Born out of the need to provide steady opportunities to India’s skilled artisan communities, Grassroot translates heirloom traditions from the heart of Indian villages into contemporary, sustainable fashion for the globetrotting woman.
The birthplace of Grassroot, India, is an untapped wealth of traditional skills. Skills that have been passed down through generations, beautifying and sustaining the aesthetic and economic veins of the country. Skills that now face an imminent danger — death by waning demand and easier processes.
We live in a ruthless world. A world of ruthless speed and ruthless excess. In an endless pursuit of getting things done faster, forgetting the flipside.
Our mind can paint a grim picture of this world of the future. Of a world where intricate art gives way to superficial stamps where carefully crafted designs give way to robotic patches, where the delightful imperfections of handwoven cloth give way to lifeless textile, where the reds of the madder tree root give way to rivers of industrial waste, where the warmth of a human hand gives way to the steely thuds of machines.
We’re trying to flip the flipside
Grassroot is the marriage of a cultural heritage and a cultural revolution. Chic, urban silhouettes that are relevant to the woman of today’s world that still retain the priceless traditions of times past.
Grassroot is an instrument of change, making women artisans in-charge of their own lives.
They’re giving fashion the slow, steadfast care it and its makers deserve.
It’s painstaking and laborious, like all works of art. But so very soulful, like all works of art.
Handmade With Love: The handcrafted traditions of India are priceless. They are earth-friendly. They follow age-old processes and methods that are closest to nature and don't harm the environment. Grassroot works with artisans from India's remotest villages and partner with like-minded NGOs who are conscious of the need to protect our crafts and our planet.
The woman in the villages of India is a powerhouse. Single-handedly tackling everything, right from children to demanding families. She threads the existence of a family and when time permits, she threads the needle. The hands pulsating with skill give way to works of art. Stunning, intricate works of art that bloom, quietly within the confines of her home. It is this very woman, who is encouraged to work with at Grassroot.
The world of fashion is fickle, and we attempt to keep the craft traditions alive by constantly helping the artisans cater to the demands of today.
For the woman of the world, for the woman in villages, and for her generations to come.
The history of Chikankari dates back to the third century BC. Hand-carved wooden blocks are used to print patterns onto fabric. Women in rural India then embroider onto those patterns in up to 32 different stitches to create timelessly elegant garments.
Hand embroidery is crafted in various regions, each producing a unique design that can be traced back to its origin. The custodians of these age-old crafts take years to master it, even generations when this intricate.
For over 500 years, artisans have perfected the art of weaving the beautiful Bhujodi fabric through diligent practice. Adorned with intricate designs and finished with indigenous techniques in hand, it takes a weaver months to create this fabric.
Skilled women artisans tie tight knots in fabric while men carefully dye fabric to the right hue, creating mesmerising patterns. Natural dyeing techniques revived in this craft result in limited colour fastness, adding to the uniqueness of this garment.
Intricately woven by hand, Chanderi weaving is a tradition over five centuries old, kept alive by only 12,000 weavers today. This distinctive sheer fabric is slowly dying out to cheap industrial replicas.
Jamdani is thought of as the art of loom embroidery. Intricate motifs are added onto the warp by hand, producing vibrant patterns. The entire process is extremely time-intensive, taking an artisan one day to weave every half a metre.
Block printing is a slow process but highly rewarding. It begins with an artisan chipping and chiselling a block of wood into an intricately patterned stamp. These blocks are then used to stamp dyes (or mud in some cases) onto fabric to give birth to beautiful block printed stories.
Yarns are bound together in the desired pattern and dyed, then set up on a loom and handwoven. Since the surface design is created in the yarns rather than on the finished cloth, both fabric faces are beautifully patterned. Natural dyeing techniques revived in this craft result in limited colour fastness, adding to the uniqueness of this garment.
Linen is produced from the stem of flax — a plant that demands little of the earth. Made using laborious earth-friendly processes, it gets better with age and handling. It is durable, hypo-allergenic and extremely breathable. Being a natural insulator, it keeps you cool in summer and warm in winter.
The bark of trees, plants and leaves lend their natural colour to yarn which is hand-dyed by artisans. These dyes are limited in their colour fastness, and when handwoven, create a fabric that is unique in its dyeing variations.
Kala cotton is watered by the rains and grown without the use of pesticides or synthetic fertilisers. It is then picked, spun into yarn and woven into fabric—all by hand. Truly organic, it encourages sustainable textile production and revives traditional farming practices. Natural dyeing techniques result in limited colour fastness, making this garment unique.
American filmmaker Oliver Stone visited Havana and other parts of Cuba in 2002 to shoot his epical and long documentary, ‘Comandante’, which was released to worldwide acclaim in 2003. The documentary was simple: an endless conversation with Fidel Castro, across Havana, till the finale when Castro himself comes to drop Stone and his crew to the airport.
In many senses, with struggling Cuba still under an infinite and brutal embargo by a hostile American establishment, Stone was openly cocking a snook at the mandarins in the White House, the CIA and the hate Castro brigades of immigrant Cubans in Miami and elsewhere. In another sense, he was not only showing his little finger upside down, he was basically doing ‘another kind of cinema’, so popular as a counter-narrative among a widesection of progressive filmmakers, actors and writers in Hollywood – from Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock and Arthur Miller, to Susan Sarandon, Robert Redford, Sean Penn, Quentin Tarantino and George Clooney, among others. Indeed, to brand them all as ‘Leftists’ which the McCarthyist witch-hunt did (‘reds under the bed’), during the Cold War, is too simplistic a solution.
In one of the clips, Castro remembers, with stunning sadness, how ‘Ernesto’ Che Guevara walked out of a meeting with him, banging the door. He said, that he should have reconsidered, waited, given it another serious session of reflection. But Che walked out of Fidel’s life, and Cuba, and thereby, changed his life-destiny yet again, taking another zigzag, untraversed, difficult route on a difficult terrain, in eternal and untiring search for his idea of people’s revolution. This time, he went to the forests of Bolivia, where he was killed by the mercenaries of the CIA, his body lying on a slab in a shack in the forest, later hacked into many pieces, so that he could never be recognized, or glorified into the realm of martyrdom.
Castro remembers Che in the film with a fondness and a sadness which cannot be described by any text of cinema or literature. Clearly, the entire Cuba loves and remembers Che with that stated, nuanced and unrequited longing, admiration and respect, which is not even meant for the gods. And, why only Cuba, all over the world, from Bolivia to Congo to the most remote interiors of Kerala, you will find Che on the walls, his cut-out on the streets, and his quotes of revolutionary struggle and optimism written as graffiti across the lush green landscape. Indeed, on the 50th anniversary of Che’s death, or martyrdom, he has become larger than life yet again, even as Latin America and Cuba struggles to fight yet another major onslaught of ‘American imperialism’ under Donald Trump and his neo-con, right-wing racist establishment, and even as the ‘revolution of the bullet’ has decisively given way to the ‘revolution of the ballot’.
They can put him on the T-shirts and turn him into a fetish or a commodity. They can sell him as an object of appropriation of the consumer society, like a fizzy-drink bottle, or a flashy mobile. They can reduce him into a symbol of the market. And, yet, such is the incredible and deep enigma of Che Guevara, so intense and infinite is his romantic and radical charisma, so legendary and non-conformist is his life journey, that the time-tested dynamic capitalism just cannot consume and destroy him.
Across the many streams of resistance, romance and rebellion, the handsome, bearded face of Che, with his long, unruly hair, and his beret with a red star, will outshine and outlive all forms of manufactured propaganda against him and his comrades. He would remain the red star in the night sky, gleaming in the darkness, always, as he is, right now, across the luminescent hoardings across Havana.
In this non-sectarian and ‘globalised’ idea of revolution which transcends borders and barriers of geography, social formations and history in South America, Simon Bolivar still remains the original, ‘united’ revolutionary idol, beautifully immortalized by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. However, that Che is from Argentina, like another genius and legend, ‘Hand of God’ Diego Maradona, his body full of Che tattoos, or the greatest living magician of football, Lionel Messi, is almost forgotten. This is because, like in the Spanish civil war against Franco’s dictatorship, documented in meticulous literary detail by French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in a trilogy, people from across many different nationalities and nations joined the guerrilla struggle against the entrenched oppressive and exploitative oligarchies, banana republics, drug cartels and tinpot dictatorships, routinely propped up, backed and patronized by successive American regimes. Indeed, Castro’s best buddy, Marquez, who often gave his first, unedited manuscript to Castro for the first read, has written with great flourish about the plantations, the exploitation, the strikes, the massacres, and the long, armed rebellion by the great rebel, Aureliano Buendia, started from his magical hometown and imagined homeland, Macondo, in his epical classic: ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’.
Those who have seen the early journeys of Che and his friend in that famous movie called the ‘Motorcycle Diaries’, where he discovers South America’s incredible past narratives and its contemporary sorrows, as if it was always there in the open-to-sky courtyard of his political subconscious; and those who have followed his asthmatic, smoker’s journey first through the leprosy camps as an young idealistic doctor, and later as an armed revolutionary across the rugged terrain of Sierra Maestra during their hard expedition to Havana, they will be astounded by the relentless movement of this extraordinary man. Indeed, even as he restructured little Cuba as the industries minister after the revolution, and helped Fidel and others to redesign a new economy and social structure right in the backyard of the ‘mighty’ US which was out to destroy it (and allegedly assassinate Castro and Che), he chose to visit India and interacted with the farmers and freedom fighters. More so, he went to Congo in Africa to train revolutionaries, so that Africa could follow the trajectory of Latin America with its long history of slavery and oppression.
This is the anti-cathartic movement which led him to Bolivia and start another revolution, not content with the incredible victories in Cuba. Deep inside southern Bolivia’s La Higuera and Vallegrande, where he was murdered by the CIA, the culture industry of the American establishment has failed to eliminate his memory. It runs zigzag on the leaves, the bark of the trees, on the pebbles, stones and rivers, and village and forest bylanes, like a story without a beginning or an end.
Che came to Bolivia to begin another revolution. He arrived, in disguise, in La Paz in 1966.
Writes Claire Boobbyer, in a recent article in The Guardian (London): “Today, the room where the 39-year-old was killed on 9 October 1967, is decorated with pictures, messages, flags and, weirdly, driving licenses, by visitors who have paid homage to the Argentinian revolutionary. The chair, where it’s said Guevara was sitting when executed, is lost in the tableaux of eulogies and pictures pinned to the wall by Che’s admirers from around the world, who have made the pilgrimage to the village of La Higuera over the last 50 years (La Higuera Museum, 8am-noon, 2pm-6pm, admission £1)…
The Quebrada del Churo ravine is 3km north of La Higuera. There, we trekked down for an hour through gorse and banana palms under a blue sky to where Che’s men had hidden. Just beyond is a mosaic memorial and the fig tree the injured Che was hiding behind when apprehended by elite Bolivian troops. Roli (the local guide) scattered coca leaves at the site….
“I’m offering the coca to the spirit of Che to say thank you,” he said. “Che was unique; he was a failure but at least he tried. When I’m here I have a sense of injustice. It was 500 men against Che’s men.”
At a time when diets have become an all-consuming affair, fad diets have become the fad. Low carb, high fat, no fat, Paleo, intermittent fasting... The list goes on and on, with the arrival of each new fad diet confusing us further. It's no surprise we look at diets that claim they are easy and will make you lose weight fast. Unfortunately, these popular diets usually over-promise and under-deliver, leaving people feeling worse about themselves.
But an Indian dietician believes in going back to the traditional Indian foods rather than following diets and tells us why eating rice isn’t a taboo or why including ghee is helpful. Best of all she says is the most important thing, ask yourself is this the food my Nani and Dadi ate? If yes, then eat without any fear!
At the launch of Rujuta Diwekar’s latest book, Indian Superfoods, it quickly becomes clear why the nutritionist has developed a cult following over the past few years. In a diet culture defined by ‘No’, she urges people to eat. At one point during her talk, when she tells the mostly-female crowd to eat rice, there’s an unscripted wave of enthusiastic applause. Two women in the front row turn to each other and grin excitedly.
Looking around the gracious old Museum Theatre building, Rujuta tells the crowd that, much like the grand building, diets also need to be timeless and sustainable; we need to stay fit and healthy for the rest of our lives. The problem is that for weight loss, we keep looking for an answer in places we will never find it: in tabloids, at parties, during weddings and even divorces.
Rujuta is clear where the answer lies; it lies in our kitchens, the one place we don’t like going into anymore. Getting healthier is not just about becoming skinny. It’s about eating better in a holistic fashion. It’s about completely rethinking food. Her advice to all is to stop talking about food groups, like carbs, proteins and fats, and start thinking about food systems. Food systems are about not just looking after your health, but also promoting the local economy and global ecology. For when we diet according to food groups — we gain weight again and again. When we eat according to food systems, we live long, fulfilling lives.
Indigenous, locally-grown superfoods are an ideal way to begin this change. Rujuta picks three well-loved, easilyavailable foods: rice, ghee and sugar.
Her explanation very simple: Rice is truly nice. Whether you come from Kashmir or Kanyakumari it’s the first grain you eat. Our schools got it wrong when they taught us rice is just carbohydrate. It also contains minerals, vitamins, phytonutrients and amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein. When we go off rice, our stomachs jut out.
That’s because our gut eco-system gets disturbed when we go on a diet. These microorganisms influence everything from our moods to our health. Rice has prebiotics, which is food for probiotics, and will nourish the necessary good bacteria in the body. Most local rice has a glycemic index of 50 to 60. Add curd or pulses and you lower it. Add ghee, and it’s lowered further. Add pickle and it gets lowered again. So in India, when you eat a traditional meal, rice becomes safe. These pearls of diet wisdom Rujuta dispenses without favour.
Ghee is next on Rujuta’s list of favourite foods. She says ghee is great because it is full of fat. It gives good gut integrity... she’s not the only person saying this. The Cleveland Clinic released a poster about the benefits of ghee, so has the Canadian Heart Association announced that saturated fat is good for the heart. Now, doctors are saying that cholesterol is a nutrient and no longer a concern for overconsumption.
Rujuta also is of the firm belief that everything your grandmom said is rooted in common sense. If you have issues of thyroid, memory loss, weight gain — it could be because of a lack of essential fats. Eat idlis with podi and sesame oil. When you have coffee, eat murukkus. When you eat curd rice, eat pickle. If you want papad — fry it. But remember to source everything carefully. Make it at home. Or buy from a small co-operative. It’s better than buying from an industry that is banking on your fears. An industry that creates a new food hero and a new food villain every year.
Then, there’s sugar. She feels we have become a population that abuses sugar. The kind we should avoid is what comes out of packaged food: the chocolates, biscuits and cereals that promise weight loss... Instead, we must eat jaggery in winter. Have sugar cane juice when you want to detox.”
Finally, she tackles the obsession with weight loss. All women want to do is lose a little more weight. We wake up thinking of this... If I was thinner my life would be better. That’s not true. A better fulfilling life comes from many other things. Never ever from losing weight. Wow, Rujuta that makes me feel much better already.
Young Ativ is excited about his first in-flight experience. After collecting his boarding pass and checking-in his baggage he makes his way to aircraft. There a friendly air hostess makes him comfortable in his seat. Ativ then gets ready for his first flight. He listens to the safety instructions carefully, especially about the oxygen mask and life jackets. Ativ now settles down ready for takeoff. But soon there is a call for emergency on board and he is ushered toward the exit and made to slide down an emergency chute even as smoke fills the inside of the aircraft. Ativ is safe back on land now. But Ativ never took off as he was undergoing a simulated flight experience at Delhi’s only Aeroplanet in Dwarka.
In fact, this unique experience has been made possible by Bahadur Chand Gupta, a retired aeronautical engineer who worked for Indian Airlines. His idea was to give underprivileged children a taste of air travel for free in his Dwarka Sector 8 ‘airport’
“I belong to a very small village in Haryana. When I started working for the Indian Airlines, the people from my village wanted to see how an aircraft looks and how it works,” Gupta says. Since it was not possible to take all his people inside an airport and an aircraft, Gupta thought of bringing the experience closer home.
Gupta bought an old Airbus A300 in 2004 which was damaged and beyond economical repair. The airplane is housed within the boundaries of the international airport. Thus, Aeroplanet (India), a museum cum educational picnic spot popped up.
Presently, Aeroplanet (India) welcomes children from schools to take a study tour. The children are taught how to prepare themselves during a flight and what should be done during emergency situations like fire or landing on a river. The children are made to do an emergency exit and trolley landing to give them the real experience. Aeroplanet also takes booking for film shoots and birthday parties. The place is open to people from all the age groups but it caters more towards the interest of the children.
“Initially, the programme was completely free. Even now it continues to remain free for those who are underprivileged,” Gupta points out. But now he has started charging a minimum price of Rs 250 from the general public like the schools or those who come for shoots to keep up with the maintenance costs.
Administrator Ridhi Sehgal is the one who gives lessons on the functioning of an airplane while the children are on board. They are also instructed on how to collect boarding pass and how to check in luggage at the cargo, fasten seatbelts and to use the oxygen masks and life jackets. The curious students with their never-ending questions are also given a tour of the cockpit where Gupta himself explains the mechanisms of the airplane.
“What the children are doing here is a fun activity but it will stay somewhere in their subconscious mind which might help them if they ever face similar situations in real life,” Ridhi says.
Gupta, a resident of Ashok Vihar, remembers how bringing the airplane to Dwarka was a major challenging but fun. The airplane was brought in pieces to Dwarka and then it was assembled.
Ridhi mentions that one will always find children enjoying the campus during weekdays. “Many schools come for a tour or picnic. The campus is always filled with laughter and smiling faces of the children.”
The Aeroplanet invites schools to pay a visit by writing to them. “We write to schools almost once in a year mentioning how students can learn about the mechanisms of a cockpit and real experience of what it takes to fly even as a passenger.
“I learned about how to go inside an airplane and also lots about the cockpit,” a beaming Ativ tells us. Ativ is a student from third grade of PP International School who hopes to be a pilot in the future. Along with all the flying excitement are lots of other outdoor activities which also include magic shows.
“We brought students from grade one, two and three. In the month of November and December they have lessons on transportation so we decided to bring them here to get a practical experience of an airplane” says Shruti Tusir a teacher at PP International School.
The Aeroplanet also trains airline personnel in emergency situations. “This place is also a training centre for aircraft engineers, crew and pilots. It has been recognized as a training centre by the Government of India,” Gupta proudly points out. “The classes are held once a week and a particular course syllabus is followed. We have centres at other places where they learn the theory and come here for practicals,” he adds.
“This plan was my dream and it has only been possible through the support of my wife and my family,” says Gupta. The airline engineer took voluntary retirement at the age of 40 to make his dream Aeroplanet (India) possible.
Austria has been almost synonymous with the ever-charming film The Sound of Music in the Sixties. The film shot across locations in Salzburg is delightful not only in its storyline but the wonderful sights and places where it was shot. The movie went on to win five Oscars and become one of the world’s best-loved movies. The Sound of Music went on to gross more money than any musical in history. And millions of fans still dream of making a pilgrimage to Salzburg, where it was shot.
The city is famous for its fine old buildings, medieval streets, art museums and Mozart connections, not forgetting the coffee and cake. And anyone visiting the city can’t help but follow the singing and dancing footsteps of Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer and those seven chirpy children, more than half a century ago.
Austria has an abundance of cultural treasures that is immeasurable but not incomprehensible. This includes its high culture and the special lifestyle of the people who live here. Throughout history, Austria has always played a special role in the centre of Europe: as a bridge-builder, as a meeting place, and as a venue for cultural exchange.
During their centuries-long domination of Europe, the Habsburgs proved to be not only passionate builders but also keen travellers–a fact that is manifested in the diversity of imperial structures all across Austria.
Whether in Graz, Innsbruck or Vienna: you encounter the legacy of Austria’s imperial past– but nowhere, of course, in such concentration as in the country’s capital, where you can sense this grand imperial atmosphere even when visiting one of the city’s many historic coffeehouses. The entire city centre is filled with traces of the imperial dynasty.
Vienna was the politically powerful and geographical centre of Europe for five hundred years, just as long as the rule of the Habsburgs. With their palaces, government buildings and parks they left a substantial legacy in Vienna and the surrounding area
The Imperial Apartments, the Sisi Museum and the Silver Room in the Vienna Hofburg, the UNESCO Cultural Heritage Schönbrunn Palace with its park and zoo, the Festival Palace Hof and the Court Furniture Depot provide fascinating insights into the multi-faceted history of the monarchy as well as the daily life at the imperial court with thematic walking tours, special exhibits, and individual focal points.
One of the main attractions of Vienna is the magnificent Ring Avenue with its huge building complex, the Hofburg. The imperial residence has undergone several expansions and revisions over the time and was the centre of European power up to the beginning of the 20th century. It was from this palace that Emperor Franz Joseph, whose reign lasted 68 years, decided the fate of the Danube monarchy. The multinational state at the time was eight times as large as the present Austria.
The most visited tourist attraction and a true landmark of Vienna is Schönbrunn Palace. First erected as a hunting lodge with a large park, it was expanded to its present size from the middle of the 18th century and became the summer seat of the government and summer residence of the imperial family and the court. By the middle of the 19th century, the palace and all auxiliary buildings were painted in “Schönbrunn yellow” that eventually became the trademark of the Habsburg monarchy. The entire ensemble with the palace, the park grounds with numerous fountains and statues, as well as the oldest still operating zoo in the world, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Salzburg, the city of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, where the hills are alive with the Sound of Music, where the famous Christmas carol 'Silent Night' was first penned and sung transports you to an enchanting world of medieval charm, of magnificent palaces and picturesque panoramas. Nestling on the banks of Salzach river, hemmed in by wooded bergs or mountain - Monchsberg, Festungsberg, Kapuzinerberg and Reinberg- Salzburg is a curious mix of the ancient and the modern. It captivates and charms you.
The city of Salzburg - and especially its historic city centre – is, in fact, one of the loveliest places in Europe, winning international acclaim in 1997 when it was designated a world heritage site by UNESCO.
Salzburg literally meaning Salz- salt, burgfortress castle, traces its origins to ancient times when a Roman settlement 'Juvavum' existed on the site. It was, however, Bishop Rupert who got the region as a gift from Bavarian Duke Theodo II and named it Salzburg in 696AD after the salt mines in the surrounding mountains.
The Old City is picturesquely surrounded by the Mönchsberg, crowned by the Fortress which is visible for miles, and the mighty Capuchin Mountain on the right banks of the river.
The Old City with its variety of building styles is a true architectural delight, also a result of the city's strict preservation laws. A walk through the countless narrow streets features buildings from the Middle Ages, Romanesque, Baroque and Renaissance periods as well as the elegant classical burghers' houses dating from the monarchy. Hardly any age failed to leave its architectural imprint on Salzburg.
Think of Salzburg and images of the 1965 film ‘The Sound of Music’ flash before you. Salzburg formed the scenic backdrop of the movie which is a true touching saga of Von Trapp's aristocratic Austrian family. A Sound of Music tour takes you to Mirabell palace-gardens where Julie Andrews as Maria and the children sing ‘Do Re Mi’, Residenz square fountain where Maria sings ‘I have confidence in me’, Nonnberg convent where Maria as a novice nun sings 'Maria', the Summer Riding school-Festival hall where Baron Von Trapp sings Edelweiss' before fleeing to America, St. Peters cemetery where the family hides behind the tombstones, the Leopoldskron palace used as Von Trapp villa in movie, Frohnburg palace, Hellbrunn palace glass gazebo location of songs ‘I am Sixteen going on Seventeen’ and ‘Something Good’, Historic horse pond on Herbert Karajan platz, Fuschlsee, St. Gilgen on Wolfgangsee and Mondsee the wedding church in the film.
You cannot speak of Austria, without referring to its majestic Alps, which cover 2/3rd of this beautiful country. There are more than 800 mountains over 3000 mts high creating a majestic backdrop to this impressive country. Tirol is Austria’s western province bordering on Germany, Italy and Switzerland and provides a unique insight into Central European life with a unique blend of nature and culture. The beauty of the landscape, the cultural sights and the friendliness of the local people annually attract over 8 million visitors from all over the world. More than 70 Indian films have been shot in the Austrian Tirol, the Heart of the Alps.
Growing up we were made to believe that the only worthwhile courses of study were academic and that which would ultimately land us in some professional course or the other, the premier ones being engineering, medicine or commerce. With lakhs of students finishing school every year and numbers only increasing, the professional pie would naturally get smaller. Yet vocational studies were never given enough thought. It's time we did.
Let me dispel certain myths. The term ‘vocational’ actually means ‘work-related’. So if you are doing a vocational qualification it means you are learning skills that will help you to get, and do a job. That’s it. Vocational education is not an ‘easier’ alternative to taking Board exams, it is something that provides people with practical skills and the underpinning knowledge people need to understand how to use these skills.
Some people are not aware that you can actually get vocational qualifications that will take you up to the same level as a degree, so the opportunities for continued personal development are still there, even if you don't choose the conventional route.
With a vocational qualification, you're more likely to be able to start working sooner, giving you the experience you need to back up what you’re learning - and you get to earn money at the same time. And the money earning doesn't stop there.
With few students opting for vocational subjects in schools, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has, in fact, constituted a committee to review vocational courses and do away with those that are not finding enough takers.
Sample this: 11 lakh students appeared for CBSE’s Class XII examination this year. Of these, those who have opted for vocational courses include — six for retail services, 11 for health centre management, 16 for integrated transport operations, 34 for confectionary courses, and 55 for front office operations. There are about 100 courses on offer under vocational studies.
The main reason for fewer students opting for vocational subjects is to do with the mindset of people. Vocational courses are considered to be meant for below-average students — which is clearly not the case. Also, when vocational courses were introduced years ago, they didn’t come with proper planning such as provision for proper labs, instructors, hands-on practice etc, hence students suffered. But the current policy has removed those lacunae and more jobs are being created, but it will take some time to catch on), this according to a principal of a college of vocational studies from Delhi University.
A huge supply of largely young and educated population of working age is often cited as the bedrock of India's demographic dividend. When most of the global economies are saddled with a limited supply of young people to replace the ageing workforce, India is blessed with a young demographic to power its growth agenda and is perfectly poised to become the global supplier of a huge workforce.
However, the current state of affairs in the Indian education system is inimical for leveraging this demographic dividend positively. We are grappling with unemployment on the one hand while corporate houses and industries are facing a shortage of suitable candidates to fill vacancies. Worse, reports that a majority of students graduating are just not employable.
While there may be various viable solutions to the problems concerning both the education system and the employability of graduates, focusing on delivering quality vocational education to students will go a long way in addressing both the stated concerns and be beneficial to students in carving out a career for themselves.
Let us list some of the most popular as well as relatively unknown yet promising vocational courses on offer for students.
1. Office Secretaryship
2. Stenography and Computer Applications
3.Accountancy and Auditing
4. Marketing and Salesmanship
5. Banking
6. Retail
7.Financial Market Management
8. Business Administration
These commerce based vocational courses will help you learn professional skills and proficiency to work in modern day offices. Accountancy and Auditing, for example, is a specialised course that will help students identify business opportunities, risk assessment, and familiarize them with business processes. These courses will enable students to gain meaningful employment not only in offices, banks and retail setups, it will also equip them with the necessary knowledge on starting their own enterprises.
9. Electrical Technology
10. Automobile Technology
11. Civil Engineering
12. Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology
13. Electronics Technology
14. GeoSpatial Technology
15. Foundry 16. IT Application
Engineering based vocational courses offer relevant, appropriate, and adequate technical knowledge together with professional skills and competencies to students. While these courses are quite selfsufficient in terms of knowledge and skill proficiency for jobs in related fields they can also be stepping stones to further specialize in selected fields.
17. Ophthalmic Techniques
18. Medical Laboratory Techniques
19. Auxiliary Nursing & Midwifery
20. X-Ray Technician
21. Healthcare Sciences
22. Health and Beauty Studies
23. Medical Diagnostics
Health delivery systems rely on a host of supporting services, and vocational courses equip students to work as technicians in laboratories and diagnostic centers or perform other critical tasks in the healthcare system.
24. Fashion Design & Clothing Construction
25. Textile Design
26. Design Fundamental
27. Music Technical Production
28. Beauty Services
A course in fashion and textiles, music and beauty services is ideal for enterprising students who wish to set up their own operations. These are niche skills for which there is great demand in the relevant industry.
29. Food Production
30. Food and Beverage Services
31. Mass Media Studies and Media Production
32. Bakery and Confectionery
33. Front office
34. Travel and Tourism
Students can choose from a course as per their interest area or chosen career field. The skills and competencies acquired through any of these vocational courses will set students on the path of gainful employment in hotels, confectioneries, and bakeries in the formal sector or they can utilize their skills to strike out on their own.
Besides the listed vocational courses, there is a host of other courses such as in transportation and logistics management, library sciences, horticulture and animal husbandry that impart practical and relevant skills that help in gainful employment
It is given that not everyone will qualify for a seat in the medical or engineering colleges and nor is everyone cut out for a career in these fields alone. Thus, it will be in the greater good if vocational courses are made accessible to the students from early on and the quality of teaching and syllabus followed in these courses be regularly updated. This is a sure shot way of ensuring employability and will enable the country to leverage its demographic advantage to become the manpower capital of the world.
There is a distinct nip in the night air these days, clearly, autumn will be slowly melding into winter. It’s a pleasant time of the year a time of festivity and joy, cheer and sharing. Autumn is a season of harvest; hopes sown in spring and summer are harvested in autumn. We wish all our readers too had a joyous month gone by before we draw you into our offering for November.
We have always brought you ideas and trends and sometimes an idea whose time is yet to come and the man on our cover this month is one such man whose time is yet to come, a politician waiting to be toasted. This man is none other than BJP’s Nitin Gadkari, a minister in the Modi government whose influence is rising in proportion to his ability as an administrator and politician. Gadkari is a classic case of how the RSS nurtures ambitious men, assisting them in their rise in politics. Being the blue-eyed boy of the RSS, Gadkari could well be a future prime minister. We take a close look at this businessman-turned-politician.
Across our northeastern borders in what is known as the land of the golden pagodas or what was Burma and now Myanmar a politician with a deep connect to India has been a rebel for years and an inspiration to the world. To Aung San Suu Kyi we entrusted our hopes. To mention her name was to invoke patience and resilience in the face of suffering, courage and determination in the unyielding struggle for freedom. We try to piece together the life of this rebel who is now taking cautious steps in her country’s governance.
From a political goddess to living goddesses. The curious case of Nepal’s Kumaris or virgins always fascinates. And recently another threeyear-old girl has been anointed on Ashtami this year as the Kumari or the new 'living goddess' of Kathmandu by Hindu priests and taken to a palace where she will remain until she reaches puberty. And then onto some real women who will be for the first time donning IAF colours as combat pilots.
Then a peek at Bombay Dyeing’s yesteryear man Karan Kapoor and his journey with the lens into the little-known world of Anglo-Indians. And Newton’s journey to the Oscars along with a futuristic look at our food needs and consumption.
Apart from this, we bring you the usual host of opinions, political columns, a magazine packed with exciting reading. Have fun!
FOOTBALL// England swaggered their way into the FIFA U-17 World Cup triumph and the invigorating final against Spain was as much a celebration of attacking football as it was about an incredible turnaround on Saturday, October 29.
The Three Lions colts hammered The La Rojas juniors 5-2 in the highest-scoring final in the history of this age-group tournament. England were two goal down just before the half time with Spain winger Sergio Gomez scoring in the 10th and 31st minutes, but the Three Lions rallied to pump in five goals, including four in the second half, through Phil Foden (69th and 88th), Rhian Brewster (44th), Morgan Gibbs White (58th) and Marc Guehi (84th).
The spectacle took place in front of a capacity crowd of 66,684 at the Salt Lake Stadium. It was a treat to watch for the packed-to-the-rafters stadium as there were never a dull moment during the frantically fast-paced match with end-to-end action.
England had never gone beyond the quarterfinal stage in their earlier attempts but they conquered the world this year and also avenged their loss to Spain in penalty shootouts in the European Championships in Croatia in May.
Their striker Rhian Brewster also ended as the tournament's highest scorer with eight goals to get the Golden Boot.
Spain finished runners-up for the fourth time after 1991, 2003 and 2007.
The summit clash was a fitting finale for a tournament which has set the record of most attendance in its history. It has also become the highest scoring event with 177 goals from 52 matches
The match started at a frantic pace and England had a chance as early as the first minute. Morgan Gibbs-White had a one-two with Brewster, before firing in a fierce low shot from just inside the penalty area, which Spain goalie Alvaro Fernandez palmed away.
Spain hit back on the counter and took the lead in the 10th minute through Gomez. Off a fine pass from Abel Ruiz from the center, Juan Miranda sent a cross from the left which Gelabert managed to squeeze himself between two England defenders and flipped it in front for Gomez to do the rest.
The England defence had an average show and captain Joel Latibeaudiere, who has not put a foot wrong in this tournament till today, was outsmarted by his opposite number Abel Ruiz on occasions. Ruiz once again came up with a brilliant show, leading the Spain attack quite well.
Just after the cooling break, Spain doubled the lead against the run of play. Assist master Cesar Gelabert worked some space on the right side of the penalty area and sent in a cross. It fell on Gomez's path and he controlled it smartly and drilled in a thunderous strike with his left foot.
The incredibly fast-paced first half, which saw action from one end to the other, gave promise of an even better second session when Brewster scored just a minute before the breather.
An overlapping right full back Sessegnon was able to send in a cross for Brewster to finish with a fierce header that went in after touching the goalie's fingers.
England had more possession and equal number of four shots on target in the first half and they regrouped and scored soon after resumption in the 58th minute through Morgan Gibbs-White.
It was the spadework of Foden, the other outstanding England player of the day besides Hudson Odoi, that resulted in the equaliser. The Manchester City youth team player gave a wonderful defence splitting pass on the right and an overlapping Sessegnon sent in a first-time low cross for Gibbs-White to easily slot the ball home. As the match progressed, England began to take control of the proceedings with Spain rarely threatening the opposition goal.
Winning the Denmark Open was also special-Srikanth is the first Indian in 30 years to lift that trophy. The last Indian player to win in Denmark was Prakash Padukone. What made the victory sweeter was beating world #1 Viktor Axelson in the path to the final. Axelson has beaten Srikanth several times earlier so beating the Dane in front of his home crowd was sweet revenge for the Indian.
The Super Series is one of the highest rated tournaments in world badminton. In 2017, only Srikanth and Viktor Axelsen, have won three Super Series titles each. Earlier this year Srikanth won the Indonesia and Australian Super Series. Srikanth is certainly thrilled about his form-“2017 has been fantastic so far. I can't even say it was a dream come true because I never dreamt of winning three titles this year. I am looking forward to continuing the good form in the coming tournaments,” he told a newspaper.
Kidambi Srikanth has indeed proved himself to be the comeback kid. In 2014, when he beat the famous Chinese player Lin Dan, everyone celebrated the arrival of a major new badminton star. But injuries soon struck and Srikanth spent much of the last year getting better. 2017 has truly been his comeback year.
DEATH// A terrible accident took place at a railway station in the heart of Mumbai city recently. People crowded a foot over-bridge at the Elphinstone Railway Station, causing a stampede which killed 22 people and injured 37 others. The accident took place on the morning of September 29th when there was a tremendous rush at the station as many people were heading to work. It was also raining heavily. The bridge is used by passengers crossing over the tracks from one part of the station to the other. Around 10.30 am, those near the bridge heard a loud noise. This caused panic as people thought the bridge was collapsing. So, while many rushed to get off, they ran into those who were climbing up the bridge. In the rush that followed, 22 people were simply crushed to death
CITY// The nine day Durga Puja celebrations ended in the country last Saturday. Sadly the celebrations ended with a lot of waste and puja idols being dumped in the River Yamuna in cities like Delhi. Traditionally, Durga Puja celebrations end with the idols of the goddess being immersed in a river. With many idols being made of materials like Plaster of Paris and decorated with chemical paints, immersion causes pollution of river water. The National Green Tribunal, which hears court cases related to the environment, had said in 2015 that idols that are to be immersed in rivers and seas should be made only of clay and should not contain harmful paints. But the NGT’s orders are being disobeyed-a day after the immersion, the Yamuna was full of PoP idols as well as plastic bags containing flowers, bangles and other puja materials.
ENVIRONMENT// 2016 was one of the worst Diwalis for Delhi in recent times. For 26 days after the festival, the air stayed unclean. In 2017, the city seems to have made a lucky escape. The city’s air quality improved from severe to poor in just three days after Diwali and it seems that it will get better.
What went right? Well for one, Diwali occurred earlier this year, as a result of which the weather is a lot warmer. Cold air, being dense and heavy, traps the pollutants and prevents them from moving out. Plus, Delhi has been lucky in getting wind that has blown some of the pollutants away.
What led to the pollution in the first place? Inspite of many people speaking of the need to stay away from crackers, the citizens of Delhi continued to burst them, leading to the air turning smoky over the capital on Diwali. Also October is the time of the year when farmers in Haryana and Punjab clear their fields by burning down the remains of the old crop. The smoke adds to the pollution in the capital. This year, the northern states made a greater effort to stop the burning-while the problem didn’t go away entirely, the steps taken did help reduce pollution to an extent.
Just before Diwali, the Supreme Court stepped in banning the sale of crackers in Delhi and areas nearby that make up the National Capital Region. While that didn’t wholly prevent those shopkeepers who had stocked up on crackers from selling them, it helped reduce the use of crackers to some extent. HOCKEY
HOCKEY// The Indian hockey team defeated Malaysia in the finals of the Asia Cup played at Dhaka, Bangladesh last Sunday. India last won the Asia Cup ten years ago in 2007. The victory makes it the third Asia Cup Victory for India with wins in 2003, 2007 and 2017. India beat Malaysia 2-1 with goals scored by Ramandeep Singh and Lalit Upadhyay. Earlier, the team had defeated arch-rival Pakistan to make it to the finals. Pakistan had to settle for bronze after pushing South Korea into fourth position. Top-ranked India finished unbeaten in the tournament, having won all its matches except for the 1-1 draw against Korea in the Super 4 stage. It was a perfect start for India’s new chief coach Marijne Sjoerd as this was his maiden tournament in charge of the senior national side. India is the top ranked team in Asia. The team holds all major continental trophies-the Asian Games, Asia Cup and the Asian Champions Trophy. However the Asia Cup win is especially important to India. As captain Manpreet Singh told a newspaper, “Asia Cup is very important in the run-up to the World Cup next year. So, we are very happy to have achieved what we aimed for.”
DRILL// Indian military jets landed on the expressway between Agra and Lucknow recently as part of regular training exercise. The military practices this maneuver so that it can use highways when airports are not available during an emergency. During the exercise, transport planes that carry soldiers as well as fighter jets landed and took off one by one. Last year, fighter jets made practice landings on the expressway that connects Delhi to Greater Noida. DELHI
INDEPENDENCE// After several weeks of bluster and brinkmanship between Spain’s central government and the secessionist government of the region of Catalonia, things came to a head on Friday October 27, when Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy asked parliament to vote in favor of a drastic measure, known as Article 155, that would give his government extraordinary powers to intervene in Catalonia. Article 155 would allow Rajoy to take over the province’s government, which now enjoys a degree of autonomy, in retaliation for its refusal to back away from a bid for independence. In his speech, Rajoy said, “The thing that Catalans need protecting from is not what they’re calling Spanish imperialism but a minority who, in an intolerant way, declare themselves the owners of Catalonia and consider as exclusive a history, culture, and feelings that are the heritage of the community.” The members then cast their votes. Article 155 was approved: two hundred and fourteen in favor, forty-seven against, and one abstention.
Not long before, in Barcelona, Catalonia’s capital, the province’s President, Carles Puigdemont, had asked his parliament for a yes or no vote on a unilateral declaration of independence: the result was seventy in favor, ten against, and two blank votes cast. A sizable group of opposition politicians angrily boycotted the vote. As news of the vote spread, pro-independence Catalans cheered and sang in the streets of Barcelona, and the Spanish flag was removed from public buildings across the province. But the announcement of the birth of the Catalan Republic — the name chosen for the new nation — is almost certain to remain a symbolic exercise for now, because Spanish authorities are expected to move quickly to dismantle the Catalan government, and the Catalans have little means, other than civil disobedience, to slow them down.
It was the winter of 2009 and the party with a difference was due for a change of its leadership. Tradition had it that the party’s mother organization the Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh (RSS) indicated its preference and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) then endorsed. There was a surprise up the RSS sleeve at its Delhi headquarters in Keshav Kunj in West Delhi. Inside a huge hall overflowing the media, the RSS announced a generational shift by anointing Nitin Gadkari as the next BJP chief taking over from the stalwart Rajnath Singh. Gadkari was a little known in Delhi circles having mostly worked in Maharashtra. On that December morning, things were about to change for the ever-smiling Nitin Gadkari who told the media on that eventful day that for him politics was not a career but an instrument of socio-economic change especially for the poor. At 52, he was the party’s youngest president ever.
Two months later at a massive BJP national council meeting at Indore organized by the Madhya Pradesh party strongman Kailash Vijayvargiya to endorse Gadkari’s elevation, the affable party chief broke into a popular Manna Dey song from the film Anand. Gadkari had the audience spellbound with Zindagi kaisi yeh paheli hai, kabhi yeh hasaaye kabhi yeh rulaaye. He may have chosen the song with the sudden shift in position in mind. He definitely had party workers humming when he sang the apt song on life being a mystery which gives unexpected moments of laughter and pain.
It was quite a journey for 52-year-old (now 60) Nitin Gadkari from an RSS swayamsevak (volunteer) to a student leader and then onto the BJP chief’s post. Till then Gadkari was the chief of the Maharashtra state BJP and had proved his mettle as a minister in the Shiv Sena-BJP government. As the PWD minister, he went on to build the MumbaiPune Expressway and other roadworks which earned him the sobriquet The Highway Man. As a visionary, Gadkari changed the work culture in his PWD department and made bureaucrats accountable and put into effect the build, operate and transfer (BOT) policy in infra projects.
Gadkari is an amiable figure in party circles, a man who maintains good relations with seniors and RSS leaders. He is from an RSS-ABVP background but is not really known for ideologically rigid positions. In Maharashtra, he’s best known for his term as the state PWD minister (1995-99), credited with building the Pune-Mumbai expressway and putting up several flyovers in Mumbai itself. He also runs several successful businesses in Nagpur that manufacture pipes, steel furniture and even silk saris
His electoral experience, however, is limited. He has been a member of the legislative council five times from the Nagpur region but hasn’t been in the state assembly although he is the president of the Maharashtra BJP. There is nothing spectacular in Gadkari’s past although his future may be different. Piyush Goel, now Railway Minister describes Gadkari as a simple and accessible leader. He remembers how the Gadkari house in Worli always served as a bhandar for any visiting party leader or worker. How he is so down to earth that he would buy vegetables in Nagpur and carry them on the flight to Mumbai where everything is more expensive. Fellow Maharashtrian and HRD minister Prakash Javadekar also talks about how Gadkari’s energy levels are phenomenal and that for 10 years he almost lived in Gadkari’s house in Nagpur, a man with a big heart.
Nitin Gadkari was born into a middle-class family in Nagpur in 1956. During his teens, he worked for the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and the student union ABVP. A post-graduate in commerce, he also holds a degree in law. After a stint as Nagpur’s mayor, Gadkari began his journey into state politics. In 1989, Gadkari got elected as an MLC from the Nagpur's graduate constituency. He served as an MLC for five terms but has never fought an Assembly election.
In 1995, Gadkari was made Minister of Public Works Department in Maharashtra. As the PWD minister, Gadkari was instrumental in streamlining several projects, including the Mumbai Pune Expressway, and improving the lot of Mumbai’s traffic. He also served as the state chief of Maharashtra BJP. Gadkari is an industrialist and owns several companies, including the Purti Group of companies
He was appointed the president of BJP in 2010 where he continued until 2013. Gadkari was seeking the second term as the party chief but resigned from the post on January 22, 2013, following allegations of irregularities in the firm Purti Group promoted by him. In 2012, following an RTI disclosure, a number of irregularities were discovered in the investments in the Purti group, which Gadkari had founded. In May 2013, the Income Tax department assessed the firm as having evaded taxes to the tune of Rs 7 crores via improper means. Gadkari, however, has termed these charges as baseless. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Gadkari was elected from Nagpur constituency.
Twenty-five years ago, a young Brahmin swayamsewak from Nagpur shied away from writing campaign messages on walls, painting it white instead so that someone else with a better handwriting could write the party message. Cut to 2017: Nitin Jairam Gadkari, 11 kg lighter after a bariatric surgery, has not just shed the fear of his own bad handwriting but is bold enough to try and write a new future for himself and his party.
Gadkari’s confidence levels saw a change since he took over as BJP president on December 19, 2009. The first-timer in national politics became something of a talking-point at the national executive in Indore in February 2010 when he sang a Bollywood song to enthuse the cadre. In October that year, when he released Vikas ke Path — a compilation of his speeches — the introduction had a telling observation: “When Gadkari came to Delhi, everyone asked who he was. This book aims to answer the question.”
Insiders would have you believe that the question has been answered for his detractors. In a party driven by established leaders at the centre, Gadkari used all of 2010 to consolidate his position. Senior party leaders were to admit later that he was quick to emerg as a president who took his own decisions and ensure that others in the party followed them.
In a faction-ridden party, with too many claimants for the prime ministerial post in 2014, the main job the RSS entrusted to Gadkari was to set the house in order. A brief that, many in the party say, was well delivered. It was said that in the last 15 years of the BJP, Gadkari was perhaps the first chief to have ensured the organisation had more say on party matters than the parliamentary party.
Insiders point out that Gadkari’s strength comes from following the Sangh’s ideology broadly but tweaking it wherever required to suit the situation. Gadkari has built his own base with a mix of Sangh and BJP leaders.
Gadkari now is well-versed with the vocabulary of new politics. One day, Gadkari would like to project himself as a PM candidate — or so say his camp followers.
death by firing squad as a legal way to end a convict’s life. The question of the noose was addressed by the Supreme Court in the Deepa Vs Union of India judgement in 1983, almost 34 years ago, but the horror that accompanies hanging was explicitly expressed only in this one.
Justice Bhagwati, in his minority judgement, provided a graphic description of the execution process. Here’s an extract: “The day before an execution, the prisoner goes through the harrowing experience of being weighed, measured for the length of (the) drop to assure breaking of the neck, the size of the neck, body measurements, et cetera. When the trap springs, he dangles at the end of the rope. There are times when the neck does not break, and the prisoner strangles to death. His eyes almost pop out of his head, his tongue swells and protrudes from his mouth, his neck may or may not break, and the rope claims large portions of skin and flesh from the side of the face. He urinates, he defecates, and droppings fall to the floor while witnesses look on, and almost all executions have had one or more person fainting or being helped out of the witness room. The prisoner remains dangling from the end of the rope for eight to 14 minutes before the doctor climbs up a small ladder and listens to his heartbeat with a stethoscope and pronounces him dead.”
While the case primarily tested the constitutionality of death by hanging, it also discussed alternative methods of execution. However, the eventual conclusion was that hanging is indeed the most humane, painless and speedy way to execute a felon.
Ruling in defense of hanging, the judges said: “Hanging by rope is not a cruel way to execute the death sentence. The mechanics of hanging have undergone significant improvement over the years, and it has almost been perfected into a science. The system is consistent with the obligation of the state to ensure that the process of execution is conducted with decency and decorum, and without causing degradation or brutality of any kind.”
The court then looked into alternative methods of execution that are in vogue elsewhere. Electrocution, lethal gas, shooting and lethal injection were all dismissed as likely alternatives because they were found to have no “demonstrable advantage” over hanging.
The option of electrocution was rejected because it was not an “entirely painless” mode of execution. “Besides, power cuts have been considered as an impediment to the use of the electric chair in America. With the frequency of power cuts in our country, the electric chair will become an instrument of torture,” the judges said.
They also refused to consider lethal injection as a mode of execution, stating that it was by-and-large an untried method. The firing squad idea was shot down on the grounds that it was an unreliable technique, and not a very “civilised” way of ending somebody’s life. The gas chamber method was likewise dubbed as a complicated one that would expose the prisoner to an uncommon level of torture
Nevertheless, it has to be acknowledged that a lot has changed since the 1983 judgement. Hanging as a mode of execution has come under severe scrutiny.
In 2003, the Law Commission of India took it upon itself to study the pros and cons of hanging as the choice mode of execution. This exercise, which invited comments on the matter from judges, police and members of the legal fraternity, threw up some astounding results.
According to the study, as many as 80% of the judges said the mode of executing the death penalty should be changed. They were all in favour of the lethal injection. However, this method is also known to have its problems, with several instances of botched-up executions cropping up in recent times.
The jury is still out on the pertinent question of, if not hanging, what is the best way to legally kill a person? The debate, at least, has begun.
India’s Law Commission has recommended that the country moves toward abolishing the death penalty, except in terrorism cases to safeguard national security.
It marks a shift for the body that advises the government on which laws have become outdated: In its previous major review in 1967, the commission concluded that India couldn’t risk the “experiment of abolition of capital punishment.”
This time around, in a 251-page document, “the Commission feels that the time has come for India to move towards abolition of the death penalty.”
At the moment, judges in India impose the death penalty in the rarest of rare cases, including treason, mutiny, murder, abetment of suicide and kidnapping for ransom.
In 2013, an amendment to the law permitted death as a punishment in cases where rape was fatal or left the victim in a persistent vegetative state; as well as for certain repeat offenders.
According to the Law Commission report, recent executions have been few and far between. The latest was the execution of Yakub Memon in July. He was found guilty of being behind a series of explosions that rocked Mumbai in 1993, killing more than 250 people. On average, 129 people are sentenced to death row in India every year, the Law Commission report said, citing figures from the National Crime Records Bureau.
Despite the fact that death sentences are rarely converted to executions in India, the Law Commission said the penalty should be abolished in most cases. Here are the reasons the Law Commission gave:
Previously, in reviewing the death penalty, the Law Commission rejected its abolition citing the size of the country and diversity of its population across which law and order had to be maintained.
India’s murder rate has declined, falling from 4.6 per 100,000 people in 1992 to 2.7 per 100,000 in 2013. That has coincided with a decline in the rate of executions, “raising questions about whether the death penalty has any greater deterrent effect than life imprisonment,” the report said.
India’s Supreme Court has raised questions about “arbitrary sentencing” in death penalty cases, the report said. Making the sentencing less arbitrary would be difficult since any categorization of offenses doesn’t take into account the differences between cases, it added.
Administration of criminal justice in India is in “deep crisis,” the report says. It cites a lack of resources, an overstretched police force and ineffective prosecution as among the reasons. As a result, the administration of capital punishment is vulnerable to misapplication, it said. Mercy powers have failed in acting as a final safeguard against a miscarriage of justice, the report says, adding that the Supreme Court has pointed out gaps and illegalities in how courts have discharged the powers.
People sentenced to death by Indian courts face long delays in trials and appeals, the report said. “During this time, the prisoner on death row suffers from extreme agony, anxiety and debilitating fear arising out of an imminent yet uncertain execution,” the Law Commission said. It added that solitary confinement and harsh conditions imposed on prisoners were degrading and oppressive and that the Supreme Court had acknowledged that the circumstances of being on death row in India amount to “near torture” for the convict.
India has retained capital punishment while 140 countries have abolished it in law or in practice, the report says. That leaves the South Asian nation in a club with the US, Iran, China, and Saudi Arabia as a country which retains it.
What set Afzal Guru's killing apart is that, unlike those tens of thousands who died in prison cells, his life and death were played out in the blinding light of day in which all the institutions of Indian democracy played their part in putting him to death.
Now that he has been hanged, will our collective conscience be satisfied? Or is our cup of blood still only half full?