Month: August 2022

‘Will Legally Challenge SC Order on Bengaluru Idgah Maidan’: Karnataka Minister

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court had overturned a high court order allowing the Idgah Maidan to be used for Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations, ordering that status quo of the land be maintained.

New Delhi: Following the Supreme Court order directing that status quo be maintained and restricting Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations from being held at the Idgah Maidan in Bengaluru’s Chamarajpet, Karnataka revenue minister R. Ashoka has said that the fight for legal ownership of the ground will continue in the courts.

While the Karnataka Waqf Board, before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, August 30, maintained that it has been in uninterrupted possession of the land since 1871, Ashoka has claimed the land is actually “public property”, The News Minute reported.

The revenue minister also noted that the people of Chamarajpet were eager to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi on the ground and that he would “fight legally in the courts in the days to come”.

Karnataka revenue minister R. Ashoka. Photo: PTI.

On Tuesday, Chief Justice of India (CJI), U.U. Lalit had constituted a three-judge bench to hear the petition of the Waqf Board challenging the high court’s decision to allow Ganesh Utsav celebrations there. The CJI constituted the bench after being referred the matter from a two-judge bench which noted that no consensus could be reached between the two judges due to a “difference of opinion”.

Also read: SC Halts Government’s Plans For Ganesh Chaturthi Celebrations At Idgah Maidan In Bengaluru

The counsel for the Waqf Board noted that changes to the status of a Waqf property need to be made in accordance with the Waqf Act and that the state government cannot interfere with Muslims’ rights to administer such properties.

Meanwhile, the counsel for the state of Karnataka argued that the Board does not have “exclusive possession” of the property and sought for permission for the land to be used for Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations for only two days, with the matter of the ownership of the land being left to be determined at a later date.

The bench of Justices Indira Banerjee, A.S. Oka, and M.M. Sundresh overturned the high court’s order and ordered the status quo of the land be maintained, orally remarking, ““For 200 years it was not done, you also admit, so why not status quo, for 200 years whatever was not held, let it be.”

While disposing of the present Special Leave Petition (SLP), however, the bench noted that the parties could agitate the matter before the high court and set the next date of hearing as September 23.

Following the order, The News Minute report noted that members of the right-wing citizens group, Chamarajpet Nagarikara Okkoota Vedike, said that while they will abide by the top court’s order, they will mount a legal challenge to the ownership of the land.

Also read: In Late-Night Hearing, Karnataka HC Allows Ganesh Chaturthi Festival At Hubbali Idgah Maidan

Interestingly, soon after the Supreme Court’s order, the Anjuman-i-Islam moved a petition before the Dharwad bench of the Karnataka high court challenging an order by the Hubbali civic body allowing Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations to be held at the Hubbali Idgah Maidan.

In that case, however, a single-judge bench dismissed the petition and allowed the celebrations to be conducted, noting that the “facts of the case” were different since there was no ownership dispute with the Hubbali Maidan.

The Anjuman-i-Islam challenged the high court verdict before the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Provisions of Employees State Insurance Act Applicable to BCCI: Supreme Court

The activities of the cricket board are commercial in nature and can be termed as a “shop” for the purposes of attracting the provisions of the Act, the top court said.

New Delhi: The activities of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are commercial in nature and can be termed as a “shop” for the purposes of attracting the provisions of the Employees State Insurance (ESI) Act, the Supreme Court has said.

The top court said ESI Act is welfare legislation enacted by the Union government and a narrow meaning should not be attached to the words used in the Act as it seeks to insure the employees of covered establishments against various risks to their life, health, and well-being and places the charge upon the employer.

A bench of Justices M.R. Shah and P.S. Narasimha said no error has been committed by the ESI court and/or the high court in treating and considering the BCCI as a shop for applicability of the ESI Act.

“Considering the systematic activities being carried out by the BCCI namely, selling of tickets of cricket matches; providing entertainment; rendering the services for a price; receiving the income from international tours and the income from the Indian Premier League, the ESI Court, as well as the High Court, have rightly concluded that the BCCI is carrying out systematic economic commercial activities and, therefore, the BCCI can be said to be ‘shop’ for the purposes of attracting the provisions of ESI Act,” the bench said.

The top court was dealing with the question of whether the BCCI can be said to be a shop as per the notification dated September 18, 1978, and if the provisions of the ESI Act shall be applicable to the BCCI or not.

Also Read: Reservation: SC Grants Three Weeks to Centre To Place on Record Current Stand

The Bombay High Court had said that BCCI is covered within the meaning of shop as per notification dated September 18, 1978, issued by the Government of Maharashtra under the provisions of Section 1(5) of the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948.

The top court said the term shop should not be understood and interpreted in its traditional sense as the same would not serve the purpose of the ESI Act.

It said an expansive meaning may be assigned to the word shop for the purposes of the ESI Act.

The apex court said submission on behalf of the BCCI that its predominant activity is to encourage cricket/sports and, therefore, the same shall not be brought within the definition of shop for the purposes of applying the ESI Act, has no substance.

“It is also required to be noted that while holding so, the high court has also taken into consideration the relevant clauses of the Memorandum of Association of the BCCI to come to the conclusion that the activities of the BCCI can be said to be systematic commercial activities providing entertainment by selling tickets, etc. The Memorandum of Association as a whole is required to be considered.

“In view of the above and for the reasons stated above, we see no reason to interfere with the impugned judgement and order passed by the High Court as well as the ESI Court. As such, we are in complete agreement with the view taken by the High Court. The special leave petitions stand dismissed accordingly,” the bench said.

(PTI)

Bihar: Controversial Minister’s Portfolio Changed From Law to Sugarcane

Kartik Kumar’s induction as law minister despite his alleged involvement in a case of kidnapping had drawn heavy opposition fire.

Patna: The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar on August 31 changed the portfolio of its law minister Kartik Kumar, whose induction despite alleged involvement in a case of kidnapping had drawn heavy opposition fire.

According to a notification issued by the cabinet secretariat department, Kartik Kumar will be swapping portfolios with sugarcane minister Shamim Ahmed.

An RJD MLC who is said to be close to controversial former Mokama MLA Anant Kumar Singh, Kartik is understood to have been chosen by his party as part of RJD heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav’s outreach towards Bhumihars, a powerful upper caste largely sympathetic towards BJP.

Also Read: Bihar’s Mahagathbandhan Leaders Call For Withdrawing General Consent To CBI

The BJP, which lost power in the upheaval the state witnessed earlier this month, raised hell over Kartik’s induction despite his name figuring in a 2014 abduction case.

State BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal reacted to the reshuffle with disdain.

“Nitish Kumar is demonstrating that he can get people framed in cases and offer them protection if they become loyal to him. He had extended such a favour to (RJD president) Lalu Prasad and his son Tejashwi. He is now doing the same to Kartik,” Jaiswal alleged.

State Congress spokesman Asit Nath Tiwari hit back, saying, “Why have a problem with a cabinet reshuffle in Bihar? Nobody had a problem when Prime Minister Narendra Modi changed portfolios of Union ministers like Piyush Goyal and Smriti Irani.”

(PTI)

SC Terms ‘Wholly Unwarranted’ Manner in Which HC Dealt With Land Possession Matter

The apex court observed that the high court had gone “out of the way” to order possession of land which was never proceeded with a letter of allotment in favour of the wife of an ex-serviceman who died in July 1998.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has termed as “wholly unwarranted” the manner in which the Rajasthan high court dealt with a matter relating to the possession of land to the widow of an ex-Sepoy of the Indian Army whose foot was amputated due to a mine blast in the 1965 India-Pakistan war.

The apex court observed that the high court had gone “out of the way” to order possession of the land which was never proceeded with a letter of allotment in favour of the wife of the ex-serviceman, who died in July 1998.

A bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Vikram Nath set aside the order passed by the high court in the matter.

“The manner in which the matter has been dealt with by the high court under the guise of help to a disabled ex-serviceman is wholly unwarranted,” the bench said in its verdict delivered on Tuesday.

The man, while serving as a Sepoy in the Army, had suffered an injury on the right leg due to the mine blast which led to the amputation of his foot and he was thereafter invalidated from service.

The state had framed the Rajasthan Special Assistance to Disabled Ex-Servicemen and Dependants of Deceased Defence Personnel (Allotment of Lands) Rules, 1963, and the man was a disabled ex-serviceman.

The top court noted it appeared that the man had applied for allotment of land in the category of disabled war personnel and the Soldier Welfare Section of the Revenue Department of the state sent a letter to the District Collector of Udaipur in March 1971 wherein it was conveyed that it has been decided to allot 25 ‘Bighas’ in village Rohikhera.

Also Read: Congress Looks All Set to Form Government in Rajasthan

The apex court also noted that there was no letter of allotment of land issued to the man or his wife on record in pursuance of the letter, which was an inter-departmental communication and not a communication to the disabled soldier.

The ex-serviceman’s wife later filed a writ petition raising a grievance that possession of the land allotted in March 1971 has not been handed over to her husband or to her.

A single judge of the high court had found that the alternative land offered to her was located in a remote area and was not cultivable and therefore, a direction was issued to give possession of the land originally allotted.

The top court noted that an intra-court appeal preferred by the state in the high court remained unsuccessful and it has come on record that the land in question was allotted to the writ petitioner.

It noted that the high court order was challenged when an attempt was made to evict the appellants from the land which was cultivated by them allegedly for over 60 years.

“The high court had gone out of the way to order possession of land which was never proceeded with letter of allotment in favour of the writ petitioner. The approach of the high court is most unfortunate,” the bench said.

The top court said it is well-settled that inter-departmental communications are in the process of consideration for appropriate decisions and cannot be relied upon as a basis to claim any right.

It said the basis of the claim of the writ petitioner was a letter written by the secretary of the Soldier Welfare Department to the District Collector of Udaipur in March 1971 for allotment of land.

The bench noted that the Rules contemplated that if the possession is not taken within six months, the allotment shall be deemed to have been cancelled.

“The disabled ex-serviceman had not taken any action for almost 27 years after the so-called letter of allotment during his life time,” it said.

“The proceedings show an extra interest taken by the high court, and not in respect of mere allotment of land but also of the land which was once allotted and is now close to the national highway,” it said.

While allowing the appeal, the bench said the writ petition filed by the woman was “wholly misconceived, mischievous with collateral motives and may be having the patronage of the officers/officials”.

(PTI)

Bhopal: Family Claims Their House Was Demolished Because of Scuffle With Municipal Official

On August 20, Altaf Khan’s tea stall was cleared as part of an anti-encroachment drive. A week later, officials also demolished the house where his mother lives because Khan apparently slapped a BMC official.

New Delhi: The residents of a house in Bhopal’s Banganga area that was demolished by the municipal corporation on August 27 claimed that the act was retribution for a relative of theirs getting into a scuffle with a municipality official.

On August 20, tea stall owner Altaf Khan had reportedly slapped Kamar Sakib – an official of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) – during an anti-encroachment drive as part of which his stall was to be removed. A week later, a house in which Altaf’s mother lives – but is actually owned by Altaf’s cousins – was demolished. The family claims this was done only to “avenge” what transpired with the BMC official.

The municipal corporation, however, claims that the house was built illegally.

A case was registered against Altaf, Aijaz Baig and Manoj Lodhi on August 20 at the TT Nagar police station based on a complaint by Kamar Sakib. The trio was booked under Sections 353 (attacking a public servant), 294 (obscenity), 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (causing hurt), and section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

While both Aijaz and Manoj were arrested after a first information report (FIR) was registered, the whereabouts of Altaf are not known. His family claims that his phone is switched off and his location is untraceable as he did not return home after the scuffle on August 20.

In the FIR accessed by The Wire, the anti-encroachment official states that he was abused when he was processing a drive in the New Market region of Bhopal. Sakib states that he was obstructed whilst he was trying to remove the tea and snacks stall run by Altaf. He alleges that he and his staff were threatened by the three men and swear words were hurled at him.

Following this – on the morning of August 27 – a team of police and BMC officials reached the house where Altaf Khan’s mother Kanija Bi lives, situated in the Banganga area, and demolished it. Shabista Zaki, the leader of the opposition in the BMC, tried to stop the demolition. She was told that the drive was being carried out as the structure of Altaf’s residence is illegal.

During the demolition, Altaf’s mother Kanija Bi was reportedly manhandled and suffered injuries.

The Wire spoke to Altaf’s cousin Irshad Baig, whose family owns the house, about what transpired. He stated, “We could not go close to our house when it was being demolished. We were not given any notice, we found out only at 12 pm. Altaf’s mother has suffered injuries on her hands and other areas as she was dragged out of the house when it was being demolished. She had to be admitted for treatment and has now been given discharged.”

On the basis of a complaint filed by Altaf’s mother Kanija Bi and Shabista Zaki, the Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission has issued notice to the Bhopal collector, the municipal corporation’s commissioner and the additional commissioner of police.

Speaking to The Wire, Shabista Zaki said, “The land patta was allotted to the Kanija Bi’s cousin under the PM Awas Yojana in 2017. After which they built a house. Altaf’s cousins built the house with their own money. Since Altaf slapped the official, they came in and demolished the house where his mother lives. It is raining heavily and she is a widow. The family is suffering greatly.”

She added, “As far as the shop is concerned, it was also given by the municipal corporation. It is also routine that during anti-encroachment drives, scuffles break out. However, no official has the right to demolish anyone’s house. If an FIR was already registered, the demolition should not have taken place.”

The complaint to the Human Rights Commission stated that the BMC did not comply with the state government’s Street Vendor Livelihood Protection Act, 2017. The complainants requested the Commission to take action against the concerned officer and provide compensation to the family.

The Wire reached out to BMC commissioner K.V.S. Choudhary. No response was received.

Over the past few months, several BJP-led governments have demolished houses of people accused of crimes. Though they claim that the demolitions were conducted because the structures were illegal, critics have said that the idea of “bulldozer justice” should be put to an end. Petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court to stop governments from arbitrarily raze houses of people.

With inputs from Kashif Kakvi.

TMC vs TMC: Jawhar Sircar’s Comments on Corruption Draw Fierce Response From Saugata Roy

Comments by Jawhar Sircar on a TV channel that he was ‘humiliated’ after corruption charges were levelled against some party members have not gone down well with his colleagues.

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar faced a verbal attack from his party colleague and Lok Sabha MP Saugata Roy after the former expressed in a recent interview his discomfort over the raft of corruption charges that his party has faced.

Roy – a former Union minister who first became an MP in 1977 – called Sircar “selfish”, “self-centred” and one “who never cared for anything but personal interests”. Roy even dared Sircar to relinquish his Rajya Sabha berth to “stop enjoying the benefits”.

The controversy started on Monday, August 29, after Sircar told a Bengali TV channel that the humiliation he faced from family and friends in the aftermath of the recovery of cash from a female associate of suspended TMC heavyweight Partha Chatterjee was unprecedented in his life.

“When we first saw it, we could not believe our own eyes. Recovery of such a huge amount of cash was unimaginable. Irrespective of political parties, such scenes of corruption have been rare on TV. Besides, there was the question of association with another person… there was a moral issue. People were bound to comment. This cannot be stopped. My family immediately asked me to quit… Rajya Sabha, politics altogether,” Sircar had said.

He had added that his friends jokingly asked him why was he still with the party and how much money he had received. “I have never faced such humiliation,” the former bureaucrat, who became a Rajya Sabha MP in August 2021, had said.

“This way of making limitless money with help of the stamp of a political party, buying apartments for a female friend, purchasing SUVs, these cannot be accepted, tolerated. This practice of loot was absent in our culture,” he had said.

According to Sircar, he entered politics seeing the 2021 Bengal assembly election result as a “beacon of hope” against the Narendra Modi-led Union government. He identifies BJP as a “fascist-communalist” force, with which no compromise could be made. “I have not come (to politics) for money. I receive a pension. If I cannot maintain self-esteem, I’ll quit,” he had said.

Also read: TMC May Have Sacked Partha Chatterjee, But Its Problems With Corruption Run Deep

He had said that there was a class of people in politics – cutting across all parties – who come across as “opportunists and corrupt by their very appearance”. “If such people are not excluded, the battle for 2024 will be difficult with one part of the body rotten,” he had said.

While the party has disassociated itself from Chatterjee’s deeds, it has, as of now, backed the other jailed leader, Anubrata Mandal – who is being probed in connection with a cattle smuggling case. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has extended support in advance to minister Firhad Hakim, anticipating that he could become the next target of central agencies.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Photo: PTI/File

Saugata Roy hits out 

In this context, as Sircar’s remarks went viral, Saugata Roy launched a scathing attack on him, also while speaking to a TV channel. “He [Sircar] is feeling socially demoralised. He alone has a social position? None of us have it? He should better quit. We will be relieved. We will elect someone else in the by-election. He will still be lucky… he will be receiving the Rajya Sabha pension. But he will stop enjoying the benefits,” said Roy.

Taking a dig at the Rajya Sabha MP, Roy said, “The likes of Sircar never cared for anything but personal interest. He never walked in any TMC rally before becoming a Rajya Sabha member. He has made no sacrifice. He never helped anyone from the TMC during his tenure as India’s culture secretary.”

Roy even said that bureaucrats like Sircar – “who never helped anyone, never stood by any person in trouble” – were likely to take benefits from association with a party as long as it enjoyed a good time.

“It’s okay as long as they can take the Rs 2 lakh salary and make flight trips at will. During the party’s difficult time, they will criticise and find ways to quit… He is saying he wants to talk eye to eye with Modi. Who listens to him? What political influence does he have?” asked Roy. He thinks that the party should take disciplinary action against Sircar.

The Wire tried to speak to several TMC leaders and spokespersons, but all of them declined to add any further comment. One Lok Sabha MP, speaking on the condition of anonymity, claimed that a majority of the party’s senior leaders were “unhappy” with Sircar’s comments. However, there seemed to be no likelihood of any disciplinary action against either Sircar or Roy at present, the leader said.

Also read: Corruption-Struck TMC Readies for Biggest Challenge: Ensuring Violence-Free Panchayat Polls

“The party took prompt and strong action against Chatterjee. Sircar should have highlighted how we set an example with our actions against him. He should have highlighted how the central agencies are being used to harass leaders of not only our parties but every opposition party. Instead, he chose to embarrass the party publicly. I personally think Roy’s message had the party’s backing and that the party wants everyone to stop airing personal views in the public,” the Lok Sabha MP said.

Later, on Wednesday evening, veteran TMC MLA who had served as Sircar’s election agent during the Rajya Sabha poll, told the media that Sircar leaving the party wouldn’t impact the organisation in any way.

“Did he consult the chief minister before making these comments? He is fearing loss of public image. His social position increased after becoming a Rajya Sabha MP. Did he take his family’s permission before accepting the Rajya Sabha nomination? I am feeling ashamed to think I was his election agent,” said Roy.

He added that Sircar is an erudite but not a political person. “Neither was our 2021 battle dependent on him nor would the one for 2024 depend on him. His comments damaged the party, but he leaving the organisation wouldn’t harm us,” the former minister said. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The BJP’s IT cell national chief Amit Malviya, who is also a co-in charge of the party’s Bengal unit, was quick to grab the issue to take digs at both Sircar and the party.

In a tweet, Malviya wrote, “Imagine how bad it must be for Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, when even a lowlife like Jawahar Sircar (TMC Rajya Sabha MP), feels repulsed at the obscene amount of cash recovered from Partha Chatterjee’s close aide’s homes… His family wants him to quit the Chor Party TMC.”

Sircar responded to Malviya in a tweet, saying, Malviya was “twisting facts”. “I spoke against corruption in all parties, incl TMC and BJP. In ⁦@AITCofficial (TMC), I could air my views — would anyone in BJP speak of rotten nexus between the Big Duo of BJP & of Big Business? Retail vs Corporate Corruption?” he wrote.

Speaking to The Wire, Sircar declined to comment on Roy’s remarks or his future course of action with regard to political responsibilities. He said his struggle was wider in nature, starting when he resigned from Prasar Bharati in 2016.

“Since then, I have been openly combating both communalisation of politics and authoritarianism in governance — through every public platform. Even though I am not intrinsically political, I accepted Mamata Banerjee’s offer to carry on the campaign to a higher level. We will not give up this struggle against communalism and authoritarianism ever — till we win or leave the world,” he said.

Several TMC leaders embroiled in probes

At present, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) are investigating the school recruitment scam by order of a Calcutta high court bench, while the two central agencies are also probing the roles of different TMC leaders in a cattle smuggling case and a coal smuggling case.

Party national executive member Anubrata Mandal and his daughter are being investigated in connection with a cattle smuggling case, while chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and TMC all-India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, his wife and sister-in-laws’ roles are being probed in connection with the coal smuggling case.

Krishna Kalyani, a BJP MLA who switched over to the TMC and was recently made the chairman of the public accounts committee in the state assembly, received a notice from the income tax department soon after getting his new post.

The chief minister has labelled the investigations against Abhishek and other senior leaders as “harassment” with a “political motive” as an attempt to destabilise the state government.

However, adding to the TMC’s discomfort, a petition is still pending before Calcutta high court seeking the ED’s investigation into the allegedly disproportionate rise in the properties of 19 TMC MPs, ministers and MLAs. Another petition has been filed by a BJP leader seeking an investigation into the assets of the chief minister’s family members. The petition is yet to be heard.

Positive Indigenisation Lists and the Truth About India’s Self-Reliance in Defence Equipment

In the name of atmanirbharta, there is unmindful indigenisation of the equipment in a bid to seemingly inflate the MoD’s list and render it more striking and achievement-oriented.

The ministry of defence (MoD) would have us believe that its Atmanirbharta Abhiyan – or relentless campaign for self-reliance in defence equipment – is on an unstoppable roll, as evidenced by a continuing series of ‘positive indigenisation lists’ (PILs) it issued to prohibit the import of diverse military platforms and related kit.

Collectively, these mystifying listings encompass 1,548 items that are included in six lists issued periodically since August 2020, till the most recent one on August 28.

Three of them enumerate 310 major platforms – like lightweight tanks, field artillery, cadet training ships, helicopters, combat aircraft, assault rifles, missiles, and assorted ammunition and accessories, amongst others – that are to be developed and manufactured domestically.

A corresponding number of three additional lists, enumerate 1,238 miscellaneous items, mainly components, which were earlier imported by the Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), but would now be gradually indigenised, while a sub-list enumerates 2,500 items which had already been indigenised when the first list was issued in December last year.

The latest PIL in the latter category was issued on August 28 which proscribed the import of 780 ‘strategically important’ line replacement units (LRUs), sub-systems and components. The staggered ban on their import comes into effect in phases, stretching progressively over five years, from end-2023 to December 2028.

Two similar lists – notified in December 2021 and March 2022 – had likewise banned the import of another 458 items by the DPSUs, of which MoD now claims to have indigenised 167, obviating their purchase from abroad. It is acutely embarrassing that the DPSUs were importing these items, given that these could so easily have been manufactured locally.

The August 28 list is of a piece with the previous ones, especially the above-mentioned sub-list of 2,500 already indigenised items that included assorted nuts, bolts, screws, bushes, washers, gaskets, pins, hoses, sealing rings, rivets, clamps, plugs, valves, nozzles, pipes, and jets.

Also read: By Boasting About Indigenising Nuts and Bolts, MoD Again Misses the Forest for the Trees

In many instances, different sizes of the same item were listed separately in a bid to seemingly inflate the MoD’s list and render it more striking and achievement-oriented. But far from being embarrassed over these trifling claims, the MoD projected it as a notable achievement of its Atmnanirbharta Abhiyan.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh at Stakna near Leh on July 17. Photo: Twitter/@rajnathsingh

Continuing in the same vein, MoD has packed the August 28 list with similar seemingly low-technology and easily indigenisable items. There are, for instance, four types of lamp indicator assemblies, eight different pipe-bleed air systems, five flexible shafts and backlit panels, and 11 types of slide and swivel joints, apart from several run-of-the-mill items like speed indicators, compressors, cam and metal bushes, watertight lamps, cooling and lubrication systems, wiper blades, safety valves and digital intercom handsets.

What tops these exaggerated claims is the impending indigenisation of a clock for the Dornier Do- 228 twin-turboprop short-take-off-and-landing aircraft, which has been licence-built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited since 1983. Another ‘banned’ item that sticks out like a sore thumb is the ‘industrial grade laptop’ which, considering India’s advanced computer manufacturing and software development skills, should not have posed any difficulty in indigenising earlier.

Be that as it may, the proscribed LRUs, sub-systems and components do not, for the most part, seem to be hi-tech products and in no way beyond the design and development capability of either the Indian industry or many DPSUs which have been licence building advanced platforms like fighter aircraft since the late 1960s, and designing combat and transport helicopters, alongside series producing a host of varied missiles, sundry other equipment and ordnance.

It makes little commercial sense to indigenise run-of-the-mill items needed in limited quantities. Had it been cost-effective, there was little or no reason for the DPSUs not to strive to indigenise all of them which, under MoD pressure, are now being localised to fast-track atamnirbhata and somehow highlight self-reliance.

Besides, available evidence also indicates that ‘forced indigenisation’ of the type the three PILs seek to promote in limited numbers, only inflates the indigenised items’ overall cost. It can also pose financial and operational challenges relating to the trial and testing of the hurriedly indigenised items which, in turn, could also disrupt the manufacturing schedule of the principal equipment or system on which the concerned item is to be integrated.

Such unmindful indigenisation can also beggar Indian companies, mostly micro and small manufacturing enterprises (MSMEs), if there is no recurring demand for these items, or alternatively, a multiplicity of companies end up making the same product. These drawbacks are critical to the limited business and employment opportunities which the indigenisation of nuts and bolts may create.

Amit Cowshish is a former financial advisor (acquisitions), Ministry of Defence.

‘Gorbachev Made it Possible for Me to Live the Life of My Choice’: A Reporter Speaks

‘Rest in peace, Mikhail Sergeyevich, and thank you.’

Moscow: Euphoria. There is no better word to describe my feelings, the feelings of many in the Soviet intelligentsia, when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power and started the reforms that the world came to know as perestroika and glasnost. It was the euphoria of liberation, freedom, hope.

Changes that had seemed unthinkable were suddenly a reality, prompting a torrent of disbelieving questions. Did you know? Have you heard? Have you read…?

Did you know that dissident Andrei Sakharov has been freed from exile? Have you heard that Gorbachev himself phoned Sakharov and asked him to come back to Moscow and resume “patriotic activities”?

Sakharov took those words literally. He was elected a delegate to the Congress of People’s Deputies, which brought together representatives from all 15 Soviet republics in the first freely elected parliamentary body since the Bolshevik revolution.

He took the floor on the opening day during a discussion on electing Gorbachev as head of the smaller standing parliament, something that was a foregone conclusion. “I support Gorbachev, but only conditionally,” he declared.

On the last day of the two-week session, he grabbed the microphone and started to deliver a speech on the need for more radical reforms.

Gorbachev, obviously annoyed, switched off the sound – not realising that, while the hall could no longer hear Sakharov, the rest of the country could, because the TV feed remained live.

It was a small sign that Gorbachev, having unmuzzled the opposition, would struggle to control the pace and direction of the process he had started.

Kremlin Encounter

Fast-forward two years to the late spring of 1991, when I was with a group of journalists who “doorstepped” Gorbachev in the parliament building inside the Kremlin. Several of his security chiefs were with him.

One of us shouted something like: “Mikhail Sergeyevich, there are persistent rumours that many around you are unhappy about your reforms and are planning to remove you.”

I had never seen Gorbachev so furious. Nearly spitting, he denied the rumours and any suggestion of a rift in the leadship.

But on August 19, 1991, those same security chiefs launched a coup that left Gorbachev isolated at his Crimean holiday villa for three days.

I spent those 72 hours in the White House, where Gorbachev’s ambitious rival Boris Yeltsin, newly elected president of Russia within the Soviet Union, led resistance to the coup.

The putsch collapsed quickly and Gorbachev returned to mount a last attempt to save the Soviet Union in some form. But before the end of the year, Yeltsin and other leaders of Soviet republics had dissolved the Union, and Gorbachev was out of a job.

Gorbachev’s Legacy

At a global level, Gorbachev changed the course of 20th century history for the better. He played a key role in ending the Cold War; he did not resist or use force to stop the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact, letting the communist states of eastern Europe go their own way; and he withdrew the Soviet army from a bloody and futile campaign in Afghanistan.

But in national terms, he largely failed. His “perestroika” reforms could not reinvigorate and preserve the Soviet Union. The freedom of expression – “glasnost” – that he championed has all but vanished for citizens of more than half the former Soviet states, foremost Russia, whose authoritarian leaders tolerate little or no opposition.

I can’t imagine his torment if his mind was still alert on February 24, when Russian troops invaded Ukraine. He may well have been asking himself, “Which of those countries is mine?”, for his mother was Ukrainian, as was the father of his beloved late wife, Raisa.

Gorbachev showed a part of his human side that I hadn’t seen before in Vitaly Mansky’s 2020 documentary Heaven.

Overweight and barely able to walk, but still alert, he skilfully dodged tricky questions and took pride in his achievements – but he only really came alive when talking about his soulmate.

“Meaning in life? Not anymore,” he said. “There was – when Raisa was alive.” After a couple of vodkas, he sang softly in Ukrainian in what felt like an echo of their time together.

Possibilities Opened – And Closed

On a personal level, I am eternally grateful to Gorbachev. Before perestroika, it would have been ludicrous to think that a former member of the Komsomol Communist youth organisation, the son of a university teacher of Marxist-Leninist philosophy, could become an accredited reporter for a Western news organisation. He made it possible for me to live the life of my choice, not one determined by the fact that I was born in the communist Soviet Union.

I find it poignant now to recall his resignation speech on December 25, 1991: “We opened ourselves to the world, gave up interference in other people’s affairs, the use of troops beyond the borders of the country – and trust, solidarity and respect came in response. We have become one of the main foundations for the transformation of modern civilisation on peaceful democratic grounds.”

Sadly, with the war in Ukraine, all of this has been undone. Maybe it is just as well that Gorbachev has passed away now.

Rest in peace, Mikhail Sergeyevich, and thank you.

(Reuters)

Central Vista Project: 30% of Transplanted Trees Survived, Govt Data Says

A report by Indian Express on data submitted in an affidavit by the forest department to the Delhi HC notes that 121 out of 404 trees uprooted and planted again have lived.

New Delhi: Out of the more than 400 trees that were uprooted to be planted elsewhere to make way for the Central Vista project, only 121 have survived, Indian Express has reported.

The report is based on data supplied by the forest department in the form of an affidavit to the Delhi high court in May this year.

The trees were transplanted for the project titled ‘Proposed Expansion and Restoration of the existing Parliament Building at Plot No 118′.

The number of surviving trees, 30% of the original, is far fewer than the number submitted by the Central Public Works Department in their affidavit – 266.

The Indian Express report quotes an official of the CPWD who says that its May report has it that 267 trees were surviving out of 402 trees transplanted. Out of them, 102 out of 130 were at the new Parliament building site and 165 out of 272 were at the NTPC Eco Park in Badarpur.

The report finds that transplanted trees have fared badly in general, across the city, with the total percentage of survival in the last three years similar to the Central Vista trees’.

Experts quoted in the piece noted that the survival rate was low.

On Twitter, Kanchi Kohli, who has written on the subject for The Wire, noted that this was an expected outcome.

Indeed, the decision had been criticised since the first reports arrived.

Scholar Vallari Sheel had written for The Wire Science that the idea, especially at the Central Vista, was scientifically unsound as “ecosystems cannot be transplanted, rather they take several decades to grow and mature.”

Sheel had further shed light on why gauging the success or failure of such a move would be difficult in the first place:

“This idea behind removing trees is even more shocking in light of the recent RTI reply from the Delhi Forest Department that admits that there hasn’t been any tree census in Delhi in the last 10 years, and in the NDMC areas – under which the Central Vista project falls – in the last two decades. Which means, we have no official data on the exact abundance, diversity and condition of trees in this large area slated for redevelopment and massive tree felling.”

The lack of public consultation and apparent haste on and in the redevelopment of New Delhi’s Central Vista often comes in for severe criticism. The Wire has reported on several instances when a cross-section of citizens, architects, urban planners, historians and politicians have pushed for less opacity in the project’s functioning.

GDP Grows at 13.5% In April-June Quarter of FY23

It was down from the 20.1% recorded in the corresponding April-June period of 2021-22, according to government data.

New Delhi: India’s economy grew by 13.5% in the first quarter of the current fiscal (2022-23), mainly due to the base effect, official data showed on Wednesday, August 31.

It was down from the 20.1% recorded in the corresponding April-June period of 2021-22, according to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).

The GDP for the January-March quarter (Q4) of 2021-22 had witnessed a growth of 4.1% on account of better performance by manufacturing, mining and construction sectors.

Many analysts had projected the Indian economy will expand at a double-digit growth rate due to the base effect.

According to rating agency Icra, the GDP was likely to grow at 13% while State Bank of India in its report had projected the growth rate at 15.7% in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022-23.

Earlier this month, in its monetary policy meeting, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that the GDP growth rate is likely to be around 16.2% in the first quarter of this fiscal year.

China registered an economic growth of 0.4% in April-June 2022.

Also read: Will the Indian Growth Narrative Hold Steady in the Coming Quarters?

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry also released the monthly core sector data of eight industries — coal production (up 11.4%), crude oil production (down 3.8%), natural gas production (down 0.3%), refinery products (up 6.2%), fertiliser production (up 6.2%), steel production (up 5.7%), cement production (up 2.1%) and electricity production (up 2.2%).

Separately, as per official data, the Union government’s fiscal deficit touched 20.5% of the annual target at the end of July 2022-23 against 21.3% a year ago, reflecting improvement in public finance.

In actual terms, the fiscal deficit – the difference between expenditure and revenue – was Rs 3,40,831 crore during the April-July period this financial year.

A fiscal deficit is a reflection of government borrowings from the market.

(With PTI inputs)