THE HIMALAYAN MAIL QTHURSDAY Q JULY 15, 2021 6 THE EDITORIAL PAGE MESSAGE FOR TALIBAN Panta Bhat on Masterchef and the rejection of culinary hierarchy ushanbe was the focus of sig- Pooja Pillai mustard oil, lime juice, etc. At the end bottom. Ray built his idea from study- tance precisely because, having been nificant activities for the day of the day, though, it still remains rice ing trends in US restaurants, noting developed in restaurants, they can’t for the larger Asian region. anta bhat had a moment on gruel, the food that one eats to use up that the more cultural or economic be located in terms of caste and/or re- D food TV and, predictably, leftovers, or soothe an upset stomach power a country has, the more presti- gion. Two major developments that impact Pmany South Asian viewers or, more frequently, because one can’t gious and expensive its cuisine. So And, yet, there does seem to be India directly happened at the Tajik sniggered. It was served by afford much more. It is that one thing Japanese or French food is the popular pushback against this privileging of capital during the meeting of the Bangladeshi-origin contestant Kish- that food under a spotlight, whether on choice for fancy meals, while a hur- certain kinds of cuisines/dishes over war Chowdhury on the grand finale of television or in a restaurant, shouldn’t ried, cheap takeout meal is more others. For example, Chowdhury was Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Masterchef Australia’s latest season, be — humble. likely to be Mexican, Chinese, Indian mistaken when she said that panta (SCO). One was concerning a very sig- along with alu bhorta (mashed potato) One must ask, though: Why shouldn’t or Thai. bhat is not the kind of food that’s nificant meeting between the Indian and fried fish. It had been gussied up panta bhat be served to and enjoyed by Similar dynamics govern the hier- served in restaurants. Three years with white soy and smoke and was Masterchef judges? It is undeniably archy of tastes in India, where the re- ago, its Odia cousin, pakhala bhat, foreign minister Dr S Jaishankar and rechristened as Smoked Rice Water, delicious and endlessly flexible in gion and caste origin of a food decides was on the menu of the award-win- his Chinese counterpart Wang Li for but it was still recognisable to many terms of the flavours and textures — whether it is prestigious/restaurant- ning restaurant The Bombay Canteen, over an hour. From their body language viewers from the subcontinent’s rice- chutney, bori (dried lentil dumplings), worthy or not. Not surprisingly, the where it was served with kakharu eating cultures as, variously, panta fried vegetables or fish, dried shrimps, greatest prestige is attached to food phula bhaja (pumpkin flower frit- and countenance both appeared to be bhat, pakhala bhat, poita bhat, geel etc — that can be added to it. It can that is European or American (even if ters). When Chef Thomas Zacharias, satisfied and happy at their interactions bhat, kanji and ganji. even be “smoked”, as Chowdhury only tenuously so). Among Indian who was then helming the restau- Chowdhury explained her choice to showed. And, not that this factor mat- cuisines, food from the southern rant’s kitchen, posted a photo of the and their outcome. The border tension the judges by describing panta bhat as tered on the show, panta bhat really states, notably Kerala and Tamil dish on social media, the response between the two countries was on their the kind of food one would never find does make for a filling, wholesome Nadu, has wider acceptance than the was overwhelmingly positive. More agenda. The tension on the borders on a restaurant menu and this, accord- meal. food of, say, Bihar or Odisha, while than one Odia person expressed pride ing to many South Asian viewers, was What the derision that greeted the foods of historically marginalised over its inclusion in the restaurant’s becomes a grave situation given the dis- precisely why her choice was shocking, Chowdhury’s choice shows is how groups are simply not on the table menu. A similar pride can be seen in turbances in Afghanistan about which confusing and — most damningly — lu- much we are governed by what food and, therefore, not part of the na- the comments on Chowdhury’s Insta- China is equally worried. The meeting dicrous. Panta bhat is, after all, com- studies scholar Krishnendu Ray de- tional imagination of what constitutes gram page, with Bangladeshi users mon people’s food, made by adding scribes in his book The Ethnic a cuisine. The most restaurant-wor- thanking her for putting “their” food assumes importance as it’s the first water to cooked rice and seasoning the Restaurateur as the “global hierarchy thy Indian dishes are the ones that are on the map. Because that is the real high-level meeting between the two resulting gruel with salt. It is some- of tastes”. This hierarchy places the usually called “Mughlai”, but can re- significance of what Chowdhury did: nations after the Galwan clashes and times allowed to ferment overnight, cuisines of more powerful groups/na- ally only be described as “restaurant In breaking away from the hierarchy and can be livened up with green chill- tions right at the top, while the food cuisine”. They include such favourites of tastes that has such a hold on global the resultant tensions on the border in ies, grated coconut, onion slices, of those with the least capital (eco- as butter chicken and paneer food culture, she has helped make the Western Ladakh. crushed shallots, ginger, curd, raw nomic and socio-cultural) is at the makhanwala, which find wide accep- high table a little more representative. The other significant development was the unanimity over the situation in Afghanistan. All the countries have It’s time victims of UAPA demanded called for peace and cessation of fight- ing in Afghanistan, as countries are deeply worried about the impact on restitution, justice Chander Uday Singh On June 14, 2021, Mohammed Habeeb goes without saying. That it is invoked dis- plaintiff would need to prove that he was them, should the Taliban take control n March 6, 2021, 127 Indian from Tripura was discharged by the NIA proportionately, indeed overwhelmingly, prosecuted by, or upon the complaint of, of Afghanistan, Jaishankar clearly said Muslims charged with “terror” court at Bengaluru, finding that no charge against minorities, indigenous peoples, the defendant; that the proceedings ter- Ofor attending a seminar at Surat could be framed absent any material to tribals and, increasingly, those who stand minated in his favour; that the prosecu- Afghanistan’s past cannot be its future were acquitted as there was no “cogent, link him with a shooting incident at the up for them, is well known. Bail is notori- tion was instituted without reasonable giving a clear signal that the return of reliable and satisfactory evidence” to show Indian Institute of Science on December ously hard to get once arrested under cause; and that it was motivated by mali- that they were members of a banned outfit. 28, 2005. Habeeb was incarcerated for UAPA, which often prompts investigating cious intent, and not merely the intention Taliban as a radical Islamic force by Three months after the Students’ Islamic four years under UAPA terror charges be- agencies to slap on UAPA charges after a to carry the law into effect (Huntley v. fighting and subjugating the people of Movement of India (SIMI) was listed as a fore the court realised that the sole “evi- political dissenter or protester obtains bail Simpson (1857); Weston v. Beeman banned organisation under the Unlawful dence” against him, an inadmissible state- under the regular criminal laws. (1858); and Basebe v. Matthews (1868)). the country was unacceptable. China’s Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 (UAPA), ment of a co-accused, would not bring The judgments granting bail to student Closer home, the Judicial Committee of Wang Li made a significant announce- these 127 were arrested on December 28, home the charge even if it were admissi- activists Asif Iqbal Tanha, Devangana the Privy Council upheld similar suits in ment that should leave the Taliban – if 2001 while attending a seminar organised ble. Kalita and Natasha Narwal, Gogoi’s dis- India too (Pandit Gaya Parshad v. Bhagat by the All India Minority Education Bashir Ahmed Baba from Kashmir charge orders, and, of course, the sense- Singh (1907-08); and Balbhaddar Singh they care about the global opinion – Board. They each suffered nine to 15 spent 11 years in a Vadodara jail until, on less arrest and inevitable custodial death of v. Badri Sah (1926)). realizing that the world community is months in jail before getting bail, followed June 19 this year, the special court held Father Stan, have led to strident calls for Interestingly, the Privy Council in Pandit by weekly or fortnightly reporting to the that UAPA charges were unfounded, “no reform. The hope, it would appear, is that Gaya Parshad approved the view of Cock- no longer fooled by its loose talk and police station at Surat for the next 18 evidence was found that he was in touch Parliament will suddenly become recep- burn, C J in Fitz John v. Mackinder (1861) false claims. So far, the Taliban have years. Jobs and businesses were lost, lives with terrorist elements”, and that the tive, and actually entertain calls for repeal; that even a prosecution that was at the destroyed, till finally even the draconian prosecution “relied on emotional argu- or failing that, the judiciary will nip the outset not malicious, either because it was been speaking in many ways: some- UAPA couldn’t keep this utterly bogus ments, and a person cannot be held guilty thousands of flimsy UAPA cases in the commenced at the dictation of a judge or times asking for national reconciliation case alive. merely on its fear of anarchy”. bud, or even consider striking down this magistrate, or on the bona fide belief of An NIA court in Mumbai acquitted Mo- After holding him in custody for over a egregious law. the prosecutor, may nevertheless become in their country while carrying out hammad Irfan Gaus and Ilyas Moham- year and a half, the NIA was unable to get But will those who brazenly wield this malicious at a later stage if, the prosecu- attacks to control more areas of mad Akbar of UAPA terror charges on charges framed against Sibsagar MLA brahmastra readily give it up? tor having acquired knowledge of the inno- June 13, 2021, citing lack of evidence, after Akhil Gogoi, and by orders dated June 22 The time has come for direct action, us- cence of the accused, perseveres with mal- Afghanistan. They have told India and they had spent almost nine years in jail. and July 1, 2021, two NIA courts ordered ing the very Constitution that birthed ice in the prosecution. China that they will not attack their Ilyas’s bail applications were rejected four his discharge under the UAPA as also on UAPA, and the judiciary that enforces its Time was, however, when a citizen times despite the same lack of evidence, charges of sedition. senseless provisions. It’s time, in other wronged by tortious acts of government assets but the two attacks near Salma and though the Bombay High Court I’m not going to mention the gut- words, for the empire to strike back. And servants, could be thwarted by claims of dam built by India and dedicated to the granted Irfan bail in July 2019, the wrenching case of Father Stan Swamy, as the way to do this is by the victims suing sovereign immunity. In Kasturilal Ralia Supreme Court “stayed” that order without those facts are too well known to bear rep- for reparations, for restitution, for dam- Ram Jain (1965) the Supreme Court, people of Afghanistan, should not have notice to him. Ironically, three others con- etition. Nor will I regurgitate the data that ages, or for compensation in whatever while bemoaning the fact that Indian law- happened. Surprising everyone, Li said victed for terrorism under the same reveal thousands of UAPA arrests without form or name. makers had not followed Britain’s lead in chargesheet were sentenced to 10 years bail in recent years, a miserably low per- Malicious prosecution was for long doing away with immunity under the clearly that the Taliban has to come imprisonment; if they got remissions and centage of cases in which charges are recognised in England as a tort, or civil Crown Proceedings Act, 1948, still went clean on its past links with terrorist time off for good behaviour, the guilty may framed, and a minuscule conviction rate, wrong, which might result in an award of on to hold that the colonial legacy of have got out around the same time as the perhaps below 2 per cent. damages to the wrongly incarcerated vic- crown immunity continued to apply in In- groups. falsely charged. That the UAPA 1967 is grossly abused tim. To succeed in a suit for damages, the dia. SEBI’s backtrack on independent directors UMAKANTH VAROTTIL nificant power in the hands of step in this direction, the Securi- shareholders voting. SEBI rec- ticulated the reasons behind its minority, and impinge upon the sive when they are unable to in- n the high-profile Tata- significant shareholders to ties and Exchange Board of In- ommended the same “dual ap- change of heart. But it is entirely required collegiality in the fluence the outcome of share- Mistry corporate dispute, handpick the independents. In dia (SEBI) in March this year proval” system for the removal reasonable to assume there was boardroom. However, the dual holding voting. However, where Inoted industrialist Nusli case of family-owned compa- made a laudatory proposal. In of independent directors as well. a significant resistance from the approval system instead repre- they do have a significant say, Wadia became collateral dam- nies, it is not uncommon to ap- its consultation paper, the mar- In establishing such a minority industry and, in particular, the sents the best of both worlds. It like in the “majority of the mi- age. The shareholders of several point “friendly” independent di- ket regulator appeared to con- shareholder-friendly mecha- promoter groups. In substan- does not negate the promoter’s nority” process, they are likely Tata group companies passed a rectors. As for public sector cede that even though an inde- nism, SEBI drew inspiration tially downgrading the say of involvement in the process of to be more active in exercising resolution to remove Wadia as undertakings, an investigation pendent nomination and from Israel and the premium- minority shareholders in deter- appointing or removing inde- their franchise. Rising share- an independent director from by this paper (‘How indepen- remuneration committee of the listed segment of the United mining independent directors, pendent directors. The first limb holder activism in India, stew- their boards. Wadia’s so-called dent are Independent Directors board screened candidates for Kingdom, which confers greater India has failed to take a place requires the approval of all ardship obligations of institu- transgression was that he spoke of PSUs? Half from BJP’, IE, independent directorships, the power to minority shareholders among elite jurisdictions adopt- shareholders, where promoters tional shareholders and a out in favour of the minority July 2) reveals a demonstrable appointment was ultimately in installing or dethroning inde- ing the dual approval system. would have a significant influ- vibrant proxy advisory industry shareholders of the Tata group, affiliation between independent dominated by the promoters pendent directors. Opponents of the dual ap- ence. At the same time, minor- create an efficient support sys- thereby inviting the wrath of the directors and the ruling political during shareholder voting. However, what began with a proval voting mechanism have ity shareholders have a say as tem for minority shareholders promoters. This episode warns dispensation of the day. These Hence, SEBI proposed a “dual bang ended with a whimper. In a generally raised a number of ob- well, through the second limb to act. of ominous consequences for trends suggest that unless inde- approval” system whereby the press release on June 29, SEBI jections, none of which hold wa- that requires a “majority of the In all, the appointment and the institution of independent pendent directors owe their al- appointment of an independent announced that the appoint- ter. The first protestation is minority” vote. Hence, the ap- removal system continues to directors in India: Toe the pro- legiance to the shareholder body director required the satisfac- ment and removal of indepen- philosophical in that it militates pointment or removal of inde- undermine the independence moter line or confront an ouster as a whole, and not merely to the tion of two conditions: First, the dent directors would be by way against the majority rule princi- pendent directors would need and efficacy of corporate from the company. promoters, independence is approval by a majority of all of a special resolution rather ple that is intrinsic in a corpo- the approval of both con- boards. The securities regulator While the regulators have likely to remain largely in form shareholders and, second, the than a simple majority and rate democracy. While under- stituencies, the promoters as decided to forego the opportu- taken giant strides to enhance and not function. approval of a “majority of the made no mention of the dual standable, that is hardly an well as outside shareholders. nity to revamp the system. One board independence in India, The process for appointment minority”, namely the approval voting system. By this, SEBI has immutable rule as corporate law Only consensus candidates hopes that the current outcome one significant conundrum per- and removal of independent di- of shareholders other than the clearly backtracked from its pro- does make exceptions in cases would end up becoming inde- does not signal the death knell sists. Even though concentra- rectors is by far the most impor- promoters. In case of a failure to posal in the consultation paper involving oppression of minority pendent directors. to the proposal of the “majority tion of shareholding is the norm tant determinant of allegiance. satisfy the two-step test, the and deprived the minority shareholders. The third issue is one of of the minority” voting for the in Indian companies, indepen- If they are to serve at the plea- company would be free to pro- shareholders of the level of say The second concern is that shareholder apathy: Will mi- election and removal of inde- dent directors are appointed sure of all shareholders, rather pose the same candidate after a it had extended earlier. Regret- placing too much power in the nority shareholders be moti- pendent directors, and that it just like other directors through than just promoters, indepen- 90-day cooling off period for ap- tably, SEBI has neither pub- hands of minority shareholders vated to exercise an informed will return to the Indian corpo- shareholder voting by a simple dent directors must be hired proval by a special resolution lished the feedback received would be counterproductive, as and meaningful choice? Minor- rate governance discourse be- majority, thereby conferring sig- and fired accordingly. Taking a (75 per cent majority) of all during its consultation, nor ar- it could result in a tyranny of the ity shareholders tend to be pas- fore too long.