Month: December 2016

In Demonetisation Speech, Modi Lists Budget-like Sops, Says Too Much Cash is Bad for Economy

On Saturday evening, Modi addressed the country for the second time after the demonetisation announcement. Here’s what he had to say.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on Saturday evening, his second public address since his announcement on November 8 to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. When first announcing the move, Modi asked the country for 50 days (which end tonight) for the inconveniences caused by demonetisation to cease.

The demonetisation move has been criticised both within parliament and outside, especially for the perceived lack of preparedness of the government and the RBI. Reports before his speech predicted that Modi would spell out a roadmap of what happens after demonetisation.

The full text of the speech can be read here in English and in Hindi.

Here are the highlights of what the prime minister had to say, as tweeted by The Wire’s reporters during the live telecast of his speech:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Year That India Stood On Two Diverging Roads

2016 has had all the makings of a turning point in Indian history. What will 2017 hold?

2016 has had all the makings of a turning point in Indian history. What will 2017 hold?

A boy wearing a Narendra Modi mask sits as he waits for the start of an election campaign rally being addressed by Modi in Kheralu town in Gujarat. Credit: Amit Dave/Reuters/Files

A boy wearing a Narendra Modi mask sits as he waits for the start of an election campaign rally being addressed by Modi in Kheralu town in Gujarat. Credit: Amit Dave/Reuters/Files

In an increasingly polarised world, it is ironic that the word ‘post-truth’ was picked as the word of the year. The Oxford dictionary defines post-truth as “Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief”. The origins of the word, however, lies in a questioning of objective reality – the product of a liberal academic tradition that believes in a multiplicity of realities.

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In 2004, Ralph Keyes wrote, “In the post-truth era we don’t just have truth and lies but a third category of ambiguous statements that are not exactly the truth but fall just short of a lie.” He suggested that the line between truth and lies was blurring.

The irony is that as the true-false binary disintegrates in the era of post-truth politics, politics itself is getting deeply polarised – be it Trump and Clinton, or Brexit’s Yes and No camps. As William Davies notes, “How can we still be speaking of “facts” when they no longer provide us with a reality that we all agree on?”

The rise of post-truth politics has been linked to the rise of populism. While the word has largely been used in the Western context, we in India can claim some degree of familiarity with it too.

How else does a man who has been standing before an ATM for hours declare undying devotion to Modi?

Like Dickens said, “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” It is either ‘acche din’ or the looming threat of a Hindu rashtra, depending on where you are standing.

Culture of binaries

There is no denying that Hindutva has crept up on us little by little. Beginning with Muhammad Akhlaq being lynched in Dadri in 2015, gau rakshaks became part of our daily lives in 2016. Every morning, at exactly 9:30 am, a van passes by the street below my house declaring that it is my duty, and the duty of every citizen, to participate in the noble cause of cow protection.

It doesn’t matter if Modi denounces cow vigilantism – it’s a token gesture in the face of the murders and assaults we have seen so far  and the gau rakshaks know this. Emboldened by a political culture that reinforces their beliefs, they are convinced of the legitimacy of their actions.

Ideological dissidents are seditious and must be sent to Pakistan. Kashmiris are being detained indiscriminately under the Public Safety Act. People are being forced to stand for the national anthem or risk the possibility of assault. Law is being abused to create a culture of fear and encourage intolerance. Power is being misused to intimidate those speaking up for rights into silence.

In the conflict between ‘bhakts’ and ‘anti-nationals’, the political rift has widened into cultural and societal fissures as well. We have reinforced a culture of binaries in 2016 – and nothing demonstrates this better than the term ‘anti-national’.

Despite the suffering and hardship that demonetisation has inflicted, the prime minister is still actively constructing a narrative of success. In a gross manipulation of fact, the NAMO app claimed that over 93% of the people supported demonetisation – all the while, hiding in small print, the fact that it was 93% of app users which in reality is a very small fraction of the population.

A supporter of Gujarat's chief minister Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), wears a headgear with a portrait of Modi during a rally being addressed by Modi ahead of the 2014 general elections, in Ahmedabad February 20, 2014. Credit: Amit Dave/Reuters/Files

A supporter of Gujarat’s chief minister Narendra Modi  wears a headgear with a portrait of Modi. Credit: Amit Dave/Reuters/Files

Meanwhile ludicrous exercises to rewrite history to support the Sangh Parivar’s politics have been plenty. They may search for the Saraswati all they like [they won’t find it] and say that the Harappan Dancing Girl is the Vedic goddess Parvati – but as renowned historian D.N. Jha told The Wire, these are instances of Hindutva imagination running amok.

There is an effort to fabricate a narrative of consent, culturally, to generate political support for the ruling dispensation and blurring the lines of reality is helping this process. Demonetisation will make the nation stronger, says the prime minister. Whatever the reasons behind his ‘surgical strike’ on black money may have been, he made sure that notebandi, like much else, was sold to the public with a heavy dose of patriotism. The garb of nationalism is their instrument to deter dissent.

The RSS’s ethos of unquestioning obedience and obeisance is being imposed upon a population which is expected to accept their ‘truth’. At this point, it is not difficult to believe that the absurd theatrics of the Sangh parivar can take a dangerous turn towards authoritarianism.

Media hysteria has not helped either. The Indian media has drawn out battle lines and stood divided on issues like never before. Rationality be damned – in the post-truth era, it’s all about ‘doctored’ videos and ‘befitting replies’ of vengeance. We live in an age with a glut of information. It isn’t hard to find ‘facts’ that support – and project – what you want to believe in.

The resistance

I think there is global consensus that 2016 was an extraordinarily bad year. And while the situation in India has been grim, 2016 has also been a year of extraordinary resistance too – the year ‘azaadi’ travelled out of Kashmir to become a rallying cry throughout the country.

Students were a force to be reckoned with – the spontaneity with which the students organised mass movements in JNU after Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya were arrested on charges of sedition, was remarkable. ‘Down with fascism’ was a common chant in these protests, demonstrating again, that you choose the facts you want to believe in. I was a student in JNU at the time and it was not altogether a difficult thing to believe from within the walls of the university. Rumours abound, with the threat of police raids and the possibility of more arrests – the fear was palpable. Added to that were the lies being peddled in the media. It often felt like no one believed us and our voices, our version of events, our ‘truth’ was being deliberately and systematically stifled by the weight of institutional machinery. Reality was made slippery and we were struggling to make our claim on it.

The protest organised by JNU students to demand that the arrested students be released. Credit: Facebook

The protest organised by JNU students to demand that the arrested students be released. Credit: Facebook

Also posing a formidable challenge to the BJP’s Brahmanical nationalism were the Dalits in Una, Gujarat. The Dalit Asmita Yatra united all 32 sub-castes for the first time and called powerfully for the end of caste discrimination. Una invited Dalits from all over the country to unite and raise their voice as an oppressed community, consequently organising a spectacular agitation. The movement saw Dalits and Muslims walking under a single banner protesting against the Brahmanical hegemony that enabled a lawless reign of gau rakshaks and turned a blind eye to atrocities committed by them.

Dalits and Muslims together hold up a picture of Ambedkar in the rally, sending a powerful message. Credit: Damayantee Dhar

Dalits and Muslims together hold up a picture of Ambedkar in the rally, sending a powerful message. Credit: Damayantee Dhar

There were other instances of protest which may not have been as grand or large scale, but were significant nevertheless, because ultimately, the challenged the narrative of the Sangh Parivar. For instance, a teenager in Madhya Pradesh was arrested for taking to social media and writing against demonetisation. Human rights activists continue to fight against rights violations in Bastar, even as they are being targeted and victimised by a corrupt police machinery. Academics are resisting the increasing saffronisation of education. Journalists are refusing to be silenced even as bans and court cases are being piled on them – because in a post-truth era, fighting for what you believe is more important than ever before.

The road not taken?

If 2016 was about forging chains, it was also about breaking chains. Post-truth might be a revelation this year, but in the process of writing history, the concept has been a persistent presence. History, after all, has always been a negotiation. Various truths compete and compromise to qualify as history. It is almost never completely black and white. Hindutva versus Everyone Else seems likely to continue in 2017. The scales could tip either way at this juncture, but the negotiation between the various shades of politics in the country will not stop. Each camp will continue to try and monopolise truth, or at the very least, claim a sizeable share of it.

“Two roads diverged in a yellow road,” wrote Robert Frost. Years later, two roads are diverging in a saffron wood in India. Which one will we, the inhabitants of a post-truth world, choose?

The Wire’s Most Read Articles of 2016

The Wire’s top read pieces, ranging from media ethics, agriculture and corporate corruption to gravitational waves and demonetisation.

Credit: darwin Bell/Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0

Credit: darwin Bell/Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0

This is a list of ten articles that were read the most on The Wire in 2016. They were on topics as diverse as media ethics, agriculture, corporate corruption, gravitational waves and demonetisation. They were what riveted our readers the most, perhaps even provoked them the most. Ultimately, they were the biggest contributors from The Wire to the many conversations India, and the world, are engaged in at the moment. This is why they’re worth revisiting on this last day of the year: for a snapshot of what were  2016’s most popular preoccupations.

1. What is the Future of Agriculture in India?

In our most read article this year, Vishvajeet Choudhary and Gursharan Singh discuss the urgent need for reform in agricultural policy, shifting the focus from food security to farmers’ income security.

“…growth in agricultural productivity has been stagnant in recent years, resulting in a significant decline in the income of farmers. There have also been negative environmental effects in the form of depleting water table, emission of greenhouse gases, and the contamination of surface and ground water. Needless to say, the agriculture sector is in a state of distress, which is severely affecting peasants and marginal farmers, and urgent policy interventions are required to protect their interests.”

2. Pieces of Paper: Demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 Notes Explained

Next on the list is a staff explainer that went up the night of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation announcement laying out how demonetisation would affect the country in the days to come.

“Modi’s decision to decommission Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes should ideally not hurt most individuals in the long-term, although it will have a significant negative impact on the working class and small and rural businesses in the short-term. …

On the other hand, what needs to be noted is that there’s no good estimate for how much of India’s black money is in forms other than currency/physical notes such as gold, jewellery, land or any other form of wealth. Therefore, while banning Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes will tackle the black money that is in the form of hard cold cash, it won’t affect other forms of black money. On similar lines, this move will, obviously, have little effect on black money stashed away in foreign tax havens.

… Over the next month, there will undoubtedly be a significant shortage in cash supply: not just Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bills, which are being taken out of circulation, but almost every other denomination as well.”

3. Times Now First Denies Airing Doctored Video, Then Concedes it Did

In February this year, The Wire‘s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan wrote about how Times Now (and Arnab Goswami) played a doctored video of then JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar chanting slogans about Kashmir’s azadi, then claimed they hadn’t played the video and finally (sort of) accepted that they did.

“In this official recording of The Newshour programme, Goswami can clearly be heard repeatedly asking Patra (from 22:50 onward) to “show the video, show the video”. When Patra shows it, Goswami orders the Times Now camera to zoom in on it. “Show the video close by,” he says. After the forgery is aired, Goswami declares triumphantly, “I could clearly hear him [Kanhaiya] say, if that is indeed him in the video, I can clearly hear him say ‘leke rahenge azadi’.” He then turns to a guest, Anand Kumar from JNU, and says, “You are the one who is defending him. If this video is correct, then what are you going to say now?””

4. Birla, Sahara Documents Link ‘Gujarat CM’, Other ‘CMs’ to Alleged Payments in 2012 and 2013-14

In a report on the Birla-Sahara diaries before Rahul Gandhi’s sensationalist claims on ‘shaking the earth’ with revelations from the documents, Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta and Anuj Srivas wrote about the alleged massive payouts given to political leaders across parties and states by the companies, based on NGO Common Cause’s petition in the Supreme Court.

“What do these cash transactions show? According to the application, the “logs suggest that cash was apparently transferred to several important public figures”.

Annexure 8 includes a set of three Excel sheets, the third of which is signed by income tax officer Ankita Pandey. As shown below, on September 23, 2013, a sum of “Rs. 10000000.00” is shown against the entry “CM Delhi”. On September 29, 2013,  a sum of Rs. “50000000.00” is shown against the entry  “CM MP (sh neeraj vashisht)”.

On October 1, 2013, a sum of Rs. “40000000.00” is shown against the entry “CM Chattisgarh (sh nandi ji)”. Finally, on October 30, 2013,  a sum of Rs. “250000000” is shown against the entry “CM GUJRAT”.”

5. Decision to Demonetise Currency Shows They Don’t Understand Capitalism: Prabhat Patnaik

In an interview with Jahnavi Sen, renowned economist Prabhat Patnaik talks about why demonetisaton is unlikely to do anything except create large-scale suffering. The move, according to him, highlights the government’s misunderstanding about both the nature of black money and how the capitalist market functions.

“So it’s not as if the (black) money is simply held. In fact, Marx had brought in a distinction between the miser and the capitalist. The miser believes that you become rich by hoarding money, while the capitalist rightly believes that you become rich by actually using the money, throwing it into circulation. Black money holders are not misers, they are capitalists. They are trying to expand their business much the way normal business is trying to expand. So they are forever throwing their money back into circulation. The amount they will be holding at any point in time will only be a fraction of their total transactions.”

6. Who Should Karnataka Blame in the Cauvery Dispute? History Has Some Answers

In this article on the history of the Cauvery river water dispute, Girish Nikam highlights how in normal years Karnataka has no trouble releasing water to Tamil Nadu – the problems arise in distress years.

“…it is time that both states get down to the task of improving water management techniques and crop patterns. Karnataka, in the meanwhile, would do well to start planning for an additional reservoir at Mekedatu to utilise the surplus water, generate power and ensure water supply to Bangalore and Greater Bangalore, without wasting time.”

7. Scientists Claim Sensational Detection of Gravitational Waves and Herald New Era in Astronomy

In February 2016, The Wire‘s science editor Vasudevan Mukunth wrote about the LIGO collaboration’s claim that it had detected energetic vibrations in the fabric of space and time, first predicted by Albert Einstein a 100 years ago.

“…a great part of the excitement now isn’t because the waves have finally been directly detected but because we now have an instrument that can probe deeper into the mysterious sources of the waves themselves.”

8. Indian Surgical Strikes Against Terrorists in Pakistan: What We Know, What We Don’t Know

After India’s cross-LoC ‘surgical strikes’ in September this year and the government’s scanty release of information on the issue, Siddharth Varadarajan laid out what we do and don’t know about the offensive.

“One indication that the ‘surgical strikes’ involved more – perhaps much more – than heavy shelling is the speed with which the United States got into the picture. The White House issued a statement Thursday morning (Indian Standard Time) using strong words to condemn the September 18 “cross-border attack” at Uri which precipitated the current downturn in India-Pakistan relations and stresses the need for Pakistan to take effective action against UN-designated “terrorist individuals and entities, including Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Jaish-e-Muhammad and their affiliates.” The statement came after Indian national security adviser Ajit Doval received a telephone call from his US counterpart, Susan Rice. While no details about what the two NSAs spoke about are available, Indian officials say the conversation took place before the Indian army acted.”

9. English Translation: Full Text of Kanhaiya Kumar’s Electrifying Speech at JNU

The speech Kanhaiya Kumar gave after being released from jail went viral on the internet. The Wire published Chitra Padmanabhan’s English translation of speech, and that’s our ninth most read article this year.

“Now let me talk about my prison experience. I got two bowls there – one was blue the other red.  I kept looking at the colours and thought to myself that although I am not a believer in destiny, nor do I know god, but surely something good is about to happen in this country now that these two colours are here together, side by side. The plate looked like our India, the blue was the blue of the Ambedkarite movement and the red bowl like [the red of socialism] . I thought if this unity were to be created in this country, then no more prevarication, we will send those who put everything on sale packing. Those who auction off everything we don’t want. We will put in power those who can ensure the protection of the law for everybody. We will make the slogan of sabka saath, sabka vikas a living reality….”

10. Demonetisation Scenarios: A Goa Mining Tycoon, a Dal Merchant And a Punjabi Politician Walk Into a Bank…

In this article, Anuj Srivas broke down how Modi’s so-called surgical strike on black money could play out for people with varying occupations and with various reasons for dealing with large cash transactions.

“Scenario: Anumeha Malkan, a 61-year old dowager, recently sold her home for a cool Rs 1.8 crore. Unfortunately, as with most deals conducted in Tier-3 cities, the sale was partly conducted by cash (roughly Rs 80 lakh) because the buyer of the property insisted that the purchase included a cash component. What does Anumeha do with that Rs 80 lakh – mostly in the form of 1000 rupee notes?

Outcome: Anumeha’s case, unfortunately, isn’t unique. There have been reports coming from across the country of people committing suicide after having recently conducted land transactions and now believing that their Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes are useless. Cash transactions for real-estate deals are frowned upon and as of 2015 attract significant penalties but are still carried out often because they contain black money components or, as is the case across rural India, because farmers and agricultural workers prefer to conduct these deals outside the formal financial system.

Anumeha’s case is tough, primarily because in many Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities land transactions always include a cash component; it’s difficult to sell without participating in the black economy to a certain extent. Unlikely to look at any laundering mechanisms, she will have to either burn the cash component (Rs 80 lakh) or declare her money and accept the crippling penalties.”

How 2016 Heralded a New Kind of Race Into the Final Frontier

This time, it’s not one country against another as much as one enterprise against another, trying to capture the commercial value that space exploration brings along.

This time, it’s not one country against another as much as one enterprise against another, trying to capture the commercial value that space exploration brings along.

There is much to look up to in 2017 as space activities and the excitement around exploration and entrepreneurship in the sector heat up. Credit: SpaceX

There is much to look up to in 2017 as space activities and the excitement around exploration and entrepreneurship in the sector heat up. Credit: SpaceX

The year 2016 has been one of mixed feelings for the space community. It brought a breakthrough to new entrants, heartbreaks with unfortunate incidents to others – and at the same time a ray of new hope with more money being poured into investments into NewSpace than ever before.

It began with the big-ticket announcement of Airbus and OneWeb forming a joint venture to build 900 satellites to provide global internet broadband service. The service is expected to be operational by 2019. Then, the biggest investment of the year was announced: OneWeb received $1.2 billion in SoftBank-led investments. With the Airbus Group, Intelsat, Bharti Enterprises, Totalplay, Hughes Network Systems, Qualcomm, Coca-Cola Co., and the Virgin Group already onboard as investors, OneWeb is by far the biggest bet in the industry to bridge the digital connectivity gap by 2030.

On the home front, India made some big moves. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) decided to largely privatise Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle operations by 2020 via an industry consortium led ISRO itself. In another major move, ISRO awarded a contract to a consortium of private companies to build two navigation satellites – the second one independently at the consortium’s facilities. In a major technology experiment, India also tested/demonstrated a scaled model of its Reusable Launch Vehicle. And while India continued to launch several foreign satellites on its PSLV – including that of the US – American launch companies lobbied to maintain the ban on the use of Indian rockets.

China completed the construction the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), the world’s largest radio telescope – the size of 30 football fields – in its attempt to explore space and help in the hunt for extra-terrestrial life. It also unveiled the design of its 2020 Mars lander and rover. Finally, it extended its space-based diplomacy drive by declaring its openness to having non-Chinese experiments, payloads, astronauts and even complete space-station modules become part of the Chinese facility via a United Nations collaboration. The Chinese now seem to be interesting in expanding their commercial launch footprint with a new company, Expace Technology Co., floated to capture the small-satellite launch business worldwide. Expace expects to launch 10 of its Kuaizhou solid-fuelled-rockets per year between 2017 and 2020 with prices as low as $10,000 per kilogram of satellite payload.

Globally, a new wave of entrepreneurial ideas germinated in 2016, with companies such as Made in Space preparing to send a second 3D printer into orbit with an ambition of building one equipped with a robotic arm. Their bigger goal is to additively manufacture and assemble large, complex structures in space with NASA support. With SpaceX demonstrating the return of its Falcon 9 rockets’ first stage, a major industry player, SES, announced it would be willing to be the inaugural customer to be launched on rockets that used the refurbished stages. Finally, more interest is starting to brew in the in-orbit satellite servicing market, with the likes of Orbital ATK signing Intelsat as its first satellite servicing customer.

On a more intensely competitive front, the Google Lunar X Prize teams Synergy Moon and TeamIndus announcing verified launch contracts (after SpaceIL and Moon Express had verified theirs in 2015). Another team, Astrobotic, announced its withdrawal from the competition. All this while the X Prize Foundation announced its plans for another space competition.

State actors and regulations

Several smaller state actors increased their attention to the opportunities ahead. The Czech government announced that it is considering establishing a national space agency to boost the country’s domestic space sector. Luxembourg came out with a roadmap to investing more than $200 million in research, technology demonstration and in the direct purchase of equity in companies relocating to Luxembourg – with a bold bid to becoming the ‘Silicon Valley of space resource mining’.

The move from Luxembourg will benefit companies such as Deep Space Industries and Planetary Resources, which plan to mine asteroids within the next few decades. Deep Space Industries also unveiled its first asteroid-prospecting spacecraft and expects to launch its first experimental mission in 2017. Planetary Resources plans mining missions by 2020.

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From an exploration perspective, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta mission touched down on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It sent its final signal to Earth on September 30 after having been in space for 12.5 years and flying around the comet for over two. In another ESA mission, the Schiaparelli lander crashed on Mars on October 19 caused by one-second measurement error (which delivered bad data to the lander’s computer and forced a premature release of its parachute). The event joined a persistent list of reminders of how complicated space exploration can be.

NASA made an important stride in deep space exploration with its Juno spacecraft entering orbit around Jupiter to study the gas giant’s interiors and magnetic field. The American agency also launched the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on a two-year outbound journey to the asteroid Bennu, which passes near Earth’s gravitationally stable L-4 point, in a bid to search for Earth-Trojan asteroids. These objects can be potentially mined in the future for minerals.

Space tourism activities took an interesting turn with an announcement by the United Launch Alliance and Bigelow partnering for launching commercial space stations, which plan to take advantage of the expertise built up with the deployment of the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM). BEAM has been deployed on the International Space Station (ISS) and NASA plans at least two years of tests to understand how expandable modules could be used for deep-space habitats as well as commercial space stations.

Meanwhile, the Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin conducted flight tests and is believed to be on track for human suborbital test flights in 2017. The biggest surprise of the year, following SpaceX’s rocket-return, was Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket successfully landing after lift-off for the fifth time. However, it was expected that the rocket would break up since the primary goal was to test New Shepard’s passenger escape system.

In the regulatory environment, the International Civil Aviation Organisation expressed interest in expanding its work to include commercial spaceflight. These standards are widely adopted by national regulatory bodies around the world.

On another front, high-altitude platforms (HAP) are gaining momentum with enterprises like Thales Alenia Space planning to take to the sky with platforms that can support Earth-observation, telecommunications, etc. However, there is currently a gap in the international telecommunications regulatory framework for the operation of services based on HAPs. The U.S is leading efforts at the International Telecommunications Union to broaden the frequency regime for command and control of high-altitude drones to the Ka- and Ku-bands. These are already in mainstream use by satellite fleet operators.

Musk’s plans for Mars

On the more negative side of things, the space launch industry was shocked with the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blowing up during a static-fire test and taking the Amos-6 satellite it was carrying with it. Investigations revealed that the likely cause was frozen oxygen, which burst a high-pressure helium tank used for pressurisation during the second stage of the rocket’s launch. This was an unfortunate event following the SpaceX demonstration of a rocket landing on a small ship earlier in the year.

SpaceX is now looking to bounce back with a launch proposed during the January 7-9 window with Iridium satellites. On the other hand, faced by the threat of US competitiveness, Airbus and Safran finalised their space launchers merger to develop Ariane 6 with the first flight plans in 2020. While NewSpace launch companies such as Rocket Lab announced their preparedness for first flight in 2017, another major NewSpace launch start-up, Firefly Space Systems, furloughed its entire staff quoting a European investor back-out and with the CEO citing “Brexit” as a potential reason.

The two most exciting and boldest moves announced in 2016 have to be SpaceX’s Mars plans, unveiled by Elon Musk, to develop a large new launch vehicle and reusable spacecraft that could be ready to take large numbers of people to Mars as soon as the mid-2020s – and Russian venture capitalist Yuri Milner, along with physicist Stephen Hawking, announcing a $100-million initiative for exploring Alpha Centauri, the star-system nearest to our own.

At the International Astronautical Congress, Musk spoke about how the ‘Interplanetary Transport System’ will use 42 Raptor engines in its first stage, generating a lift-off thrust of 28.6 million pounds-force, or more than three and a half times that of the Saturn launch vehicle. SpaceX plans to launch a mission to Mars in every available window starting from 2018, with a goal to practice landing heavy payloads on Mars to help pave the way for human settlement.

The project called Breakthrough Starshot seems to be a follow-up to the $100 million Milner pledged to increasing the search for extraterrestrial life under the project Breakthrough Listen – the latter to allow researchers to study the billion stars nearest to Earth as well as 100 galaxies outside our own Milky Way. Starshot will explore technologies needed to create small, light-powered spacecraft capable of reaching Alpha Centauri in just 20 years.

There is much to look up to in 2017 as space activities and the excitement around exploration and entrepreneurship in the sector heat up. Slowly, but surely, there seems to be a race to space in the offing. Only, this time it’s not one country against another as much as one enterprise against another, trying to capture the commercial value that space exploration brings along.

Narayan Prasad is a NewSpace enthusiast.

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In 2016, Parliament Was Far Less Important Than It Should Have Been

Though several bills were passed in the first two sessions, there was very little detailed debate and the government routinely used ordinances to bypass parliament.

Though several bills were passed in the first two sessions, there was very little detailed debate and the government routinely used ordinances to bypass parliament.

A view of Parliament House in New Delhi. Credit: PTI/Atul Yadav

A view of Parliament House in New Delhi. Credit: PTI/Atul Yadav

Parliament started the year on a promising note but saw a complete collapse by the year-end. The first session – the budget session – was functional. Lok Sabha worked for 121% of its scheduled time while Rajya Sabha worked for 91%; the corresponding numbers for the monsoon session were 101% and 96%, and for the winter session 15% and 18%. This translated into the amount of productive work done. In addition to discussing and passing the budget, 17 bills were passed in the budget session, 14 in the monsoon session and just two in the winter session.

These numbers hide a few structural weaknesses. Several bills were passed with very little debate, including many that were introduced and passed within the same session. For example, of the eight bills that were introduced in the budget session, six were passed in at least one house in the same session. The figures for the monsoon session were seven out of 14. Of the two bills that were passed in the winter session, one was introduced and passed the next day. That said, there were a few detailed debates on bills such as the Aadhaar Bill which was discussed for over seven hours and the amendment to the constitution to enable the goods and services tax which saw debates for 20 hours across the two houses.

Over the last few years, a worrying trend is emerging. Fewer bills are being referred to parliamentary committees. In 1993, standing committees of parliaments were formed to enable more detailed examination of proposed legislation and working of departments. The convention is that bills are referred to these committees which then obtain feedback from experts and affected persons, and give their recommendations. During 2016, just six out of 31 bills that were introduced (19%) were referred to committees. During the period of the current Lok Sabha, 31% of all bills have been referred to committees. Contrast this with the figures of 71% in the last Lok Sabha (2009-2014) and 60% in the 14th Lok Sabha (2004-2009).

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Even among bills referred to committees, on a few occasions, the standing committee was bypassed and a joint committee of the two houses was created. This was done for the bankruptcy code Bill as well as the Bill that amended a few acts including the SARFAESI Act. The reason was not given, though one can see that the standing committee was chaired by an opposition member while the joint committee had a member from the treasury benches as the chairperson.

The use of ordinances to bypass parliament was used liberally. This year, ten ordinances were issued, including one – the Enemy Property Ordinance, that was issued five times. Ordinances are laws made by the government when parliament is not in session and need to be ratified within six weeks of the commencement of the next session. The idea is that there may be emergent circumstances that require an immediate law, which cannot wait till the next meeting of parliament. However, in most democracies, such a process does not exist and an urgent need of a law is met by calling a session of parliament on short notice. The Supreme Court has ruled that this is a temporary measure and ordinances should not be re-issued if the legislature fails to ratify them. This principle was not just violated but a session of parliament was prorogued (or closed) during the recess in order to enable the issuance of an ordinance. This was a clear departure from the principle that it is the sole prerogative of the legislature to make laws.

Some important bills were passed during the year. These included the bankruptcy code Bill and the Bill to amend SARFAESI Act, the real estate regulation Bill, the benami transactions prohibition Bill, the compensatory afforestation Bill, the Aadhaar Bill, the rights of persons with disabilities Bill and the constitutional amendment to enable goods and services tax. The last one is arguably the most significant taxation reform in decades and will need a set of money bills to be passed over the next few months for its implementation.

The manner in which the Aadhaar Bill was passed was contentious. This Bill was passed as a money Bill, which implied that Lok Sabha could override the amendments made by Rajya Sabha. The constitution defines a money bill as one that has provisions exclusively related to taxation or government expenditure or borrowings. It gives the speaker of Lok Sabha the final authority to certify a bill as a money bill. Given that the Aadhaar Bill had provisions in addition to those related to government spending, one may argue that it does not fit the narrow definition of a money bill. This issue has been taken to the Supreme Court which is considering the case.

During the two sessions that it worked well, parliament also discussed several important issues. These included debates on inflation, atrocities against Dalits and the situation in Kashmir. It is interesting to see that some issues are discussed frequently. Since 2004, internal security has been discussed 50 times, inflation 34 times and various natural disasters 32 times.

Parliament this year will be known for not discussing one of the most important events that affected almost every resident of India – the demonetisation of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes, and the aftermath. While Rajya Sabha started discussing this on the first day (and discussed it for a total of six and a half hours) and Lok Sabha made several attempts (adding up to an hour and a half), neither house saw a reply from the government or a conclusion to the debate. This issue too now shifts to the courts, with the Supreme Court forming a constitution bench to determine the legality of the move.

In sum, the year saw parliament sliding further in its position vis-à-vis the executive and the judiciary in its core law-making role. The government used the ordinance route repeatedly to enact laws. The Aadhaar Bill was passed as a money bill, which meant that the only the house (Lok Sabha) in which the government always has a majority had a say. The judiciary also passed orders – such as the one imposing a cess on diesel cars and the national anthem case – which are legislative in nature. Debates such as the legality of passing the Aadhaar Bill as a money bill and the various measures related to demonetisation have been passed onto the courts.

It is important for parliament to wrest back its space as the key representative institution that makes laws and holds the executive to account. For this, it has to gain moral ground through reasoned discussions. A few structural changes are needed to enable these and bring greater autonomy to members of parliament – such as repealing the anti-defection law, automatic rules for determining the topics for debate and whether there will be a vote, a regular calendar for parliament to meet and enabling structures such as a research support for members and committees. While it is unlikely that these measures will be taken in 2017, one hopes that a consensus builds towards these in the next few years.

M.R. Madhavan is the president of PRS Legislative Research, New Delhi.

Akhilesh Yadav’s Expulsion Revoked by Samajwadi Party

In less than 24 hours, Mulayam Singh Yadav decided to revoke Akhilesh Yada’v’s expulsion, possibly due to Akhilesh’s large support base.

Akhilesh Yadav's expulsion from the Samajwadi Party has been revoked. Credit: PTI/Files

Akhilesh Yadav’s expulsion from the Samajwadi Party has been revoked. Credit: PTI/Files

The Samajwadi party (SP) fiasco that dramatically unfolded on December 30 with the expulsion of Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and senior leader Ramgopal Yadav ended with a whimper.

On Saturday afternoon, state SP chief and Akhilesh’s main rival, Shivpal Yadav, announced that the decision to expel the two leaders has been revoked with immediate effect, belying all speculations of a party split.

“On Mulayam’s orders, their expulsion is revoked. We will fight communal forces together and form a full majority government in Uttar Pradesh,” Shivpal told ANI.

The reversal of decision came after Akhilesh and senior party leader Azam Khan met the party chairman Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday morning. Khan, who is an opponent of Amar Singh, just like Akhilesh, but is equally close to Mulayam, is being said to have brokered peace between the father and the son.

Interestingly, soon after the expulsions, the party’s two factions stood clearly polarised and expressed strong sentiments against each other. Both groups claimed to fight the elections alone and win.

However, the equations changed on Saturday morning when Akhilesh dispalyed a much stronger support base, with most party MLAs and a huge crowd turning up at the chief minister’s residence. At the same time, only 12 MLAs and a small section of Mulayam supporters turned at the party office in a separate scheduled meeting, according to sources.

Both the factions had called for a meeting of supporters on Saturday. However, while Akhilesh conducted it successfully, Mulayam postponed it because of the poor show of support towards him.

This, according to sources, convinced Mulayam to take his son back into the party fold. Azam Khan’s presence only helped him revoke his previous decision.

As yet another dramatic spat in the SP looks close to resolution, the thorny issues remain and are bound to crop up in future. The tussle between the two factions while choosing candidates for elections – which became the flash point of the current controversy – will be a contentious matter in the days to come. Whose candidates will be preferred and will there be a truce between the two groups are questions to wonder about at the moment.

However, political analysts said that Akhilesh had emerged stronger after the episode and Shivpal had to swallow the bitter pill yet again. It remains to be seen how SP chief Mulayam tackles these immediate issues, the impact of which can be disastrous for the SP in the upcoming elections.

India’s Environmental 2016 Made it Very Difficult to Find a Silver Lining – But There’s One

After years of being labelled as ‘obstructionist’, India has shown that it is also a part of positive climate action.

After years of being labelled as ‘obstructionist’, India has shown that it is also a part of positive climate action.

Bandipur Forest, Karnataka, a sanctuary for a small group of tigers. Credit: vijaysawant/Flickr, CC BY 2.0 (environmental)

Bandipur Forest, Karnataka, a sanctuary for a small group of tigers. Credit: vijaysawant/Flickr, CC BY 2.0

If 2016 has been the year of deaths of celebrities, the world of conservation was no exception. August saw the death of – and a state-sponsored funeral for – Ranthambhore tigress Machli, an exceptionally camera-friendly animal who created a singular, personalised narrative around her. Any wildlife-lover with a decent SLR camera would boast of going to Ranthambhore to photograph Machli. Getting a picture of her, or one of her many progeny, was considered a rite of passage. The bold tigress, not shy of people and documented to be fiercely protective of her cubs, has a Wikipedia and Facebook pages dedicated to her. Her death meant the end of a personal relationship many thought they had with her. It also brought into focus Ranthambhore’s oft-criticised practice of artificially feeding wild tigers and attending to them medically, part of the reason why 20-year old Machli was called the oldest tiger in the world.  

If 2016 lost a celebrity tiger, it was also the year where other individual tigers were made celebrities. Often, it was not just for photogenic value but also in raising real conservation dilemmas. Jai, known as Maharashtra’s largest tiger, was declared missing earlier in 2016. A huge search was organised. His disappearance raised the question of the safety of wild tigers and the operation of poaching rings. For nearly a year, news articles have been written about Jai, even as the Maharashtra government asked for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe to find out what really happened to him. Now, there are reports that Jai may be in Telangana.

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If a tiger like Jai has indeed crossed state boundaries, then cooperation between states in protecting decent habitat and tackling poaching is paramount. And even as poaching is a solid threat, so is human interference. That was evidenced in the case of Ustad, the tiger from Ranthambhore, who was moved to a zoo from the tiger reserve after being charged with man-eating. A year on, Ustad is still in the news, the subject of online petitions and physical demonstrations since. Many suggest Ustad was over-familiarised with people and tourists, and was not really a man-eater.

While tigers, and what humans are doing to tigers, dominated environmental headlines, a lesser known species came to squarely symbolise the development challenge that India is facing. The black-necked crane is a large crane found only in Asia. A small number visit India each year. Buddhists consider the bird to be a reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and the bird is protected by them in Tawang valley. The area where the birds spend winter, in Nyamjang Chu river, is also the location of a proposed dam. Locals under the banner of ‘Save Mon Federation’ have been fighting for shifting the dam from the area. After a long protest, the group went to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) saying that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the project did not even mention the presence of the black-necked cranes.

The entire process was mostly outside of the mainstream gaze, until tragedy struck earlier this year. Lobsang Gyatso, one of the llamas protesting against the dam, was jailed. The locals were furious. Police firing ensued and two young men, just 21 and 31 years of age, were shot dead. The issue of dams being planned against the wishes of the locals in the northeast finally made national headlines.

But the real turning point came when, in a landmark judgment, the NGT suspended the environmental clearance to the 780-MW Nyamjang Chu Hydro project. The court held that the project developers never disclosed the site as one of the two in India where black-necked cranes wintered.

This is the first time in India that a project’s clearance has been suspended on the grounds of wildlife. It gives pause to reconsider large projects, which are steamrolled without local consent or proper environmental and social assessments. And pushing projects through without due procedure is an oft-repeated story.

In December, the Ministry of Water Resources declared “the last hurdle for Ken-Betwa link is over” as the National Board for Wildlife has cleared the project. The Ken-Betwa river-linking is a multi-crore plan to artificially link the two rivers to provide water. The project has been criticised as being populist and ecologically unsound. But the press release from the ministry also revealed a negligence towards due process. While the Wildlife Board has cleared the project, two stages of forest clearance and environmental clearance still need to be obtained.

Meanwhile, at least one other NGT judgment may also change the growth-at-all-costs story. In the case of a hydropower project coming up in Kashang in Himachal Pradesh, the tribunal ruled that the Gram Sabha is the competent authority to decide if forest land should be diverted for the project. Reminiscent of the Niyamgiri judgement of the Supreme Court for Dongria Kond tribals in Odisha, the NGT held that the consent of tribals and forest dwellers is mandatory before forest land is diverted.

This was also the year when the government rolled out more privileges for industry and real estate as a policy prerogative. Under new relaxations, all constructions covering less than 150,000 sq. m are exempt from getting EIAs. Earlier, buildings of 20,000 sq. m and above (roughly the size of a mall or airport) needed EIAs. The purpose of this is to make construction easier, according to the government. Construction is one of the root causes of air pollution, another environmental issue that has been constantly talked about this year.

Environmentalists stress that constructions should not come at the cost of negligence while building. Pollution control norms state that construction debris and materials should be covered and properly disposed of. Yet hardly any action has been taken against violations. Whether air pollution will now be worse after Delhi’s “emergency” status in 2016 needs to be seen.

The year also witnessed the signing of a climate change agreement, the Paris Agreement. Unlike the Kyoto Protocol, the agreement lays emphasis on nationally determined actions by states, assumed to be the most acceptable way forward for developing nations like India. In a symbolic gesture, India ratified the agreement on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti.

This may be a silver lining 2016 is looking for. The metropolitan air is dirty, forests are shrinking and human-induced conflict with wildlife is on the rise. Around the world, however, the consensus that anthropogenic global warming is taking place is building. After years of being labelled as ‘obstructionist’, India has shown that it is also a part of positive climate action. How the country chooses to formulate and implement its environmental commitments will be the real challenge in the year ahead.

Neha Sinha is a Delhi-based conservationist.

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Two Blasts Kill 25 in Central Baghdad

Police said the blasts went off near car parts shops in Sinak neighbourhood during the morning rush. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Iraqi security forces inspect the site of a bomb attack at a market in central Baghdad, Iraq December 31, 2016. Credit: Reuters

Iraqi security forces inspect the site of a bomb attack at a market in central Baghdad, Iraq December 31, 2016. Credit: Reuters

Baghdad: Two bombs exploded at a busy market in central Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 50, police and medics said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but ISIS regularly attacks civilians in the Iraqi capital.

Police said the blasts went off near car parts shops in Sinak neighbourhood during the morning rush. One of them was triggered by a suicide bomber, the other was a planted explosive, an interior ministry official told Reuters.

Civilians picked through the debris of the explosions including a food cart torn apart by the blast as medics carried off the casualties.

ISIS has lost much of the northern and western territory it seized in 2014 and is now resisting an Iraqi offensive on the northern city of Mosul, the ultra-hardline group’s last major stronghold in the country.

Iraqi forces faced fierce resistance from the militants in southern Mosul on Friday, while troops in the city’s east and north cleared areas they had recaptured a day earlier.

Coming Out As a Liberal in 2016

In the year of Trump, Brexit, intolerance and fear, where can one look to for hope?

In the year of Trump, Brexit, intolerance and fear, where can one look to for hope?

Credit: PROVanessaC (EY)/Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Credit: PROVanessaC (EY)/Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

I am coming out of the closet. For years, I attempted to disguise my political opinions from everyone except those who know me best. As a journalist I believed that I should leave my personal views at home and that even my closest colleagues should not be able to guess how I vote. But I have changed and so has the world, and I feel that to remain silent now would be a rejection of the values that I hold most dear. And values matter. They, and not facts and theories, are what divide and unite us.

The last year has not been a pleasant one for those of us with a lifelong liberal disposition. The election of Donald Trump in the US and the Brexit referendum in the UK were low points in a year with few highs. Those two events represented for me the triumph of fear and anger and hatred over tolerance and courage and empathy – even if I accept that that is, in fact, not quite fair, and that many of those who voted for Trump and Brexit were not motivated by anger and hatred. Fear, though, that’s another matter. I do think that most of those who voted for Trump and Brexit did so for reasons of fear – fear of migrants, Muslims, minorities, the Other. And also because of that most ghoulish of modern phenomena, counterfactual nostalgia: that desire to return to a wonderful time in the past which never actually existed.

I find this deeply depressing. Liberals, socialists, progressives, leftists are in retreat in most parts of the world. We became complacent and lost our nerve, and our elected representatives often ruled badly and with contempt, and deserved to be thrown out of power. Some of ‘us’ have crossed over, in order to, as ‘they’ now put it, ‘respect the will of the people’. And some have joined in the vituperation that marks the current western discourse on migration and minorities – and have not always stopped short of outright racism. I haven’t crossed over, and I won’t.

In the country of my birth, the UK, the left has retreated politically into self-righteous fratricidal warfare. It shows no signs of wishing to win an election or even of imparting any kind of vision of the society it would like to build. The centre has dissolved and the right is triumphant, full of the passionate intensity that once was a feature of the left. My adopted country, India (no longer, sadly, my home), has become a place of theatrically majoritarian politics, in which former liberals comfortably discuss the pros and cons of authoritarian government. The passing of the old coalition-building politics of yesteryear, which necessitated a tolerance of the Other, is unlamented, and understandably so given the hopelessness of the last two years of the Congress-managed coalition. It has been a bleak period for tolerance and diversity in India.

Now, I was one of the few among my friends who correctly and gloomily predicted the two most important electoral results of 2016 – Trump and Brexit. Not, I think, because of any great psephological insight on my part. It may instead be a deep-set pessimism about the Western world, particularly its closet racism, concealed and disguised for decades. I have felt for many years that beneath the old cod-liberal exteriors of a lot of my fellow British countrymen and women beat many hearts of stone. These are people who, ultimately, find it hard to find any sympathy for people beyond their own communities or who do not resemble them in colour or religion or language. And now it has become acceptable, even ‘normal’, to be unembarrassed by that lack of sympathy. I think, when I am at my most pessimistically despondent, that actually most of the world is like that.

Sometimes all this can feel overwhelming, as if I have suddenly realised that I am at the wrong end of history. That my confidence in the ultimate victory of a certain set of values, which constitute my idea of progress and of justice, is flawed. The new victors will say that people like me always had more sentiment than sense. That I am a bleeding heart, a dreamer who needs to grow up, get real – and even shut up. That my idealism would be fine in a 20 year old, but is downright embarrassing in someone who is well into his 50s. I am no good at silence, but I do have to accept that my views are, for now, not those of the majority. And my opinions on, for instance, people’s right to freedom of movement are held only by a minuscule minority.

Do I have much reason for hope, then? Not immediately. A rough beast is slouching towards Washington, and it’s clear that President Trump (how strange those two words, conjoined, still sound) will have nothing to offer to people who think like me. The politics of the UK will be dominated by its European divorce for a long time to come. There’s a prospect of a swing to the far right in France and in Germany – both facing elections in 2017.

But I do try to remind myself that, probably, time and demography are on my side. In the very long-run, so much has improved in areas which formed such a key part of the original progressive vision – from poverty, child mortality, female literacy, a commitment to safeguarding the environment, to the acceptance of homosexuality and the treatment of minorities – that it is hard to imagine a genuine, sustained worldwide reversal on any of these issues. And I’m comforted that the young seem to be the strongest defenders of liberal values. They did not vote for Brexit or for Trump – and seem to support a progressive vision of a more just society. Some may shift to the right, but still there is hope in the young. It will take time – for as the Irish poet Seamus Heaney once wrote, “and in the dirt lay justice like an acorn in the winter”. It may be a long winter, and the sapling oak will need protection.

Sam Miller is a former BBC journalist. His most recent book is a translation from of Once Upon a Time in India: the Marvellous Adventures of Captain Corcoran (Juggernaut 2016) by Alfred Assollant. His previous books include Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity and A Strange Kind of Paradise: India through Foreign Eyes.

Trump Supports Putin in Russia-US Dispute

Donald Trump praised Putin for refraining from retaliation in a dispute over spying and cyber attacks, in another sign that he plans to patch up relations with Moscow.

US President Barack Obama extends his hand to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting at the UN General Assembly in New York September 28, 2015. Credit: Reuters

US President Barack Obama extends his hand to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting at the UN General Assembly in New York September 28, 2015. Credit: Reuters

Palm Beach, Florida/Moscow: US President-elect Donald Trump on Friday praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for refraining from retaliation in a dispute over spying and cyber attacks, in another sign that the Republican plans to patch up badly frayed relations with Moscow.

Putin earlier on Friday said he would not hit back for the US expulsion of 35 suspected Russian spies by President Barack Obama, at least until Trump takes office on January 20.

“Great move on delay (by V. Putin) – I always knew he was very smart!” Trump wrote on Twitter from Florida, where he is on vacation.

Obama on Thursday ordered the expulsion of the Russians and imposed sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies over their involvement in hacking political groups in the November 8 US presidential election.

“We will not expel anyone,” Putin said in a statement, adding that Russia reserved the right to retaliate.

“Further steps towards the restoration of Russian-American relations will be built on the basis of the policy which the administration of President D. Trump will carry out,” he said.

In a separate development, a code associated with the Russian hacking operation dubbed Grizzly Steppe by the Obama administration has been detected within the system of a Vermont electric utility, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing unnamed US officials.

The Russians did not actively use the code to disrupt operations of the utility, the officials told the Post, but penetration of the nation’s electrical grid is significant because it represents a potentially serious vulnerability.

Trump has repeatedly praised Putin and nominated people seen as friendly toward Moscow to senior administration posts, but it is unclear whether he would seek to roll back Obama’s actions, which mark a post-Cold War low in US-Russian ties.

Trump has brushed aside allegations from the CIA and other intelligence agencies that Russia was behind the cyber attacks.”It’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things,” Trump said on Thursday, though he said he would meet with intelligence officials next week.

US intelligence agencies say Russia was behind hacks into Democratic Party organisations and operatives before the presidential election. Moscow denies this. US intelligence officials say the Russian cyber attacks aimed to help Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Russian officials have portrayed the sanctions as a last act of a lame-duck president and suggested Trump could reverse them when he takes over from Obama, a Democrat.

A senior US official on Thursday said that Trump could reverse Obama’s executive order, but doing so would be inadvisable.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the Obama administration “a group of embittered and dimwitted foreign policy losers.”

Republican opposition

Should Trump seek to heal the rift with Russia, he might encounter opposition in Congress, including from fellow Republicans.

Republican John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Friday that Russia must face a penalty for the cyber attacks.

“When you attack a country, it’s an act of war,” McCain said in an interview with the Ukrainian TV channel ‘1+1’ while on a visit to Kiev.

“And so we have to make sure that there is a price to pay, so that we can perhaps persuade the Russians to stop these kind of attacks on our very fundamentals of democracy,” added McCain, who has scheduled a hearing for Thursday on foreign cyber threats.

Other senior Republicans, as well as Democrats, have urged a tough response to Moscow.

A total of 96 Russians are expected to leave the US including expelled diplomats and their families.

Trump will find it very difficult to reverse the expulsions and lift the sanctions given that they were based on a unanimous conclusion by US intelligence agencies, said Eugene Rumer, who was the top US intelligence analyst for Russia from 2010 until 2014.

But that might not prevent Trump from improving ties to Russia, said Rumer, now director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a policy institute. “If Mr. Trump wants to start the relationship anew, I don’t think he needs to walk these sanctions back. He can just say this was Obama’s decision,” said Rumer.

As part of the sanctions, Obama told Russia to close two compounds in the US that the administration said were used by Russian personnel for “intelligence-related purposes.”

Convoys of trucks, buses and black sedans with diplomatic license plates left the countryside vacation retreats outside Washington and New York City without fanfare on Friday.

A former Russian foreign ministry employee told Reuters that the facility in Maryland was a dacha used by diplomatic staff and their children. The 45-acre complex includes a Georgian-style brick mansion, swimming pool, tennis courts and cottages for embassy staff.

Neighbours said the Russians were a lively bunch, seen water-skiing in summer and known for throwing a large, annual Labor Day party.

The Russian consulate in San Francisco said on its Facebook page, “We hate to have to say goodbye to close to a dozen of our colleagues, our friends.” Among those expelled was the consulate chef.

Obama had promised consequences after US intelligence officials blamed Russia for hacks intended to influence the 2016 election. Officials accused Putin of personally directing the efforts and primarily targeting Democrats.

Washington also put sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies, the GRU and the FSB, four GRU officers and three companies that Obama said “provided material support to the GRU’s cyber operations.”

(Reuters)