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What happens in Kairana stays in Kairana – How the media turned the truth into a lie

Abhishek Banerjee
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What happens in Kairana stays in Kairana – How the media turned the truth into a lie

Earlier in the summer of this year, a renowned writer of military-themed fiction tweeted thus:

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So true. Someone has to stop people from making exaggerated claims like Malda once being a part of India. And someone really needs to stop crazy Hindu males from making claims about the existence of some fabricated place called “Kairana”, where Hindu families used to be allowed to stay.

Oh wait, those things will be tweeted by the Shekhar Guptas of a future generation, perhaps 50 years from now.

For now, this Shekhar Gupta is saying that nothing happened in Uttar Pradesh’s Kairana. Hopefully, that villager type BJP MP called Hukum Singh has learned a valuable lesson about the importance of verifying facts, preferably by studying the standards set by The Indian Express.

So, imagine my surprise when I saw this story yesterday.

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Now since I do not happen to be a published author with information about secret movements of Indian Army units, I felt it was necessary to verify what has really been said and what hasn’t. This journey took me to the website of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), where I found this report:

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(http://nhrc.nic.in/dispArchive.asp?fno=24109)

Let’s the NHRC explain in its own words what triggered their enquiry:

“The Commission received a complaint from Miss Monika Arora, Advocate, Supreme Court of India and convener of an NGO stating that families of a particular religion are leaving Kairana area of Western UP due to fear of criminals. It had been alleged that a woman belonging to Kashyap caste was abducted, gang-raped and killed, yet no action was taken by the police against the offenders.”

I am getting ready to read about how “senior BJP voices” lent credence to all this kind of “complete fabrication”, aren’t you? Let’s keep reading the NHRC release:

“It was found to be correct that the victim Smt. Guddi @ Surendri (Kashyap family), as mentioned in the complaint, was kidnapped on 4.4.2016 and was subsequently murdered by Kurban, Mohsin and others.”

Wait, what? How can that be? Doesn’t the NHRC know that senior media voices have already lent credence to the fabrication theory? Oh and for the sake of Indian secularism, I do hope that the real name of Mr Kurban is Krishna and the real name of Mr Mohsin is Mahesh.

What else is in the report?

“The matter was reported to the police of PS Kairana on 5/4/2016 by Sh. Sangat, husband of the victim Smt. Guddi @ Surendri, but the police neither registered an FIR in this regard nor started to search for Smt. Guddi @ Surendri the same day i.e. on 5.4.2016.”

Come on UP police. You have been acting as if this woman wasn’t killed by Gau Rakshaks. Perhaps the local infrastructure in Kairana is incapable of handling high profile visits from India’s Chief Minister, Shri Arvind Kejriwal. Or maybe it’s just that India’s intellectuals don’t have any awards left to return.

Here is point number 12. from the NHRC release:

“At least 24 witnesses stated that the youths of the specific majority community (Muslims) in Kairana town pass lewd/taunting remarks against the females of the specific minority community in Kairana town. Due to this, females of the specific minority community (Hindus) in Kairana town avoid going outside frequently. However, they could not gather the courage to report the matter to the police for the legal action.”

Ok, ok, this kind of compromise solution where Hindu women cannot get outside their homes and cannot talk to police is not ideal. But, have you considered that Hindu women being forced to stay indoors actually keeps men of the peaceful community from having to murder them? Please read the AIMPLB report on triple talaq for more on this line of reasoning. You may also like to consult eminent feminist Ms Flavia Agnes. She is a renowned expert at finding the “positives for women” in situations such as these.

Here is point 15 from the  NHRC release:

“The police record reveals that both Sh. Shiv Charan and Sh. Rajender (two businessmen) were threatened to pay protection/extortion money by the notorious gangster Sh. Mukeem Kala. Similarly, four other prominent businessmen of Kairana Market shown in the list issued by the Hon’ble MP Kairana at Sl.No. 2,3,5, & 17 have made the same allegations.”

So, the businessmen in the list issued by the “Hon’ble MP Kairana” admitted they were being threatened by gangster Sh. Mukeem Kala. But why was the NHRC wasting its time on a list that has already been rejected by honourable members of the media?

Here is point 16 from the NHRC release:

“The notorious dreaded gang leader Sh. Mukim Kala had committed at least 47 cases of Robbery/Murder/ Dacoity/Extortion/Violation of Arms Act during the span of just 05 years from 2010 to 2015, in the States of UP, Haryana, Uttarakhand involving the amount of crores of rupees and robbing of Govt. Arms/Ammunition.”

Hmmm… seems all that Mr. Mukim Kala is missing is a guard of honour with 400 SUVs. He needs to expand his activities slightly further east to obtain that distinction.

Here is point 18:

“In 2013, the post-rehabilitation scenario resulting in the resettlement of about 25/30 thousand members of Muslims Community in Kairana Town from district Muzaffarnagar, UP, the demography of Kairana town has changed in favour of the Muslim Community becoming the more dominating and majority community. Most of the witnesses examined and victims feel that the rehabilitation in 2013 has permanently changed the social situation in Kairana town and has led to further deterioration of law and order situation.”

And the all-important point no. 19 :

“Most of the witnesses stated that many families migrated due to threats pertaining to increase in crime and deterioration of Law and Order situation.”

End of story. Yes, Hukum Singh was right. But more importantly, the truth became a lie.

That bitter taste in our mouth is the price we pay for having allowed the left wing to monopolize the media space. This has turned into a standard operating procedure for the secular brigade each time they are faced with obvious wrongdoing of their own. They start a crazy rumour about the story being “fabricated” and fan it all across the public discourse with the help of eager media surrogates. The right-wing ends up responding to the crazy conspiracy theory and then charges fly back and forth. In this din, the original story gets muddled and is forgotten.

This is what happened in JNU and this is what happened in Kairana too. In JNU they said the videos were fake and in Kairana they said the list was fake. The right wing ended up responding to the accusations and the story got muddled. The truth in both cases emerged months later, but by then the left had succeeded in its purpose. The story had been forgotten and no one cared any more.

What to make of the report that 20 terrorists were killed by special forces across LoC

Gaurav
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What to make of the report that 20 terrorists were killed by special forces across LoC

Indians across political affiliations, regions and backgrounds were asking for only one thing after the ghastly Uri terror attack: That India must hit back. Sure they differed on the nature of the retaliation, but no one wanted the Indian army to sit back and let the enemy gloat.

And then late last night, we got the news that at least 20 terrorists had been neutralised in a daring cross-LoC operation by the Indian Army in response to the Uri attack. The story was broken by a web magazine named The Quint. The report said:

Two units of the elite 2 Paras comprising 18-20 soldiers flew across the LoC in the Uri sector in military helicopters and carried out an operation that killed at least 20 suspected terrorists across three terror camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Total casualties, including those injured, could be as high as 200, sources said.

As soon as this news broke out, social media began debating whether it was true. Questions were raised as to how such a big news was not broken by any of the usual mainstream media suspects. So what could be the truth?

Quint on its part has stuck to the report. The Quint Editorial Director fully backed the report. In the original piece, Quint had mentioned that military sources revealed this information to them, which was further confirmed with two other independent sources. Today, an update to the story says:

In light of the reactions to this article, The Quint decided to reconfirm the information from its sources. We stand by our story.

Going by general media standards, it is rare to see a media house openly declare that they have confirmed a story from multiple sources. Quint also pointed to some circumstantial evidence. Pakistan’s national carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had cancelled flights to northern Pakistani cities due to “air space restrictions”. The PIA called off flights to Gilgit and Skardu in Gilgit-Baltistan region in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Chitral in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

No reason  was given for the closure of air space but officials said that Pakistani warplanes might be in the air to keep vigil due to Indo-Pak tensions after the Uri attack. Were they Pakistani warplanes or did they know that Indian ops were on?

Quint also chose to highlight the Defence Minister’s statement:

“Won’t go into details of what India can do, but sometimes knee-jerk reaction is required.”

Surely the Defence Minister cannot reveal details of covert ops, so was this just a hint of the operations being carried out?

The reaction on social media was mixed. Some users who had tweeted indications of such action 24 hours before the story broke, claimed vindication. Yet some other dismissed this report as untrue and based on a WhatsApp rumour.

National Security Analyst Nitin Gokhale said he had no information about such an operation:


Journalist Shiv Aroor who has been on the defence beat also trashed the report as a Whatsapp rumour, saying that the army vehemently denies it:


On the other hand a defence correspondent Sumann Sharma fully backed the Quint report:


She claimed that the report was “fully checked” and that troops had been flown back to safety as well. She claimed that a denial from the army was obvious since it was a covert operation.

The entire episode was reminiscent of the cross-border strike in Myanmar last year, where details of the event were shrouded in secrecy. While media reports and sources claimed it was a cross-border attack, the army had stated that the operations were at two locations along the Indo-Myanmar border in Manipur and Nagaland. It was only later that Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said that it was a cross-border operation. One report mentioned that many such operations had been conducted in the past, but “Only a few of these operations have been acknowledged so far”.

The reason for this is easy to understand. Firstly, no nation would like to openly admit that they violated the sovereignty of another nation by intruding into their territory. In Kashmir, crossing the LoC would mean defying the Simla Agreement of 1972, which said that both sides must respect the Line of Control. Any such transgression would allow Pakistan to cry victim. Secondly, revealing details of such operations can endanger the men involved in the mission. Hence secrecy could be key.

Coming back to the current case, it is indeed difficult to say either way. It is understandable that the army would not like to confirm covert operations, especially during or soon after the operations take place. It is highly possible that once they came to know that news had been leaked, they began leaking news to deny the existence of such an operation in order to secure troops and maintain the covert nature of the operation.

On the other hand it is also possible that the entire thing never happened. Indian media has been earlier found cooking up stories. But in this case, the media house Quint categorically states the number of sources it has confirmed it from, plus the circumstantial evidence. Generally when a media house gets it wrong, these two factors are missing.

All said and done, at this moment all we can do is wait. Wait for the army or any official source to confirm any such news. We may get a Myanmar-esque confirmation that the operations were within Indian territory and not PoK. Or we may not even get any confirmation of the incident anytime soon, since it was a covert operation. Or we may get some news once the UNGA meet ends. And it may even so happen that this attack is never confirmed, owing to the Simla Agreement issue. At the moment, we must just trust our army to do what is needed, “at a time and place of their choosing“.

Kejriwal – the making of an insecure leader – a personal experience

ravipokharna
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Kejriwal – the making of an insecure leader – a personal experience

Last week was quite an eventful one. I had received a criminal defamation notice for damaging Arvind Kejriwal’s reputation as a ‘World Renowned Leader’. I giggled after remembering what I thought of him as a leader. The notice was apparently for a tweet I had put on 20th Aug 2016. It had said

‘Kejriwal had 11.5M followers till few days back, now 8.7M! TOI says twitter suspended 2.4L accnts 4 promoting terror!’

Twitterati seemed to have found this association meaningful. The tweet got 800 retweets, 470 likes & of-course dozens of abuses from self proclaimed Kejriwal supporters.

I had learnt during my management days that insecure leaders dislike alternate voices and are likely to crush such people using force to muzzle their voice. A simple search on linkedin threw some more information.

What does an insecure leader look like?

  1. They surround themselves with people they can control.
  2. They misinterpret other people’s motives to fit their story.
  3. They look at those who work for them as employees, not their team.
  4. They consider anyone “disloyal” who disagrees with them.
  5. They mishandle conflict

Few leadership experts further share : –

The root cause of insecurity is a lack of character development. Insecure leaders never develop people. They replace them. ~ John C. Maxwell

A quick look at Kejriwal’s actions of last few years shows a theoretically perfect match. I need not repeat his daily rants of ‘he not being able to do his work because of someone else’ or ‘the unceremonious ousters of those in party who were more capable or smarter than him’. His new core team consists of those sycophants who would just echo everything he says.

The insecure leader got threatened by the tweet & with a purpose to intimidate, a legal notice of criminal defamation was sent to me which i received on 7th Sep

Pt 6 of the notice said

Your tweet is a direct attack on Mr Arvind Kejriwal who alongside of being the National Convener of Aam Aadmi Party, is also the Chief Minister of Delhi. Mr Arvind Kejriwal is a world renowned political leader and public rights activist who holds very high repute & public standing not only in India but across the world. By attacking Mr Arvind Kejriwal using fabricated and malicious content you are not only damaging his untarnished image but also hurting sentiments of millions of voters and supporters.

Pt 9 had this warning

I on behalf of and for my client will initiate legal proceedings including but not limited to pursuing a criminal defamation case against you. Further, you will be held liable for any monetary and legal damages which my client seeks on behalf of his organization and it’s office bearers. Please stand informed, that your liability and exposure under such legal action would be considerable.

If one doesn’t consider the insecurity angle for this ‘world renowned leader’, it is still hard to believe that he is the same leader who contested the defamation law in supreme court as being against freedom of expression would get rattled from a tweet by an ordinary person.

My reply may have further rattled the gang, if the use of choicest of words by them is any indicator. The reply went viral. It was retweeted more than 2600 times and got covered by few online portals including IndiaTtoday, Catch News, OpIndia, Shankhnaad etc. Kejriwal’s IT team unleashed their most abusive of trolls on me. Next three days there were regular attempts to hack my twitter account.

Kejriwal’s calling Shekhar Gupta a ‘Dalal’, LG Jung to be BJP agent, PM Modi a Psychopath & Coward, using phrases like ArnabModiKaKuttaHai would not utterly surprise someone who has spent some time with him and knows him significantly well.

Being Insecure isn’t Kejriwal’s only problem. He is utterly unimaginative & perhaps suffers from low self confidence out of this. I confidently put this up, as learnt during a random meeting with Mr. Kejriwal few years back. The surrounding was calm, and he was in his true self. It was in Aug 2012 during a railway travel in Bhopal Shatabdi from Delhi to Jhansi. Although it was after the Anna protest but no one seemed to have noticed or recognized him in the train. He was sitting with his entire row lying vacant. I recognized him but since no one else was paying attention so I went & verified with TTE. His name was mentioned as ‘A.Kejriwal’. I quickly went & requested him for the seat next to him, after all  he was an emerging leader and the youth had started looking up to him.

It was 7am and for the next three hours I got an opportunity to know him as a person. Within ten minutes into discussion he flashed his blackberry mobile to show me the kind of response the movement was getting from youth across the country. The intensity of his enthusiasm was visible. In the same breathe he also put forth his concern. He said these youth have to be kept engaged otherwise they will again hook to some other movement/ person. Much of the time afterwards was spent bouncing off ideas which would keep youth engaged. He was in his true self, in rage but with no concrete idea or thought to work out issues that the country is dealing with.

At Jhansi railway station there were 15-20 people waiting for him with banners & drums. He went in haste but left me in thoughts. I was deeply shocked at his thought process. His only focus during the entire discussion was to keep youth engaged so that they stay in tune or in control. Nowhere was he interested in utilizing their energies for some constructive work or nation building or anything positive. That was nowhere in the agenda. The entire agenda was very selfish and self centred. I prayed he never gets a position where youth have to look up to him for direction otherwise he will just dis-orient them for his personal gains. I was disheartened by this meeting. It was a second coincidence that our return was together and separated by few seats only. Since many people had come to see him off, after the train started many passengers wanted to meet & get clicked with him. I was otherwise also not interested in continuing any further discussion. The initial meeting was enough for me to form an opinion about him.

Almost four years after that travel journey I see the horror unfolding especially on social media. He is singularly responsible for pulling down the level of discourse. His consistent and shameless use of cuss words to incite youngsters for his political gains has permanently dented the power of this medium for any constructive use in participative democracy.

However, with the unfolding of events in last month one can atleast take some sigh of relief that Kejriwal is finally getting exposed. Finally a section of media as well as public are asking for his accountability. Finally his tongue is getting trimmed.

Wars have Failed us, so has ‘Aman ki Asha’, but we still have an option

Gaurav Sansanwal
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Wars have Failed us, so has ‘Aman ki Asha’, but we still have an option

The idea of a sovereign Pakistan was based upon a hate-filled two-nation theory. The idea was realised by successfully executing a mass cleansing programme, called ‘Direct Action Day’. Even before the boundary lines could be drawn, Pakistan infiltrated into the independent kingdom of Kashmir. India rushed to Kashmir’s defence, when invited by Maharaja Hari Singh. Seven decades later, it is still the same story. They continue to infiltrate, and we continue to defend. A sum total of seven major terror attacks have been conducted against the Indian Armed Forces, in the last one year. This calls for introspection; for our policy vis-à-vis Pakistan, lacks coherence. The government has to stop flirting with the various possibilities that exist, and show some resolve. In simple words, it must act, keeping in mind a long-term plan.

When I say India must act, I do not suggest that we go for a full-scale direct war with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. We have fought (and won) many of them. And Pakistan must remember, that were it to engage in any sort of territorial adventurism, India will treat it no less than an invitation to re-draw the territorial map of Pakistan. But the point is, a war (especially when one is the aggressor) cannot lead to a sustainable solution. Barring the satisfaction of having stood for Bangladesh’s freedom, there is not much that India has achieved. This is also because the ‘Indian’ advantage gained in the Bangladesh war (1971) was heavily compromised in the Shimla Agreement. Further, given the realities of today’s world (politics, economy, diplomacy), there is very little that India stands to gain from a full-scale direct confrontation. Given our aspirations, we cannot afford to be caught up with the economic and diplomatic consequences of a full-scale conflict.

We must, however, remember that if wars have failed, so have the attempts at peaceful cooperation. India-Pakistan relationship is a bit like business cycles, in the sense that it exhibits a predictable pattern. When we fight, we suspend all relations. Then, we get back to the ‘table’, with the utopian dream (Aman ki Asha), that all of our conflicts can be resolved by hugs, and handshakes.

But even before plausible ideas can be discussed, we are forced to walk away, the moment India’s integrity is challenged once again. At some point, we have to ask ourselves, some very uncomfortable questions. Given all that India has set out to achieve, can we afford to drain our time, energy, and resources on restoring our relations with one failed state? Let us take a few examples. We granted Pakistan, the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tag, with the hope that trade, and commerce will usher in normalcy. Till date, Pakistan has not returned the favour. It has categorically stated that it has no plans of doing that, anytime soon. India invited Pakistan to investigate the Pathankot attack, hoping that it would yield something that sharing dossiers (on 26/11 Mumbai attacks) didn’t. But all in vain. From the membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), to a seat on the UN Security Council table, Pakistan opposes every move that India makes, to realise its true potential. Sartaj Aziz openly takes pride in the fact that Nawaz Sharif wrote to 17 countries, to prevent India from getting the NSG membership. For him, all I have, is Vajpayee’s warning- एक नहीं, दो नहीं, करो बीसों समझौते, पर स्वतंत्र भारत का मस्तक नहीं झुकेगा |

This is not it. Some of Pakistan’s agents also work in Kashmir. They meet the Pakistan High Commissioner, but refuse to engage with the democratic leaders of their ‘home’ nation. Pakistan continues to sponsor them. On 5th February, each year, the state of Pakistan observes Kashmir Solidarity Day, as a national holiday.

It will be preposterous to assume that every Pakistani is an enemy of India. But facts prove that the Pakistani establishment is one, and should be treated as one. The ‘state’ openly allows the ‘non-state’ actors to do as they please. It is, therefore, complicit in the campaign to break India into a thousand pieces. And anyone who operates with a design of that sort, deserves just one ‘status’- that of an enemy. This is a fact that we should make it clear to the world by-and large, as loud and clear as we can.

Given that we are a responsible power, we will deal with Pakistan responsibly. Here are a few points, that could become a part of our Pakistan doctrine:

  1. Open support to the freedom struggles of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, and Balochistan.
  2. Use of all available intelligence assets, to aid and support the achievement of the stated objective.
  3. Directing that the Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan, officially invite the pro- Balochistan leaders, for ‘meet and greet’, till the time his Pakistani counterpart in New Delhi does not stop doing the same with Kashmiri ‘leaders’.
  4. Re-assessing our economic, political, and diplomatic relations with each and every country, that knowingly or unknowingly, becomes a part of Pakistan’s anti-India designs.
  5. Reciprocity should be the norm on economic issues. ‘Most Favoured Nation’ tag should be revoked. That India will never be the first to blink the eye, on such concessions, should be made clear.
  6. Pakistan should not be invited to collect evidence related to terror attacks, till the time there is no visible progress on punishing the offenders of the previous ones.
  7. A strategic alliance with all major military, and economic powers, including but not limited to the United States, should be pursued more aggressively, to isolate Pakistan.
  8. The idea of joint control, and administration of ‘India-administered Kashmir’ should be dropped from the Indian diplomatic lexicon.
  9. Intensifying efforts to drum up required support for the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, and use the occasion to segregate the rest of the world into terrorism-loving, and peace-loving nation-states.
  10. Pakistan Army positions that aid, and facilitate the infiltration of fidayeen groups, through the Line of Control (LoC), should be strategically targeted by the Indian Armed Forces, in a disciplined manner – to send the right message.

India has the capacity to absorb, and endure losses. But this is not enough. To be great, we have to show that we also have the courage to inflict punishment, in the most disciplined of all ways, should the need arise for the same. Ending this piece, by borrowing the following lines from Billy Joel:

We Didn’t Start the Fire;
No, We Didn’t Light it;
But We (Will Try) to Fight it.

AAP Goa plays politics when India needs to be united against Pakistan

OpIndia Staff
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AAP Goa plays politics when India needs to be united against Pakistan

After the Uri Terrorist attack on our armed forces, the world has sympathised with our country and its continued fight against Pakistan sponsored terrorism. Russia, France, Canada and Afghanistan on Monday joined several other countries in condemning the Uri attack which claimed the lives of 18 Army personnel even as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon+ hoped that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.

Russian foreign ministry, in a statement, directly attacked Pakistan for their role: “Regarding the Pathankot Indian air base attack in January 2016, we are very concerned about the terrorist attacks near the Line of Control. We are also concerned about the fact that, according to New Delhi, the Army base near Uri was attacked from Pakistani territory.”

But even as the world was united with India, some sections within India were seen using this tragic incident to score political brownie points. The Goa unit of AAP, issued a press release on the incident, but a closer reading made it clear that AAP was less bothered about the attack, and was more concerned with scoring political points:

The press release started with expressing “shock” over the incident and extending sympathies with our armed forces. But the real “shock” was how AAP stayed clear of naming or condemning Pakistan for the attack. They also felt it necessary to call the terrorists as “militants”. Coincidentally this was very similar to Pakistan ally China’s response to the attack where they avoided naming Pakistan but expressed “shock”. In fact one could say China’s statement was superior, as the rest of the contents of AAP’s statement will indicate.

After 2 sentences regarding the attack, AAP Goa unit went into election mode and chose to rake up some “security paper leaks” from the Defence Ministry. If they were referring to the recent Scorpene leaks then this is a self goal because the “leaks” happened in France, that too in 2011. But such facts did not matter to AAP Goa which just wanted to get even with the Defence Minister, who is also from Goa.

And from here on, AAP dedicated the rest of the release to taking pot-shots at the Defence Minister. In a short statement, just 2 sentences focused on the actual incident. Even those sentences were inadequate as there was no condemnation of Pakistan whatsoever.

The real intent of the press release was now revealed as they chose to hit-back at the Defence Minister Parrikar for his statements against Arvind Kejriwal. Parrikar, addressing a BJP function a day before the Uri attack, had jocularly said that criticising PM Modi made Kejriwal’s tongue bigger, hence it had to be trimmed. This statement probably got the goat of AAP Goa leaders even more than the cowardly terror attack by Pakistan, hence their guns were aimed at the Defence Minister and a clean chit was given to Pakistan.

Giving a political response to a political attack by an opponent is fair, but the unfortunate shooting of the shoulders of dead soldiers by AAP Goa, meanwhile giving a clean chit to Pakistan, is a cause of serious concern.

The India I discovered after traveling across it to spread knowledge on gravitational waves

astrokpj
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The India I discovered after traveling across it to spread knowledge on gravitational waves

India and its dreams can be fulfilled only by strengthening university research. This is where we need grand reforms.

Lecture

 

“Three of the five sockets in my office are not working. Do you really think we can build world’s most sensitive detector?” – Director of a Research Institute

Why I chose to lecture on this topic?

Exactly a year ago, on September 14, 2015, one of the grandest scientific instruments ever built, LIGO, whose team I am a part of, detected a signal that came from collision of black holes some 150 crore years ago. It took us about six months to be sure that this signal was exactly a phenomenon Albert Einstein had predicted 100 years – gravitational waves or in more trippy words, ‘ripples in the four dimensional spacetime fabric’ on which resides stars, galaxies and everything we call “our universe”. This is hailed as the discovery of the century, and a new chapter has since opened in mankind’s quest to understand the universe and its origins.

When we announced this discovery in February 2016, the first world leader to congratulate us was our Honorable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. In a series of tweets, he also announced what scientists in my field were eagerly waiting for – the LIGO-India project. Picture with PM ModiA 16 sq. km. gravitational wave detector, and only third such in the world, this project was stuck in bureaucracy for years, and within days after Prime Minister’s tweets, the project got Union Cabinet approval. In what can be regarded by future historians as the largest science outreach by any government since moon-landing, the Prime Minister in his Mann Ki Baat discussed at length about the discovery of gravitational waves and India’s plans to invest in this new scientific field.

For a young scientist, this was a fairy tale moment! One of the most abstract scientific theories – Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, one of the most complicated instrument on earth – LIGO, and this was capturing interest of the top office of my country! When Prime Minister visited Washington DC in March 2016, India and the United States signed an MoU, and the LIGO-India project is now ranked as the highest S&T priority between the two nations. During the signing of MoU, the Prime Minister interacted with four of us LIGO scientist who were part of this discovery, and it was his suggestion that young scientists like us should visit more often the universities in India and inspire students to be part of such mega-science investment of our country.

A Bharat Bhraman For Gravitational Waves

My original plan was to hold a two-week long summer school at a national university, so we can invite about few hundred interested bachelors-masters students from across the country and the experts can give them mini-projects with them on astrophysics and experiment related to gravitational wave. Karan JaniBut sitting here in the US, I simply could not find funds or convince any Indian university to take a lead on this. So I decided to visit as many national universities, colleges, research institutes and high schools I possibly can in ~four weeks in India.

In this way, not only I reached out to almost 5000 students, and hopefully got them curious about gravitational waves, but also got to closely observe the scientific research environment and curriculum at all levels of universities (private, state, national), and every major research institute of the country. And being at this very grassroots level, discussing with students from canteens to pubs, with professors to deans to vice-chancellors to industry honchos, I am so convinced that the innovative solutions that India demands from her 65% youth populations, so that we can resolve our incredibly complex issues and make the world say Jai Hind, can happen only and only by strengthening research in colleges and universities (and not just national labs and institutes).

Think Beyond IITs & ISROs 

When I mean colleges and universities, I mean the one next door in your hometown. IITs, IIMs, IISERs are doing great. But that is not representative of entire India. This year, like every other year, ~88% of total JEE qualifiers were male, and with coaching fees for entrance exams soaring lakhs of rupees, it should not surprise your ‘elite’ institutes are really catering to only urban-centric folks. So we can’t be expecting them to solve water crisis in the villages. While in the universities – be it local, state or national –  enrolls your 65% population of India under age of 35. One of the senior professors at Delhi University mentioned to me, “In early 90s, the M.Sc students would be the English speaking youth from Stephen’s, Xavier’s or kids of bureaucrats. Today 75% of the entering class is from small towns and humble roots.” This to me seemed the proudest outcome of our democratic economic development. Now provide them with research opportunities, give them the chance to innovate during their Bachelors/Masters, and they will come up with solutions to problems that affected their day to day life, and of countless Indians (one day, this may help limit the ever increasing flux of funds spent on social welfare schemes).

On the other hand, the research institutes and national labs in India are profoundly disconnected with higher education. At one of country’s most elite research institute, I inquired why they don’t collaborate with the local state university. The answer was quite typical, “Haan toh humney kab naa bola?”. Yea sure, but you have an army at your main gate! Barely anyone in that city knew what research goes inside this facility. It infact took me 15 minutes to convince the guards that I was invited here to speak and not ‘just a curious citizen’. And such security beefing was purely bureaucratic than for national security! This to my surprise was rather common for every research institute. The public cannot easily enter the facility. We spent thousand of crores making Express Highways and metro trains, but not a single R&D outcome is gained from it if our national labs don’t open its doors to the interested youth.

While national research labs and institutes are supposed to work on priorities set by the government departments, the universities have the flexibility to foster more creative approach. And it’s not that our universities don’t do research. But, (a) it is not a norm beyond central universities, (b) university research resources are focused only for PhD students (c) heavy lack of facilities compared to research institutes (d) don’t have many collaborators (e) professors have insane teaching load (f) unnecessarily heavy coursework for graduate students! This is a preliminary list of issues, each of which has a history and justifications behind it. Though if you keep going on with status quo or incremental policy changes, our universities are going to become irrelevant in few decades. The massive online course moment has the world’s leading experts teaching semester long courses on every possible topic out there. With internet streaming now at its peak, and admission cut-offs reaching quantum limits, we will end up catering our youth resources to private online courses. The only way to keep universities relevant is by strengthening its research and innovation facilities.

Need for Grand Reforms In Research & Outreach

One of the questions I asked to every emeritus professor and higher ups in science bureaucracy that I had opportunity to interact, “Why couldn’t we predict importance of such megascience years ago, and in fact decades back when the a prototype of this detector was proposed?” This question is particularly important for young researchers like us who have to plan the career and also build human resources from this very instance to prepare for the next big scientific breakthrough. And if we don’t have a system in place, like the US has National Science Foundation, which funded LIGO research since 1980s, we will end up producing one more generation of frustrated Indian scientists whose very hard work is not seeing light for absolutely petty reasons. For the long term visionmap of making India the next science leader, we need to think beyond relying on wisdom of few eminent academic personalities and elite institutes. Only then research groups in universities will be able to take lead in initiating exciting new science in India.

Kids

During the interactions with the science bureaucracies, I learnt about so many other megascience projects of the scale comparable or beyond LIGO-India that our taxpayers funds are being invested in. But only if the students in the 10th grade social science class were aware of the experiments our scientists are conducting from the Indian Ocean to Ladakh that will help understand origin of earth, so many of these students will go on to enroll in undergraduate geology programs in colleges across the country!

After the Independence Day parade in my school in Vadodara, I asked the NCC cadets how many of them will like to one day join DRDO. To my jaw dropping surprise *they didn’t know what DRDO was!* And on a diametrically opposite instance, a farmer from a village with a population of just 450, travelled with his son for 3 hours one way to attend my public lecture. His son, Rahul, currently in 12th grade, mentioned that he first heard about LIGO-India project on All India Radio from the Prime Minister’s Mann Ki Baat, and plans to join B.Sc Physics program. Our discovery was on the front page of New York Times to most national dailies, every major news channel reported it, every big university and city had public lectures on it, but none of that could have reached this Rahul. What reached to him was the very sincere attempt to convey a highly complex science, in a language that was familiar to the citizens, and by a leader whose stature vouched for the authenticity of this information. This should be a motivation in every single government department that invests in R&D to form a framework where students and their parents become aware of national opportunities beyond enrollment in typical engineering/medical colleges.

And some other important learning …

Out of the 20 academic institutions that I visited, not even dozen students from the ones I interacted were on Twitter! So probably a lot of us should reanalyze the amount of time being spent on trends and twitter wars, and may be just go out and concretely solve a real life issue. Also, for love of god, there is no intolerance anywhere in the Indian academia! If asked, I was always vocal about my positions on pseudoscience to ancient science, and everywhere the students and public at-large enjoyed the ‘orders of magnitude calculations’ to disapprove astrology. Everyone in my country can appreciate scientific temperament, you just have to present examples they can connect with.

While I was driving from Shantiniketan to Kolkata, there was suddenly a burst of rainfall. In the middle of the fields next to the highway, there was a woman worker who was holding a small plastic to protect herself from the rain. The rain must have went on for an hour. What must be going on in her mind at that instance, holding a plastic and seeing a puddle being formed around her? We cannot stand even few minutes of idleness without checking phone. She must be looking at the cars passing by too, dreaming that one day her children be traveling in that. There are billion dreams, of billion Indians, some want to detect black holes from India, while some simply desire basic human necessities. And there is one man whose every breath goes in making those billion dreams a reality. We live in truly blessed times.

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Karan Jani is a co-recipient of the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, a Senator Nunn Fellow on National Security and the Student Vice-President at the Georgia Institute of Technology. You can contact him on twitter @AstroKPJ.

 

After OpIndia report, NDTV withdraws Sagarmala petition. Read why.

OpIndia Staff
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On the 7th of September, our columnist Ashutosh Muglikar had revealed a dark secret of NDTV. An organisation which was claiming to be a media house, and slowly slithered into the dangerous territory of becoming an NGO which is blocking India’s developmental leap. The matter was largely unrpeorted by media for a long time, and we highlighted this.

NDTV, a media company, filed a petition before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) making a “Direct Attack” on the Modi Government’s Sagar Mala plans. An Analysis of the proceedings together with news items threw some interesting details. NDTV in its petition has prayed for:

  • “stopping of work” on all new ports as an interim measure,
  • “civil and criminal action” be taken against authorities, governments and private companies
  • formulation of a “national coastal policy”
  • creation of a restoration fund
  • cumulative environmental, economic and social impact assessment

We asked some pertinent questions on this matter:

  1. How does a media company become an expert on environmental issues?
  2. On what basis did NDTV conclude that Governments deserve civil and criminal action for their “neglect, over-sight, and complicit actions”?
  3. Did NDTV submit any “reports” from “experts” to back their claims?
  4. Has NDTV challenged the Environmental impact assessment” as done by ministries?
  5. Is NGT empowered to direct formulation of “coastal policies”?
  6. Is NDTV’s demand for a blanket scrapping of the Sagarmala projects justified? Or does it reek of some obstructionist tactic?
  7. How is NDTV “empowered” under its Memorandum and Articles of Association” to take up “environmental issues”? A quick analysis of the Memorandum of Association of NDTV shows they have a vague power under Clause 3 (B) (32) to investigate value of any “asset” but it is still not clear if they can file a case or not.
  8. Are all the shareholders of the company aware of these antics of NDTV, which is clearly drifting away from its stated goals of being a media house?
  9. Any spend on legal and other fees on an activity which NDTV is basically not supposed to indulge in, is justified?
    Does NDTV itself being embroiled in numerous tax scandals, have the moral right to be pontificating on other issues?

The only tenuous link of a media company like NDTV to this NGO-esque action could have been their 2011 “Save The Coast” campaign which “highlighted” how developmental activities are hazardous to India’s coastline. But most of the above questions were extremely valid.

Now, on 16th September 2016, within 2 weeks of our scathing report, NDTV took a U-Turn.  According to the order passed by the NGT, NDTV had filed an application to withdraw the petition.

ngt-ndtv

What made NDTV change this stance suddenly? The stated reason is:

Applicant wishes to withdraw this Application with liberty to file a fresh Application after averring proper facts, grounds and relief that would squarely fall within the ambit and scope to Section 14 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010

NDTV claims that they now wish to withdraw the application, keeping a window open to file a fresh petition after verifying the facts and ensuring that the matter would fall within the ambit of NGT. So even if we go by this stated reason, does it mean NDTV had not in fact studied the facts before filing this application? Which means it was a premature move? Is this how they practice their journalism too? Writing reports and opinions before studying facts?This was one of the points we had raised in our original article revealing this petition.

The Sagarmala project was at a stage of infancy when NDTV went for the petition. Worse, they demanded a blanket scrapping of all the sub-projects on a flimsy ground. The Government had not even put out detailed plans. How and why had NDTV felt the urgent need to stall this project at such an early stage? This much they have admitted themselves that they had not done a thorough study. So what was the motive?

These are the stated reasons. The unstated reasons could well be legal and market driven. As mentioned in our questions, it was unclear whether NDTV’s Memorandum and Articles of Association empowered it to get into NGO mode. A violation of a company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association is a serious issue.

Secondly, as we had asked earlier, were the shareholders of NDTV, a public company, taken into confidence before NDTV departed from its publicly known business? Did any major shareholders apply pressure of NDTV to stop this anti-development petition once our report exposed NDTV?

Thirdly, the Sagarmala project will benefit practically every industry in India, and in turn Indians. Large corporates are also major sponsors of NDTV’s advertisements and various events. Did such corporates turn the screw on the loss-ridden NDTV and force their hand?

Whatever may be the reason, we must continue to remain vigilant. NDTV has kept the door open to come back and threaten Sagarmala again. Whether it is a face-saving escape route or a statement of intent is yet to be seen. But givens NDTV’s track record of being anti-India on many occasions, one cannot sleep in peace.

Delhi will not forgive Arvind Kejriwal and AAP for this

Gaurav
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Delhi will not forgive Arvind Kejriwal and AAP for this

Second time CM of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal has been facing a torrid few weeks. Multiple issues have hit him and his party even as they are working to expand their footprint beyond Delhi. AAP, has been under attack from opposition parties, a section of the media, and even their own MLAs and disgruntled workers, who have been shown the door.

It is not as if AAP was immune from criticism before the past few weeks. There has been intense scrutiny of the various aspects of the party, the Government and its leaders. To begin, Kejriwal has always been attacked for his numerous U-Turns: Will never contest elections, will never take support of Congress, will never take “sarkari” accommodation, will not take security, will not take extravagant salaries etc etc.

Then came the criticism around his Governance. The Delhi Government’s Rs 526 crore budget for advertisements was scrutinised. The numerous full page ads all over India which could very well be in violation of guidelines set by Supreme Court were questioned. AAP’s tacit alliance with the Nitish-Lalu combine in Bihar also raised many eyebrows. Also his politicking and extracting of political mileage out of incidents such as Vemula’s death or the JNU episode.

There were some ministers sacked on allegations of corruption and forgery. Some like Gopal Rai were shunted from the Transport Ministry which is being investigated for corruption. The issue of the legality of the 21 parliamentary secretaries was recently decided by the courts, which came as a blow to AAP. Their disqualification is still a matter of debate and is pending with the Election Commission.

More recently AAP was in the dock for internal issues. AAP’s Punjab unit was in disarray as their convener was sacked for accepting cash in a sting video. AAP’s Women and Child Minister in Delhi was caught in a sex racket, which was aggravated by absurd defences. This opened a Pandora’s box as allegations after allegations surfaced of alleged misbehaviour of AAP leaders with women.

While all of the above are serious issues, an average voter may just ignore them. All said and done, these issues are found either in totality or in parts, in most Indian political parties. And most importantly, they have no bearing on the day-to-day life of an aam aadmi. His life is not affected by Kejriwal’s ad spree or a sex CD of a minister. But now, Kejriwal Government has got embroiled in an issue which has severely degraded the life of the common man.

Delhi is crumbling. Delhi’s roads are in pathetic condition, and are prone to floods. Sewage water overflowing in the capital city of the country is never a good sign. Just half an hour of rain brings Delhi to a complete halt. This problem does not only affect those using vehicles on the road. Such mismanaged dirty water is an ideal breeding ground for all sorts of pests. Perhaps this explains the sudden spurt in vector borne diseases in Delhi. These diseases like malaria, chikungunya and dengue, affect not only the upper middle class, but even hit the poorest of the poor in Delhi.

There has been a spike in the cases of Chikungunya in Delhi. Media reports suggest this is  the biggest outbreak of the mosquito-borne viral disease in the city. Delhi authorities reported 1,057 cases of chikungunya and 1,158 cases of the mosquito-borne Dengue this year with hospitals overflowing with patients complaining of fever and joint pains. At least 5 people have succumbed to these, and the number can increase.

Sure all of this isn’t AAP’s fault. There are multiple agencies at play. The Delhi Jal Board, which is under the AAP Government, is the authority responsible for planning, designing, and execution of water supply and wastewater management facilities. The Health Department, again with the AAP Government, is responsible for controlling of the spread of diseases and medical facilities. The local municipalities which are under other parties like the BJP must also take a share of the blame for not getting their act together. Oddly enough, Kejriwal has not been kind to his officers as well, giving terse warnings such as “‘Like it or not, we are here for 15 years”. Any CM would realise the fallacy of threatening the very bureaucrats who will actually execute all your work. To top it all, Delhi has an acrimonious relationship with the LG of Delhi, who for legal purposes, is the final authority in Delhi. And thus the blame-game has started.

This blame-game may interest some party-loyalists. BJP backers will blame the state government, AAP supporters will blame the MCD and the LG. But what will the common man say? What will the average Delhiite who is currently feeling abandoned say? Does he give a damn about all this?

He will naturally compare his situation today, to his condition a few years back, when AAP was non-existent. Kejriwal cannot claim to be in a unique position where the LG and the MCD are not of his choice. Chief Ministers of Delhi have always faced this quandary. Sheila Dikshit worked with opposition party appointees and delivered the goods. That too when her Government had nowhere near an absolutely thumping majority of 67 MLAs.

This brings us to the main distinguishing feature between Kejriwal’s Government and others: the AAP Government seems to be in a perennial state of war. The LG has been abused and ridiculed far too often. Ministers as well as the CM have written highly disrespectful letters to him. The MCD too has not been handled well. If only Kejriwal had read the constitution, he would have realised he had no choice but to work along with the LG, and not by constantly being at odds with him. Further, local municipalities are an essential authority for any state government across India, which must be taken into confidence, to ensure that the Government’s schemes reach the common man.

All this needs some back-pedalling, some compromises, some humility, some understanding. 67 MLAs do not give the right to Kejriwal or his Government to be brash, arrogant and confrontational. And with the latest health hazards in Delhi due to the spread of diseases, this attitude of the Kejriwal Government has been exposed.

When questions are asked of Kejriwal or his ministers, the answers have ranged from evasive to abusive. The CM is portraying himself as helpless, ministers are blaming the LG or the MCD, the Health minister is claiming deaths from chikungunya are a figment of imagination even while blaming the media for over-hyping the situation.

All this is leading to a very tragic yet hilarious situation. The health minister has been caught in an Odd-Even situation, saying “all is well” as well as “LG has messed up everything”. Any one statement can hold true:

Odd-Even
Odd-Even

Tweets of Manish Sisodia indicate that the Delhi Government was happy to claim credit for all the work done last year, but this year, they are looking for a scapegoat during Bakri-Eid festivities:

Sisodia's credit
Sisodia’s credit

Again all this is politicking, and if you tell this to that Delhiite infected by chikungunya, sleeping in the over-filled ward of a Delhi Government hospital, he would probably lose his cool. As a common man, he isn’t interested in the saas-bhau-esque squabbles of AAP with the LG. He doesn’t care who is responsible for what. He knows only one thing: One and half year ago he elected the strongest Government across India. This was formed by a party which claimed to be different. He gave the keys of Delhi to this party. He expected them to get things done.

He doesn’t care how they do it. They may have to compromise, beg, plead or even sleep with the enemies for it. But at the end of the day, he wants Delhi changed for the better. Sadly, that is not happening. While all authorities will be blamed, he will have no choice but to lay the lion’s share of the blame squarely at the feet of the state government, for failing to work with all the agencies, despite all the power. He doesn’t care if Kejriwal roams in business class or economy, he just doesn’t want to be bitten by a disease-spreading mosquito.

The latest victory of Left in JNU polls also reveals their biggest weakness

Abhishek Banerjee
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The latest victory of Left in JNU polls also reveals their biggest weakness

As yet another election in the Republic of JNU concludes with a huge victory for the Communists, the ‘right’ can continue with the air of arrogance (myself included) and downplay these developments as “light entertainment”. We can roll our eyes and choose to laugh at the doomed soldiers of the last red battalion holding fort on an ever shrinking island in a rapidly modernising society. After all, JNU is the punchline to so many jokes. The political landscape is somber enough. Do we really want another source of humor to go away?

Or we can be humble and choose to learn. The JNU student union may not be a huge focal point in the right-wing/BJP scheme of things, but it is the nerve center of the Indian left. With the BJP’s ever expanding footprint finally coming into direct conflict with red pockets in Bengal, Kerala and even Tripura, understanding what goes on at JNU can help size up the enemy.

Let me point this out very clearly: JNU takes in students from all across the country. The electorate in a university students body changes heavily every single year. In a scenario like this, the chances of having “permanent vote banks” and “legacy voters” are extremely slim. Now considering the fact that the extreme leftists make up a vanishingly small percentage of the overall Indian population, the chances of JNU students every year coming from this microscopic percentage are very slim.

But the extreme left has been winning in JNU for decades. This seems highly implausible without outright intimidation of incoming students by faculty or worse, some kind of funny business happening in the admissions process. This deserves a full investigation. That’s what makes the ABVP folks at JNU into heroes. The least we can do for them is learn from their experiences. Can you imagine what it must be like to put your entire career on the line and go into open revolt against the faculty at your university?

However, for me, the most interesting aspect of the JNUSU polls this year was the rise of a new student union called BAPSA (Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association). It’s an extreme left wing group,  but it differs crucially from the “mainstream extreme left” in that it is led by Tribals and Dalits. The BAPSA made a scintillating debut, which had earlier pushed AISA and SFI to put up a joint fight to defeat the new entrant. No surprise that the extreme left winger who won the president post is one Mohit Pande, yet another ‘communist’ Brahmin who continues the tradition of upper caste males showing Dalits and Tribals the way of the light. For the record, no Dalit has become a member of the Communist Politburo in 50+ years. No Dalit is allowed to enter the temple of ‘progressive’ values.

But BAPSA exposed (again) a fatal weakness of the Communists and their cheerleaders in media and academia. The Dalits and Tribals that the Communists are fighting for are simply absent within their so called movement. They are absent, but not conspicuously absent. It is the job of the right wing to make that absence conspicuous. It is the job of the right wing to point out to the Dalits and Tribals that the Communists will accept them only as cannon fodder but never as Generals. The onus is on the right to offer a vibrant political platform and change the game of “Dalit politics” in the country.

Babasaheb Ambedkar was not a Communist, not even remotely so. He was neither a war criminal like Che Guevara nor a mass murderer like Stalin or Mao. Babasaheb was a brilliant economist and thinker. The onus is on the right to give Ambedkar the stature he truly deserves.

I cannot end this article without a comment on the intellectual bankruptcy of the left and Indian pseudo-secularism in general. Is there anyone who recognizes this person (image below)?

Kavita Krishnan during her JNU days

That’s Kavita Krishnan. The year is 1997. The documentary is “ek minute ka maun” (one minute of silence) in memory of a former JNUSU President called Chandrasekhar Prasad (Chandu). You can see the documentary here. I have never been to JNU, but being a political junkie, I have heard about “Chandu”. And what is Kavita Krishnan doing here in this video? Well, she has come to Bihar Niwas in Delhi along with a large group of students to protest against the murder of Chandu in Siwan in Bihar. Who is the man accused of the murder? It’s none other than Lalu’s infamous gangster MP Shahabuddin, who is now out on bail.

Their own “Chandu” belonged to AISF (the same union to which Kanhaiya belongs) and later to AISA (Kavita Krishnan’s group). And what were these shameless Communists doing when the same Shahabuddin was all set to walk out of jail inspecting a guard of honor by 400 SUVs? Well, the Communists were doing this:

Kanhaiya touches Lalu's feet
Poster-boy of JNU left Kanhaiya Kumar touching feet of Lalu Yadav, boss of Shahabuddin.

There you have it folks. In two photographs you can see the intellectual bankruptcy of the Indian left. And don’t blame the Communists alone. There’s Lalu Yadav, the child of Emergency, who is allied with Congress. Every single one of the Janata factions (with exception of BJP, of course) is currently allied with Congress. Born of opposition to Indira, united in support to Sonia.

One of the first acts of Nitish Kumar after being sworn in last year was to expunge from the Bihar government website the references to ill-treatment of Jai Prakash Narayan by Indira Gandhi. The Congress ordered it, Nitish carried it out. No eminent historian protested. A grand total of ZERO awards were returned in protest. The same Nitish Kumar, whose mentor George Fernandes had removed Sonia Gandhi’s photograph at the Constitution club. He would not stand to see the “lootera Nehru-Gandhi dynasty” (his words, not mine) celebrated.

This is where the left and the allied forces are exposed – they have not only compromised on their own self-respect, but they have failed to provide self-respect to the Dalits and Tribals. And that’s where the opportunity for the right lies.

Karnataka rivers issue – No winners here

Ullas
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Karnataka rivers issue – No winners here

While the national media continues to be in love with games played by Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi’s “khat”s, Karnataka is in a mess – political and agrarian. Few months ago, the states of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra were embroiled in the demand for their shares of the Mahadayi river water. Now, the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, who have been at the loggerheads for ages, have resumed their demand for their share of the Cauvery water.

Let us get some context here. Cauvery serves southern Karnataka region, while Mahadayi serves north Karnataka. Struggles by farmers in both the areas are for the use of river water in specific periods of the year – during the traditional farming months. Having said that, these have remained issues in a normal monsoon year. However, this year passions have been ignited due to the shortage of rains and increased farmer suicides leading to agrarian distress.

While one can blame many governments – states and central – of the past, it is a fact that these issues need to be solved to soothe the uneasiness of people in the region. However, this is where the political class has failed miserably.

That Siddaramaiah government has been incompetent is well known. However, in these issues, they have been guilty of misleading the people. Before the Mahadayi issue boiled over, the Siddaramaiah government ministers gave statements early this year, that things are under control and enough water will be provided for the crops. In case of the Cauvery issue, Siddaramaiah government assured people that no water will be released this year due to the drought situation. However, the government did a spectacular U-turn in the Supreme Court, by volunteering to release 10,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu. This, obviously, did not go well with the people in the farming community. This has led to 2 days of statewide bandhs and umpteen raasta rokos, train rokos and such means of protest.

One would expect the key opposition parties in Karnataka – BJP and JDS – to use this situation to win over the affected people or at least act as a strong opposition to the government. However, both these parties have been reduced to reacting to situations than proactively engaging with farmers. Needless to say all parties are facing the wrath of the people here.

The joker in the pack is Prime Minister Modi. CM Siddaramaiah has repeatedly deflected his responsibilities by blaming the situation on the historic mess (and he is partly right here) and also by writing letters to PM Modi to intervene in resolving these issues. On the river water front atleast, PM Modi is not winning many friends here. He (and/or his ministers) has not given any message or spoken on this topic whatsoever. The local media is left with no option than keep running Siddaramaiah’s letters on the loop. The message is slowly creeping in that Modi is not acting in a fair manner – that he isn’t asking his fellow party CMs in Goa and Maharasthra – to talk about Mahadayi water and neither does he show any courage in countering Amma of Tamil Nadu.

The local BJP leaders – BS Yedyurappa, Pralhad Joshi, CT Ravi and many others – are actively engaged in showcasing projects by the central government. But they are powerless in this entire Mahadayi and Cauvery situation. Other than staging customery protests and supporting farmers, there is nothing they can do. This does not auger well for the next Karnataka elections – where Congress is expected to be routed. JDS isn’t showing any signs of expanding beyond the southern Karnataka region. May be this has convinced BJP that people will vote for them for the lack of credible alternatives. Karnataka may well do that – but then BJP will have no option but to resolve the Mahadayi water dispute at least.

I would rather have preferred Modi take the lead now and then let the Karnataka CM work on bread and butter issues. Repeated calls for bandhs does not auger well for the commerce of the state. Needless to say, the daily labourers are the worst affected in such situations. When efforts are being done to revive the economy, helplessness cannot linger around in one of the economically largest states in the country. If state leaders and Modi, in particular, do not act fast this may turn contagious.

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