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Archives for August 2018

Cinema pushing ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ in big way: Minister

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” is moving well on the path of success, said Union Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, and added that cinema is playing a major role in driving the change.

Expressing his views on the Modi’s call for a clean India in 2014 at the trailer launch of Nila Madhab Panda’s film “Halkaa” here, Puri said: “I felt privileged to have got an opportunity, along with Durga Shankar and other colleagues, to watch ‘Halkaa’ two months ago.

“Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is succeeding , nd it will succeed because of directors and producers like Nila Madhab and Roshni Nadar, who have captured the essence of the message and put it out through a medium which is very strong.”

“Halkaa” is a take on a slum child’s heroism, aspirations and dreams. The child protagonist, Pichku, fights for the basic problem that he faces everyday: defecating in the open amongst others. It is his dream to make a toilet of his own where he can enjoy his privacy and do the deed in peace.

It features Ranvir Shorey, Paoli Dam and child actor Tathastu. The film is in sync with Swachh Bharat Mission and supported by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

Puri said the film can contribute to the goal of achieving an open defecation-free India and accelerate the pace of achieving Swachh Bharat mission through its powerful messaging.

Panda hopes the film “in some way helps the country to become 100 per cent open defecation-free”.

Talking about how he got associated with the project, he said: “We are delighted to be partnering with this film. It is simple stories like this that leave a lasting impact and we believe Pichku’s journey of building his own toilet needs to be seen by everyone out there. He is our hero in the truest sense of the word.”

Earlier this year, the film bagged the Grand Prix for Best Film at the Kinolub Festival for Children and Youth in Poland. It also won the Grand Prix De Montreal at the 21st Montreal International Children’s Film Festival where it had its world premiere in March.

The film is presented by Shiv Nadar Foundation and produced by Roshni Nadar Malhotra in association with Akshay Parija and Panda.

The film will release on September 7.

Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Whither nuclear disarmament?

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August 6 is etched in an apocalyptic manner on the global consciousness given the nuclear enormity that engulfed the unsuspecting residents of Japan’s Hiroshima on that day in 1945. Three days later Nagasaki met the same fate, though tragically August 9 receives even lesser attention from a jaded world whose attention span often oscillates from one tweet to another.

The “national herd” in every major demographic cluster is episodically led from one sensational but banal event to another and the collective danger that the nuclear weapon poses to humanity is glossed over, with a fleeting reference on Hiroshima Day when platitudes are dutifully mouthed by the political leadership across the world.

The year 2018 is a bit different, but in an alarming way. Prickly nuclear nationalism now rules the roost and the charge has been led by the world’s oldest and most powerful democracy. On July 23, US President Donald Trump tweeted — as is his wont — to Iranian President Rouhani, and this one was in all caps:

NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

To be fair to Trump, this tweet was in response to what the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had said the previous day (July 22) when he warned Washington that provoking Tehran over the nuclear deal could lead to the “mother of all wars”. The Iranian reference was in no doubt — it was invoking the spectre of WMDs — long-range missiles fitted with nuclear warheads.

Over the last year, the global nuclear arsenal has increased in numbers among the nine nations in the world that are nuclear-weapon capable. This apocalyptic club that holds the world to ransom includes the original five – the US, Russia, UK, France and China. Post-1964, the other four who have joined this “club” are Israel, India, Pakistan and now North Korea. Today the most serious national security threat to the US is deemed to be a mix of the nuclear weapon and terrorism as posed by non-state entities — often with state support.

Paradoxically, over the last year, Pakistan, often referred to as the cradle and nursery of global terrorism, has the distinction of possessing the world’s fastest-growing nuclear weapon arsenal. Much of this capability has been enabled by a deep and opaque partnership with China and North Korea.

Furthermore, Pakistan is the only nation among the nuclear nine wherein the command and control of the nuclear button rests with the Pakistan military and the civilian leadership is only notionally in the loop. Whether Imran Khan, if he becomes the Prime Minister, will be able to assert civilian control remains moot. There are many voices even within Pakistan that believe a mercurial Khan may not be the most prudent choice, when it comes to nuclear weapons.

However, on the other hand, such prudence at the very top of national political leadership, while desirable, went out of the window with the election of Trump as US President, a leader who recently boasted about the size of his “button” apropos his North Korean counterpart.

The deeper concern in 2018 is that nuclear weapons are being brandished in a far more visible manner and the leaders of the US, Russia, Iran and North Korea are cases in point. Each of them has justified this posture as a case of safeguarding their national security, sovereignty and integrity. The consequences that will follow by way of an apocalyptic regional nuclear fallout with millions — yes, millions — killed receive little or no attention.

The greater anguish is that the global political leadership remains indifferent to such nuclear sabre-rattling and has done an ostrich act by treating these statements as political rhetoric (bluff and bluster?) and devoid of substance. And civil society, which in the 1960s and 1970s was alert to the gravity of the nuclear threat, is now cynical. The nuclear threat joins the cluster of many lost causes — global warming, ocean pollution, the plastic peril and shrinking bee population among other amber lights that are flashing.

One slender sliver that followed the focus put by former US President Barack Obama on the nuclear threat is the effort by the ICAN — the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons — that was launched in 2007. This global NGO comprising almost 500 partners from 100 countries has pushed for an international treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. Elimination of the global nuclear arsenal is the Holy Grail and in 2017 ICAN successfully negotiated and concluded this treaty at the UN.

ICAN was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace prize for its effort but the major powers, including India, have distanced themselves from this advocacy. Thus the ICAN initiative, while laudable, remains ineffective.

Ironically, India, which has legitimately claimed a distinctive nuclear status in the global order, has ceded the disarmament space it once led from 1960 to 2010. India is a non-signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and demonstrated its nuclear-weapon capability in May 1998. Pakistan followed and South Asia exudes a nuclear prickliness that is disquieting.

Based on its nuclear profile that combines nuclear restraint and responsibility, India was admitted to the global nuclear order in late 2008, thanks in large measure to the political resolve of then US President George Bush.

While New Delhi remains committed to “universal, non-discriminatory and verifiable nuclear disarmament”, it has made no significant effort in the last few years to demonstrate its status as a “different” kind of nuclear-weapon power. ICAN is a case in point.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought commendable traction to the challenge of global terrorism since assuming office in May 2014 but has remained relatively reticent on the nuclear issue. One hopes that the Indian leadership will address the nuclear issue at the global level with the urgency it warrants, so that Hiroshima-Nagasaki remain the tragic exception.

BJP slams Tharoor for remarks on Modi’s ‘outlandish headgear’

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Congress leader Shashi Tharoor came under attack from the BJP for his remarks that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wore “outlandish” and “hilarious” Naga headgears during his trips but refused to wear a Muslim skull cap.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded an apology from the Congress party for insulting the people of Northeast and tribals, apart from seeking an explanation from Tharoor.

“Congress party and Shashi Tharoor ji please explain what’s the English meaning of outlandish and hilarious headgear? You can’t get away after insulting the tribal and Northeast people,” tweeted Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju.

“I demand an apology from the Congress party for insulting the people of India’s Northeast and tribals. Shashi Tharoor described Northeast people and Naga tribal headgears as funny looking outlandish and hilarious,” he added.

Another Minister and BJP leader Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said: “Shashi Tharoor insults the proud cultural heritage of the people of Northeast.

“This condescension and arrogance towards the people of India have become a hallmark of @INCIndia,” he added.

Addressing a seminar, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said: “Why does our Prime Minister, who wears all sorts of outlandish headgears wherever he goes around the country and around the world, but always refuses to wear a Muslim skull cap?

“You see him in hilarious Naga headgears and feathers. You see him in various kinds of extraordinary outfits, which is a right thing for a Prime Minister to do. Indira Gandhi has also been photographed wearing various kinds of costumes. But why he still always says no to one?”

“Why does he refuse to wear green, the colour that he says is identified with Muslim appeasement? What kind of talk it is?” Tharoor said.

Tharoor had kicked up a row recently with his “Hindu Pakistan” remarks.

17 lakh Maharashtra government employees begin 3-day strike

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Around 17 lakh Maharashtra government employees launched a three-day strike on Tuesday over pending demands including implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission Report with departments like education and medical severely hit.

The state government on Monday night directed all employees to report for duty on Tuesday and warned of strict disciplinary action against those who failed to comply under MESMA (Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act) and salary cuts.

It also announced the payment of pending Dearness Allowance (DA) for 14 months to 150,000 gazetted officers, who accordingly withdrew from the three-day agitation.

An official of the Maharashtra State Employees Organisation (MSEO) said that all employees right up to taluka levels have joined the agitation.

The MSEO has accused the state government of sitting on its demands including the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission Report, effective from January 1, 2016.

However, later it dilly-dallied saying that it was awaiting the report of the K.P. Bakshi Committee in the matter as implementing the Commission would entail an additional burden of a staggering Rs 21,000-crore on the debt-hit state.

Other major demands include implementation of a five-day week in all government offices, increasing the retirement age from 58 to 60 and filling up urgently over 200,000 vacancies in the state.

The MSEO, Maharashtra State Class IV Employees Association and other affiliated associations served a notice to strike to the General Administration Department on July 16, but there was no response.

The unions have said that they will not settle for “mere assurances” but only direct action from the government since the strike was deferred several times in the past few years on such promises.

Tuesday’s action has hit normal work in all government offices including the headquarters, Mantralaya in Mumbai, collectorates, tehsils, and talukas, besides educational, medical and other government institutions.

Transport shutdown affects normal life in Kerala

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Starting Tuesday midnight private buses, auto rickshaws, taxis, freight vehicles, state-owned KSRTC buses — all have gone off Kerala roads in solidarity with a day-long strike organized by the All India Motor Transport Organisation.

Even all workshops and spare parts shops have remained closed, turning it into a total shutdown.

With this 24-hour strike, the transport body is demanding the withdrawal of the proposed Motor Vehicle (MV) Amendment Bill.

Barring the Bhartiya Janata Party-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), all the other trade unions are taking part in the protest.

Private vehicles, though, have continued to ply across the state, as usual, leading to thin attendances in offices.

Students’ attendance at almost all educational intuitions was practically nil, even though it was not an official holiday. Even teachers’ attendances were also very low.

Given the situation, there was a huge rush reported on the Kochi Metro.

Although shops and establishments were open in several districts in major markets due to non-arrival of lorries ferrying consumables, they wore a deserted look.

People arriving at railways stations had a tough time. The police officers on duty tried their best to ensure transport for patients in need of emergencies.

Minor skirmishes were reported from a few places between protesters and drivers of taxis and auto-rickshaws who tried plying their vehicles despite the shutdown-call.

The proposed Motor Vehicle (MV) Amendment Bill, has been passed by the Lok Sabha, and is now awaiting the Rajya Sabha’s nod.

The protesters are also demanding reduction in insurance premium, besides the frequent price hike of petroleum products.

YSR Congress to vote against NDA in RS Deputy Chair election

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The YSR Congress party on Tuesday decided to vote against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate in the upcoming Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman’s election.

Party leader and Rajya Sabha member V. Vijaysai Reddy announced that the party will vote against Janta Dal-United (JD-U) MP Harivansh Narayan Singh, who is the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA’s candidate.

The YSR Congress, the main opposition party in Andhra Pradesh, has two members in the upper House of Parliament.

Five Lok Sabha members of the YSR Congress have resigned to protest the Centre’s refusal to accord special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

The party had earlier backed NDA candidates in the presidential and vice presidential elections.

In Kashmir’s hate-and-violence narrative, a silver lining of goodwill and amity

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a retired school headmaster continues to live in his ancestral home in north Kashmir’s Manigam village. The turmoil of the 1990s saw most members of his minority Kashmiri Pandit community leave the village, but Rajnath stayed back in the village he was born in, with his wife and daughter.

Rajnath, a Hindu, has tremendous faith in the goodwill of his Muslim neighbors, most of whose present generation in the village have been his students. Local Muslims helped Rajnath’s daughter get a teacher’s job in a private school. They have been the biggest support not only for Rajnath but also for over 3,000 Kashmiri Pandits who continue to live among their Muslim neighbors in the Valley — much against the established narrative that all Pandits had fled because of persecution in the Muslim-dominated region.

Only two months back, local Muslims not only carried the body of an elderly local Pandit to the cremation ground in Srinagar city, but also ensured that all Hindu rites for the departed were performed in accordance with the customs of the family. Womenfolk in the neighborhood mourned the death like one of their own. Muslim neighbors arranged food and other requirements for the bereaved family since no Pandit household cooks food during the mourning period.

Rajnath is sad for those fellow local Pandits who left their homes and lands behind while migrating out of the Valley during the turbulent 1990s. He also harbours a strong grouse against the government.

While his daughter teaches at a private school, the wages are too meager to support her family. She has a four-year-old daughter and a husband working as a wireless operator in the police telecommunication wing. She has a masters degree in sociology and for five years she has been running from pillar to post for a government job, but to no avail.

“Her husband has now started pressing my daughter to seek a job outside the Valley and, if that happens, I and my wife would be left behind,” the father said with moist eyes.

“While ordering relief packages and employment offers to the migrant Pandits for their return to the Valley, the government has completely ignored those members of our community who chose to stay back,” he said.

Unfortunately, the story of traditional amity and brotherhood between different communities in the Valley are lost in the negative narratives of violence and hatred that Kashmir has faced in the last three decades.

An ancient temple site in Sumbal area of Bandipora district was last year cleaned and spruced up for Pandit pilgrims by local Muslims. The holiest Hindu temple shrine of Mata Kheer Bhawani in Tulamulla village of north Kashmir’s Ganderbal district continues to receive thousands of devotee Pandit pilgrims each year on the annual festival. The festival is held towards the end of the spring season.

Despite migration, thousands of Kashmiri Pandits continue to come to pray at the Mata’s shrine in Tulamulla and the centuries-old tradition of local Muslims bearing earthen pots filled with milk to receive the pilgrims has not been affected by the winds of violence sweeping the Valley.

One of the holiest places for immersion of ashes for the local Pandits is the Gangabal lake situated at the foothills of the Harmukh peak in the Kashmir Himalayas. After remaining suspended for some years, Kashmiri Pandits have resumed the tradition in the last four years.

Local Muslims have historically worked as guides and load carriers for the Pandit families during the uphill trek to this mountain lake. Even today, local Muslims continue to discharge this duty for the Pandit devotees visiting the lake.

“I have never felt any difference in the warmth and affection the local Muslims have shown towards our family since my childhood when I visited the Kheer Bhawani temple with my parents.

“After my family migrated to Jammu. I have been visiting the temple shrine each year since 1990. Local Muslims have the same warmth and affection when I visit the shrine now as a middle-aged devotee,” Ashok Koul, 56, a bank employee, told IANS.

While attacks by misguided militants get front-page coverage in newspapers and as breaking news on TV, the aspect of Kashmir showing the communal harmony and brotherhood among ordinary Muslims and Hindu Pandits gets scant attention. Good news, alas, doesn’t make news anymore for the sensation-seeking media of today.

From Delhi’s cocktail circuit to Odisha’s longest serving CM, a balanced telling of Naveen Patnaik’s journey

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By Chinmaya Dehury (18:06)
Title: Naveen Patnaik; Author: Ruben Banerjee; Publishers: Juggernaut; Pages: 226; Price: Rs 469

How did a man, spending his early days on Delhi’s cocktail circuit, defy stereotypes to script an enviable success story that has few parallels in the history of modern Indian politics? What led Naveen Patnaik, who had nothing to do with politics for the first fifty years of his life, become one of India’s most enigmatic politicians?

And, how did Patnaik, who remains the most inaccessible Chief Minister in the history of Odisha, rule the state for four consecutive terms and remained undisputed leader even without knowing the mother tongue of the masses? The answers to these and many other questions are unveiled by veteran journalist Ruben Banerjee in his biography of the Odisha Chief Minister.

Having first become the chief minister by virtue of being his father’s son, Naveen Patnaik made a smooth transition to a cunning and consummate politician for becoming the longest serving Chief Minister of Odisha.

The author, who had access to Naveen Patnaik during his early days in politics, has unveiled a mine of information unknown to the world at large in the book.

Since Patnaik is considered a mysterious and unpredictable man for his omissions and commissions, the book, without a doubt, is a fascinating and interesting read for anyone interested in Odisha politics or in just the person who is Naveen Patnaik.

The book also dispels the popular belief that it is Patnaik, not someone else, who calls the shots in the government and the party as well. It, however, does mention about the over dependency of the chief minister on bureaucrats rather than on ministers to run the administration.

Patnaik, the book charts, entered into politics in 1997, founded the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and become the party president, a post that he still holds. He became the Chief Minister of Odisha for the first time in 2000 with the help of alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), riding on the sympathy following the demise of his legendary father and former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik and the public’s anger over complete mismanagement by Congress government of relief measures post the 1999 Super Cyclone that had devastated the state.

The author has articulated at his best that how Naveen Patnaik, once a political novice, ruthlessly eliminated every possibility of an opposition consolidating his position as the undisputed leader in the party and the state.

A case in point is the ouster of Bijoy Mohapatra, once a powerful minister in the Biju Patnaik cabinet and chairman of Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of BJD.

Mohapatra had chosen most of the candidates and they were all his men in 2000 elections.
But when he was chairing the PAC meeting in Bhubaneswar, Patnaik, being the president of the party, cancelled Mohapatra’s nomination as the candidate from Patkura and chose another as the party candidate just barely few hours before the completion of nomination process leaving no room to Mohapatra to enter the Assembly.

Patnaik, rather suave yet cunning, has also ensured that Mohapatra did not enter the assembly even till today. As the author rightly pointed out “Naveen the politician had shown the ability to outsmart the smartest of them”.

After he became Chief Minister in 2000, he continued to eliminate his possible challenges within the party starting from Dilip Ray, a businessman-politician, to Nalinikanta Mohanty, then BJD’s working president and second only to Naveen in the party hierarchy.

The book also highlights the protégée-mentor relationship between Naveen Patnaik and Pyari Mohapatra and how Mohapatra had staged an abortive coup on May 29, 2012, when Naveen was in UK.

Even though the author has elaborated on the abortive coup, a few answers remain elusive — including was it really a coup or just a media creation?

The author elaborately describes on how the TINA factor helped him to rule the state for so long and how he remained the darling of the masses, bucking the anti-incumbency factor.
”
“Members of one group, in particular, vouch vociferously for the chief minis’er’s integrity. These are an overwhelming majority of Odi’ha’s 200 lakh women, the chief minis’er’s trusted vote bank. Naveen is a bachelor, but his emotional bonding with the st’te’s womenfolk is remarkab”e,” the book says.

The book also highlights how Patnaik has mastered the art of shifting the blame on someone else to remain Mr. Clean despite the fact that some of the biggest scams –mining, chit funds — in the history of the state took place during his watch. ”

“The key to Na’een’s success is that even though he has indulged in political machinations and subterfuge, he has largely come out of them without blemish, skillfully sidestepping scrutiny and deflecting criticism. He is still viewed by many as innocent and incapable of the vileness of an ordinary politician. And when something goes horribly wrong somewhere in the state, there is always someone else who shoulders the blame, sparing Naveen any taint. That he is single, soft-spoken and always deferential has helped in nurturing Na’een’s im”ge,” the book says.

By rough estimates, Patnaik has so far shown the door to some 46 of his ministers on one pretext or the other, it said.

The book also mentions the possible challenge for Patnaik in the 2019 polls with the rise of BJP and union minister Dharmendra Pradhan. As the author points o”t, “The battle for 2019 promises to be a test of guile, image and stam”na.”

The book is a required read for those who want a balanced telling of the Chief Mini’ter’s journey so far. Also, for those interested in the political journey of Odisha, including the rule of Biju Patnaik and J.B. Patnaik, the book is a great repository.

Opposition parties to meet over Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman election

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Opposition parties will meet here on Monday evening to discuss the name of a joint opposition candidate for election to the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman’s post on August 9.

Sources said the opposition parties are expected to short list candidates at the meeting, which will be held in the chamber of Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad.

They would then get back to their leaders about the outcome of the meeting.

Another meeting is expected to take place on Tuesday to decide the candidate.

The election is likely to be a tight affair even as the opposition bloc has an edge over the BJP-led NDA in terms of numbers. The outcome will depend on the stance of parties such as BJD, AIADMK, Telangana Rashtra Samiti and YSRCP–which could ally with the government in certain situations.

Opposition sources said that there were 35 “fence sitters” and the outcome will depend on their stance.

The two large parties in the upper house — BJP and Congress — are unlikely to put up a candidate.

The parties which would support an opposition nominee include the Congress (50), TMC (14), SP (13), TDP (6), CPI-M (5), CPI (2), DMK (4), NCP (4), AAP (3), BSP (4), RJD (5), PDP (2), JD-S (1), Nominated (1), Kerala Congress-Mani (1) and IUML (1).

Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu had on Monday announced that the new Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman will be elected on August 9.

The post of the Deputy Chairman fell vacant after P.J. Kurien retired in July.

The election will be held a day before the conclusion of the monsoon session of Parliament.

Molestation complainant not our student: NSD

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The National School of Drama here on Sunday clarified that a young woman who complained of molestation by a guest lecturer was never its student.

The 25-year-old woman, in her complaint on August 1, alleged that she was inappropriately touched by a 62-year-old retired Professor at a workshop.

“The applicant was never a student of National School of Drama, as has appeared in a section of print and electronic media. She was an applicant for the selection process for admission to the three-year diploma course in dramatic arts,” an NSD statement said.

It said that an internal committee set up to probe is yet to submit its final report for further action.

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