Watch | ‘India’s Democracy Hollowed Out of Meaning, Govt Touchy About Criticism’

Author Mukulika Banerjee in her new latest book ‘Cultivating Democracy – Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India’ explains the reasons for the democratic slide in India in the last few years.

Since Narendra Modi became prime minister, many political watchers have watched and written about the changing face and nature of democracy as we know it in India.

In her book, Cultivating Democracy – Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India, author Mukulika Banerjee takes a much more detailed look at what democracy, politics and citizenship mean for India.

Mitali Mukherjee spoke with Banerjee about the value of a vote, why India’s democratic principles have seen a slide and what the barometer should be while assessing India’s democratic journey.

Resident Doctors Call Off Strike After Centre Assures Early NEET-PG Counselling

The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association said that their decision to call off strike came after they had been assured of their demands by the Union government.

New Delhi: Resident doctors, who had been protesting for over two weeks across the country with a demand for expediting the NEET-PG counselling, called off their strike on Friday, December 31, morning. They resumed work from Friday noon.

The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA), the umbrella body of protesting doctors, said that their decision to call off strike came after they had been assured of their demands by the Union government.

On December 30, a series of meetings took place between FORDA representatives and multiple Delhi Police officials, including joint commissioner of police, where medics were assured that an FIR (first information report) filed against them would be taken back.

“The strike has been called off. We will rejoin work at 12 pm [on Friday]. We had a meeting with the joint commissioner of police (CP) last night [Thursday] where he gave instructions to cancel the FIR. As for the NEET-PG, we have been assured that the court clearance will come during the January 6 hearing [at the Supreme Court],” the Indian Express quoted Dr. Manish Kumar, president, FORDA.

FORDA in a statement said that they had been assured that police complaints lodged against resident doctors “will be taken care of as per the legal procedures”. During the protests, there was a face-off between medics and police personnel in the streets in Delhi.

Also read: Why Young, Overworked Doctors Are Protesting Outside the Union Home Ministry

“A virtual meeting of FORDA members with all RDAs’ representatives was convened late in the evening [on Thursday] whereby all the proceedings were conveyed, all points of concern were discussed in details. It was unanimously decided to call off the agitation on December 31, 2021, at 12 pm, considering various factors, including patient care,” the statement said.

It was also decided that a national meeting with all representatives of resident doctor associations (RDAs) will be convened by FORDA on January 6, it added.

The doctors took to the streets in November-end after the previous hearing of the Supreme Court – when the Union government had sought four weeks to review EWS quota in the All India Quota for NEET PG 2021 counselling – delayed the whole process. They withdrew from outpatient clinics, then from routine services, such as patient care in the wards, and planned surgeries. Even emergency services were suspended.

“We are not able to do the counselling because the matter is sub judice before the Supreme Court. The government of India will submit a reply to the apex court before the scheduled date of hearing on January 6,”  Mandaviya was quoted as saying in a PTI report.

However, the protests were halted for a week after Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya assured to look into their demands. However, the strike resumed on December 17, once again affecting all medical services, including emergency services, across all big medical college-associated hospitals in the country.

According to doctors, the delay in NEET-PG counselling left college hospitals short-staffed with the outgoing batch of third-year PG students already having left but the incoming batch yet to join work. As a result, resident doctors ended up working 100 to 120 hours a week. On the other hand, 45,000 NEET-PG aspirants across the country are waiting for long to join work.

The next hearing of the proceedings is scheduled for January 6, 2022.

(With PTI inputs)

Chinese Embassy Writes to MPs Who Attended Meeting to Revive All-Party Group on Tibet

The dinner reception hosted by the Tibetan parliament in exile was attended by two serving ministers, Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Ramdas Athawale, along with other MPs.

New Delhi: Following the revival last week of an all-party group on Tibet comprising MPs, the Chinese embassy has sent a letter to the participants, expressing concern and calling on them to refrain from supporting “Tibetan independence” forces.

On December 22, Tibetan parliament-in-exile speaker Khenpo Sonam Tenphel met with the group of MPs from various parties. According to a press note from the Tibetan parliamentary secretariat, the meeting marked the “successful” revival of the All-Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet (APIPFT), which had been defunct for several years.

A week later, several of the participants received a letter signed by the Chinese embassy’s political counsellor Zhou Yongsheng. 

“I have noticed that you have attended an activity held by the so-called “All-Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet” and interacted with some members of so called “Tibetan Parliament in Exile”. I would like to express our concern on that,” Zhou wrote in the letter, first reported by The Indian Express.

The Chinese diplomat noted that the Indian government recognises Tibet as a part of China and has committed not to allow Tibetans to carry out anti-China political activities. He also asserted that the “so-called ‘Tibetan Government in-exile’ is an out-and-out separatist political group”.

“China firmly opposes any anti-China separatist activities conducted by “Tibetan independence” forces in any capacity or name in any country and opposes any forms of contact by officials of any country with them,” Zhou wrote.

He added that as “a senior politician”, the MPs were expected to “understand the sensitivity of the issue and refrain from providing support to the “Tibetan independence” forces, and make contributions to China-India bilateral relations.”

According to the secretariat, the revival of the Forum was the result of the “steadfast lobbying” by a Tibetan parliamentary delegation, who had reached out to 38 Indian lawmakers.

The dinner reception hosted by the Tibetan parliament in exile was attended by two serving ministers, Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and minister of state for social justice and empowerment, Ramdas Athawale.

“I was a member of the Indo-Tibetan Parliamentary forum under the chairmanship of (BJP veteran) Shanta Kumarji and I was invited in the capacity. I attended the dinner,” Chandrasekhar told The Indian Express.

Besides, there were nine members of parliament from both chambers and a range of political parties. Biju Janta Dal’s Rajya Sabha member Sujeet Kumar was appointed the new convener of the Forum.

Speaking to The Wire, Kumar said that he had not personally seen the Chinese embassy’s letter but had “got to know about it from the media and other MPs”.

He added that he was not surprised that a letter had been sent – and was in fact expecting it since he had previously received similar missives from the Chinese embassy. “I had also got a letter from the Chinese embassy after I took part in founding the Formosa club”. 

Kumar is a founding member of the Formosa Club Indo-Pacific chapter and co-chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC). “I had replied to the first letter that I had received. After that, I did not bother,” he said.

He had not informed the Ministry of External Affairs about the earlier letters from the Chinese embassy but felt that the latest letter should be raised with South Block. “We had not spoken to MEA earlier, but now some of the MPs are saying that we should take it up with the ministry as it was a violation of protocol,” said Kumar.

As a newly-appointed convenor of the forum, Kumar said that there are plans to resume its activities, which had gone into dormancy in previous years.

Similar to Kumar, Congress’ Lok Sabha member from Anandpur Sahib, Manish Tiwari, confirmed that he had attended the dinner but had not received the letter as he was out of Delhi and in his constituency. “If the letter had been written by Wang Yi (Chinese foreign minister), I would have replied. Why should I demean myself by replying to the political counsellor?” he told The Wire.

Rajya Sabha MP and former Union minister Jairam Ramesh, who attended the December 22 dinner, also asserted that he has “ignored the letter”.

Ramesh added that he had nothing more to say by way of response, except to reiterate remarks made to the Tibetan MPs at the dinner. “I said that I almost never go to any evening functions or dinners of any kind but had made an exception in this case for three reasons. First, my profound fascination for the Buddha. Second, my deep respect for the Dalai Lama. Third, my grateful recognition for the role Tibetan sources have played in the rediscovery of India’s Buddhist heritage. I said I was present culturally, philosophically and spiritually,” he said.

Following the escape of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan government-in-exile, known as the Central Tibet Administration, had been set up in Dharamshala. The largest section of the Tibetan diaspora is based in the Indian sub-continent.

How Modi Govt’s Policies in 2021 Inflamed Rather Than Diffused Conflict in Kashmir

Plummeting levels of unrest on paper belie that fact that this status quo come at a heavy price.

Numbers that quantify militancy show that there has been a steady decline in violence in Kashmir in 2021. However, sweeping political and administrative changes pushed unilaterally by Modi government in the region, coupled with strong-armed policing tactics have continued to deepen anger, fuelling a furious blowback in the region this year.

Violent trends within the militancy manifested themselves in the form of killings, where members of minority communities and non-locals who have been doing odd jobs were the victims.

Srinagar emerged as the locus of violence in Kashmir this year, with most hit-and-run attacks taking place in and around the capital city. In fact, more than a dozen gun-battles took place in the Srinagar district in 2021, the highest in many years.

Militants killed businessmen Satpal Nischal and Aakash Mehra earlier this year, sparking a wave of hysteria. The killings were timed to coincide with the much-anticipated visit of a foreign delegation amid international outrage over the Modi government’s clampdown in Kashmir and concerns over human rights violations and erosions of civil freedoms.

The government response, among other measures, included unofficial “prohibitions” on the pheran, a baggy tweed garment that Kashmiris wear in the cold. Pictures flooded social media which showed armed soldiers instructing commuters to cast off their pherans as they searched them.

People take off their pherans before going into a government office in Shopian. Photo: By arrangement.

This year, the Taliban’s dramatic takeover of Afghanistan fuelled fears of a renewed uptick in insurgency in Kashmir, like the one witnessed during the mid-nineties. There have since been several developments that security agencies insist are connected to the Taliban’s seizure of power in Kabul.

Take, for example, the shoulder-fired Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) that police recovered from a Pakistani militant just two days before Kabul fell to the militant group. This destructive a weapon had not been recovered in Kashmir for two decades.

Earlier this year, Yelena Biderman, a fellow at the Modern War Insitute (MWI) – a research centre at the United States Military Academy dedicated to the study of war and warfare – speculated that “battle-hardened Afghan and international jihadists” could “relocate to Kashmir” in the wake of the Taliban’s coming to power.

This month, Director General (DG) of the Border Security Force (BSF) Pankaj Kumar Singh warned about the possibility of Pakistan using Taliban fighters as well as arms and war equipment left behind in Afghanistan by US-led forces to intensify the insurrection in Kashmir.

While the participation of foreign militants in Kashmir was at an all time low this year, recent trends such as the two-week-long skirmish in October in the forested areas of Poonch, abutting Pakistan, which resulted in the killing of 9 armed forces personnel, indicate that many areas, like Pir Panjal in Jammu, are also now turning volatile. The People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), a newly floated outfit, claimed responsibility for these attacks.

Also read: J&K Encounter: 9 Soldiers Killed, 3 Detained for Questioning as Search Ops Enter Day 7

Overall, militancy continued to be a zero-sum game, save some marginal gains. While last year saw 215 militants killed, this number stood at 162 in 2021. Militant incident numbers also came down from 238 last year to 182 this year and while 178 local youth joined militant ranks in 2020, only 128 did so in 2021.

At the same time, 2021 saw the emergence of violent patterns which threw security agencies off balance. Of the 28 security personnel killed this year, 20 were from the J&K police alone, signifying the renewed interest of militant groups in targeting members of the local police, most of whom are local Kashmiri Muslims.

Militants targeted J&K Police inspector Parvaiz Ahmad Dar, duty sentry Rameez Raja, sub-inspector Arshid Mir, constables Javaid Ahmad Tambi, Nissar Ahmed, Mohammad Yousuf and Suhail Ahmad and many more.

This year’s change in strategy involving the use of assailants devoid of any militant credentials led to an unprecedented killing spree in October. Among the civilians killed were Makhan Lal Bindroo, a renowned chemist in Srinagar; Satinder Kour, a school principal; Deepak Chand, a teacher and 45-year-old Ibrahim Khan, a salesperson at a shop of a Kashmiri Pandit businessman. Fearing for their lives, around half a dozen Pandit families migrated out of Kashmir.

Ibrahim’s last rites being conducted. Photo: Faizan Mir.

Following the October attacks, bunkers, checkpoints, razor wire and am assortment of associated strictures,  once emblematic of Kashmir’s three decade old conflict, made a comeback. News outlets are awash with images of commuters and passers-by, including women and children, being hand-frisked and their possessions being emptied out on the roadside.

The re-militarisation of the Valley has since been swift and comprehensive. Around 5,000 additional Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troops have been flown into Kashmir, new bunkers have mushroomed around the city and National Investigative Agency (NIA) raids have become commonplace. Every day, newspapers report the arrests of several ‘over-ground workers’. Some civic infrastructure in Srinagar, too, has been repurposed to accommodate the troops pouring in.

Also read: Families, Neighbours of 3 Tribals Held as ‘Over Ground Workers’ Question J&K Police Claims

Recently, the government also constituted a State Investigative Agency (SIA) which would act as nodal agency for the NIA and other central investigative organisations in militancy-related cases. This gave rise to concerns that the government is affording the SIA with oversized policing powers, with fewer checks and balances in place. Security experts have termed the creation of the SIA “an oblique admission of failure of the Union government (which directly runs J&K).”

Yet, security forces have struggled to stop the militants from plotting big attacks. Earlier this month, 14 members of the police force were wounded and three succumbed to injuries after militants attacked a bus carrying members of 9th Battalion of the reserve police force at Zewan, a strategic town area straddling the Srinagar and Pulwama districts.

There’s been a concomitant trend of increasing indigenisation of militancy in Kashmir. For the first time in many years, little more than 10% of militants killed in 2021 were foreign mercenaries. Before the reading down of Article 370 in 2019, which revived the turmoil in the region, foreign participation in militancy was significant; 77% in 2016, 60% in 2017, 45% in 2018, 19% in 2019, and 15% in 2020.

Nationalist grandstanding

The year also saw a surge in hyper-nationalist posturing with government departments repurposing resources and energy to wax eloquent about patriotism and schools and colleges organising ‘love-thy-country’ themed symposia.

In January, the Kashmir Walla, a Srinagar-based publication reported that in South Kashmir’s Shopian district, students were allegedly forced to participate in Republic Day celebrations. The report featured a quote from the school’s chairperson, however, the army took umbrage at the story and filed a complaint against the publication. The case has been going from court to court ever since.

Similarly, the J&K government sponsored ceremonies to commemorate the “sacrifices” of government forces’ personnel and directed all offices to expeditiously hoist the national flag on office premises. The exhortations by BJP leaders demanded that inhabitants of Kashmir be taught “bharatiyata” (Indian-ness). A new film policy, launched in September this year, pledged to incentivise movie production in the region if the film in question is suffused with patriotic themes.

Given the fraught nature of politics and the scale of alienation in Kashmir, it’s quite unlikely that such displays of patriotic fervour will bring the locals any closer to the country. On the contrary, these moves are geared to control the optics surrounding Kashmir and repel criticism over the sustained clampdown with which the Modi government is trying to stop unrest from breaking out. This year turned Kashmir into a textbook Potemkin village.

Disempowerment

For the first time in many years, J&K faced a peculiar situation of not having any representative in the upper house of Parliament because all four Rajya Sabha MPs from J&K completed their six-year terms  and no new member was elected since the former state’s legislative assembly – the electoral college empowered to elect new members – has been comatose since June 19, 2018.

In 2021, the government imposed also a new property tax in Kashmir, a move that politicians have termed as “exploitative.”

This year, the administration enacted policies to expedite the allocation of land for industrial use. The government also transferred Rs 4.583 crores worth of shares of the J&K Bank to Ladakh, attracting criticism from regional parties that it was stripping away resources from the region.

More than 60 acres of land in Kashmir have been reallocated to paramilitary forces. This parcelling out of land to the armed forces catalysed further anger and social unrest this year. What’s more, the Union government has also greenlit the “transfer of agricultural land for public purposes such as education, charitable purpose and healthcare.” In a separate notification, it empowered district collectors to “alienate agricultural land to a non-agriculturist for extending the primary activity on a larger commercial scale.”

In total, 890 central laws have been steamrolled into J&K while 130 state laws have been re-applied with modifications.

Also read: Exclusive: Despite India’s Climate Pledges, J&K Diverts More Forest Land to Armed Forces

Further, J&K experienced the highest unemployment rate anywhere in the country. Industrial units are reeling under the twin shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and political unrest, with 85% of them expected to wind up.

Internationalisation of Kashmir

This year, Kashmir remained under the sustained focus of the foreign press whose reporters have been unable to freely visit the Union Territory at least since 2018.

The cloak of secrecy has meant that international media treated Kashmir at par with the other blocked out regions of the world, such as Xinjiang in China, with hard-nosed bureau chiefs – wary of the dissimulation exercised by repressive foreign governments – writing precisely the kind of summary about the J&K that the state wanted censored.

But what was remarkable was the scale of UN engagement with India on Kashmir this year. For the first time, UN offices used the term “demographic changes” and expressed concerns over the administrative remake of Kashmir. Interestingly, the Ministry of External Affairs’s (MEA) response didn’t question why populating J&K with non-locals and altering its demographic composition should be objectionable, even though the existing mechanism is geared to do exactly that in the longer run, if not immediately.

Instead, the MEA statement simply defended the domicile laws on the grounds that large numbers of new domiciles are erstwhile Permanent Resident Certificate holders.

At least seven UN special Rapporteurs wrote to the Indian government seeking information on the factual basis of investigations involving cases against human rights defenders and journalists including Parvaiz Bukhari, Khurram Parvez and Parveena Ahangar. They also sought details on steps that New Delhi has taken to ensure that human rights defenders in the former state are working under a “safe and enabling environment.”

Khurram Pervaz

Khurram Pervaz, Human Rights Activist from Kashmir who was arrested by the NIA. Photo: Shome Basu

Also read: UN Human Rights Experts Call For ‘Immediate Release’ of Khurram Parvez

Apart from this, the UN issued two communications over the arrest of PDP politician Waheed Ur Rehman Para and two more concerning the imprisonment of Khurram Parvez, in whose case UN special mandate holders have particularly been vehement.

There has been further correspondence between the UN and the MEA this year over cases of alleged torture and enforced disappearance in Kashmir. Recently, the UN also slammed the Modi government over the harassment of five Kashmiri journalists.

India’s rejection of a UN Human Rights chief’s remarks that “restrictive measures in Kashmir can result in human rights breaches and generate greater tensions and discontent” prompted a response from the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) itself.

Craig Mokhiber, director of the UNHRC, was rather curt in instructing Modi government that the “old notion of sovereignty that ‘anything that happens within our borders it is up to the government and it’s no one else’s business’ was replaced by the evolution of the UN,” he said. “What the UN Charter did is have a binding treaty, a binding law for every country that is a member of the UN.”

Strong-arm policing

This year also saw government roll out a policy for recruiting cyber volunteers in Kashmir. Users are asked to register themselves as ‘cyber watchdogs’ to supposed to keep an eye out for online content that, among many things, undermines the “sovereignty and integrity” of India.

In March, the administration even ordered government employees to provide the details of their social media handles, including Facebook and Twitter, before their salaries or allowances would be paid to them.

In August, another order empowered the J&K Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to “prevent Kashmiris who have been booked under vague criminal charges from leaving the country.” Later, another order told government employees that they would be denied promotions or, worse still, sacked from jobs if they were found to have been involved in “sabotage, subversion, espionage and sedition”. The order imposed steep terms on employees even if the wrongdoers turn out to be someone they were only acquainted with by virtue of “affection, influence and obligation”

Also read: Summoned, Raided, Censored: Crackdown On Journalists Is The New Normal In Kashmir

The government also reiterated directions for journalists to stay off encounter sites and desist from covering clashes between police and protesters or publish news that provokes “anti-national” sentiments. Amidst other sweeping restrictions was the ban on drones, imposed after an attack involving a drone in Jammu.

Additionally, the National Crime Records Bureau revealed this year that J&K accounted for the highest number of UAPA cases registered in 2020. UAPA cases were filed on 2021 against persons resisting cordon-and-search operations, leading funeral prayers of slain militant men, throwing stones and raising “anti-national slogans” during protests. UAPA cases were also filed against students at Srinagar medical colleges after the controversy created by their celebrating Pakistan’s victory over India during the T20 cricket World Cup.

Also read: Kashmir: Students, College Management Charged With UAPA for ‘Celebrating’ Pakistan’s Win

Politics

Politically, 2021 turned out to be a febrile year with politicians switching sides and defections becoming suspiciously common.

The Sajad Lone-led People’s Conference left the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), a political union seeking the reversal of the August 5, 2019 decision to do away with Article 370 and the consequent revocation of J&K’s status as a state.

File image of Sajad Lone. Photo: PTI

Rivalries and competing political interests ensured a fractured mainstream political terrain, where generating a consensus became harder than ever. Such an outcome, in fact, was likely in favour of New Delhi, until a host of political imperatives prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call the entire class of Kashmiri political leaders to Delhi in June. The 3-hour-long meeting failed to break the ice due to the government’s stubborn insistence to prioritise delimitation; the exercise of redrawing assembly constituencies.

The most recent notice from the Delimitation Commission, coming this month, triggered a political storm when it announced that six of the seven new assembly seats will be allocated to Jammu while Kashmir will be assigned only one, leading political parties to accuse the Modi administration of foul play.

Also read: Here’s Why Neither Kashmir Nor Jammu Is Happy With Delimitation Commission’s Draft Report

Additionally, the government also had to face public heat over an alleged staged gun-battle resulting in the killing of three innocent labourers in Amshipora in Shopian. In November, another gunfight in Hyderpora took place under similar controversial circumstances and reignited political action, long pinned down by the indiscriminate use of ‘lawfare’. The growing public impatience has since been very conspicuous.

The trajectory of events in 2021 clearly establishes that the Modi government’s penchant for experimental policies has inflamed rather than diffused the situation in Kashmir. The arithmetic may indeed reflect plummeting levels of unrest, but that is only because maintaining the status quo requires governing Kashmir as a de facto police state. If this quality becomes permanent, the Modi government is in for a long haul.

GST Council Defers Implementation of Tax Rate Hike on Textiles

Many states, including Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, had opposed the move to hike the tax rate on textiles to 12%.

New Delhi: The GST Council on Friday decided to put on hold the decision to hike the tax rate on textiles to 12% after many states, including Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, opposed the move, an official said.

The 46th meeting of the GST Council, chaired by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state counterparts, decided to deliberate on the issue further in its next meeting.

Currently, the tax rate on manmade fibre (MMF) is 18%, MMF yarn 12%, while fabrics are taxed at 5%.

The Council in its previous meeting on September 17 had decided to correct the inverted duty structure in footwear and textile sectors.

With effect from January 1, 2022, all footwear, irrespective of prices, will attract GST at 12%. It was also decided that 12% uniform GST rate would apply on textile products, except cotton, including readymade garments.

States like Gujarat, West Bengal, Delhi, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu have said they are not in favour of a hike in Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate on textiles to 12% from 5%, with effect from January 1, 2022.

Amit Mitra, the advisor to the West Bengal chief minister, had earlier urged the Union government to roll back the proposed tax rate hike on textiles, saying this would lead to the closure of around 1 lakh textile units and 15 lakh job losses.

Myanmar Court Jails Celebrities Who Supported Democracy Protests

A court in military-ruled Myanmar jailed three prominent show business figures for three years each for their part in protests against the February coup.

A court in military-ruled Myanmar jailed three prominent show business figures for three years each on Thursday for their part in protests against the February coup, media reported.

The military overthrew an elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, triggering protests and turmoil that is still unfolding.

Among those who took part were high-profile actor couple Pyay Ti Oo and Eaindra Kyaw Zin, who were arrested in April and charged under a section of the penal code that outlaws the spreading of dissent.

A court in the main city of Yangon jailed them for three years with hard labour, the Mizzima news agency and the BBC’s Burmese-language service reported.

Also read: In First Visit to Myanmar After Coup, India’s Foreig Secretary Raises Manipur Ambush

Reuters was not able to contact the court or the couple’s lawyers for comment. A spokesman for the military junta did not answer a call seeking comment.

Famous actor-director Lu Min, who has starred in more than 1,000 films, received the same sentence on the same charge, Mizzima and the BBC reported. Reuters was not able to contact his lawyer.

Another celebrity, male model Paing Takhon, was sentenced to three years in jail with hard labour on Monday, according to his lawyer.

Myanmar has a thriving arts and entertainment scene. Much of the theatre and music is rooted in traditional themes but Burmese-language cover versions of Asian and Western pop songs are hugely popular and young Myanmar singers and actors have big followings.

At least 1,377 people have been killed and more than 11,000 jailed in a crackdown on protests and armed opposition since the coup, according to a tally by the Association for Assistance of Political Prisoners.

The military government disputes those numbers and says soldiers have also been killed in clashes.

Russia Lists Pussy Riot Member, Art Collector and Satirist as ‘Foreign Agents’

Capping a year of crackdowns on Kremlin critics unseen since the Soviet era, Russian authorities this week ordered the closure of the country’s oldest human rights group Memorial International.

Moscow: Russia on Thursday designated a member of the Pussy Riot punk band, a prominent art collector and a well-known satirist as “foreign agents”, the latest in a series of moves critics say are designed to stifle dissent.

Capping a year of crackdowns on Kremlin critics unseen since the Soviet era, Russian authorities this week ordered the closure of the country’s oldest human rights group Memorial International.

2021 also saw the jailing of Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin’s top critic, and his movement banned. Many of his allies were forced to flee.

The government says it is enforcing laws to thwart extremism and shield the country from what it says are malign foreign influences.

On Thursday, Russia‘s justice ministry added Nadezhda Tolokonnikova from Pussy Riot, art collector Marat Gelman, satirist and Kremlin critic Viktor Shenderovich and five others to the list of “foreign agents” that has now grown to 111 names from 17 as of late 2020.

The term “foreign agent” carries negative Soviet-era connotations and subjects those listed to stringent financial reporting requirements. It also obliges them to preface anything they publish with a disclaimer stating they are foreign agents.

Shenderovich is one of Russia‘s most prominent satirists, best known for a political caricature puppet show televised in the 1990s.

Tolokonnikova helped launch Pussy Riot, which became known for a series of provocative performances including protesting against the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church.

She is also one of the founders of independent news outlet Mediazona, which was itself labelled “foreign agent” in late September.

Also read: Russia: Putin Issues Veiled Threat to Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muratov

On Thursday, Mediazona said the justice ministry had put it on the list for citing other “foreign agents” and receiving money from Google advertisements.

Media outlets have complained that carrying “foreign agent” disclaimers is akin to defacing their own products and severely dents advertising revenue.

Several Russian media outlets with the label opted to shut down as finding sponsors and advertisers became almost impossible.

The Kremlin rejects the idea that media are being persecuted and says the legislation is needed to protect Russia from foreign meddling and that journalists and NGOs can be manipulated.

(Reuters)

As Electoral Bonds Go on Sale Again, Concerns on Scheme’s Opacity Remain Unheard

Activists and opposition politicians have questioned why the Supreme Court has so far not taken up the petitions which challenged the constitutional validity of this scheme.

New Delhi: On December 30, 2021, the Union finance ministry announced that the 19th phase of the sale of electoral bonds will begin from January 1 and go on till January 10.

Politicians and rights activists have once again raised the grave concerns associated with anonymous funding through these bonds.

They have also questioned why the Supreme Court has so far not taken up the petitions which challenged the constitutional validity of this scheme.

The finance ministry’s statement said the sale of electoral bonds will take place at 29 authorised branches of State Bank of India. The bank has been authorised to issue and en-cash these bonds.

The ministry said the Union government notified the electoral bond scheme in 2018 and as per its provisions electoral bonds may be purchased by a person who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. As per the scheme, political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and which have secured not less than 1% of the votes polled in the last general election to the Lok Sabha or a state assembly are eligible to receive electoral bonds and then get them en-cashed through a bank account.

Also read: Sedition, Farm Laws, Electoral Bonds: Over 200 Eminent Citizens Urge CJI to Hear Key Matters

The scheme has been criticised for promoting opacity in donations.

Many petitions against scheme pending in SC

In 2017, the Election Commission had also raised serious concerns about the scheme.

A number of petitions have also been filed in the Supreme Court since 2018. The apex court has twice refused an interim stay on the scheme – the latest on March 26, 2021, when a bench led by then Chief Justice S.A. Bobde heard a petition filed by the NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Opposition parties have also repeatedly held that the electoral bond scheme allows large anonymous donations to political parties, and this undermines the essence of democracy.

In July this year, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) moved the apex court seeking urgent hearing of a batch of petitions that had challenged the constitutional validity of the electoral bonds scheme. In its petition, the Left party had stated that the matter pertained to “the right to know and have information of who, rather which entities/corporations are funding our political parties, potential quid pro quos, corruption, etc.”

Also read: As Electoral Bond Sales Begin Again, Critics Reiterate Need to End Anonymous Political Donations

“It is important for a functioning democracy to have a transparent system of political funding. Since the adoption of the Electoral Bonds Scheme in 2018…there has been a massive amount anonymous donations which challenges the very core of our democratic functioning,” the CPI(M) petition said.

Businesses allowed to make anonymous donations through scheme

The scheme has also been criticised for the manner in which it was structured. It is said that the removal of a limit on corporate donations that existed earlier, and allowed donation of only 7.5% of three-year average net profit, has since allowed businesses to make anonymous political donations.

On December 30 evening, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted about how the matter pertaining to the scheme is still pending before the apex court even as the sale of electoral bonds is about to begin. He insisted that while the petitions remain unheard for more than three years, this has permitted BJP to display obscene money power.

Nearly three-fourths of all electoral bond money

The opposition’s criticism of the scheme as one structured to support the ruling party is not without reason. BJP has emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the scheme. As reported by The Wire in August this year, the saffron party received about three-fourths, or 76%, of the electoral bonds sold in the financial year 2019-20.

Citing data from the Election Commission, NDTV had come out with a report as per which Congress was a distant second getting just 9% of the total bonds sold during the fiscal year. In all, electoral bonds had netted Rs 3,355 crore in in 2019-20.

Of this amount, BJP received Rs 2,555 crore in 2019-20, a 75% increase from the Rs 1,450 crore it received in the previous year. Congress received Rs 318 crore in 2019-20, a 17% decline from the previous year when it had received Rs 383 crore from electoral bonds.

‘Majority of funding from unknown sources’

Another report by ADR in August this year had stated that over 70% of the income of the political parties was coming through unknown sources, including electoral bonds. It said the political parties garnered Rs 3,377.41 crore from such sources in 2019-20, which amounted to 70.98% of their total income.

The report also pointed out that out of the income of Rs 3,377.41 crore that came from such unknown sources, the income from electoral bonds was Rs 2,993.82 crore or 88.64%.

It added that while the parties need money for their expenses, an analysis of their income tax returns and donation statements filed with the Election Commission revealed that most of the sources of such income were never revealed.

The report also said that such anonymous donations become possible since the political parties do not have to reveal names of individuals or organisations giving less than Rs 20,000 and neither do they have to disclose the names of those donating through electoral bonds.

Nearly 15,000 crore collected by political parties from unknown sources in last 15 years

Stating that over 70% of the funds remained anonymous, the ADR report also revealed that between 2004-05 and 2019-20, the political parties had collected Rs 14,651.53 crore from such unknown sources. “During the financial year 2019-20, the BJP declared Rs 2,642.63 crore as income from unknown sources which is 78.24 per cent of the total income of national parties from unknown sources (Rs 3,377.41 crore),” the report added.

As for the Congress, it said, the party had declared Rs 526 crore as income from unknown sources, which amounted to 15.57% of the total income of the national parties from unknown sources.

Also read: In 2019-20, BJP Got 76% of Total Electoral Bonds; Congress Got 9%: Report

Stating that the unknown income was generated through various means such as ‘donations through Electoral Bonds’, ‘sale of coupons’, ‘relief fund’, ‘miscellaneous income’, ‘voluntary contributions’, and ‘contribution from meetings/morchas’, the ADR had recommended that a body approved by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and the Election Commission of India should conduct the scrutiny of financial documents submitted by the political parties.

‘Only big companies eyeing bigger returns would buy electoral bonds of Rs 1 crore’

Earlier, transparency rights and RTI activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (retired) had also raised the issue of a majority of the electoral bonds sold having been of the highest – Rs 1 crore – denomination. He had told The Wire that an analysis of the data had revealed that over 92% of the electoral bonds sold were off the Rs 1 crore denomination, which was the highest denomination allowed for them.

“Think of who can buy electoral bonds of Rs 1 crore denomination. It is not ordinary citizens like you or me but only big companies who have eyes on bigger returns. And that is where corruption begins,” he remarked.

Batra had insisted that “transparency is the foundation of a democracy that requires a ‘free and fair’ electoral process. For that people have the ‘right to know’ the candidates and the political party well. Also, this demands that there should be transparent political funding since anonymous donations through electoral bonds creates an uneven political playing field.”

Maharashtra: Court Denies Pre- Arrest Bail to BJP Leader Nitesh Rane in ‘Attempt to Murder’ Case

Nitesh claimed in the application that he had been falsely implicated in the case and was being targeted due to political rivalry.

Mumbai: A sessions court in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district on Thursday rejected an anticipatory bail plea of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Nitesh Rane in an alleged attempt to murder case.

Nitesh, the son of Union minister Narayan Rane, represents Kankavli Assembly seat in the Sindhudurg district.

He had filed a pre-arrest bail application in connection with an alleged attack on one Santosh Parab (44).

Nitesh claimed in the application that he had been falsely implicated in the case and was being targeted due to political rivalry.

Special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat argued before the court that police have collected enough evidence to show that Nitesh Rane was behind the attack.

The purpose of the attack was to terrorize people, he claimed.

Rane’s lawyer Advocate Sangram Desai alleged that he was being framed up in a false case so that he could not campaign in the election of the district cooperative bank.

Amid speculation about Nitesh Rane’s possible arrest in the case, Narayan Rane had on Tuesday claimed his son was being falsely implicated in the case and the maha vikas aghadi government in Maharashtra was misusing its power.

During the recently-concluded winter session of the Maharashtra legislature, Nitesh Rane had allegedly mocked Shiv Sena minister Aaditya Thackeray by mimicking the cat’s sound on the legislature premises.

In August this year, Narayan Rane was arrested in connection with his alleged ‘slap’ remarks against chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. The remarks had led to a war of words between Rane and Shiv Sena.

(PTI)

COVID (Mostly) and Beyond: India’s 10 Biggest Health Stories From 2021

In a year dominated by COVID, The Wire’s Banjot Kaur rounds up the biggest developments around the disease as well as a few of the other big health stories from India.

As 2021 draws to a close, here are 10 major developments in India’s healthcare sector that defined the year.

1. India’s dubious approval for Covaxin

In the last quarter of 2020, various countries began to evaluate and approve the world’s first COVID-19 vaccines, manufactured by Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, for use. India also prepared to roll out its vaccines: Covishield, the AstraZeneca shot made and sold by Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin, developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research and Bharat Biotech and sold by the latter. But the manner in which the national drug regulator approved Covaxin – sans phase 3 trial data and in “clinical trial mode” – took the country’s, and the world’s, scientific community by surprise.

2. First signs of a second wave

Sometime around mid-February, India received early signs that a second major COVID-19 outbreak was coming up. The national case load was climbing after five months and the basic reproductive number seemed to persist above 1. But other than a handful of researchers, not many took the signs seriously – including the Union government, which constantly denied that a surge was in the offing. The missed alert would turn out to exact a very heavy toll.

3. India discovers delta

Even as the number of cases kept rising in India from February, researchers in the country reported a new variant of the novel coronavirus. The director of the National Centre for Disease Control, Sujeet Singh, called it a “double mutant” variant – a term scientists criticised since any new variant had to be a combination of mutations (just one mutation doesn’t make a new variant). The variant had actually been found in October 2020; just the announcement took five months. The WHO later called it ‘delta’, and wreaked havoc in multiple countries, including India, in the second half of 2021.

4. An unprecedented death toll

India witnessed one of the worst human tragedies in recent memory from April to June, with an unprecedented number of COVID-19 cases and deaths being reported on a daily basis. The world watched with horror as the country’s healthcare system imploded, especially once the number of daily new cases crossed the 1 lakh mark in April. Patients were gasping for air – often literally – because supplemental oxygen was in short supply, as were medicines and beds. Many died without timely care, and crematoria fires burnt 24/7. On May 7 alone, India logged 4.15 lakh new cases.

Situation outside Ghaziabad’s Hindon ghat during the second wave. Photo: Special arrangement.

5. A new but old enemy: mucormycosis

Just as the worst of the second outbreak was fading, India ran into another crisis. An epidemic of mucormycosis – colloquially called ‘black fungus’ – broke out among a larger number of people recovering from COVID-19. By June, more than 30,000 people had got the infection, and more than 2,000 died. Some patients had to have their eyes removed to prevent the fungal infection from spreading to their brains. Until then, India had been reporting around a hundred mucormycosis cases a year. A common theory to explain the surge was that doctors had overused steroids to treat patients with COVID-19, which increased their blood sugar levels and laid the ground for the fungus to take root.

6. Government lifts restrictions

The number of COVID-19 cases in the country began to decline from around July, prompting various state governments to begin lifting restrictions in a phased manner, often in consultation with the Union health and home ministries. By August, life around the country had returned to the ‘new normal’.

7. WHO approves Covaxin – finally

After protracted deliberations, a technical team at the WHO listed Covaxin on its roster of vaccines approved for emergency use on November 3. By this time, Covaxin had been part of India’s COVID-19 vaccination drive for 10 months. Bharat Biotech, Covaxin’s manufacturer, had applied for approval with the WHO in April 2020. In these months, the WHO team had multiple meetings to review the company’s data and, unconvinced, kept asking for more information. And once the WHO’s approval came through, Bharat Biotech managing director Krishna Ella courted controversy when he blamed a “negative campaign by a section of media and politicians” for the WHO’s late approval. The UN health body dismissed his charge.

8. Vaccine exports resume

India restarted COVID-19 vaccine exports from October, but with much less fanfare this time than earlier in the year. The government had paused exports after it was heavily criticised for exporting doses when most of its own people were yet to be vaccinated. In October, India exported one million doses of Covaxin to Iran; The Wire reported that  it was a grant-in-aid delivery. Three more consignments were flown to Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar in the same month. Both Nepal and Bangladesh received a million doses of Covishield each, as part of their deals with Serum Institute, and Myanmar received a million doses of Covaxin as a grant-in-aid.

9. Doctors launch protests

On November 22, scientists in South Africa reported a new variant of the novel coronavirus, which the WHO called ‘omicron’. India registered its first case of the variant on December 2, and prepared to strengthen infrastructure and bring more healthcare workers to the frontlines. However, the exact opposite happened. Young doctors in many cities launched protests to demand that the government begin academic counselling for medical students who had passed the NEET-PG exam post-haste. Doing so would clear the way to admit close to 50,000 junior residents in hospitals (they also treat patients as part of their study). Their protests are still on.

doctors protests

Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association India (FORDA INDIA) members and doctors of Safdarjung Hospital stage a demonstration against the delays in NEET-PG Counselling 2021, at ITO in New Delhi. Photo: Twitter/FORDA

10. The world’s first malaria vaccine

2021 was bleak because of the number of people who died – but there was one distinct ray of light, and hope: the WHO approved the world’s first malaria vaccine. According to the latest World Malaria report, 241 million people in 85 countries had malaria in 2020, and 627,000 of them died. Some 83% of all cases in Southeast Asia were in India alone. The new vaccine, ‘Mosquirix’, is the first against any parasite, and it saves one life for every 200 children vaccinated. Many children suffer from repeated episodes of malaria in a single year and Mosquirix promises to reduce such recurrence by 40%. It could very well be a game-changer for the children of Africa, and soon for the whole world.