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Why We Should Exclude Huawei in Rolling out 5G Dr. Ashwani Mahajan

1 Cover Page 2. Cover Inside Page Paush-Magha January 2020 Between India and Pakistan, we should give seeds a chance EDITOR ...... Indra Shekhar Singh

ASSOCIATE-EDITOR Demand, supply and growth slowdowns ...... Rathin Roy PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Ishwardas Mahajan on behalf of Swadeshi Rate rise must to save economy, check Euro-type crash, violence Jagaran Samiti, 'Dharmakshetra', Sector-8, ...... Shivaji Sarkar R.K. Puram, New Delhi-22,

COVER & PAGE DESIGNING Review GST for Preserving National Unity ...... Dr. Bharat Jhunjhunwala

EDITORIAL OFFICE 'Dharmakshetra' Sector-8, Babu Genu Marg. Crouching Tigers, Hidden Dragons R.K. Puram, N. D.-22 ...... Sanjaya Baru E-MAIL : [email protected] WEBSITE : www.swadeshionline.in China’s debt-trap Diplomacy ...... Swadeshi Samvad

CAA, NPR & NRC Will Play Crucial Role In Making Of New India ...... Dr. R. Balashankar

What led to the SAD's U-turn on the inclusion of Muslims in CAA? ...... Anilesh S. Mahajan

Historical Promises ...... Sandhya Jain

Farm tech being pushed to benefit corporates ...... Devinder Sharma

Stance of Indian Mobile Phone Handset Manufacturers ...... Alok Singh

Re-visiting Ancient Indian Art and Architecture ...... Prof. Nandini Sinha Kapur

The syncretic age of Persia in India ...... Sudhirendar Sharma 39 Back Inside Cover 40 Back Cover Letters Quote-Unquote Changing (Damaging) Landscape of Market Dear Editor, The manufacturer comes up with a product and creates awareness about its product to gain customer, realize sales and make business sustainable as People should not get into well as profitable. The other scenario is that the customer demands the product destruction or obstruc- from the manufacturer and the manufacturer fulfills the customized demand in tion. Everybody should best possible way. Both the ways are sensible and acceptable, and various think in terms of construc- permutations and combinations of such understandings are possible. In the tion. I am not saying every- whole process, the mediator is dependent on manufacturer or on end user cus- body should support the tomer in the transaction of product. government, no need. Dis- The bargaining power of manufacturer is high vis-a-vis wholesaler. The sent is the essence of de- bargaining power of end user customer is also high vis-a-vis retailer.But the mocracy. landscape of market or mandi or bazaar has changed. Now the most power- M. Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President, Bharat ful stakeholder is the logistics provider. Now the logistics supplier decidesor tries its best to influence what the manufacturer will make andwhat the end user customer will consume. These logistics supplier has various links i.e. it is made up of many stakeholders; for example- warehouse owner can be one, transport owner can be other and so on. "can we pledge, that by Logistics supplier are in the form of online selling platform, or in the 2022, when we achieve 75 form of transportation or in the form of display space in a retail shop. years of independence we Ideallythe logistics provider should not have any say in production or con- insist and remain stead- sumption. In the emerging market of online buying, the online platform fast at least, for about two- owners are doing backward as well as forward integration. They are owning three years on buying lo- warehouses and servings as a courier company as well. A policy needs to be cal products?" Narendra Modi, Prime Minister, India framed which discourages backward and forward integration of logistics supplier to temper with the production and consumption liberty of manufac- turer and the end user. – Alok Singh, Delhi EDITORIAL OFFICE We have not come just to run the government, to SWADESHI PATRIKA solve the problems of the ‘Dharmakshetra’, Sector-8, Rama Krishna Puram, New Delhi-22 country. Tel. : 26184595, E-Mail: [email protected] Amit Shah, Home Affair Minister, India For subscription please send payment by A/c payee Cheque/Demand Draft/Money Order in favour of ‘Swadeshi Patrika’ at New Delhi, or Deposit the subscription amount in Bank of India A/C No. 602510110002740, IFSC: BKID 0006025 (Ramakrishnapuram) Annual Subscription: 150/- Life Membership : 1500/- We respect all Indians, in- cluding Muslims. India is Kindly write your full name and address in capital letters. If you do not receive any issue of Swadeshi Patrika, kindly e-mail us immediately. home to all of them. We are willing to listen to them if there are grievances. Ravi Shanakar Prasad, Union Minister, Bharat

4 EDITORIAL GST Woes As Goods and Service Tax (GST) collections have exceeded Rupees one lakh crores in the second straight in December 2019, it has given a siegh of relief to the government, struggling against the shortfall in GST collections in the current fiscal year. It is notable that GST collections in November 2019 were rupees 1,03,492 crores and rupees 1,03,184 crores in December 2019. When GST was first introduced in July 2017, it was expected that monthly GST collections would exceed Rupees 1 lakh crores; we find that out of 30 months, so far only in 9 months GST collections could exceed this benchmark. In December 2019 meeting of the GST Council, this monthly revenue target has been revised to Rupees 1.1 lakh crores. If we leave the year 2017-18 as a preliminary period, the total GST receipts in 2018-19 were almost near expectations (Rupees 11.77 lakh crores), total compensation amount to the States (Rupees 69,275 crores) could be funded from this cess so collected. However, we find that in the current financial year 2019-20, total GST collection is still falling short of Rupees 1 lakh crores target, and therefore, the government is under tremendous pressure to compensate the State govern- ments for loss in their GST revenue. On 16th December 2019 the Central government has released Rupees 35,298 crores to the States as compensation for the loss of GST revenue. Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency (IICRA) has estimated that the compensation to the nine big states may go up to nearly Rupees 70,000 crores in the current financial year, which is nearly double as compared to the last year. Situation may look gloomier if we add other states also. Subsuming various indirect taxes previously imposed by the Central and state governments, a new tax system with single tax, namely, Goods and Service Tax (GST) throughout the country was implemented by Narendra Modi government from July 1, 2017. This was considered to be a major tax reform in country. With the imple- mentation of GST most of the indirect taxes, so far imposed by Union and the State Governments were sub- sumed under GST. GST so collected was agreed to be divided between the Union and State Governments equally. It is worth mentioning that as per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the states would get 42 percent of the Union taxes. Therefore, it means that 71 percent of the total GST collected would go to states, while remaining 29 percent would remain with the Union Government. 'One nation one tax' was the mantra behind GST. With different indirect taxes levied by the Union and the State governments subsumed in single tax, GST was supposed to bring in efficiency and do away with cascading effect causing additional burden on the ultimate consumer. However, introduction of GST was generally opposed by the state governments, as they felt that with introduction of GST their rights to impose indirect taxes would be curbed. State governments also feared that once GST is introduced, their revenues may get hurt in future. Therefore, the Central government undertook that the State governments would be compensated for any loss in their revenue, assuming 14 percent growth in revenue with 2015-16 as base. This means that Union government would not only share the proceeds of GST with the State governments, but also would compensate for any loss in State governments' revenues assuming 14 percent growth. To ensure that Union government does not bear the burden of compensating the State governments for the loss of GST, an additional cess was introduce on the tobacco products, proceeds of which were supposed to be used for compensating the State governments. When GST was introduced, it was said that though we would be taxing at a lower rate, total tax revenue would increase under GST because it would end tax evasion. However, we see that though technically GST is considered to be successful, so far as revenue is concerned we don't find expected growth in the same. Therefore, Central government has to compensate the State government more and more, year after year. The expected check on tax evasion is also not happening, because tax evaders have found new ways and means to evade taxes. Tax credit is being claimed using fake bills. Some scrupulous people are claiming tax credit even on the goods purchased for their personal consumption. So far, several cases of tax credit with fake bills amounting to thou- sands of crores of rupees have been unearthed, while many more cases could not be caught. It is interesting to note that in cases where composition scheme has been introduced, where tax credit is not taken and GST is collected on the total sales, such as restaurants etc., despite having much lower rate of tax, significant amount of revenue is being realised. However, much lower revenue is being collected from other businesses. This loss of revenue in GST is a cause of major concern, which has to be dealt with sternly. Any failure in solving this problem may land us to major crisis. Government has to plug the glitches in the GSTN at the earliest. 5 COVER STORY Why We Should Exclude Huawei in Rolling out 5G

5G is the fifth generation wireless technology for digital cellular networks. We understand that the mobile phones we use are backed by the technology net- works. There has constantly been advancement in the technology for cellular net- works. In the recent years we have seen advancement from 2G, 3G and 4G. Now the efforts are on to upgrade these networks with 5G technology. So far in India these technologies have been provided mostly by foreign players including Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE etc. However, significant sec- tion of India’s telecom networks is controlled by Chinese companies, such as Huawei and ZTE. Unfortunate part of the whole story is that though domestic Indian companies meet world class standards and even have been outbidding Chinese competition in foreign markets, they have been denied the chance to compete in their own markets. As a result all the value creation is taking place in China while the Indian ecosystem is deprived of value-added high-tech produc- tion and good jobs. Recently the Department of Telecom (DoT) has given in-principle approval to various players, including Chinese Huawei to conduct 5G trials in India. Though the in-principle approval might not mean that the actual contract is given to Hua- wei, but this is very discouraging as it is not only a big concern for national security, it is a step against domestic players. They will always be suspicious that the Chinese company managed the foot inside the door and could undercut the price to win the project. It is notable that Huawei has been banned in several countries as more and more countries realise the full implications of having Hua- wei and Chinese companies in their communication networks. There are ample evidence that lead to suspicion of Chinese companies indulging in the exfiltrating sensitive information from devices and equipment that it exports. Many of these

Recently the Department of Telecom (DoT) has given in-principle approval to various players, including Chinese Huawei to conduct 5G trials in India. Dr. Ashwani Mahajan 6 COVER STORY countries suspect that the Chinese these developments happening wei’s equipment to spy on people. companies indulge in stealing mas- across the globe. The partnering The committee for 5G trials sive amounts of military and tech- with this Chinese major will be al- comprises the Intelligence Bureau nological secrets through cyber- lowed only after ensuring that there (IB), Ministries of External Affairs, hacking from various countries. We is no compromise on the security. Home, Telecom and IT and the all understand that these Chinese We as a country are yet not sure Department of Science and Tech- companies are also bound by Chi- of relying on Huawei. Globally, the nology. As per the report, all of nese Intelligence law to share intel- Chinese companies, including Hua- them have agreed on placing safe- ligence with their government. wei, are facing allegations that they guards while dealing with Huawei. Therefore, the presence of the ‘underbid’ projects, and position Indian companies at disad- Chinese companies in our tele- themselves and their establishment vantage communications networks would back home to snoop and enable 1. Chinese companies with mas- compromise our national security. them to shut remotely, if required sive support from the Chinese There is a misinformation, be. The Chinese dominance in In- government are allowed to deliberately been floated with co- dia’s telecommunication sector is vastly underbid Indian compa- hesion of some bureaucrats that very damaging. It not only is creat- nies and win tenders for critical India doesn’t have pool of talent ing a security threat but are also infrastructure. to provide the 5G and 6G solu- killing opportunities for our indig- 2. Chinese companies are also tions. This is not true. In fact, there enous players. able to evade customs duties. are series of entrepreneurs work- Advise by security and sci- 3. Indian companies are not paid ing extensively on this. An Indian entific bodies their dues by the Department company has patented their 6G There is nothing more secure of Telecommunications. concept in the US. At this stage, these entrepreneurs need patron- than the indigenous equipment. 4. Indian bidders are also forced age of the government to acceler- Recently, member of country’s to adhere to specifications that ate their growth. This will armor National Security Advisory Board, are not operationally required India to build the infrastructure to Professor Veezhinathan Kamako- but are met only by MNCs. take fruits of leap in the technolo- ti, expressed, the security vulnera- Therefore, we can conclude gy, that too without compromis- bilities are inherent in any foreign that Indian companies are discrim- ing security. The countries, who have electronic equipment in general, inated against and do not have a grown big in the telecommunica- and 5G equipment in particular, market in their own country. They tion equipment manufacturing, have which increases the risks exponen- hardly get any support from Gov- always groomed their domestic tially. He recommends that securi- ernment while the industries of oth- players. Even Huawei took $75 bil- ty can only be guaranteed by 100 er countries get full Government lion from the Chinese establishment. percent indigenisation. Indian com- support. Moreover, China has sev- It is notable that Chinese es- panies have the capability to build a eral barriers to Indian companies tablishment does not allow mar- 100% secure 5G and even 6G net- operating in their telecom market. ket access to the foreign telecom works and have won orders against Indian companies have companies to provide them neither stiff Chinese competition abroad. world-class indigenous capabilities. the equipments nor the software. K Vijay Raghavan, who is Despite their winning tenders We too must push the clause of the Principal Scientific Adviser and abroad, even against Chinese com- reciprocity here. also heads high-level committee on petition, and the excellence of their It is not that the government 5G, has said that India should “go products, they are struggling do- does not understand the dangers for (5G) trials immediately with all, mestically as Government bodies emanating from the 5G technolo- except China.” Huawei has long bypass them in favour of lucrative gy rolled out by Chinese compa- been suspected of having close ties contracts with Foreign Owned nies. The former telecom secretary with China’s ruling communist par- Electronic Manufacturers (FOE- Aruna Sundararajan assured that ty and there are concerns that a Ms) and Chinese companies. Many the DOT is keeping a close eye on backdoor could be placed in Hua- have been acquired by foreigners 7 COVER STORY and others have folded. Their In- for indigenous 5G /6G tech tellectual Property Rights (IPRs) The only solution is development in the Private Sec- which should have been Indian to fully indigenise tor. Allocation from the Fund owned are now located abroad. should also be made for the de- India’s velopment of next-gen tech- What should we do? telecommunications nologies in the Private Sector. The only solution is to fully Full support for R&D for 6G indigenise India’s Telecommunica- network and reserve development in which Indian tions Network and reserve it for it for Indian companies have secured patents Indian companies on security companies on must be provided by Govern- grounds, which cannot be chal- ment. China has allocated tril- lenged in the WTO. Following steps security grounds, lions of dollars for R&D. would be needed to help indigeni- which cannot be 11.The security and resilience of sation of telecom sector: the 5G system rests on contin- 1. India must recognise the full challenged in the uous threat and risk analysis – extent of the national and eco- WTO. so it must incorporate an Indi- nomic security threat posed by an Threat Intelligence System. foreign and especially Chinese tenders which result in awards 12.A national policy on Standard equipment in India’s Informa- to foreign companies after im- Essential Patents (SEPs) must tion and Communication Net- posing unfair criteria on Indian be implemented. works (ICT). companies must be probed, India can certainly become an 2. Telecommunications must be exposed and prosecuted. export and manufacturing hub for declared a critical and strategic 6. If tenders are fixed to exclude the whole world and present a vi- infrastructure vital to India’s se- Indian companies complaints able alternative to China. Indian curity, so that bans on imports should be lodged and the ten- Products will always be trusted cannot be challenged in the World ders cancelled. more than Chinese equivalents. The Trade Organisation (WTO). 7. A Buy Indian Act and Telecom Chinese have been caught bugging 3. Only indigenous equipment Security Act must be adopted the African Union headquarters must be procured for telecom by India’s Parliament, like the and Huawei has been helping au- networks and the recently re- US, Australia and New thoritarian African governments leased procurement guidelines Zealand’s Security and Buy Do- spy on their own citizens. India can of the Department for Pro- mestic Acts. position itself as a viable secure and motion of Industry and Inter- 8. Payments to Swadeshi telecom safe alternative and can prevent the nal Trade must be strictly ad- companies must be expedited misuse of cyber means against the hered to. To begin with all Gov- so that they stay afloat and con- peoples of the world and help ernment and PSU procurement tinue investing in R&D. protect the freedoms of the must be made from indigenous 9. If India adopts 5G, it should world’s people. manufacturers. Orders diverted be totally indigenous. The In addition, the stimulus pro- from Public Sector Units Cloud component of 5G Core vided by domestic procurement (PSUs) to private telcos must be (i.e. apps, infra, and data in will give a massive boost to the restored to PSUs on the condi- cloud) must be located in In- Indian economy and bring it out tion they procure from domes- dia. Since India will have to pay of stagnation. Imports and FDI tic manufacturers. royalties even for indigenously that simply acquires existing assets 4. Chinese imports can also be built 5G equipment, therefore have failed to do so and discour- banned for Govt. procurement compulsory licensing can be in- aged job creation and domestic under clause 10d of the DPIIT troduced. value addition. All-round domes- policy on Make in India. 10. The proceeds for 5G spectrum tic procurement will give the much 5. Conflict of interest in Govt. sale must be channelled to a needed push for revival of the In- appointed bodies overseeing Fund that would invest in R&D dian economy. 8 PERSPECTIVE Between India and Pakistan, we should give seeds a chance

Indian seed sector lost one of its biggest seed export markets, when the govern- ments of India and Pakistan moved to suspend trade relations between the two countries. The political climate hasn’t been the most favourable recently, but this New Year is an opportunity to separate politics and economics for the benefit of farmers on both sides of the border. The Gujarati community is renowned for their business acumen, and our Prime Minister Narendra Bhai being one of Gujarat’s sons must understand that India loses more from this trade embargo. Pakistan has been our third top des- tination for fruit and vegetables seeds for many years. In 2018-19, India exported USD 17,528,530 worth of fruit and vegetable seeds and 2017-18 that number was USD 14,160,248. It’s a 3 million USD increase from the previous year, and perhaps wealth generated from trade would have grown as Indian seeds are very popular in Pakistan, due to similar agro-climatic conditions, quality and unmatched culinary value. Imagine this wealth is generated only from the trade of the fruit and vegeta- ble trade, what about other seeds like cotton, cereal, etc? Germplasm and plants care little for borders but they do care more for favourable soil, climate and water as a result North India supplied a lion’s share of all types of seed to Paki- stan. These included paddy, wheat, legumes, cotton, etc. Indian varieties do very well in Pakistan because over time they have adapted to similar growing seasons, monsoon and soils. The Indo-Pak seed trade was INR 1300-1500 crores each year. And the industry estimates the trade going up to 2000 crores in the coming years. That’s

We can only hope that both the government expedite the normalization and treat seed as an essential commodity, exempting seeds from the embargo for public interest. Indra Shekhar Singh 9 Perspective

2000 crores pumped straight into tists and technicians will be em- the pockets of farmers and seed We have to keep in ployed to assist Pakistan in their breeders. The prosperity it brings quality assessment. Currently, Indi- across the border can be another mind that political an certified seeds as are respected great example of Indo-Pak part- differences have in Pakistan and other countries like nership. But by banning seeds ex- Afghanistan, Nepal, etc. We can ports, we are shooting ourselves in lasted for roughly strive to create robust system trade the foot. Apart from the export unaffected by politics to experience seed stock losses on the Indian 70 years, yet our a sector boost in both countries. side, the Pakistani side experienced history of trade Today, Indian and Pakistani disruption of seed supply and thus seed breeders have to meet in oth- generating a large gap. and commerce er countries and discuss business or But the vacuum created by go through a third party to do this ban, is being used by Chinese goes back business across the border. Indian seed companies to expand in Pa- thousands of and Pakistani have to unnecessari- kistan. This ban facilitates a Chinese ly spend money. Both our nations takeover of the Pakistani seed in- years. lose the price and logistical advan- dustry. While Indian farmers and tage on seeds due to these situa- seed sector are losing millions of ality may be stranger than fiction. tions. dollars, the Chinese seed sector is Even in this period, India is giving We have to keep in mind that now growing and due to opera- Pakistani citizens visas to attend political differences have lasted for tions in Pakistan, now has access weddings, etc. And so is Pakistan. roughly 70 years, yet our history of to Pakistani germplasm, which Both the governments realize the trade and commerce goes back may in the future, be detrimental political difference but are also thousands of years. The people of to the interests of the Indian seed pragmatic. They know they cannot North India and in particular Pun- sector. The Pakistani government stop people and trade as both jab, Rajasthan, etc have been trad- and the Chinese are already work- countries are in fact each other’s ing and exchanging goods includ- ing to develop a hybrid variety of “most favoured nation (MFN)” a ing seeds for countless years. The ‘Basmati’ and the Pakistani prime term Modi government used too. current political boundaries lack minister Imran Khan recently in On humanitarian grounds In- this history and are devoid of the statement prioritized agriculture, dia is selling Pakistan medicines as economic dependence these areas and wanted a deeper cooperation they are essential commodities. Why have on each other. Is about time with China. should seeds be any different? The both nations think like the subcon- Although, the Chinese seeds Indian Essential commodities Act, tinent for the interest of all their don’t match up to the Indian vari- thinks that some seeds are essen- citizens. Life of the trade embar- eties in their culinary value, it’s only tial. Further, these seeds are being go is limited. Once the political a matter of time, economics and used by farmers, sometimes the thawing is complete, seed trade high yields naturally exhaust the poorest in Pakistan. By ensuring will be restored. We can only hope demand for Indian seeds. They quality seeds for these farmers, that both the government expedite work both sides of the border, like India will directly help battle mal- the normalization and treat seed as many other MNCs seed firms and nutrition and rural poverty in Pa- an essential commodity, exempt- profit the most from the trade kistan. ing seeds from the embargo for embargo. They biggest losers again India can also become a seed public interest for the future too. are Indian and Pakistani farmers testing and quality hub for Pakistani This is a rare opportunity for the and seed breeders. seeds as we have the best infrastruc- Modi and Imran governments to ture within the SAARC countries. steer Indo-Pak relations in the in- Business as usual This is another avenue through terests of their farmers and also As new wave of hatred is which jobs can be generated in earn some good karma and ‘dua’ slung by each country’s media, re- agriculture sector as Indian scien- this new year. 10 OPINION Demand, supply and growth slowdowns

There is an ongoing debate about whether the current slowdown reflects a de- mand- or supply-constrained economy. Analytically, this question is pertinent when a slowdown is cyclical. If aggregate demand is less than potential output, then the economy is demand-constrained. But if actual output is less than potential output, despite the existence of aggregate demand, then it can be termed a supply-con- strained slowdown. Structural slowdowns are more complicated. In the case of a developing country such slowdowns are attributable to specific factors (lack of infrastruc- ture, over-regulation, etc.) but may equally be a consequence of interplay between demand and supply factors. Demand is a function of the price at which goods and services are offered. Supply side constraints may result in equilibrium prices being so high that aggre- gate demand is limited. This happens when these constraints lower productivity, and therefore, prices are too high for aggregate demand to be generated at the scale required to support output growth. With no barriers to trade, such demand could also be met through increased imports, which would not contribute to raising domestic output and growth. I see this interplay in India as follows. The Indian growth story since 1991 has not been about export-led growth except at the margin. It has been powered by domestic consumption and derivative investment demand. In essence, the rel- ative prices of the commodities that the top 150 million people consume have fallen since 1991. Relative to the incomes of this segment of the population the prices of goods that are seen as the “leading indicators” of economic growth — cars, fast moving consumer goods, air travel etc.— have fallen continuously, as a

For India to complete its development transformation, a switch to a broad- based and more inclusive composition of domestic demand is of the first importance. Rathin Roy 11 Opinion consequence of liberalisation, ris- ing incomes and capital gains ac- India to complete its cruing to this segment, and ade- development quate availability of producer and consumer credit to these sectors. transformation, a switch As I have argued previously, there to a broad based & more is evidence that aggregate demand inclusive composition of growth from this segment is taper- ing off. domestic demand is of However, structural barriers the first importance. continue to limit aggregate de- mand for the things consumed by have to make do with rationed and short-term measures to ameliorate the next 300 million. Thus, mass subsidised access to these goods the slowdown are necessary. The market textile imports from Bang- of very inferior quality. This, at government has done a lot to se- ladesh and Vietnam absorb Indian best, limits their welfare loss but cure this amelioration using the in- aggregate demand as domestic in- does nothing for growth. This struments at its direct disposal. I dustry is not able to move out of leads to high transaction costs and have also suggested that more high-wage islands to competitive demands for priority in access to could be done by deploying mon- low-wage geographies in northern these scarce resources or expensive etary and credit policy instruments and eastern India. Despite govern- opt-outs. For this reason, public that would be part of any struc- ment being the largest landowner servants and law makers are com- turalist or new-Keynesian toolkit, in the country, especially in cities, pensated generously in kind— ac- but have fallen into disuse due to regulatory and institutional barriers cess to AIIMS medical facilities the obsession of the now discred- limit the utilisation of this land to and expensive private healthcare at ited orthodox macro-economic produce affordable housing at scale. subsidised prices, preferential ac- framework with the mono-variate Indians earning the minimum wage cess to quality public housing etc. relationship between output, are unable to afford quality health These perquisites of office ensure growth and inflation. and education without subsidies. they are unaffected by rationing at But for India to complete its Thus, aggregate demand for the expense of the general public. development transformation, a things that those earning the mini- The current slowdown has switch to a broad-based and more mum wage wish to purchase is been ascribed by many commen- inclusive composition of domes- squeezed by high prices due to sup- tators to various structural shocks tic demand is of the first impor- ply side constraints. High logistics in the financial and credit markets, tance. This is a medium-term task, costs, expensive and unreliable en- as well as medium-term short- but execution must commence ergy supply, poor investment in comings in the investment-credit with simultaneous short-term ame- human capital, and in research and relationships that have governed lioration measures. If this is not development, ineffective and dis- Indian growth over the medium done, short-term fixes will, ulti- cretion-based regulation and ad- term. Various measures have been mately, only result in stagflation. ministration, lack of coherent and suggested to improve credit off- India needs to design incomes and consistent medium-term fiscal and take, liquidity, and the attractiveness industrial policies that secure a credit policies compound the of investment. There is a lot of more broad-based and inclusive problem by lowering productivi- merit in these arguments but, in my growth process, if it is not to fail ty, increasing costs, and further lim- view, the current slowdown has sig- in its development transformation iting the scope for increasing the nalled that my diagnosis of the and fall into some version of the output of these goods and servic- underlying structural weakness of middle income trap that has been es at scale and quality. India’s growth story needs to be the fate of many countries that have The public policy response addressed even though it may not been inattentive to this problem. The author is Director and CEO, National Institute of Public has been unsatisfactory. The poor be the leading proximate trigger. Finance and Policy, NIPFP, New Delhi. https://www.nipfp.org.in/blog/2019/12/06/demand-supply- and minimum wage earners alike I have, elsewhere, argued that and-growth-slowdowns/ 12 DISCUSSION

Prices rising, savings falling Rate rise must to save economy, check Euro-type crash, violence

The latest RBI decision to stagnate rates show semblance of reality has dawned. As prices are rising, economy is slowing down and savings are hit, the decision is partially correct. A saner decision would have been to increase rates. The central bank is responsible to depositors more than the borrowers. A long helping hand to borrowers since 2008 has hit the banks, people’s savings and despite wishes has not helped the economy and savers. The central bank had been cutting the key interest rates at every Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting since Shaktikanta Das took over as the Gover- nor of RBI last December. In the five reductions so far this year, the interest rates have been reduced by a total of 135 basis points on concerns that growth mo- mentum is slowing down and to boost liquidity in the economy. Sadly enough, liquidity has remained critical. The country cites the west to justify most decisions that are not helping the people but does not take lessons from protests against atrocious bank charges in France, Germany, Europe, Australia and other places. Such moves erupted in violent forms since 2015. Anger of yellow vest rallies since December 2018 against bank charges forced French President E Macron to announce freeze on raising charges for 2019. But France is now erupting against pension reforms! grinding the country to a halt and closing Eiffel Tower to visitors on Thursday, Dec 5. The RBI has not cited these as reasons for the decision to stick to October last decision of rate at 5.15 percent as it sees prices rising further. It could not have overlooked the skyrocketing onion prices that touched Rs 150 a kg in Kolkata. In practical terms, its October rate cut was improper and now it should have raised it instead of waiting till the presentation of the new budget in February 2020. May be it did not do due to the lobbies of powerful borrowers. The nation

Rate rise must to save economy, check Euro-type crash, and violence. Shivaji Sarkar 13 Discussion knows that such rampant borrow- percent on March 31, 2008 to 30.8 ers have led to high NPAs – sim- The RBI has percent on March 31, 2018 – fall ple huge losses to public sector largely stood as a of 6.7 percent. banks – and the recent mergers of Shunning small investments, loss makers to save these entities. protector of the which still remains major source of Europeans are seething banking and its job development funding, is seen against the European Central Bank matching fall in overall growth. The for the miseries in Europe. Pen- is to protect links are visible but there are more sion funds post 2007 sub-prime nation’s finances invisible ones too. collapsed in the US. Now people The promotion of mutual in France are fighting against such and economy. funds and linkages to equity fund possible collapse. has seen more repatriation of prof- India needs to learn. Its over 11 percent, growth is anaemic. Spain its by short term foreign portfolio decade-long love with the borrow- and Greece are in poor state. investors. It may have occasionally ers has hit the depositors of all ages The RBI despite many prob- zoomed stock indices but has not hard. It is just not Vijay Mallya or lems in the country has largely helped investors much. Mutual Nirav Modi who have ruined the stood as a protector of the bank- funds of many companies and banks, there are hundreds of oth- ing system. But for its interventions, banks have caused severe loss to ers. The banks while doling out the situation could have been the marginal investors. Overall the freebies to the failing borrowers worse. Political cacophony to pro- savings were swindled away. forget, they are mere custodian of tect its autonomy must be taken as The country also witnessed millions of depositors’ savings and consensus to protect independent rise of ponzi schemes during the have no right to play with it. institutions. The RBI decision has last about two decades. This was The present slowdown is taken a break from the past one the period when banks in practice more due to the profligacy of the year as per its mandate. Its job is discouraged savings. The oppor- banking system, loss of people’s just not helping a gasping sector like tunity was lapped up by the un- money, at least over Rs 12 lakh the housing but protect the nation’s trustworthy ponzi firms. crore as officially stated. Window finances and economy. The Economic Survey 2018- dressing of mergers avert an overt Its job in brief is promotion 19, lays stress on savings than in- crisis but is not a solution. of saving and investment, control- vestment, saying that global stud- The HDFC Securites MD, ling imports and exports, manag- ies have shown that though growth Dhiraj Relli, says that RBI is wor- ing business cycles, regulation of is associated with “a rapidly rising ried about the rising inflation and aggregate demand, generation of investment rate” it is associated GDP may not rise as domestic and employment, helping the infrastruc- with “even more steeply increas- external demand conditions have ture grow, allocating more credit for ing savings rate”. remained weak. Instead of rate cut, priority sector and managing and Former RBI Governor C it nudged the government to cut development of banking sector. Rangarajan says the fall in the interest rates on small savings. In short, hardly any aspect of household savings has been hap- Why should the rates for small economy is left out. But of late it pening for a long time and has savings be cut? A similar issue has has not considered the falling gross prompted him to describe the eco- hit the western nation leading to savings rate to the extent it should nomic slowdown as a “structural” protests. Mostly these are because have. It speaks volumes. Any na- one, even though there are cyclical of G 20 suggestions. The protest tion progresses on its savings. The reasons for this too. in Europe against the troika – ECB, best instances are the initial two The RBI and the government IMF and World Bank – needs to decades after independence that need to look at this critical phe- be taken seriously across the world. ensured progress through collec- nomenon. Campaign a la 1960 It needs to study if the banks are in tion of 25 paise coins and a mini- type is needed to desist people proper hands or not. The unem- mum of five-rupee deposits. The from protesting, boost savings and ployment in Eurozone remains at rate has come down from 37.5 stem the slowdown. 14 FOCUS Review GST for Preserving National Unity

The Government of Punjab has complained that the State is unable to pay sala- ries to its employees because of the delay in transfer of its share of GST from the Centre. It is having to borrow monies from its Public Sector Undertakings to pay the salaries. This is merely the trailer. The real drama will start three years from now. The Centre had promised to pay to the States any shortfall in GST receipts for the first five years of the implementation of GST. The GST receipts were expected to increase by 14 percent per year. The Centre would pay to the states any shortfall in these expected receipts. If, for example, the GST receipts in De- cember 2019 after 14 percent increase for Punjab were expected to be Rs 100 crores, but the actual receipts were only Rs 90 crores, then the Centre would pay to Punjab the shortfall of Rs 10 crores. In this way, all the States were assured of a 14 percent increase in their revenues for the next five years. The Centre, however, if finding it difficult to make the shortfall. The total receipts from GST have remained stagnant around Rs 100 thousand crores per month for the last two years while the Centre has promised a 14 percent increase. Thus, the Centre is finding it difficult to pay the shortfall to the States leading to delays and problems for states like Punjab. The real action will start after the five years of guaranteed revenues come to an end. The States will no longer be compensated for any shortfall in the GST collections. They will have virtually no tools to make up for the shortfall due to events such as slowdown as happening at present. The states of Assam, Chhattis- garh, Goa, Himachal, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand were col- lecting higher rates of sales tax than the average of all states before the implemen- tation of GST. At present, that is, for the ongoing five years, they are assured of a 14 percent increase even though the GST collected by them is less. But after five

GST was adopted to ease the process of trading and achieve higher growth rates. Dr. Bharat Jhunjhunwala 15 Focus years they will collect GST at the low rates that are applicable to the We may adopt a whole country. They will face shortfalls in revenues. They will not common classification be able to raise the revenues by of goods but allow increasing the rates of GST on goods sold in their state. They will states to collect also not be able to reduce the rates different rates of taxes of tax to attract industries. They be helpless in a slowdown such as at on the sales. present. They will have to forcibly reduce their expenditures. This will There is no GST in the Unit- trade is possible with different have implications for the entire ed States. There is no Central Sales rates of tax. economy. The capital expenditures Tax as we had previously either. We may adopt a common of the states in 2010-11 were Rs The states collect Sales Tax on sales classification of goods but allow 1.7 lakh crores which increased to made in their state at rates varying states to collect different rates of Rs 6.2 lakh crore in 2019-20. In from an average of 10 percent to taxes on the sales. We can look for comparison, the capital expendi- nil. Yet there is no difficulty in trans- other alternatives. The main point tures of the Centre in 2010-11 porting goods from one state to is that the autonomy of the states were Rs 1.6 lakh crores which in- another. There are no check posts must be restored so that they can creased only to Rs 3.4 lakh crore on the state borders. A number of adjust their tax rates and revenues in 2019-20. The capital expendi- consumers in the United States according to their particular cir- tures of the States and the Centre travel from New York to New cumstances. That will prevent ex- were nearly equal in 1010-11. Jersey to buy goods because the treme duress for the states like Those of the States have become rates of sales tax are less. The situ- Assam and others who were col- nearly double of those of the Cen- ation of Europe is similar though lecting sales tax at higher rates ear- tre in 2019-20. A reduction of re- varying. Countries like Finland give lier. They will be able to collect GST ceipts of the States in this situation more autonomy to the States, oth- at higher rates and meet their ex- will lead to a cut in capital expen- ers not. Yet interstate trade is easy. penditures as previously. The prob- ditures and spells trouble for the These examples show that interstate lem could be explained by a simi- whole economy. trade is possible with different lev- le. The young in the joint family The purpose of GST was to els of Sales Tax or GST collected leave if the head bounds them ex- make trade easy and help us attain by the states. One reason for this is cessively by fixing their monthly higher growth rates. That expecta- that the problems arising from dif- expenditure etcetera. The family tion has been clearly belied—at least ferent classification of goods have then breaks. On the other hand, the for the present. We need to think been removed. For example, Kraft family is held together if head pro- ahead and make a plan for a pos- paper could be classified as “pa- vides substantial freedom to the sible continuation of the reduced per” in Punjab and as “packing members to live according to their levels of revenues of the states. Let material” in Haryana. own dispositions. us go back and examine why we In such a situation, interstate The unity of the country is introduced GST. It was introduced trade was difficult because the rate likely to be maintained if we loos- to facilitate interstate trade. But we of tax applicable on the same com- en the GST and allow states to have fallen from the frying pan into modity was different among the collect GST at different rates. The the fire. We have got rid of prob- states. This problem has been re- objective of GST was “one tax, lems in interstate trade but landed moved, thanks to GST. Now we one country.” However, it may in the problem of killing the states. must reinstate different rates of have the opposite result of “one We need to examine other ways of GST to be fixed by the states. The tax, many countries” if state auton- trade facilitation that maintain state experiences of the United States omy is not restored. autonomy. and Finland tell us that interstate Formerly Professor of Economics at IIM Bengaluru 16 BOOK REVIEW Crouching Tigers, Hidden Dragons

Title: Resurgent Asia: Diversity in Development, Author: Deepak Nayyar, Publication: Oxford University Press, Pag- es: 295, Price: Rs 895 In 1968, the Swedish Nobel Prize-winning economist Gunnar Myrdal published a three-volume survey of Asian econ- omies, Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations, taking a rather dim view of Asia’s growth prospects. In India’s case, Myrdal identified corruption in public life as a major cause of its poor economic performance, inviting Indira Gan- dhi’s famous put-down, “Corruption is a global phenome- non.” Most critics were astounded that Myrdal paid little at- tention to the impact and legacy of European colonialism in Asia. Thirty years after Myrdal’s ahistorical study of Asian back- wardness, the Cambridge economic historian Angus Maddi- son published his now famous statistical analysis of global development, demonstrating how China and India had been the world’s largest economies till the 17th Century, how two centuries of European colonialism had altered their fortunes and how by the turn of the century Asia was once again resurgent. On the 50th anniversary of Myrdal’s book, economist Deepak Nayyar asked the question as to what happened in the interregnum that proved Myrdal wrong and explained Maddison’s findings. Nayyar’s Resurgent Asia is an analytical enqui- ry into the development experience of Asia’s 14 major economies. Nayyar has chosen for his study China, South Korea and Taiwan from East Asia; Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam from Southeast Asia; Bang- ladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka from South Asia; and Turkey from West Asia. Taken together, Nayyar’s ‘Asian-14’ account for nine-tenths of Asia’s popu- lation and four-fifth’s of the continent’s income. The big picture is easy to paint. Led by the so-called ‘Asian tigers’ — Hong An analytical Kong, Singapore and Taiwan — and followed by South Korea, Malaysia and inquiry into the Indonesia the Asia to India’s East rose on the back of export-led industrialisation development aided not just by the support of the United States, as part of its Cold War strat- experience of egy of arresting the spread of communism in Asia, but also thanks to the invest- some of Asia’s ment these economies made in human capital formation, efficient infrastructure major economies and agricultural modernisation. China followed their example and the ‘Asian mir- acle’ was achieved. Ataturk’s Turkey had a similar model of modernisation. South and why there Asia is the laggard, but India began to rise, economically, after the 1980s with might be ground Bangladesh following suit. Sri Lanka was once viewed as a potential ‘Singapore for optimism. of South Asia’ but the majoritarian politics of Sinhala extremists and their mis- Sanjaya Baru handling of minority Tamil grievances put paid to that prospect. Pakistan also 17 Book Review began on a good note in the 1950s growth, while growth itself facili- posed with formidable challeng- and 1960s, performing better than tated structural change. es.’ While rejecting the kind of pes- India, but after 1991, India took While East Asian economies simism about Asian growth pros- off and Pakistan was left behind. did well on the export front, they pects that Myrdal epitomised in the Nayyar’s painstaking statistical were also open to imports which 1960s, Nayyar believes that despite compilation demonstrates clearly meant that net export was not as challenges ‘there is more reason for as to what policies worked and important a driver of growth as is optimism than pessimism.’ But such what could not. The Asian growth commonly imagined. Trade open- optimism is more on account of story remains essentially an East ness made these economies global- his reading of economic trends. A Asian growth story with China ly competitive but not excessively more nuanced political and socio- adding heft to it. High rates of sav- dependent on the global market. logical analysis may be less optimis- ing and investment, especially pub- Nayyar makes the important point tic. Asia’s challenges remain on the lic investment, a strategic industrial that none of the East Asian econ- governance front. policy that created globally com- omies have yet become ‘engines of India is a classic example of a petitive firms and rising levels of global growth’ because of which country whose economic perfor- land and labour productivity were ‘Asia could not drive world eco- mance over the past two decades the key drivers. Not surprisingly, nomic recovery in the aftermath of gives us reason to be optimistic Nayyar identifies investment in ed- the global financial crisis despite the about the future, but whose polit- ucation and the performance of resilience of its economies.’ ical management makes one less so. that sector as an ‘important driver Linear growth projections In most of East, Southeast and of growth on the supply side’. show Asia regaining its lost share West Asia also, it is the political risk Both supportive macroeconomic of world income, returning to the that begs the question about the policy, that was not obsessed with 1820 level by 2050. Nayyar does economic prospect. The writer is distinguished fellow, Institute for Defence low fiscal deficit and low inflation, not dismiss this prospect but warns Studies & Analysis, New Delhi https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/economist-deepak- and structural changes facilitated that ‘the opportunities are juxta- nayyar-resurgent-asia-book-6178861/ SWADESHI PATRIKA Voice of Real Economy Dedicated to Swadeshi Movement in all its dimensions; Battles threats to the economic sovereignty of the nation; and Gives Voice to all sections of Economy SUBSCRIBE AND/OR RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION FILL THE FORM AND SEND IT TO US : Medium : ...... (Hindi / English) Name ...... Address...... Contact No...... City ...... Pin ...... 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China is now going to occupy Kenya’s immensely profitable Mombasa port. Beijing had lent huge amounts for the development of Kenya’s railway network, which the African nation is not in a position to repay. Not only this, the inland container depot in Nairobi is also under threat of a Chinese takeover. We must remember that the modus operandi is the same as was in Sri Lanka, when Colombo had to hand over the port of Hambantota to China on a 99-year lease due to non-payment of Chinese borrowings. China had lent 550 billion Kenyan shillings for construction of Kenya’s Stan- dard Gauge Railway project. It is not fetching enough revenue and has lost 10 billion Kenyan shillings in the first year itself. China is going to acquire not only that project but also the Mombasa port to make up for the deficit. The auditor general of Kenya says that a one-sided agreement was reached with the Exim Bank of China, and even the arbitration of this agreement can only take place in China. Significantly, all the SGR receipts still go to the escrow account as per the unequal agreement favouring China. The most dangerous clause in this agreement is that the Kenyan government has guaranteed a minimum occupation in the railway project to China. This is now leading to a situation of Kenya losing possession of its important public assets. In fact if we see it carefully, the whole Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that was rolled out by China is actually proving to be a part of its debt-trap diplomacy. Significantly, BRI was being called a major infrastructure initiative, which by developing roads, railways and sea routes, would make the movement of goods

Many countries have been pushed into indebtedness due to Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative. Kenya seems to be the latest victim. Swadeshi Samvad 19 Analysis between different countries easier and cheaper, thereby promoting international trade. China is trying to make the world embrace the argument that the BRI project will prove useful to developing coun- tries in enhancing mutual trade, eco- nomic relations and connectivity. While explaining the benefits of BRI, efforts are being made in public discourse to hide its politi- cal, economic and geopolitical im- plications and threats. The success of any scheme ing CPEC a ‘game changer’. depends on its financing. This ap- Due to the high cost Due to the high cost of in- plies even more to infrastructure frastructure projects being built by projects. When the Belt and Road of infrastructure China in Pakistan, the debt burden Project was launched, all funding projects being built is increasing to unbearable levels came from the Chinese govern- and so is the repayment pressure ment, the China-led Asian Infra- by China in on Pakistan. And the benefits from structure Investment Bank and oth- Pakistan, the debt these infrastructure projects are er institutions from Beijing. Since very meagre and uncertain. There- investment in BRI and other relat- burden is increasing fore, Pakistan is not very optimis- ed infrastructure was coming from to unbearable levels tic about CPEC any more. China, whether the Chinese gov- and so is the It has to be understood that ernment itself or financial institu- the World Bank also has many ap- tions under the Chinese govern- repayment pressure prehensions about the BRI initia- ment, many countries got caught on Pakistan. tive. This has been discussed in in a debt trap due to different rea- detail in several World Bank re- sons. In most of these cases fund- ports, but so far there is a lack of ing was at an exorbitant rate of opposing the project. concerted effort by international interest or it was made for non- The China-Pakistan Economic financial institutions to take over viable projects or both. Sri Lan- Corridor (CPEC) is said to be the BRI projects. All kinds of contra- ka’s Hambantota port became a first project of BRI. Pakistan’s ex- dictions of China and the clear startling example in this regard. perience should be considered as expansionist policy of that nation Looking at this, many countries a guide for the future. Four years can become an obstacle in solving have started shying away from ago, the then prime minister of these problems. Time will tell China’s infrastructure proposals. Pakistan Nawaz Sharif had said whether China will come out of Similarly, another port in Djibouti, that CPEC would prove to be a its ‘monopolist’ policy and make a country that has been the main “game changer” for Pakistan and elaborate efforts to push BRI military base of the US in Africa, South Asia. But the way Pakistan through global forums. If China is now on the verge of being tak- has sunk into debt after four years doesn’t mend its ways, it will cre- en over by a Chinese company due shows that is not the case. Fur- ate obstacles to its own plans. But to heavy debt. Opposition to BRI ther, the growth there has come whatever the case may be, the fact is increasing due to the rising debt down from 5.8% in 2017-18 to is today, around 10 countries have burden in many countries. In the 3.4% in 2018-19 and a projected been trapped in China’s debt- trap last two years, not only opposition 2.7% now. With the worsening diplomacy through BRI. parties in BRI partner countries, economic condition of Pakistan, https://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/2019/dec/19/chinas- social organisations too are strongly nobody in that nation is now call- debt-trap-diplomacy-2078207.html 20 CURRENT ISSUE CAA, NPR And NRC Will Play Crucial Role In Making Of New India

In designing India, the BJP way seems to be the agenda for the introduction of the CAA, NPR and NRC. They were all mandated in the statutes and govern- ments, even before Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, had expressed the intent to implement them. But when the Modi government finally took the deci- sive step, a Pandora’s box has opened up and it hit a hornets’ nest. Why is it that everything the Modi government wants to do become suspect and controversial for the opposition? It is the blind hatred for Modi or the unrea- sonable antipathy of the anti-Modi brigade that has made the Citizenship Amend- ment Act (CAA), the National Popular Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) becoming controversial. The CAA has its genesis in the 1985 Rajiv Gandhi AASU Pact. That the governments at the centre till date did not move on the matter and it was only after Modi became Prime Minister in 2014 that it became operational is another matter. The NPR was a proposal mooted under the UPA and P Chidambaram, as his Home Minister, piloted the move. The NRC was to be taken up by then Home Minister L. K. Advani, during the NDA rule in 2001. So, on the face of it, the Modi-Amit Shah team has not done anything rev- olutionary or novel for the opposition to protest. Yet, there is widespread unrest, a prophecy of doom and cultivated violence around the country on the issue of CAA and NRC. All the explanations of the Prime Minister and Home Minister on the issue that it is not against any community have fallen on deaf ears. It is as if the opposition is not open to reason. It is bent on spreading falsehood. Every Modern nation in the world today has their citizen’s register. It has

There seem to be a deliberate antipathy towards Hindus and the existence of India as a Hindu majority state in the opposition camp. Dr. R. Balashankar 21 Current Issue become absolutely necessary and in the country in the last six years an important ingredient for the It has become on many occasions. planning and development activities, absolutely necessary In the name of Demonetisa- and national security in particular in tion, GST, lynching, Award Wapasi, times of calibrated terror attacks. and an important intolerance and abrogation of Arti- That India needed one too was rec- ingredient for the cle 370, the opposition tried to cor- ognised as early as 1953. planning and ner Modi. The same set of people, As for taking minorities from through signature and advertisement the Islamic states of Pakistan, Bang- development activities, campaigns, tried to stop Modi from ladesh, and Afghanistan because of and national security becoming India’s Prime Minister. their notorious history of religious The opposition to the CAA and persecution of minorities, has been in particular in times NRC have to be seen in this light. the commitment right from Ma- of calibrated terror The opponents of these Acts hatma Gandhi in 1947 to Pandit attacks. That India have not come up with any con- Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and vincing argument to oppose the Dr. Rajendra Prasad in the aftermath needed one too was CAA and NRC. The opposition of partitions and later by Dr. Man- recognised as early as could have thought of better ar- mohan Singh as Prime Minister guments to allow Muslims into during the UPA time. Then why is 1953. India from Pakistan and Bang- it that when the BJP tries to imple- ladesh than accusing Modi of be- ment long-standing promises of the gees or infiltrators. It applies only ing communal. The struggle against national leadership it becomes ex- to Indian citizens. The latter will the CAA and NRC has so far not ceptional and anti-Constitutional? come under the preview of the gained any national echo, also be- Legal experts like Harish Salve asylum rules, applicable to aliens cause of this reason. and Aryama Sundaram have not from foreigner countries. The CAA India has to emerge as a found anything violating Article 14 is an attempt to extend justice to strong modern nation. To ensure of the constitution or violating the the persecuted minorities from the this, NPR, CAA and NRC are nec- secular fabric of India. The argu- said three countries living in refu- essary. There is no use trying to stop ment that Muslims also should be gee camps for decades. their implementation through cam- included in the list of persecuted How can anybody oppose pus violence and street protest. The minorities in the CAA is so ridicu- the BJP for implementing its man- parties opposing these are actually lous that one has to invent a ratio- ifesto declaration? The opposition trying to take out their frustration nal for religious persecution of is charging the BJP of working against Modi, by making this issue Muslims in these Islamic countries. towards implementing its party as mere ruse. The Opposition to the If we accept it, then the very agenda. What is wrong about it? CAA and NRC look deliberate. Islamic nature of these countries Any party, that gets a mandate, that By politicising, and communal- has to be questioned. Nobody can too for a second time, is supposed ising a national issue, the opposition make such a suggestion unless their to implement its agenda. That oth- has walked into Narendra Modi’s objective is to Islamise India total- er parties are not serious about their trap. One cannot argue for only ly. There seem to be a deliberate manifesto is their problem. A con- Muslims and claim that they have a antipathy towards Hindus and the vincing mandate in an election is in secular agenda. As for migrants existence of India as a Hindu ma- itself a green signal for a party to from neighbouring countries, no jority state in the opposition camp. implement its manifesto promises. nations, not even the US, allows Or else why should anybody go The parties that lost the elec- unhindered entry of foreigners, back on their own publicly stated tion are now trying to block the who will upset the demographic stance only because the BJP gov- BJP from going ahead, by taking equilibrium of their nationhood. (The writer is a political analyst and member and ernment is doing it. to streets and fomenting violence former Editor of Organiser Weekly. Views expressed As for equality before law in the name of CAA. In fact, the are personal) https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/opinion-caa-npr-and-nrc- and Article 14, it is not for refu- opposition tried to raise passions will-play-crucial-role-in-making-of-new-india/344747 22 ISSUE What led to the SAD's U-turn on the inclusion of Muslims in CAA?

Amid protests in various parts of the country, a statement from the Akal Takht jathedar (head priest) Giani Harpreet Singh favoured the inclusion of Muslim community in the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Akal Takht is the highest temporal seat among Sikhs and is equivalent to the stature of the pope among Christians. The statement from their chief was reason for concern for the Shiro- mani Akali Dal, whose MPs had supported the bill in the parliament. The SAD national president, Sukhbir Singh Badal, had, however, in his speech in Lok Sab- ha, demanded the inclusion of sects within Islam which face persecution within the Muslim community in Pakistan, like the Ahmadiyya sect. In Punjab, chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh was already opposing the Citizen Amendment Bill (CAB), like other Congress chief ministers, committed to not implementing the exercise of formulating a National Register of Citizens (NRC). "While we welcome the inclusion of Sikh and Hindu refugees, we don't want to alienate the Muslim community," says Badal in a conversation with India Today. But what led to SAD's U-Turn and subsequent broadening of their stance for all sects of Muslims? There are two reasons. Despite their population size of 1.93 per cent of the state population, Muslims in Punjab are swing voters and, secondly, the temporal seat of Ahmadiyya Muslims is in Qadian, in Punjab's Gur- daspur district. Meanwhile, Badal, says: "there are Muslims who are living in India for more than three decades, it could be a futile exercise to disenfranchise them." Apart

The party, whose national president had, in his Lok Sabha speech, supported the Citizenship Amendment Bill, no longer wishes to alienate Muslims. Anilesh S. Mahajan 23 Issue from the SAD chief, other NDA allies and friendly parties are side- In 1984, Pakistan stepping from committing to the outlawed the sect, NRC exercise, including Bihar chief declaring them as minister Nitish Kumar, and Odis- ha's Naveen Patnaik, among oth- non-Muslims and ers. "The sikhs cannot differentiate since then they have against anyone on the basis of re- been through several ligion and caste. So, there was no need to keep the Muslims out," rounds of religious says Akal Takht jathedar Singh, atrocities. adding that the Muslims might be a majority in Pakistan, Afghanistan and party leadership would have In 1984, Pakistan outlawed the Bangladesh, but are a minority in pushed the Muslim population to- sect, declaring them as non-Mus- India and must not be alienated. wards Congress. After touching 0.5 lims and since then they have been In Punjab, there is a sizeable per cent of the state's population through several rounds of religious settlement of Pakistani Hindus and post the 1947 Partition and the sub- atrocities. It is a criminal offence the Sikh refugees from Afghanist- sequent violence, the 1961 census for Ahmadiyyas to practice Islam han and Pakistan in Jalandhar, showed that Muslims constituted or claim to be Muslims. If they do, Amritsar and Ludhiana and there 0.8 per cent (largely in Qadian and they stand to face the probability are Sikh refugees living in several Malerkotla principality) of the of capital punishment. In fact, in urban, middle-class areas of the state's population, and this num- the summer of 1999, Mirza Mas- state and in Delhi. "There are very ber went up to 1.93 per cent by roor Ahmad-who went on to be few 'refugees' among Ahmadiyyas the 2011 Census. In six out of Pun- the fifth (and current) caliph and in India or Punjab. There are fam- jab's 22 districts, more than two worldwide leader of the Ah- ilies who have married across the per cent of the population is made madiyya Muslim community-was border and are seeking Indian cit- up by the Muslim community, with imprisoned for 11 days in Lahore izenship," a community leader, Sangrur topping the list with 10 jail and later released without who wished to not be named, told per cent. The major increase hap- charge. Because of such atrocities, India Today INDIA TODAY. pened in the last two decades, both Mirza Masroor Ahmad and There are roughly 1.5 million Ah- when there was an influx of indus- their global headquarter moved madiyyas in India. Apart from trial labour in the urban centres. from Rabwah in Pakistan to Lon- Qadian, they have sizeable popu- The political parties worry that don. The township was developed lation in Delhi, Mumbai and Chan- these districts might have a sizable after Ahmad's family moved from digarh and are mostly affluent. population of refugees from Qadia to Rabwah because of par- Most Ahmadiyya "refugees" have Bangladesh. Apart from Malerkot- tition. In 1999, the Pakistani Pun- moved to the UK to take refuge. la assembly segment, where Mus- jab's provincial assembly passed The observers believe that the in- lim voters are in majority, there are resolution without discussion to clusion of this particular sect 18 seats were the swing votes can change the name of Rabwah to would only have added strategic dent the results. SAD, which is fac- Chenab Nagar to wipe out their brownie points. "There are not ing a crisis of depletion of its core memories. many Ahmadiyya refugees, but vote bank of rural Sikhs, can ill- Unfortunately, the persecution their inclusion would help India afford to lease this vote block to of the Ahmadiyyas has continued strategically," says a top official Congress. in Pakistan. The SAD's request to dealing with India's strategic affairs Those who understand Pun- include them among the other re- to India Today, on condition of jab's demography and history will ligions might just be the thing that anonymity. further tell you that both the Sikh saves SAD's vote bank.

There is politics too in the and Hindu communities in the state https://www.indiatoday.in/india-today-insight/story/what-led-to-the- SAD's stance. The rigid stance of have soft corner for Ahmaddiyas. sad-s-u-turn-on-the-inclusion-of-muslims-in-caa-1630119-2019-12-20 24 ISSUE Historical Promises

The demonstrations in several cities since the passage of the Citizenship Amend- ment Act (CAA) are highly coordinated, with agitators connected to groups in different parts of the same city, having transport for rapid movement from one spot to another, given contact numbers to access eminent lawyers, taught to ac- cess offline communication during internet shutdowns and armed with protest tools. Their slogans are fairly uniform, political parties and groups behind them are the same and now, an eminent E-zine has issued an “advisory” for politically correct coverage of the rallies. With violence exceeding one week (and likely to continue after a Christmas break), there is an urgent need to delink the CAA from the non-existent National Register of Citizens (NRC) that is being misused to propagate a nationwide hunt to weed out one community. The Centre should, therefore, state that it is continuing former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s National Population Register (NPR), for which enrolment began alongside Aadhaar in 2010. (This writer was enrolled vide form number 02046115, household block no. 0021, household num- ber 128). The rules framed then should be made public and amendments invited. The CAA logically follows the defanging of Article 370 of the Constitution and scrapping of a State subject. Hence, the need for a law to provide citizenship to Hindu refugees, who came to Jammu & Kashmir in 1947, unaware that the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was busy overthrowing the benign king and creating a veritable hell for non-Muslims in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. It made sense to cover all persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan — all of which are Islamic Republics. Afghanistan had a sizeable Sikh and Hindu population under the kingdom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh; it slowly migrated to India, especially after the assassina- tion of former Presidents Mohammed Daoud Khan (1978) and Mohammad

There’s a need to delink CAA from NRC that is being used to propagate a nationwide hunt to weed out one community. The Centre must clarify that it is going by continuity of past regimes. Sandhya Jain 25 Issue

Najibullah (1996), and the rise of uniqueness. The refugees in Bengal ment of the citizenship Act to grant the Pakistan-backed Taliban. Hence, are mainly Matua (Namashudra), citizenship to Bengali refugees, who Afghan minorities deserve the same who kept the communists in power migrated even before the Indira- consideration as those from Paki- for nearly three decades and then Mujib agreement. He was support- stan and Bangladesh. ensured the Trinamool Congress’ ed by PL Punia and Khagen Das in As Union Home Minister victory. Before independence, Ma- the Lok Sabha and Shyamal Amit Shah stated in Parliament hatma Gandhi (Delhi prayer meet- Chakraborty and Prasanta Chatter- (December 9 and 11), the Nehru- ing, July 16, 1947) said if minori- jee in the Rajya Sabha. The 20th Liaquat Pact of 1950 failed abys- ties were unable to live in Pakistan, Congress of the CPI(M) passed a mally to protect minorities in Pa- “the duty of the adjoining prov- resolution, demanding rights for kistan. Its first Law Minister, Jo- ince on this side of the border will Bengali refugees (April 2012). gendra Nath Mandal, who helped be to accept them with both arms In 2003, the Atal Bihari Vaj- the Muslim League wrest Sylhet and extend to them all legitimate payee Government gave special from Assam, fled to West Bengal opportunities.” powers to some border districts the same year. Similarly, the Chris- In a letter to Sri Krishna Das of Rajasthan and Gujarat to grant tian community that worked actively (July 21, 1947), he said, “The poor citizenship to Hindu and Sikh ref- for Pakistan, fared poorly in the Is- Hindus, who will migrate owing to ugees from Pakistan and Bang- lamic Republic and has been includ- oppression, will certainly be accom- ladesh. Manmohan Singh urged a ed in the ambit of the new Act. modated in India.” On November more liberal approach towards Muslims are free to seek citizenship 5, 1950, Jawaharlal Nehru assured refugees after Partition. In June on individual basis under existing the Parliament, “There is no doubt, 2012, CPI(M) general secretary laws (given to 2,830 from Pakistan, of course, that those displaced per- Prakash Karat wrote to Singh 912 from Afghanistan and 172 from sons, who have come to settle in about the plight of Bengali refu- Bangladesh in the last six years). India, are bound to have the citi- gees: “Their situation is different The Cabinet Mission Plan zenship. If the law is inadequate in from those who have come to In- clubbed Assam with Bengal in this respect, the law should be dia due to economic reasons.” Group C to create a predominant- changed.” Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Karat said lakhs of families from ly Muslim zone in eastern India, promised vigilance for the welfare Scheduled Caste communities like like the one proposed in western of the minorities in Pakistan. Namashudra, Pondra Khatriya, India. Gopinath Bardoloi retained In March 1964, the then Union Majhi were affected. Assam for India but Constituent Home Minister Gulzarilal Nanda Finally, there is no “right to Assembly member Rohini Kumar said if the honour and lives of Hin- infiltrate.” Every nation protects its Chaudhary warned that at least dus are not safe, “the door has to borders, distinguishes between ref- three lakh Muslims had entered be kept open…”, a sentiment ech- ugees and intruders and makes laws India illegally. oed by Communist Party of India to confer citizenship on foreigners. Thereafter, the interim Parlia- (CPI) MP Bhupesh Gupta. After When Jews came to Kerala after ment passed the Immigrants (Ex- the emergence of Bangladesh, the destruction of the Temple of pulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, to CPI(M) leader Gautam Deb ob- Solomon (70 AD), descendants of enable the Central Government to served that religious persecution of the Prophet to Sindh after Karba- remove outsiders whose “stay in Hindus continued after the assassi- la (680 AD), Parsis to Sanjan (8th Assam is detrimental to the inter- nation of Mujibur Rahman. century), all sought permission ests of the general public of India On April 20, 2010, former from local rulers. Post-1947, Tibet- or of any section thereof or of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Go- ans, Baha’i and others were given any Scheduled Tribe in Assam.” goi urged the then Prime Minister refuge. But sneaking into the coun- Hindu refugees were exempted. Manmohan Singh to grant citizen- try and acquiring voter and ration However, as the North-eastern ship to those who fled religious cards by stealth is neither legal nor States expressed anxieties, special persecution at Partition. CPI(M) acceptable. (The writer is Senior Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and provisions were invoked to pro- MP Basudeb Acharia (Lok Sabha, Library. Views expressed are personal) https://www.dailypioneer.com/2019/columnists/historical-promises- tect their social and linguistic April 25, 2012) demanded amend- historical-promises.html 26 AGRICULTURE Farm tech being pushed to benefit corporates

A New York farmer, who also works as a lawyer, tweeted this the other day: “Headed home, I tried to work in the law office today, but my head is full of the disasters I am seeing on the dairy farms and in rural areas. Even longtime farmers in my area are trying to sell land to save the rest of the farm. Where is this headed? I don’t know.” Well, if such a deepening farm crisis should dominate one of the most productive agricultural systems in the world, it’s time to pause and rethink. The question that needs to be asked is whether the US agricultural policy is deliberately aimed at decimating the farm sector? And, in that sense, whether Indian agriculture, too, is intentionally (or unintentionally) moving in that direc- tion? To say that the landholdings in India are too small to be economically viable is understandable, but why is it that even in the United States, where the average farm size is 444 acres, small family farms should be on the way out? Why is that in Australia, where the average farm size is 4,331 hectares, should agriculture become unviable? Going by the economy of scale, there seems to be no plausible reason why farmers in America and Australia should be quitting farming. If small holdings are unviable, how come even large holdings are becoming uneconomi- cal? Unless, of course, policymakers refuse to admit that farmers everywhere in the world, not only in India, are being denied realtime prices, depriving them of their rightful income. First of all, let’s be clear. The US has always been for pushing small farmers out of agriculture. Even at a time when US agriculture is passing through turbu- lent times, American Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue unabashedly acknowl- edges: “In America, the big get bigger and the small go out.” This echoes what former US Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz, who served under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, had famously said: “Get big or get out.” This was fol- lowed by a cleverly drafted narrative of “feeding the world”, pushing farmers to A New York farmer, who also works as a lawyer, tweeted this the other day: “Headed home, I tried to work in the law office today, but my head is full of the disasters I am seeing on the dairy farms and in rural areas. Devinder Sharma 27 Agriculture produce large surpluses that actual- it has to be relevant, depending on ly dipped prices. Such a deliberate Rural America, like the needs, and not pushed to ben- policy has left US small farmers rural India, is faced efit commercial interests. struggling. Many of them are go- If in a country which is com- ing out of business and quitting ag- with a severe pletely high-tech in agriculture, the riculture in desperation. agrarian crisis. More suicide rate in rural areas is 45 per The policy to get big serves cent higher than in urban areas, isn’t as an invitation for an increasing than half of US it time to redesign Indian agricul- corporate control over agriculture, farmers have a ture, focusing more on sustaining which is also becoming an unwrit- small farms, thereby reducing the ten policy for the developing world negative income. rural-to-urban migration? Should to follow. In addition, whether it not the Ministry of Agriculture and is the World Trade Organisation America, like rural India, is faced Farmers Welfare, therefore, em- (WTO) or the Regional Compre- with a severe agrarian crisis. Like in bark on a fresh strategy to bring hensive Economic Partnership India, where the average income of in policies tuned in more to do- (RCEP) treaty, trade policies have farming families in 17 states, which mestic needs and those that make been very conveniently tweaked to is roughly half the country, stands farming environmentally sustain- provide an enabling environment at a paltry Rs 20,000 a year, the US able and economically viable? for big agribusiness giants to step agriculture is not doing good either. An OECD-ICRIER (Organ- in. As competitiveness has become More than half of US farmers have isation for Economic Cooperation the market mantra, developing as a negative income. According to the and Development-Indian Council well as least developing countries are American Farm Bureau Federation, for Research on International Eco- being increasingly forced to open 91 per cent farmers and farm nomic Relations) study has shown up for cheaper agricultural prod- workers face distress. Besides af- that Indian farmers have been suf- ucts, thereby displacing millions of fecting their mental health, the se- fering a loss of 14 per cent every small farmers in the bargain. verity of the crisis is such that 87 year in farm incomes for almost To illustrate, the biggest dairy per cent farmers fear they will have two decades, between 2000-01 and farm in China is spread over to abandon farming. Accordingly, 2016-17. This has largely benefit- 22,500,000 acres, an area equal to that farm debt in 2019 is expected to ed the consumers who paid 25 per of Portugal. According to soar to $416 billion, the highest cent less for all agricultural com- worldatlas.com, this farm houses around since 1980. For several decades, modities every year. In other 1,00,000 cows. The second biggest farm gate prices have remained words, it is the farmers who have dairy farm, spread over 11,000,000 frozen when adjusted for inflation. been subsidising the country all acres, is also in China. The remain- The prevailing onion prices, for in- these years. An outcome of the glo- ing eight of the top 10 big dairy stance, are no different from the bal economic design which aims farms are situated in Australia, which prices farmers received 30 years to deliberately keep farm prices despite the size are under stress. ago. Corn prices have remained low, farmers’ anger is brewing No wonder, the push for static for almost five decades. across the world. As farm protests seeking an unfettered access into If such a worsening farm cri- spill on to the streets in Germany, India through the regional mega sis is happening in a country which Holland, Canada, America and In- RCEP treaty, which India has, for applies state-of-the-art technology dia, the reason for growing farm the time being, rightly decided to in agriculture, and is often touted anger was best summed up by Ian stay out of. Considering that 10 as an example to be followed by McLachlan, President of the Na- million people are involved in dair- the rest of the world, isn’t it time tional Farmers Federation of Aus- ying in India, imagine the destruc- to examine how inappropriate is tralia, who while addressing a tion of livelihoods from cheaper the argument for pushing in more farmers’ rally some years back had dairy imports from Australia, New sophisticated technology (often said: “We’re sick and tired of sub- Zealand and China. unwanted) in Indian agriculture? sidising the rest of Australia.” https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/farm-tech-being-pushed-to- Returning to agriculture, rural No one is against technology, but benefit-corporates-868064 28 VIEW POINT Stance of Indian Mobile Phone Handset Manufacturers

The mobile phone consumption in India is at its peak for last few years. Recently, India has emerged as the second-largest market for mobile phone handset by overtaking the United States and is next only to the People’s Republic of China. India is at such a transition stage of consumption of mobile phones that urgent ways be carved to diminish its impact on import bill and systematize it as an opportunity to create jobs. The ultimate situation will be that significant portion of the demand be served by the Indian manufacturers; i.e. Indian brand of mobile phones- be made in India- and should be able to meet the significant portion of domestic demand as well as earn foreign revenue for the country. Based on certain measuring scale, India is positioned as the second-largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world. It has surpassed all other mobile phone device manufacturing countries and is lagging behind China only. It is just the namesake of localization of mobile phone manufacturing business and the defi- nition of Make in India- combined together- which poses a decent ranking for the number of mobile phones manufactured in India. But the definition of Make in India needs to be scrutinized. In the context of mobile phone manufacturing – for example- the localized parts currently engaged are of low value in expertise as well as in monetary terms, and the important component like printed circuit board are imported which are of high value. There is a lack of high-value addi- tion in the domestic supply chain of value addition. The processes like – assem- bly, programming, testing and packaging of imported items are not high value- adding jobs in this context. The printed circuit board is the most important com- ponent in the mobile phone device and its assembly adds more than fifty percent

The Indian companies should come together for an exclusive retail outlet and also with an exclusive online platform for selling Indian brands. Alok Singh 29 View Point value to the final product and In- innovation index. Moreover, inno- uct level. So, the logistics of Indian dia needs to catch up in the do- vation gets killed in India. It means mobile phone market is a classic main of printed circuit board to that the innovation which happens example of the price war. fulfill its dream of being an origi- and is labeled as Jugad (or frugal India has been accepted as a nal mobile manufacturer with a sig- innovation) gets killed. It has a very country that can assemble mobile nificant domestic value addition. short life span. While in the Peo- phone handsets. Now the assem- The policymakers have hiked ple’s Republic of China the re- blers are moving one step further the import duty on certain items search output from polytechnic and are confidently executing pro- and it has prompted manufactur- institutes matches as those from cesses to manufacture components ers to look for locally available sub- their universities. What needs to be such as batteries, chargers and oth- stitutes. The government also in- done is to document those Jugad er mobile accessories. The real creased the import duty on finished and get it patented or published. challenge to Indian manufacturers mobile phone devices and on low This will have an impact on India’s is to do sales and marketing. They value-adding components. But the ranking in research and develop- have to compete with deep-pock- real component that is the printed ment as well as innovation and the eted and established players in the circuit boards still enjoys relatively label that India is lacking behind in mobile handset market. The in- fair import duties. The trade-offs research and development can be cumbent players do their best to between high import duties on fin- rectified. It’s not about the capa- diminish the visibility of new mo- ished mobile phone and on low bility to do research and develop- bile phones by new manufacturers value-adding components are nul- ment and innovation but it’s about through the channel of sales and lified by relatively low import duty the perception regarding capabili- marketing. It’s not about features, on printed circuit boards. The suc- ty. It can be thought that India is quality, and capability. But the bat- cess of domestic mobile manufac- ahead in unorganized innovation tleground is sales and marketing, turing needs pushes to printed cir- rather than organized innovation, logistics and display in retail stores cuit boards. where organized innovation means as well as logistics in domain of Even the share of domestic those that are documented, patent- online transaction. The big Chinese assemblers of the printed circuit ed and published. giants have one goal and it is to board is only about 25% and the The real constraints are those diminish the visibility of Indian rest of the assembled printed cir- of retailers and end user custom- brands at any cost. cuit board is imported. The cus- ers and not of research and devel- Once the Indian brand estab- tomer can’t see the parts and com- opment or innovation. There are lishes itself as a credible player in ponents on the new smartphones obvious constraints for the manu- the mobile phone handset mar- as these smartphones are coming facturer, constraints for traders, ket, then it can be replicated in with build-in battery and so it’s dif- constraints for retailers, constraints other electronic gadgets market. ficult to figure out the source of for wholesalers, and constraints for The Indian companies should origin of simple components like buyers and maybe certain con- come together for an exclusive battery. The ultimate objective is to straints for policymakers. Every retail outlet and also with an ex- complete the whole manufactur- consumer is price-sensitive and clusive online platform for selling ing process of printed circuit hence acts as a catalyst to create a Indian brands. The operating cost boards - that is the manufacturing “Red Ocean strategy” for mobile can be bearded by the participat- of components and sub-compo- phone manufacturers and for lo- ing Indian companies and manu- nents to the assembly of printed gistics provider. In “Red Ocean facturers or government support. circuit boards within India. It has Strategy” the companies or man- If this exclusivity is missing then been much talked about that India ufacturers or retailers or sellers it’s tough to compete on common lacks in- Innovation, and Research whosoever are most sensitive to platform of sales, whether it is any and Development, which needs to price wins. It’s like a cut-throat independent retailer or common be discussed. But the recent trends competition. It’s like a bloodbath. big retail-like Croma or reliance are encouraging. India has im- In simple language its price war of digital or online platforms like proved its position in the global logistics level rather than of prod- Amazon or Flipkart. 30 HISTORY Re-visiting Ancient Indian Art and Architecture

Between the fifth and seventh centuries we find a unified Gupta style of Bud- dhist art established in northern India, which we know especially from the images excavated at Sarnath, again in dynastic site. But the accounts left by Chinese pil- grims describe numerous monastery-shrines throughout Bihar, Bengal, and Oris- sa, many of which have long disappeared, though a few have been located and excavated. There were 100-foot-high stupas and multi-storied monasteries built of wood, brick, and stone; and each site was filled with images, large and small, cut in stone, modelled in terracotta or stucco, and cast in bronze. Many of them were, no doubt, intended as costly testimonials to personal piety, since ‘multiplying images of the Buddha’ was considered an act meritorious in itself. Among the excavated sites is the earliest of the great Buddhist universities, Nalanda in Bihar, which expanded later in a rather haphazard way. It consists of clustered courtyards and buildings of different patterns, including, of course, stupas, many of which were decorat- ed with particularly fine stucco sculptures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Although the Chinese visitors recorded many flourishing Buddhist centres, they also recorded their dismay at the decline of Buddhism relative to Hinduism, the reasons for which are explained elsewhere. Even the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya was cut down in about A.D. 600 by a Hindu king and the shrine converted to Hindu uses. Buddhism was fighting, so to speak, its last rearguard battle in most regions of India. In the ninth century the great Hindu monist philosopher San- karacharya hastened the doctrinal defeat of Buddhism everywhere. But in one region of India, the north-east, including parts of Orissa, Buddhism flourished greatly under the patronage of the Pala Dynasty (c. 750-1150) and took on a new and fascinating lease of artistic life, partly in direct response to the Hindu chal- lenge. Other Buddhist universities were founded, notably at Vikramasila, and enor- mous effort was devoted to the elaboration of school of philosophy, logic, ritu-

Fundamental pattern behind the beautiful complexities of Hindu temple is very simple but aesthetically superb and exquisite in its implementation. Prof. Nandini Sinha Kapur 31 History al, medicine, and magic – to which, minated with figures from the tury A.D. a successful alliance with incidentally, Hindus were also ad- Buddhist pantheon. It is probable the Indian theory of kingship, mitted. The scholars gathered to- that such sumptuous works were whereby the meta-physical princi- gether all the available branches of made actually as objects of rever- pal to which kings might appeal for learning into a monumental synthe- ence rather than mere reading mat- supernatural patronage was sis based upon certain medical and ter. The earliest surviving example awarded name and form as a de- yogic symbolisms usually called is dated just before, A.D. 1000; but ity. Only one of the major ancient Tantric. The art was a direct reflec- many similar manuscripts of later Vedic gods, Surya, retained a cen- tion of this syncretic activity. It date survive, especially in Nepal. tral place for himself in later Hin- developed systematic groupings of An alliance of Muslim invad- du art as a dynastic deity. The over- ideal figures to symbolize the var- ers and Hindu sectarian interests whelmingly important gods of lat- ious elements and processes in ‘Re- eliminated even this Buddhism with er art, to whom nearly all the ma- ality’ and Enlightenment, all fo- its art from India by the early years jor temples are dedicated, are Siva, cused around a set of five differ- of the thirteenth century, leaving Vishnu, and the Mother Goddess entiated Buddha-principles. only strong traces of its presence under her various names (e.g. Dur- In India most of this art has in later Bengali folk-styles. ga), of all of whom there are only disappeared. We know its charac- Hindu art developed later traces in Vedic literature. The nu- ter best from the still-surviving tra- than Buddhist art in India as a merous much later medieval rep- ditions based upon it which were whole. The oldest, strictly brah- resentations of Vedic deities ap- transplanted directly into Nepal manical form of Hinduism de- pear as the consequence of self- and Tibet (seventh century) and manded no permanent installation conscious attempts to brahmanize sustained by direct contact with the for its various sacrificial rituals. the iconograpyhy of religious art. Pala universities. Altars were prob- There is an enclosure at Besnagar It is thus natural that the evolution ably furnished with small bronzes, in Madhya Pradesh, dated perhaps of Hindu stone architecture and which could be arranged in sym- in the mid-second century B.C., temple carving–which is all that bolic patterns. There may well have where a named deity, Vasudeva, remains to us from the centuries been symbolic wall-paintings and was worshipped. But the natural earlier than c. A.D. 1200–took hangings, prototypes of those tendency of the Indian population place at scattered single sites which which are still found in Tibet, Bhu- has always been, since the remot- were each for a time the capital tan, and Sikkim, and were also est past, to adore and make offer- cities of royal dynasties, large and painted on the walls in twelfth cen- ings at any place in the countryside small, and which had probably tury Burmese Pagan. We have the where the Divine seems to show long been sacred localities. All over testimony of the great eighth-cen- its presence. Every village has a the sub-continent there are these tury brick temple of Somapure hallows-tree, a sacred ant-hill, or a sites, many certainly having vanished (Paharpur) that architecture was holy spot marked by boulders; its without trace, at each of which used likewise to develop the sym- inhabitants are aware of spiritual, some tens of temples were built bolism of the Tantric cosmos. This often humanoid, beings haunting and decorated over a century or joint imagery of man and world sacred places. Buddhism managed two, dedicated by members of a was transported during the eighth permanently to focus this sense of royal family and their chief sub- century into the Indianized king- numen on the person of the Bud- jects. With the growth of the brah- dom of central Java, where its dha, and extend it to the physical mans’ encyclopedias of collected chief monument is Borobudur (c. relies of himself and his saints en- legend, the Puranas, places especial- 800). It is also virtually centrain that shrined in stupas. From these it was ly sacred–those perhaps where continuously through this Pala pe- eventually transferred to images of major episodes in legend were sup- riod beautifully illuminated long the ‘essential Buddha nature’ indi- posed to have taken place—were palm-leaf manuscripts of Buddhist cated by such basically human ex- also dignified with successive tem- texts were made, the pages being amples. ple foundations, attracting pilgrims bound between painted boards, Hinduism, however, seems to over a long period of time. both covers and pages being illu- have made during the second cen- [Conitnued on page no. 34] 32 HISTORY ‘India in the Persianate Age’ review: The syncretic age of Persia in India

Richard Eaton, who teaches history at Arizona University, argues that India was never a self-contained stagnant civilisation as is often believed but one that evolved over centuries of intense engagement with other peoples and cultures. Starting from the conquest of Mahmud Ghazni to the exploits of Nadir Shah, Eaton reconstructs the most compelling but consequential historical accounts, from 1000 to 1765, which produced a hybridised composite civilisation that has sustained its distinct identity. India in the Persianate Age defines these seven centuries as an epic period of engagement with other regions, especially the Persian, which had contributed to producing a rather harmonious society. It was the British who reduced it to the Hindu-Muslim binary, thereby inflicting a deep divide that has continued to dom- inate the socio-political discourse ever since. In his brilliant exposition spanning the prolonged medieval period in history, Eaton questions the convention of seeing a diverse and vibrant culture through a religious lens. “Imagining geographical spaces through religion limits our under- standing by imposing and justifying an ideology at the cost of ignoring its inherent richness.” The reading of history in terms of mutually exclusive religions has only helped one form of nationalism, however, at an enormous recurring cost to society. Decoupling history from such an assumption alone can provide an unbi- ased measure on acceptance of the political authority, notwithstanding a ruler’s own religion, by a socially, linguistically and religiously diverse Indian society. What the colonial historians read as ‘Muslim conquest’ was indeed a period in history that had consolidated multiple ethnic identities like Rajputs, Marathas and Sikhs, and empowered them to define their terms of collaboration with the then rulers. Far from acknowledging it, the self-serving Anglophone historians sought

A historian questions the notion of seeing the vibrant and diverse culture of the subcontinent between 1000 and 1765 through a religious lens. Sudhirendar Sharma 33 HISTORY to paint the entire period as des- ‘language of place,’ and conse- voured rice cuisine) in everyday us- potic and unjust to lay unilateral quently expanded over much of age signifies that it was a neutral lan- claim on pulling India from centu- Asia not by force of arms but by guage for daily correspondence and ries of so-called Muslim subjuga- emulation, and without any gov- literary expression. Covering vast tion towards modernity. It is no less erning centre. This is a significant swathes of the Persian influence on than a historical conspiracy to erase take-away from the book which the making of India, Eaton pays a that part of history as ‘dark and provides a perfect backdrop to fine tribute to the evolution of In- backward,’ with the sinister aim of medieval India becoming the cen- dia as a compassionate civilisation. justifying the brutal suppression by tre for the patronage of Persian Ambitious in its undertaking, the British as ‘mild and equitous.’ Cu- literature and scholarship. India in the Persianate Age has enough to ruffle feathers of today’s riously, the colonial takeover was not Biryani and a melting pot nationalists. It is a thick but im- branded as a ‘Christian conquest.’ What makes Eaton’s assess- mensely readable volume that elab- Challenging the colonial ment of the medieval history dis- orates the long-term process of claims on introducing India to tinct and insightful is its treatment cultural interaction and assimilation modernity, the book provides a of the otherwise illustrious period that is reflected in language, litera- comprehensive account of the cul- on its own terms without today’s ture, attire, science, art, music, gov- tural exchanges between Sanskrit biases. From architecture to science ernance and warfare. It goes to the literary traditions and the Persian and from trade to cuisine, the as- rich cultural traditions of India that cosmopolitan outlook that led the similation of the Sanskritic universe those who came to conquer it, in Mughals to rationalise their empire with its Persianate counterpart is the end, were conquered by it. by applying the secular outlook to well evident. The persistence of India in the Persianate Age; the religious traditions of their sub- several Persian words including Richard M. Eaton, Allen Lane, jects. Noticeable is the fact that both hukm (God’s command), langar ?999. Sanskrit and Persian were not the (communal meal) and biryani (fla- Sudhirendar Sharma is an independent writer, researcher and academic.

[Conitnued from page no. 32] famous erotic carvings, which are Re-visiting Ancient Indian Art ... images of the post-mortem de- lights awarded by celestial girls The fundamental pattern be- of which may be especially for called apsarases to the spirits of hind the beautiful complexities of dancing, and perhaps an encircling heroes and sages. These heaven- the Hindu temple is very simple, layout of lesser cells or even min- bands are at the level of the raised evolving naturally from the primi- iature temples. This last feature, in interior floor, thus converting it into tive hallows or sacred place. The couth India, might become a fan- an analogue of the ‘courts of heav- sacred numinous object stands tastically elaborate sequence of en’, which are naturally adorned within an enclosure and a cell. The concentric enclosures with tower- with ornamental designs reflecting object is often a Siva lingam (phal- ing gateways. Each temple is con- all that the heart can desire. The lic emblem); it can also be a sculp- ceived, as the Buddhist stupa was, principal image in its cell-called tural image, either replacing an old- as ‘the axis of the world’, symbol- ‘womb-house’—occupies at this er more primitive hallows, or cer- ically transformed into the mythi- level the place of the enthroned emonially carved or cast, and ded- cal Mount Meru, around which are king in his court, to whom only the icated as a new dwelling for the slung like garlands the heavens and officiating Brahman has direct ac- sacred. The cell is raised on a plinth the earth. The heavens are repre- cess. It is ‘dressed’, ‘fed’, and ‘en- and to it may be appended extra sented on the exterior of devel- tertained’, just as a king might be. feature, the commonest being a oped temples by bands of sculp- From it the ‘originating energy’ of porch or portico, and a decorated ture containing icons of gods and the cosmos is felt to flow out door-frame. Then camse an am- other lesser superhuman creatures through the fabric of the temple bulatory, a crowning tower, one or which popular legend ascribes to into the everyday world around its more aligned approach-halls, one its heaven. Among these are the food. 34 NEWS

Don't allow Chinese firm Huawei full implications of having Huawei and Chinese com- panies in their communication networks. in 5G trials: SJM "There are ample evidence that lead to suspicion of Chinese companies indulging in the exfiltrating sen- sitive information from, devices and equipment that it exports. "Many of these countries suspect that Chinese companies indulge in stealing massive amounts of military and technological secrets through cyber-hack- ing from various countries," Mahajan claimed. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/telecom/dont-allow-chinese-firm-huawei-in-5g-trials-sjm- requests-pm/articleshow/73048001.cms Data is national asset, it must be protected; digital nationalism Urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inter- vene, Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) said Chinese firm need of the hour: SJM Huawei should not be allocated airwaves for 5G net- Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) said that Indian work trials to ensure that India's security interests are alternatives of payment gateways, social media plat- not compromised. forms and service aggregators must be supported In a letter to Modi, the outfit claimed that there and promoted as data sovereignty and data national- are ample evidence that lead to suspicion of Chinese ism are the need of the hour. In a letter SJM described companies indulging in exfiltrating sensitive informa- the data generated in the country as a "national asset" tion from, devices and equipment that it exports. and said it should be conserved properly and India The government has indicated that it will not bar must refrain from negotiating data sovereignty at bi- any equipment suppliers, such as China's Huawei, in lateral and multilateral trade talks. the upcoming trials for 5G, with Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday saying airwaves will be allocated to all telecom service providers for con- ducting trials of super-fast speed 5G networks. SJM's co-convener Ashwani Mahajan said the organisation has made representations to the depart- ment of telecommunications cautioning and alerting it of "various threats Huawei brings in". Emphasising that its words of caution were "ei- ther over-ruled or were deliberately ignored", the SJM said it requests Prime Minister Narendra Modi and "Data should not only be stored within geograph- his office to intervene as India's security interests can't ical limits of India, but must also be computed here. be compromised in this digital era. Data is a national asset; it may be commercial, strate- Noting that 'Chinese information warfare doc- gic or even elementary. Data must be protected," trine' is the core of its military strategy, Mahajan said Mahajan said. Emphasising on the need for data sov- in the letter: "We request you to immediately restrict ereignty, the SJM said digital nationalism is the need Huawei and other Chinese firms from operating in of the hour and Indian alternatives for payment gate- the Indian market and conducting 5G trials." ways, social media platforms, service aggregators He said the SJM understands that 5G is an im- must be supported and promoted. portant leap in technology and India must not miss The SJM also advocated India's own computer this. But this still can be achieved by promoting do- operating system and said it needs to developed at mestic and indigenous players. the earliest. The government must identify the apps The SJM said Huawei has been "banned in sev- which are gathering unnecessary data and seeking more eral countries" as more and more nations realise the than required permissions, SJM said and demanded 35 News punitive action against such offenders. provided. Though some clearances are needed to be https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/data-is-national-asset-it-must-be-protected-digital- nationalism-need-of-the-hour-sjm/articleshow/72427342.cms taken care of. Strategic divestment of public sector enterprises Air India : Divestment of the is opposed by Swadeshi Jagran Manch as it is against largest carrier out of India the national interest. They believe that AirIndia at this hour of time requires professional management and restructuring rather than privatization. It is believed that restructuring the debt and assets will reduce Air India’s liabilities and help the company earn profits. Due to the uncertainty and non-clarity on the privatization of Air India, the employees have planned to stall the process either by going on a strike or tak- ing the NCLT route. Currently, the government is plan- ning to sell AirIndia to a private sector player. https://www.headlinesoftoday.com/business/air-india-divestment-of-the-largest-carrier-out-of-india.html Air India is owned by a government-owned enterprise, headquartered in New Delhi. It has an Rice exporters seek ban on 18.6% market share and is the largest carrier out of pesticides unregistered in the India. In 2017, a committee has been set up for the US, EU privatization of Air India. The government has al- ready infused Rs. 29,000 crore since 2012 while trying Rice exporters in India, largest producer of pre- for the survival of AirIndia under the Turn Around mium rice, have sought a ban on pesticides that are Plan (TAP). The company’s working capital and net not registered in foreign markets in a bid to shore up debt have swelled from 2018 by 6.1%. Even the op- exports to Europe and the US. India's rice export to erating expenses saw a rise as high as 24% y-o-y from these regions has plunged by a third in 2018-19 com- 2018 which is approximately Rs 30,194.06 crore. pared to the previous year with crop samples failing The government failed to raise money for Air to meet stringent chemical residue norms. For this, India last year as they planned to hold a 24% stake in the exporters’ lobby in India, the largest player in glo- Air India. Now, they have decided to sell the entire bal rice trade, has urged the commerce and industry stake in AirIndia Ltd., Air India Express(subsidiary) ministry to ensure that pesticides used in the cultiva- and AISATS in order to re-initiate the strategic di- tion of rice are registered in Europe and the US too. vestment of AirIndia. AISATS provides ground and India’s rice export to Europe has plunged by 40 cargo handling services and is a joint venture between per cent in 2018-19 over the issue of maximum res- Air India and Singapore Terminal Services. idue level (MRL), and the market is likely to shrink Privatization will help provide the government further this year as rice samples has failed the manda- with an easy exit from this loss-making business. In tory testing. India had shipped about 10% of its total order to operate the airlines, it is necessary to go for consignments of basmati to Europe till 2017. divestment as the company requires cash. In order to “There are six pesticides that are not even regis- reduce the debt burden, the government transferred tered in India, but there residue is found in rice in approximately Rs. 29,464 crore to Air India Assets India. These chemicals have no fixed maximum resi- Holding Ltd. (AIAHL) through a Special Purpose due level set by Central Insecticide Board and Regis- Vehicle (SPV) route. tration Committee,” Ashok Sethi, director Punjab Rice The company plans to invite Express of Inter- Millers and Exporters Association, said. est (EOI) wherein a virtual data room will be provid- These pesticides are ethamidophos, profenofos, ed in order to provide confidentiality. A draft Share prothioconazole, tebufenozide, thiophanate-m and Purchase Agreement (SPA) is issued which contains Triazophos. “These pesticides need to be banned till details regarding the liabilities, their benefits and do’s the manufacturers register their products in India as and don’ts. They can raise concerns about unclear lia- well as export destinations,” Sethi said. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/rice-exporters-seek-ban-on-pesticides-unregistered-in- bilities not stated in the SPA in the virtual data room the-us-eu/articleshow/72904581.cms 36 News

Personal Data Of 267Mn discern an account's username and other profile info. While how criminals obtained the user IDs and phone Facebook Users Leaked Online numbers are not entirely clear, one possibility is that the data was stolen from Facebook's developer API before the company restricted access to phone num- bers in 2018. Facebook's API is used by app devel- opers to add social context to their applications by accessing users' profiles, friends list, groups, photos and event data. Phone numbers were available to third- party developers prior to 2018. https://www.thequint.com/tech-and-auto/tech-news/personal-data-of-267-million-facebook-users-leaked-online-report Floor price for yellow pea A database containing personal details of more imports to benefit farmers than 267 million Facebook users was allegedly left The government has made import of yellow peas exposed on the web, according to a report from Brit- (matar), the cheapest pulse in the country, costlier by ain-based tech research firm Comparitech and secu- imposing a minimum price of Rs 200, along with the rity researcher Bob Diachenko. existing 50 per cent import duty to ensure that the Diachenko believes the trove of data -- includ- farmers get remunerative prices for crops that will be ing Facebook user IDs, phone numbers and names - harvested from January. A day after the government - is most likely the result of an illegal scraping opera- notification, prices of peas jumped by 20 per cent to tion or Facebook API abuse by criminals in Vietnam. Rs 55 a kg, while chana rose 4 per cent to Rs 49 a kg "Scraping" is a term used to describe a process in the Delhi’s wholesale market. Snacks makers and in which automated bots quickly sift through large restaurants prefer the less expensive yellow peas over numbers of web pages, copying data from each one chana. The government had earlier restricted import into a database. The information contained in the da- of yellow peas, but importers got a stay order from tabase could be used to conduct large-scale SMS spam the Jaipur High Court in mid-2019 and shipped in and phishing campaigns, among other threats to end almost 5 lakh tonnes. users, said the report on Thursday, adding that most The government amended the import policy for of the affected users were from the US. the import of peas. “Import of peas shall be subject The revelations come at a time when Facebook to an annual quota of 1.5 lakh tonne as per proce- is trying to regain the trust of its users with the pro- dure notified by DGFT and it will be subject to min- tection of their data following the Cambridge Ana- imum import price (MIP) of Rs 200 and above CIF lytica scandal that badly hit its reputation. More than per kilogram,” it said in a notification. The import one and a half years after the Cambridge Analytica will be allowed only through Kolkata sea port, it said. scandal first became public, the US Federal Trade This restriction shall not apply to the government Commission (FTC) earlier this month said that the import commitments under any bilateral or regional now-defunct British data analytics and consulting com- agreement or memorandum of understanding, it add- pany engaged in deceptive practices to harvest per- ed. The MIP will be applicable for import of all va- sonal information from tens of millions of Facebook users for voter profiling and targeting. After discov- ering that personal details of 267 million Facebook users were exposed online, Diachenko notified the Internet service provider managing the IP address of the server so that access could be removed. However, the data was also posted to a hacker forum as a download, said the security researcher. Facebook IDs are unique, public numbers asso- ciated with specific accounts, which can be used to 37 News rieties and categories of peas such as yellow peas, Limited said in a statement here. green peas, dun peas and kaspa peas. “With this test, the IAF now has a world record Yellow peas from Ukraine, Canada and Russia of direct hits on targets in all its launches from air are gaining popularity. “Even with an import duty of against sea and land targets establishing itself as the 50 per cent, more than five lakh tonne of the peas has prime user of the world’s most powerful conven- been imported from April till date. tional airborne weapon to attack targets on sea and Now with upwardly revised MIP and additional land.” duty, yellow peas will cost Rs 300 a kg at the port, The IAF said in a separate statement that the which will be an unviable proposition for the traders. launch from the aircraft was smooth and the missile This is good news for farmers who will be harvesting followed the desired trajectory and achieved a direct chana and tur by next month,” said Vivek Agrawal, a hit on the sea target, off Odisha coast. The firing was commodity broker with Maharashtra based JLV Agro. successfully undertaken with dedicated support from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/commodities/news/floor-price-for-yellow-pea-imports-to-benefit-farmers/ articleshow/72895170.cms?from=mdr the Indian Navy. https://defence.capital/2019/12/17/twin-tests-brahmos-missile-gives-india-air-force-army-unique-strike-capability/ Twin Test: BrahMos missile 11.4 lakh transactions settled in first gives India air force, army 8 hrs after RBI allows NEFT 24X7 unique strike capability

In a twin success today, India successively tested Around 11.40 lakh transactions were settled in the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from land and the first eight hours after widely-used NEFT was made air platforms. The successful tests got even sweeter as operational on 24X7 basis, the RBI said. The RBI op- a maximum number of components on the missiles erationalised National Electronic Funds Transfer was of Indian origin. (NEFT) System 24X7. "This ensures availability of The first test took place from a land-based mo- anytime electronic funds transfer," it said. The RBI bile laucher and this missile had indigenous airframe, now joins an elite club of countries having payment fuel management system and an indigenously designed systems which enable round-the-clock funds transfer seeker. This test was received enthusiastically, as this and settlement of any value. gave a fresh impetus to the ‘make in India’ initiative "Between 12:00 am and 8:00 am this morning, of the Narendra Modi government. NEFT settled over 11.40 lakh transactions," it said. The second launch was carried out from an In- The RBI said making NEFT available 24x7 is dian Air Force‘s (IAF’s) Su-30 MKI combat aircraft part of its vision of empowering every Indian with against a sea target. The test from the Sukhoi jet, con- access to a bouquet of e-payment options. In order ducted in an user configuration, re-validated the ship- to give further impetus to digital retail payments, attack capability of the India–Russia joint venture banks have been asked to levy any charges from their missile. During the launch, the missile was gravity savings bank account holders for funds transfers dropped from the air combat platform’s fuselage and done through NEFT system which are initiated on- the two-stage weapon’s engine fired up. line from January 1, 2020. Online transactions in- The missile straight away propelled towards the clude internet banking and through mobile apps of intended target positioned at sea, piercing the same banks. with pinpoint accuracy, BrahMos Aerospace Private https://www.livemint.com/industry/banking/11-4-lakh-transactions-settled-in-first-8-hours-after-rbi-allows-neft- 24x7-11576508679308.html 38 39 40