Who What Why When Where

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NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDU ● ● ● ● 12 WHO WHAT WHY WHEN WHERE SUNDAY, JUNE 4, 2017 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

WHO In November 2015, just two months planned interview, often preferring to entered Parliament in 1983, represent- those who saw him as a political no- eliminating caste discrimination. For PQpq after his landslide victory in the Labour respond to criticism on his own terms, ing the London constituency of Isling- hoper but wanted a token left-wing can- years, he chaired Britain’s Dalit Solidar- leadership election, Jeremy Corbyn through social media. He doesn’t wheel ton North, which he has held to date. didate. ity Network. He’s been an active mem- found himself immersed in a contro- out his family for photo opportunities. His radicalism continued in Parliament ber of global socialist networks, attend- versy on Remembrance Sunday (mark- He’s made a point of focussing on talk- — he was arrested outside the South Rebel or man of principles? ing the 2004 World Social Forum in ing the contribution of World War ser- ing to people directly, as was the case African embassy demonstrating against His detractors denounce him as a rebel Mumbai. He has pledged to work with Jeremy vice personnel). with his first performance at Prime Min- apartheid, brought striking miners into (he voted against the party whip over socialist groups across Europe as Britain Mr. Corbyn, whose anti-monarchist, ister’s Questions in 2015, when he relied the House of Commons, and invited 400 times while Labour was in power, faces up to Brexit. In 2013, he won the anti-conflict views already had many of on questions gathered from the public. former Irish Republican Army prisoners between 1997 and 2010), but to his sup- Gandhi Foundation’s International Corbyn Britain’s tabloids in a tizzy, was lam- An avowed socialist, he has no qualms to the Commons. His journey to the La- porters he is a deeply principled politi- Peace Award. basted for supposedly refusing to bow talking about re-nationalising infrastruc- bour leadership was just as cian, willing to stand up to the party, as he laid a wreath at the ceremony. It ture or raising taxes on businesses and unconventional. and his family, when those values A liability or an asset? Socialist subsequently emerged that not only had the wealthy, an approach shunned by He reluctantly are on the line. Some of the causes he has championed he done so but he had also stayed on Labour since the days of Tony Blair. He agreed to run, after His opposition to grammar have made him easy prey to nationalist after the ceremony to talk to veterans, doesn’t even look like many think a others insisted they’d schools, a selective form of state hysteria. Leading the party has also rebel while other politicians attended a meal politician should: his trademark beard had their turn, and school to which his second wife forced him to compromise on others, for VIPs. came well before fuzz became fashion- just managed to hoped to send one of his sons, such as on Britain’s nuclear deterrent. able while his casual, sometimes maver- scrape together the cost him the marriage. He was However, as he has developed in stature Why the attacks on Mr. Corbyn? ick, dressing style had some Conservat- necessary number of probably the most prominent par- as a leader he has sought to turn some British politics has long been infamous ives seething when he first entered nominations from other liamentary campaigner against of his perceived vulnerabilities on their for the personal nature of media attacks Parliament. Labour MPs to stand, the war in Iraq. He’s also been an head. Mr. Corbyn attacked Britain’s for- on leaders, but the hostility faced by Mr. including active local MP, taking up eign policy, just days after the Corbyn has been something else. It’s How did he get to where he is? from issues raised with Manchester atrocity, appealing to the been driven in part by his steadfast re- Born to peace activists, Mr. Corbyn was him by cam- very soldiers the right-wing media had fusal to play ball with the mainstream involved in politics from a young age, as paign groups, accused him of betraying, with a prom- media — he doesn’t take press questions an early member of the Campaign for such as a ise not to send them into futile wars. after every public speech, and often ig- Nuclear Disarmament, a volunteer in Ja- commit- nores questions out of the context of a maica, and a trade union organiser. He ment to VIDYA RAM CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC WHAT virus spread in many African and Asian bies being born with tiny heads, causing severe foetal brain defects. Though it the end of its public health emergency PQpq countries but caused no harm. But in severe neurological disorders. By the was widely suspected, scientists finally on May 12 this year, the virus appeared 2007, more than a hundred cases were end of January 2016, 4,200 suspected pinned down the Aedes aegypti mos- in India. Between November 2016 and reported at Yap, a tiny island in the cases of microcephaly were reported, quito, common in many tropical coun- February 2017, India reported three loc- south-western Pacific. Six years later, and the virus spread to several other tries including India, as the vector really transmitted cases (two women and Zika spread to French Polynesia, where Latin American countries and to the sponsible for transmitting the virus. a man) of Zika in Gujarat; but the news The lowdown nearly 30,000 people required medical Caribbean, with El Salvador, Jamaica The virus can be spread through came to light only on May 26, 2017 attention. Among them, more than 70 and Colombia advising women to delay blood transfusion. It has also turned up when the WHO published it on its people had severe neurological symp- pregnancy. Last year, on February 1, the in urine, tears and saliva, but it is not website. on the toms and 40 contracted the Guillain- World Health Organisation (WHO) de- confirmed that it can spread through Barré syndrome, in which the immune clared Zika a public health emergency them. Since the virus can stay in semen What next? A year after the system attacks the nervous system, of international concern. The WHO is- longer than in blood, the WHO recom- WHO declared Zika a Zika virus sometimes resulting in paralysis. sued an advisory to pregnant women to mended that couples abstain from sex public health emergency, there has avoid travelling to countries with an out- for at least six months after a man has been some positive news on the vaccine How did it In north-eastern break of the Zika virus. been diagnosed with Zika. Besides front. A single dose of Zika vaccine come about? Brazil, towards the spreading to a few States in the U.S, the made from the Zika virus showed prom- What is Zika is an arbovirus in- end of 2015 and Why does it Besides being virus reached closer to India when it ise in mice and monkeys. More than 40 Zika? fection which occurs within months after the outbreak, the matter? spread by mosqui- was reported in Singapore last August: Zika vaccine candidates are in the through the bite of sev- Zika virus was seen to have a possible toes, the sexual route 330 cases in two months. The virus pipeline and five are entering human eral different species of Aedes mosqui- link to birth defects in babies. While of transmission was confirmed in soon spread to Malaysia, the Philip- clinical trials (Phase I). Back home, the toes, including the Aedes aegypti which nearly 80% of the people infected with France by last February-end; in a matter pines, Thailand and Myanmar. In mid- Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech’s Zika is active during the day; it can also be Zika did not have symptoms, the infec- of days the WHO said sexual transmis- November 2016, the WHO declared that vaccine was found to confer 100% pro- transmitted sexually. The virus was first tion became dangerous if it occurred sion of the virus is “relatively common.” the Zika emergency was over. By the tection on mice. The company has just isolated from a rhesus monkey in during the early stages of pregnancy. In And by mid-April, in a turning point in end of the year, Brazil had confirmed begun clinical trials in humans (Phase I) Uganda in the Zika forest, near the west- some cases, if the virus attacked the the Zika virus outbreak, the U.S.-based about 2,230 microcephaly cases. The in two centres in India. ern shore of Lake Victoria, in 1947, and brain tissue of the foetus, it led to micro- Centers for Disease Control and Preven- U.S. reported nearly 4,600 Zika cases by hence the name. The mosquito-borne cephaly, a condition that results in ba- tion confirmed that the virus caused December. Even as Brazil announced R. PRASAD

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC WHY When did he lose form? warding labour. But his current slump is ant best and brought him six Majors. Agassi understands, better than any- PQpq * Exactly a year ago, after winning the more a result of one following the other, But it looked to have reached a satura- body, how a game based on an incom- French Open, Novak Djokovic had showing the chinks in his armour. At tion point. His form in the first half of parable return of serve ought to work. If achieved something no man had man- first, Djokovic appeared to have lost the this year brought little cheer — he lost in anything Djokovic is this era’s upgrade aged since 1969: to hold all four Grand hunger to win. the second round of the Australian on Agassi and the American should Slam singles titles at the same time. He It was perhaps understandable for he Open in January to the 117th ranked have an ace or two up his sleeve. But ...has Djokovic was at the peak of his powers and pretty had nothing much left to win. Later, Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan. In May, he things aren’t decided on paper. If they much invincible. when he cited “personal issues” it parted company with all three of his were, the Djokovic-Becker combo Tennis, even during Roger Federer's seemed he needed a life coach. So in decade-long associates — coach Marian should have never worked, so divergent lost his heyday, didn't seem so monopolistic. came the mysterious spiritual guru Vajda, fitness coach Gebhard Phil are their styles of play. Then, in an astonishing turn of events, Pepe Imaz, who, apart from being a Gritsch and physiotherapist Miljan Djokovic lost his form. Such has been former player and the owner of a tennis Amanovic. How long before Djokovic is back to winning the free fall that since the success in centre at Marbella, Spain, specialises in On the eve of the French Open, his best? Paris, he has won only two of the 13 meditation and ‘extremely long hugs.’ Djokovic announced that he would be, * There have been flashes of brilliance tournaments he has played, crashing Yet Djokovic, who turned 30 on May 22, at least on a part-time basis, under the like the 6-1, 6-0 demolition of the for- touch? out of Wimbledon in the third round looked spent much of the time. Now, in tutelage of the legendary Andre Agassi. midable clay-courter Dominic Thiem in and losing the U.S. Open final to Stan 2017, when his game seems to be mim- Rome. trope in this match-up is of Djokovic Wawrinka. He had to surrender his No.1 icking his state of mind, the impression Can the partnership with Agassi work? But his defeat to the up-and-coming pounding Nadal with his return of serve ATP ranking to Andy Murray last of a full-blown crisis is unmistakable. * On paper it should. Agassi, who has 20-year-old Alexander Zverev in the and double-handed backhand. But it November. won eight singles titles, four less than very next match showed his inability to was to Nadal’s credit that he was able to What has he done to turn things Djokovic, seems to have the skills of a put together a streak. turn this dynamic upside down. The Is it mind or body or just his game? around? tennis coach and life coach rolled into This means he still has a fair distance two are drawn to meet in the semifinals * When he was younger, Djokovic * Imaz is still there but the first step one. Agassi knows how to get out of a to cover. Also, the crushing loss to Ra- at Roland Garros. The result will go a struggled with all three. His plight was Djokovic took to shake things up was to slump in the late 20s and the early 30s. fael Nadal in Madrid, his first in eight long way in determining who stands akin to that of the mythological Greek relieve Boris Becker of his coaching du- He knows how to achieve a balance matches against the Spaniard, would where. king Sisyphus – condemned to eternal, ties in 2016. The three-year association between work and life, which is essen- have definitely left a scar. Not just the hard, frustrating and ultimately unre- with Becker saw him being at his domin- tial for any sportsperson. As for tennis, defeat but the manner of it. The familiar N. SUDARSHAN

State. * PTI

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC WHERE Only a third of the usual herds of cattle brought every week, but only around buy a calf. The drought too was making Department, the farmers and traders PQpq arrived at the Vadipatti market this 400 came on Tuesday. it more difficult to feed the cow. wanted to know who will take up the re- Tuesday. Many owners, confused how According to P. Ramalingam, a trader P. Rajangam, another farmer from sponsibility of setting up new facilities. the Central notification on the ban on from Theni, many owners did not turn Sholavandan, who had come to sell his They feel higher rates will be the sale of cattle for slaughter or for reli- up fearing harassment from the police, bull, said certain breeds like the Bargur charged. “Now, I pay Rs. 180 for a cow gious sacrifices in the markets will play who have been cracking down on are reared for meat. for utilising the space if I manage to sell. out in the State, preferred to stay away. vehicles overcrowded with cattle. Trans- “The government gives goats and Otherwise, I do not pay anything. What In a T.N. This over 100-year-old market near porting four to five cows or bulls in a cows to the poor to earn a livelihood. is the guarantee that we will not be Madurai is particularly famous for its truck is economically not viable, he Why should selling cattle for slaughter charged exorbitant rates irrespective of trade in cows, buffaloes and bulls. pointed out. after they become unproductive be il- whether we make a sale or not,” asked market, Though traders and farmers, who At the market at Oddanchathiram in legal,” he asked. Mr. Mayandi. throng the market, were unaware of the Dindigul district earlier this week, farm- The biggest fear of traders and farm- Farmers and traders are aware of the finer details of the notification under ers and traders were warned by the po- ers appeared to be the possible harass- protests against the new notification at anxiety over The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals lice about the new regulations and were ment and corruption they may face various places in the State. They are (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, threatened that vehicles overcrowded once the regulations come into force. hopeful that the Centre will revise the 2017, they feel that banning of the sale with cattle would be seized. “We already have to bribe the police notification or the State government slaughter ban of cattle for slaughter and imposing The price fetched by the cows and during transportation. Now, we may will intervene to make the market a stringent regulations on the way animal bulls also came down at the market on face harassment from officials in the thriving place again. markets are run will deal a severe blow Tuesday, at least by a couple of thou- veterinary department as well since The Madras High Court’s four-week to their livelihood. sand rupees, according to farmers, they are supposed to monitor the facilit- stay on the ban has come as a small re- since traders said they had to factor in ies in the markets,” Mr. Ramalingam prieve. Why the confusion? the additional cost for transportation, Poochampatti village, who managed to said. S. Selvagomathy, an activist and law- Their fears showed in the numbers. M. hiring more trucks. sell his jersey cow at the market, said yer in Madurai, had filed a public in- Kumar, the person in charge of collect- the cow had served him for more than Will new facilities charge more? terest litigation petition challenging the ing fees from traders for using the mar- What are the fears? 10 years. Pointing out that most of these markets constitutional validity of the new rules. ket, said that on an average, roughly Farmers and traders said they found the He said since it had become unpro- were set up on “poramboke land,” land 1,200 to 1,300 cows and bulls are ban illogical. N. Mayandi from nearby ductive, he had to sell it so that he could which is not assessed by the Revenue PON VASANTH ARUNACHALAM CM A ND-ND YK https://telegram.me/TheHindu_Zone https://telegram.me/PDF4EXAMS

THE HINDU NOIDA/DELHI SUNDAY, JUNE 4, 2017 COLUMNWIDTH 13 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE The modern-day ‘no stroll zones’ ‘Normal’ walking in Indian cities is now conined to those who have no choice but to be pedestrians but to be pedestrians. So, while south shortens. Around the Capital’s flyovers Calcutta still retains what one might call and major crossings, the biped is really ‘walkability’, the area around where I shown his place — ‘do not dare to cross live (central-south) is impossible to tra- here or you will die’ seems to be the verse on foot with any ease or pleasure. message, so, even in the blowing loo, The sidewalks are occupied by food you end up walking an extra kilometre stalls, the bits that aren’t are constantly or more to be able to cross a road safely. dug up, the bits still remaining have the No matter which metro or sub-metro constant dripping from the overhanging in India, besides the traffic and the bad Ruchir Joshi air conditioners. pavements, the other factor is the pollu- is a writer, ilmmaker and columnist The pedestrian has no choice but to tion. To walk briskly or slowly is to fill Sometimes a change of location throws walk on the road, which is dangerous your lungs with oxygen. This fresh air up some stark realisations. Things that because, with typical sadistic per- powers your stride, lightens your have been staring you in the face that versity, Calcutta’s drivers think the as- bones, puts a spring in your step. Or, in you hadn’t fully articulated suddenly phalt — all of it — belongs to them. the case or Ahmedabad or Agra, Bom- become clear, or, if you’d forgotten bay or Bhubaneshwar, Calcutta or Cali-

them, become clear yet again. For in- GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO Anti-pedestrian cities cut, Delhi or Dinajpur, not. Coming to stance, I move between India and the If anything, large tracts of Delhi are London and walking under the glorious U.K. most years because of work and conversely, in London it is rare for me between the Avenues of Rashbehari and wasteland and needed motorised trans- worse. In no other city have I seen pave- canopy of the newly green trees, you family reasons and there is a pattern to find myself in a taxi or what we in In- Southern, between the Parks of Gol and port, but I imagined you could walk if ments specifically designed to be anti- can’t help but feel, perhaps not com- that repeats itself as I make the trans- dia call a ‘private car’. This results in a Jodhpur, you could walk. Visiting Bom- you needed to because where’s the pedestrian. I don’t know how succeed- pletely fairly, that among the things that ition from Calcutta or Delhi to London. kind of osteo-schizoid condition that is bay, you walked around the Fort area problem in walking on a flat expanse of ing governments justify the mini- Empire stole were also our fresh air and both painful (to me) and hilarious (to and, of course, on Marine Drive or dirt? canyons at every bungalow entrance in our promenading areas. Then you real- Walking the walk spectators, aka family and friends). Chowpatty; sometimes you were driven Returning to London, it hits me again the Lutyens area. ise that no, this is one bit of damage we One of the first changes involves my As a child growing up in Calcutta, I all the way to the wilds of Juhu, to walk that the walking areas in all these desi As you walk down these roads, you have caused entirely by ourselves. In creaking bones having to wake up and have memories of doing a lot of walk- on the beach there. Ahmedabad, an- cities have shrunk radically. In fact, in are constantly stepping down and up any case, pushing your bones out of deal with the fact that this vilayat is a ing. We lived in an underdeveloped en- other of my childhood cities, involved a all these towns you have to take some about a foot at every gate. Around the their half-year sedation, you realise place where they need to propel me clave in south Calcutta. In order to get lot of walking, some of it on hot sand, form of motorised transport to reach an really large government haciendas, you what a luxury it is, to be able to com- from point to point, i.e. make me walk. to the city proper, to catch the school some of it on ancient stone in the old area reserved specifically for perambu- get to walk about 30 undisturbed feet plain about needing to walk so much In India, I live in cities and it is rare for bus or the public buses, one had to ‘pols’. lation because ‘normal’ walking is now between the steep steps; around the even as you crave the activity while wak- me to walk from one point to another; walk. In south Calcutta generally, The south Delhi of the late ‘60s was a confined to those who have no choice smaller bungalows, the distance ing up every morning. When a peasant revolts Pushing the boundaries The state needs to ind holistic solutions to India’s chronic agrarian distress As India and Pakistan face of, some questions about the cricket calendar changed. India’s per capita cereal demand, as Credit Suisse’s Neelkanth Mishra pointed out in a recent article, has been declining by 1% a year for the last 30 years. This means that do- mestic demand for cereals isn’t growing any more — while output, even in bad monsoon years, has risen. Farmers continue to grow cereals, R. Srinivasan Mini Kapoor tempted by rising MSPs. Procurement, is Editor, The Hindu Business Line is Ideas Editor, The Hindu faced with growing grain mountains It didn’t last long enough to turn pub- and tightening of subsidies, has re- Most of us in South Asia, even the oc- lic attention away from more weighty duced, except in traditionally strong casional cricket watchers, set a calen- matters like cattle trade and peacock agri-markets like Punjab, Haryana and dar alert for the next India-Pakistan tears, but nevertheless, the two-day Madhya Pradesh. match. And today’s match between the ‘strike’ by farmers in Maharashtra This forces distress sales at below two teams in Birmingham is bound to ought to have politicians and policy- MSPs, as was also seen in the case of be particularly charged — expectedly makers worried everywhere. That is toor dal this year. Last year’s record so, given how cricketing ties between because when the Indian farmer de- price surge forced the government to the two countries are so dismal that an GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

cides to take collective action, there is GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO announce higher MSPs and incentives. India-Pakistan encounter is a rare really no way to counter it. However, an immediate and over- thing. This lazy Sunday is bound to be thoughtful, long-term cricket fan tries Trophy this year), Papineau says it Chaudhary Charan Singh demon- (MSP) a criminal offence. It also agreed whelming response from the farmers given over to the match, the English to work out an answer to that, and matters little: “…the future will not strated this way back in 1978. His to set up a State-level commission on found it unable to actually procure at weather permitting. there’s no set progression. undo cricket’s role in creating a post- ‘kisan rally’ remains the largest gather- agricultural costs and prices. the promised support price, leading to Yet, such meetings of the two teams One way of doing so, suggests the colonial identity for Anglophone West ing witnessed in Delhi’s Boat Club Of course, the ruling party has ac- distress sales, and a continuing cycle only in multilateral tournaments, such book, is to take notice of the presence Indians.” It’s part of a vivid chapter in lawns to date. It was an awesome dis- cused middlemen of machinations to of rising agricultural debt and unpaid as the rather pointless ICC Champions of teams in the fray in different sports the book about “national teams that play of political power which pro- jack up prices (quite true) as well as bills. Trophy currently in progress, cannot that inspire a following that is not con- demand loyalty to countries that don’t pelled him — howsoever briefly — into the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Con- In Maharashtra, for instance, one of be good for the sport. To amount to fined to their geographical/national appear on the official map of nations”. the Prime Minister’s office. gress Party of political shenanigans the subsidiary demands was to stop something more than wholly partisan boundaries. They pull us out of par- Hong Kong sends a separate team to Mahendra Singh Tikait demon- (also quite true), but that shouldn’t dis- ‘harassment’ by microfinance com- account-keeping of the final result, fix- tisan selves, so that we become partis- the Olympics; in most sports Ireland strated it again a decade later at the tract us from the real takeaways from panies, which leads me think that an- tures between the keenest rivals in ans of the sport, not its teams. teams include the north and south of same venue. Half a million farmers this episode. other Andhra Pradesh-type crisis may team sport need to be embedded in a For long, that team has been the the island (that is, the Republic of Ire- squatting on the lawns off Rajpath The first one is this: when the In- well be brewing there. larger narrative — such that cricket in West Indies for cricket. For the longest land and Northern Ireland); it’s Eng- soon brought the Rajiv Gandhi govern- dian farmer is roused enough to march This in turn triggers demands for its normal calendar allows, with bilat- time — especially from the seventies to land and Wales Cricket Board, but “the ment to its knees, which accepted on the streets, it is almost impossible loan waivers and other write-offs. Yogi eral Test tours, the odd tri-series, the the mid-nineties — to beat the team team itself is ‘England’”; and Scotland Tikait’s long charter of demands, ran- for any government to counter it. That Adityanath set the ball rolling with a rare friendship match setting up indi- was to announce one’s claim to a place has its own cricket and football teams. ging from higher price for sugar cane is what 65% of the population means. loan waiver in Uttar Pradesh — now the vidual sub-plots (such as the Sachin in the sun. But the West Indies, before (Interesting fact: “The annual Scot- to waiving of electricity dues. Faced with large-scale farmer protests, demand is spreading. Tamil Nadu Tendulkar-Shoaib Akhtar competitive- that dominance and now even after its land-England [football] match was one More recently, the Jats of Haryana Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress caved; the farmers, despite a high-profile demon- ness), imbuing nuance (a record of rel- decline, pulled spectators out of their of the great sporting fixtures, until it once again demonstrated the might of Janata Party caved; the UPA caved and, stration in Delhi and a half-hearted ative strengths in different formats and corners, it forced them to appreciate was discontinued in 1989 because of farmer power, seeking ‘Backward now, the BJP has caved in — in Haryana strike, have not managed to get one conditions putting each victory/loss in cricket’s social history, its anti-colonial the fans’ excesses.”) Class’ status — and associated reserva- and Maharashtra. yet, but that is only because they perspective) and reminding the viewer subtext and its capacity to be enriched In this context, Papineau points to tions in jobs and education — for them- The second is this: unless the haven’t yet found a forum — or a leader of context. Else, for the hysterically by newer influences on and off the the American exception: “When it selves by coming out into the streets. powers that be stop merely paying lip — they can rally behind. If Tamil Nadu loyal fan as well as the may-the-best- field. comes to international sporting com- So, it is hardly surprising that the service to agrarian distress and actu- finds a Tikait, the tale would unfold team-win purist, these sporadic fix- To truly enjoy a game of cricket, you petition, it is almost invisible.” This rel- Devendra Fadnavis government had to ally double down efforts to find mean- quite differently. tures would amount to just point-scor- needed to be aware also of how it was ative lack of enthusiasm for team cave in, in a span of just two days. With ingful solutions, we are looking at po- The point is, given the manifest ing between teams (or rather, their watched in the stands in Kingston, sports on the international stage, com- fruit and vegetable prices soaring 50% tentially much larger, much more shortcomings in execution capability, fans), nothing more. Port of Spain, Bridgetown, and other pared to national leagues, requires its and faced with an imminent milk impactful uprisings in times to come. and the limits on capacity, state inter- iconic venues in the Caribbean. You own sociological study, but in a week shortage, the Fadnavis administration vention — of the type which Fadnavis On whose side? needed to know the game, and equally when the U.S. pulled out of the Paris bought peace by agreeing to waive the A distorted subsidy regime and the Yogi have preferred — can What a cricket match between India you needed to be awash in the spirit of climate pact, Papineau’s words have loans of “small and marginal” farmers It is paradoxical that agrarian distress never really solve the problem. There and Pakistan means in the time of sus- the game. particular resonance: “Exceptionalism — nearly 80% of the State’s 13.7 million- has risen even as agricultural output isn’t enough capacity and there isn’t pended bilateral tours is a complex It is, of course, the case, as on the sports field encourages excep- strong farmer population — as well as has grown. There are many reasons for enough money. question, but it’s useful to be guided Papineau points out, that the “sporting tionalism off it. A country that shies waiving interest and penalty on this. At the core is a distorted subsidy What needs to be done instead is to along in some aspects, obliquely, by a country” of the West Indies isn’t “a away from international sport can be pending power bills. regime which has pushed cereals in fa- find holistic solutions — actual, rather new book, Knowing the Score: How real country”. And even as the islands tempted to stop thinking of itself as The government also agreed to hike vour of oilseeds and pulses, and water than theoretical access to credit, lifting Sport Teaches Us About Philosophy (And (as well as Guyana) increasingly turn to one nation among other.” the procurement price of milk — or input-intensive cash crops like sugar of market access controls, better rural Philosophy About Sport) by David other sports such as football and bas- Food for thought as we wonder, this though perhaps not to the ₹50 per litre cane or cotton in areas which are agro- infrastructure, affordable and reliable Papineau, a professor of, no prize for ketball, and lose aspiring cricketers weekend, why exactly India and farmers demanded — and promised to climatically not suited for them. On power supply and a crackdown on guessing, philosophy. He inquires into such as Usain Bolt to track and field, Pakistan don’t play each other more bring in legislation to make procure- the other hand, with rising incomes, middlemen. Otherwise, it may not be questions such as “what makes and even as the West Indies struggles often, and as we work out how bilat- ment of agricultural produce at prices education levels and prosperity, the milk that flows down the streets the someone a fan, beyond appreciating to keep up with other teams (it’s not eral cricket has over the decades en- below the Minimum Support Price nature of food demand has also next time around. the objective merits of a team?” Every even in the fray in the Champions riched more than just the game. Cryptocurrency: An idea whose time has come China, South Korea and Japan have adopted use of bitcoins with regulations. India can either follow its Asian counterparts or drive the whole enterprise underground If you have never heard of bitcoin or check if this output has specific preset people (as of 2015, nearly 1,00,000 mer- successive Indian governments have ig- cryptocurrencies, one way to think of it properties. If not, then the block header chants) accept bitcoin or other crypto- nored cryptocurrencies. Finally, on is as tokens sold by temples — for special is incremented by a random number currencies for goods and services, their April 12 this year, the Indian govern- rituals or prasadam — in exchange for (‘nonce’) and this new set is passed value increases. ment constituted an inter-disciplinary cash. These temple tokens, typically, through the hash function again. The real, and perhaps unanswerable, committee to study regulatory frame- can only be used within the premises. Finally, after many trials, when we question is what is their true value— i.e. works for cryptocurrencies. It has They are often exchangeable between find the appropriate nonce, the ‘miner’ how many rupees is any given crypto- sought public comments. However, individuals without the permission of announces this random number to the currency worth? The real answer is: no prominent voices like the BJP parlia- any supervening authority. And if you rest of his peers in the Bitcoin network. one knows. Unlike fiat currencies, mentarian Kirit Somaiyya have called Keerthik Sasidharan lose the token or forget to use it, it is as They check using this nonce if adding whose long-term relative values are for an outright ban citing some under- is a writer and is on Twitter @KS1729 good as losing money. This analogy is this information produces an output driven by differentials in purchasing standable (what happens to the mono- useful, but it can only go so far. Unlike with specific properties, including an power, we do not have a good under- poly of rupee in India as medium of ex- A spectre is haunting global capitalism: tokens in a temple which are controlled untampered old block. If verified, then standing of what determines the long- change?) and many absurd fears (drugs, the spectre of cryptocurrencies. Three by authorities, cryptocurrencies are this new block is deemed valid. The term relative value of these cryptocur- money laundering, Ponzi schemes). distinct forces of our modern age have generated by a network of computers new public ledger with updated inform- rencies. But this has not stopped in- What the Indian government ought come together to breathe life into this that run a software called ‘blockchain’. ation is now deemed as the new con- vestors from betting on the increased to do instead is follow, learn, and innov- strange and wondrous monetary arti- Most networks — be it, businesses or sensus. Thus we have a cleverly-engin- acceptance of various versions of block- ate based on what China, South Korea, fice. One, the rise of computational families — rely on trust to build con- GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO eered consensus via a system that chain technology and its currency units. and Japan have done: enshrine min- power that allows algorithms to pro- sensus. What happens to consensus doesn’t rely on trust but rather on a Since 2014, the American tax author- imum capital requirements, force se- grammatically issue currencies; two, a formation if there is no trust in families (think of units of information arranged ‘proof of work’. ities have treated cryptocurrencies as gregation of customer accounts, and distrust towards governments that can or businesses? as separate blocks which are concaten- ‘property’ subject to appropriate capital make potential criminal activity diffi- idiosyncratically debase currency or A network that uses ‘blockchain’ ated to form a chain), when a new piece Known unknowns gains tax rate. On April 1 this year, Japan cult. The Indian state can either help even demonetise at will; and three, a transcends this requirement of trust of information arrives, it is appended to A natural question: why would anyone deemed bitcoin as a legitimate payment structure the growth of cryptocurren- scarcity of safe assets to store wealth among members to form consensus. It a previous block to create a new block. bother to mine for this random num- method; on July 1, Australia will follow cies or drive the whole enterprise un- over the long term. The birth of the first is does this by relying on two funda- This new block is arranged in a specific ber? This is the part of the system that suit. Chinese authorities have aggress- derground beyond its control. As a wise cryptocurrency — bitcoin — was an- mental ideas: the near-impossibility of architecture (‘the Merkle tree’) and the relies on human self-interest. For every ively stepped in, when needed, to en- Finance Minister, quoting Victor Hugo, nounced to the world in 2008 by still reverse engineering a mathematical al- ‘header’ of this new block is passed verified number that is ‘mined’, the Bit- sure cryptocurrency exchanges func- said during his 1991 budget speech: “no unidentified inventor(s) who goes by gorithm (‘SHA-256 hash function’) and through the hash function. This func- coin network allocates 12.5 bitcoins [~ tion well. power on earth can stop an idea whose the name ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’. human self-interest. In a blockchain tion spits out transformed output. We $30,000] to the miner. When more However, over the past seven years, time has come”.

CM A ND-ND YK