Month: November 2024

World Chess Championship 2024: Gukesh Dommaraju Takes on Ding Liren

A win in Singapore would make Gukesh the youngest world chess champion in history — breaking legendary grandmaster Garry Kasparov’s record — and the second Indian to be crowned world chess champion after Viswanathan Anand.

New Delhi: Chess fans around the globe are currently glued to the 2024 World Chess Championship, which began on Monday (November 25) in Singapore. This historic edition pits reigning world champion Ding Liren of China against India’s 18-year-old prodigy Gukesh Dommaraju.

The event, running until December 13, marks the first all-Asian clash in World Chess Championship history. The tournament format features up to 14 classical games, with the first player to score 7.5 points crowned champion.

Each game will follow a time control of 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 and 15 minutes for the remainder of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting from move 61. Draw agreements are prohibited before the 41st move.

If the match ends in a tie after 14 games, a tie-break will follow. This includes a rapid-playoff (25+10 time control) and, if necessary, blitz and individual games until a winner emerges.

Ding, 32, is the reigning world champion, having won the title in 2023 after defeating Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi. Hailing from Wenzhou, China, Ding has faced struggles in classical chess since his victory and took a nine-month break due to mental health concerns. He entered the match ranked world no 23 with a rating of 2728.

Gukesh Dommaraju, the youngest-ever player to compete in the World Championship, is ranked world no 5 with a rating of 2783. The Indian teenager earned his spot by winning the 2024 Candidates Tournament in Toronto, setting multiple records. A win in Singapore would make him the youngest world chess champion in history — breaking legendary grandmaster Garry Kasparov’s record — and the second Indian to be crowned world chess champion after Viswanathan Anand, who held the title from 2007 to 2013.

While pundits favour Gukesh due to his strong form, Ding’s experience cannot be discounted. The two have faced each other in three classical games, with Ding leading 2-0, including a win earlier this year. However, the Chinese grandmaster has openly admitted concerns about his recent performance.

Gukesh, meanwhile, remains focused and unperturbed by predictions. His preparation includes support from long-time coach Grzegorz Gajewski and mental performance expert Paddy Upton, who worked with India’s cricket and hockey teams.

Ding has retained Hungarian grandmaster Richard Rapport, his second from the 2023 championship, as a key part of his team.

Also read: The Forgotten Trophy of India-Russia Friendship

The total prize fund is $2.5 million, distributed based on outcomes. Each win in the classical games earns $200,000 for the victor. In case of a tie-break, the winner receives $1.3 million while the runner-up earns $1.2 million.

This championship represents more than a battle of skill. With tensions between China and India often making headlines, the historic duel between Ding and Gukesh draws comparisons to the iconic Cold War-era showdown between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in 1972.

The Waqf Controversy in Karnataka – Truths, Half Truths and Genuine Anxieties 

The farming community, which is already reeling under agrarian crisis, debt etc., are slowly becoming the victims of the BJP’s propaganda due to lack of knowledge about the Waqf and related issues.

The Waqf controversy ignited by South Bangalore MP Tejasvi Surya, based on false information just before the by elections to three assembly constituencies in Karnataka does not seem to be subsiding anytime soon, even after the ill intentioned campaign yielded absolutely no dividend for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the by elections. 

According to some media reports, the BJP high command has instructed the party leaders to keep the issue alive, and hence, a month-long campaign was planned against the Congress government and the Waqf board independently by two warring factions of the state BJP. And paradoxically, the campaign itself has become an open platform for dissenters against the state leadership than against Waqf. 

As if that is not enough, the press, especially the leading Kannada daily Prajavani has been publishing a series of reports to expose the double standards of the BJP, where it has issued more number of notices to farmers and encroachers of Waqf properties than the Congress government.

On November 27, Union minister for minority affairs Kiren Rijiju, in a reply to Lok Sabha has reaffirmed the right of the Waqf boards to issue notices and claim encroached properties and also stated that there were more than 800 Waqf properties in Karnataka that has been encroached. 

The issue itself came to prominence after Surya wrote on his social media account X that more than 1500 acres of land belonging to Hindu farmers in Honvada village in Vijayapura district is being taken over by the Waqf board with the support of the Congress government. 

The government and the district administration conducted press conferences and published documents which clarified that no notice was issued to the farmers and the whole issue was raked up in the wake of elections. 

Notably, a spate of notices were issued to farmers in Karnataka by the revenue department asking them to produce documents to prove their land ownership in the last few years. Although many of these notices were issued during the tenure of the BJP government between 2019-23, the BJP took advantage of the opportunity and started to paint the whole controversy as Hindu farmers versus Waqf board alleging that the latter is functioning with the backing of “pro-Muslim” Congress government.

Also read: The Waqf Bill Debate: A Footnote From the Partition Days

BJP’s Jagdambika Pal, chairman of the joint parliamentary committee on the Waqf Amendment Bill, also raised this issue. He made a unilateral visit to Bijapur, deviating from established norms and protocols. During his visit, Pal assured that the Waqf Bill would favour Hindus.

The Congress government, which is rattled by this propaganda attack, is not even politically justifying it by underlining that it was only taking the same legal and routine steps that the BJP took when it was in power. Instead, chief minister Siddaramaiah has issued an order to all concerned departments to halt any action and withdraw all notices served to farmers, thereby inadvertently handing the state BJP a scoring point in their attempts to communalise the issue.

Meanwhile, the BJP’s malicious and venomous propaganda like “once a Waqf notice is issued, no court can stop it, if the Waqf board claims any land as its own, it will become their own, so farmers should immediately go to the tahsildar’s office and check whether their land is in their name or not” has naturally caused concern among farmers.

Notably, the changes to the Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops (RTC) of some farmers in Indi tehsil, Vijayapura district, were made without notice, but have since been annulled, and the concerned officer has been held accountable.

The farming community, which is already reeling under agrarian crisis, debt etc., are slowly becoming the victims of the BJP’s propaganda due to lack of knowledge about the Waqf and related issues.

Meanwhile, the Muslim community, which faces constant attacks on its existence, identity, beliefs, faith, food, customs, and citizenship from the Sangh Parivar, is also distressed by the right-wing propaganda surrounding Waqf. As a crucial part of their social and religious life, Muslims are concerned about the amendments being proposed at the Centre to undermine Waqf itself.

It has, therefore, become imperative for progressive forces to educate citizens about the issue and explore potential solutions through good-faith dialogue and listening to each other’s grievances. Otherwise, the right wing will turn Karnataka into an inferno of distrust, insecurity and communalism, destroying both Hindu farmers and the Muslim community, although the by-election results proved otherwise. 

It is necessary to clearly understand some basic points about this issue.

According to a report by Prajavani, the leading daily of Deccan Herald group, based on official reports, between 2008-2024, a total of 3519 notices have been issued to farmers and landlords regarding the encroachment of Waqf properties. Out of these, 2011 notices were issued by the BJP government (2008-2013 and 2019-2023) and 1404 notices have been issued during the Congress regime (2013-2018 and 2023-till now). Thus, more notices to farmers have been issued by the BJP than the Congress.

What is Waqf?

Waqf is an Arabic word. It means a full stop in literal sense or a stop to the transfer of ownership of property; a movable or immovable property given out as an endowment in the name of God and this charity is the eternal and final gift which cannot be passed on to others. 

In the Islamic practice, followers of Islam are supposed to compulsorily provide 2.5% of their total annual income every year to the community. This is called Zakat. Apart from this, other contributions such as Sadaqa are not compulsory but voluntary. According to this, the followers of Islam can keep as much as is required to live righteously and donate the rest voluntarily to be used for religious, pious, and charitable works of the community.

Thus, predominantly Muslims, and sometimes even non-Muslims, donate their immovable property for the benefit of the community, which is called Waqf. 

It is a part of religious beliefs of the Muslims. Since this Waqf is given in the name of God, the property can only be used but cannot be owned by any individual. A mutawalli or a manager is nominated to look after the Waqf and its affairs according to the wishes of the donor. Thus, ownership cannot be transferred. 

Waqf properties are mainly donated by the community members themselves. In addition, both Muslim and Hindu rulers have given Waqf lands for the construction of mosques and dargahs, just as they have given land for temples and gurudwaras. 

Generally, Waqf provides assistance to the poor and disabled community, manages mosques, dargahs, khabarsthans (burial grounds), constructs and manages madrassas, and provides support to orphans, widows, and the disabled. Additionally, Waqf is involved in the construction and management of educational institutions. Although Muslims are the primary beneficiaries of Waqf, its benefits also extend to Hindus and other non-Muslims, particularly in the form of public utilities such as education, roads, and grants.

What is Waqf board? When was it formed?

Although the British had decided not to interfere in the religious and cultural affairs of Indians after the 1857 War of Independence, the disputes around management of some Hindu temples in Tamil Nadu and the appeals thereafter prompted the British to pass laws to administer the management aspects of religious institutions. 

As part of this effort, the British enacted laws in 1863 to regulate the management of properties belonging to Hindu religious institutions, revising them in 1902. Similar laws were later introduced in the early 20th century to govern the properties of other religious denominations.

The Waqf Act was passed in 1913. As part of it, the Waqf board was also formed to manage the endowments of Muslims.

Religious endowments of Waqf and other religions in post-independent India

All Indian citizens have the right to practice or not to practice the religion of their choice. Parts a, b, c and d of Article 26 provide for the right to establish institutions for religious and social purposes as part of religious practice, to practise religion in accordance with one’s own religion, to own immovable and movable property and to manage them in accordance with law.

Similarly, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Muslims and all other religions continued to build religious institutions and receive donations. The Act permits government intervention only in secular aspects like property management on issues like whether it is complying with the law in terms of property management and also to prevent corruption.

As part of this rule, the Union government enacted the Waqf Board Act in 1955 to allow the Muslim community to carry forward the social practices of managing Waqfs for religious and charitable purposes. Major changes were made in 1995 and 2013. Detailed consultations were even held with the stakeholders while making these two amendments. Now, the Narendra Modi government is planning to bring a major amendment to the Waqf Act without consulting anyone. 

How is the board managed?

As part of the Waqf Act, each state has to appoint a survey commissioner to identify which properties are Waqf properties. The list identified by the commissioner as Waqf property is submitted to the government after examining the documents. The government has to send it to the Waqf board for vetting.

The state Waqf board is appointed by the ruling state government. It is headed by a minister and has Muslim MLAs and MPs as its members. Islamic experts appointed by the government are also members of the board. Similarly, district Waqf boards are also formed.

 As per the Act of 1995, the government is supposed to also set up and appoint a Waqf tribunal at the state level to adjudicate when a dispute arises over the ownership of Waqf properties. It is headed by a judicial officer of the rank of sessions and district judge, as well as an officer of the government of the rank of an assistant secretary and an Islamic expert is also nominated to the committee. 

As is clear from the very outset, the ruling government appoints both the Waqf board and the Waqf tribunal. Both are controlled by the government. These are not independent organisations administered by the Muslim community.

It can also be seen that there is no similar systematic government intervention in the management of the properties of Hindu and Sikh monasteries and temples as in Muslim religious charities.

How does Waqf claim its property? Is there no appeal against the decision of the Waqf board?

Farmers in Karnataka are deeply anxious due to the BJP’s campaign, which has been spreading misinformation. The leaders claim that if a land is claimed by the Waqf, the owner has to surrender it, and that there is no provision for appeal. 

Notably, Waqf properties are identified by a survey commissioner appointed by the government. The documents have to be verified before the declaration is made. That’s the first step. 

Even after the Waqf board declares it as a Waqf property, a suit can still be filed before the Waqf tribunal. Another fake news spread by the BJP is that the decision of the Waqf tribunal cannot be appealed in the higher court, which is a lie. 

Waqf tribunals are constituted under the Waqf Act, 1995. Section 83 (9) of the Act makes it very clear that the decision of the Waqf and the veracity of the documents behind it can be challenged in the high court.

According to the Karnataka Waqf board, there are 26,000 Waqf properties in the state and only 10,000 of these have been registered. It is estimated that there are more than 3500 litigations before the district tribunals and state tribunals challenging the declaration of Waqf properties. More than 800 cases are pending in the high court.

So, the BJP’s claim is false. It is only aimed at creating anxiety among farmers. 

Not only that. In August 2024, the high court of Karnataka gave a clear verdict that without following proper rules and procedures and without issuing a notice, Waqf cannot claim any property.

Total Waqf land

The BJP is propagating half-truths that the Waqf board is the “third-largest landowner in India, after defence and railways, controlling 38 lakh acres”. 

The temples and mutts of Andhra Pradesh alone have 4.09 lakh acres of land. Temples of Tamil Nadu own five lakh acres of land. Hindu tenants tilling temple lands are also served eviction notices by these temple boards.

In fact, according to the Karnataka Waqf board, there is 1,07,651 acres of land under its possession, of which 90,000 acres are under litigation in various courts. 

Earlier, the board had over 1.10 lakh acres of land, but most of these have been lost through the Inamti Repeal and Land Reform Act as well as through encroachments and acquisitions by the government. In fact, the board has lost over 75,000 acres to the government for various projects such as the Almatti dam.

Most of the urban lands are encroached majorly by the members of the community especially by the elites of the community. 

Is BJP pro-farmer or just anti-Muslim?

According to media reports, the Waqf board appointed by the BJP government in Karnataka also had served notices to farmers in Vijayapura and other places. Former chief minister Basavraj Bommai had himself warned that God will not forgive Muslim leaders if the encroached Waqf land is not taken back. The BJP in its manifesto in the last Karnataka assembly elections had even promised to take back encroached Waqf land. 

Therefore, the BJP opposing the notice given by the Congress is just an electoral and a poisonous polarising political tactic. 

The TDP-BJP government, which came to power in Andhra Pradesh in the recent elections, has identified 87,000 acres of temple land encroached by farmers and chief minister Naidu has reportedly directed the endowments department to get the encroached land freed. 

The BJP government in Odisha has announced that it will take strong action against individuals who “illegally encroach upon and sell land belonging to Lord Jagannath in Puri”. 

There is no system like Waqf tribunal in the matter of land claims of temples and mutts. It should be directly challenged in other courts. This is BJP’s conspiracy.

Not only this, in Karnataka it was the BJP government in 2020 which amended Sections 79A, B, C, 80 and 106 of the Land Reforms Act to facilitate the take over of farm lands by urban businesses and industrialists. The BJP is also responsible for the death of 700 farmers protesting against the Centre’s three farm laws in 2020-21. 

Modi’s Waqf amendment Bill 

It perhaps won’t be wrong to assume that the motivated controversy created by the state BJP in Karnataka could be to manufacture consent for the passage of Waqf “destruction bill” which is euphemistically termed as United Waqf-Management, Empowerment, Efficiency, Development-Act-UMEED Bill, presently under the scrutiny of joint parliamentary committee (JPC). In fact, umeed means hope in Urdu. But this is one more law that destroys the very hope of cohabitation for the Muslims in India. 

Firstly, the Modi government did not consult anyone with respect to the Waqf Bill it is going to enact, as the previous governments did in 1995 and 2013. According to the proposed amendment, any Waqf property that has not been registered within six months will no longer be considered a Waqf. Notably, many Waqf properties were established based on verbal agreements.

Not only this, now all the responsibilities of the district Waqf tribunal and the survey commissioner will be transferred to the district magistrate. The executive deputy commissioner will be given the judicial power to decide whether a property belongs to the government or Waqf. It can be challenged only in the high court. 

As per the amendment, the central Waqf council will be abolished. As in the past, the requirement that a government official appointed to the positions of survey commissioner, Waqf board, and Waqf tribunal must be a Muslim has been removed.

The new Bill also makes it mandatory for non-Muslims to be appointed to the Waqf board. But there is no such condition for Hindu religious or Sikh or Christian institutions. Hence, the motive behind this is clear.

So far, the Waqf Acts were being amended to check corruption and to acquire properties from encroached Waqf lands. But the amendment being brought by the Modi government is to encroach upon Waqf properties and destroy the Islamic nature of Waqf.

The Sangh Parivar and the BJP have been demanding that Hindu religious institutions be freed from the government’s control. Hindutva has the sinister intention of increasing government control over Waqf and nationalising Muslim properties. Thus even this fake controversy and the Waqf Bill is part of the Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra project to destroy the very existence, identity, life and citizenship of Muslims. That’s why the BJP is targeting Muslims. 

As per the judgment of a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court on January 28, 1998, once a property is in the nature of a Waqf, it remains in the nature of a Waqf forever. It cannot be transferred. In continuation of that order, the Waqf is now issuing notices to properties that may have been encroached upon. 

So what’s the solution?

The biggest misuse of Waqf properties is allegedly by wealthy individuals and politicians within the Muslim community. Although the ownership of Waqf properties cannot be changed, its lease and sub-contracting can be done by the custodian of the property, using this opportunity to lease out crores of rupees of leasable properties to business tycoons for a few thousand or lakhs of rupees. The biggest loss to the Waqf board is caused by the misuse and encroachment of urban Waqf land and not rural. 

Notably, taking rural lands — which belong to the Waqf — away from farmers  would not generate new income for the Waqf, as they would remain agricultural lands in rural villages. To derive socio-economic benefits and real relief, it would be beneficial for the Waqf, the Muslim community, and society as a whole to allow farmers to continue cultivating these lands through permanent leases or similar arrangements.

Therefore, this issue can only be resolved by farmers, the Waqf Board, the Muslim community and the government in a spirit of amity and by understanding each other’s concerns. For that to happen, the first step is to keep BJP and the Sangh Parivar away from the issue.

Shivasundar is an activist and a freelance journalist based in Bangalore. 

‘Sedition Case Against ISKCON Man Out of Line but Bangladesh Situation Not as Bad as India Thinks’: Zafar Sobhan

Sobhan said that reports in the Indian papers have exaggerated the treatment of Hindus in Bangladesh.

In an interview to discuss the arrest of the ISKCON leader Chinmoy Krishna Das and India’s wider concern about attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, editor of the Dhaka Tribune, Zafar Sobhan, said that “in relation to the alleged offence” the charge of sedition brought against Das is “out of line, unwarranted and unwise”.

However, in a 33-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Sobhan also forcefully pointed out that politicians and public in India need to realise that the situation in Bangladesh for Hindus has “far improved compared to August and early September”.

Sobhan said that India, “our neighbour, our friend, our ally”, needs to understand that Bangladesh is a country in transition and after the overthrow of the Sheikh Hasina “autocracy” there will be a period of uncertainty and instability but, importantly, its being brought under control.

He said reports in the Indian papers have exaggerated the treatment of Hindus in Bangladesh. This is why chief advisor Muhammad Yunus calls such reports “propaganda”.

India Calls Fraud Allegations Against Adani a ‘Private Legal Matter With US Authorities’

Commenting officially for the first time, the Union external affairs ministry said that there was no basis for New Delhi’s intervention at this stage.

New Delhi: India stated on Friday that the allegations of securities and wire fraud against Indian billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani are a legal matter between private firms and the US government, adding that no request for summons has been received from the US so far.

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York indicted Gautam Adani over his alleged role in what they have called a “massive bribery scheme” amounting to $250 million involving Indian government officials. The Adani Group has called the charges “baseless” and denied them.

A New York district judge issued summons for Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani on November 21 to respond to the charges made by SEC in 21 days. They were addressed to their addresses in Ahmedabad.

Commenting officially for the first time, the Union Ministry of External Affairs indicated that there was no basis for New Delhi’s intervention at this stage.

“This is a legal matter involving private firms and individuals and the US Department of Justice. There are established procedures and legal avenues in such cases which we believe would be followed,” said the MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal during the weekly briefing on Friday (November 29). He noted that the Indian government was “not informed in advance on the issue”.

Regarding the reports about summons for Adani, he said, “Any request by a foreign government for service of summons/arrest warrant is part of mutual legal assistance. Such requests are examined on merits. We have not received any request on this case from the US side”.

The opposition has been demanding a discussion on the bribery allegations against Adani during the ongoing parliamentary session, but these demands have been denied, resulting in repeated disruptions.

What Kind of Future Are We Building for Our Children?

Despite the importance of public investment towards children, our investments have not only been suboptimal always but also reducing.

November, in some ways, is the month for children. November 14 is celebrated as children’s day in India, marking the birth anniversary of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and November 20 is the International or World Children’s Day. It is also the date on which the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN-CRC) in 1989. UNICEF also releases its flagship report on the State of World’s Children (SoWC) during this month. This year’s SoWC 2024 report is devoted to the world in which children will live in 2050 and identifies three ‘megatrends’ that are shaping their futures. All three are particularly relevant for India and call for urgent priority to children and their rights.

2050: A third of the world’s children will live in four countries

The first is to do with the demographic transition. While the world, including India, is ageing the pace and stage varies significantly across different parts of the world. Therefore, even though the share of children in the population of most developing countries is reducing, a much larger percentage of children in the world are expected to be concentrated in these regions of Africa and South Asia. The report estimates that by the 2050s more than a third of the world’s children will live in just four countries – India, China, Nigeria and Pakistan. India alone is expected to account for almost 15% of the global child population. Developing countries, including India, face the challenge of catering to an increasing elderly population while also making up for the deficits during childhood and youth so that their potential can be realised. The report points to the changes that come with this demographic transition in the form of smaller family sizes and fewer or no siblings. Investments in children will have to continue while newer systems of support and care for the elderly are put in place.

Climate crisis

The second big trend that is expected to affect children’s lives disproportionately is the climate and environment crisis. Health and well-being is affected in many ways. Rising average temperatures have led to an increase in mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases like malaria, dengue, zika virus etc. Access to clean and safe drinking water is increasingly becoming a challenge. Air pollution has been shown to be especially harmful for children. The last we are only too familiar with currently, especially in Delhi and other cities in northern India. As can be seen in the city of Delhi, air pollution not only has health impacts, but also is affecting children’s education and play which can have lasting effects on their learning, mental health and development.

Also read: We’re Still Asking the Wrong Question About Food Insecurity in India

The impact of climate risks is also highly unequal. Children from marginalised economic and social backgrounds are likely to be more affected. Displacement due to climate and environmental risks is also increasing. UNICEF has called the climate crisis a ‘child rights crisis’ with its Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI) showing that 1 billion children are at ‘extremely high risk’ of the impacts of climate change (i.e. half of all children). Not only are children more vulnerable but with the planet becoming a riskier place to live, it is their futures that are impacted for the worse. Once again it is children in the developing world who are relatively more exposed to climate hazards. India ranks 26 out of 163 countries on the basis of its CCRI, with a higher rank indicating greater risk, and falls in the ‘extremely high risk’ category which has 33 countries. It is of course the case that countries at the risk are also, mostly, the lowest contributors to the causes of climate change. Yet, developed countries have not come forward to take responsibility and contribute a fair share towards climate finance (as seen in the outcome of the recent COP29 in Baku). While fighting the international battle for a just distribution of resources towards climate change mitigation and adaptation, governments in the higher risk countries of the Global South cannot ignore these risks for children in their development planning.

Digital divide

The third and final trend that the SOWC report talks about is digitisation. While predicting that the role of digital technologies will only continue to increase, the report also highlights the digital divide that currently exists between the advanced countries and low-income countries. This digital divide will only contribute to perpetuating inequalities further. At the same time, concerns related to digital spaces exposing children to wide risks and harms are also raised. While frontier technologies and AI can provide great opportunities for children, they come with challenges and also contribute to the perpetuation of inequalities. Here too, the role of government policy and public investment becomes important. All of these are most relevant for India as well.

From the Indian perspective, we also need to acknowledge the inequalities that exist within the country. Caste, class, geography and gender determine to a large extent the kind of basic education, health, nutrition and care that a young child can expect to get in India. With weakening public services especially in education and health, the divide is only increasing. A number of these issues related to child development require much more investment in India.

A call for action

While most children are now in school, completion rates still have a great scope for improvement and the learning outcomes are usually poor across surveys. The quality of education and infrastructure in schools varies hugely between government schools and high fee-paying private schools. Early childhood, a period that is considered to be the most important in laying the foundation for mental and physical well-being during adulthood, remains neglected. The variation in quality of pre-schools that young children have in the country is vast, with many not getting any preschool education. According to the UNICEF report, only 48% of the children in the three- to five-year-old age group in India attend preschool. So, the inequality is perpetuated right from the beginning.

What is of great concern is that despite the advances being made in understanding child development and the importance of public investment towards children, our investments in children have not only been suboptimal always but are also reducing. The ‘Budget for Children’ is at its lowest in a decade at 2.3% of total Union budget in 2024-25 compared to 3.3% in 2015-16. The process of consultations for Budget 2025 has begun. Children neither have a vote nor a voice in these spaces. It is upon everybody else to speak for them.

Dipa Sinha is a development economist.

Winter Session Washout: Lok Sabha Functioned for 54 Minutes, Rajya Sabha For 75 Minutes in First Week

Rajya Sabha chairperson and the country’s vice-president, Jagdeep Dhankhar, said today that Rule 267, under which adjournment notices had been submitted by members of the opposition, was being ‘weaponised as a mechanism for disruption.’

New Delhi: The first week of the winter session of parliament saw the Lok Sabha functioning for only 54 minutes and the Rajya Sabha for 75 minutes as opposition members’ demand for discussions on the bribery allegations against the Adani Group, violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal, among others were not allowed leading to repeated disruptions followed by adjournments.

On Monday, the Lok Sabha functioned for 6 minutes, on Wednesday and Thursday for 14 minutes, and on Friday for 20 minutes. The Rajya Sabha on the other hand functioned for 33 minutes on Monday, 13 minutes on Wednesday, 16 minutes on Thursday and 13 minutes on Friday. On Tuesday, both houses saw a joint session to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the constitution.

Rule 267 ‘weaponised’

On Friday, Rajya Sabha chairperson and vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar said that Rule 267, under which adjournment notices had been submitted by members of the opposition for suspension of business to take up these discussions, was being “weaponised as a mechanism for disruption”.

“These issues have been raised repeatedly during the week with the result that we have already lost three days working,” said Dhankhar. 

“The days that should have been committed by us to the public cause, there should have been vindication of our oath that we perform our duties as expected. The loss of time, the loss of opportunity has given enormous setback to the people at large. Now I call upon you for deep reflection. Rule 267 is being weaponised as a mechanism of disruption and disruption from our normal working. 

“This cannot be appreciated. I express my deep anguish, my pain that we are creating a very bad precedent, we are dishonouring the people of the country we are not coming up to the expectations. Our actions are not people-centric. They are to absolute public distaste. We are getting into irrelevance. People are ridiculing us. We have virtually become a laughing stock,” he added.

‘Big mystery’

While business in both Houses during the course of the week saw papers being laid, two MPs taking oath after the bypolls, and an extension being granted to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) examining the Waqf Amendment Bill, proceedings were repeatedly adjourned as opposition members raised slogans demanding a discussion on the bribery allegations against the Adani Group, violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal, and the ongoing violence in Manipur. 

After proceedings were adjourned for the week on Friday, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said that it is a “big mystery” why the government is “not resisting the adjournments.”

“Yet another day of a washout in the Parliament on the Modani issue. Both Houses got adjourned today after only a few minutes. The big mystery is why the Govt is not resisting the adjournments. On the contrary, the Govt is facilitating the aggression of the INDIA parties on Modani especially – as also on Manipur, Sambhal, and Delhi’s law and order. Clearly it has much to feel defensive and apologetic about,” he wrote on X.

TMC MP Sagarika Ghose in a statement also questioned the Modi government for not “muzzling opposition” in parliament.

“Why is Modi silent on Manipur? Why are Modi-Shah repeatedly shutting down Parliament and muzzling the opposition?” she said.

Meanwhile the Treasury benches have accused the opposition of not allowing the house to function. 

“In order to please the Congress and the first family, the entire opposition is busy in just one work to dishonour people’s mandate. The Congress party and the party’s dynasty have been disrespecting the Constitution. People defeated them in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir you had an alliance but faired poorly, in Maharashtra as well but they don’t want to accept it. Rahul Gandhi doesn’t believe in the Constitution. This is very condemnable- their bid to stop people from working,” said Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to reporters.

Earlier on Thursday, Union minister for parliamentary affairs Kiren Rijiju had also accused the Congress of not allowing the house to function. Both Houses are slated to meet again on Monday (December 2).

This article was edited to reflect that the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively functioned for 54 and 75 minutes, not hours.

15.61 Lakh Pending Cases in Gujarat Courts, 535 Judicial Vacancies: Govt in Rajya Sabha

The law ministry stated that as of November 15, 2024, a total of 15,61,196 cases were pending in Gujarat, including 3,50,166 lakh civil cases and 12,11,030 criminal cases.

New Delhi: Gujarat’s district and subordinate courts have a massive backlog of 15.61 lakh pending cases while 535 positions of judicial officers remain vacant.

The Centre revealed the figures in Rajya Sabha on Thursday (November 28), reported The New Indian Express.

The union law ministry, while answering a question by MP Neeraj Shekhar stated that as of November 15, 2024, the pending cases include 3.5 lakh civil cases, 12.11 lakh criminal cases, and an additional 50,128 cases in Family Courts as of September 30, 2024.

The ministry stated that as of November 15, 2024, a total of 15,61,196 cases were pending in Gujarat, including 3,50,166 lakh civil cases and 12,11,030 criminal cases.

In 2023, the backlog in civil cases in Gujarat was even more with 3,77,382 cases while the backlog in criminal cases amounted to 12,58, 375.

The data further indicated that as of November 21, 2024, 535 positions of judicial officers remain vacant in such courts, making the disposal of cases further time consuming.

Constitution@75: From Govt to Opposition, Everyone is United in the Assault on Scientific Temper

Even 75 years after the adoption of the Indian Constitution, the scientific temper of the government, opposition and citizens remains much far from perfect.

New Delhi: India marked the 75th year of adoption of its Constitution on November 26, 2024. Several events were organised to mark the day, including a session in the Central Hall of the old Parliament building.

The constitution makers understood the importance of inculcation of the scientific temper way back in 1949. Out of the 11 fundamental duties of citizens listed under Section 51(A) of the Constitution one explicitly mentions the significance of scientific temper.

“It shall be the duty of every citizen to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform,” it says.

In fact, the Indian Constitution sets a rare precedent globally by being one one of the very few such documents that uses the phrase “scientific temper” explicitly.

But even after 75 years, the scientific temper of the citizens remains much far from perfect.  The same applies for governments, opposition, and celebrities and influencers.

An ‘unscientific’ government at the helm

During the last few years, we witnessed union ministers in-charge of various departments making several unscientific and dangerous claims on health and science. The most recent one, of course, came from railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who after a lot of prodding by doctors, took down a video showing a travelling ticket examiner performing CPR on a passenger. Posting that video on X was dangerous because giving CPR to conscious people isn’t advisable (More on this later).

The 43rd edition of India International Trade Fair concluded on November 27. It was open for general visitors from November 19-26 and was attended by around a million people. The health ministry’s pavilion in the fair was inaugurated on November 14. The timing of the fair also coincided with some of the worst days till now in terms of air pollution in Delhi.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) on November 19 was 460 – the worst till date, this year, falling in the ‘severe’ category. According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) daily bulletins, the AQI between November 19-26 ranged from 318 to 460.

The Delhi government had cautioned people that they should consider either working from home or going to offices in a staggered manner. When all these emergency measures were being adopted, the health ministry was  inviting people to visit its pavilion in the trade fair. How did this hold up to the basic principles of health and science when the air was causing invisible troubles from head to toe?

But to be fair with the health ministry, it was not alone. According to a government press release ,49 central government ministries, 33 states and union territories commodity boards, public sector undertakings (PSUs), public sector banks (PSBs), and renowned private companies were trying to lure common people with their products and services.

The fact that pollution is going to get worse during this time of every year is almost a predictable truth. Could this annual business event not be shifted to some other days of the year?

Besides the health ministry, the ayush ministry had also put up a pavilion in the fair. The ayush ministry, which was formed in 2014, frequently comes under fire from several doctors.

At the peak of second wave Covid-19, the government was found promoting giloy recklessly without telling which section of people must not take it. People with diabetes and a few other hormonal diseases must avoid it. In absence of such a warning, people ended up damaging their liver, a phenomenon that is now documented in scientific journals.

There have been many other instances where the ministry was found selling ayurvedic supplements with not-so-robust studies. For example, last year the ministry said through a study that ashwagandha was safe for us. The ministry’s tweet has been viewed by more than 77,000 people. Curiously enough, the study did not say, what exactly are the uses of ashwagandha supplements, putting onus on people to decide the answer.  The study design was shoddy. Only 80 participants were enrolled and observed for only eight weeks as doctors pointed it out.

The most recent assault, of course, came from union railway minister Vaishnaw. He posted a video of the TTE giving CPR to a conscious  passenger on a moving train. The caption of the minister’s X post read, “Our dedicated Indian Railway’s team.”

The video posted and now deleted by railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on X on November 25. Source: X/@AshwiniVaishnaw

It was wrong on multiple counts, primarily because CPR must never be performed on a conscious person as it could harm the individual. Even the government’s own guidelines say so, which Vaishnaw did not look into.

Hundreds of doctors begged the minister on X  to withdraw the post. But the minister remained adamant for more than 24 hours of posting the video. In a subsequent tweet he said CPR should be ‘stopped’ when a person becomes conscious, still refusing to delete the video. Finally, after the tweet became an international and national embarrassment, the minister deleted the video. It was viewed by more than a million people, as per X figures, by that time.

Screenshot of railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s post on X.

Weaponisation of misinformation by the opposition

It is not only the government and its agencies who launch an assault on the scientific temperament. The opposition parties left no stone unturned to propagate misinformation on Covid-19 vaccines this year.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav claimed in a public rally on May 2 that the Covid vaccine ‘posed threat to life of 80 crore population of India’ and the vaccine was a ‘conspiracy to murder people’

Senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi contended in a public speech on May 4 the youngsters were  getting heart attacks due to the vaccines that they took, without citing any shred of evidence in her own statement.

The background to these statements was AstraZeneca ‘admitting’ in a court that its Covid vaccine caused blood clots,  But none of these politicians bothered to pay attention to the finer details. The adverse events were rare – 2 to 7.5 per million of the people vaccinated. The deaths due to blood clots could happen only until a few months after the administration of the vaccine.

They also ignored the fact it was known by 2021 itself that these adverse events were not completely preventable, as The Wire had reported after the purported admission.

Incidentally, a few days after the news of the court case, AstraZeneca announced it was going to withdraw its vaccines from the market. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on May 8 claimed the withdrawal happened as a consequence of the court case. This was misleading as he conveniently ignored the finer details.

According to the publicly available document of the European drug regulator, European Medicines Agency (EMA), the company had applied for withdrawal on March 5 – which was before the court case.  The EMA accepted the withdrawal on March 27. And, the withdrawal came into effect on May 7 – almost a week after the court case made news.

The company had reasoned that since the vaccine was no longer in use in 2024, therefore, it had decided to apply for withdrawal of  authorisation provided by the EMA.

Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren went on to claim on September 5 that “faulty Covid-19 vaccines were responsible for 12 candidates losing their lives during physical tests for an excise constable recruitment drive in the state.”

But what is most significant in the opposition’s tryst with pseudoscience was the timing of these comments made against vaccines.

Yadav and Gandhi made these dangerous comments during their election rally speeches as part of campaign for the last Lok Sabha polls. And predictably enough, Hemant Soren made his remarks as part of his electoral campaign in the recently concluded Jharkhand assembly elections.

This behaviour warrants two questions – were these remarks made out of ignorance of these leaders? Well, the timing clearly indicates, no. But even if they were made out of ignorance, one wonders whether these parties have dedicated science cells. If not, how difficult it would have been to consult experts before making these comments.

If these statements were not made due to lack of knowledge, then it was a classic case of  weaponisation of vaccine-misinformation for political gains. It was akin to “criminal conduct” because vaccine hesitancy had already picked up in India like never before.

Vaccine hesitancy is a dangerous tendency and it may very well spill from Covid vaccines to even routine vaccines for children – we have enough examples from the West about this. If it happens in India, even in miniscule proportions, decades of progress would stand undone.  Moreover, if a next pandemic comes, and people, en masse , refuse to take vaccines – even well tested vaccines – the opposition parties must share part of the blame as well.

Undoubtedly, it is the job of every citizen and political party to be scientifically temperamental and question the government on science as and when it is needed. The poor management of Covid-19 by this government provided enough scope to do so; as also the failure of the government to initiate studies on Covid vaccines once they had been used on populations after they were approved.

Known as post-approvals studies, such exercises help in understanding the long-term and real-life efficacy and safety of vaccines as against pre-approval clinical trials that are done on a limited number of participants before the vaccines are rolled out.

Sadly, instead of raising these complicated but crucial questions, the opposition indulged in misinformation and sensationalism.

Celebrities promoting bogus remedies

Recently, former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu gained notoriety with his viral video in which he is found saying that his wife could beat fourth grade cancer by regulating her diet with lemon, turmeric and tulsi leaves.  He is also seen as wondering as to why people would say cancer treatment was very expensive when such simple remedies could cure the ‘emperor of all maladies’.

Sidhu argued that since her wife, a doctor, ate small meals, this stopped the growth of cancer cells.  The clip was shared so widely that 262 oncologists were forced to issue a joint statement because the clip went viral.

“[The] parts of the video imply that “starving the cancer by not eating dairy products and sugar*, consuming haldi (turmeric) and neem helped cure her “incurable” cancer. These statements have no high quality evidence to support them. While research is ongoing for some of these products, clinical data currently recommend their use as anti-cancer agents,” said the statement.

The joint statement of 262 past and present oncologists of Tata Memorial Hospital against Navjot Singh Sidhu’s claims on cancer cure.

After being severely criticised by doctors, Sidhu posted yet another video clip the next day. The caption of the second clip  read ‘treatment + diet – great combination for cancer cure’. This was too little too late.

Criticism notwithstanding, Sidhu decided to double down. A day after posting these viral clips, he posted another statement, ‘in the interest of people’, making the ‘wonder diet’ public.

An oncologist shared all things wrong with that plan.


The US’s National Cancer Institute warns against such “starving”. It says cancer patients need to have enough food to overcome side effects of the treatment; extra proteins and calories may be required (the full advice can be read here ).

Again, singling out Sidhu would be wrong.

Indian sportspersons of different hues – from cricket to badminton and athletics – have been promoting questionable supplements and Bollywood stars who have huge influence on their fans keep appearing in surrogate ads of tobacco products.

The general public’s disregard for science

If the governments, opposition and celebrities are hardly cautious before presenting their opinion on issues concerning health and science, how can the general public be left behind?

It is no rocket science to understand that bursting crackers adds to the horror of air pollution. Still, people continue to flout the cracker ban with impunity, clearly giving a message to governments that a majority of them don’t consider air pollution a pressing issue to be dealt with – and therefore the administrators need not bother.


When politicians indulged in mudslinging campaigns against Covid vaccines, many people took no time to amplify those speeches without bothering to read adequately.

The market is replete with products which, for instance, claim to be treating both hypothyroidism (deficiency of thyroid hormone) and hyperthyroidism, (excess of thyroid hormone) – the two opposite ends of the spectrum. Can one product do so? Common sense would say no. But such products have a huge market because citizens continue to consume them.

It would be wrong here to only blame the citizens in such instances. These products are either sold as food supplements (approved by the Food Safety Standards Authority of India) or as ayurveda products. It is beyond understanding why any government, which claims to be nurturing scientific spirit, does not restrict their sale.

These few examples are no exception. A general tendency to drift towards everything anti-science, based on personal faiths and experiences, overriding evidence staring on face,  is something not hidden anymore.

As health reporters, almost as a routine job, we go on debunking ‘unhealthy’ myths – just like other conscientious citizens would attempt doing – be it on various social media platforms or non-official WhatsApp groups that we are part of.

Will these efforts bear fruits even when we celebrate 100 years of our Constitution? I am sceptical but remain optimistic.

The Role of Desalination in Agriculture’s Future

While challenges like cost and brine disposal remain, advancements in technology could make desalination a viable tool to bolster water resilience and sustain agriculture in increasingly water-scarce regions.

Ralph Loya was pretty sure he was going to lose the corn. His farm had been scorched by El Paso’s hottest-ever June and second-hottest August; the West Texas county saw 53 days soar over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer of 2024. The region was also experiencing an ongoing drought, which meant that crops on Loya’s eight-plus acres of melons, okra, cucumbers and other produce had to be watered more often than normal.

Loya had been irrigating his corn with somewhat salty, or brackish, water pumped from his well, as much as the salt-sensitive crop could tolerate. It wasn’t enough, and the municipal water was expensive; he was using it in moderation and the corn ears were desiccating where they stood.

Ensuring the survival of agriculture under an increasingly erratic climate is approaching a crisis in the sere and sweltering Western and Southwestern United States, an area that supplies much of our beef and dairy, alfalfa, tree nuts and produce. Contending with too little water to support their plants and animals, farmers have tilled under crops, pulled out trees, fallowed fields and sold off herds. They’ve also used drip irrigation to inject smaller doses of water closer to a plant’s roots, and installed sensors in soil that tell more precisely when and how much to water.

In the last five years, researchers have begun to puzzle out how brackish water, pulled from underground aquifers, might be de-salted cheaply enough to offer farmers another water resilience tool. Loya’s property, which draws its slightly salty water from the Hueco Bolson aquifer, is about to become a pilot site to test how efficiently desalinated groundwater can be used to grow crops in otherwise water-scarce places.

Desalination renders salty water less so. It’s usually applied to water sucked from the ocean, generally in arid lands with few options; some Gulf, African and island countries rely heavily or entirely on desalinated seawater. Inland desalination happens away from coasts, with aquifer waters that are brackish — containing between 1,000 and 10,000 milligrams of salt per liter, versus around 35,000 milligrams per liter for seawater. Texas has more than three dozen centralized brackish groundwater desalination plants, California more than 20.

Such technology has long been considered too costly for farming. Some experts still think it’s a pipe dream. “We see it as a nice solution that’s appropriate in some contexts, but for agriculture it’s hard to justify, frankly,” says Brad Franklin, an agricultural and environmental economist at the Public Policy Institute of California. Desalting an acre-foot (almost 326,000 gallons) of brackish groundwater for crops now costs about $800, while farmers can pay a lot less — as little as $3 an acre-foot for some senior rights holders in some places — for fresh municipal water. As a result, desalination has largely been reserved to make liquid that’s fit for people to drink. In some instances, too, inland desalination can be environmentally risky, endangering nearby plants and animals and reducing stream flows.

But the US Bureau of Reclamation, along with a research operation called the National Alliance for Water Innovation (NAWI) that’s been granted $185 million from the Department of Energy, have recently invested in projects that could turn that paradigm on its head. Recognizing the urgent need for fresh water for farms — which in the US are mostly inland — combined with the ample if salty water beneath our feet, these entities have funded projects that could help advance small, decentralized desalination systems that can be placed right on farms where they’re needed. Loya’s is one of them.

US farms consume over 83 million acre-feet (more than 27 trillion gallons) of irrigation water every year — the second most water-intensive industry in the country, after thermoelectric power. Not all aquifers are brackish, but most that are exist in the country’s West, and they’re usually more saline the deeper you dig. With fresh water everywhere in the world becoming saltier due to human activity, “we have to solve inland desal for ag … in order to grow as much food as we need,” says Susan Amrose, a research scientist at MIT who studies inland desalination in the Middle East and North Africa.

That means lowering energy and other operational costs; making systems simple for farmers to run; and figuring out how to slash residual brine, which requires disposal and is considered the process’s “Achilles’ heel,” according to one researcher.

The last half-decade of scientific tinkering is now yielding tangible results, says Peter Fiske, NAWI’s executive director. “We think we have a clear line of sight for agricultural-quality water.”

Swallowing the high cost

Fiske believes farm-based mini-plants can be cost-effective for producing high-value crops like broccoli, berries and nuts, some of which need a lot of irrigation. That $800 per acre-foot has been achieved by cutting energy use, reducing brine and revolutionizing certain parts and materials. It’s still expensive but arguably worth it for a farmer growing almonds or pistachios in California — as opposed to farmers growing lesser-value commodity crops like wheat and soybeans, for whom desalination will likely never prove affordable. As a nut farmer, “I would sign up to 800 bucks per acre-foot of water till the cows come home,” Fiske says.

Loya’s pilot is being built with Bureau of Reclamation funding and will use a common process called reverse osmosis. Pressure pushes salty water through a semi-permeable membrane; fresh water comes out the other side, leaving salts behind as concentrated brine. Loya figures he can make good money using desalinated water to grow not just fussy corn, but even fussier grapes he might be able to sell at a premium to local wineries.

Such a tiny system shares some of the problems of its large-scale cousins — chiefly, brine disposal. El Paso, for example, boasts the biggest inland desalination plant in the world, which makes 27.5 million gallons of fresh drinking water a day. There, every gallon of brackish water gets split into two streams: fresh water and residual brine, at a ratio of 83 percent to 17 percent. Since there’s no ocean to dump brine into, as with seawater desalination, this plant injects it into deep, porous rock formations — a process too pricey and complicated for farmers.

But what if desalination could create 90 or 95 percent fresh water and 5 to 10 percent brine? What if you could get 100 percent fresh water, with just a bag of dry salts leftover? Handling those solids is a lot safer and easier, “because super-salty water brine is really corrosive … so you have to truck it around in stainless steel trucks,” Fiske says.

Finally, what if those salts could be broken into components — lithium, essential for batteries; magnesium, used to create alloys; gypsum, turned into drywall; as well as gold, platinum and other rare-earth elements that can be sold to manufacturers? Already, the El Paso plant participates in “mining” gypsum and hydrochloric acid for industrial customers.

Loya’s brine will be piped into an evaporation pond. Eventually, he’ll have to pay to landfill the dried-out solids, says Quantum Wei, founder and CEO of Harmony Desalting, which is building Loya’s plant. There are other expenses: drilling a well (Loya, fortuitously, already has one to serve the project); building the physical plant; and supplying the electricity to pump water up day after day. These are bitter financial pills for a farmer. “We’re not getting rich; by no means,” Loya says.

More cost comes from the desalination itself. The energy needed for reverse osmosis is a lot, and the saltier the water, the higher the need. Additionally, the membranes that catch salt are gossamer-thin, and all that pressure destroys them; they also get gunked up and need to be treated with chemicals.

Reverse osmosis presents another problem for farmers. It doesn’t just remove salt ions from water but the ions of beneficial minerals, too, such as calcium, magnesium and sulfate. According to Amrose, this means farmers have to add fertilizer or mix in pretreated water to replace essential ions that the process took out.

To circumvent such challenges, one NAWI-funded team is experimenting with ultra-high-pressure membranes, fashioned out of stiffer plastic, that can withstand a much harder push. The results so far look “quite encouraging,” Fiske says. Another is looking into a system in which a chemical solvent dropped into water isolates the salt without a membrane, like the polymer inside a diaper absorbs urine. The solvent, in this case the common food-processing compound dimethyl ether, would be used over and over to avoid potentially toxic waste. It has proved cheap enough to be considered for agricultural use.

Amrose is testing a system that uses electrodialysis instead of reverse osmosis. This sends a steady surge of voltage across water to pull salt ions through an alternating stack of positively charged and negatively charged membranes. Explains Amrose, “You get the negative ions going toward their respective electrode until they can’t pass through the membranes and get stuck,” and the same happens with the positive ions. The process gets much higher fresh water recovery in small systems than reverse osmosis, and is twice as energy efficient at lower salinities. The membranes last longer, too — 10 years versus three to five years, Amrose says — and can allow essential minerals to pass through.

Data-based design

At Loya’s farm, Wei paces the property on a sweltering summer morning with a local engineering company he’s tapped to design the brine storage pond. Loya is anxious that the pond be as small as possible to keep arable land in production; Wei is more concerned that it be big and deep enough. To factor this, he’ll look at average weather conditions since 1954 as well as worst-case data from the last 25 years pertaining to monthly evaporation and rainfall rates. He’ll also divide the space into two sections so one can be cleaned while the other is in use. Loya’s pond will likely be one-tenth of an acre, dug three to six feet deep.

The desalination plant will pair reverse osmosis membranes with a “batch” process, pushing water through multiple times instead of once and gradually amping up the pressure. Regular reverse osmosis is energy-intensive because it constantly applies the highest pressures, Wei says, but Harmony’s process saves energy by using lower pressures to start with. A backwash between cycles prevents scaling by dissolving mineral crystals and washing them away. “You really get the benefit of the farmer not having to deal with dosing chemicals or replacing membranes,” Wei says. “Our goal is to make it as painless as possible.”

Another Harmony innovation concentrates leftover brine by running it through a nanofiltration membrane in their batch system; such membranes are usually used to pretreat water to cut back on scaling or to recover minerals, but Wei believes his system is the first to combine them with batch reverse osmosis. “That’s what’s really going to slash brine volumes,” he says. The whole system will be hooked up to solar panels, keeping Loya’s energy off-grid and essentially free. If all goes to plan, the system will be operational by early 2025 and produce seven gallons of fresh water a minute during the strongest sun of the day, with a goal of 90 to 95 percent fresh water recovery. Any water not immediately used for irrigation will be stored in a tank.

Spreading out the research

Ninety-eight miles north of Loya’s farm, along a dead flat and endlessly beige expanse of road that skirts the White Sands Missile Range, more desalination projects burble away at the Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility in Alamogordo, New Mexico. The facility, run by the Bureau of Reclamation, offers scientists a lab and four wells of differing salinities to fiddle with.

On some parched acreage at the foot of the Sacramento Mountains, a longstanding farming pilot project bakes in relentless sunlight. After some preemptive words about the three brine ponds on the property — “They have an interesting smell, in between zoo and ocean” — facility manager Malynda Cappelle drives a golf cart full of visitors past solar arrays and water tanks to a fenced-in parcel of dust and plants. Here, since 2019, a team from the University of North Texas, New Mexico State University and Colorado State University has tested sunflowers, fava beans and, currently, 16 plots of pinto beans. Some plots are bare dirt; others are topped with compost that boosts nutrients, keeps soil moist and provides a salt barrier. Some plots are drip-irrigated with brackish water straight from a well; some get a desalinated/brackish water mix.

Eyeballing the plots even from a distance, the plants in the freshest-water plots look large and healthy. But those with compost are almost as vigorous, even when irrigated with brackish water. This could have significant implications for cash-conscious farmers. “Maybe we do a lesser level of desalination, more blending, and this will reduce the cost,” says Cappelle.

Pei Xu, has been co-investigator on this project since its start. She’s also the progenitor of a NAWI-funded pilot at the El Paso desalination plant. Later in the day, in a high-ceilinged space next to the plant’s treatment room, she shows off its consequential bits. Like Amrose’s system, hers uses electrodialysis. In this instance, though, Xu is aiming to squeeze a bit of additional fresh — at least freshish — water from the plant’s leftover brine. With suitably low levels of salinity, the plant could pipe it to farmers through the county’s existing canal system, turning a waste product into a valuable resource.

Xu’s pinto bean and El Paso work, and Amrose’s in the Middle East, are all relevant to Harmony’s pilot and future projects. “Ideally we can improve desalination to the point where it’s an option which is seriously considered,” Wei says. “But more importantly, I think our role now and in the future is as water stewards — to work with each farm to understand their situation and then to recommend their best path forward … whether or not desalting is involved.”

Indeed, as water scarcity becomes ever more acute, desalination advances will help agriculture only so much; even researchers who’ve devoted years to solving its challenges say it’s no panacea. “What we’re trying to do is deliver as much water as cheaply as possible, but that doesn’t really encourage smart water use,” says NAWI’s Fiske. “In some cases, it encourages even the reverse. Why are we growing alfalfa in the middle of the desert?”

Franklin, of the California policy institute, highlights another extreme: Twenty-one of the state’s groundwater basins are already critically depleted, some due to agricultural overdrafting. Pumping brackish aquifers for desalination could aggravate environmental risks.

There are an array of measures, say researchers, that farmers themselves must take in order to survive, with rainwater capture and the fixing of leaky infrastructure at the top of the list. “Desalination is not the best, only or first solution,” Wei says. But he believes that when used wisely in tandem with other smart partial fixes, it could prevent some of the worst water-related catastrophes for our food system.

Lela Nargi is a journalist covering food and agriculture systems, climate science and social justice issues. She is also a 2023-24 Nova Institute for Health media fellow.

This article first appeared on Knowable Magazine, a nonprofit publication dedicated to making scientific knowledge accessible to all. Read the original here.

Maharashtra: CM Post Continues to Hang in Balance, Shinde Says Decision to Be Made in Mumbai

The undivided Shiv Sena, which built its legacy on the leadership of party supremo Bal Thackeray, was never dependent on Delhi for decisions, party leaders pointed out.

Mumbai: It has been over a week since the Mahayuti coalition received a clear mandate. However, the decision on who could be Maharashtra’s chief minister has yet to be made. At a late-night meeting on Thursday (November 28) in New Delhi, leaders of all three allied parties – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis, Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde, and Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Ajit Pawar met with Union home minister Amit Shah. The meeting went on until midnight, but the leaders told the media that the decision was “almost finalised.”

Shinde, after the meeting, told the press that the decision on the chief minister’s and other posts would be made in Mumbai, but gave no clear indication of when.

The BJP, which has won 132 out of the total 288 seats – only 13 shy of a clear majority – is in control of who gets to be the next chief minister of the state. Shinde, who held the position for over two and a half years as a reward for breaking away from the Shiv Sena and taking most MLAs along with him, has also submitted to the BJP’s decision.

Two days ago, Shinde called for a press conference at his residence in Thane. In a lengthy monologue, almost like a scripted speech, Shinde told the press that as a part of the Mahayuti government, all he asks for is “a stable government” and has handed over all rights to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah to make the final decision. Having consented to be a part of the Mahayuti, he said that he has vested powers in the hands of the Delhi leadership to take further decisions. “I had a call with Modi ji and Shah ji and told them that when they are making any decision, they should not worry about me. I am in complete support of their decision,” he said.

Also read: In Post-Election Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar Is the Leader to Watch

In the 20-minute discussion, however, Shinde didn’t once mention the Maharashtra leaders with whom he has a direct alliance and with whom he would be spending the next five years in government. His displeasure over having Fadnavis return as chief minister is now public, and with Ajit Pawar siding with Fadnavis, Shinde has been isolated in the equation.

The undivided Shiv Sena, which built its legacy on the leadership of party supremo Bal Thackeray, was never dependent on Delhi for decisions, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) leader and Member of Parliament Sanjay Raut said. “Even when the party was in alliance with the BJP, decisions were taken by the party itself, not handed over to the BJP bosses in Delhi. And now that Shinde has repeatedly said this, it is clear that he has willingly handed over his autonomy to the BJP,” Raut said in Mumbai.

There is a noticeable change in the way Shinde has conducted himself since the election results. Even though his party performed well in the assembly elections (winning 57 seats), this pales in comparison to the BJP, which emerged as the single largest party in the state. In fact, the Shinde faction’s performance is better than the united Shiv Sena’s in the 2019 assembly elections, when they won 56 seats in the state.

NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) leader Supriya Sule said the situation in which Shinde has found himself feels like a “repeat of 2019.” “It is almost as if the clock has been turned back to 2019. The promises made then to Uddhav Thackeray and later broken are being repeated once again with Shinde,” she told the media two days ago.

The breaking of both Shiv Sena and the NCP was scripted and executed by the BJP. The manner in which the MLAs were transported to Assam and then to Gujarat, with the direct involvement of BJP leaders, made it evident that the BJP wanted the powerful regional parties in the state to be decimated. The disintegration of the two parties and the weakened leadership in the opposition has directly benefited the BJP in the state. The party has never formed a government in the state without an ally. But this time, if the party decides, it could very well drop the weight of the allies and take a few independents.

Meanwhile, some churning has begun within the Thackeray faction. The Mahavikas Aghadi alliance of Congress, Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction, and the Thackeray camp of Shiv Sena won 46 seats. Ambadas Danve, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, stated that the MVA should have simply projected Uddhav Thackeray as its chief ministerial candidate, which would have helped swing at least 3-4% of votes toward the MVA. Danve, whose party managed 20 seats out of the 46 won by the alliance, accused the Congress of becoming “overconfident” in Maharashtra, “just as they became overconfident in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.”

In one of his interviews, Danve also claimed that a few party leaders (without giving away their names) are “concerned about the Thackeray Sena’s structure and future.”

In the Lok Sabha election, the Congress had secured 13 seats, marking a good comeback and a boost for the party both in the state and nationally. However, the party performed poorly in the state assembly, winning only 16 out of the 103 seats it contested. Sharad Pawar’s party also suffered, winning only 10 out of the 87 seats its candidates contested in the state.