In today’s technology-driven world, it’s important now more than ever to prepare students for the future. Teaching robotics to young students throughout their schooling can increase their ability to be creative and innovative thinkers and more productive members of society. Many governments have already recognised the importance of robotics in the classroom and have begun to create programmes and laws that would incorporate it into their public education system. By teaching our students the basics of robotics, we can open a whole new world to them and exciting opportunities that they wouldn’t have access to otherwise.
Robotics as a branch of engineering involves the design, construction and operation of robots. Robots have been a part of our lives for a long time now, working on industry floors and assembly lines. Of late, humanoid robots have emerged to captivate the imagination and excite the interest of humans across the world. Ongoing research and development in the field of robotics and advancements made in the field of artificial intelligence present an exciting future. Robotics and robots are poised to become more sophisticated and soon an integral part of our daily lives.
It is a high technology driven world that we live in and things, as we know, keep on changing. It is imperative that we prepare our students for the future and teaching robotics to young students can help in instilling a scientific temperament. Subjects such as mathematics and science when taught through robotics can be more engaging as well as effective. Such an enquiry based handson learning approach can also increase a student’s ability to be creative and foster innovative thinking making them a more productive member of society.
The job market at present is hugely dominated by ones in the field of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). This trend will in all probability get stronger in the future, with most of the available jobs requiring STEM knowledge. Robotics empowers students to visually comprehend the concepts of STEM and cultivates problem-solving and higher-order thinking capabilities in students. By introducing robotics early on in the school educational curriculum, students can build interest in this field and nurture their talents.
Building a robot involves inference drawing, model construction, testing and controlling; a robot calls for the ability to give precise inputs. When done in a team, robotics calls for collaboration and communication for the project to work. This teaches students valuable life skills in teamwork, communication and even community participation. The rationale for inclusion of robotics in education is thus a well-founded one and stands on solid ground.
What then is standing in the way of large-scale introduction of robotics in schools? Lack of awareness is probably the biggest barrier to the inclusion of robotics in schools. Schools as a centre of learning have in a comical paradox been slow in adopting changes. From a teacher-led instruction system to the focus on theoretical learning, schools have not changed much over the years. But things are picking up now and schools have been coopting technology on an increasingly large scale.
Affordability concerns may also have been a barrier to the inclusion of robotics in the educational curriculum. In the present context, however, this concern might not be true anymore as the cost of acquiring parts have fallen and with creativity, robotics can be done cheaply. Stories of young enterprising students who have displayed creative ingenuity in assembling their own robots often from scraps and throwaways have cropped up with increasing regularity. Such stories besides being hugely motivational demonstrate the appeal of robotics and that with creativity, it can be easily be taught and learned.
The MBD Group has unveiled Robotics for School Education which is in line with STEM education, at the recently concluded World Book Fair 2018. It is backed by the Group’s outstanding expertise and over six decades of experience in the education sector. With Robotics for School Education, kids will be able to experiment with their subjects in a creative manner. The training modules, workshops and kits for Robotics are designed in such a way that they encourage students to brainstorm and come up with their own solutions. These are basically designed for students from Grade 6 to Grade 12 and would be available in schools as an additional subject, which students can opt for. The 1st course would be for six months, with 24 classes in total (four classes in a month) and the 2nd course will be of one-year duration.
Perhaps the most compelling reason for robotics in the curriculum is that it introduces students to knowledge, concepts, and skills that are needed for understanding the intelligent, information-based technology of the future: technology that is highly interactive, multi-modal, adaptive and autonomous. Technology is no longer the private domain of a self-selected group of “nerds,” and sophisticated technological systems are no longer reserved for academic research labs or the military or government.
You and your students are likely to have computers sitting on your desks that far exceed the capacity of the most sophisticated systems in the world just a generation ago. It is hardly controversial to predict that technology systems will be more and more ubiquitous -- not just in school and work settings, but in homes and recreational lives as well, for people from all walks of life. We can also predict that technology will be increasingly complex and intelligent. Both the capacity of hardware and the capabilities of software expand at a fierce pace. Artificial intelligence is no longer the stuff of science fiction, but an everyday reality.
No change in personal income tax slabs and rates;
Surcharge of 10% on income above Rs 50 lakh but less than Rs 1 cr, 15% on income above Rs 1 cr to continue;
Standard Deduction returns after a decade; Rs 40,000 to be allowed in lieu of transport allowance and medical expenses;
Economic growth pegged at 7.2-7.5% for H2 FY18;
India's average growth in first 3-year of NDA govt 7.5%;
Indian economy size $2.5 trillion; 7th largest in world;
India is expected to be 5th largest economy very soon;
Revised Fiscal Deficit estimate for 2017-18 is Rs 5.95 lakh crore at 3.5% of GDP;
Fiscal Deficit for FY'19 estimated at 3.3% of GDP;
Govt’s market borrowing estimated at Rs 4.07 lakh cr in FY'19 versus Rs 4.79 lakh cr estimated in 2017-18;
MSP of all kharif crops to be hiked to at least 1.5 times of their production cost;
Institutional mechanism proposed to develop policies and practices for price and demand forecast;
Rs 2,000 cr fund for developing and upgrading agri marketing infra in 22,000 Grameen Agri Markets and 585 APMCs;
Allocation for food processing ministry doubled from Rs 715 cr in RE FY'18 to Rs 1,400 cr in BE FY'19;
Kisan Credit Cards extended to fisheries and animal husbandry farmers;
Agriculture credit disbursal target increased to Rs 11 lakh crore from Rs 10 lakh crore in 2017-18;
Steps announced to deal with air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region;
2 crore more toilets to be built under Swachh Bharat Mission;
Substantial increase in allocation of National Rural Livelihood Mission to Rs 5,750 cr in FY'19;
Govt announced 2 major initiatives under 'Ayushman Bharat' programme;
Govt to launch a flagship National Health Protection Scheme to cover over 10 cr poor families providing coverage up to Rs 5 lakh per family every year for hospitalisation;
Govt earmarks Rs 56,619 cr for SCs and Rs 39,135 cr for STs in FY'19;
Govt to contribute 12% of wages of the new employees in EPF for all sectors for 3 years;
Facility of fixed-term employment will be extended to all sectors;
Outlay of Rs 7,148 cr for textiles sector in 2018-19;
Finance Ministry to leverage India Infrastructure Finance Corporation to help finance major infrastructure projects;
Redevelopment of 600 major railway stations being taken up;
Suburban network of 160 kms in Mumbai at an estimated cost of Rs 17,000 cr being planned;
Gross budgetary support for Railways hiked to over Rs 3 lakh crore in 2018-19 from Rs 2.73 lakh crore in 2017-18;
Plans to expand airport capacity more than 5 times to handle a billion trips a year;
Sebi to consider mandating, beginning with large firms, to meet about 1/4th of their financing needs from bond market;
Allocation on Digital India scheme doubled to Rs 3,073 cr;
Rs 10,000 cr for creation and augmentation of telecom infra;
Government to come out with policy to introduce toll system on 'pay as you use' basis;
Proposed expenditure on infra pegged at Rs 5.97 lakh cr as against Rs 4.94 lakh crore in FY'18;
Divestment target for FY'19 at Rs 80,000 cr;
Bank recapitalisation to pave way for PSBs to lend additional credit of Rs 5 lakh crore;
Govt to formulate a 'Gold Policy' to develop gold as an asset class;
Emoluments of President revised to Rs 5 lakh/month, Rs 4 lakh for vice president and Rs 3.5 lakh for Governors;
Govt proposes changes to refix salary, constituency allowance, office expenses and allowance payable to Members of Parliament;
The law will also provide for automatic revision of emoluments of MPs every five years indexed to inflation;
Rs 150 cr earmarked for FY'19 for the activities leading to Commemoration of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi;
Growth in direct taxes up to Jan 15, 2018 is 18.7%;
Corporate tax reduced to 25% for firms with turnover of Rs 250 cr in 2016-17;
Interest income exemption on deposits with banks and post offices for senior citizens increased from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000;
Senior citizens will be able to claim benefit of deduction up to Rs 50,000 annually on health insurance premium and/or general medical expenditure incurred;
Govt introduces long-term capital gains on equity market; longterm capital gains over Rs 100,000 to be taxed at 10%;
Education cess increased to 4% from 3%;
E-assessment of Income Tax Act to eliminate person-to-person contact;
Customs duty on mobile phones increased from 15% to 20%; also on certain parts of TVs to 15%;
Govt makes PAN mandatory for any entity entering into a financial transaction of Rs 2.5 lakh or more;
Food subsidy to rise to Rs 1.69 lakh crore in 2018-19 from Rs 1.4 lakh crore in current year;
Defence outlay raised to Rs 2.82 lakh crore in 2018-19 from Rs 2.67 lakh crore in current year;
Customs duty on crude edible vegetable oils hiked from 12.5% to 30%; on refined edible vegetable oil from 20% to 35%;
Customs duty on perfumes, dental hygiene, after-shave, deodorants, room deodorisers, preparations for use on hair doubled to 20%.
One of the greatest captains that Indian cricket is said to have produced, the Prince of Bengal is not only a stylish southpaw but also a flamboyant personality, both on and off the field. After having hung his cricketing boots, Dada, as Sourav Ganguly is fondly known not only back home in Bengal but by all his adoring fans, has finally stepped out of the crease to share some fine innings of his life in an autobiographical book. The book courses through from his debut at Lord’s when he hit a century to the many trying times and his determination to bounce back and show the world what he is made of. So go take a peep into Dad’s life.
Claimed as one of the greatest captains Indian cricket ever produced, Ganguly steps up to share his journey of life in this autobiographical book. The book will take you from his debut match at Lord’s stadium to tough times when he fought his glory. Releasing as a sports book, Juggernaut publishers are here to offer readers with a complete peep into Dada’s life.
Sujata Massey was born in 1964 in Sussex, England to a father from India and a mother from Germany. Her name is taken from Buddhist history -- Sujata was the young woman who served Buddha a bowl of rice or milk. She emigrated with her family to the United States at the age of 5. She attended Johns Hopkins University graduating in 1986 and worked on the Baltimore Evening Sun. She is best known for her series featuring Rei Shimura, a Californian born to a Japanese father and American mother.
According to Sujata her new book, The Widows of Malabar Hill, is a mystery set in 1920s Bombay. Perveen Mistry, the young daughter of a respected Zoroastrian family, has just joined her father’s law firm, becoming one of the first female lawyers in India. Armed with an Oxford legal education, Perveen also has a tragic personal history that makes her especially devoted to championing and protecting women’s legal rights. A prolific writer since her early days, Sujata Massey’s writing revolves around the realities of our society. Perveen goes on to solve a case and realise that several women in society face the perils associated with patriarchy.
As an actor, she really didn't make the box office jingle or the headlines but she seemed to have found her calling as a writer with that touch of the comic to everyday situations and some serious issues. Her Funny Bones found a hundred thousand readers making her one of the most sold female writers. Twinkle is no doubt talented and full of wit and subtle humour, clearly with a set of funny bones to write such stuff.
Twinkle Khanna, popular by her pen name Mrs Funnybones is a sure shot firecracker. Daughter of India's first superstar Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia, Twinkle marked her Bollywood debut in 1995 as lead actress opposite newbie Bobby Deol in Rajkumar Santoshi's Barsaat. The film did well at the box office and Twinkle went on to win the Filmfare award for the best debut female, her first and last award as an actor! Then came a string of flops. So one day she decided to give up acting.
After releasing her compilation of the weekly columns “Mrs Funny Bones” and an anthology of short stories “The Legend of Laxmi Prasad” Twinkle will be releasing her first novel “Pajamas are Forgiving” which is about a woman who is stuck in an ayurvedic retreat with her ex-husband and his younger second wife
Shashi Tharoor needs no introduction. His witticism and intellect has millions of followers on Twitter only second to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His articulation and oratory draw crowds wherever he goes to speak. An author, politician, and former international civil servant, Shashi Tharoor straddles several worlds of experience. Currently a second-term Lok Sabha MP he has previously served as a Minister in the Government of India. During his nearly three-decade-long prior career at the United Nations, he served as a peacekeeper, refugee worker, and administrator at the highest levels, serving as Under-Secretary-General during Kofi Annan's leadership of the organisation.
A strong critic of the brand of Hinduism being peddled under Hindutva, Shashi makes a strong argument of how it is destructive to the core idea of India. Putting forward an intellectual argument in his new book “Why I am a Hindu” Tharoor writes about Hinduism the religion which is one of the oldest religions in the world. Popular politician and a charismatic leader Shashi Tharoor has written many books as varied as history to films. He has authored 16 bestselling works of fiction and non-fiction since 1981, all of which are centred on India and its history, culture, film, politics, society, foreign policy, and more.
After a year of political disruption around the world and economic seesawing at home in 2017, we look forward to a year of exciting headlines and more positive news in 2018. From foreign policy, domestic politics and cultural clashes to economic growth, companies and disruptive ideas, 2018 surely promises to be an exciting year. And so to keep you in the loop of what to expect in times ahead, we bring you some of the top headlines that will dominate the news at home and the world.
On the heels of the two major economic disruptions, the Indian economy has been rather rocky through 2017 and so the nation is hoping to take some positives from Budget 2018. This being the last and full budget of the present government it may not be a dream budget but in all probability will be a highly populist one with so many elections in the states coming up, culminating with the Big One. So here goes a primer on the budget.
There is the raging debate going on over the government’s move to ban polygamy and triple talaq among Muslims. While the subject needs an intervention to give gender justice, the whole thing is being given a religious colour, unfortunately. It is also true that Muslim women have far more pressing concerns, yet this obscure practice seems to be gaining all the eyeballs. If we are really sincere about ending the gender discrimination faced by Muslim women we should empower them educationally and economically.
The other woman to have hogged headlines is the Rajput queen from Rajasthan, Padmini. Though her myth is captured in epic poems, the need to make it part of history has seen the Rajputs turn violent over the release of a film called Padmavati, now changed to Padmavat. Strangely, more and more films are being held up at the censors on some account or the other. Isn’t all art supposed to make us think? Or is freedom of expression becoming mere tinsel atop the tree?
In the international section, we peep into the world of the world’s most powerful man – Chinese premier Xi Jinping who has more clout than Donald Trump. A look back at the history of the famous Indian bakery Monginis and its connection to Italy’s Mussolini.
And for all the monthly goodies you look forward to we have the usual columns, book readings, tech advice and travel. With winter on the wane, spring cannot be far. Happy reading!
“On January 26, the arrival of great leaders of 10 nations of the world as a unit is a matter of pride for all Indians”
CELEBRATIONS// Marching contingents, strategic defence weaponry and colourful tableaux were on display Friday as India celebrated its 69th Republic Day with a grand parade watched by thousands along with 10 Asean leaders who attended the event as chief guests. Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the guests after which President Ram Nath Kovind unfurled the tricolour to a 21-gun salute. Cold weather conditions and dense fog failed to dampen the enthusiasm of thousands of spectators who witnessed the nearly one-and-half-hour-long Republic Day parade from the Rajpath to the Red Fort amid an unprecedented security cover. Lt. Gen. Asit Mistry, general officer commanding, headquarters Delhi area, led the march. The Republic Day parade ended with a SU-MKI ‘vertical charlie’. The Rudra Formation, the Hercules Formation, Netra, Globe Formation and several more formations by the Indian Air Force marked the culmination of the Republic Day parade.
The president’s bodyguards have arrived to escort him back to the Rashtrapati Bhavan after the national anthem.
The chief guests on Republic Day of India 2018 were 10 Leaders of 10 nations of the world (Heads of ASEAN states). Below is the list of names of all Chief Guests and their Nations:
Sultan and incumbent Prime Minister Hassanal Bolkiah – Brunei
Prime Minister Hun Sen – Cambodia
President Joko Widodo – Indonesia
Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith – Laos
Prime Minister Najib Razak – Malaysia
President Htin Kyaw – Myanmar
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte – Philippines
President Halimah Yacob – Singapore
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha – Thailand
Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc – Vietnam
ELECTIONS// The President of India has disqualified 20 Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Delhi Assembly on the ground that they held an ‘office of profit’ when they worked as Parliamentary Secretaries for 18 months between 2015 and 2016. This may lead to fresh elections in Delhi for these 20 seats. The MLAs are the elected leaders of Delhi, and they together form the Delhi Assembly.
Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had appointed these MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries to assist its ministers in the running of the government. Although they did not get salaries, a complaint was made against them for holding positions where they were in a position to influence government decisions. Under Indian law, an elected MLA cannot be a part of the team that makes decisions and runs the government. That is the job of the ‘Executive’ while the MLA is part of the ‘Legislature’. Under the Indian Constitution, powers of these branches of government need to stay separate so that no one group can have too much influence.
Acting on the complaint, the Election Commission of India, which runs elections in the country, studied the case and decided that the AAP MLAs had indeed broken the ‘office of profit’ rule. The Commission therefore recommended to the President of India that the MLAs be disqualified. By January 20, President Ram Nath Kovind had given his agreement for the disqualification of the MLAs.
WEATHER// Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh, and other parts of the state received the season’s first snowfall last month. This has been an extremely dry winter for the hill states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, leading to worries about the apple crop and water supply in summer. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has explained that the lack of snow/rain this winter in most parts of northern India is due to the fact that there have been hardly any western disturbances in the region this year. Such western disturbances bring cold, wet winds from Europe and west Asia, bringing down temperatures in the Himalayan states. The absence of snow and rain is worrying apple farmers as a chilly winter is necessary for a good apple crop. Low snowfall means less snow is available to melt in the summer, river volumes could be lower, leading to problems for farmers in the northern states who use the water to grow crops. Water supply to hill towns were also affected.
ANNOUNCEMENT// The Indian Government last week announced that it would be ending the Haj subsidy. The Haj subsidy takes the form of a pilgrimage to Mecca offered to those of the Muslim faith at low rates.
The Haj is a religious pilgrimage that occurs once a year. In 2018 it will take place in the month of August. At least once in their lifetime, Muslims who can physically make the journey and have the money to do so, are required to journey to Mecca for the Haj. Mecca is the holy city of the Muslims. Around two million people now visit Mecca during the Haj each year.
Since 1954, each year the Indian Government has been offering discounted (lower price) air tickets for a certain number of Haj pilgrims, giving them help to get to a city with an air terminal to take the Haj flight, as well meals and places to stay.
In 2012, the Supreme Court of India ordered the Indian government to end the subsidy and instead use the money to help the Muslim community in other ways. With the subsidy ending this year, the government plans to use the money saved (around Rs.700 crore) towards the education of Muslim girls.
PROTESTS// A movie is normally in the news after it has been released. But in the case of ‘Padmavat’, which is based on the story of Rani Padmini of Chittor, the movie has been in the news much before its release in theatres. Several state governments have tried to ban the movie but the Supreme Court recently put an end to all this, saying that the movie could be released throughout India and that it was upto the state governments to protect those who came to see it. So what is the fuss?
The movie tells the story of a Rajput queen named Rani Padmini, also known as Padmavati. Hearing of her beauty, the Sultan of Delhi, Alauddin Khilji set out to conquer Chittor so that he could capture her. Once her husband was killed on the battlefield, Rani Padmini killed herself in order to protect her honour. The problem that modern Rajputs have with the movie is that they believe it is disrespectful to the queen, although it is unlikely that many of them have even seen the movie.
Also, the entire story of Rani Padmini may be just that-a story. The legend of the queen became famous after a poem was written about her around 500 years ago. But the story has no connection to real facts, say historians. There is no historical record of any Rajput queen named Padmini/Padmavati.
The Supreme Court while studying the case said that governments should protect the creative freedom of people. Saying, “when creativity dies, values of civilization corrode”, the court refused to allow a ban on the film.
Now, perhaps those protesting against the movie could use the time to re-read their history!
TENNIS// Wounded 12-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic was sent tumbling out of the Australian Open by Korean giant-killer Chung Hyeon Monday, but ice- cool Roger Federer roared into the quarter-finals. The Serb, who was returning from six months out with a right elbow injury, was clearly in pain as his hopes of a seventh Melbourne Park title were extinguished on Rod Laver Arena 7-6 (7/4), 7-5, 7- 6 (7/3). He was keen not to take away from the glasses-wearing Chung's huge achievement after the 21-year-old followed up his win over fourth seed Alexander Zverev in the last round. “Congratulations. Amazing,” said Djokovic, who also had an apparent hip or groin problem, screeching at times when stretching for the ball. “He was the better player on court today and he deserved to win.”
The 21 year old newcomer is unknown on the international stage and not even famous in his native Korea. Chung is the first South Korean in history to make the quarter-final of a Grand Slam and is being spoken of as one of the greatest players of the next generation. Funnily enough, Chung’s playing style is very similar to Djokovic’s. Djokovic himself has been set back by injury for many months now. Once the world’s top player, he is now ranked at No 14. Meanwhile Djokovic’s peers Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal made it to the quarter-finals of the men’s game. But Nadal too had to retire in the quarter-final with an injury. Djokovic said the injuries started troubling him at the end of the first set and a decision on where he goes from here would be made after talking with his medical team. Chung's reward is a last-eight clash with unheralded American Tennys Sandgren, who upset Austrian fifth seed Dominic Thiem 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (7/9).
SC ORDER// Changing a 2016 order, the Supreme Court of India said on Tuesday that it would no longer be compulsoryfor movie halls to play the national anthem at the start of each movie. Playing it would be a choice left to the cinema hall. In November2016, the Supreme Court had ordered that the national anthem be played at the start of each movie, requiring the audience to stand up. There were even a few cases of people being arrested by the police when they did not stand for the anthem. More than a year later, the Court has changed its mind. This was in response to a request from the government which informed the Court that a group of ministers was looking into all aspects related to singing and screening of the national anthem. In response, the Supreme Court has said that its order making the national anthem optional would remain in operation till the committee came out with final suggestions.
VISA// Indian workers in the United States can breathe a little easier now with the US government deciding not to go ahead with an earlier plan to send back those who had already spent six years in the country using a type of visa called H-1B. Many of these workers had filed applications for becoming permanent residents of the US and sending them back now could have caused a lot of difficulties for their families. Companies where the workers were employed, especially technology companies in which a lot of Indians work, would have also been affected. With the US government changing its mind, the workers can continue to stay on using their H1-B visas. India may be looking at upwards of 500,000 of its "skilled" work force returning home from America if a proposal by the Trump administration+ not to extend H-1B visa of those waiting for permanent residency (Green Card) is implemented.
The Department of Homeland Security is said to be considering new regulations that would prevent H-1B visa extensions as part of President Donald Trump's "Buy American, Hire American" initiative promised during the 2016 campaign. Under current law, foreign guest workers are allowed one three-year extension of the H-1B visa of three-year validity. If at the end of those six years the guest worker has a pending Green Card (Permanent Residency) application, then there is an almost indefinite extension of the H-1B visa till such time the applicant's Green Card processing is completed.
American loss is Canada’s gain
Because there is such a huge backlog of Green Card applicants, particularly for countries such as India and China, hundreds of thousands of workers from these countries spend 10-12 years in what is mirthlessly called H-1B hell or limbo. The small 'comfort' they currently have is they can remain in the US while the Green Card is being processed.
POLITICS// The state of Tamil Nadu has always been partial to actor turned politicians. It is not surprising then that Tamil movie star Rajnikanth’s announcement that he was entering politics was met with much celebration.
Each one of Tamil Nadu’s Chief Ministers has a connection with the movie industry. Former CMs M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa were both Tamil cinema superstars. Another former CM M Karunanidhi used to write movie scripts until recently. The latest entrant to Tamil Nadu politics from the world of cinema- Rajnikanth-has now set his sights on the CM’s job. In his New Year’s Eve announcement, Rajnikanth said that he would be contesting in the state elections in 2021 and that he would start a new political party for that purpose. Rajnikanth’s entry into politics could completely change the election game in the state. For years, only two political parties-the DMK and AiADMK have managed to win in Tamil Nadu. Given Rajnikanth’s huge popularity in the state, he could change this track record in 2021.
Rajnikanth’s own story reads like a movie plot. Born as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad (which he changed to Rajnikanth for his movie career), the actor used to work as a bus conductor in Bangalore before moving to Chennai to try his luck in the Tamil film industry. He was an extremely successful actor, and to-date has millions of fans in his state. If he can convert his popularity into votes for his political party, then Tamil Nadu state is in for interesting times.
CORRUPTION CASE// The law will catch up with you-no matter how high and mighty you are. That message sums up the state of Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was once Chief Minister of Bihar, but who has now been sent to jail like a common criminal. A special court in Ranchi has sent the Bihari leader to jail for three and a half years in a corruption case.
When Lalu Prasad Yadav was Chief Minister of Bihar between 1990 and 1997, he is said to have mis-used government money. He is believed to have invented the existence of large herds of livestock so that government money could be taken out for their fodder and medicines. Officials investigating the case said that Lalu thus diverted public money for his personal use. This corruption case is referred to as the fodder scam.
In addition to a three and a half year jail term, Lalu will also have to pay a fine of Rs.10 lakh for committing a fraud on the public. Although his family plans to file an appeal in a higher court and get bail for Lalu, for now at least the former Chief Minister has to get used to jail.
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In 2016 the word post-truth found its way to the Oxford Dictionary as an adjective “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” The term “post-truth” had increased by around 2,000% in 2016 compared to 2015. The other contenders for the title had included the noun “alt-right”, shortened from the fuller form “alternative right” and defined as “an ideological grouping associated with extreme conservative or reactionary viewpoints, characterised by a rejection of mainstream politics and by the use of online media to disseminate deliberately controversial content”.
The two words came to define much of the headlines of 2017 at home and the world. The year saw the rise of the ‘spin’ whereby any event or news was butchered and battered until a pre- determined narrative was forcibly imposed on the collective conscience of the nation. The electronic media in India was its worst offenders egged on by an ever-rising jingoist and nationalist social media. Well, if 2017 was bad, 2018 will get only worse, the trend is likely to multiply especially with so many crucial elections around the corner and the rising feeling that the Modi government could well hold the general elections by end 2018, well ahead of the 2019 deadline.
And so 2018 promises to be an exciting year – from foreign policy to economic growth, from domestic politics to cultural clashes and companies and disruptive ideas. The Indian news headlines are most likely to see these 10 themes play out during the course of the year, while every country will have its own kaleidoscope of opportunities and challenges. But we can only predict what’s in store because neither nations nor its leaders follow any path of predictability. In fact, we cannot expect our leaders to follow any single script in an age of constant disruption in all fields, from politics and technology to society and business.
That said, we can largely predict the 10 news headlines that we will be seeing throughout 2018.
With both India and China claiming to be the power centre in the region, China will continue to be India’s biggest adversary. Way ahead of India in economic terms, this USD 11.2 trillion economy will continue to hog India’s huge markets with its powerful manufacturing. And it will continue to support Pakistan, needling India. China is a nation getting over its past humiliation and instead of rising above and creating paths of mutual respect the country’s foreign policy is based on humiliating other nations to feel its arrival.
From backing Pakistan to avenging Doklam, China will keep India on tenterhooks through 2018. China is a bully and the best thing for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to do is to look at multi-designated Xi Jinping — like North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, Xi is President of China, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, is the “Paramount Leader”, and “core leader” — in the eye.
As a recoil from China’s direct aggression, Japan is strengthening its relationship with India. China’s support to its other friend, North Korea, has forced this island nation to veer towards India. By strengthening strategic and economic ties with India, this USD 4.8 trillion economy, the world’s third-largest, now gets the added support of a regional power. At a global level, it has the support of the US.
Suzuki was the start of India’s economic interests with Japan. Today the consolidation of such exchange is looking beyond single-deal mechanisms. Clearly, Japan is ready to put its money where its strategic interests are, and making an effort to build a strong India-Japan bridge. And despite all criticisms, Modi too has gone out of his way to put his weight behind the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet-train. On its part, India is open for business with Japan.
On the nuclear front, the India-Japan civil nuclear agreement will see the building of six new nuclear reactors for power generation.
With a maverick like Donald Trump in the White House, the United States will continue to remain unpredictable. American President Donald Trump has finally come around to accepting the truth about Pakistan’s role in global terror and has called its bluff by announcing to cut all aid to this heavily aid-dependent nation. Trump’s acknowledgement that Pakistan is a rogue state that has institutionalised terror as its second pillar of what it pretends to call ‘democracy’ — the first being military. This is good optics for the world that has suffered from this epicentre of terror.
As far as India goes, we need to be more circumspect — the good optics may turn into myopia. The USD 18.6 trillion economy is clear about its foreign policy, which is to manage US interests. For the past several decades, the focus of Indian foreign policy has been to look good, be the “good boy” of international relations. But foreign policy is a field that has no first principles, it stands on shifting stands. Finally, on the economic front, stronger India-US ties make for a deeper friendship.
Pakistan, as usual, will be the running story through 2018. Even though India did manage to score some diplomatic victory by isolating it on global forums and sending a stern message with the surgical strikes across the border. But Pakistan continues to be a terror- breeding ground with its terror focused on Kashmir and Afghanistan. Currently, India-Pakistan trade stands at USD 2 billion down from USD 2.7 billion in 2013-14. In 2018 we could see a further isolation of Pakistan in the world except among the Islamic nations of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). But that will hardly deter Pakistan as will continue to keep Indian security forces on its toes. The government which is under military control despite being civilian will pretend to walk the thin line between politics and diplomacy. The country will continue to feed on rhetoric but lose its significance.
This being the NDA government’s last full budget before elections, not much can be expected with business being as usual. With the results in Gujarat deliver a wakeup call to the BJP, the government is likely to address the farmer issue and pay extra attention to the poor.This government is serious about economic growth — of which farmers are a part and have been promised a doubling of their income already — and from introducing the goods and services tax (GST) to executing the insolvency and bankruptcy code to raising India’s doing business rankings, the government has done the dirty work of creating the catalysts for growth, which will continue through Budget 2018. The bigger worry in Budget 2018 will be a rising fiscal deficit, which in all likelihood will exceed targets.
Economic growth will return from the third quarter of the current financial year to 31 March 2018 and continue well over the next few quarters. The main reason will be the introduction of the GST from 1 July 2017. After the initial blips that took into account the technical glitches, the excessive compliance burden on small and medium entrepreneurs, and the political wrangling around rates between state finance ministers and the Centre, the GST will now be a steady ship with high sails. The next financial year will see a sharp rise in indirect taxes collections, the fruits of which will be reaped by both the Centre and the states. Insolvencies and their resolution will also grab the headline throughout 2018 — managing business failures are as important to economic growth as building businesses. The Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill will get passed and failure of financial firms will finally have a system in place. Riding these would be the stock markets, which will grow through 2018.
There are some big elections coming our way in 2018 as a forerunner to bigger ones in 2019 that could decide the future of the next general elections. Five states are up for elections in 2018 followed by 11 in 2019. Karnataka will be the only large state with 223 seats that will have its assembly elections in April-May 2018. Four smaller states will also be going in for elections in 2018. Soon after Budget 2018, the three states of Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura will go first in February-March 2018. Although these are smaller states with 60 seats each, they will set the political debate for Karnataka, which will go for elections in April-May 2018. The end of the year will see elections in another small state, Mizoram, in October-November 2018 for 40 seats.
The political wane will only start fluttering with these elections and the whole discourse will spill onto 2019 as the nation gets ready for 11 state elections culminating with the Big Battle 2019. The crucial states that will battle in 2019 areRajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. The return of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress will be a running motif through 2018.
Three companies — Air India, Jio and Apple — will stay in the headlines throughout 2018. Air India because of the potential disinvestment and/or strategic sale. The noise will be created by incumbent employees, particularly its highly-paid pilots, who will get political support from the Left and the Congress. Much of this support would be part of their Opposition-dharma than on a principles-based stance. Reliance Jio, with its high-quality data service and affordable pricing, will continue to roll on. Consumers have embraced it and today India is the world’s largest data consumer. Jio and the changes it has brought to the entire industry will transform the way the Indian economy and its economic agent's function. Finally, Apple will remain under pressure, legally and on the consumer front, as its slowing down iPhones face lawsuits (nine on the last count) and the company’s reputation takes a hit. It’s going to be a tough year for the world’s most valued company and one that was heading towards becoming the world’s first trillion-dollar corporation.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics news have been largely confined to the inside pages in India, lagging the world. This will change in 2018. Already, the US, China and Russia are building AI capacities and hubs to be leaders of the world. For all three, AI is a strategic weapon. Sadly, the discourse in India hasn’t even begun. In 2018, India will need to get its AI facilities going. It will begin through businesses but will find their way into the government as well. For this, India needs to create an ecosystem that nourishes talent and innovation, which despite all good intentions is missing. This change, however, will not happen without a pushback, as the wider discourse holds forth on AI replacing jobs. Already, robots have entered manufacturing plants. They will grow in 2018. Time is the key here: if we don’t get it right, we will end up importing the same technologies from the US and Russia, as we do our defence equipment. The political impact of AI and robots will need to be supported by smart policies around these disruptive technologies. But on this front, India will not be alone: this is a global problem. That said, both AI and robotics will make headlines in India during 2018.
The rising clash of cultures so evident on our social media every day will only widen in 2018. In 2017 we saw the rise of the spin – to doctor news, information to create a whole new narrative far from the truth. This need to dispense a pre- determined narrative has seen our media manipulated by political parties and the powers that be. 2018 will only see it multiply. Social media which have made everyone the master of their own news will see the hardening of positions between communities, religions, economic theories, political stances and social options.
The growing polarization in society induced by those holding the levers of power and the media is only going to get worse in 2018 with elections coming up and the ruling power getting ready to face a fresh mandate. It’s not going to be an easy year – this 2018.
The faces that will dominate the news fronts in 2018 will include a number of fresh faces along with many recognized during the past year of political disruptions and those raising group awareness.
He was nominated in November to take over as the next central banker in his role as the Fed chair from being the Federal Reserve Governor. Powell will be inheriting the title from the first female chair Janet Yellen in February. He will be closely scrutinized by markets to see if he follows suit on the central bank’s current path by raising rates and unwinding the Fed’s balance sheet.
He was in the shadow of Zimbabwe dictator and President Robert Mugabe for years before he made the move that would see him oust his erstwhile leader to take charge in his place. Emmerson Mnangagwa was the Vice President before he was sworn in as the incumbent. Mnangagwa promised Zimbabweans a new future with the nation entering into a new stage of democracy after four decades of Mugabe rule. The new leader also promised to tackle the main issues of jobs and poverty and a boost to the economy. The world will surely be watching Mnangagwa closely in 2018 and Zimbabwe, a country under a single man rule for 40 years. The other leader to be under close watch is going to be Cyril Ramaphosa elected to be the leader of South Africa’s ANC ruling party held previously by President Jacob Zuma.
The UK's Royal Family never fails to catch headlines and 2018 is going to be no exception. In the spring, actress Megan Markel is set to wed Prince Harry; while the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton is expected to give birth to her and Prince William's third child.
Both events are expected to provide a boost to the UK economy, and could even promote tourism and retail sales.
What happens in 2018 is crucial for the Brexit divorce proceedings since March 29, 2019, provisionally marks the moment when the UK is set to leave the Europen Union. 2017 came to a close with EU leaders giving the go-ahead for Brexit talks to move forward after both sides faced impasses in order to reach a compromise.
In fact, even UK politics went through a volatile election period after the snap elections called by Theresa May. So what will 2018 mean exactly for the UK leader and will negotiators from each side agree on future challenging topics like trade?
The big man of the media has always been in the news. The entertainment industry could be in for some big shakeups with Twenty-First Century Fox announcing that Disney was going to buy assets of the group in a deal worth more than $52 billion in stock, which if it goes through could seriously disrupt the entertainment industry.
Another big deal that could come through in 2018 is the Twenty-First Century Fox proposal to acquire Sky with the European broadcaster having agreed to a cash offer of 10.75 Pound Sterling ($14.42) per Sky share.
But the Sky deal is dependent on concerns of Britain’s competition watchdog who is set to give its verdict on Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch’s bid to buy Sky.
EVER SINCE THE Supreme Court intervened, the regressive practice of triple talaq has been the subject of much debate. The practice grants Muslim husbands in India the unassailable right to unilaterally divorce their wives by uttering the fearful world talaq or divorce thrice at one go. Much like instant coffee or the two-minute Maggi noodles. It’s over in an instant, no recourse, no remorse.
There must be little parallel in the Supreme Court’s history where one matter has been heard under such intense public gaze. Newspaper editorial and op-ed pieces are discussing and debating the issue ad nauseam, TV anchors are ranting in newsrooms, and reporters shouting from on-scene broadcasts with stereotype images of burqa-clad, dewy-eyed divorced Muslim women carrying one weeping child while several others follow, a sad depiction of divorced Muslim women in our country.
These fierce discussions, however, have only managed to reinforce many misconceptions about Islam and the Muslim community. Islam has been projected as a misogynistic religion and Muslims the most barbaric community, especially when it comes to dealing with women. A cabinet minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, in fact, accused Muslim men of using triple talaq “only for satisfying his lust [by] changing wives.”
Media coverage would also have us believe that Muslim women in India suffer from some of the worst forms of discrimination and assaults on their dignity qualitatively different from the women of other communities. It also gives the impression that the simplicity of the Islamic procedure of divorce has made it so rampant among the Muslim community that it warrants immediate intervention by the state. The reality, however, is quite different.
Data collated by a study conducted by the Center for Research and Debates in Development Policy (CRDDP) startlingly reveals that only 0.3 per cent of divorces in the Muslim community is through triple talaq, clearly not the norm and could be on its way out.
Another fact that census data revealed suggests that divorce among Muslims is much lower than in the other religious groups. According to the 2011 census report, out of a total 83.97 million Muslim female population, about 212,000, that is just 0.25 per cent, are divorced. If we analyze the census data along with the CRDDP findings, we will find that only a minuscule 600 Muslim women have been divorced using the instant practice of triple talaq.
Another misconception is that the practice of divorce among Muslims is only guided and shaped by the Islamic injunctions on the subject, completely ignoring the multiple other factors responsible for it. The role played by socioeconomic conditions and other immediate and local societal considerations in guiding Muslim divorce practices have been completely ignored in the discourse. This is a reductionist approach and completely undermines the social context in which divorce takes place.
It is also wrongly repeated that Muslim women have recourse to no legal remedy other than those enshrined in the personal law and hence continue to suffer. This is not true either.
Noted women’s rights lawyer and writer Flavia Agnes has argued that the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 secures the rights of all women — including Muslim women — to maintenance, child custody/access, residence in the matrimonial home or alternate shelter, and compensation for violence inflicted upon them. Most women shown in news coverage also complained about the demand for a dowry as an important reason for their divorce, which could be addressed under the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. These acts, along with other provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code, are routinely resorted to by Muslim women, just like their Hindu counterparts, to fight against the injustices done to them.
Another very important factor that seems to overshadow all else is the popular perception that the practice of triple talaq is the only injustice faced by Muslim women. What about all other more serious issues that these women have to face that do not seem to hold the attention of the public at large? Literacy levels among women are abdominal, almost half of them are illiterate. Among all religious communities, Muslims are the only one to have an illiteracy rate higher than the national rate?
Muslim women’s lack of access to basic health facilities, which is their fundamental right, never gets media attention. The fact that the percentage of the non-working population is highest among Muslims in the country also never gets noticed. According to the 2011 census data, only 15 per cent of Muslim women are working, the majority of them in agriculture and other unorganized sectors. And why do we forget that among various religious groups, Muslims have the lowest living standard with the average per capita expenditure of just Rs 32.66 in a day? These factors also have an important bearing on Muslim women’s exploitation through the arbitrary triple talaq practice, but they never get prioritized.
What is most surprising however is the speed with which the Supreme Court sought to address the triple talaq issue, despite a huge backlog that has seen several other important matters waiting up to a decade for adjudication. There is an impression in the public that Muslim women approached the Supreme Court and thus proceedings in the matter began. But the fact is that the Court while hearing a totally unrelated matter, all of a sudden ordered the registration of a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) to consider the gender discrimination suffered by Muslim women.
Within no time a PIL was registered and a constitution bench was constituted. The matter was heard during the summer, the proceeding was completed within a week, and then judgement followed. Why don’t we see similar judicial activism on numerous vital petitions pending in different courts dealing with the Hindu Succession Act or the issue of adoption and guardianship?
As of May 1, 2017, there were 60,751 cases pending before the Supreme Court, out of which there were 39 constitution bench matters and 230 referred matters, which also further include many constitution bench matters. There are 43,738 cases that have been pending for more than a year. Against this backdrop, does the triple talaq case not seem to be a matter of misplaced priority?
The real challenge for us is to pull the triple talaq debate out of the political slugfest and to put it in the domain of gender equality. All women must have access to freedom from personal law practices, not just Muslim women, that are arbitrary and unequal. And such freedom must be based upon the Constitution that gives all equal citizenship and not be promoted by a political order that has used religious issues to merely divide and rule.
Also, protests against triple talaq have been primarily led by Muslim women. Which is why, unlike in the Shahbano case, where there weren’t enough protests from within Muslim civil society to challenge the orthodox elements, this time there is a noticeable difference. The Muslim Personal Law Board, in particular, is no longer seen as the sole spokesperson for a community; in fact, it has been exposed as a cabal of mostly male obscurantists and almost forced by sustained public pressure to dilute its opposition to abolishing triple talaq.
This then could be the appropriate moment for all right-thinking secular liberal to reclaim the space vacated in the aftermath of the Shahbano controversy and strengthen the brave voices within the Muslim community who are speaking out against triple talaq. The BJP may well claim that it is standing by Muslim progressives but their stand is misleading.
If there is intent to sincerely end gender discrimination faced by Muslim women, then the government must take serious steps to empower them, educate them and make them economically independent. Mere judicial interventions are not good enough to end such social evil wrapped in religious dogma. It is also not a problem that only afflicts Muslim women but such discrimination is also equally pervasive among Hindu women. There is serious need to approach the problem of gender justice with a holistic view irrespective of whom it concerns: Muslim, Hindu or any other community.
As the cliché goes, a rose is a rose is a rose. Indeed, a half- smile is a half-smile a half- smile. However, what do you attribute to an eternally fixed, transfixed, unchanging, sardonic twist of the lips, which is neither rosy nor a half-smile? Especially, when it is so powerfully photogenic and sends multiple, strategic, signals? Especially, when it belongs to, perhaps, the most powerful man in the world in contemporary geo-strategic and globalised politics?
Xi Jin Ping, the numero uno of China, hardly speaks. The translations from Chinese (or Mandarin) is never truly expressive of the original thoughts, ideology and philosophy of the man. And, yet, he has now been canonized in Chinese history, after the great Mao Ze Dong, who created the first peasant revolution in the world after a long march of starving and exploited peasants, based on certain die-hard principles inscribed in his ‘Red Book’ with a red jacket, and which could be easily carried in a back pocket during the protracted guerrilla war. Of the many legendary things he is remembered for, including the same uniform for all Chinese people, and cocking a snook at powerful Joseph Stalin of Soviet Russia on the doctrine of ‘socialism in one country’, the finest is that ‘a guerilla should be like a fish in the water’, using water as symbolic of ordinary peasants in the vast rural countryside of China.
No wonder, even when Maoism has all been buried in his exalted tomb at the Tiananmen Square in Beijing, he is still revered as a hero in the underground and overground struggles of ‘Maoists’ and ‘Marxist-Leninists’ in the remote forest interiors of India’s tribal hinterland, in the inaccessible mountains of the Himalayan land-locked kingdom of Nepal, now experimenting with secular democracy, and in the oral narratives and memories of the numerous struggles in Latin America’s erstwhile banana republics, from the Cuban revolution, to the Zapatistas of the peasant uprising in Mexico, to Bolivia’s indigenous tribes, now in power with their President Evo Morales not succumbing to American machinations to topple him, unlike, for instance, in Brazil. Indeed, despite the brutally botched up Cultural Revolution, cinematically depicted in Steven Spielberg’s classic, ‘The Last Emperor’, (which won 9 Oscars including the Best Film in 1987), the buried memories of Mao is resurrected as and when the top leadership wants it to resurface in China.
Deng Xiaoping, broke from the past to turn China into a capitalist and militarist superpower. He ushered in advanced globalization and liberalization, discarding the socialist collectivization and egalitarian economy of communism, and the principles of the ‘great leap forward’ of the Maoist agrarian revolution, to become the Messiah with the metaphor — ‘little bottle’ — as his name means in Chinese. His famous quote marked the mainstream and marginal transformation of China into a capitalist power camouflaged under the unilateral and one-dimensional dictatorship of the Communist Party of China: “It does not matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice.”
Xi, in contrast, is stoic, statist, status- quoist, almost solitary, and a ‘revolutionary change-agent’ in his own right. His half- beatific, half-smile, neither hides or tells a story. Nor is he famous for a nick-name like ‘little bottle’, or a famous quote, except that his wife was a superstar and jazzy singer once upon a time. Instead, he has ushered in a theory called ‘three comprehensives’ which is still being unravelled, even while he has been superimposed as one among the two greats in the Chinese Constitution: Mao and Deng.
Indians would remember the bonhomie he shared with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, swinging on a ‘jhula’ on the banks of river Sabarmati in Ahmedabad. Modi was on a high with his visit to India and showcased him openly, ‘with hugs’, as his ‘personal friend’. Earlier, Modi was allowed to visit China, as the Gujarat chief minister, even though he was denied a visa to the US for many years by George Bush (as an aftermath of the Gujarat genocide, 2002), and not accepted with an open heart in the power centers of Europe, or the Middle-East. So, swinging Xi, with his sardonic smile, promised to gift India a massive loan in terms of some billions – which, ironically, and reportedly, has never materialized. Indeed, even while he was being hosted with grand receptions in India, Chinese forces had entered Indian territory in Siachin, cocking-a-snook at the Indian power establishment. Later, the Doklam crisis, which continues till this day, or China’s claim on Arunachal Pradesh (with stapled passport etc), has proved, that Xi is sending a clear pointer that who is the strategic and economic superpower in and around the subcontinent.
While backing Pakistan to the hilt, which is its old ally in thick and thin, with US President Donald Trump blocking aid to Pakistan worth many billions, and while opening up new ports and military bases across the line of control in ‘occupied Kashmir’ inside Pakistan, and, while, literally cajoling and bullying Myanmar, Nepal (and Maldives) into long-term infrastructural contracts and economic tie- ups, and while expanding its ‘imperialist’ base across the land mass in Africa, Xi has not taken a step back. His silk route or the belt corridor projects, even the stunningly amazing promise to build a train line to Mount Everest’s neighbourhood, has pushed the world to rethink its policies in Asia and Central Asia. So much so, China continues to bully all around the islands and waters of the South China Sea, building army and naval bases, capturing undiscovered islands, and generally caring a damn about international opinion on its muscle-flexing in what is officially claimed to be ‘international waters’.
In the Syrian crisis, China has strategically aligned with Russia and Iran, and the Syrian government, to stop European or American hegemony in the Middle-East, even as it appears that Xi is forever the finest and most flexible diplomat around. Vladimir Putin of Russia, who will yet again become president after two decades of unbridled power, is his invisible and strategic ally. And even while India consolidates its strategic friendship with America, China continues to show the world, and India, that the future lies in the land of the orient and opium-smokers, not in the crumbling economic and military empire of a bumbling and clueless Donald Trump. Surely, Trump knows, as did Barack Obama, that China is not only an intellectual giant in the research and academic centre of the US, it exercises immense power on the entire American economy with its entrenched tentacles around it.
The fact that ‘allegedly nuclearised’ North Korea shows a dirty finger to the US almost every day, and Kim Jong Un gets into a slanging match with Trump routinely, has not been lost on diplomatic observers. Clearly, the shadow of Xi looms over its unruly and cocky neighbour and strong ally in the Korean peninsula, even as it agrees to sanctions being imposed on North Korea while helping it from the back-door.
Meanwhile, Xi has clamped down on corruption. In a country where there is no freedom of the press, or internet, or the right to assembly, human rights or peaceful protest, or the minimum doctrines of public dissent, no one really knows how many of the charges are real or mythical. Top generals and top party apparatchiks are routinely hauled up in prison on corruption charges, even as dissenters, including writers and artists, disappear or made to shut up.
Undoubtedly, with a new combination of powerful forces and loyalists at his unilateral command, the ‘great helmsman’ of China is carving a new historical legend of absolute power — local, regional and international.
Xi Jin Ping is here to stay. And so will be his half beatific, eternally stoic, half- smile, almost like an afterthought.
Imissed out on the “tumult” these past weeks in circumstances which remind me of Shah Sarmad, the great Sufi saint of Jewish extraction, who wrote:
“I slept through the tumult on Judgement Day. When I half opened my eyes to see if it was over, I saw that it was still continuing. I closed my eyes again and slept.” Strange, the connections the mind makes. Sarmad’s experience came across to me as a variation on the most serene asana in yoga called Yoga Nidra. In this asana, as the body slips into the deepest sleep, consciousness is proportionately sharpened, to a point where the mind can traverse the details of the body, the immediate environment and the universe outside.
The blissful combination of Sarmad and Yoga Nidra fell into my lot, paradoxically, in the care of Dr Cyrus Shroff, who brilliantly stitched together an injured retina in a two and a half hour surgery and confined me to bed upside down, quite literally, adding a new dimension to my yogic experience.
The new Congress President, Rahul Gandhi in his new Hindu avatar, swam into my ken, wearing an unconvincing janaeu over his jacket and temple hopping with frenetic frequency.
Image projection is much more cosmopolitan in his travels overseas. After his visits to US campuses late last year (Berkeley and Princeton, for instance) escorted by Sam Pitroda and, in segments, by Shashi Tharoor and Sunil Khilnani of the Idea of India fame, Rahul Gandhi turned up for a high powered international meet in Bahrain earlier this month. Similar jamborees are lined up in Singapore in March and, later, in Malaysia, then the UK and so on. Foreign travel has been imaginatively woven into the promotion plans possibly to forestall chances of his taking off on his own to unknown destinations, given his compulsive yen for foreign travel.
No one can grudge him his international itinerary. What has to be watched with some concern, however, is his new Hindu projection. It can be argued that it worked to some extent during the recent Gujarat elections where he diligently steered clear of Muslim groups, localities and even Congress leaders who happened to be Muslim. Indeed even a person of Ahmed Patel’s seniority was advised not to be seen in Rahul Gandhi’s vicinity. Electoral results were not altogether bad. Who knows, the trick of treating Muslims as pariahs might work to some extent in the Hindi belt. Beyond this belt, however, a new makeup will have to be applied to his visage. Will that not raise issues of credibility?
Influential segments of the chatterati are already beginning to place their bets on the new soft saffron. For this lot “secularism” is a political burden because it opens the Congress to the charge of being “Muslim friendly”. This image must be discarded at all costs because it gives Hindutva a handle for communal polarization. The unstated theory is: if the Congress embraces soft Hindutva, the BJP will be left with nothing to oppose?
A pity the residual Congress leadership does not see the dangers of competitive communalism. If this is the way the game is to be played, the polity will continue to shift dangerously towards the far right – in the cow belt most certainly.
In this belt, we Urduwallas had placed all our bets on the durability of the Ganga- Jamuni or composite culture which we had forged over centuries of cultural commerce and an overriding love for this land and its soft pastoral tones. I never tire dwelling on Urdu poets having written adoringly on Rama, Krishna, Gokul, Varanasi, Triveni, Koel on a mango perch. Indeed even the Prophet’s birthday was celebrated by Mohsin Kakorvi by describing the clouds floating ecstatically from Kashi to Mathura to catch a glimpse of Krishna.
All of this would have had a chance of surviving had Partition not taken place. I dwell in some detail on this theme in my book “Being The Other: The Muslim in India”.
If Partition could not be avoided, the next best option for all would have been an honest to goodness Hindu Raj: the obvious name for the country would then be “Hindustan” as opposed to “Pakistan”. After the Congress’s unseemly rush to accept Pakistan, (thereby defacto accepting the two nation theory) this should have been the logical next step.
Quite seamlessly we glided from British Raj to Hindu Raj. The problem Congress generated was precisely this: having helped create a Hindu Raj, it proceeded to deny its existence, inciting politics which provoked Hindutva to complete the unfinished business.
Accepting the label, Hindu Raj, it is suggested was against Nehru’s self-image. Such a label would also have smacked of the “mofussil” to the thin layer of Macaulay’s elite, clustered around him. Above all, there was that minor matter of Kashmir which could only have been kept in a “secular” state.
An honest bargain could have been struck in a “Hindustan”. I am almost embarrassed to cite Britain as an example. The country is anchored to the Anglican Church, and yet has a Muslim Mayor of London. All religious denominations are in the cabinet (and shadow cabinet). Indeed, at one stage there were four Muslims in the English cricket team. It is a tolerant society where the rule of law applies. Just imagine what a bargain 180 million Muslims would have been able to strike in a “Hindustan”. Conditions for a plural society would have been inherent in an honest arrangement, free of a bogus secularism which today rings like a hollow cliché.
Let me, in my Yoga Nidra state, pull back my consciousness from issues of what “might-have-been”. The current situation is frightening and yet the gloom and doom about fascism having arrived are pre mature. Lift your eyes from the Hindi belt and the perspective changes. The strength of a pluralistic society will come from a multi- ethnic, multi-linguistic, multi-religious federal India, the one pulsating outside the cow belt.
As the only North Indian (and Muslim to boot), who edited a major newspaper covering all the South Indian states with my headquarters in Chennai for full five years, some credit must attach to what I am saying.
The middle class is likely to get some relief in the 2018-19 budget which is expected to reflect a please-all strategy as it is the last regular budget of the BJP-led government ahead of the general elections in 2019. The finance ministry is considering a proposal to hike the personal income tax exemption limit from Rs 2.5 lakh per annum to Rs 3 lakh or more and also introduce some changes in the tax slabs to lighten the taxpayers' burden.
The government is working on various combinations and permutations to arrive at the right mix which ensures that the tax burden is not unreasonable and at the same time enough resources are mobilized for infrastructure development. The government is aware of the fact that middle-income families are facing the brunt of rising inflation and easing the tax burden would provide some relief. A reduction in the tax burden would also place more disposable income in the hands of consumers which would increase the demand for goods and services and spur economic growth.
The flip side is that the tax base is very narrow and the government is struggling to bring down the fiscal deficit which poses a major constraint in providing tax concessions beyond a point. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will have to do a fine balancing act. He had left the tax slabs unchanged in the 2017-18 budget but provided marginal relief to small taxpayers by reducing the rate from 10 per cent to 5 per cent for individuals with annual incomes between Rs 2.5-5 lakh.
Clearly, the budget will have to have a pro-farmer tilt which means more resources have to be mobilized for agriculture and rural development. The finance ministry is also considering a suggestion to provide a tax exemption on fixed deposits in banks in the same manner as mutual funds in order to encourage savings by households so that more funds come into banks. These can then be used to extend loans.
The holding period for short-term capital gains (STCG) tax on listed securities may also be extended from one year to three years, bringing equities on a par with some other asset classes in tax treatment. This is among a number of measures for the capital markets that may be announced in the Budget for 2018-19. The STCG tax on stocks and mutual funds is 15 per cent at present. Listed securities held above a year do not attract any tax.
Industry chamber CII has in its pre-Budget memorandum to the finance ministry sought a reduction in the peak tax slab from 30 per cent to 25 per cent. However, it is unlikely that the ministry will concede ground due to pressure on the fiscal deficit. The subdued indirect tax collection following the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax from July 1 last year has put pressure on the fiscal deficit, which has been pegged at 3.2 per cent of the GDP for 2017-18.
The government recently raised the borrowing target by additional Rs 50,000 crore for the current fiscal to meet the shortfall. However, the government expects GST collections to pick up in the next fiscal as the teething problems of the new tax regime are being resolved.
After the budget-2017, which was referred as mediocre, this will be the last full budget of Modi-led NDA government for this term. Different sectors have high expectations for the much-touted economic reforms. Let’s take a quick look at what can be expected from this new budget :
This year, the indirect tax structure of the country was given a facelift with the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. And in Union Budget 2018, we can expect changes in the direct tax structure including income tax. To review the existing structure of direct taxes in the country and the related exemption norms, a task force has been created by the government which is headed by CBDT member Arbind Modi. The idea is to make direct taxes more contemporary so that it matches the current requirements.
Infrastructure is also expected to be a priority in the upcoming Budget 2018. The new budget will put the impetus on developing rural infrastructure. Under the Bharatmala project, the biggest ever highway development plan has already been approved by the government. Urban infrastructure, housing, water and sanitation needs are also expected to be discussed at the new budget announcement.
A mega recapitalisation plan was announced by the government in October to counter the rising bad loans of public sector banks. The plan is worth Rs 2.11 Lakh Crores out of which Rs 1,35,00 crore will be in the form of front-loaded recapitalisation bonds. Though the government has not shared the details on the types of bonds or the interest rates on these bonds, the news itself has created quite a buzz in the bonds and equity markets. The government is expected to raise around Rs 70,000 crore by February 2018 and the budget will also be announced in the same period.
Apart from these major reforms, several economists are urging the government to cut corporate tax rates in order to make the Indian industries competitive on a global level.
A Business Standard news report has claimed that the government is planning to abolish dividend distribution tax (DDT) which currently features an applicable rate of around 20%. As per existing rules, DDT is applicable to dividends distributed by mutual funds as well as other domestic companies that are desirous of distributing dividends to shareholders. As per the Business Standard report, the abolition of DDT is expected to encourage companies to announce higher dividends which would improve yields for investors.