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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Rajesh Ramachandran GROUP CREATIVE DIRECTOR R. Prasad DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR Sunil Menon CHIEF OF BUREAU Pranay Sharma Why Not Srirangapatna? POLITICAL EDITOR Bhavna Vij-Aurora WRITERS Satish Padmanabhan (Deputy Editor), Arindam Mukherjee, Lola Nayar, Qaiser Mohammad Ali (Senior Associate Editors), AJI Rao II was a defeated man, a shadow of a Peshwa, having been a puppet G.C. Shekhar (Associate Editor), Dola Mitra (Sr Asst Editor), Pragya Singh, Prachi since the 1802 treaty of Bassein with the British. So, the battle of Koregaon Pinglay-Plumber, Minu Ittyipe (Asst Editors), Ajay Sukumaran, Naseer Ganai (Senior Special wasn’t really big—either for the British Empire or the many Indian communi- Correspondents), Ushinor Majumdar (Special ties, including the Mahars, which comprised the Bombay Native Infantry of Correspondent), Arushi Bedi, Siddhartha Mishra (Correspondents) the British East India Company. The epoch-making battle that gave primacy COPY DESK Giridhar Jha (Senior Editor), to the British on the west coast was the battle of Srirangapatna that ended on Sreevalsan Thiyyadi, Saikat Niyogi, Satyadeep B (Sr Asst Editors), Martand Badoni (Sub Editor) May 4, 1799. A grenadier of the Bombay Army (could even have been a Mahar) shot PHOTOGRAPHERS S. Rakshit (Chief Photo through the temple of the Tiger of Mysore. If at all Mahar valour has to be exempli- Coordinator), Jitender Gupta (Deputy Photo Editor), Tribhuvan Tiwari, Vijay Pandey (Chief fied, I would choose May 4 instead of January 1, because even in British documents Photographers), Sandipan Chatterjee, Apoorva Salkade, Amit Haralkar (Sr Photographers), the siege of Mangalore in 1783 by Tipu and the battle of Srirangapatna are much big- J.S. Adhikari (Sr Photo Researcher), ger events than Koregaon, where just about 50 soldiers of the Bombay Army died. In U. Suresh Kumar (Digital Library) DESIGN Deepak Sharma (Chief Art Director), fact, the Bombay Native Infantry, about which some politicians are getting emotio- Saji C.S. (Chief Designer), Sajith Kumar (Chief Illustrator), Leela (Senior Designer), nal, was one of the deadliest forces set against Indian kings like Tipu Sultan. Devi Prasad, Padam Gupta (Sr DTP Operators) Earlier, Tipu Sultan’s father Hyder Ali was defeated by DIGITAL Anoop George Philip (Executive Editor), Aniruddha Dhar (Senior Copy Editor), Thufail the Madras army—which was, composition-wise, 12 per P.T. (Senior Correspondent), Rama Dwivedi cent Dalit (Pariah). They even snatched Hyder’s cavalry (Senior Sub Editor), Saswat Anupam Singhdeo (Correspondent), Yamini Kalra (Sub Editor), standard and it bec ame part of their regimental colours. Suraj Wadhwa (Chief Graphic Designer), Rupesh Malviya (Video Editor) The same army was part of the forces that had defe ated EDITORIAL MANAGER Sumanta Sen the Marathas in 1803 in the battle of Assaye. So, to cele- LIBRARY Alka Gupta (Chief Librarian) brate Pariah valour, shouldn’t we re-enact the 1781 battle BUSINESS OFFICE of Sholingur against Hyder Ali, the battle of Assaye against CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Indranil Roy PUBLISHER Sandip Kumar Ghosh the Marathas and the many battles against Tipu? While VICE PRESIDENTS Abraham Uthup, celebrating all these colonial victories against small Ind- Meenakshi Akash, Sam Ben Samuel, Shrutika Dewan ian kings, there is one campaign which brings a lot of sor- NATIONAL HEAD Archana Browne (Special row to an average Malayali, that is the Bombay and Madras armies’ victory over a Projects) SR GENERAL MANAGERS Kabir Khattar (Corp), small king of Malabar and his Nair and Kurichiya (now a scheduled tribe) soldiers in V. Sridhar (South) GENERAL MANAGERS Debabani Tagore, Wayanad. So, while we celebrate the Mahar valour against Kerala Varma, the Raja of Sasidharan Kollery, Shashank Dixit, Siddhartha Pazhassi, are we allowed to shed tears for the Kurichiyas? Or is it casteist to do so? Chatterjee, Shailender Vohra ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER This is nothing but an absurd, comical attempt to relive a British policy meant to Diwan Singh Bisht divide Indians. Gandhi’s 1932 fast in Poona, if that act is to be read in its fullness, was CHIEF MANAGER Shekhar Kumar Pandey MANAGERS Shekhar Suvarana, Sudha Sharma not against Ambedkar, but against the British idea of separate electorates for Mus- CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTION Raj Kumar lims, Sikhs, Anglo-Indians, Indian Christians and Scheduled Castes. So, it made a lot Mitra, Anindya Banerjee, G. Ramesh (South), Vinod Kumar (North), Arun Kumar Jha (East) of sense for the British to choose Koregaon as a symbol of Dalit assertion instead of DIGITAL Amit Mishra Srirangapatna or Sholingur or Wayanad. But it doesn’t make any sense for mod- HEAD OFFICE ern-day Dalit leaders to celebrate British victories because the British were worse AB-10, S.J. Enclave, New Delhi - 110 029 Tel: 011-33505500; Fax: 26191420 than India’s privileged castes in keeping the Dalits in chains. For instance, it was the Customer care helpline: 011-33505533, 33505500 British who made manual scavenging by a certain caste lawful in the army, the rail- e-mail: [email protected] ways and the municipalities. If Churchill had so willed, Bezwada Wilson’s family For editorial queries: [email protected] For subscription helpline: would not have been manual scavengers in the Kolar gold mines. Despite Sholingur, [email protected] Srirangapatna, Wayanad and Koregaon, the Dalits were classified as non-martial by OTHER OFFICES the British, thereby blocking their social mobility, something that was possible in an MUMBAI Tel: 022-33545000; Fax: 33545100 CALCUTTA Tel: 033 46004506; Fax: 033 46004506 earlier era without enumerators and census. Finally, it was Gandhi who chose CHENNAI Tel: 42615224, 42615225; Fax: 42615095 Ambedkar to head the drafting committee of the Constitution. BANGALORE Tel: 45236100; Fax: 45236105 It is indeed an irony that after helping Raja Sekhar Vundru, the Ambedkarite Printed and published by Indranil Roy on behalf of Outlook Publishing (India) Pvt. Ltd. scholar and bureaucrat, stop Roland Joffe in 2003 from making aBraveheart -like Editor: Rajesh Ramachandran. Printed at International Print-O-Pac Ltd, C 4-C 11, Hollywood movie on the battle of Wadagaon (which the Peshwa won against the Phase-II, Noida and published from AB-10, British), I write this piece on Koregaon now. Wadagaon or Koregaon, it is foolish to S.J. Enclave, New Delhi-110 029

Published for the week of January 16-22, 2018 valorise either the feudal Peshwa or the colonial British. They were oppressive rul- Released on January 13, 2018 ers and their soldiers were merely mercenaries. Total no. of pages 76, Including Covers Rajesh Ramachandran

22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 5 navigator Online

NATIONAL Why India can be an alternative education destination for students from countries banned by Trump by SHAFEEQ RAHMAN

INTERNATIONAL From Afghanistan to Somalia, the US’ special Ops achieve less with more by NICK TURSE 18 N.E.W.S. From A Google Spoon Omnipresent and all-powerful in the virtual realm, Google is on its way to trump media houses the world over in terms of revenue and become the central facilitator for news.

34 A History Page In War Today FEATURE Once etched in collective conscience, history can gather tremendous symbolic power. A Raman the rebel: Om Puri’s debut tryst with look at what the past and present have to say of the battle of Koregaon. Malayalam cinema by SREEVALSAN THIYYADI 48 The Digital Coin Crypt The Bitcoin buzz is no longer an underground thing, it seems to be emerging as a virtual rival to money itself. Are crypto-currencies the perfect new-age alibi for money laundering?

54 The H1B Party Poopers Proposed changes to the H1B US visa can result in many Indian IT hands returning home

62 The Original PadMan Natasha Badhwar’s My The story of Arunachalam Muruganantham, which has inspired the film PadMan Daughter’s Mum is about recognising the seedha from 10 DEEP THROAT 12 LETTERS 66 BOOKS 72 GLITTERATI 74 DIARY the ulta side by SUMANA ROY Cover: R. Prasad

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COUNTING ON STALIN DRY HOUSE ADVISORS GALORE Will the EPS government sur- As a beer-glugging tribe, many Since Ashwani Lohani took vive the budget session of the journos are wondering about the over as Chairman, Railway TN Assembly? If the high court “dry” Press Club they finally got Board last August, he has been upholds the Speaker’s act of in Srinagar when CM Mehbooba Mufti handed over keys of a bombarded with advice from disqualifying 18 pro-TTV colonial- era building to a repre- mainly retired railway officials, MLAs, EPS and OPS would sentative body of journalists. For on how to run trains better. As enjoy a comfortable majority the past two decades, reporters he had been busy getting Air in a shrunken house; else, EPS in the Valley had been seeking a India on course, perhaps they would find his boat rocked by space for a Press Club Kashmir, but thought he was out of touch. more rebels from his ranks. the government and bureaucrats Lohani tried to ward them off— TTV would want to force a never showed any interest, fearing politely, say sources, though mid-term poll, but DMK leader it would become another power the persistent ones refused to Stalin is not confident yet —not centre. Even some journalists did take a hint. Finally, Lohani not like the idea. In 2015, then since the RK Nagar debacle posted this on Facebook: “I am CM Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and Rajinikanth’s arrival on the held a meeting with journalists in amazed at the number of scene. And unless the DMK which they reiterated the demand. ex-seniors who are bubbling cooperates, a no-confidence To provoke them, Sayeed asked with ideas on how to set the motion against the government who among them drank. They railways right. Equally amazing is bound to fail. So EPS is murmured something, with none is why they did not implement counting on Stalin’s wavering owning up to drinking. So welcome the very same ideas when they mind to save his government. to bar-less Press Club of Srinagar! sat on powerful chairs.” Ouch!

OVERHEARD Some BJP leaders are secretly rejoicing over PILs filed by Tehseen Poonawalla and Bombay Lawyers’ Association for a Supreme Court-monitored probe into Justice B.H. Loya’s death.

10 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 NAAC ACCREDITED WITH A+ GRADE MHRD CLASSIFIED AS CATEGORY - I GAT-2018 GITAM ADMISSION TEST ONLINE TEST FOR ADMISSION INTO Engineering, Architecture and Pharmacy Programs at Bengaluru, Hyderabad & Visakhapatnam campuses

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BANGALORE H.N. Ramakrishna: ON E-MAIL Kangayam R. This is my answer to the question you Narasimhan: This here is a rare issue. raise on your cover (Is God Harmful to Not often is theology discussed so pub- Human Beings? Jan 8): If one were to licly in our times, alas. The mind that go by all the wars driven by religious relentlessly pursues matter will dwell motivations and the number of people in a vacuum without God. This is per- killed in these wars, which far outnum- haps the reason why Voltaire said: “If ber all other wars put together, then God didn’t exist, it would be necessary God certainly seems to have been to invent him”. It is telling that the harmful to human beings. world’s largest democracy and biggest capitalist economy, the US, has “In God MUSCAT P A Jacob: “Is God harmful we trust” as its official motto. to human beings”? To answer in the affirmative publicly would still be con- PUNE G.L. Karkal: For what purpose sidered impolite, indeed blasphemous. or whose purpose was God created? But, history would tell you of the end- People came up with the idea as a way less amount of violence and terror that to escape life’s problems. But such bel- has been unleashed in the name of the ief does not solve anything in reality. creator. While many articles in this The real question is not whether God is issue try to defend the ‘essence’ of God, harmful, but whether people are trying the deficit of a critical approach on God January 8, 2018 to approach these difficulties in a and religion is felt. rational and constructive way.

THRISSUR K. Aravindakshan: ON E-MAIL Vijai Pant: Your year- DHARAMSHALA Lalit Mohan There is a part of man’s being that is end issue could not have been more Sharma: While Devdutt Pattnaik’s anal- exhorting him to struggle for peace. He pertinent. We are in times where fun- ysis on the theme shines for its is at peace when he sees the sunset, damentalism threatens to break down audaciously original approach, His observes a flowing river, a canopy of the positive ideals we aspire for. But Holiness the Dalai Lama’s words inspire stars or a beautiful flower, or when he after all, it is the existence of an hope. M. J. Warsi excels in clearing stands on the peak of a mountain, in a almighty force that prevents the world common cobwebs which entertain men vast desert or on the shore of an ocean. from plunging into chaos. A belief in like Mill and Tocqueville as offering the I do not know why, despite having some supreme power raises questions gospel of liberalism. I must make men- these experiences, man is running of morality and righteousness, awaken- tion of Shiv Visvanathan’s engagement after gods and religion. In ancient ing conscience and providing us with with the contemporary as a very signifi- times, prophets of all hues had the basic tenets of humanity. cant analysis. No doubt, world leaders glimpses of this peace. But their fol- must make a push for their peoples to lowers misunderstood them, manufac- BHUBANESWAR M.A. Ahad: Your wake up from a stupor of indifference. tured innumerable gods and through New Year gift to readers is of some value. them religions, in order to wield tem- It made me remember a seminar organ- VARANASI Indu S. Dube: The ques- poral power and ultimately to sate ised by the philosophy department dur- tion whether God is harmful has been their unending greed. They failed to ing my college days in which the addressed by most pundits and reli- com prehend the true intentions of prevailing argument suggested that God gious figures inOutlook’s year-end spe- these great souls. All power seekers and religion were a society’s means of cial issue. Most have reckoned with it will plunder nature, and to this end disciplining people for ensuring peace according to their faith and learning. they will enlist the support of any god, and harmony. For God’s sake, do not Truth is, religions and their gods are religion or ism. And the common man blame God. Let God remain good. We the well-meaning work of prophets and for his part will endorse these as he must correct ourselves and give a sincere their early followers, who prescribed seeks to satisfy his own greed. ear to the god-fearing. sets of rules and codes of conduct for

one-liner ON E-MAIL Mick Scheinin If atheism is a religion, as it is being seen these days, not playing cricket is a sport.

12 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 INBOXED

people to follow. The question of God’s Being and Essence existence has fascinated mankind since LUCKNOW M.C. Joshi: Refer to Man’s ancient times. Preachers and saints Ego is a Horse Without Reins. The answer to have pored over this question for long; that age-old question, ‘What is God?’, has in the process some have been turned been given by Mata Amrit anandamayi: “God into gods themselves. So it goes. is not an individual, a personality or a particular form that sits on a golden throne bey- Godly Reflections ond the sky and passes judgment. God is MUSCAT Ramachandran Nair: The pure consciousness.” Common believers are first article in the package by the Dalai god-fearing, contented and satisfied with Lama (Inner Peace Vital, Jan 8) set the their own gods. For the poor, God is an invisible but omnipresent force tone for the rest. I must agree that any which controls the universe and would provide them succour. It instils con- violence in the name of God is certainly fidence in them and consoles them in grief. Those committing mindless against the wish of God. Truly, humans murders in His name are not believers but betrayers of God and religion. cannot represent God properly; it always leads to factionalism. In India, home to so many spiritual icons, none Upinder Singh’s article on the role of society and for making the oppressed can stem the tide of religious and com- violence and religion in ancient India sections accept their exploitation under munal hatred. All the powerful citadels was a good read for neophytes (The a cover of holiness and spirituality. No of popular godmen have started reek- Warlike Bodhisattvas, Jan 8), I didn’t wonder most people are gullible and ing of arrogance. The disappointing like the lecturing tone of the piece. remain mesmerised enough to happily thing is to see these living gods living in Everyone knows that not every Hindu, suffer all the injustice heaped on them luxury at the expense of their blind Buddhist or Jain in the last thousand by the grossly unjust social order. devotees. Why? They should come out years was a pacifist saint. But when you Power-crazy politicians encourage sup- of their cocoon, like the Buddha, and look at the overall record of Indian cul- remacy competitions among different see how people actually live. ture, it is quite good on the matter of gods and their followers, divided into inter-faith relations and acceptance of several religions and castes, pitting Culture Sheet Check diverse doctrines. them against each other. May God save TORONTO Varun Shekhar: While us from this opium of the masses! God Save the Man GOA M.N. Bhartiya: This refers to your PALAKKAD Col (Retd.) C.V. editorial comment The Good God (Jan Venugopalan: The answer to your 8). People’s ignorance is their God; the cover question in bold is yes. Bomb greater the ignorance, the larger God attacks, mass murders, wars or even looms on their canvas. Those who individuals trying to drive cars into believe the universe is orchestrated by a crowds, all are being done in the name power beyond their comprehension see of a loving, caring, merciful, father, God as a mysteriously omnipotent and mother, son or formless god”. This con- omnipresent force, but keep it a secret cept of God in the “collective ego” of as their affair with God is private and tribes, nations, and religions always sacred. The public manifestation of God contains a strong element of paranoia: through several religions is only for “us against the evil others “ This PEACE CORE Buddha in Sarnath grooming the dominated sections of extreme collective paranoia is the main

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22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 13 letters

cause of much human suffering: the becomes the truth is, after all, the RSS Nectar for Thought Spanish Inquisition, burning of here- method of truth-telling. ON E-MAIL Akanksha Jain: This is in tics and witches , gau rakshaks’ killings reference to Man’s Ego is a Horse of innocents in present times, funda- ON E-MAIL Ratana Sifu: The writer Without Reins, your interview with Mata mentalist killings in the Middle East. says, “ That even the Jain sources do Amritanandamayi. Meeting Amma and All these have come out of the ‘my God not speak about the event or that the keeping in touch with her has been the is better than your God’ logic. Nietzche Jains were thriving long after the sup- most wonderful experience of my life. I said, “God is dead”. Not quite. There posed mass impalements do not seem have been with her for 17 years, and yet I are frenzied attempts at killing gods to deter them.” Well, Jain monks, just am filled with surprise every time I see everywhere. But the atma in me prom- as Buddhist monks, are not allowed to her. It is amazing that she can constantly ises that the good God will survive. point fingers, or go to court. That’s the interact with so many people without reason why they remain silent. tiring. Showering love and compassion, ON E-MAIL Anu Bangara D’Souza: she greets the last person with as much Kudos to your ‘God‘ edition. As a Hindu Spiked Cocktail zeal and enthusiasm as she showed the married to a Christian, I couldn’t agree OLDENBURG (GERMANY) Veena first, without sparing a thought for her more with the editorial. My husband Talwar: Rakshanda Jalil’s piece (‘Oh, own hunger or need to rest, and never and I do not subscribe to the idea of But You Don’t Look Like a Muslim!’, Jan losing her patience. She is my guru and conversion under any circumstance. 8) explains many misgivings, stereotyp- my God. If you were not with me, Amma, Religion should be a personal matter, ing and idiocies that plague perceptions I would not have survived and travelled and no authority should be allowed to about Muslims in India since Partition. so far. You have given meaning to my life interfere with it. I look forward to more That historic event seems to have kept and I have no words with which to thank such cover stories. alive the stark division of our society you. I know, I am merely one among a into two communities, and recent million children of Amma who have had ON E-MAIL Jean Rogers: Isn’t the events have exacerbated these percep- such an experience. very notion believers hold—that their God/religion is better than another’s, ON E-MAIL Nathan Garnett: Your the reason they follow that particular interview emphasised the importance of religion? Think about it, if you force spiritual culture in contemporary times. everyone to say that every religion is as I appreciated both the inquisitive ques- good as theirs, the religions are them- tions and the thoughtful answers that selves bound to lose their value. can be actualised in our daily lives. It’s inspiring and encouraging to have CHENNAI Akash Verma: “Well, all I teachers such as Amma around us. know is that the poorer one is and the more unpredictable one’s life is, the DELHI N. Kunju: Your question- more real God becomes and greater the answer session with Amritanandamayi need of a God, any God,” reads a line in was so philosophical that it’s impossible your Comment. In case you haven’t EYE POLITICS An identitarian game to believe it could come from an unedu- checked, it so happens that most of the cated person, howsoever a genius she temples, mosques, churches and syna- tions. I grew up in Lucknow, hence I cel- might be. As it is, you have not given the gogues run not because of the prayers ebrate our Ganga-Jamuna culture in the name of the interviewer, though credit of the poor but because of the contribu- cocktail that was India. I hope the sec- is given to the photographs. I wonder if tions from the rich. tarian poison that seems to have been the Amma would be able to answer the mixed into it by political and fundamen- questions if she were examined in a Scars of History talist forces will lose its potency as the class room-like environment. ON E-MAIL Nasar Ahmed: I reckon more powerful elements of mutual love that the writer of your story on caste and recognition dominate once more. TORONTO Rick: Amma tells us “the riots in Tamil Nadu (Sectarian Fire path to God is only meant for people Burns, Jan 8) is most likely a Brahmin CALCUTTA Lt Col Ranjit Sinha with tremendous mental strength”. with an RSS bent of mind. Why else (retd): Rakshanda Jalil’s experiences Not quite right! I would be the first to would he try to portray fights among are raw and heartfelt. I was brought up argue that reason is vital to faith. But I different sects of Hindus as well as in a remote Bengal village where the would never make a statement like the those among Hindus, on one side, and majority were Muslims; some of them above. Some aren’t smart enough to Muslims or Christians, on the other, as looked after our farmland. There were know, and therefore belong to, God? I authentic, but the ones instigated by Maulvis also. Life was full of compassion don’t think so. God’s love is agape Brahmins as frivolous. He also claims and understanding. Ever since the com- (which is Greek), which is love based on an RSS office was bombed by Muslims, munal politicisation of the land, such reason. God doesn’t disapprove of even though the Supreme Court rel- fellow feeling has disappeared. We need other forms of love, but the important eased all the accused in that case for a civil society movement to fight this evil aspect of his love, which we should try lack of evidence. Repeating a lie until it before it destroys the country. and imitate, is reason.

14 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018

IN & AROUND THE SUBCONTINENTAL MENU

ACTIVE JUSTICE additional advocate-general in 2003. NE lakh court cases decided As a justice, he was a member of the Oby a single judge. That’s the three-judge bench that decided the feat, unprecedented in India’s legal Babri Masjid title suit in 2010, and is history, accomplished by Justice also known for a court order he gave Sudhir Agarwal, who has been a in 2015 to the effect that all govern- judge of the Allahabad High Court ment officials should educate their since October 2005. Formerly an children at government primary advocate specialising in tax law, he schools, as an incentive for them to has been standing counsel for the focus on improving such schools. UP Power Corporation, UP Rajkiya Lawyers practising at the court plan Nirman Nigam and the University to felicitate Justice Agarwal later of Allahabad, and was appointed this month.

SANITARY EYE WAR OF THE TUNDAY IN THE SKY SUCCESSION TANDING on Siliguri’s terraces, VER 100 years have passed Sone may soon catch a glimpse of a Osince Haji Murad Ali, known as drone flying overhead. No, this isn’t “Tunday” for his one arm, opened a some government initiative to spy shop selling kababs and paranthas in on private citizens. It will merely aim Lucknow. His speciality, the galouti COSY CALVES to espy any stagnant water on the kabab, rose to fame after he won a rooftops, as part of an effort to fight RAPPED up snugly in competition and earned the Nawab’s acrylic blankets, the the spread of dengue. The disease has W patronage, and “Tunday Kababi” bec- baby pachyderms are the pic caused deaths in the town recently. ture of happiness and comfort. ame an iconic brand. Recently, this Rajiv Ghosh, 17, had begun to put When Southeast Asia was name has been the object of a legal a drone together out of interest, buffeted by unexpectedly cold tussle between Tunday’s grandson supported by money borrowed by weather in December, Mya Mohammad Usman and one Moham- his parents as well as funds donated nmar’s Winga Baw camp for mad Muslim, who claims to be an by neighbours, with the final cost orphaned elephants was quick illegitimate female-line gra n dson of coming to Rs 1.5 lakh. While he was to take action, with workers Tunday. The issue came to Usman’s working on it, he heard the mayor rushing to keep their charges attention when he discovered that mention the idea of using drones to warm using straw. They had Muslim had licensed someone to combat dengue, and decided to offer crucial help from Blankets for open a restaurant called “Lucknow his services. Test flights of the drone, Baby Rhinos, a global network Wale Tunday Kababi” in Delhi. which Ghosh says can rise to 1,800m of 1,500 volunteers who knit Proceedings began in 2014; Delhi and crochet winterwear for but will be restricted to 200m for HC decided in favour of Usman last orphaned baby animals of all security purposes, will begin soon. kinds. Founded on Facebook in month, stating that Muslim had filed November 2016 by Sue Brown no evidence in support of his claims. and Elisa Best, the group leapt into action after being contac ted by Sangdeaun Lek Chailert, founder of the Save Elephant Foundation, a Thailandbased nonprofit. The blankets arri ved in Thailand towards the end of October or the start of November, and from there were sent on to Myanmar.”All seven babies, they loved it,” Chailert was quoted as saying.

Illustrations by SAJITH KUMAR

16 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 AN EVER-ELUSIVE BACHELOR N Multan last month, a turned away without a Ilocal woman made her meeting. This incident is far way to Gilani house, deter- from a one-off, and Bhutto Saeed’s Call Record mined that she would marry for his part made a clear her “beloved”, policy statement USPECTED 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Pakistan People’s a while ago. While Sand head of the banned Jamaat udDawa, Hafeez Party chairman speaking to jour- Saeed, is yet again under the scanner. This time, a BBC Bilawal Bhutto nalists last year, he report accuses of him of inciting British youth to jehad Zardari. When said, “There are too during a tour of the UK in the 1990s. confronted by secu- many offers, but the A Dawn report citing the BBC investigation says, Saeed, rity personnel, she woman will have to who has a $10 million bounty on his head for allegedly pleaded that she convince my sisters masterminding 26/11, thrilled audiences in packed mosques had fallen in love (Bakhtawar Bhutto in cities around the UK by calling for a return to the days with Bhutto and and Asifa Bhutto) when Muslims waged jehad and infidels paid them protection had brought gifts first. It is a very money. Saeed, founder of LashkareToiba (LeT), a terror for him, only to be difficult task.” group active in Kashmir, has always denied involvement in the Mumbai carnage. The BBC investigative report came amidst concerns for the British government and intelli gence agencies about the large number of Muslims going RED HOT HYBRID PEPPERS abroad to fight in Iraq, Somalia, Libya and Syria. ISHORE’S fireball is a curve ball. Curled The investigation, which was the basis of a 40minute BBC The BBC Radio in shape and smaller than India’s hottest Radio 4 documentary, The Dawn K 4 docu shows chilli, U-Morok , this new breed from Mani- of British Jihad, was broadcast on Tuesday night. It revealed the fateful pur is our hottest hybrid chilli. Named after that the roots of violent religious effect a creator Rajkumar Kishore, chief scientist at struggle by British Muslims were jehad - spouting Manipur-based Kwaklei and Khonggunmelei laid in the mid1990s, much earl Saeed had on Orchids Pvt Ltd, it is a combination of capsi- ier than previously thought. British The tour of Britain was Muslims. Many cum frutescens cultivar, capsicum chinense chronicled in Mujalla Al Dawah, answered the cv, and the hybrid of the two aforementioned a monthly magazine published by Saeed’s organisation, Markaz call and varieties. Unlike Guinness world record- Dawa Wal Irshad. perished. holder U-Morok, Kishore’s Fireball can be According to the articles, unc cultivated under direct sunlight, and has a overed during the BBC investigation, Hafiz Saeed arrived in Britain on Aug 9, 1995, and set about lecturing the youth low rotting rate, but is not as hot. about jehad. Summing up the British tour, the author wrote: “A large number of young people want to get jehad training. A group of around 50 college and varsity students has so far finalised its programme. The valleys of Britain IT’S JUST #TOOEDGY4PAK are resounding with chants of jehad. The time is not far off when Muslims will wake up”, and the era of the early N the Pakistani film abuse on social media, Muslim invaders of Europe “will come back in the vales of Verna, Mahira Khan, along with extensive I Europe. There will be chants of Allahu Akbar over Alhamra the country’s top actress, news coverage. The ban if the spirit of jehad is back among Muslims of Europe.” plays a teacher who is was lifted by an appellate Each trip raised £1,50,000 or more, and women donated kidnapped and raped board and the film opened their gold bangles and earrings in response to Saeed’s call. by a governor’s son. The on November 17. Khan, Hundreds of Britons went to battlefields in the Philippines, Pakistan censor board who places the film in the Kashmir and Bosnia, with some losing their lives. promptly banned it, context of the #MeToo Britain banned LeT in early 2001 and Pakistan a year citing its “edgy content” movement, stated that later. But shortly before that, Saeed resigned and formed that “maligned state the censors had objected JuD, which is currently on a watchlist, though officially not institutions”. A public because the film dealt banned. Saeed was confined to his home in Pakistan for backlash saw many Paki- with inequalities that ine- several months last year, but has been freed since. stani women share their vitably obstruct victims’ experiences of rape and attempts to obtain justice.

22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 17 COVER STORY CLICK G FOR ME DIA MONOPOLY With many teeth in the information dissemination pie, Google has po pped up as the new Big Media—without really creating any ‘content’

Illustration by SAJITH KUMAR

18 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 CLICK G FOR ME DIA MONOPOLY With many teeth in the information dissemination pie, Google has po pped up as the new Big Media—without really creating any ‘content’

by Siddhartha Mishra

“Currently, the predominant business model for commercial search engines is advertising. The goals of the advertising business model do not always correspond to providing quality search to users.”

oogle co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page wrote those words—evergreen and prescient—20 years ago and 12,383 km away. People today could find it a tad ironic that the words were not merely courier-delivered by the two, but actually authored by them —the quote is from their Stanford paper, The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine, which dates back to the same year that the search engine came into being. So, do truths change? Maybe. Why they called it ‘Google’ and not the now-odd- sounding ‘BackRub’ was because “googol, or 10^100, …fits well with our goal of building very large-scale search engines.” Google became the gateway drug to the larger fix that was the internet, or even what Maggi was to noodles, but it was primarily a search engine. Not anymore. If the World Wide Web is indeed a gossamer mesh spun by many over time, Google is now the largest spider, the one that has the gardeners worried. It watches over everything, and decides which pieces

22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 19 COVER STORY

of data flow where. Almost every other form of normal online activity seems to happen through it, as if it were the ether itself. Or a looming omnipresence/omniscience. But, in a way, it too is being watched now. Or rather, searched— its giant, mutating form is eliciting more than a little interest for the way it dominates and controls the landscape, without itself being subject to any reciprocal commitment. Since no one can escape its all-pervasive nat ure, others are beginning to resent the way it itself eludes an externally set responsibility while exerting huge power. In one way, it’s the old world trying to catch up with the new. Look at taxation. It’s a shadow that hounds most of the digital economy globally—it’s following Google around too. As perhaps it should. Consider this: Google’s India revenue was Rs 7,208.9 crore in 2017, up from Rs 5,904 crore the previous year, and it pays minuscule taxes on that. Then there’s the matter of anti-trust legislation it has got entangled into of late—the way Microsoft did in the 1990s. As an operating system, that was as inescapable; Google eludes your veto by being an omnibus that surrounds you from within and without.

T’S been an amazing outward expansion along all axes that brought it here. The once-pristine search engine with that iconic uncluttered white screen first became I everyone’s default e-mail service, then a browser, a library of every book that was ever written, an archive of every website you’ve been to, every photo you’ve clicked, then your phone’s OS, your GPS-enabled map, your YouTube, your newspaper boy who will deliver your news, then make a permanent mental noting of what you read…. In short, you’ve been well and truly Googled. But what’s intriguing is how the modalities of news have changed with Google. And, concomitantly, the rules of adver- nies, but I would not think of them as credible news organisa- tising. According to market research company Statista, 94 per tions,” says Durga Raghunath, CEO-digital at The Indian cent of India’s desktop search traffic goes to Google. And Express. Despite being only media-tech firms that “get infor- Google’s Android OS (with its in-built Google Chrome mation and services to users”, she sees them as the ‘new big browser) runs nearly 80 per cent of India’s mobiles. So it’s not media’ for two reasons: “Firstly, the amount of money adver- just about Google News as a curation platform. It’s through tisers are spending on them to get to an audience and, sec- Google search that every headline, each piece of news, every ondly, the different ways we use them in terms of social offering of media houses, swims into people’s consciousness. networks, maps, e-mail and videos.” Google for ‘Narendra Modi’, and the top three links that pop Look at Google’s Rs 7,208.9 crore on a comparative scale. up are news items. A couple of years ago, the first result would BCCL, the conglomerate that owns the Times Group, probably have been the Wikipedia link. bel ieved to be India’s largest media Google has been ringing in the changes, group, with a vast array of content subtly. These vast powers of dissemina- creators in its kitty, posted a consoli- tion also mean more than the clichéd dated revenue of Rs 9,976 crore for FY lion’s share of the digital advertising pie— 2016, for all its subsidiaries, according in fact, it decides how to slice and dis- to a report in TheHoot.org. The Old tribute the pie. Once you are taken to Lady of Boribunder has been around that piece of news, what ads pop up on for 180 years; and Google, still a teen- the media site are governed by Google’s ager, is abreast of India’s third largest alg orithms. More vexing for media firms, media house, Zee, which brought in even the rates for those ads are decided “As it is able to render close to Rs 6,434 crore in 2017. HT by Google’s own analytics. So, from ‘crea- services without Media and the ABP Group were at tives’ that litter digital neon boards to Rs 2,681 crore (FY 2017) and Rs 1,326 ‘content’, Google has it all covered. Is it physical presence, how crore (FY 2016), respectively, while fair then to think of it, along with do we tax Google?” The Economic Times reported that Facebook, as the ‘new Big Media’? Star India Pvt Ltd posted revenues Most experts think so, but in degrees. Akhilesh Ranjan worth Rs 10,800 crore in FY 2016. “I would regard them as media compa- Principal Commissioner, International Tax But Google hasn’t zoomed to near the

20 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 GOOGLE GAMES

Google decides the advertising rates for different publications by its own metrics.

The company, a mass aggregator, does not pay publishers directly for content created.

Google, without a ‘permanent establishment’ in India, is still battling tax authorities.

Publishers have complained about the Chrome ad-filter, which will block advertisements it deems intrusive from February.

Concerns over search manipulation have led to the European Union cracking down on the web giant.

GETTY IMAGES

PHYSICAL PRESENCE Google office in Gurgaon form, and increasingly a really important one, which allows you to start a channel on it, making it a publisher top of the news market by playing the same old game. of video content.” Traditional media applies an editorial mind: it creates ent- Fish or fowl? Hardly matters. Categories blur, even as you ertainment, gathers news, selects, edits, curates, does due define them. YouTube, for instance, plans to launch its own diligence, and adopts a stance towards the reality it reports programming with subscription platforms, like Netflix and on. It also spends on news gathering, not to mention print- Amazon Prime. What matters is that a list of 2017’s top 30 ing, production and distri bution. Google, on the other hand, global media brands by Zenith placed Alphabet Inc, which pulls out links and tells the user what the most popular became Google’s parent company in 2016, on top. Facebook story is, seemingly value- neutral on all other counts. came in second. Together, the report said, Google and Experts reckon that if the media is where people discover Facebook accounted for 64 per cent of the growth in global content, then Google and Facebook are media by that defi- advertising between 2012 and 2016—and that’s where the nition. In 2017, the Reuters Digital News Report said over shoe is beginning to pinch. half the readers across the world came across a story not Since aggregators are parasitic on everyone else, publishers, due to an editor, but courtesy an algorithm. “Google is a the actual content creators, were relying on pieces of this pie giant aggregator, working with advanced technology beyond being passed around. But trickledown can be an illusory the reach of most media companies,” says Sebabrata thing—in India as much as in the West. The Washington Post Banerjee, a blogger who works with a leading newspaper. reported late last year that Buzzfeed and Vice were going to And Shamnad Basheer, founder of SpicyIP and managing miss their 2017 revenue projections. In a recent article detail- trustee at IDIA (Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access ing their financials for the past five years, Buzzfeed founder to Legal Education), says: “They are big media, frighten- Jonah Peretti admitted they couldn’t rely on the aggregators ingly so…big media that has largely escaped regulation.” for revenue: “Google and Facebook are taking the vast maj- Sevanti Ninan, editor of TheHoot.org, a media watchdog ority of ad revenue, and paying content creators far too little (which has been funded by Google as Outlook reported in for the value they deliver to users.” 2013), offers a more nuanced view. “Google helps content find Tempers are frayed, and the next showdown is coming users interested in it,” and that’s a “huge blessing for niche soon. In February, Chrome will start blocking advertise- media”, she feels. “It drives traffic, is a disseminator, and that ments it deems “intrusive” on web pages. Since Chrome was makes it neither publisher nor platform. YouTube is a plat- estimated to have cornered nearly 42 per cent share of

22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 21 COVER STORY

“Google’s search mechanism promotes its own services and its penalty algorithms demote or exclude its rivals,”says Shivaun Raff of Foundem. AD-ING IT (above) A YouTube primary banner ad; (below) an InDisplay ad pops up while a video is being streamed

browser use in India by December 2017 (StatCounter data), its self-arrogated power to block ads on media pages accessed through Google (and hence regulated by Google Ads) has not left publishers overjoyed. In an article in The Times of India, Gautam Sinha, CEO of Times Internet Limited, was quoted saying: “Google is effectively regulating the entire digital ad industry, including its competitors—a role no company should have the authority to do.” In an e-mail response to Outlook, Anant Goenka, executive director of The Indian Express, says premium publishers stopped using intrusive ad formats long ago, but since most smartphones come “pre-installed with Chrome, Google must be less dictatorial in its decision-making”. He says that after publishing firm Axel Springer and many European news organisations complained, EU regulators were “quick to rap Google’s knuckles for precisely such beh- aviour. I would hate to see Google’s relationship with Indian company, which helps it sidestep scrutiny”. publishers go down a similar path it has in Europe.” Besides the immense power that all ows it such control, Experts too feel Google may have overstepped, especially there’s raw money at stake. Alphabet Inc may have diverse since, as Raghunath points out, Google will have an “even revenue streams like the PlayStore, Apps, its cloud platform larger share of the ad pie” given Chrome’s marketshare. And and Google Fiber (its optical fibre broadband service). besides being “regulated on the media side”, says Basheer, However, for years, the bulk of its revenue has come cour- “Google and other big media must be continuously moni- tesy its proprietory advertising service, AdWords. In 2016, it tored by the Competition Commission for anti-competitive totted up some 88.7 per cent of $89.5 billion. And Q3 in 2017 effects…they’ve become too big.” Being saw it at 87.6 per cent—$24 billion out dominant is fine, but they shouldn’t be of $27.5 billion—so it’s a stable ratio. permitted to “abuse this dominance”, With AdWords, we enter deep, eerie he adds. Raghunath concedes that a waters. It’s Google’s digital ad service better user experience is “something that allows ads to be strategically cho- we all want”, but says Google deciding sen for you, based on cookies generated on your ads won’t be “an easy pill to from your browser and on keywords swallow…for publishers who have determined by the advertisers, and then annual commitments from different place them on web pages you visit. kinds of advertisers”. Google has got you covered wall to “India needs its own search engine,” “Google helps content wall—via mail, location history, web declares S. Gurumurthy, co-convenor of find users interested in activity, what not—so it pretty much the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, the RSS’s knows what you’re a sucker for. This economic wing. A “dictatorial” China it. That’s a huge blessing enriched, micro-detailed customer pro- used “censorship to contain Google. We for niche media.” file is anillicit goldmine for advertisers. have to use anti-competition law like the Google gets paid when there’s ‘action’ EU,” he says, pointing out that Google Sevanti Ninan (clicks) on these ads. “frames itself as just another technical Editor, TheHoot.org Revenue from this source has been

22 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 If the World Wide Web is a gossamer mesh spun by many over time, Google is now the biggest spider, the one that has the gardeners worried. TAKE YOUR TIME YouTube InStream ads (above and below) allow you to skip to the content after a few seconds

strings. All this, of course, without speaking of the primary banner ad on YouTube, which movers from within the digital marketing industry say goes for anything between Rs 10-20 lakh for a day, and is sold out within days for the entire year. An ad banner on Marine Drive, by comparison, would cost Rs 3-4 crore a month to rent, says an adman: “This is digital real estate; it goes for the same amount in probably 10 days, but reaches out to so many more people.” No wonder its charm is growing. “YouTube is the third largest channel based on adspend now, after Star Plus and Zee,” says a digital marketing expert, who reckons it tots up some Rs 700-1,000 crore in a year. It’s ruthlessly performance-linked. The likes of Star and Zee have a “streamlined structure with content creators getting their due”, while YouTube has a “very unstructured way to pay out content creators. You only get money when you go viral.” falling by minuscule amounts since 2008, but Google still Another insider bemoans the competition in the sector that takes home a mammoth 32.8 per cent of a global digital ad has led to advertisers having to bid higher for the same key- industry worth around $200 billion. How does India stack up? words. “Google enjoys a monopoly, hence it has increased the The market size was brushing Rs 10,000 crore by December cost of keywords. When I started out, a click used to cost me 2017, a joint survey by ASSOCHAM and KPMG found. And Rs 17-18. Now, it’s Rs 100 for the same keyword. That’s over the stakes are growing fast. five times in four years because the competition in that seg- So, how much do Indian brands have to spend via Google to ment, on that keyword, has ramped up that much. Advertisers be seen? Outlook accessed plans charted out for a well-known are affected because the margin goes for a toss.” clothing brand and the Indian arm of a global infotainment The monopoly helps Google in other ways, especially when channel. Over four weeks, the former intends to spend over it decides to become a player in a segment, because it’s placed Rs 7.5 lakh targeting keywords in Google searches to show in a singularly advantageous place to skewer the competition! image advertisements. Another Rs 2.5 lakh is set aside for In June 2017, after a seven-year probe, Google was handed a Google Display Network. YouTube is a prime target, where it penalty of $2.8 billion by the EU for a breach of anti-trust may choose to spend Rs 20 lakh alone on InStream and rules that related to search results for shopping comparisons. InDisplay ads for the first week and Rs 10 lakh on InStream Why? Because Google had “systematically given prominent ads over the month. (InStream are the six-seconds-before- placement to its own comparison shopping service”. The EU you-skip ads, which run before a video plays, while InDisplay noted that its “rival comparison shopping services are subject displays content on YouTube and GDN.) The channel, on the to Google’s generic search algorithms, including demotion” other hand, has a four-phase plan worth Rs 20 lakh, aiming to and, as a result, “consumers very rarely see rival comparison reach out to over four crore people over 10 weeks: Rs 12 lakh shopping services in Google’s search results”. for YouTube, Rs 2.5 lakh for GDN, just over Rs 3 lakh for The case began after the founders of Foundem, a price com- Facebook and a measly Rs 50,000 for Twitter. parison website from Bracknell parish in the UK, accused Such spending plans are framed by digital marketers hired Google of favouring its own links in searches. In 2006, by brands, and these worthies are currently making a beeline Shivaun and Adam Raff found that their vertical search for YouTube, in effect Google, to home in on the right eyeballs engine, Foundem, was wiped off Google. After repeated with the magic of algorithms, targeted keywords and search requests, Foundem, which won The Gadget Show’s award for

22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 23 COVER STORY

‘KILLING ORIGINAL CONTENT CREATORS ISN’T IN SILICON VALLEY’S INTEREST’

best price comparison website in 2008, was restored in 2009— she says, “It is no stretch to say the outcome of this case only to be barely discoverable on Google (as opposed to could safeguard the future of competition, innovation and searches on Yahoo and Bing). consumer choice on the Internet.” “In October 2009, we defined search neutrality as the princi- In August 2015, IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told the ple that search engine results should be driven by the pursuit Lok Sabha in a written reply that the Competition Comm- of relevance and not skewed for commercial gain,” Shivaun ission had directed an investigation into four separate cases told Outlook over e-mail. Two different search algorithms are involving alleged abuse of market dominance by Google. The not expected to produce similar results, “nor should they”, first, filed in 2012, involved M/s Consim Info (which owns says Shivaun, but Google’s “universal search mechanism, Bharat Matrimony) and consumer group CUTS. Accusations which systematically promotes Google’s own services, and its similar to the Foundem case were levelled, with the parties increasingly heavy-handed penalty algorithms, which system- alleging that “Google runs its core business of online search atically demote or exclude Google’s rivals, are both clear and search advertising in a discriminatory manner, causing examples of financially motivated discrimination”. harm to advertisers and indirectly to consumers”. Google The nearly decade-long tussle wasn’t easy. “In the end, was “creating an uneven playing field by favouring its own getting to this point required numerous formal submis- services and of its vertical partners by manipulating the sions, White papers, panel discussions, op-eds, open let- search algorithms,” the complaint said. ters, as well as countless meetings with regulators, Pradeep Mehta, secretary general of CUTS, who admires politicians, and journalists across four continents,” says Google for the “fantastic” services it provides, says the investi- Shivaun. On why she thinks this was a ‘landmark verdict’, gation took time and Google delayed matters too—in March

GOOGLE & `10,800cr `9,976cr `7,208.99cr `6,434.2cr Star India Bennett Coleman & Google India Zee Entertainment THE INDIAN consolidated revenue Co. Ltd, subsidiaries revenue for Enterprises for FY 2016 consolidated FY 2017 consolidated (Source: The Economic revenue for FY 2016 (Source: RoC) revenue for FY 2017 MEDIA Times) (Source: The Hoot) (Source: Annual Report)

24 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 Edited excerpts from an interview with The Indian Express executive director Anant Goenka: “Google is a giant Is it fair that the likes of Google decide advertising rates even though they only curate ‘content’ from other publishers? aggregator, working Fair or not fair isn’t the question. Google is a reality and most of Silicon Valley has learned and recognised it isn’t in their interest to kill original content creators. We have to work together to build a with advanced sustainable digital economy. There are anti-competition cases against Google in India and you technology beyond have said they are being ‘dictatorial’ in a sense.... They should try to take publishers on board. Facebook generally the reach of most engages in conversation, but Google has in the past acted more unilaterally in terms of decisions concerning the industry. media companies,” With a chapter titled ‘Data Localisation’ in the Srikrishna Committee White paper on data protection, do you think it is necessary for a says a blogger. government to impose jurisdiction on digital players? Governments or industry bodies in India need to be more active in the governance of the internet. Our participation in iCANN for example has been pitiful. As a country that will soon emerge as the largest consumer of the internet as a medium, we should have The question relates to the definition of what’s known in more of a say in how the medium grows, if not internationally, at business as a ‘permanent establishment’—loosely, “a fixed least domestically. place of business in a particular jurisdiction that gives rise to It could be argued that the internet was supposed to be a free- income or value-added tax liability”. Can a digital entity like flowing information platform. Would the powers that be have more Google, which by definition transcends physical spaces, be control over the internet? circumscribed by laws that related to the good old days of The medium has the potential to be a democratic platform, but the brick and mortar? Conversely, can it be allowed to cream a truth is the digital world today can only be travelled on the back of real physical territory off a few neat thousand crores, manipu- five very large for-profit Silicon Valley-based organisations. lating the very space where local (taxable) entities operate, without itself being tax-liable? Akhilesh Ranjan, principal commissioner of international 2014, the Competition Commission penalised it to the tune of tax, feels there should be liability, for good reasons. “They are Rs 1 crore for not cooperating in the investigations. Sources able to render services without a physical presence; Google say a Competition Commission order is now expected in Ireland need not have an office in India. The issue is how do weeks and it may have repercussions for Google. It would be we tax Google. In all such cases, there is value addition based the classic instance of an older legal framework evolving to on market demand and customer base. Google has your data, catch up with the ways of a fast-mutating digital world. user data, which has value. Since there is value addition, there Taxation is another area many countries are breaking their should be a tax,” he tells Outlook. In July 2017, Google had a heads over. On October 25, 2017, the Bangalore bench of the close shave in France with paying $1.3 billion worth of taxes. I-T appellate tribunal asked Google to pay taxes on Rs 1,457 The core issues were set out in 2013 in the ‘White Paper on crore remitted to Google Ireland between 2007-08 and 2012- digital economy taxation’ by Pierre Collin and Nicolas Colin, 13, citing what seemed to be a “clear design to skip the liability then senior officials with the French government. In this by both the assessee as well as GIL (Google Ireland) by having ongoing attrition, the law is the Biblical shadow, trying to keep mutual understanding”. The latter appealed to the Karnataka up with the pace of the digital revolution. High Court, which asked the tribunal to dispose of the appeal in “an expeditious manner”, on or before this January 31. The N India, one big bone of contention pertained to AdWords, tax amounts to a mere Rs 129 crore (of which Google has dep- the major source of Google’s profits. In its order, the osited Rs 70 crore, and has been asked by the court to keep Bangalore bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal ano ther 20 per cent aside in a Bangalore bank account), but it I (ITAT) said, “We are unable to persuade ourselves to would set a precedent that can be safely called momentous. agree with the reasoning for treating the payment made by the advertisers (to Google) as a business profit and not as a royalty.” Why would ‘business profit’ sound more harmless for Google than ‘royalty’? One, because India’s double taxation treaty with Ireland protects anything Google Ireland `3471.1cr may show on its books, even if it is passed on by Google Network 18 Media `2,681.55cr `1,326cr India. Royalty, on the other hand, carries a more loaded and Investments HT Media ABP Pvt Ltd meaning. It rests on the assumption that Google India net income from consolidated Consolidated is using a patented technology and intellectual property operations for revenue for revenue for (AdWord) technically owned by Google Ireland and hence FY 2017 FY 2017 FY 2016 any profit Google India makes using that technology and (Source: Annual Report) (Source: Annual Report) (Source: Annual Report) remits to Google Ireland is seen by Indian authorities as royalty—and hence taxable. Google prefers to see it as

22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 25 COVER STORY

“I paid Google Rs 18 GOOGLE’S RESPONSE per click four years Responses to Outlook’s queries by a Google spokesperson On the Chrome ‘ad-blocker’: These aren’t new rules for Chrome ago. Due to ramped-up but rather one way in which Google is supporting an industry-wide standard adopted by publishers as part of Better competition, now I pay Ads coalition. Currently, this standard, the Better Ads Standard, applies to sites in North America (US and Canada) and Europe. Also, this Rs 100 for the same is an ad-filter and not an ad-blocker. On the CCI investigation into Bharat Matrimony and CUTS vs keyword,” says a Google: We continue to cooperate with the investigation and remain convinced that our products are pro-competition, pro- digital marketer. user and in compliance with competition laws of India. On the ITAT order: The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), after a six-year-long battle with Google India, made a tax dem and on Rs 1,457 crore—by holding payments made by “distribution fee”, whereas Indian tax authorities see it fit to Google India to Google Ireland as its reseller of the advertising be taxed under “section 9(1)(vi) of the I-T Act read with the space as royalty. We filed an appeal and the high court issued a stay order. Indo-Ireland Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement”. Experts are divided. Ranjan backs the ITAT order, saying We are encouraged by the high court’s stay, pending further Adwords allows for the customisation of ads based on data hearings, on the Bangalore Income Tax Appellate Tribunal’s ruling, which we believe was a clear departure from previous taken from Indian users. He too contends that intellectual judgments on the issue and not in line with India’s double property is being transferred, “which Google Ireland allows”. taxation avoidance agreements. Prabhu Govindan, managing partner at KSCN Cons ulting LLP, On the prospect of ‘data localisation’: We continue to work too says the tribunal “has provided enough facts and legal with the Industry to put forward our views. precedence to back its judgement. By applying the principle of substance over form,” he feels Google’s distribution fee should be seen as royalty. a significant digital presence. This is critically relevant Girish Vanvari, partner and head of tax at KPMG India, going forward because India too faces the same predica- which has ties with Google, disagrees, saying the “appellate ment as France and a host of other countries: Google does order has read beyond the agreement” (service agreement not have a ‘permanent establishment’ here despite having between Google India and Google Ireland). He says the bench offices in Gurgaon, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, is “assuming, concluding contracts”. with “thousands of employees in the country, representing Many concur with the idea that the likes of Google are differ- the various aspects of the Google business from engineering ent from other MNCs that have set up shop in India. Basheer to operations”, says a Google spokesperson. says the closer analogy is not a McDonalds franchisee, which Sure enough, the Finance Bill of 2016, passed in 2017, imp- would have made the case for royalties and consequent taxa- osed an equalisation levy (EL) of 6 per cent on the digital ad tion a stronger one. “It’s better to think of Google as a real- space. To avoid the double taxation imbroglio, I-T provi- estate developer who uses third party agents to attract more sions were amended so that the levy was independent of people,” he says. “Google AdWords is more like digital real est- corporate tax legislation. Ranjan feels EL could be looked ate. It is digital real estate. Google India at—but only as an “interim measure”. is using Google’s trademark (brand Why interim? Because, ultimately, in name) and other intellectual property this era taxation can’t be based only on only incidentally. Their main purpose is a “physical basis”, but by quantifying a to actively go out and solicit customers “significant digital presence”, he says. who can buy the keyword space.” It’s a fundamental shift he calls for. India is not the only place getting “We would like to see a change in ‘per- vexed by this complicated interplay manent establishment’ in tax treaties.” bet ween physical and virtual economic Others have variations on this. Vanvari activity. In 2015, the OECD came up reckons EL “is not going to go away… with an action plan against ‘Base “China used censorship only expand its scope”. Govindan feels Erosion and Profit Shifting’ (BEPS), to control Google; the I-T department could “consider a tit led ‘Addressing tax challenges in dig- lesser tax rate for the business income of ital economy’. The G20’s concern was we have to use foreign companies with no physical that MNCs were placing profits in low- anti-competition law.” presence”. But for now, “something like tax jurisdictions (like Ireland). One of EL” is a viable beginning, says Ranjan. the measures suggested was an ‘equali- S. Gurumurthy The demand for it is growing in EU sation levy’ and taxation on the basis of Co-convenor, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch countries like Italy and France. The UK

26 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018

COVER STORY

GLOBAL REACH Google Ireland office in Dublin

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recently brought the Diverted Profit Tax of 25 per cent while Perhaps some things don’t change, and even Google can’t Argentina taxes foreign tech companies deriving profits from permanently avoid taxes. Tax and competition authorities its territory to the tune of 3 per cent. “Conceptually, many are on its tail, and a ‘framework’ is in the works. Last August, countries are coming around,” says Ranjan. the government set up the Srikrishna Committee to look at the possibility of a data protection law. In the 240-plus- UT how do you actually gauge ‘significant digital presence’ page White paper that it calls “necessarily lengthy”, the (SDP)? How to map a non-material phenomenon onto committee may just have homed in on a “game-changer”, a physical territory? Definitions have to be sharpened, according to T. Prashant Reddy, author and assistant pro- Bmade precise. Should it be subscribers, or the volume of fessor at NALSAR, Hyderabad. user data generated from the country in question? Vanvari The ninth chapter of the paper (which was open for public reckons getting a precise fix on SDP will be crucial for other consultation until the final day of 2017) introduces the topic reasons too—given the parallel, and even more rapid, rise of of ‘Data Localisation’—think of it as a new kind of pre-nuptial technology like crypto-currency. That’s why he feels EL—a contract between digital and physical, as the phrase implies. sort of bridge between the old and new—won’t go away. “The “Data localisation requires companies to store and process digital presence will always be in jurisdictions outside India. data on servers physically located within national borders,” What you can control is payment to this source,” he says. the paper says. “A nation has the prerogative to take measures But the conceptual shift can no longer be evaded. “The not- to protect its interests and its sovereignty, but it must care- ion that somebody must be taxed based on some sort of (phys- fully evaluate the advantages and dangers of locally storing ical) presence needs a serious relook…people in the digital data before taking a firm decision on an issue (that) has the space are constantly busting borders,” says Basheer. Terr- potential to cause a major ripple effect across a number of itoriality won’t work in a landscape where people don’t do industries,” it adds. That last bit obviously applies to the IT business according to “the rigours of rigid borders”, he says. and telecom sectors, and the start-up ecosystem. “You are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. The law is “The likes of Google will need to set up data farms in India, the round hole, and Google et al in the digital space the square and that will change the rules of the game,” says Reddy, pegs. You have to change the shape of the round hole to acc- since the government does not really have “too much ommodate the peg...make it more malleable, so to speak.” jurisdiction over Google Inc” at present. After localisation, The retuning won’t be simple. Govindan cautions that a sys- “for all practical purposes, they will need to operate on tem based on SDP would be “very subjective and complex to Indian soil with a physical presence. But does that give the administer”, increasing compliance costs for business. “Also, government too much power over Facebook and Google?” tax departments of all the countries should be willing to inte- Reddy asks. Searching for an epoch-defining power grate into a common I-T infrastructure,” he elaborates. struggle? Ask Google. O

28 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018

COVER STORY OPINION G-REX AND TRA DITIONAL MEDIA R. JAGANNATHAN Tech companies have been eating the lunch of the media business by swiping a growing share of its main source of income: ad revenues

T is probably clear to most Indian media companies that their nemesis is not a rival newspaper, TV channel or website, but tech’s T-Rexes. More specifically, Google and Facebook. The latter two call themselves I technology companies, but they are feeding at the same trough that media companies do. For some time now, tech companies have been eating the lunch of media companies by swiping a larger and larger share of advertising revenues that earlier accrued to the latter. With almost zero cost of producing content, and by simply sweeping headlines and web links off news sites and blogs, Google News attracts a lot of traffic. Though there are no ads on these pages, user searches for specific types of news allow Google to place appropriate ads in the right context, giving advertisers a better chance of finding pot ential customers. Google can thus skim the cream of ad revenues. Facebook delivers customers who display a tendency to linger on the site. Unlike Google, which is an aggregator, Facebook is a publishing platform, but won’t admit it is a media company. The upshot: an internet duopoly exists outside China between Google and Facebook; they were the top two ad income earners in 2016, with ad revenues of $79.4bn and $26.9bn, according to media data cruncher and analyst Zenith. The two swallow roughly one-fifth of total global ad spends, and this can only grow, though there are now at least three Chinese internet Godzillas— Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba—also eyeing the pie. Nine out of every 10 dollars of growth in ad per cent growth in 2018, radio 10 per cent and spends by 2020 will be driven by internet firms, print five per cent. But the biggest growth will be and much of this will go to Google, Facebook and in internet advertising, which will grow over 20 the Chinese trio, says another media report. per cent. No prizes for guessing who will be In India, Google reported revenues of Rs 7,208 Google’s rise grinning all the way to the bank. crore in the year to March 2017, which is just a in the media The ascendance of Google and Facebook (also hop-step-and-jump away from the turnover of Twitter, more recently) in the media world is India’s biggest media group, Bennett Coleman & world is due the result of a gradual shift of market power Co Ltd (BCCL), which publishes The Times of to a shift of from individual brands and companies to tech- India. BCCL and its subsidiaries should have market nology platforms. Apart from Google, Facebook crossed the Rs 10,000 crore turnover mark in the power from and the Big Three Chinese search and e- last financial year. commerce platforms, the other tech platforms According to Zenith, India will be one of the brands and are Apple and Amazon. few large markets where traditional media will firms to tech A platform is really an ecosystem that allows see advertising growth, with TV set to see nine platforms. millions of users, partners, collaborators and

30 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 G-REX AND TRA DITIONAL MEDIA Tech companies have been eating the lunch of the media business by swiping a growing share of its main source of income: ad revenues

function, where it seamlessly brings buyers and sellers together on your computer or smartphone screen, it effectively commoditises the product on offer. For example, when you buy an air ticket on a site like Makemytrip.com or Cleartrip.com, the fare (apart from the flight time) is the most important element of comparison for the traveller. It’s the same when you compare the prices of multiple mobile phones on Flipkart or Amazon. The seller of products or services is thus a “price-taker”, and not an effective participant in determining the price of his service or his brand. The tech platform knows all about both demand and supply, and so is best placed to gain both from spikes or drops in demand or supply. The European Union (EU) had in 2016 proposed that Google should pay for the revenues it makes on content that is not its own, but thus far there has been no forward movement on this, since smaller websites fear that making Google pay may end up reducing their traffic. In India, too, it may be time for the competition regulator—the Competition Commission of India—to start looking into the growing monopoly of tech platforms in news vending and advertising revenues. Regulators like TRAI and the I&B ministry should be setting up study groups to suggest ways for the aggregators to share revenues with content producers. Other tech platforms, including the likes of Ola and Uber, should be mandated to disclose infor- GETTY IMAGES mation on their share of the cut based on the developers to benefit from the network effect of BRICK & MORTAR total fares indicated to the customer. Uber and working together; this, in turn, makes the plat- Google owns this Ola drivers are often miffed that a big share goes form even more powerful. Google was not a office building in to the platform, and not to them. Airlines, for platform 20 years ago, when it was merely a zany New York City their part, should be asked to periodically dis- search engine. Today, with mail, media, maps, close the details of their dynamic pricing policies shopping and more, it has made itself indispen- so the consumer is not gypped. sable to businesses that seek the customers One hesitates to suggest ham-handed regula- hooked to the platform. Other Google products, tion, which is what one might get in a country like like the Android operating system for smart- India, in a dynamic business. But, equally, it seems phones, have become mini platforms in them- obvious that platform revenue models are a black selves, with nearly 90 per cent market share in all box. Shining the torch of transparency on pricing markets outside North America. practices, whether of Google, Amazon, Uber or the The reason why platforms are a threat to all airline companies, cannot be a bad idea. O traditional businesses, including the media, is (The writer is editorial director, this: when technology takes over the middle Swarajya magazine)

22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 31

CASTE ECHO OPINION

BLOODY SCRUM, GLORIOUS VICTORY

M. RAJIVLOCHAN In an age of a secular system of mercenary soldiery, Koregaon was an inconclusive clash. Heroism was read into it first by the British, then by Ambedkar.

T was January 18, 1943. Independence was immi- nent and Pakistan was but a mischievous slogan. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had been invited to address a gathering assembled at Pune to remember the 101st birthday of the great jurist and nationalist, I Mahadev Govind Ranade. The Quit India Movement of August 1942 had just been put down. Ambedkar spoke out his mind. Gandhi and Jinnah had made a mess of Indian politics by resorting to politics based on community identities, he said, much like the bad old days when the Peshwa promoted caste and community, privileged the rich and powerful, while people suffered widespread misgov- ernance that was made worse by the depredations of roving bands of Pindaris. Ambedkar warned his audience that India needed politics that was based on the interests of the nation and not a narrow, specific community. He reminded the gathering that people had breathed a sigh of relief at the defeat of the Peshwas and their cursed rule. So bad was the rule of the Peshwa, Ambedkar explained, that people were even willing to go with the English. That last, of course, was both an over-statement as well as an under-statement. It was an over-statement in two ways. One, Indians never fully ap- proved of British rule. Two, once the British settled down to rule they became just as casteist as Indians. So much so that in 1892 they even placed a ban on the Mahars entering the army. A ban that, Ambedkar would plead, needed to be removed to give equal opportunity for all to grow. It was an understatement in so far as the fact was that Indians were willing to soldier for anyone, irres - badshahs who could demonstrate an ability to win pective of caste, religion or race. Soldiering, in fact, The East with their wits were preferred as masters to those was an important add-on occupation in India. Every India who required their soldiers to kill or be killed. Indian carried a weapon and was willing to fight with Company Military leaders, at least in the Maratha territories, anyone and for anyone. To join an army all that one and the ensured that soldiers were always kept in arrears of needed to do was to bring one’s own personal weap- pay so that they did not leave service before the adv- ons and kit along with a tattoo—a pony. The pay, Peshwas enture on which the leader had embarked was over. essentially a retainer, was good. A victory could on dipped into Typically, a soldier would end up getting paid only for occasion result in a handsome bonus in the form of a a melange ten or less months in a year, if at all that. In extreme share in the loot. The only negative was that one for recruits. cases of arrears troops would simply refuse to fight needed to take care that one’s horse and kit were not till past wages had been settled. Doing dharna to get damaged in such an adventure. Which meant that a Caste and your military pay was a time-honoured practice. battle, for most part, needed to be one of wits rather religion did In the 18th century, a foot soldier working for an than a physical confrontation. Rajas, maharajas and not matter. Indian raja could start at Rs 6-12 per month. Often,

34 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 BLOODY SCRUM, GLORIOUS VICTORY

In an age of a secular system of mercenary soldiery, Koregaon was an inconclusive clash. Heroism was read into it first by the British, then by Ambedkar.

everyone who was willing to fight for them. Caste or religion did not matter. Like in the Peshwa’s army, the armies of the East India Company too had Mah ars, Dhangars, Kunbis, Marathas, Rajputs, Muslims as well as Christians and Jews as soldiers. The Holkars ruling at Indore were from the Dhangar (shepherd) community. Scindias, ruling from Gwalior, originated as village patils. Similarly, the Gaekwads based at Baroda could be anything— Shudra, Brahmin, Vaishya or Kshatriya. No one really cared. At a pinch, if it was needed, one could always hire a Brahmin to set up a good lineage, preferably going back to one of the great sages of Vedic times or the sun/moon god. Tribals, too, freely participated in the armies and also ruled large tracts of land. Shivaji’s army was made up of Ramoshis—essentially forest and hill dwellers known for their ability as thieves and dacoits. The armies of the Company were different from those of the Indians in one important respect. The Company, by the early 19th century when it had reduced all Marathas to a subsidiary status, insisted that its soldiers be accoutred in clothes given to them by the Company and carry weapons issued by the Company. This was in line with the changes in military organisation in contemporary Europe. In the Deccan it had the unexpected result of opening up fresh opportunities in soldiering for those who could not afford a personal horse, weapons or clothes. Little wonder that when in September-October 1817, Captain Staunton set Photographs: ALAMY about raising a troop of soldiers at Shirur to chase these were gosains, mendicants—essentially the iti- SWIFT LANCES and reduce Pindari freebooters, he was able to nerant riff-raff of pre-modern India. A soldier with a A sketch shows quickly get 500 foot soldiers and 300 irregular horse and some skill with the sword could get up to Maratha cavalry horse to work for the Company’s army. Rs 50 a month. With the collapse of the Mughal during the Third The East India Company’s army had already kicked empire and the imploding rule of the Marathas, local Anglo-Maratha out the Peshwa from Pune and occupied his house rajas upped salaries in order to attract more soldiers War in 1818 when the skirmish at Koregaon happened on Jan- to help them out in the free-for-all that followed. An uary 1, 1818. The Peshwa and his troops had not yet infantryman in the Deccan could now hope for Rs 9 realised that they had lost their empire permanently. a month. Some Arabs—exotic foreigners were appre- Thomas Munro, the Scotsman who was assigned the ciated even then—received Rs 12. A Kotwal (police rank of brigadier when he requested to be part of the chief) of Poona during Peshwai rule was a ‘habshi’. war against the Pindaris, noticed that most of the The British East India Company eagerly dipped soldiers in the Peshwa’s army were the domestic into this melange of Indian society. Like all other lab ourers of local farmers for whom breeding horses rulers, including the Peshwa, they hired anyone and for the army was an important source of revenue.

22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 35 CASTE ECHO OPINION

The farmer would supply horse and horseman to the army. After the military adventure everyone would go back to their main occupation, either tending the land or working as an artisan. Arabs were different. They soldiered for a living. Enhanced viciousness was their brand value. Some 3,000 of them accompanied the Peshwa as he ran from the British. Camping on the left bank of the river Bhima and wondering how to get Poona back, the Peshwa noticed that a small troop of the Com- pany army had just reached the village of Koregaon across the river. Hoping for easy game, his Arab horsemen eagerly launched into a frontal attack.

HIS was the same troop that Captain Staunton had raised at Shirur three months ago. It had been supplemented by two guns and an accom- T panying section of two dozen European soldiers of the Madras Army. Staunton had force-marched his troops through the night from Shirur. This march of some 60 kms was undertaken to reach Pune in order to supplement its defence. The planned halt at Koregaon was to rest and replenish their water sup - ply. The Company’s soldiers at this time did not carry personal canteens or water supplies but were sup- DOUGHTY constantly chided the commanders of his army for plied with water by bhishti boys carrying bladders REDCOAT not being able to quickly defeat a small unit of the made of goat skin. Getting water from the Bhima, Lt Pattinson Company. At nightfall, he got news of a larger body though, was impossible. The boys espied the Pes- recaptures of Company soldiers marching in his pursuit and hwa’s camp on the other side, dominating the river. a gun decided to move away from Koregaon. The rest of the troop had just enough time to hide lost during Now, the English set up a cantonment at Koregaon. themselves before an attack started. The two guns the Battle of Three decades later, in 1851, a victory pillar was ere- were hastily placed for use. One of them was quickly Koregaon cted here to remember, what had transmogrified lost to the attacking Arabs. The temple where the into, “the valorous defence of Koregaon”. Each New Company soldiers took position was soon lost, as was Year, the army would organise a small ceremony the neighbouring dharamshala. One of the lieuten- here. “A march and a nautch”, as the papers rep orted ants commanding a gun was beheaded by the Arabs. it. It was at one such ceremony in 1927 that Ambedkar As the soldiers began to lose heart, Staunton showed pointed out that apart from 30 European names them the headless body of the lieutenant and warned inscribed on the pillar, another 28 names seemed to that this would be their fate too, should they fall in be of Marathas, Rajputs, Arabs and Jews. More im- the hands of the Arabs. The warning seemed to work. portant for him, however, were the 22 names that The soldiers ignored their tiredness and thirst and were clearly of Mahars. For him, this underscored began to defend themselves in earnest. As the day the bravery of this people who were otherwise rele- wore on, bodies piled up in the lanes and bylanes. By gated to the position of a lowly dogsbody in every sundown, almost a hundred Company troops lay village and correspondingly declared unto uchable dead, another 75 were wounded. Staunton estimated by Brahmins like the Pes hwas. “Dis e nfranchised that 600 of the Arabs had died. But there were The army from society”, as Ambedkar would put it. Yet capable enough alive to annihilate his troop, were they to organised a enough to help the British defeat the Peshwa. attack again. He quickly planned a getaway. The idea ceremony By now, Ambedkar had become a person of some of reaching Pune was abandoned. By the next morn- each year in consequence. A nominated Member of the Legis- ing he was moving back to Shirur. A week later, on la tive Council of the Presidency of Bombay, he was January 8, 1818, Colonel Cunningham, commandant Koregaon. fighting for the right of the Mahars to be given of the Auxiliary Horse at Pune, wrote to Staunton, In the 1927 equal status as ‘Hindu’ in the toxic caste-riven congratulating him on his “escape from Koregaum”. ceremony, soc iety of western Maharashtra. The pillar at Kore- Clearly, this was no victory for the English. It Ambedkar gaon to him became a symbol of Mahar bravery and wasn’t one for the Peshwa either. upliftment. It represented the possibility of, first noticed All through the day, he had observed the battle of Ambedkar would say, ‘enfranchising’ the Mahar. O Koregaon from the other side of the river, sitting on the Mahar (The author is professor, Department of History, high ground under a sun-shade. The Peshwa had names. Panjab University)

36 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 Decline of the Maratha Empire The Marathas’ century in the sun ended in a series of defeats at the hands of the British

Following the death of Aurangzeb (1707), the Mughal empire declines. In the absence of an assertive central power, regional powers like the Marathas, Sikhs and Rohilla Pathans expand. The Marathas prevail, gaining control of Delhi (the emperor being a nominal one).

India 1765 CE

Afghan raider Ahmed The Third Anglo-Maratha Shah Abdali attacks War (1817-1818). India. Acting on behalf Peshwa Baji Rao II of the Mughal emperor, attacks Poona residency. the Maratha army, led by The British strike back. As Sadashivrao Bhau, meets the Peshwa flees, a small the Afghans and is ‘British’ force, which defeated in the Third has Marathas, Muslims, Battle of Panipat (1761): Mahars, Jews, follows the first big dent on what him. He makes a stand at was till now an expanding Koregaon on the Bheema Maratha power. A vacuum river, but is defeated. awaits the British. Peshwai is abolished.

A new power was rising in the Meanwhile, Arthur Wellesley east. The British defeat (right, the future Duke of Bengal’s Nawab Siraj-ud- Wellington), having only Daula at Plassey (1757), recently eliminated the and a combined force of threat from Tipu, pushes the Mughals, Oudh, and the Marathas from the Bengal at Buxar (1764). south. He defeats Thus they gain diwani them at Assaye, rights over Bihar, Bengal Ahmednagar and in and Orissa. Soon they many other skirmishes. turn their gaze towards The Second Anglo- Delhi. At the Battle of Maratha War (1803- Delhi (1803), General Lake 1805) concludes with a (left) defeats the Marathas number of treaties that and pushes them southward. cripple Maratha power. Photographs: ALAMY

Compiled by R. PRASAD 22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 37 The British, the Marathas and the Mahars Soldiers of many ‘classes’ served together in the colonial army with no caste narrative in evidence before the British betrayal

THERE WAS NO MAHAR REGIMENT IN 1818. THE FIRST WAS FORMED A CENTURY LATER IN 1917.

Bombay Native Infantry Bombay Native Infantry had Marathas, Muslims, Rajputs, Mahars, Jews and various other communities. Their major battles were the Siege of Mangalore in 1783-84 and the defeat of Tipu Sultan in the Battle of Srirangapatna in 1799.

Battle of Srirangapatna Tipu Sultan

Maratha power had been declining since their defeat by Ahmadshah Abdali at the 3rd Battle of Panipat in 1761. The last nail was driven in at the Battle of Assaye in 1803, where the British Army under Arthur Wellesley routed the Marathas. By 1818, Peshwa Baji Rao II was on the run.

Baji Rao II Battle of Assaye

BATTLE OF KOREGAON. DEC 31, 1817-JAN 1, 1818 Led by Capt. Francis F. Staunton. Totalling 850 men. 8 British officers, 500 rank and file of Marathas, Muslims, Mahars, Rajputs, Jews and other European mercenaries, 300 irregular cavalry, and gunners from the Madras Artillery to man the 2 six-pounder guns. The Peshwa’s Army of 25,000 (only about 1,800 saw action that day) was made up mostly of Arab mercenaries. The rest were Marathas and Gosains. The British lost 3 officers and 50 men. It was at best a skirmish and not a great battle like Srirangapatna. Lieutenant Pattinson during the battle of Koregaon

MAJOR ACTIONS OF BOMBAY AND MADRAS ARMIES

Cotiote War, Napoleonic wars, 1801 Battle of 1793 -1806 Two battalions of the Sholingur 1781 Operations against Bombay army took part in Defeated Hyder Kerala Varma Pazha ssi expedition that frustrated Ali of Mysore and Raja. The Bombay French aspirations in captured his cavalry Native Infantry, which Egypt, seeing a lot of standard. The included Mahars, action. Granted award Mad ras Regiment defea ted the Raja and of the Sphinx. This included Dalits. his tribal Kurichiya safeguarded the British soldiers. interest in India. Hyder Ali Pazhassi Raja

Sources: History of The Mahrattas: James Grant Duff; Sons of John Company: John Gaylor; Military Reminiscences: Col. James Welsh; Sepoy Recruitment in the Old Madras Army: H. Dodwell The British, the Marathas and the Mahars Soldiers of many ‘classes’ served together in the colonial army with no caste narrative in evidence before the British betrayal

THE BRITISH BETRAYAL Class Composition of Madras Like the Mahars in the Bombay army, Native Infantry in 1790 Dalits (Pariahs) were part of the Madras Regiment, which was more secular than the Bengal Regiment, where upper-caste Indians resented fighting alongside the lower castes. The highest rank open to Indians was that of viceroy’s commissioned officer (a modern JCO), and that too by promotions. There was no direct commission. The British Indian Army came under direct control of the Crown in 1858. In 1892, Mahars were classified 35% Muslim 6% Tamil as ‘non-martial’ and proscribed from the 33% Telugu 12% Pariah viceroy’s commission along with many south Indian groups. 14% Rajput

FIRST WORLD WAR The British begin to recruit Mahars again in 1914. Actions in East Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Somaliland, Aden, Mesopotamia and Muscat. First Mahar Regiment formed in 1917. Did not see active service during the war. After the war it was merged with 71st Punjabis in 1922. Indian troops and mule transport in Baghdad, 1917

Lieutenant Pattinson during the battle of Koregaon

Ambedkar, son of a subedar, campaigned for formation of a Mahar Regiment. Made the Koregaon Memorial a symbol of Dalit pride and valour. WWII broke out and the British started recruiting Mahars. In 1941 Ambedkar joined Viceroy’s Defence Advisory Committee. A regiment was authorised and 1st Battalion raised, drawing Ambedkar with the Mahar Regiment Mahars serving in 11th and 12th Bns, Mahratta Light Infantry. The badge included the obelisk DURING PARTITION, at Koregaon with a ribbon scroll carrying the word ’Mahar’. None THE MAHARS REMAINED of them saw active service. PART OF THE INDIAN ARMY Napoleon in Egypt Photographs: ALAMY Sources: History of The Mahrattas: James Grant Duff; Sons of John Company: John Gaylor; Military Reminiscences: Col. James Welsh; Sepoy Recruitment in the Old Madras Army: H. Dodwell 22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 39 CASTE ECHO Fresh Layers of Biting Memory The latest round of Dalit-Maratha clashes can not only redefine socio-political power structures, but also pose a new challenge to the ruling BJP in the state

by Prachi Pinglay-Plumber new era for negotiating the socio-politi- in Mumbai cal power structures for Dalits and Mara- thas. It may also portend a fresh challenge OR a fortnight, social media has for the state’s ruling BJP that sits in an been abuzz with factual and fic uneasy alliance with the RPI, Ramdas tional accounts about what hap Athawle’s Ambekarite party. pened at Bhima Koregaon in Late jurist-politician-reformer Bhim- 1818—and why it remains relev rao Ambedkar, the architect of India’s F ant even now. All of it, since the Constitution, was himself from the start of this year that marks the 200th Mahar community that was considered anniversary of a historic event associ untouchable. The January 3 bandh was ated with the rugged village in west largely successful, with Dalit leaders central India. It’s there that a war Prakash Ambedkar and Jignesh Mewani memorial stands as a symbol of Dalit emerging as the front leaders of the ener- pride, as 22 soldiers of the underprivi getic agitations. A relentless Prakash, leged Mahar caste died fighting in a also the grandson of Ambedkar, has fre- battle between the British and a mili shly attacked the BJP government, say- tary force under the Maratha empire. ing it did not act against the perpetrators On the New Year day of 2018, people of the attack on Dalits. He has slammed heading for the victory pillar near Pune the regime for alleged combing opera- were attacked, allegedly by Hindutva tions in Bhima Koregaon and places such forces, killing a young man. It triggered as Aurangabad and Latur, detaining as protests the following day, prompting many as 3,000 youths. several human-rights groups and Dalit The Left sees it was a “plan” was to activists to organise a state-wide bandh. create schism between Marathas and A cloud of unrest lingers across Mahara- Dalits. “That is why Sambhaji Bhide and shtra, potentially hinting at the start of a Milind Ekbote had been active for days

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leading up to January 1,” says senior arrests yet, indicating RSS and BJP sup- side of the British is not perceived as a CPI(M) leader Ashok Dhawle, referring port to the fringe Hindu organisations. shameful memory today.” to the two top right-wingers accused of The BJP government did announce Academic Neeraj Hatekar says the orchestrating violence at the Bhima compensation for the youth who died on “memory” of Bhima Koregaon is “more Koregaon celebration. “When RSS hood- January 1 and ordered a judicial inquiry about the fight for equality than the outer lums attacked the travellers, a Dalit- into the clash, but it has otherwise been layer of British versus Peshwa.” More so, Maratha conflagration was expected. stoic in its defence. “We won’t interfere since history “is a collective imagination However, there are people who see in the probe,” says senior BJP leader of events from the past.” through this plan on both sides and will Madhav Bhandari. “It is not true that the The complexity of inference and inter- oppose it.” Else, why would suddenly bandh was successful. I could travel from pretations reflects in opinions of differ- there be stone-pelting on an event that Parbh ani to Pune on that day.” According ent experts. Anand Teltumbde, a Dalit has been observed for years, he wonders, to him, Jignesh’s provocative speeches academic, writes Babasaheb Ambedkar claiming the troublemakers weren’t loc- alone fomented trouble. was “creating a pure myth” that is “req- als but were brought from outside. The RPI’s Athawle, on his part, sought uired to build movements” when he Beyond the recent developments, new justice—albeit meekly—and that has “painted the Battle of Bhima Koregaon as debates simmer over issues of caste con- further consolidated the following for the battle of Mahar soldiers against their flict and nationalism. Different accounts Prakash and Jignesh. “The only clear caste oppression” in Peshwa rule. Garud of academics and historians— notes an “important factor of regional and international— caste conflict”, as the narra- string up certain facts that are tive bears “several instances undisputed. That a battle took of atrocities by the Peshwas place at Bhima Koregaon on on women and Dalits, besides January 1, 1818 between the making regressive changes to British troops and the Peshwa the systems to control money army, that both sides suffered and education.” casualties as well as injuries, Shrimant Kokate, a resear- and yet the imperialists came cher on Maratha history, away more victorious and less says the Peshwas did not damaged. That a pillar with allow Mahars to walk on the names of slain soldiers was road without a pot and a erected, that 22 of the 50 were broom tied to their bodies. Mahars, and that the ‘Vijay- “They were punished even if stambh’ has eventually been their shadows came in the seen as an important symbol way of Brahmins,” he adds. of their valour in the face of systemic dis- The pillar showing “The Peshwas, in their eager to control crimination for generations. the names of the slain everything, didn’t even allow even soldiers, 22 of whom Shivaji’s descendants to study.” OME accounts say the Peshwas It is in this context that the past casts its scorned the Mahars’ offer to join are Mahars, is seen long shadow on the present, which con- them in the fight. Whatever, the as a major symbol tinues to witness discrimination and S pillar is about an increasing need of subaltern valour. isolation of Dalits and other minorities. for assertion of identity, according to an Even so, efforts are on to resist polarisa- award-winning writer, who says efforts tion. The CPI(M)’s Dhawle informs of to create rifts for political gains are on message that will go out from this whole two events that took place after the riots the rise of late. The recent desecration episode,” according to political analyst and bandh. The villagers near Vadhu of tomb of Ganpat Mahar (at Vadhu Kumar Ketkar, “is that the BJP cannot have decided to rebuild the samadhi and village), who is said to have performed take the Dalit vote for granted, like it was taken a call not to have fights between the last rites for Sambhaji (1657-89), the after getting RPI in their fold.” Marathas and Dalits. Second, in Auran- second ruler of Maratha Empire and the Historian Shraddha Kumbhojkar notes gabad a sadbhavana rally was organised eldest son of its founder Shivaji, was a Koregaon has become iconic for the one- on January 8 to assert that progressive “deliberate attempt to stoke violence” time untouchables because it serves as a groups “will not buy into the RSS agenda between Marathas and Dalits, he adds, reminder of their ancestors’ bravery—a of polarising on caste lines”. seeking anonymity. virtue the caste system claimed they Even as a Rs 10-lakh compensation has Historian Sachin Garud says one “can- lacked. “This may help to explain how a been declared for the deceased in the not ignore why all this is getting discussed memorial to a colonial victory built in the riots, it’s hurting the Dalits that there is now and who will benefit from a further early 19th century has been adapted to no move to prosecute the culprits of the division between Marathas and Dalits serve as a site that inspires those who January 1 clash. The pillar at Bhima and other castes”. Activists point out that belong to castes earlier considered unt- Koregaon—decked up or even other- despite an FIR being registered against ouchable,” she writes. “The valour of wise—will continue to add layers to the Bhide and Ekbote, there have been no untouchable soldiers who fought on the region’s subaltern struggles. O

42 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018

POLL-BOUND

by Bhavna Vij-Aurora

EFORE Rahul Gandhi left for Bahrain on January 7, his house at 12 Tughlak Lane—the Congress’s new power centre— was abuzz with activity. The B party’s communication department members and some office-bear- ers were fine-tuning the strategy for poll-bound Karnataka. The new party president was insistent that they must learn from the Gujarat experience and strengthen booth management. The larger message was clear: Karnataka must be retained at any cost and the BJP denied an entry into the south through the state. General secretary in-charge of Karnat- aka K.C. Venugopal was sent to the state, while Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, and former Union minister Veerappa Moily were asked to stay put in their respective constituencies. Shashi Tharoor, who leads the All India Professionals’ Congress, will also head for the state on return from Bahrain, where he is accompanying Rahul. Communication department convenor Priyanka Chaturvedi, who has set up base in Bangalore, is learning Kannada and tweeting in the local language, trying to persuade “modern, liberal and progressive” people to join her team. “We are getting a tremendous response from the people,” she tells Outlook. “Hundreds of youngsters and professionals want to join us. The aim is to get more JITENDER GUPTA voices to represent an inclusive India, which the Siddaramaiah government stands for. While countering the opposition’s (BJP) lies, we have to ensure our The Bid for a narrative is right. The brief, to revamp the communication and get fresh voices, has come from the party president.” So, as a tit-for-tat social media fight rages betw- Return Ticket een CM Siddaramaiah and BJP’s star campaigner, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, The new president of the Grand Old Party is making Chaturvedi’s team comes up with #HoggappaYogi or “get lost Yogi”. The an energetic attempt to revive its fortunes Congress, though, may find it easier said than done as Yogi is expected to cam- an aggressive and expansionist BJP this Clearly, it’s a tough fight ahead, but the paigning in Karnataka extensively. year. In the remaining poll-bound states, Gandhi scion seems to be up for it. “Rahul Of the eight states going to polls this including Madhya Pradesh and has flagged three major tasks: ramping up year, Karnataka is the most crucial for Chhattisgarh, it will be a challenge to the communication emanating from the both the Congress and the BJP—perhaps dislodge well-entrenched BJP govern- party; strengthening the outreach of more for the Congress as it is the only big ments. And, though the two rival parties party workers down to the booth-level, state besides Punjab under its control. In have alternated in power in Rajasthan with nearly eight lakh workers roped in to smaller Meghalaya and Mizoram, the since 1993, wresting the state from the work in the booth committees; ironing incumbent Congress will have to fight off BJP may not be easy this time. out internal differences to put up a united

44 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 KARNATAKA RAJASTHAN PREPPING FOR THE Prize state Congress smells victory BIG ONE OF 2019 Constituencies 224 Constituencies 200 Assembly tenure ends May 2018 Assembly tenure ends Jan 2019 Eight state polls in 2018 will LS seats 28 LS seats: 25 likely set the tone for the 2019 Lok Sabha 2014 Assembly 2013 Lok Sabha 2014 Assembly 2013 general elections. While the BJP wants to wrest Karnataka from the Congress and paint the whole Northeast saffron, the Congress BJP 43 BJP 19.9 BJP 55 BJP 45 will try to hold on to the little Cong 40.8 Cong 36.6 Cong 30 Cong 33 that’s still with it and try for more. JD(S) 11 JD(S) 20.2 Others 15 Others 22 Others 5.2 Others 23.3

MADHYA PRADESH CHHATTISGARH TRIPURA Tall order for Congress The missing Congress Right from Left? Constituencies 230 Constituencies 90 Constituencies 60 Assembly tenure ends Jan 2019 Assembly tenure ends Jan 2019 Assembly tenure ends Mar 2018 LS seats 29 LS seats 11 LS seats 2 Lok Sabha 2014 Assembly 2013 Lok Sabha 2014 Assembly 2013 Lok Sabha 2014 Assembly 2013

BJP 54 BJP 45 BJP 48.7 BJP 41 BJP 5.7 BJP 1.5 Cong 35 Cong 36.3 Cong 38.4 Cong 40.3 Cong 15.2 Cong 36.5 Others 11 Others 18.7 Others 12.9 Others 18.7 CPI(M) 64 CPI(M) 48 Others 15.1 Others 14

MEGHALAYA NAGALAND MIZORAM Congress holds the flock together? Naga Accord holds the key Will BJP dethrone Congress? Constituencies 60 Constituencies 60 Constituencies 40 Assembly tenure ends Mar 2018 Assembly tenure ends Mar 2018 Assembly tenure ends Dec 2018 LS seats 2 LS seats 1 LS seats 1 Lok Sabha 2014 Assembly 2013 Lok Sabha 2014 Assembly 2013 Lok Sabha 2014 Assembly 2013

BJP 8.9 BJP 1.27 BJP not contested BJP 1.75 BJP not contested BJP 0.37 Cong 37.9 Cong 34.8 Cong 30 Cong 25 Cong 48.5 Cong 44.6 Others 53.2 Others 63.93 Others 70 Others 73.25 Others 51.5 Others 55.03

Figures are percentage voteshares in the 2013 assembly elections and the 2014 Lok Sabha election Graphic by SAJI C.S.

YOUNG CONG (opposite page) Rahul hya Pradesh, where the Congress has a caveat: “unless some decision is taken to Gandhi with Jyotiraditya Scindia number of CM aspirants. “This will be replace them”. The general secretary addressed sooner than later,” says a gene- adds that some organisational changes fight.” Rahul has also exhorted party ral secretary. “RG (Rahul) does not beli- may happen towards the end of the year, leaders to attack the BJP by raising the eve in shaking things up. He likes making closer to when Rajasthan, Madhya issues of agrarian crisis, failure to create incremental changes to avoid dissidence.” Pradesh and Chhattisgarh go to polls. jobs and poor economic indicators. Perhaps, that’s why he has retained the According to a young Congress leader, Resolving internal differences is partic- presidents of all the Pradesh Congress retaining the old PCC presidents is ularly significant in Rajasthan and Mad- Committees (PCCs), with the following Rahul’s way of showing trust in some of

22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 45 POLL-BOUND

TRADE PITCH Rahul Gandhi meets Indian business leaders in Bahrain

those whom he had personally appointed in 2014—for example, Arun Yadav (Madhya Pradesh), Sachin Pilot (Rajasthan), Bhupesh Baghel (Chha- ttisgarh) and Ashok Tanwar (Haryana). Baghel’s appointment, in fact, had been announced in a separate statement issued by general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi, which, according to an office-bearer, means “Baghel is not likely to be changed even closer to the elections”. “RG is trying to create a semblance of leadership in the state where none exists since Amit Jogi’s expulsion from the party in 2016,” he says. Two additional working PCC presidents have also been appointed for Chhattisgarh. Party leaders say the ‘working presi- PTI dent’ formula may be used in other poll-bound states too. It started from Kamal Nath could not be contacted as message that he wants to be the CM. For Gujarat, where four PCC working presi- he continues to be in his constituency in that, he will contest the assembly elec- dents were appointed and given charge Chhindwara. He had earlier declared he tion,” says the veteran leader, adding of Saurashtra, Kutch, Central Gujarat is willing to fight elections under Scindia’s that Pilot has been working relentlessly and South Gujarat, respectively. In leadership. Digvijaya Singh, who has been on the ground, travelling to all districts Madhya Pradesh, too, the party is con- CM twice, is in the middle of a six-month and constituencies of the state. sidering the appointment of four work- “spiritual and apolitical” ‘Narmada Skirting the leadership issue, Pilot says ing presidents, one each for regions such Parikrama’ and says he has no ambitions that the state Congress has been in elec- as Chambal-Gwalior, Vindhya, Malwa- to be the CM candidate this time. So, tion mode for the past four years—i.e., Nimar and Mahakaushal. “RG feels that while it seems the decks are clear for ever since he took over as PCC chief—and such a formula may tone down the influ- Scindia, sources in the party say nothing that CM Vasundhara Raje of the BJP is on ence of senior leaders involved in power can be said for sure yet. a weak wicket. “The Congress has gained struggle in states like Rajasthan and “Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh are not ground by doing remarkably well in the Madhya Pradesh,” says the young leader. going to give up easily,” says a veteran municipal elections,” says Pilot. “While in Congress leader. “By the time of the next the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the differ- UNA MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, who, elections (2023), both will be over the hill. ence between the voteshares of the BJP along with Kamal Nath and Digvi- This is their only chance.” There is a sim- and the Congress was 26 per cent in fav- jaya Singh, is one of the contenders ilar situation in Rajasthan. Although it our of BJP, it came down to just one per G for being the CM candidate in Mad- may appear that Sachin Pilot is the natu- cent in the panchayat polls.” hya Pradesh, downplays the leadership ral choice as CM candidate, being the Known for his personal touch with the issue in the state. “We are all working PCC president for the past four years, people and party workers alike, Pilot says, tog ether. There’s no fight,” he tells there is still a slip between the cup and the “I have been one of the few lucky Congress Outlook. “If the Congress has to come lip. “General secretary Ashok Gehlot has presidents in Rajasthan who has over- back, then our individual interests have been working quietly and diligently,” says whelming support from the party and the to be kept aside in the interest of the party. the veteran leader. “He has impressed people. The credit goes to all the party It is now or never for the Congress and Rahul with the way he handled Gujarat workers.” A senior Congress leader, how- people will see a different Congress this elections as the in-charge. He has been ever, points out that Pilot will need time. The aspirations of 7.5 chief minister of Rajasthan Gehlot’s active support in order to win. crore people of the state twice and may emerge to “These are important issues for Rahul to depend on us.” He is confi- be the natural choice. So resolve—whether he will promote young dent that BJP rule under Retaining the nothing is certain yet.” leaders like Scindia and Pilot or go with Shivraj Singh Chouhan, state chiefs is Pilot, however, had the experienced ones,” he says. “Like which has lasted three Rahul’s way of made his intentions clear what the BJP has managed to do, will terms, will end and “his showing trust when he did not contest Rahul be able to make a generational shift corrupt government will in those he had the Lok Sabha by-election and helm a new shining Congress as he be dealt a severe blow”. from Ajmer, a constitu- promised in his speech at Bahrain? How Scindia accuses Chouhan appointed in ency he had represented he handles these issues will decide how of being “anti-farmer, anti- 2014, says a earlier and then lost in ready the Congress will be to take on the women and anti-poor”. party insider. 2014. “He has sent the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.” O

46 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 Make Love Not ScarS - InclusIve IndIa for one & all

ne India, an initiative by Academician & Social Activist; Sunitha Facebook on Republic Krishnan, Social Activist; Aishwarya Bhati, TV, is a series that Advocate, Supreme Court; Ira Trivedi, showcases stories on Author & Influencer, and Reshma Qureshi, how communities are Acid Attack Survivor. empoweringO themselves to solve issues by The panel concluded that India needs more leveraging the strength of digital platforms. awareness about the plight of acid attack On the episode telecast on January 6, the victims to ensure that displaced victims get spotlight was on Ria Sharma and her NGO adequate support for their rehabilitation. Make Love Not Scars, founded 4 years ago. Changes need to be made at the judicial The NGO works to provide dignity and level with stricter laws for perpetrators of the independence to acid attack survivors from crime, and laws already made (like the 2013 all walks of life by focusing on their complete Supreme Court ban of over the counter sale medical, legal, education, vocational and of acid bottles) need to be implemented more psychological rehabilitation. They encourage strictly. Increased sensitivity in handling dreaming big, fighting stereotypes and acid attack victims across society are crucial WATCH: this week’s episode coming together as a community to ignite for their rehabilitation. of #OneIndia, an initiative by the hope for a promising future. They also Facebook on Republic TV throw conduct social media campaigns to help light on the Chennai Rain Relief spread awareness about the cause and garner Community. Watch how the city support for the survivors. Make Love Not swung into action in 2015 to Scars started the first online job portal for help rescue and provide relief acid attack survivors where their abilities to Chennaites stranded due to and skill sets were showcased to help drive the Floods. Tune in at 1600-1700 employment opportunities. on 13th January, Saturday and On the episode, Ria was joined by a panel at 1800-1900 on 14th January, of luminaries including Dr Vikram Singh, Sunday to watch the full episode Former DGP, UP Police; Ranjana Kumari, only on Republic TV. COIN CON

by Ushinor Majumdar

HEN the Income Tax Dep artment raided nine Bitcoin exchanges across the coun try on December 13, they did so suspecting money laun W dering. This was far from unanticipated. In 2016, former Res earch & Analysis Wing official R.K. Yadav wrote a 46page letter to PM Narendra Modi and Minister of Fin ance Arun Jaitley, alerting them to closeddoor seminars on cryptocur rencies organised by a visiting Swiss national in the capital and in Chennai. “High-profile persons attended the seminar and when I found out about it, I wrote a cautionary note to the PM and the FM. The Swiss national was urging people to get involved with crypto-currency. It was timed in November 2016, right after demonetisation,” says Yadav. Yadav also pointed out that crypto-currency was being used in money-laundering and hawala to fund terrorism. In 2014-15, investigative reporters found that the Eastern European mafia were using crypto-currency to launder their proceeds from running guns and drugs. A traditional way to launder money is to park dirty cash (earned from crime or corruption) into a business. This is done through fake invoices generated in the company’s books for non-existent or fake transactions. That cash is then dep- osited into the business’ bank accounts Black Stash of Secr et Money and declared to be income, and tax is paid on it, thus cleaning the dirty cash Money laundering haunts governments as they struggle to adapt to crypto into “legitimately earned” income. In the case of crypto-currency, one can as transfers were made directly from the exchanges. It is far from the original convert the illicit cash into digital coins buyer to seller, bypassing any exchange. privacy-guaranteed philosophy of the and pump it into a business to launder it. All exchanges in India offer a digital cipher punks but was meant to safeguard The other way is to take the converted wallet where the crypto-currency is held the exchanges from any future crack- digital currency, park it in accounts and on your behalf and all user data is held on down or impending regulation. Any enf- reveal it as a capital gain on trading cry- servers. During the recent raids, the IT orcement agency would have the legal pto-currency through exchanges. officials cloned the servers and hard writ to seek any information it required Doing this on networks such as Bitcoin drives, acquiring complete user records. from a corporate body or firm. and Ethereum is not possible because In many cases, the sleuths did not have Yet, there are reports aplenty of opera- the ledger is public and the ecosystem to poke very far because several of the tors offering to change cash into crypto- survives by publicly recording every exchanges had implemented the Know currency. However, it is being done wit- transaction, and therefore any illicit use Your Customer (KYC) standards man- hin a closed network of people right now, can eventually be tracked back to the dated by the RBI for banks and FIs. The restricted to coders and the rich. There source. But there are crypto-currencies crypto-currency exchanges had obt- have also been cases where such transac- such as Monero, which guarantee com- ained income tax PAN cards and Aadhaar tions (some advertised through newspa- plete anonymity to their users and do cards before verifying the users and let- pers and social media) were fraudulent. not require a public key or a public ting them use their services. If any users Delhi Police cracked down on such a recording of a transaction. had cashed out their crypto-currency fraud ring a few months ago. In 2016, dark net traders through a post into their personal digital wallets, the The privacy feature is not to benefit on Reddit.com endorsed Monero so long records of such transactions were with criminals alone. Private corporations

48 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 VIJAY PANDEY ouncing that a committee had been set considering a crypto-Rouble on the lines up under the Department of Economic of the crypto-currency called Ethereum, Affairs to assess crypto-currency and developed by a Russian entrepreneur. possibly set up a regulatory framework. Meanwhile, celebrities in India and The committee includes representatives abroad have started endorsing cry pto- of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securi- currency in the non-regulated environ- ties and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), ment with little reaction from the aut- the Department of Revenue and others. horities. When Paris Hilton tweeted The RBI has been issuing notes of cau- support for an upcoming crypto-coin, the tion to all trading in crypto-currency United States Securities and Exc hange because neither the government nor the Commission (SEC) took note imm- central bank backs it. Sources in SEBI ediately and released an advisory on told Outlook, “at present, no regulator “Potentially Unlawful Promotion of Ini- can claim jurisdiction over crypto-cur- tial Coin Offerings and Other Invest- rency because it has undetermined legal ments by Celebrities and Others.” The status in the country.” This is because media pointed out the ambivalence in while the government has not accepted this because the SEC was yet to classify it as currency, it is yet to be recognised as digital coins as either a currency or as a security by SEBI or any other govern- speculative asset. There have also been ment body. Despite this, crypto-cur- reports by Indian media of domestic cel- rency is being traded ebrities endorsing cry- through exchanges in pto-cur rency by highli g h- India, with transactions ting how much they have having peaked shortly af- been trading in it. But no ter demonetisation. warnings have been iss- In August 2017, SEBI ued by Indian aut horities formed a Committee on to these celebrities. Financial and Regulatory Many “miners”—cod- Technologies, to assess ers who verify cryptocur- how it could use block- “Every time the rency transactions— pre- chain technology (the government says fer to trade with tech behind crypto-cur- exchanges abroad. This rency) in “FinTech” ser- something shows the potential for vices. The source in SEBI negative about use of crypto-currency in clarified that the com- crypto-currency, hawala. Cash, turned into mittee was “tasked with more users sign crypto-currency, can be Black Stash of Secr et Money assessing the potential of passed through the inter- up with us.” blockchain technology net and encashed in sev- Money laundering haunts governments as they struggle to adapt to cryptocurrencies and the public ledger sys- Shivam Thakral eral countries without tem in all financial tech- CEO. BuyUCoin revealing its origin. mine your data at all times to track your nology such as leveraging For now, any trade in purchases and related meta data in order it for the purpose of regulating markets.” crypto-currency would attract a capital to study and influence consumption The state governments are also looking gains tax as is the case with securities. habits and preferences. With anonymity, for ways to use blockchain technology, With user data in their hands, the IT there is no third party peeking into how says a top official of the Ministry of Elec- Department is likely to send notices to you spend your money. tronics and Information Technology. those who don’t declare gains. Coming back to Monero, you can acq- There is also discussion amongst media The Indian exchanges seem to work on uire this crypto-currency without rev- innovators as to how to use blockchain the “trust” model—the very system that ealing your information even on an exc- technology to combat fake news. Bitcoin’s mythical “inventor”, Satoshi hange. One can break the digital trail on Even to regulate crypto-currency Nakamoto, was working against. In his the blockchain by buying multiple cur- under the Foreign Exchange Manage- 2008 White Paper on crypto-currency, rencies. A user can buy Bitcoins directly ment Act, the RBI would first have to dec- he outlined the philosophy for Bitcoin. but then use these to purchase Monero, lare it a foreign currency. Once the com- Governments had failed to regulate cur- pay for contraband and then cash out the mittee has presented a report to the rency, banks overcharged on transac- remaining Bitcoin, leaving no trail lead- finance ministry, it will be clear if the gov- tions and crooks in the financial system ing to the money’s origin or destination. ernment will adopt the Egyptian Grand went unpunished. The middleman must It is still not clear where the Indian gov- Mufti’s stance or that of Japan and Rus- be rooted out—but the exchanges have ernment stands on crypto-currency. On sia. Japan having declared Bitcoin a legal proved to be middlemen, albeit ones who January 2, the finance minister asserted tender, thousands of retail services are charge far less than banks. that it wasn’t legal tender, also ann- now accepting it as payment. Russia is Crypto-currency exchanges in India

22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 49 COIN CON

THE DIGITAL CURR ENCY REVOLUTION ADVANTAGES CHALLENGES Breakthrough in financial technology Not guaranteed by any sovereign entity or Decentralised: Not controlled by any nation-state bank or corporation Not eco-friendly: annual power consumption Potential to be only true global currency same as 160 countries 24-hour global trading exchanges Has been reduced from currency to a speculative asset Transaction cost for buying and selling is in decimal Elitist proposition for third world nations percentage Coins held in cloud can be attacked Cost of encashing same across the world Fast-paced technology can outdate concept Can be stored offline in a thumb-drive Unpredictable how governments will regulate it Peer-peer: no middlemen Carries baggage of contraband purchase on dark web

MILESTONES AND SCANDALS

1992 1996 1997 1998 Adam Back creates Wei Dai writes a Paper on Hashcash, a proof-of- e-gold used to transfer paper to start proof-of-work work system against gold over internet a digital, de-centralised system against spam spam, now used for currency Bitcoin mining

2017 2017 2016 2016 Globally multiple mer- Hits and crosses $1,000 Bitcoin value jumps, Interest peaks in chants start accepting mark. Power consump- kisses $19,500 and India following Bitcoins as payment, tion of Bitcoin same as drops 25 per cent demonetisation 500+ active digital 160 countries currencies

offer a digital wallet that they hold on ber 2016, following demonetisation, especially when some local newspapers behalf of the users. Thus, a user can view Thakral found more Indians taking an reported that the IT department had the wallet and issue directions to buy or interest in crypto-currencies. That led seized Rs 33 crore from them. The sei- sell digital coins, but cannot do it direc- him and his friends to register as a com- zure list showed otherwise—the sleuths tly. BuyUCoin is a Delhi-based start-up pany in 2017, hire space on servers and cloned their cloud servers and digital that has 21,200 KYC-verified users, ano- start operating out of an office in West drives for the data on users and “took ther 27,540 awaiting KYC with docu- Delhi’s Karol Bagh commercial area. Rs 20,000 in petty cash that we had kept ments uploaded and a total 1,11,900 In December 2017, when IT authorities in the office to buy food,” smiles Thakral. signed up. The verified users hold around turned up at his home, Thakral’s family “Every time the government says Rs 5 crore in their bank accounts. was not thrilled. It took some explaining, something negative about crypto-cur- CEO Shivam Thakral points out that all rency, we find more users sign up with these accounts are being maintained by our exchange,” says Thakral. a public sector bank “because private In 2016, former RAW The official warnings against investing banks do not want to deal with compa- official R.K. Yadav wrote or dealing with crypto-currencies have nies that have anything to do with cry- a letter to the PM and not dampened its price. Bitcoin price pto-currency”. But the underlying phi- the FM, highlighting soared post-demonetisation, apparently losophy is the “trust” of the user. because Indians started taking an inter- In 2016, Thakral and his friends were the danger of crypto- est in the crypto-currency. In December buying and selling coins through credit currencies being used 2016, the price of a Bitcoin had peaked to and debit card transactions. In Novem- for money laundering. approximately $19,500 and then crashed

50 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 THE DIGITAL CURR ENCY REVOLUTION TOP DIGITAL CURRENCIES BITCOIN-FRIENDLY COUNTRIES

Bitcoin (BTC) Bitcoin Cash (BCH) ` 9,04,288 ($ 14,126) ` 1,79,564 ($2,805)

Ethereum (ETH) Litecoin (LTC) ` 45,131 ($705) ` 17,412 ($272) Japan Scandinavian countries

Ripple (XRP) Prices and conversion rate on United States UK ` 75.82 ($1.18) December 26, 2017 Canada Australia

2007 2008 2009 2011 First/genesis block of From 33 paise per coin, Satoshi 50 Bitcoins created. Bitcoin overtakes dollar. Nakamoto’s e-gold shut down First transfer between Satoshi Nakamoto White Paper Nakamoto and developer drops off the map; un- on Bitcoin Hal Finney traceable till today

2015 2014 2013 2011 First Silk Road wrapped Suspected use of Silk Road starts Bitcoin forked into up as founder Ross Bitcoin for money operations using crypto- new version, Ulbricht is arrested with laundering by currency for contraband increasing capacity millions of dirty dollars East-European mafia on dark web in Bitcoins

Graphic by SAJI C.S. by 25 per cent. On January 2, when the value by 30 per cent on a daily basis, con- coders and developers went back to the finance minister clarified that crypto- tends Anand. “This does not mean that I drawing board, MT GOX filed for currency was not legal tender, this did am risk-averse. I have a significant bankruptcy. Conspiracy theories raged not impact the price of Bitcoin. In fact, it allocation to a diversified portfolio of on dark web chat rooms about it being a rose back to $17,000 on January 5. small-cap and mid-cap stocks (via mut- covert operation by government spies. “As an investor who seeks long-term ual funds), from which I expect to get In early 2017, when the price of a Bit- capital appreciation, I find the idea of about 18-24 per cent p.a. compounded coin surged to $1,000, experts predicted 1000 per cent annual returns to be more over holding periods of 5-7 years. These that the end-of-year price would be indicative of investment bubbles than return expectations are rational and $3,000. After Japan accepted Bitcoin as a anything else, especially since there is no justify the volatility inherent to these currency in April, the value crossed the underlying asset represented by these types of investments,” $3,000 mark by June and kept climbing. crypto-currencies. While I appreciate There are several theories as to what Another mad dive for purchases ensued, the power of blockchain technology and drives the price of the volatile Bitcoin (or and the price peaked further. how it can result in smart contracts that other crypto-currency). In 2013, Bitcoin The highest concentration of crypto- can revolutionise many sectors, I refuse value had peaked at $1,000 before it currency miners is in China, which to believe that the crypto-mania is very crashed following an announcement by stopped withdrawals in February 2017, different from the tulip mania of the an exchange, MT GOX, which then restarting them some months later. The 1600s,” says Gurgaon-based entrepre- controlled a majority of the Bitcoin resumed trading in China and elsewhere neur and CFA Ashwini Anand. trades. The exchange revealed that it had pushed the Bitcoin price to $19,500 in Sound investments don’t fluctuate in lost 8,50,000 Bitcoins to hackers. While mid-December before dropping 25 per

22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 51 COIN CON

BLOCKCHAIN THE HUNT FOR TECHNOLOGY SATOSHI NAKAMOTO

HE Bitcoin model can be compared to a nuclear reaction ATOSHI Nakamoto cut the umbilical cord and fell off the sans the speed and damage. The programme, which was internet in 2011, starting a race to locate and identify him. T written in C++, generated a first or ‘genesis’ block of 50 S This happened just after another Bitcoin developer, Gavin coins. It was released to open-source software directory Source- Andresen emailed Nakamoto to tell him that he had accepted Forge with a hidden message which set the date at January 3, an invitation from the CIA to speak about crypto-currency. Like 2009 and contained a statement of the bank-bypassing philos- Andresen, Hal Finney had only communicated with Nakamoto ophy. It is somewhat akin to the game Monopoly, where the through the internet, using an anonymous email service. players are first seeded with ‘cash’ from the ‘bank’. About every There has been no conclusive proof of who Nakamoto might ten minutes another block was released, and ‘mining’ the blocks actually be. Conspiracy theories have even pointed at Elon Musk, carried a reward of 50 Bitcoins (now 25). without much of a reaction. There is another set that believe Transactions between users are recorded in a block, which is that Nakamoto was a combination of Dai, Finney and another verified by coders (‘miners’) who solve a complex maths problem cryptographer, Nick Szabo, who wrote about crypto-currency on their computers and are given 25 Bitcoins for each block that in a 1998 research paper on “bit gold”. Amongst the first lot of they verify by generating a hash key. The verified blocks are cypherpunks was Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. chained (hence the name blockchain) to each other through the All denied being Nakamoto, though Forbes came close to iden- ‘hash’ and recorded in a public register or ledger which is not tifying Finney as the Bitcoin founder. This was based on forensic held centrally and thus, not susceptible to attacks. analysis that matched Finney’s writing with that of Nakamoto. The “hash” is a unique identifier, and multiple results are put A media house had also found a Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto living to rest through a majority vote. Theoretically, that can be a not far from Finney’s house in California. Two theories emerged. chink in its armour because an attacker could gang up with mul- Either, Dorian Nakamoto was the real person or else Finney had tiple false results to force-verify a false transaction as a genuine assumed his neighbour’s name as a cryptic identity. one. That would throw the system out of gear. In the first blockchain of Bitcoin, Nakamoto had kept a line The incremental difficulty (reset every few days) of the of text: “03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for maths problem and the high cost of mining make it difficult for banks,” referring to a news report published by The Times in attackers to outvote honest miners. Mining requires a faster, the UK. Some claim that it was done to establish a time stamp heat-resistant (ASIC) chip working full time, which costs around of the first blockchain. Others say that it was the reason that Rs 3-4 lakh each, plus the high-watt power requirements. Bitcoin Bitcoin was finally released to the world—central banks were miners now work in pools, with the largest rigs reported to be in simply inflating the capitalist system, the philosophy on which China, accounting for around 80 per cent of the hash rate. the crypto-currency was developed.

cent, only to have climbed back up to proposed a system to deter attacks on authored by “Satoshi Nakamoto”. This $17,000 at the time of writing. computers through spam email. It was was transmitted over an email group for In 2017, Asian markets overtook the US later named “proof-of-work”, by its dev- cryptographers and attracted coder Hal in crypto-currency trading and acceler- eloper Adam Back in 1997. It verified that Finney, who went on to develop the code. ated the evolution of Bitcoin from the the sender of an email was genuine and The first Bitcoin transaction was Naka- egalitarian, de-centralised currency into not someone trying extortion. moto transferring 50 Bitcoins to Hal the speculative asset it now is. It is not In 1998, Wei Dai theorised a currency Finney. Once it was put out to Source- surprising then that Goldman Sachs is that would exclude central control. “I am Forge, other coders started to mine the rumoured to have created a trade desk fascinated by Tim May’s crypto-anarchy. hash keys by verifying the transactions exclusively for crypto-currency fut- Unlike the communities traditionally through “proof-of-work”. The first ures—one that will permit calling shorts associated with the word “anarchy”, in a 36,000 blocks were mined by Nakamoto. as in conventional financial markets. crypto-anarchy the government is not At 50 Bitcoins per mining, that places In Japan, more than 5,000 merchants temporarily destroyed but permanently the total number mined by him at accept the currency, but with a cap on forbidden and permanently unneces- 18,14,400, of which around 11 lakh were the maximum amount allowed for a sin- sary,” states his paper. never spent. That makes his net worth gle transaction from a single entity. The In 2008, Dai’s philosophy was reflected on December 17 about $22.5 billion, largest car dealership in the country has in the White Paper on Bitcoin that was making him one of the richest men in the capped it at $100,000. Global companies world, albeit a missing one (see box 2). like EY Switzerland have also started to Crypto-currency carries the baggage accept clients’ fees in crypto-currency, The Eastern European of speculation on an unknown quantity set up wallets for employees to receive mafia have used crypto- and money-laundering. So does fiat emoluments and set up advisory servi- currency to launder currency, but no major bank officials are ces on the new currency. their profits from gun currently behind bars. Blockchain and Genesis crypto-currency are innovations at the The foundation for crypto- currency was and drug running, and it intersection of finance and technology. laid through an academic paper written has also been employed How will India react? Issue a fatwa or by Cynthia Dwork and Moni Naor. They to fund global terrorism. climb out of the matrix? O

52 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN To Participate log on to ndtv.com/propertyawards

Presenting Sponsor

Knowledge Partner VISA BLUES

by Arindam Mukherjee

N a bid to enforce President Donald Trump’s ‘Buy American Hire Ameri- can’ policy, the US government might put in place further restrictions on H1B visas, of which I India is a major beneficiary. The current proposals to not extend H-1B visa of those waiting for permanent residency or a green card is likely to affect half-a-million Indians working in the US. Though the US government has said that there is no change in the H1B visa policy for the moment, it is considering extending the H1B visas by just one year instead of three for those holders whose green card application is under process. The proposal was cir- culated as a memo by the Department of Homeland Security in the US and seeks to end extensions to H-1B visas of those whose applications for green cards are being processed. The proposed policy potentially means that if visas are not extended at all, or extended for just one year, several H1B visa holders might have to return to India. According to rough estimates, between 500,000 and 750,000 people might be affected by the move. And that could severely affect engineering and IT talent in the US and take a toll on the bottom lines of Indian companies who send IT workers to the US. Experts are of the opinion that if passed, the policy will be detrimental to both US and Indian companies. “US businesses have already expressed displeasure with the changes. The industry body has rep ortedly termed this a ‘bad policy’,” says No Snoozing In D.D. Mishra, research director, Gartner India. “Businesses in the US are worried about losing talented people who have been working in the country for a long Silicon Valley time. This will be a nowin situation for India as well as US businesses and IT professionals will be at the receiving end.” The US government’s new proposals will cast a At the same time, Indian IT companies shadow on the American dream of H1B visa holders could be looking at a huge financial hit. “The impact of this will be quite big on modest annual billing of $200,000, the by voice vote in the House Judiciary Indian IT companies as this category of total billing will be in the range of $ Committee of the US Congress. The bill engineers and IT workers are billed at 4050 billion, assuming reasonable proposed to raise the minimum salary of very high rates,” says Jaideep Mehta, IT capacity utilisation.” H1B visa holders from $60,000 to $90,000, sector expert and CEO, Vccircle.com. “If This is not the first time there has been and also to put a check on the work vis as they are suddenly taken out of the sys an attack on H1B visa holders. A couple of used by a slew of Indian companies who tem, we are talking in terms of billions of months ago, a new legislation—the send their workers to the US. dollars of loss to the system. This is very Protect and Grow American Jobs Act, HR There was a general opinion that HR serious and not a trivial matter. Even if 170—introduced by Republican U.S. 170 would harm US businesses and imp 300,000 people were to be affected, at a Representative Darrell Issa, was passed ose an extraordinary amount of bureau

54 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 ming American Immigration for Strong ner enough support to clear the propos Employment (RAISE) Act, which aimed als against the H1B visa programme? to reduce the number of legal migrants Experts, both in India and the US, feel (green card holders) allowed in the US by that with opposition against the propos 40 per cent in the first year and by 50 per als mounting primarily in the US and cent over a decade. with the US IT industry vehemently HR 170 is more focused on H1B visa opposed to such proposals, there is little holders, and is likely to impact Indian chance of these getting passed. “There is companies more as they are the largest little support even in the Republican beneficiaries of these visas. It specifically party on the proposals. Donald Trump prohibits employers in the US from rep doesn’t have enough support on this lacing Americans with H1B employees. radical proposal,” says Caceres. Though India’s software representative Mehta, however, feels that Trump can body, NASSCOM, feels that there is no still pull it through. He says: “Despite the concrete proposal in this regard and there lack of support in the US, especially the has been no official announce industry, I am not so ment regarding the cancella confident that Donald tion of extension of H1B visas, Trump will fail as he has it is of the opinion that any been successful in get such move would be disrup ting the HR 170 bill tive and would be detrimental passed and also the to both Indian as well as travel ban cleared. The American companies. administration’s usual Even in the US there is oppo strategy is to take an sition to the new proposals. “It extreme measure, and will be a catastrophic move for then dilute it a little to US companies as the H1B “If visa achieve what they programme is their life and extensions are wanted in the first place. blood,” says Rogelio Caceres, He may just pull cofounder & CCO of the US eliminated or through this as well and based LCR Capital. “If (visa) limited, half that will be detrimental extensions are eliminated or a million Indian to both the US and limited, half a million engi engineers in Indian industry.” neers could be affected. That the US could There is also a pro would decimate the R&D and posal under which development work in the US. be affected.” spouses of H1B visa Many projects would be holders will be denied a affected. As it is, there is a talent shortage work permit in the US. This again is exp RED CARD Many Indian IT workers in the US—this will be talent elimination. ected to be detrimental to Indian techies may have to leave the US soon There is already a demand and supply gap and discourage many from choosing the of engineering talent and US universities US as a work destination. “As a majority of cratic red tape on a programme that are not equipped to fill this gap.” the IT professionals have a working contributes greatly to the country’s spouse, many of them will find it difficult prosperity. It was designed to disrupt the NE fallout of the entire campaign to migrate due to the restrictions,” says marketplace, threaten thousands of US has been that there is a heightened Mishra. “The US will gradually lose its jobs and stifle USinnovation. demand for other visas, such as the significance as an interesting destination The proposed increase in the minimum O EB5 visas for permanent residency for IT professionals and this will impact salary of H1B holders is certain to hit the in the US. “In 2017, there was a significant US business more. These changes are margins of the US projects of Indian demand for the first time for EB5 visas akin to shooting the tyres of a racing car.” companies. Also, with other restrictions through which one can get a green card India needs to up the ante and do some related to hiring in the US, companies will directly. Many of them were from tec thing about the ongoing H1B programme be forced to hire locally. Given the differ hies,” says Mark Davies, global chairman in the US considering that almost 70 per ence in salary between American and of the USbased Davies and Associates cent of all H1B visa holders are from India Indian workers, this will increase the LLC. The EB5 visa gives a green card and India corners a significant number of wage bill of the companies. directly in exchange for an investment of the 85,000 H1B visas issued every year. Before this, there was another bill $500,000 in the US. “Over the last one The issue has to be taken up diplomati floated in the US Congress to control year, interest on EB5 visa has increased cally and bilaterally to ensure that both immigration, particularly through H1B by over 70 per cent as the attacks on H1B the US and Indian IT industries are not visas. In September, Senators Tom Cotton increased,” says Caceres. adversely affected. The iron is hot in the and David Perdue proposed the Refo r So, will the Trump administration gar US. This is the time for India to act. O

22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 55

new skIes

by Ajay Sukumaran in Bangalore

Ack in the 1980s, the diminu- tive Dornier 228 (Do-228) was part of a fleet that connected some remote corners of the cou- Finally, To Make ntry. Now, three decades later— B and after a couple of ambitious homegrown civilian aircraft projects— the Dornier can possibly lay claim to be the first light transport aircraft for civilian use that will be fully manufac- A Plane And Fly It tured in India. That’s because the aircraft recently received a type certi- An upgraded Dornier can be India’s first indigenous fication from the Directorate General light civil transport aircraft. The decks are clearing. of civil Aviation (DGcA) which would allow it to resume civilian duties. It’s a ers like the Canadian DHC Twin Otters, Kanpur division has produced around second innings of sorts for the 19-sea- the Czechmade L410 and the PZL M28 130 Dornier aircraft for the Indian Air ter airplane manufactured by Hindu- (now owned by Lockheed Martin). Force, Navy, Coast Guard, early airline stan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). The Do228 was designed by German ventures like Vayudoot besides exporting Ever since Vayudoot—the feeder airline aircraftmaker Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH to Mauritius and Seychelles. Some of the service started in 1981 when today’s from whom HAL bought a production other Indian customers included UB Air, bustling small towns were actually rem license in 1983 to manufacture these Vijay Mallya’s maiden airline venture ote outbacks—shut down in the mid planes for the Asian market. So far, HAL’s and Shimlabased Jagson Airlines. 1990s, the Do228 has mostly been a HAL reckons the upgraded version, Do military aircraft in India apart from flying 228201, is best suited under the Make in with the Coast Guard. With the DGCA India category for UDAN. Its chairman certification—the standards globally for T. Suvarna Raju has previously said that civilian aircraft are tougher than military the company sees ‘big business opportu aircraft—the Dornier can enter the fray nity in this segment for the next 10 years’. as the government’s Regional Connecti People in the know claim that around 15 vity Scheme or UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam agencies, many of them domestic airlines, Nagrik) rolls out. have shown interest. “The Do228’s commercial flight certifi A year ago, while on a visit to the Kanpur cation by DGCA is a positive develop facility, minister of state for civil aviation ment,” says Amber Dubey, partner and Jayant Sinha said there was a demand for India head of Aerospace and Defence at at least 200 aircraft in the category. Back global consultancy KPMG. He reckons it full swing work in progress at in the 1980s, the Vayudoot fleet of ten provides an alternative to other 19seat Hindustan Aeronautics, Bangalore Do228s largely depended on Dornier

58 OutlOOk 22 January 2018 prototype Dornier has got DgCA’s commercial flight certification

operators may not have the ability to buy aircraft. “In the UDAN scheme,” says Saxena, “many routes may actually not be viable with bigger aircraft. This air craft is suited for shorter routes and optimum capacity utilisation.” With the UDAN scheme, the governm ent hopes to stimulate air travel by con necting small towns and with concessions on fares—operators have to cap the fare of some seats at Rs 2,500 for an hourlong flight. In the first phase, five operators including Air India’s arm Alliance Air, Air

jetphotos.net garwal/ Odisha, Spicejet, Turbo Megha and Capt G.R. Gopinath’s Deccan Charters have been awarded 128 routes connecting 43 Vedant a Vedant airports. The bidding for the second phase concluded sometime ago. GmbH for spares. That’s no longer the board. Since then, it has struggled to get Dubey says UDAN is a great initiative situation, aviation industry veterans back on track though there’s word that that should have taken off a decade point out. “Product support will never be flight testing is likely to resume soon. and a half ago. “The Naresh Chandra a problem whosoever operates this air In 2010, even as the Saras was grounded, Committee in 2003 spoke about creating craft. The only suggestion I would make there came a more ambitious project to a regional connectivity fund but the rec to the government and various airlines is build a 70 to 90seater aircraft aimed ommendation never got implemented,” that a plan be worked out for the next primarily at connecting small cities and he says, adding that it was only under the 510 years,” says A.K. Saxena, a former designed for Indian conditions. The task National Civil Aviation Policy 2016 that MD (Bangalore complex) at HAL. “In the of mapping out the process got off to a the government finally took the decision aircraft industry, we need a plan for 56 flying start and the country’s top aero to provide fiscal and monetary incentives years because materials have to be impo space experts were involved in preparing for regional connectivity. “The results rted so that we can keep churning out the a feasibility report that outlined the are for all to see. Market leader Indigo aircraft engines, accessories, systems funding and manufacture. The project, has disrupted its one singleaircraft fleet and avionics.” The Dornier is suited for then estimated at Rs 7,500 crore, had in strategy and has gone for turboprobs. shorter routes and, in all fairness, is an its sights a 90seater turbofan aircraft SpiceJet has ordered another 50 turbo indigenously produced aircraft, he adds. that would be designed and produced in props and is considering bringing in 100 Ironically, a fully homegrown civilian partnership with private industry. Sadly, seaplanes on top of that,” he says. SpiceJet, aircraft has been a dream that India’s it couldn’t go beyond the initial planning. which currently operates Bombardier aeronautics community has pursued As one insider puts it, not everybody was Q400 planes in a 78 seater configuration, with little success for convinced with the config last year signed an agreement to buy 50 more than two decades. It’s uration decided upon. Q400 aircraft that would be 90 seaters. quite a long story actually, “After that, it was a slide Dubey explains that just Delhi and one that started with completely,” the person Mumbai have less than 5 per cent of the Saras, a 14seater that the says. “The 70 to 90seater country’s population but nearly 40 per Bangalorebased National market segment is very cent of the Indian air traffic. “There are Aerospace Laboratories dicey, sandwiched in bet dozens of places of significant importance (NAL) began building in ween the big gorillas and in the interiors of India from a population, the 1990s. The designers the small planemakers.” tourism and industry perspective but lack struggled with the initial The Do228, like most air connectivity since there was no fiscal prototype which was 19seaters, is a nonpres of monetary support,” he says. He feels overweight. Of course, the A.K. Saxena, an surised aircraft, and could that UDAN is here to stay. “But yes, like in project pressed on and ex-HAL official, face a challenge when it any industry, availability of a threeyear the plane also featured says product comes to travelling com subsidy doesn’t guarantee longterm fin at Bangalore’s biennial support won’t fort, says KPMG’s Amber ancial success.” It would depend on the air shows. But the project be a problem Dubey. He also points out operator’s choice of routes, destination, took a blow in 2009 when that HAL may have to cre fleet, people, branding and cost structure one of the Saras prototypes whosoever ate options for leasing the besides its aligning with large carriers. crashed during a flight test, operates the aircraft themselves bec Will HAL hit pay dirt with the Dornier? killing three officers on Dornier 228. ause small regional service UDAN holds the key. O

22 January 2018 OutlOOk 59 hree time Madhya Pradesh Chief You are doing lot for agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan sector and farmers and what do you said farmers are always in the feel? Are you paying equal attention to priority of my government but other sections, too? at the same time we have not In fact, no amount of assistance and help to Congress Tneglected other sections of society on their cost. farmers is enough, given the decade of neglect Chouhan claimed that even after 14 years of of farming and peasants post-Independence. is no bjp regime in the state bjp continues to remain They feed the country. Neglect of farming and unchallenged and congress is hardly a force farmers for decades resulted in farmers’ weaning to reckon with in the forthcoming assembly away from their ancestral occupations. This Challenge election. Excerpts of the interview- has necessitated it for the government to pay greater attention to farm sector and farmers to in mp: After completion of record 12 years as make agriculture a profitable proposition. This Chief Minister, what is your next goal? is what we did in Madhya Pradesh and it has My one and only goal has been and will always paid off. Benefiting from the facilities and help Shivraj be to establish Madhya Pradesh as the most provided by the government the farmers are developed state of the country. I never count gradually coming on a better footing. Madhya years or months. In noted Urdu poet Bashir Pradesh owes to farmers the distinction of Badra words - Jis din se chala hoon meri manzil being the state with highest agriculture growth pe nazar hai, aankhon ne kabhi meel ka patthar rate. It gives me satisfaction that farmers are Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister nahin dekha (From Day One my eyes are firmly coming back to the plough with enthusiasm. Shivraj Singh Chouhan set on the goal; I never bothered to check the I have ensured that no section of society talks to rajesh Sirothia milestones). is denied the fruits of development. Equal attention has been paid to well-being of improvement in all sectors. All fiscal indicators definitely going to benefit the BJP in Madhya all sections of society with special focus on are in favour of the state. The contribution Pradesh, too. traditionally weakest sections. of Madhya Pradesh to country’s GDP has increased from 3.8 to 4.3 percent. State’s Do you think you will have to face Now this is election year as far as MP contribution to country’s food grain production anti- incumbency ? is concerned. Expectations of various has gone up from 7.1 percent to 11.38 percent NO. Not at all. On the contrary, there will be cadres of employees are very high. and to power generation from 4.8 percent to pro-incumbency factor at play, leading to Election year or no-election year, my 5.9 percent. Madhya Pradesh has maintained landslide victory for the BJP in the state. The government has always ensured justice to all double digit economic growth rate for last policies of both central and state governments cadres of employees. We have given them the many years and has been revenue surplus for have benefited the poor and the weaker benefit of the 7th Pay Commission. They are last 12 years. The per capita income of the state sections the most. Despite the diatribe carried being paid DA at par with their counterparts has increased from Rs. 14 thousand to `72,600. out by the Congress and other vested interests, in central government. Adhyapak cadre has State’s annual budget size has increased from the masses very well appreciate the truth. They been created to ensure due respect and dignity `21,647 crore to 1,85,564 crore. State’s own tax are wise enough to see through their designs. with better remuneration to teachers who were revenue has gone up over seven times from Rs. given the derogatory term of Shikshakarmi by 6,805 crore to 43,447 crore. The fiscal deficit Besides all negative factors what are the previous Congress government. Genuine has been within the prescribed limits. All these the positive nodes which may ensure problems of the employees have been factors bear out the fact that the state has your fourth consequent victory? duly addressed and redressed with utmost managed its finances well. BJP has always contested elections on consideration within the resources at our development planks and the next election will command. However, the anomalies, if any, After Gujarat poll results Congress is also be fought on development issues. There will be rectified in due course with utmost going to create bit challenge in MP. How are no negative factors. consideration and sympathy. do you rate the prospects of Congress in assembly main election? What are 12 main achievements of 12 What is the progress of Bhavantar Although political prudence dictates that years of your Chief Ministership in MP? Yojana in MP? opponents should never be underestimated; Twelve major achievements are- After minor initial hiccups the Bhavantar Yojana however, I have no hitch in saying that Congress • Women empowerment (Fifty percent has been implemented successfully in the state. in no challenge at all in Madhya Pradesh. reservation in local bodies and 33 percent A sum of `834 crore has already been paid to Congress rules the state for over four decades in government jobs) 35 lakh farmers. It has proved a boon for the but miserably failed to convert state potential • Revolution in power sector. 24x7 electricity farmers and ensured remunerative returns of into performance . As a result the continued to households and 10 hours to farm sector, their produce to them. to be under performer and carried the stigma which was unthought-of a decade ago of “BIMARU STATE” still congress has no vision • Excellent road network. In Congress regime What about onion purchasing? for the development of the state and welfare of Madhya Pradesh’s roads were a butt of In view of the crisis the onion-growing farmers people. Both their leaders and ranks are highly jokes faced due to lack of adequate storage facility for despaired and disappointed and are seeing no • Madhya Pradesh leads country in storage of bumper onion production, I decided prospects of winning elections for many- many agricultural growth rate that averages over that the state government would purchase the years to come in the state. They stand no chance. 20 percent for last four years onion from the farmers. We purchased onion • Madhya Pradesh emerged as the Best worth `682 crore and the farmers earned a To what extent Policy of Modi Tourism State profit of `511 crore. This baled them out of a government will be helpful for • Unprecedented urban as well as rural grave crisis. prospects of bjp in MP? development. Proper infrastructure created Not only onion, we also purchased moong Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and sanitation promoted worth `1123 crore, tuar `352 crore, masoor is undisputed leader of not only the BJP but • Better education, skill development and `78 crore and urd worth `210 crore. By this of the country. Under his visionary and able self-employment for youths step of the government the farmers earned a leadership India has emerged as a most • Strong social security cover provided to the profit of `1064 crore. powerful country in the comity of nations. poor of all sections of society International agencies and institutions like IMF • Awareness about conservation of rivers What about fiscal management? and others have predicted that in a couple of and environment enhanced Madhya Pradesh has performed well for last 12 years India will be a major economic power • Social harmony promoted. More dignified years Madhya Pradesh has enjoyed a very good to reckon with, leaving behind many most life to scheduled castes reputation for prudent fiscal management. developed countries. His policies are pro- • Members of Scheduled Tribes integrated This has led to availability of greater funds for poor and he is committed to stamping out with mainstream development and welfare schemes that led to corruption in the country. His policies are • Communal harmony and peace prevails REAL PADMAN Bleeding Heart, Murugan’s Pads A school dropout won in his quirky but noble mission that has now inspired Bollywood to make a movie

by G.C. Shekhar in Chennai Muruganantham’s wife was the first to reject his pad, which was nothing but a HE machine came first, the dau wad of medical cotton tightly rolled up ghter only later, quips Aruna and held together by a string. After his chalam Muruganantham, ton own sisters refused to use them, Muru gue in cheek. “All because of my ganantham enlisted a few medical college obsession with the sanitary pad.” students to try out his product. He gave T The 55yearold is referring to them a feedback form, and found that two how his daughter was born only ten girls were filling up the form for the entire years after his marriage. For, his wife group. “So I tried using my napkin by had walked out on him, protesting wearing it with a football bladder filled against his obsession with his sanitary with goat blood to see if it can absorb the pad project. Shanthi did ret urn to live blood. The experiment was a miserable with him, but only after he succeeded failure. At this, I collected the used sani and won social recognition. tary napkins of the college girls for closer Not just recognition. Today, even inspection at home. When my mother Bollywood fame. Actor Askhay Kumar found what I was doing, she left me to live decided to make PadMan, based on with my sisters,” Muruganantham recol Murugananth am’s mission that has freed lects with candid humour, almost laugh thousands of women from ing at his crazy journey. the shackles of unhygienic But nothing deterred the living during their periods. It took eight man. The school dropout First Muru ganantham and years of trial finally found out the secret now Akshay have together of the sanitary napkin: it dared where no Indian and error for was made of cellulose cut man has been before: the the man to into fibres to enable abso sensitive issue of menstru perfect the rption. Now he needed a ation that comes with tab machine that machine to make the pads. oos that confine women to would make So Muruganantham desi the dark corners of their gned one machine to cut homes. The absence of a low-cost pads. the cellulose sheet into pad used to instil dread in fibre, another to compress, rural women all those three days. cut and wrap them into usable rectangu Coimbatorebased Muruganantham, lar pads that would be treated with UV had married in 1998. Once he saw his wife light to make them germfree. Having smuggling a dirty piece of rag into the worked in a welding shop, he had some bathroom, and that’s when he realised knowledge about machines. “It took me most Indian women don’t use sanitary eight years of trial and error to design the napkins. “She was hoarding dirty rags machines that would make lowcost with which I’d hesitate to clean my two pads: just Rs 2 each, compared to those wheeler. She said commercial pads were made by the MNCs that are priced any too expensive. That impelled me to find a where above Rs 6 to Rs 100,” he says. lowcost solution,” he recalls. Since the machines cost only Rs 2 lakh,

62 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 ACTION AKSHAY Muruganantham sounds the clapper-board for PadMan

22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 63 REAL PADMAN

GUIDE Muruganantham’s 5,000 machines are working across India

they could easily be purchased by self help groups part fina nced by NGOs. And he now uses cellulose from wood pulp to make the pads biodegradable. Making the pads was only the lesser challenge; getting the unschooled women to use them was next, Muruganantham realised. “I had addressed affordability, but what about availability and aware ness? So I decided that only women can do these two jobs, since in a village only a woman can talk to another woman about periods. And if a collective of women could make these pads and distribute them they would gain greater accepta bility and also remain affordable. The women were also excited about a steady income by making and selling these pads,” explains the social entrepreneur. But first ins tead I created a new market. They they were retaining my original voice.” the men of the village had to be convinced. cannot compete with me because my So even in a distant north Indian village, So when Muruganantham visited vil costs are low and my reach is far greater. Muruganantham will demonstrate the lages to speak about the business oppor Also theirs is a profitoriented product, working of his machine in English while tunity, he had to take the permission of but mine is entirely a needbased prod a volunteer will translate it into Hindi. the woman’s husband, father and brother uct created for social awareness,” he “Call it our little revenge against Hindi and even the village sarpanch to demon opens up in broken English, peppered imposition,” he jokes. strate the machines and the business with anecdotal truisms. So how did the movie happen? Twinkle model. At the last count, his pads have Khanna had called him 18 months ago reached 40 million women, still a long HEN I tell a foreign audience and the padman least knew the persis way from the 90 per cent uncovered that 90 per cent of Indian women tent lady at the other end happened to be population. Nearly 5,000 of his machines have no access to sanitary nap late star Rajesh Khanna’s daughter and are working across the country, including “W kin, there is a visible disbelief. the wife of Akshay. But he found the the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and But there is hardly a ripple when I say the entire team—Twinkle, Akshay and direc the Northeast. “When we installed a mac same thing to an Indian crowd. So I have tor R. Balki—as down to earth like him. hine at Sar Saria village in Uttarakhand, a to ask our Indian brothers and sisters, And enamoured of his English as well. 70yearold woman held my hands and ‘Do you know what our rural women use With Balki, a Tamil, though, Muruga thanked me for providing dignity and during their periods? Rags, sawdust, dry nantham could converse in his mother convenience to her granddaughters, leaves and even hay.’ Only then they are tongue while ironing out the details. The something that was denied to her,” he shocked.” Such awe tactics are needed to production team spent weeks at his recalls. “Such moments keep me going.” stir up society’s conscience, he believes. workshop and home studying his life Muruganantham exhibits an amazing Muruganantham is nevertheless disap style and meeting the women in his life. grasp of the market forces dominated by pointed that sanitary napkins have been “They involved me in every part of the just two big names: Unilever and Procter slapped with a 12 per cent GST. He argues project right from the script to the sets and Gamble. “Before informed audiences, that the health benefit costs of cheaper resembling my factory. Of course I had to I openly address these companies by pads would actually surpass the revenue help in designing the sanitary napkin names as I have nothing to be afraid of earned through the tax. with an artificial uterus filled with blood them. In fact, I told Uni Muruganantham’s hum that Akshay Kumar had to wear and ride lever executives (while our comes in handy in his a bicycle. He confessed later it was more speaking on rural market venture. “When I speak a difficult than some of his stunt scenes as ing) that they posed me no For Akshay, serious subject in an infor he had to ensure it did not break or threat since they were wearing an mal and humorous way, it bleed,” Muruganantham says. He is concentrating only on ten artificial has bigger impact. So confident that the message ofPadMan per cent of the women in uterus while much so, when BBC made and Akshay’s star value would take him cities. I had the remaining riding a cycle a small documentary they closer to his ultimate goal: employment 90 per cent of the market first thought of having a to ten lakh women, who would make and all to myself,” he shrugs. was tougher voiceover for me. The market his lowcost pads. In turn, they “In effect, I did not snatch than any of his producer liked my English would bestow hygiene and dignity to anyone’s market share; stunt scenes. so much (laughs), he said every Indian woman. O

64 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018

books Perumal Murugan Songs of a Coward | Penguin | 325 pages | Rs 299

A Coward Talks To The World Not fearless, but not fearful—Perumal Murugan’s scathing gaze alights on himself, nature and still life to evoke the rankness of the hounded artist’s life

by T.M. Krishna form, it subverts language and meaning is special. It is a deeply emotional experi and creates avantgarde impressions and ence to witness his aatmavichaarana. HO, I wonder, is a coward? immersions in the semantic and aural As I have observed before about his short All of Perumal Murugan’s universe. But this has to be grounded in stories, Murugan uses odour as a brilliant poems are not about the the real, actual and tactile. From this ear literary mechanism to make the reader cow ard but the tone, melody, thy bond, the poet reimagines our world of invest emotionally in the moment. These meaning and the implied in relationships. Perumal Murugan is a poems are filled with aroma, fragrance, W this book force us to ref ect master of this craft. stench, effluvium, bouquet and malodor on that one word. Is the coward a value- Nature lies all around us and we have ousness. When you read these adjectives less creature? Is he gutless? Does he given it multiple attributes, , attitudes and in context and flow, you enter the spirit of need to change? Is a coward just some- emotions. After a while, we seem to forget the metaphor and experience the pleasure one we mock? And the direct question: that all that we have bestowed upon nat or the disgust in his words. Here, Murugan is Perumal Murugan a coward? ure is what we see in ourselves. In this pays special attention to human excreta As we move from word to word, phrase collection, nature is a dark friend, not and genitalia; both of which are rarely to phrase, poem to poem and travel pleasant, inviting or beauteous. Murugan’s written about in the poetic form. The through 2015 and 2016 (the day/month/ mind is heard and seen in life that sur treatment of these subjects is wondrous. year mentioned after every poem), with rounds him. Whether it is the night, the They are not looked upon with repug Murugan’s words carrying us through this snail, the goat, pig, rat, trees, beetle or nance. Quite to the contrary, they play a period, the coward emerges as a creative crow, they all are trapped or abused in role in questioning human perception of spirit. A quiet seeker, much like Murugan’s some manner and powerlessness perme morality, decency, beauty and pleasure. snail. He moves slowly, in silence, at his ates their condition. The bleeding that he Murugan has this knack of upturning own pace, leaving behind a shadow, a gli starkly describes in the poems comes the ordinary and the special. He gives life mmering trail. He lives away from the from his unhealed emotional wounds. to so many things that we take for granted spo tlight, but his is a beautiful mind that These poems highlight the vulgarity with and don’t even notice. There are a few allows the darkness around him to charge which violence is used in today’s India to poems on a rented house, vacating a house, his imagination. We try to squash him, terrorise writers and artists. His words owning a home, the spade or stray dogs poke fun at him, ridicule him. In response, reflect the frame of mind of all those who that force us to reevaluate the way we view he just slips back into his shell, and rem are brutally ambushed by extremists. And life. Murugan seems to be suggesting that ains still. And if he is an artist, his canvas, the publication of these poems allows us there is nothing ordinary about life; every melodies, rhythms or words are suffused to view the trauma a writer goes through. moment, every being, animate or inani with the voice that we all sought to end. There is a helplessness in his voice, a mate, is replete with learnings. It is us, Perumal Murugan is such a coward; not mourning; yet he is a fighter, asking why it selfabsorbed mortals, who are oblivious fearless, but not fearful. is wrong to think, question and dream. of this extravaganza, stimuli for human But it is not that simple, is it? We cannot There are flashes of relief—even a smile in imagination. Murugan recalibrates the romanticise the coward without recognis which I can see Murugan’s face—but soon reader’s comprehension of the self and ing his struggles in an aggressive society. he returns to reflection. He also constantly the other and gifts us insights into the As Murugan states in The Song of a Coward, introspects on his own inadequacies. To human condition. Much like a philoso a coward is of no consequence to society hold a mirror to one’s self—even when you pher redrafts our intellectual blueprint. or nature since he does not disturb its illu know that the world has done you wrong— I have read some of the poems in their sion of an equilibrium. “But a coward does original Tamil. Aniruddhan Vasudevan think about suicide and does it, too.” This deserves credit for having retained the is where art becomes essential to a human Murugan uses odour— directness and unfo rgiving bluntness of being. A passage for expression of thought, aroma, fragrance, stench, the original verses. As a friend of Murugan ideas, struggles, anguish, despair, happi and a collaborator, I must say that the ness, curiosity, understanding. For an effluvium—to make the poems allow us to understand emotions isolated Perumal Murugan, physically reader invest emotionally in that we all feel but are unable to describe away from the violence that he was facing, the moment. He also pays and reading them is a mindrinsing expe each poetic word was probably a life giver. rience. In order to remain true in this Poetry is as abstract as an alapana, aria attention to human excreta oppressive world, the coward in every one or an impressionistic painting. In its very and genitalia wondrously. of us needs Perumal Murugan’s words. O

66 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 Breathing Exercises As usual from a sigh even I couldn’t hear? from now on I am walking Really? Really? I ask I shall not sigh over anything on the left side of the road It might be good if I can hold in ruminating They warn me, they threaten me even my shallow breath on the moments I had lost Arrest, jail time I shouldn’t hurt anyone when I was dead it is all possible, they say I learn to breathe On the memories I express remorse slowly of sorrow trampling on me I ask for forgiveness very slowly On the wonders trying not to move even the hair in my of the lives of ancestors They let me walk nostrils I am walking but keep watch over me I learn to breathe like a goat relishing the shade Holding my breath in as long as I can slowly I reach my room very slowly The present and the future I shut all doors and windows gently come and go and risk breathing a little I learn to breathe like a cradle rocked by the wind I even try sighing steadily It sounds like a needle falling very steadily As usual Perhaps it is too loud without disturbing even a flower I let out a few sighs petal The police appear If the sound of my breathing spills out I learn to breathe out of nowhere it might bruise someone’s ears steadily and surround me Reaching in through their ears very steadily it might wound their hearts It seems there was a complaint It is certainly difficult that my breath blared Be it the past but like a fire truck’s siren the present or breathing exercises are necessary Could such a wail have emerged the future breathing exercises are good for us

Illustration by SAJITH KUMAR books Sunita Narain Conflicts of Interest: My Journey through India’s Green Movement | India Viking | 240 pages | Rs 599

Like Cola Through A Sieve The pugnacious Sunita Narain fought governments and corporates on behalf of the voiceless against environmental degradation. This is her story.

by Sunil Bahri community. This led to her research holders in the environment space. They methodologies, competence, even her are taken seriously in India and abroad. IOGRAPHIES of warriors such moti ves being questioned. However, env The book is a must read for both the lay as Alexander, Babur, Napoleon ironmental activism has in recent years reader interested in our environmental make for fascinating reading. found a great ally in the judiciary and that concerns and those actively involved in Staring with modest resources, is how Sunita won many a battle. public policy and research on environm they expanded their jur isdict i Though not focussed like others on ent. Many of us from the latter space have B ons across diverse lands and mobilising public movements, each battle not always agreed with Sunita’s views and people, leaving permanent legacies. A was waged for the weak and the voiceless, her overt agression, but have always been common trait among them was lack of like unsuspecting urban residents brea in awe of her courage and exemplary lea fear, and a passion and love for conflict. thing toxic air, aerated drinks with low dership in building up a nongoverment The memoirs of environmental activist quality standards, dev eloping countries institution without significant governm Sunita Narain, aptly titled Conflicts of unfairly treated on climate cha nge talks, ent/corporate support. From this ari ses Interest: My Journey through India’s communities alienated from their eco her independent streak and ability to call Green Movement, reads like the acco systems by Project Tiger and traditional a spade a spade. Obs essive warrior that unt of one such warrior. She ventured water harvesting practices. she is, Sunita’s memoirs do not adequately to wage battles against the mighty on capture the con c urrent contributions of diverse issues, including air pollution, other individuals and institutions in tak use of pesticides and their impact on ing forward the environment agenda. I ground water, climate change and car guess in the ring, with the lights and bon emissions, tiger conservation and media glare, you can barely see others. managing water and waste. Aware that a book on environmental Initiated into environmental activism issues could easily be a drab reference at 21 by her employer and mentor Anil book, Sunita includes interesting, drama Aggrawal, Sunita took on his mantle after tic anecdotes. The most interesting cha his premature demise. She brought to pter is the one on cola wars, perhaps the their agenda and work fearlessness and most contentious of her battles. The det GETTY IMAGES agression that eventually brought her ails relating to her experience with the org a nisation, Centre for Science and Not all of her battles were parliamentary committee are almost hil Environment (CSE), to the public policy won, nor did her opinions arious and surprisingly, she gets a major mainstream. Sunita (and CSE) picked vindication there. It also became one of her battles well—issues that impacted and aggression meet with the factors leading to the present food common people. She took on the mighty: universal approval, but safety and standards framework. The auto leaders like Bajaj and Tatas on air Sunita’s courage and chapter on climate change exposes how quality; Coke and Pepsi on pesticide resi exemplary leadership the US is leading the developed world in dues in ground water; developed coun imposing unfair restrictions on energy tries on climate change; conservationists always inspired awe. consumption in developing countries. and luxury resorts on tiger conservation The last chapter attempts at outlining a and government agencies on water and The book is a lucid, detailed account of blueprint for the future. Inadequate adv waste management. She is unsparing of these battles from inside the ring. Sunita ancement in technology and poor ins titu celebrities too, including superstars who explains how she got drawn to each issue, tional framework for implementing advertised on behalf of cola giants. She how established beliefs and vested inter age ncies and regulatory bodies are seen as uses Al Gore’s terminology, ‘inconvenient ests were challenged and the ensuing tri factors responsible for our failure to res truth’, repeatedly in the chapter on clim bulations of the longdrawn struggle for olve our environmental problems. ate change to mock the US’ double stan change. Not all the battles were won and Informed people will agree. An interesting dards in climate change negotiations. even where points were scored and deba perspective is that the likes of Uber and In each case, she also took on what she tes won, desired outcomes have not fully Airbnb could be a highly positive disrup calls ‘established science’, opposing fructified. But, undoubtedly, Sunita and tion for the environment through opti leading opinions within the scientific CSE have been and are significant stake mum use of existing resources. O

68 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 Education

NatIoNal INStItute of INduStRIal eNgINeeRINg (NItIe)

ITIE was established by the Government of India in 1963. Situated in the financial capital of the Ncountry and nestled in nature’s lap, it offers the best of Mumbai’s industrial spirit and an unparalleled campus environment. NITIE is consistently ranked in the top league of educational institutions and it was ranked 12th by the National Institutional Ranking Framework of MHRD in 2016. NITIE offers doctoral level fellowship programmes and the PGDIM, PGDIE, PGDISEM, PGDPM & PGDMM are and create successful prototypes incorporating ergonomics, well known and widely sought after. human psychological needs, new materials and processes. Besides training, NITIE conducts applied research and NITIE launched the Visionary Leadership for it undertakes various public and private sectors’ special Manufacturing (VLFM), a one-year programme, jointly projects as sponsored research. Aided by the Government with IIT Delhi. Professionals with 5-12 years of experience of India, NITIE has established a Centre of Excellence in in Manufacturing domain are eligible to be admitted Ergonomics and Human Factor Engineering (CEEHFE). in the programme. Over its journey of 54 years, NITIE NITIE has also established an Advanced Centre of Excellence has over 7000+ alumni, spread over 35 countries, who in Operations and Manufacturing Management that is are successful entrepreneurs or are placed in reputed equipped with ERP/MRP-II, CAD/CAM, Pro-engineer, EDM organisations across a wide spectrum of industries like and QUEST software. NITIE’s Mind to Market Centre hosts manufacturing, management consulting, financial services, a multitude of facilities, accessible to students to innovate FMCG, technology, energy, telecom etc.

MKSSS’S HNIMR, PuNe

Karve to provide shelter to destitute women. Under this rich legacy, MKSSS’S HNIMR is committed to quality MANAGEMENT EDUCATION to enable women to occupy authority positions in different areas of work. It strongly believes that when women become decision makers, it has a positive impact on contribution towards economic and social development. The vision of the Institute is to develop a center for management excellence exclusively for women. The institute not only caters various certificate courses and add–on programmes he Institute Smt. Hiraben Nanavati Institute of along with the SPPU syllabus to develop the managerial Management & Research for Women runs on the skills of the students, but takes great efforts in enriching the Tguidelines of its Samstha – Maharshi Karve Stree ethical values among the students. Along with the rigorous Shikshan Samstha. MKSSS the 121-years-old parent body managerial course, students are encouraged to celebrate has been committed to “Empowerment of Women through Dahi Handi, Ganpati and Navratra festival to enrich cultural Education”. The Institution works relentlessly towards values. Professional ethics are inculcated among the students educating the women and thereby making them self-reliant. by training them to interact with the Corporates on and off The Samstha was established in 1896 by the great visionary the campus. The continuous Internship Programmes also help and social worker Bharat Ratna Maharshi Dhondo Keshav to sharpen the professional values and ethics of the students. books Janice Pariat The Nine-Chambered Heart | HarperCollins | 216 pages | Rs 399

One Thousand Paper Cranes In this evocatively written tale of a girl growing up, concrete reality slips out of reach, yet is all the more believable, leaving some lingering questions

by Anjana Basu like love. One half recognises places, prehensible, no matter where in the retreats and walks down corridors, world the reader happens to be based. LISSOM girl with beech tree catching fleeting glimpses of those one Which is presumably why Pariat chose limbs flows in and out of time half knew. You know the city with a this approach. Certain things repeat frames, remote and mysterious river is London, because of the Pound themselves, like the cats, two of which and beautiful as a tree in the (currency) and because the name comes are sick in two different episodes, and in sunlight is. She is glimpsed in later. For the rest—she comes from a one of them the girl flits away like a cat A here, seen there and gone with small town in the east of her home herself once the felines are gone. The out explanation. The Nine-Chambe red country, which again remains nameless, more things change the more they seem Heart is Pariat’s balancing act, a Ra- though we guess, again, that it is in the same—a girl who reads Bonjour shomon viewpoint from those who India. It may even be in the hills of Tristesse would agree with that. surround her heroine through frag Meghalaya, like Pariat’s. There are no Pariat draws out the girl’s coming of mented ways of seeing that together giveaway words, no telltale details, of age as she changes from a reserved create some collective truth. artefacts or clothes. schoolgirl unwilling to commit herself An anonymous group of people, one by What the men look like we never know to art or be part of the drawing class who one, charts the growth of a girl to woman, and as for her, we see her through the discovers her metier for origami from a city without a river to a city with eyes of others, sometimes filling the through the gentle understanding of an a river across two continents. There are canvas, sometimes shrinking. Once she art teacher to a polished writer whose not even nine people—there are eight of is marked by her knobby knees and once lifestyle takes her through relationships. them with labels like The Saint, The by her coltish gawky legs, though these Som e where, she who has no name reg Lighthouse Keeper, The Caretaker, The are terms of endearment from a woman rets that she cannot do a personal thing Florist, titles which evolve from some who has lost her lover and is unsure of like write a novel instead of archiving aspect of their lives in relation to the sexual certainties. work for a publishing house. Then, from woman. The Butcher has two sections Anonymity allows the book to be com being an awkwardly beautiful outsider dev oted to his appearances and disap JITENDER GUPTA she suddenly fits almost too neatly into pearances, and he does in some sense the streamlined world of international hack through the woman’s heart. Some educational agencies with publishing kinds of literary erotica use names like divisions that allow her to flit between these for their protagonists, so do alle continents and piece together a mar gories—though given the sexuality in riage which is there and gone in a chap the book, perhaps erotica would be a ter. For an edgy girl who confesses losing better comparison. her virginity to a stool at the age of nine, There are never any names of the type this appears slightly too conventional. we know mentioned in this delicate The Nine-Chambered Heart is evoca balancing act of anonymity; it glides tively written—that goes without say over second and third persons. No one ing—but it leaves questions that linger. calls each other anything even in the The girl has parents; the woman is in most intimate moments, except for a contact with them and even stays with sudden ‘habibi’ from the only other them along with her brief lighthouse woman in the story. keeper husband, but why they left her If you flip through the pages, it some There are no usual names with her grandparents when she was in times seems like a guessing game, be here in this delicate school remains a mystery. No dark sec cause the lack of names and sense of ret comes to light. What was the wish places leave you disorientated. The balancing act of anonymity. she made by stringing up the thousand chapters flow through corridors and No one calls each other origami cranes? If it was to become a deserted apartments with sudden anything even in intimate writer in a city without a river, that ulti blocks of colour, a pink and green ca moments, except for a mately seems far too little for a world thedral, the green eyes of a cat, a red that has witnessed the scattered lives and black painting of tiger crouching sudden ‘habibi’. and relationships of too many writers. O

70 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 IS THERE GENDER EQUALITY IN SPORTS? Games & Commonwealth games for factors that contribute to the higher India says that one needs to clearly incidence of injuries among female distinguish between gender equality athletes which include different and gender parity. Gender parity, hormonal level, muscle-fat ratio, and is used to measure gender balance the inherent bone structure. in a given situation, and can aid in As per Kanthi, there just isn’t achieving gender equality but is not enough media coverage for injuries the goal in itself. Gender equality, on in female athletes. Female athletes in the other hand, is more than just general deserve the same amount of equal representation, and is strongly media coverage as men, but because tied to ‘rights’. It entails the concept they are passed off as trivial or less that all human beings, both men skilled, the serious injuries they endure and women, are free to develop are passed over as well. Until there is hen women were their personal abilities and make equal respect for male/female sports, first permitted to choices without the limitations set by there won’t be the same respect for enter the Olympic stereotypes, rigid gender roles and resulting health risks. There needs Games in 1900, prejudices. While number of women to be better research available on they represented participating in sporting competitions the full-scale risks of female athletic justW 22 of 997 — or 2.2 percent — may be increasing, with new rules injuries and more expansive range of the athletic competitors. They had bringing in more sporting events for of studies conducted on the subject, only five sports to compete in: tennis, women, Kanthi feels that this does she says. sailing, croquet, equestrian, and golf not necessarily translate into sexual There are a variety of reasons for — while men had 19. equality which is determined by an this “gender gap,” and there is much In the Rio 2016 Olympics, 45 equal ease of access to resources and about it that remains uncertain. percent of all competitors were opportunities regardless of gender, But the recognition of this gap is women.. There were 4,700 women including economic participation and important to innovate efforts to competitors of 10,444 total athletes, decision-making bridge it. with a record setting 28 women She further adds that though sports. This is, in part, a result of Female athletes have come a long increased efforts by the IOC and way since the first modern Olympics other advocacy groups to lobby for in 1896, but in terms of health more women’s sports. coverage and attention, there is still The above equation certainly makes progress to be made. it seem like women have broken Today, the most common form the glass ceiling and transgressed of injury that women endure at all barriers and boundaries, and are a disproportionate rate to men is rubbing shoulders with their male Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) counterparts on the sporting field, injury where Women are six times with perhaps the only difference more likely to injure their ACL than lying in the testosterone levels men. The five most common injuries between male and female, thereby among female athletes are ankle compelling them to compete in sprains, shoulder issues, knee injuries separate categories. (including ACL injuries), plantar Kanthi D Suresh, who has fasciitis, and stress fractures anchored the Olympics, Asian There is probably a combination of Ms. Kanthi D Suresh glitterati

Pell Mell Along The White Having Manali as home- town and a father as an adventure sports professional are surely advantages, but to tra nslate that into a medal on the snowy slopes of an fiercely fought international competition is solid achievement. Taking a bow from the rest of snowless India was Aanchal Thakur, who won bronze in slalom at the Alpine Ejder Cup held in Erzurum, Turkey.

GETTY IMAGES

A Birthday Present It’s a taut psychological thriller, called My Birthday Song, and one of the more thrilling elements in it, say those who know with conviction, is Indian-Canadian actress Nora Fatehi. Is this a girl who would bestow her affections on Sanjay Suri? Nothing is impossible in films.

Hands Ahoy! Ranveer is a likeable chap (so they say) and Deepika is a golden girl; both are loath to admit nothing beyond ‘comfort’ in each other’s company. But gossip is audacious, and after ‘confirm- ing’ their courtship and then, recently, their engagement, tales are being spun (or told, if you’re so inclined) on a holiday with Ranveer’s family in Sri Lanka and expensive gifts for Deepika!

FHM INDIA A tractor-manufacturer of yore, now known for building space-age cars, Lamborghini launched its SUV THIS TOO in India this week after a worldwide launch just last month. Called the Urus, the car is, needless to say, HAPPENED the fastest in the segment, clocking speeds of over 300kmph and can be owned for Rs 3 crore ‘only’.

72 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018 Boy’s Own Look Ah, you must be thinking, that well- ogled prototype of Teutonic prettiness. But for Giuliana Farfalla (21) to be featured on the cover of German Playboy signifies a quiet victory. The stunning Giuliana is a transgender, is an icon among thousands of followers and, according to Playboy editor Flor ian Boitin, a “beautiful example of how important the fight for the right to self-determi- nation is.”

A Boundary At A Time When your father is the immaculate ‘Wall’, are you torn between judici - ous strokeplay or hit out to your heart’s content? Samit Dravid, much like his dad Rahul, struck a perfect balance, making a fluent 150 for his school at an Under-14 tournament in Bangalore. Giving him company was Aryan, son of ex-cricketer Sunil Joshi, who made 154.

A Truck With Dough Whether it’s $106 billion (Bloo mberg) or $105 billion (Forbes), Jeff Bezos is now the world’s richest man. His top perch is due to Amazon shares skyrocketing after it hogged a crushing 89 per cent share of online revenue in the holiday season. A fun guy, Bezos—on his 2014 trip to India he tried out a truck.

‘For long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of men, but their time is up.’- OPRAH WINFREY’s speech at the Golden Globes fuelled speculation of a new US presidential candidate on the horizon.

22 January 2018 OUTLOOK 73 REPORTER’S CASE diary

The Demonstrative Crime from the MorenaAgraDholpur area—the It boggles the mind to think it’s almost 40 trijunction of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh years now. But why is it not surprising to and UP. I had put up at the circuit house realise that the issues have not changed in Morena district headquarters. Asif one bit? Should an aberration, an Ibrahim, who was to become the IB abnormality, a wrong, be allowed to exist chief in 201314, was chief of the Morena unreported? Is it more intolerable that a ASHWINI SARIN district police at that time. Morena is one crime is committed, every minute, silently, end of the dreaded Chambal ravines, and or that it is reported? Which is worse? That (The writer is a senior journalist) Ibrahim had known to have taken down a grievous flaw exists? Or that it is demon a few daakus those days. Trafficking of strated to exist, so that something can be done about it? The young girls was rampant in those parts. A story on the issue UIDAI filing an FIR againstThe Tribune journalist Rachna needed to have a bit of shock value, we reckoned. Maybe our Khaira, for a story that exposed how easy it is to buy your guess was right. Forty years later, the story survives. With Aadhaar biometric data, brought back memories. Should a even a film based on it: Marc Zuber played my character and journalist push the envelope by participating in a crime to Deepti Naval essayed the timid Kamla. show it exists? My answer, after all these years, is still yes. The day my Kamla story appeared in The Indian Express in Shoot the Messenger 1981, the first phone call I received was from a police officer. Was our little moral transgression—meant to shine a Not to tell me that the government had registered a criminal torch right into the dark—read right? Were the Congress case against me. It was a phone call to compliment me for governments at the Centre and in Madhya Pradesh alive to the expose. Now, after more than 35 years, I have no qualms this journalistic intervention? Well, they did act swiftly. The about revealing the name of that officer. He was K.K. Paul, an Madhya Pradesh police registered a criminal case against IPS officer, currently governor of Uttarakhand. me under all kinds of sections of the trafficking act. I had my friends too. A wellmeaning T.R. Kakkar, who later What They Don’t Teach You… became Delhi police commissioner, tipped me off about MP …in a journalism course. It’s probably best to recap the cops in his office. They’d sought the help of Delhi Police to whole thing for the benefit of younger readers. Essentially, arrest me. Kakkar thought otherwise. In his judgement, my this used to happen in parts of central India, and pat expose was not a criminal act because the intention was to ronage from police and politicians was a nobrainer. expose a horrific crime in our society. Shourie rushed to the People would buy women. Like buying a new pair of shoes Supreme Court and we got a stay against any arrest. Later, with the change of season. The question was how to bring as the Supreme Court directed, the government ordered this practice to the light of day. We discussed it from all an inquiry by three states that confirmed the existence angles: the consensus was that simply reporting it would of largescale trafficking. In raw words, the salepurchase serve no purpose. We decided to go the whole hog, and of women in what was a catchment area for big brothel participate in that moral wrong: actually buy a woman. bazaars of India’s big metros. Quod erat demonstrandum. First Draft, History, All That I Got Anticipatory Bail As I reflect on the Kamla story in the light of whatever’s It took me almost a year to penetrate the racket. happening in society and media now, a few things come to It was an area where countrymade pistols mind. One of them being the tendency to offer news were bought like packs of cigarettes. stories as instant consumables—some sort of fast Arun Shourie, my editor, knew the food for the mind. This is a way of doing journal project we were embarking upon ism, of thinking about what we in the media could land us in trouble with the law. do, that does not realise the lasting impact it We worked out a strategy. He wrote has on our system. Journalists sometimes letters to three prominent persons, have to show society its own ugly face in the including the then chief justice of mirror. I say we need more Rachna Khairas. India, P.N. Bhagwati, setting out our (Investigative journalist Sarin controver- intentions behind participating in sially ‘bought’ Kamla from a village that crime of purchasing a woman. to expose the trafficking racket In sealed envelopes, along with in the Chambal area. Vijay covering notes requesting them not Tendulkar wrote a play on the to open the letters until they were episode, titled Kamla, and it requested to do so. was made into an acclaimed I ‘bought’ Kamla, a girl film of the same name.)

SAJITH KUMAR

74 OUTLOOK 22 January 2018