amongst thepoorest remains high.
A trap of poverty, malnutritionThe report shows the poorest sectionsof society caught in a trap of povertyand malnutrition, which is beingpassed on from generation to generation. Mothers who are hungry and malnourished produce children who arestunted, underweight and unlikely todevelop to achieve their full humanpotential.
The eff��ects of malnourishment in asmall child are not merely physical. Adeveloping brain that is deprived of nutrients does not reach its full mental potential. A study in the Lancet notes,“Undernutrition can aff��ect cognitivedevelopment by causing direct structural damage to the brain and by impairing infant motor development.” This inturn aff��ects the child’s ability to learn atschool, leading to a lifetime of povertyand lack of opportunity.
Another study in the Lancet observes, “These disadvantaged childrenare likely to do poorly in school andsubsequently have low incomes, highfertility, and provide poor care for theirchildren, thus contributing to the intergenerational transmission of poverty.”In other words, today’s poor hungrychildren are likely to be tomorrow’shungry, unemployed and undereducated adults.
The fi��ndings in the report are notnew: many studies over the last fi��ve
years have exposed the failure of the Indian state to ensure that its most vulnerable citizens are provided adequate nutrition in their early years. India haslong been home to the largest numberof malnourished children in the world.Some progress has been made in reducing the extent of malnutrition. The proportion of children with chronic malnutrition decreased from 48% percent in200506 to 38.4% in 201516. The percentage of underweight children decreased from 42.5% to 35.7% over thesame period. Anaemia in young children decreased from 69.5% to 58.5%during this period. But this progress issmall.
An ambitious targetThe government’s National NutritionMission (renamed as Poshan Abhiyaan)aims to reduce stunting (a measure ofmalnutrition that is defi��ned as heightthat is signifi��cantly below the norm forage) by 2% a year, bringing down theproportion of stunted children in thepopulation to 25% by 2022. But eventhis modest target will require doublingthe current annual rate of reduction instunting.
The minutes of recent meetings ofthe Executive Committee of Poshan Abhiyaan do not inspire much confi��denceabout whether this can be achieved. Ayear after it was launched, State andUnion Territory governments have onlyused 16% of the funds allocated tothem. Fortifi��ed rice and milk were to beintroduced in one district per State byMarch this year. But the minutes of aMarch 29 meeting showed that this hadnot been done, and offi��cials in charge ofpublic distribution had not yet got theiract together. Or, as the minutes put it,“The matter is under active consideration of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution”.Anganwadis are key to the distributionof services to mothers and children. Butmany States, including Bihar and Od
isha, which have large vulnerable populations, are struggling to set up functioning anganwadis, and recruit staff��.
The key to ending the tragedy ofchild nutrition lies with a handful ofState governments: the highest levels ofstunted and underweight children arefound in Jharkand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Malnutrition is a refl��ection of ageold patternsof social and economic exclusion. Over40% of children from Scheduled Tribesand Scheduled Castes are stunted.Close to 40% of children from the OtherBackward Classes are stunted. The lackof nutrition in their childhood yearscan reduce their mental as well as physical development and condemn themto a life in the margins of society.
Stunting and malnourishment startsnot with the child, but with the mother.An adolescent girl who is malnourishedand anaemic tends to be a mother whois malnourished and anaemic. This inturn increased the chances of her childbeing stunted.
The problem is access to foodAs Amartya Sen noted, famines arecaused not by shortages of food, but byinadequate access to food. And for thepoor and marginalised, access to foodis impeded by social, administrativeand economic barriers. In the case ofchildren and their mothers, this couldbe anything from nonfunctioning orneglectful governments at the State,district and local levels to entrenchedsocial attitudes that see the poor andmarginalised as less than equal citizenswho are meant to be an underclass andare undeserving of government eff��ortsto provide them food and lift them outof poverty.
A lot of attention has focussed on thegovernment’s aim of turning India intoa $5 trillion economy in the next fi��veyears. Whether this will achieved is amatter for debate. But these declarations only serve to obscure a larger reality. There is a large section of society,the poorest twofi��fths of the country’spopulation, that is still largely untouched by the modern economywhich the rest of the country inhabits.As one part of the country lives in a 21stcentury economy, ordering exotic cuisines over apps, another part struggleswith the most ancient of realities: fi��nding enough to eat to tide them over tillthe next day.
Thomas Abraham is a Bengaluru-based writer
on social issues. He is the author of ‘Polio: The
Odyssey of Eradication’
India needs to double yearly rate of fall in stunting cases to achieve its 2022 target
The malaise of malnutrition
Thomas Abraham
RE
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Is Iran being set up for a ‘limited scaleconfl��ict’ just before the U.S. presidential election? This is a suspicion thatmight be far from the minds of Northand West European leaders, hailingfrom countries that, since World WarII, have been sceptical of war, especially in their own neighbourhoods. ButIran is not really in their neighbourhood. Will countries like Germany,France or BrexitingU.K. have the conviction or coherence to stand up forIran, which has been pushed into a corner by the onesided withdrawal of Donald Trump’s U.S. from the international nuclear deal brokered under formerU.S. President Barack Obama? It remains one of the great ironies of politics today that Mr. Trump is such goodfriends with North Korea, which seemsto have no intention of abandoning itsnuclear weapons, and so belligerent towards Iran, which did sign an international nuclear deal!
Liberal Europe might have troubleimagining the eff��ect of a ‘limited scaleconfl��ict’ on a national electorate justbefore elections, but surely we Indianshave larger imaginations? I am not saying that Mr. Trump and his publicitytroops are planning a ‘hot’, instead ofthe currently ‘cold’, confl��ict with Iran.What I am saying is that there are verygood ‘factors’ which may lead to it.
Demonstration of ‘greatness’Mr. Trump needs a ‘patriotic’ surge tobe certain of victory in the coming presidential election, and he is a politiciannot averse to chestthumping heroics atthe cost of other people’s sons. Not surprisingly, this year marked the fi��rst 4thof July celebration in recent memorythat was highly politicised and in whichthe U.S. armed forces were clearly inserted into the current Republican slogan of ‘Make America Great Again’. Itwas also a far more military show thanin the past. This overlap of the ‘greatness’ of the American military — U.S.military expenditure in 2018 wasaround $650 billion (China was secondwith $250 billion, and Saudi Arabia andIndia, hurrah, were third and fourthwith about $67 billion each) — with thepolitical rhetoric of ‘greatness’ pursued
by Mr. Trump’s Republicans can lead toa ‘demonstration’ of ‘greatness’ onIran. Such a ‘demonstration’ is likely inother ways too. For instance, the U.S.’stwo best friends — Saudi Arabia and Israel — clearly want Iran dismantled asmuch as possible. The rhetoric of ‘Islamist terror’ can be used to eff��ect this,particularly because most Americanscannot distinguish between Shia andSunni Muslims, and hence do not knowthat the hated Islamic State and al Qaeda are Sunni, while Iran is Shia.
To this will be added a certain section of the liberal voice in the ‘free’West: people who have good reasons todislike the clerical regime in Iran, people who would like to see Iran becomedemocratic. While their reasons aregood, many of them are too idealisticor too removed from Iran to think ofwhat might happen once the confl��ictbegins — and escalates. Perhaps I ambeing pessimistic, but I have seen anumber of countries go to pieces underthe fl��ag of ‘freedom’ in recent years:Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan. In every case,there was hope and many good arguments for a change of regime. In everycase, the hopes have been belied and,looking back, the earlier status quoseems to have been a relative mercy.
Moreover, North and West Europeanstates are bogged down in a postBrexitsituation, have highly developed butstagnant economies, and pacifi��st butincreasingly parochial electorates.They would not be willing to do muchto stop a confl��ict. Given the fact that thetwo biggest industries in the world —weapons and oil — might have vestedinterests in a ‘limited confl��ict’ in Iran,and these industries are not voicelessin Europe either, one can also expectthe worst.
Finally, the ‘national ethos’ of Iranwill contribute to it too. Iran is one ofthe major nations of the world, the coreof an ancient civilisation. Many Ira
nians would be too proud to eat humble pie in the face of American might.They are likely to be encouraged intowarlike sentiments by the more radicalIranian mullahs, with their own Islamicsuspicion of the U.S. and the West. Theability of the religious to believe thatGod will intervene on their behalf is nota reassuring element either.
A diff��erent matter The likelihood of a staged confl��ict justbefore the U.S. presidential electiongetting out of hand ought to worry India. A confl��ict between the U.S. andIran would not be like a confl��ict between India and Pakistan, which areneighbours. They can infl��ict some damage on each other. And the only likelihood — victory by India, which is thegreater military power — would leavematters unresolved for the victor: Indiawill not only have to control much ofhostile captured territory but still beexposed to ‘Islamist’ attacks from otherMuslim countries, because evenbeyond Pakistan there lie other Muslimnations and regions. Incidentally, theseother neighbours do not desire majortrouble between India and Pakistan;they prefer the current status quo.There will also be no ‘global’ or ‘liberal’cheerleading for either India or Pakistan in the case of a confl��ict.
But a purportedly ‘limited’ attack bythe U.S. on Iran is a diff��erent matter:the U.S. would remain largely unaff��ected, because it is too far away and far toostrong. Iran has neighbours — not justSaudi Arabia and Israel — who wouldlove to see it bombed a few decadesback into the past. And there will evenbe a degree of ‘global’ and ‘liberal’cheerleading for a presumed ‘return todemocracy’ in Iran. The prospects, tosay the least, are worrying.
Tabish Khair is an Indian novelist and academic
who works in Denmark
A pre-election strike on Iran?Why a purportedly ‘limited’ attack by the U.S. is likely — and worrying
Tabish Khair
AF
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DATA POINT
The Dongria Kondh tribe of Niyamgiri Hills are among the best conservationists in the world. Known for thespirited defence of their forestedhabitat against shortsighted industrialisation, they have through millennia evolved a lifestyle that is inperfect harmony withnature. Across India,there are scores of indigenous people who havemanaged to lead meaningful lives withoutwanton destruction ofnatural ecosystems.
These tribes, alongwith marginalised communities living on the fringes of forests and millions of smallholderfarmers, are the best hope that Indiahas to preserve biodiversity and ensure food security. At a time when nature faces the threat of another massextinction of species, their importance cannot be emphasised enoughbecause they off��er us solutions to avert an imminent meltdown.
The fi��rst global assessment of biodiversity by a UNbacked panel,which released its report in May, heldhumans squarely responsible for thelooming mass extinction of species.Without radical eff��orts towards conservation, the rate of species extinction will only gather momentum. Thered fl��ag comes close on the heels of aFebruary report by the UN Food andAgriculture Organization (FAO). Aloss in biodiversity simply means thatplants and animals are more vulnerable to pests and diseases, and it putsfood security and nutrition at risk,the FAO said.
At a higher riskAlthough biodiversity loss is a globalproblem, it can be countered onlywith local solutions. There’s no onesizefi��tsall approach. A solution thathas succeeded in a temperate,wealthy nation may not be suitablefor a country like India. Our tropicalhomeland is rich in biodiversity, butthe imperatives of relentless economic growth, urbanisation, deforestation and overpopulation place it atrisk more than many other places.
Nothing can be achieved without
the active participation of communities that live close to nature — farmersand forest dwellers. It is now obviousthat intensive agriculture, exploitative forestry and overfi��shing are themain threats to biodiversity in Indiaand the world. In their prognosis, UNagencies are unanimous that the bestway to correct the present course is
to heed the accumulatedwisdom of indigenous peoples, fi��shers andfarmers.
The situation with ourforests is even more dire.Instead of evicting forestdwellers from theirhomes, we should be encouraging them to con
serve and nurture their habitats.Pressure from industrialisation doesnot care too much about conservation and biodiversity. The same holdstrue for the overexploitation of ourrivers and seas.
For solutions one has to just lookat the growing movement of zerobudget natural farming in AndhraPradesh and Telangana, or the communitydriven forest conservation initiatives in Odisha and the Northeast,to realise that there is hope for thenatural ecosystem, if only we act onthe advice of local communities.
No silver bulletThere is no silver bullet to solve theproblem of crop and biodiversity lossat the national level. The naturalfarming movement in Andhra Pradesh may not be suitable for, say,Punjab. Fortunately, India’s farmersand tribes are nothing if not innovative and they do have local solutions.
Loss of biodiversity and the threatof species extinction along with thealarming changes wrought by globalwarming are the primary concerns ofour times. Our best bet for survivaldepends on how well we addressthese issues. We can do that only ifwe put people at the centre of our actions. If we continue to ride roughshod over the people who are essential to revitalising nature, we do soonly at our peril.
Soumya Sarkar is Managing Editor of
IndiaClimateDialogue.net
Global problem, local solutionsForest dwellers and farmers are the best hope topreserve biodiversity and ensure food security
Soumya SarkarThe Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi,sprung a major surprise tonight [ July 9] bysending a note to the Congress WorkingCommittee – through a special messengerfrom Delhi – more or less associating herselfwith the Leftist demand for bank nationalisation. When the Working Committee wasdiscussing the draft on economic policy,prepared by Mr. C. Subramaniam and Mr.Sadiq Ali, the Prime Minister’s note was received spelling out her broad approach toproblems of agriculture, industry and fi��nancial institutions. Mrs. Gandhi did not pleadfor bank nationalisation as such but expressed the view that the suggestion for selective nationalisation of some of the majorbanks was worth considering in the contextof the larger economic objectives of the Congress Party. The Prime Minister’s note wasnot considered in detail by the WorkingCommittee since there was not enough timebefore the members adjourned for the dinner given in their honour by the Mysore Pradesh Congress Reception Committee. But itwill be discussed at length in Mrs. Gandhi’spresence when the Working Committeemeets again tomorrow night.
FIFTY YEARS AGO JULY 10, 1969
P.M. wants selective bank take-over
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