In most remote villages that I visit several houses belonging to the poorest people are often seen to be in very poor condition, requiring urgent repairs to such an extent that otherwise these may fall down, particularly in conditions of heavy rain.

Several houses or huts are in such a pathetic state that these can hardly provide proper shelter. The rural housing scheme is meant precisely for these households and provides them a housing grant in installments.

However, at the implementation level it appeared in the villages that I visited that the well-intentioned scheme is badly marred by corruption. Some well-informed persons said that the going rate is around Rs 25,000 or so. While one felt sad about this, one hoped still that at least the remaining amount reaches the poorest households who badly need better housing.

However, when I mentioned this, people pointed out that when corruption becomes a precondition, the chances of the poorest people getting selected for the scheme are automatically reduced as it is very difficult for them to pay this money or a part of it to start with. If they pay corruption money, it also becomes difficult to complete a certain amount of construction which is needed for receiving the next installment.

On the other hand, those who are already in good economic condition (at least relatively) can pay the bribe and adding their own money, also quickly carry out the initial construction for the second installment to be released.

Is there a way out for the poor household who really and desperately needs government help for a shelter? Some of the poor ‘beneficiaries’ said they had to take loans at a very high interest rate; however in the process the basic purpose of the well-intentioned scheme appears to be at least partially defeated.

So in such a case it is clear that it is not just a part of the grant that goes down the drain of corruption, instead to a significant extent extent because of corruption the scheme slips out of the grip of several of the poorest households for whom it is meant.

Let’s see such impacts on development at various levels. If Rs 50 crore (500 million) is allocated for spending on an irrigation project and Rs 10 crore is snatched up by corruption at various levels, then what is the amount that remains for actual development work?

The most obvious answer would be Rs 40 crore, but more often than not this is likely to be wrong. The loss is likely to be much higher. The reason is that the powerful persons including key decision makers involved are likely to be so involved in siphoning off the corruption money that the quality of the construction work gets much less importance.

As long as the official is getting his money, he may be much less caring for the quality of the work. Regardless of the required proper location of the work, both the contractor and the officials may be interested in pushing it towards a place of less visibility. They are likely to avoid all efforts at improving transparency and participation of people, and thereby the most important means of ensuring good quality and cost effectiveness is lost.

The official may be in a hurry to give a completion certificate to the contractor so that both can quickly collect their booty, and for this reason important aspects of proper work completion may be missed. Hence due to all these factors, the actual public loss is much greater than the commission or corruption money taken by the official.

Now let us take another example of a much bigger project that costs Rs 20,000 crore or 200 billion. Assuming that corruption of around 20 per cent is also involved here, Rs 4,000 crore will go away directly, but will the remaining Rs 16,000 crore be spent for the benefit of people? Very unlikely, as all that was stated earlier is valid here also.

Assuming corruption is 20%. Rs 4,000 crore will go away directly, but will remaing Rs 16,000 crore be spent for people’s benefit? Very unlikely

Additionally, as in such a cases the amounts involved are much bigger and are shared at much higher levels a situation is created by powerful persons that this project must go on, come what may. If it is revealed in studies, or on the basis of the experience of some very well-informed persons, that this project may turn out to be harmful, then this possibility is simply brushed aside and such voices are silenced in various ways.

In this way undesirable and unsafe projects also come up. So in such a case the strange math of corruption may say that Rs 200 billion minus Rs 40 billion is not Rs 160 billion at all; in fact it may even turn out to be a negative figure as the project turns out to be harmful to people. Hence the strange math of corruption may say, for example, that Rs 200 billion minus Rs 40 billion (in the case of such a project) leads to a minus figure, perhaps equals minus Rs 100 billion!

Now consider another situation in which most farmers already have access to some irrigation and all that is needed is to allocate the available budget equally among all farmers so that they can take up some repair work as well as water conservation work on their farmland.

But this option has least room for corruption so the official ignores this best option and anyway decides to use the entire budget for a new project not really needed. Again the real benefit may be extremely low or a minus figure.

Or take an example where an official has enough money for improving paths of 100 villages by equally dividing budget among them. But the corruption possibility is either very low , or too many people are involved which may also lead to exposure.

So he devotes this entire money for awarding a single big contract to his favored contractor for widening of a big city approach road which is not really needed. Widening leads to cutting many big trees which creates opportunities of more earnings for him. Again there may be minus benefit and the village paths remain in bad shape.

Let us take a situation where several schools have satisfactory buildings but there is need for devoting more attention at several levels for improving education. However, there is no money to be made in this. So an official somehow finds a justification to build a new hall in all schools which actually reduces the already limited playing space for children, while the real educational work also suffers.

Due to high impact of corruption a situation can arise where those aspects of development which involve payment of commission are prioritized and speeded up, while those very important aspects which have no room for this get neglected.

Hence corruption can be much more damaging for proper development needs than what is indicated by the amount of stolen money. High levels of corruption have a much more harmful and damaging systemic influence much beyond this and therefore a much tougher stand against corruption is needed.

In the case of several highway widening projects people of nearby villages have told me that heavy economic and high ecological costs could have been avoided easily but these projects awarded to big contractors were imposed on their region due to considerations relating to corruption.

What is happening is that certain very important kinds of development is being neglected while certain undesirable kinds of development is being favored due to consideration linked to corruption. Hence the actual costs of corruption in terms of what we lose, what the entire society loses are very high indeed.

*Journalist involved with public hearings and campaigns for transparency; was first convener of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information; has written several books and booklets on the issue in English and Hindi

Courtesy: CounterView

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The incessant rainfall in the Indian state over the weekend of September 27 killed more than 30 people. It was the second time after 1975 that the downpour that lasted for barely 48 hours affected powerful politicians and policymakers. The residences of scores of ministers and bureaucrats still remain submerged in knee-deep water, even a week after the rainfall.

Maybe the most dramatic rescue was of Patna’s Member of Parliament, Ram Kripal Yadav, who was on the way to meet the waterlogged residents of Ramnibigha in Patna. The lawmaker was on board a makeshift boat made with bamboo and tyres, along with his supporters.

The rickety boat tilted, the MP during the course of his fall launched a tirade of expletives. Yadav later confessed to experiencing a near-death experience due to his inability to swim.

However the rainfall was not unexpected. The India Meteorological Department flashed a warning on September 27, predicting more than 21 mm of rain over the next 72 hours in 14 districts, including the state capital Patna. The government issued a red alert, closing educational institutions and dispatching rescue teams to various low lying areas.

The deluge, though, was much greater than expected. Around 177 mm of rainfall within 48 hours broke the decade-old record of 158 mm on September 3, 2013. (This was also the highest rainfall ever recorded for the month of September, at 429 mm, pipping the last record of 400 mm).

As water seeks its level, it gushed to the low lying areas of the city — Rajendra Nagar, Kankerbagh Colony and Patliputra Colony – dominated mostly by middle and high-income groups including influential ministers, bureaucrats and business persons.

Nearly 500,000 residents, including children and senior citizens, are still trapped inside their houses, wailing for milk and medicines. Most of these residents were getting ready to drown in the 10-day festivity of Durga Puja, starting September 28 to celebrate the victory of good over evil. The shopping bags were out, markets had upgraded their stocks and preparations for worshipping Goddess Durga were in full swing.

‘Giving a facelift to a corpse’

Even after a week of the downpour situation continues to be alarming in the low-lying localities, exposing significant gaps in the city’s urban planning. “In Patna urbanisation is like giving a facelift to a corpse,” Santosh Kumar, a retired professor from Bihar College of Engineering, Patna said.

Unlike other cities that first plan effective drainage systems before approving the construction of roads, buildings and public infrastructures, he said, the government here does precisely the opposite. The result is waterlogging every monsoon in Rajendra Nagar and Kankerbagh and other low lying areas.

“Government can build high rises to stadiums in these areas. But every monsoon they would become a perfect recipe for disaster,” he added.

Kumar himself is a victim of the waterlogging. He managed to rescue his family, including his 100-year-old father, from Rajendra Nagar, four days after the rains.

Ironically, the chief minister of the state, Nitish Kumar, was his student in Bihar College of Engineering. It is hard for him to believe that a technocrat chief minister refuses to accept the reality of the faulty engineering of Patna.

Urban planning in a river city

Cities situated along rivers should plan urbanisation carefully, said Triyugi Prasad, the executive chairman of the Integrated Hydro Development Forum, Patna. These cities face the double threat of flooding from rivers and also rain-induced waterlogging. Patna is exceptionally vulnerable to such dangers as it is flanked by three major rivers: Ganga, Punpun and Sone.

A large part of the city was planned by colonial rulers who decided to select low lying areas, where constructing a robust sewerage system would incur a considerable cost. Unfortunately, subsequent state governments continued with the faulty urban plan of the British, Prasad said.

In later years, the government built schools, colleges and hospitals in the same areas. As a result, scenes at the state’s second-largest hospital, Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH), were heart-wrenching with rainwater gushing in the intensive care unit and various wards, forcing evacuation of patients during heavy rains.

“Patients were shifted to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) after water inundated parts of the hospital,” said NMCH superintendent Chandrashekhar. Hundreds of students residing in hostels were hungry for two days until relief material was airdropped or delivered by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams.

In order to prevent such calamities, the city has pumping stations that draw out water from the low lying areas, but they are rarely functional. The choked drainage system and idle pumps lead to stagnation of water in these localities.

Where are the drains?

When officials scrambled to clear the choked sewage network — they could not find the map of the serpentine drainage system. Patna mayor Sita Sahu said that the map is missing since 2017 and might be with the Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCO), the state urban development department or the state water resources department.

With no accountability over the maintenance of the sewage system, the worst is still to come as the government is planning to construct a metro line in the same low lying areas, Kumar warns. The Bihar government and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) signed a contract for the construction of metro lines in the low lying areas, just two days before the warning of heavy rainfall was flashed across the state.

Blaming it on climate change

Facing sharp criticism, the chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, attributed waterlogging in the city to climate change. Such a situation also prevails in megacities like Mumbai and countries in the US, he told reporters.

“Even other cities like Mumbai faced a similar situation. Why is there so much hue and cry over a few waterlogged localities of Patna? The climate is changing,” said a fuming CM.

A similar attitude prevailed during Kosi floods in 2008 when Nitish Kumar was also chief minister, and refused to acknowledge the severity of the disaster. It was at the initiative of former chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav that the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conducted an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas and declared it a “national disaster”.

A decade after the destructive Kosi floods not much has changed in the Bihar, and its state capital remains equally vulnerable to extreme weather events. Not only are political leaders ignoring the root cause of the problem, but even state bureaucracy remains ineffective.

During the Kosi deluge, Pratyay Amrit was an additional commissioner of the state disaster management department. Today, he is at the elevated post of principal secretary of the same department handling relief and rescue operations. Despite decades of experience, lessons from the historic floods have not been learned.

Corruption, not just climate change

Although the unprecedented rainfall is possibly an effect of climate change, that is not why streets are still waterlogged and homes still flooded.

Both Rajendra Nagar and Kankerbagh localities face waterlogging every monsoon since the 1970s. And every year, the pumping station remains non-functional due to corruption.

Dinesh Mishra, a river expert, pointed out that the problem is simple and has continued for decades. “Since pump houses were not running, the rainwater flooded them. It happens every year,” he said. Moreover, unplanned construction along the Ganga River worsened the situation.

“They might find it convenient to blame it largely on climate change, but the reality is that it is mostly government’s inaction,” Mishra said.

Today, the price of corruption is being paid by both rich and poor. Ironically, Sudhir Kumar, a Patna High Court judge who – four years ago – ordered the state government to remove rainwater from the city within 24 hours, was seen rescuing his aged father.

Not everyone was fortunate enough to survive the deluge. A seventy-year-old woman died due to non-availability of medical help; her family members refused to talk to reporters.
—
Source: The Third Pole
 

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The film centres on its maker, Aube Giroux, who resides in Nova Scotia, Canada. Her interest in food and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) was inspired by her mother, Jali, who also appears throughout. Aube says that when her parents bought their first house her mother immediately got rid of the lawn and planted a huge garden where she grew all kinds of heirloom vegetables, berries, flowers, legumes and garlic.

“She wanted me and my sister to grow up knowing the story behind the food that we ate, so our backyard was basically our grocery store,” says Aube.

During the film, we are treated not only to various outdoor scenes of the Giroux’s food garden (their ‘grocery store’) but also to Aube and her mother’s passion for preparing homemade culinary delights. The ‘backyard’ is the grocery store and much of Giroux family life revolves around the kitchen and the joy of healthy, nutritious food.

When GMOs first began appearing in food, Aube says that what bothered her mother was that some of the world’s largest chemical companies were patenting these new genetically engineered seeds and controlling the seed market.

In the film, Aube explains, “Farmers who grow GMOs have to sign technology license agreements promising never to save or replant the patented seeds. My mom didn’t think it was a good idea to allow corporations to engineer and then patent the seeds that we rely on for food. She believed that seeds belong in the hands of people.”

As the GMO issue became prominent, Aube became more interested in the subject. It took her 10 years to complete the film, which is about her personal journey of discovery into the world of GMOs. The film depicts a world that is familiar to many of us; a place where agritech industry science and money talk, politicians and officials are all too eager to listen and the public interest becomes a secondary concern.

In 2001, Canada’s top scientific body, The Royal Society, released a scathing report that found major problems with the way GMOs were being regulated. The report made 53 recommendations to the government for fixing the regulatory system and bringing it in line with peer reviewed science and the precautionary principle, which says new technologies should not be approved when there is uncertainty about their long-term safety. To date, only three of these recommendations have been implemented.

Throughout the film, we see Aube making numerous phone calls, unsuccessfully trying to arrange an interview to discuss these issues with Health Canada, the department of the government of Canada that is responsible for national public health.

Meanwhile, various people are interviewed as the story unfolds. We are told about the subverting of regulatory agencies in the US when GMOs first appeared on the scene in the early 1990s: the Food and Drug Administration ignored the warnings of its own scientists, while Monsanto flexed its political muscle to compromise the agency by manoeuvring its own people into positions of influence.

One respondent says, “We’ve had a number of people from Monsanto, many from Dupont, who have actually been in top positions at the USDA and the FDA over the last 20 years, making darn sure that when those agencies did come out with any pseudo-regulation, that it was what these industries wanted. The industry will often say these are the most regulated crops in history… I’m not an expert on the law in many other countries. But I am an expert on the laws in the United States and I can tell you… they are virtually unregulated.”

Aube takes time to find out about genetic engineering and talks to molecular biologists. She is shown how the process of genetic modification in the lab works. One scientist says, “In genetics, we have a phrase called pleiotropic effects. It means that there are other effects in the plant that are unintended but are a consequence of what you’ve done. I wouldn’t be surprised if something came up somewhere along the line that we hadn’t anticipated that’s going to be a problem.”

And that’s very revealing: if you are altering the genetic core of the national (and global) food supply in a way that would not have occurred without human intervention, you had better be pretty sure about the consequences. Many illnesses can take decades to show up in a population.

This is one reason why Aube Giroux focuses on the need for the mandatory labelling of GM food in Canada. Some 64 countries have already implemented such a policy and most Canadians want GM food to be labelled too. However, across North America labelling has been fiercely resisted by the industry. As the film highlights, it’s an industry that has key politicians in its back pocket and has spent millions resisting effective labelling.

In the film, we hear from someone from the agri/biotech industry say that labelling would send out the wrong message; it would amount to fearmongering; it would confuse the public; it would raise food prices; and you can eat organic if you don’t want GMOs. To those involved in the GMO debate and the food movement, these industry talking points are all too familiar.

Signalling the presence of GMOs in food through labelling is about the public’s right to know what they are eating. But the film makes clear there are other reasons for labelling too. To ensure that these products are environmentally safe and safe for human health, you need to monitor them in the marketplace. If you have new allergic responses emerging is it a consequence of GMOs? There’s no way of telling if there is no labelling. Moreover, the industry knows many would not purchase GM food if people were given any choice on the matter. That’s why it has spent so much money and invested so much effort to prevent it.

During the film, we also hear from an Iowa farmer, who says GM is all about patented seeds and money. He says there’s incredible wealth and power to be had from gaining ownership of the plants that feed humanity. And it has become a sorry tale for those at the sharp end: farmers are now on a financially lucrative (for industry) chemical-biotech treadmill as problems with the technology and its associated chemicals mount: industry rolls out even stronger chemicals and newer GM traits to overcome the failures of previous roll outs.

But to divert attention from the fact that GM has ‘failed to yield’ and deliver on industry promises, the film notes that the industry churns out rhetoric, appealing to emotion rather than fact, about saving the world and feeding the hungry to help legitimize the need for GM seeds and associated (health- and environment-damaging) chemical inputs.

In an interview posted on the film’s website, Aube says that genetic engineering is an important technology but “should only take place if the benefits truly outweigh the risks, if rigorous adequate regulatory systems are in place and if full transparency, full disclosure and the precautionary principle are the pillars on which our food policies are based.”

Health Canada has always claimed to have had a science-based GMO regulatory system. But the Royal Society’s report showed that GMO approvals are based on industry studies that have little scientific merit since they aren’t peer reviewed.

For all her attempts, Aube failed to get an interview with Health Canada. Near the end of the film, we see her on the phone to the agency once again. She says, “Well I guess I find it extremely concerning and puzzling that Health Canada is not willing to speak with me… you guys are our public taxpayer funded agency in this country that regulates GMOs, and so you’re accountable to Canadians, and you have a responsibility to answer questions.”

Given this lack of response and the agency’s overall track record on GMOs, it is pertinent to ask just whose interests does Health Canada ultimately serve.

When Aube Giroux started this project, it was meant to be a film about food. But she notes that it gradually became a film about democracy: who gets to decide our food policies; is it the people we elect to represent us, or is it corporations and their heavily financed lobbyists?

Aube is a skilful filmmaker and storyteller. She draws the viewer into her life and introduces us to some inspiring characters, especially her mother, Jali, who passed away during the making of the film. Jali has a key part in the documentary, which had started out as a joint venture between Aube and her mother. By interweaving personal lives with broader political issues, Modified becomes a compelling documentary. On one level, it’s deeply personal. On another, it is deeply disturbing given what corporations are doing to food without our consent – and often – without our knowledge.

For those who watch the film, especially those coming to the issue for the first time, it should at the very least raise concerns about what is happening to food, why it is happening and what can be done about it. The film might be set in Canada, but the genetic engineering of our food supply by conglomerates with global reach transcends borders and affects us all.

Whether we reside in North America, Europe, India or elsewhere, the push in on to co-opt governments and subvert regulatory bodies by an industry which regards GM as a multi-billion cash cow  – regardless of the consequences.

Modified won the 2019 James Beard Foundation award for best documentary and is currently available on DVD at .modifiedthefilm.com/dvd. It is due to be released on digital streaming platforms this summer.

Colin Todhunter is an independent writer. Join him on Twitter.

Countery: Counter Current

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Image Courtesy: News Click

Agriculture in Maharashtra

Before we delve into a brief history of the water scarcity in Maharashtra, let us have a look at a few facts and figures pertaining to agriculture in Maharashtra. According to the Ministry of Agriculture:
 

• Principle crops grown in the state are rice, jowar, bajara, wheat, tur, mung, urad, gram and other pulses.
• Maharashtra is major producer of Jowar and Arhar contributing 46.09 and 29.11 %, respectively to the total production of India.
• The state is major producer of oilseeds such as groundnut, sunflower and soybean.
• Important cash crops grown are cotton, sugarcane, turmeric and vegetables.
• It is second largest producer of Cotton (22.21%), Soybean (28.14%), and total cereals (13.56%) in the country.
• The state has an area of 10.91 lakh hectares under various fruit crops like mango, banana, orange, grape and cashew nut etc.  
• Paddy, jowar, groundnut and various lentil crops are predominantly rainfed.

 
Traditionally farmers who practice dual cropping patterns, typically intersperse two sets of food grains or cash crops with on crop of lentils as they enrich the soil with nitrates.

Now, let us examine how climate change, poor water management, corruption, theft and other factors are perpetuating the agrarian distress in the state.
 
Maharashtra Drought 2013

Below normal rainfall during June to September 2012 is believed to have led to what was termed as the worst in four decades in 2013. As per the 2012 monsoon data as published in the Rainfall Statistics of India 2012 report by the Hydromet Division of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). In the month of June, 2012, the South West monsoon showed a shortfall of 28 percent and in July 2012, the shortfall was 13 percent.

Therefore, in 2013 when the drought hit a whopping 11,801 villages were affected. The worst affected districts included Solapur, Ahmednagar, Sangli, Pune, Satara, Beed and Nashik. The situation was also serious in Buldhana, Latur, Osmanabad, Nanded, Aurangabad, Jalna, Jalgaon and Dhule districts.

Most of these districts fall in Marathwada and Vidarbha, two regions that were already grappling with agrarian distress and farmer suicides. This area lies in what is called a rain-shadow region and has been dealing with water shortage and agrarian distress for several years.

An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) under then Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had at the time approved a relief package of Rs 1207 crores for the state. The government also arranged for tankers to deliver water in over 1600 villages and set up 554 cattle fodder camps. But one cannot ignore how much of this crisis was man made, especially in light of revelations of the Irrigation Scam.

The Irrigation Scam

The Maharashtra Irrigation Scam pertains to financial irregularities to the alleged tune of Rs 35,000 crores in Maharashtra during the period between 1999 and 2009 when Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was incharge of the Department of Irrigation and Water Resources. The allegations of corruption gained currency in wake of the 2012 Economic Survey that claimed that the state’s irrigation potential had improved by 0.1 percent despite spending Rs 70,000 crores on various irrigation projects.

Chief Engineer Vijay Pandhare, a whistle blower in the case, made a series of allegations ranging from cost escalation to poor quality construction, directly implicating Ajit Pawar in the scam. But the most shocking allegation was that the cost of 38 irrigation projects under the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) escalated from Rs 6,672 crores to Rs 26,722 crores in a span of just seven months in 2009! The allegation was made by Jan Manch in a writ petition filed before the Bombay High Court. Many more shocking allegations were made in this petition which showcase how little was actually done to alleviate the water shortage in the region.

Interestingly, in November 2012, the Maharashtra Government released a white paper that predictably gave Ajit Pawar a clean chit. And though Ajit Pawar had resigned and handed over the irrigation portfolio to fellow NCP man Sunil Tatkare in 2009, after the white paper was released Pawar returned, this time as deputy chief minister.

Maharashtra Drought 2015

Though rainfall improved marginally in the intervening years, Maharashtra suffered acute water shortage in 2015 when reportedly 90 lakh famers were affected across the state. The farmers had already suffered due to unseasonal rainfall and hail storms destroying crops such as wheat, cotton, jowar, papaya and grapes the previous year.

In 2015, over 23,000 villages were affected and faced a drought-like situation i.e crop yield was less than 50 percent of the standard yield in the area. Worst affected districts included Nashik, Arangabad, Buldhana, Beed, Amravati, Wardha, Nagpur, Yavatmal and Nanded. This year cash crops like cotton and soybean were the worst affected. Total agricultural land spread over 98.6 lakh hectares was affected. 3,228 farmers reportedly committed suicide in 2015.

Maharashtra Drought 2016

Matters got significantly worse in 2016 when drought was declared in 29,000 villages in Maharashtra. The state at the time had 1.37 crore farmers and two-thirds were said to have been affected by the drought. An alarm was raised in May 2016, when water levels in the Jayakwadi dam in Aurangabad hit dead storage. The water from this one dam is supplied to four cities, 500 villages and industrial clusters. It has been alleged that influential sugarcane and grape growers and sugar mills owned by powerful politicians had called dibs on the water.

The State Government assured the Bombay High Court that was listening to a batch of drought petitions, that all drought-like situations will be read as drought and relief will be provided as per provisions laid down in the Drought Manual 2009. The provisions cover a wide variety of relief pertaining to crop planning and support to farmers, relief employment, water resource management, food security, tax waivers and concessions, cattle camps and fodder supply etc.

Maharashtra Drought 2018  

Scanty rainfall in the period between June to September, 2018 led to drought like conditions in 20,000 villages. The Marathwada region reportedly saw a rainfall deficiency of 22 percent. Jalgaon, Solapur, Beed and Ahmednagar were the worst affected districts. Available water in reservoirs in Marathwada reportedly dropped to just over 26 percent.

The Maharashtra government declared drought in 151 talukas, including 112 classified as having been hit by severe drought.

The Tanker Mafia

During all these droughts, it is the state’s infamous tanker mafia that makes hay when the sun scorches. There are 76 municipal areas in the eight districts of Marathwada. All face varying degrees of water shortage. Some get water every alternate day, some once in a fortnight. Therefore people here depend heavily on tankers.

This report by Down to Earth exposes the devil’s arithmetic. An investigation by them found, “The rate of tankers increased from Rs 2 to Rs 4.30 per km. Besides, the everyday charge of tankers increased from Rs 158 to Rs 338 based on different capacities.” At present 6,200 tankers are operational across Marathwada.

This investigation by Moneycontrol shows that the tanker business is booming in big cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nashik etc. In fact, the tanker mafia is earning Rs 8,000-10,000 crore annually from water biz in Mumbai alone!

According to this report in Mumbai Mirror, the BMC has identified around 30 spots from where water is drawn illegally in south Mumbai to fill up tankers. These include Princess Street, Popatwadi and even opposite the LT Mark police station on Kalbadevi Road. Given how there is limited or no quality control or means to determine if the stolen water is fit for consumption, there is a very real chance of contaminated water being supplied by these unethical tanker operators. There are also allegations of complicity of corrupt municipal officials.

It is because of these illegal and unethical practices, that the water shortage gets even more acute. This is therefore the man made and completely avoidable part of the drought.

Drought and Monsoon in 2019

As per the Drought Early Warning System 43.4 percent of India is facing drought and the situation in Maharashtra is critical. Latur, Beed and Osmanabad are the worst affected, especially in wake of a heat wave. The El Nino effect is also further exacerbating the crisis.

Let us look at the broader predictions about the 2019 monsoon. This year, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD) India will experience near normal rainfall at 96 percent of its Long Period Average (LPA). LPA refers to average rainfall between 1951 and 2000, which stands at 89 cms. LPA of 96 to 104 percent is considered normal. But LPA below 95 percent falls under ‘below normal’ category of rainfall. But Skymet predicts below normal rainfall at 93 percent of LPA.

According to the latest weather forecast released on June 20, 2019, “Heat wave conditions very likely in some parts over Vidarbha” for the next 48 hours following which the region is likely to see some isolated and scattered rainfall. But will this be enough to restore or repair the fortunes of the hapless agrarian community in the region?

Also, when will we move past assigning the blame and invest in sustainable solutions that help conserve our natural resources and protect the environment, especially with climate change casting a dark shadow over all of us?

The post Climate change and corruption fueling Maharashtra’s successive droughts? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Can the next leader of Pakistan lead the country out of corruption, poverty, and war?

Photo of Imran Khan by Awais khan via Shutterstock
 

The July 25 general elections in Pakistan heralded a seismic shift in Pakistan’s politics few would have envisaged a mere six months ago. The Pakistan Movement for Justice (PTI)—led by the charismatic former cricketer Imran Khan—bagged 115 out of the 272 directly contested seats in Pakistan’s Parliament. That’s the most of any party. Khan is thus Pakistan’s prime-minister-in-waiting, an achievement that marks the pinnacle of his two-decade-long political career.

Khan’s rise to power, however, is not without controversy. The run-up to the polls was marred by some of the most extensive pre-election rigging Pakistan has ever witnessed in its turbulent history. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the ruling party before the elections, was expected to further strengthen its hold on power in the 2018 polls.

Instead, it found itself as the runner up to the PTI after becoming the target of dubious political maneuvering and of uncertain judicial decisions that resulted in the party’s leader, Nawaz Sharif, and his daughter jailed on the eve of the elections.

In the past, the military has usually been responsible for such political machinations. Since Khan benefitted from this onslaught against the PML-N, his party came to be seen as a stooge of the military, a claim that has tarnished the PTI’s reputation in some quarters and that has raised questions about the health and the sustainability of Pakistan’s democracy.

Khan will thus come into office with the knowledge that many segments of Pakistani society are challenging his legitimacy to rule. Despite these allegations, however, Imran would not have been able to acquire such a commanding lead in the National Assembly had he not been generally popular amongst Pakistan’s masses.

His narrative of being anti-status quo and his promises to eradicate corruption in Pakistan resonated strongly with the millions of young, literate, and unemployed Pakistanis who chase increasingly elusive dreams of upward mobility. Imran’s own unique blend of a Western past and his conservative socials views also makes him popular with voters across Pakistan’s political spectrum. Pakistan’s liberals, for instance, remember Imran the cricketer as a flamboyant celebrity and playboy who broke bread with some of the biggest names in the Western World.

The Khan of today, on the other hand, decries Western feminism for having “degraded the role of a mother,” and has publically spoken out against repealing some of Pakistan’s most orthodox laws. Whether he succeeds in uniting the different strands tugging at Pakistan’s social fabric, however, remains uncertain.

The PTI promises a significant break from Pakistan’s political past and the chance to try a new, untested, and so far untainted political party. The problems the PTI faces, however, are the same ones that have been plaguing the country for decades, including a burgeoning foreign and fiscal debt crisis, rising unemployment, a faltering foreign policy, climate change, and the perennial threat of extremism and terrorism.

Pakistan’s fiscal and foreign debt crisis possibly poses the biggest challenge for the incoming government. Pakistan’s currency has depreciated nearly 25% in value over the past few months. With imports continuing to increase and exports failing to catch up, there seems to be no respite for Pakistan’s falling foreign reserves. The precarious situation could force Pakistan into another agreement with the IMF, a possibility PTI’s candidate for finance minister, Asad Umar, claimed is likely.

The structural problems plaguing Pakistan’s economy thus demand a fundamental rethink of the country’s economic policy and a shift away from the neoliberal growth model that the country has followed since the 1990s. The PTI, however, adheres to the tenets of this model, which casts doubt over its ability to substantially alter Pakistan’s economic trajectory.

The PTI also faces an uphill battle to protect Pakistan’s interests on the global stage. In June, for instance, Pakistan was placed on the Financial Assistance Task Force’s (FATF) “grey list” of countries that have failed to curb money laundering and the financing of terrorist outfits.

This move was a result of declining relations with Washington, which has threatened to punish Pakistan for its alleged support of extremist groups operating in Afghanistan. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, moreover, claimed in a recent interview that the US would deny IMF funding to Pakistan if the latter used these funds to pay back “Chinese loans.”

Recalibrating relations with the United States will thus be the biggest foreign policy challenge for the PTI. The new government will also have to rethink its approach towards Afghanistan to assuage fears that Pakistan supports the Afghan Taliban. This will pose a significant dilemma for Khan, who has historically voiced support for peaceful negotiations with the Taliban and who opposed the Pakistan military’s operation against the Pakistani Taliban in the country’s northwestern regions. While in power in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, moreover, the PTI funded the Darul Uloom Haqqania, a religious seminary notorious for educating many members of the Taliban. These precedents have led to many of the detractors of the soon-to-be prime minister to dub him “Taliban Khan.”
The PTI will thus have to battle both personal ideological inclinations and strategic interests to improve Pakistan’s relationship with Afghanistan. This will also require making peace overtures to New Delhi, a move that will bring the party into direct conflict with Pakistan’s military. The military, for its part, has historically opposed any peace deal with India, and has traditionally enjoyed a veto on Pakistan’s foreign and security policies.

Imran Khan’s promises of a naya (new) Pakistan thus face significant hurdles even before the cricketer-turned-politician has set foot in his new office. Pakistan, after all, has suffered from decades of poor governance and a weak democratic structure. But Khan came to power carrying with him the hopes of millions of Pakistanis who have witnessed extreme violence, poverty, and uncertainty in their lives, and who want to break the hold traditional political parties have on the organs of power in Pakistan.

The post What Next for Pakistan and Imran Khan? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

An RTI reply had last week sensationally revealed that a cooperative bank in Gujarat with BJP President Amit Shah as a director, had collected the highest volume of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that were abruptly demonetised on 8 November, 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Even today, according to the website of the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB), Shah continues to remain its director raising serious conflict of interest given his proximity to the finance ministry as the president of the ruling party.  Shah is still being described one of the directors of the cooperative bank. (see below). He was also the bank’s chairman in 2000. ADCB’s total deposits on March 31, 2017, were Rs 5,050 crore and its net profit for 2016-17 was Rs 14.31 crore. Congress President Rahul Gandhi too tweeted using a catchy hashtag #ShahZyadaKhaGaya (Amit Shah has eaten too much), “Congratulations Amit Shah ji , Director, Ahmedabad Dist. Cooperative Bank, on your bank winning 1st prize in the conversion of old notes to new race. 750 Cr in 5 days! Millions of Indians whose lives were destroyed by Demonetisation, salute your achievement.”

Soon #ShahZyadaKhaGaya became a top national trend on Twitter yesterday.

Another branch with a BJP minister as its chairman received the deposit of Rs 693.19 crore in the same period. The Rajkot District Cooperative Bank has Jayeshbhai Vitthalbhai Radadiya, a cabinet minister in Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s government, has its chairman.

According to the AICC press release that may be read here, these are the links:
1. Surat District Co-operative Bank Ltd. which received ₹369.85 Cr
Director- Shri Prabhubhai Nagarbhai Vasava, BJP MP (Lok Sabha) from Bardoli
Chairman is Shri Nareshbhai Patel, a prominent BJP leader.
2. Sabarkantha District Central Cooperative Bank Ltd. – which received ₹328.50 Cr
Directors- Shri Rajendrasinh Ranjitsinh Chavada, BJP MLA from Himatnagar and
Shri Praful Khoda Patel, Former MoS Home in the BJP Govt of Gujarat and is now
appointed by Modi ji as Administrator of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
Chairman is Shri Maheshbhai Amichandbhai Patel is a BJP leader.
3. Banaskantha District Central Co-operative Bank Ltd- which received ₹295.30 Cr
Director- Shri Shankar Chaudhary, Former Minister of State for Urban Housing, Health,
Family Welfare and Transport in the earlier BJP Government of Gujarat and General
Secretary of the Gujarat BJP. Chairman is Shri M L Chaudhary, a BJP leader.
4. Mehsana District Central Co-operative Bank Ltd received ₹215.44 Cr
This bank is controlled by Deputy CM, Shri Nitin Patel through registrar. Elections due.
5. Amreli Jilla Madyastha Sahkari Bank Ltd. which received ₹205.31 Cr
Chairman- Shri Dileepbhai Sanghani, Former BJP MP & Former Cabinet Minister in
the BJP Gujarat Govt and is presently appointed by Modi ji as Vice Chairman, NAFED
6. The Bharuch District Central Co-operative Bank Ltd received ₹98.86 Cr
Chairman is Shri Arunsinh Rana, BJP MLA
7. Baroda Central Co-operative Bank Ltd received ₹76.38Cr
Director, who controls the Bank, is Shri Satishbhai Patel, BJP MLA and Chairman is Shri
Atulbhai Patel, BJP leader
8. Junagarh Jill Sahakari Bank Ltd received ₹59.98 Cr
Chairman is Shri Jashabhai Barad, Ex Cabinet Minister in BJP Govt & a prominent BJP
leader
9. Panchmahals District Co-operative Bank Ltd. received ₹ 30.12 Cr
This bank is controlled by Former BJP MP, Shri Gopalsinh Solanki through registrar.Elections due.

Rajkot is also believed to be a hub of Gujarat BJP politics as PM Modi was first elected from there as a legislator in 2001. “The amount of deposits made in the State Cooperative Banks (SCBs) and District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) — revealed under RTI for first time since demonetisation — are astounding,” Manoranjan S. Roy, the RTI activist who made the effort to get the information was quoted by IANS.

Yesterday, just before the Congress held its press conference, National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development, also known as NABARD, issued a statement, saying that the average deposit amount in the Ahmedabad DCCB was Rs 46,795 per account holder, which it said was lower than the average per depositor in 18 DCCBs of Gujarat, reported PTI. NABARD is the country’s apex financing agency for institutions that promote rural development.

Using the the NABARD statement, the BJP clarified that the Ahmedabad DCCB was one of the biggest in the country and that it was not out of the ordinary for it to collect such an amount, added PTI report. However the fact that the BJP is feeling compelled to respond to allegations speaks of how the political discourse is turning.
 
Demonetisation: A Modi-Made Disaster (AICC Press Note)

On November 8th, 86% of India’s currency was nullified in an effort to clean out “black money” and “counterfeit notes”; this effort resulted in a massive disruption to the existing social, political and economic functions of the world’s second largest emerging market. All 500 and 1,000 rupee notes were instantaneously voided, and a 50-day period ensued where the population could (ideally) redeem their cancelled cash for freshly issued 2,000 and later 500 rupee notes or deposit them into their respective bank accounts.

In the ensuing days after Demonetization, the public in general was hit quite bad, but it was the poor who took the largest share of pain. The poor and the lower middle-classes that constitute the vast majority of the population, simply did not have the access to structural and cultural resources needed to adapt to such shock economics.
Even the banks, debuted to do all the heavy lifting on the ground, weren’t kept in the loop; ill-equipped for the crisis and unable to make sense of an outlandish government order, they still managed to do a remarkable job despite not even having an adequate supply of new notes to balance out the nullified currency. With 86% of existing cash that was in circulation having been demonetized, the Indian Economy came to a sudden, screeching halt.

Trade across all facets of the economy was disrupted, and cash-centric sectors like agriculture, fishing, and the voluminous informal market, were virtually shut-down. Many businesses and livelihoods went under completely, not to mention the economic impact to the country when you have millions of productive people just standing in line for hours and hours, just to exchange or deposit cancelled banknotes, rather than working or running their businesses.

Even the undeclared emergency in the newsrooms failed to contain the news spreading like wildfire throughout India: Demonetisation was a colossal and completely avoidable failure and the largest government-abetted money laundering scheme in history.

Demonetisation failed to curb black money as 99% of the withdrawn 500 and 1000 rupee notes were returned, according to the RBI. This was expected as black money isn’t usually stored in currency, but property, bullion and more easily convertible currency like dollars. Thus, the dichotomy between ‘Black Money’ and ‘Black Wealth’: one is a flow variable and one is stock variable. And no amount of demonetization can bring about any change in stock variables. The claims of unearthing large amounts of black money are unfounded and based on a naïve and uninformed view of what actually constitutes black money.

Furthermore, the announcement failed to stem any sort of terror attacks and insurgency as there were 23 more attacks in Kashmir alone after the announcement. There were numerous reports of insurgents caught with large hordes of new currency on the Indian border.

The extent of circulation of counterfeit notes in the Indian economy is exaggerated. A special report carried out by the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata, found out that the circulation of counterfeit currency was about Rs. 400 crore i.e. a mere 0.022%, of the total notes in circulation; simply not worth the 2% damage to India’s GDP growth.

It failed to produce a cashless economy as whatever rise in e-commerce sales took place during that period, returned to the same growth trend-line as before in a matter of few months, when cash supply was finally normalised. Considering the extent of the Indian unorganized sectors, it was simply illogical to even attempt digitalisation before creating an alternate payment infrastructure.
As a result of this catastrophic move, 3 lakh crore rupees in national income was lost; a conservative estimate given the informal cash-based economy accounts for nearly 50% of GDP or 65.25 lakh crore rupees. Some bank managers grew rich from the haircuts they took on people’s hard-earned money, quickly forming a sophisticated and organised money laundering racket. Meanwhile, a 115 people died as a direct result of the ‘note-bandi’—almost all were poor. Even after the supportive mainstream media declared demonetisation a failure, PM Modi has still not been able to bring himself to condole with their bereaved families or pay them any compensation for the loss of in many cases, their primary breadwinners.

The demonetisation move represents not just a faulty economic policy but also holds high potential for indiscriminate state surveillance, violation of privacy and abuse of civil liberties, with the replacement of cash payments with digital payment systems. With big data analytics growing bigger day by day, personal data of private citizens have turned into commodities on the grey markets, that may result in a breakdown of basic social-contracts and trust between the state and its citizens.

The end truth is, the Prime Minister expected to make a tidy profit of 4 lakh crores from dispossessing those who weren’t able to exchange their notes. Instead, 21,000 crore rupees of our tax money was squandered on printing notes, while only 16,000 crores were left unclaimed.
 
The entire text of the AICC Document may be read here.

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“The whole Jewish race is the greatest human capital, and the smartest and the most understanding,” Miki Zohar said Wednesday. The member of Knesset for Likud was debating the Benjamin Netanyahu corruption scandals together with Haaretz journalist Dan Margalit, on the 103 FM radio station (owned by the centrist Maariv daily).

Here Miki Zohar went into unabashed race-supremacist talk about Jews. He literally referred to it as the Jewish race (not nation or people). The Hebrew term he used is “GEZA”. It’s the literal parallel of ‘race’ in English, no doubt there.  

The thing is, that there was hardly any interruption to it, nor any rebuttal or expression of shock or anything. Not even from Dan Margalit who was representing a ‘leftist’ point of view. Here is the section of the interview, which I have translated:

Miki Zohar: I’ll tell you one basic thing, so that maybe someone who’s sitting there at home would listen to me well, and maybe those who are sitting at the studios and at editorials would listen well to me:
The public in the state of Israel is a public which belongs to the Jewish race [sic], and the whole Jewish race is the greatest human capital [sic], and the smartest and the most understanding, and sometimes also the most educated…
(Host) Anat Davidov: No no, this is not serious…
Zohar: And that’s why you can’t fool us, the Jews, you can’t, and it doesn’t matter what you’ll write in the media, and it doesn’t matter what you’ll report all day. The public knows what the Prime Minister is doing for the state of Israel, how excellent a Prime Minister he is, and how this state is prospering and blooming…
(Host) Yinon Magal: Dan Margalit, a final statement.
(Dan Margalit talks about Netanyahu corruption scandals).

Dan Margalit
 

Now, you would think there would be a big storm about such unabashed racist talk. But there isn’t.

The settler outlet Israel National News (Hebrew) says in its headline that “Miki Zohar causes a storm” and quotes a small part of the above, but the article doesn’t say what the storm is, it’s focused on Netanyahu. Zohar’s quote is buried, and it’s just a line. Maariv did the same. No ‘storm’.

I asked journalist David Sheen if he saw a storm. “Barely a breeze”, Sheen tells me. He went on to tweet:

This same Israeli lawmaker from Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party states that Israel is not a democracy, and that democracy is in fact “an existential threat” to Jews. Combine that with his recent comments about race, and you can decide for yourself what his political ideology is.

The Radio 103 podcast page says journalist Anat Davidov was amazed by Zohar’s words. “It’s not true”’, is the subtitle.

Miki Zohar, with the leader of his party, Benjamin Netanyahu
 

But Anat Davidov actually said, “no no, that’s not serious”, and she didn’t sound particularly amazed. The racist words are a mere sentence in a long discussion.

So let’s face it: – this is not really a storm. And that’s the story. This was very clear from the interview itself. This talk does not cause any real stir. It’s like a bit of political incorrectness. There’s no shock-horror response really – and wouldn’t you expect something like that from a “leftist” journalist like Dan Margalit at least? But then again, Margalit is the one who recently opined that mass shooting of Palestinians is good for them.

What Zohar was really doing, was voicing a perception of Jewish racial supremacy in a way that you’re not supposed to, because it’s too overt. You’re not supposed to use the word “Jewish race”, it can be watered down to “Jewish nation” or “Jewish people”. But truth be told, the application of ‘Jewish’ in Israel is a racial one. The consideration of whether Jews should be called a “race” or a “people” was present already a century ago, as seen in the final draft of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 – the draft before the final version actually called Jews a “race” rather than a “people” (the wording was “His Majesty’s Government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish race”…). But it was changed to “people”. Perhaps they thought it more politically correct already at that time.

Yet Zohar was saying race. And he was making it utterly clear that this is a superior race. And that perception, unfortunately, is one that is central in Zionism. It’s the one that allows the utter dehumanization of “others”, it’s the one that allows ‘liberals’ like Dan Margalit to say that shooting people is good for them – and to be silent when the most explicit racist bile is uttered. 

This article was first published on Mondoweiss.net.

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Chhatisgarh Minister Brijmohan Agarwal has built an expensive money spinner resort for VIP guests in Chhatisgarh forest by resorting to unchecked loot and plunder of poor tribals’ land. For three days the Indian Express carried this story. First the reporter got to know of only 4.12 hectares of land grabbed by a company called Aditya  Srijan Private limited with Agarwal’s son Abhishek and wife Sarita being the directors of the said company. Then they discovered another 13.90 ha and last records show another 26 ha of pristine forest land belonging to poor tribals even forcibly and mostly deceitfully grabbed by Agarwal. But Arnab Goswami of the Republic news channel firmly believes that the Nation DOES NOT WANT TO KNOW about Agarwsal’s scam. Nor does it prick the conscience of Times Now. After all this is not Lalu Yadav or Robert Vadra. What’s the fun?

Agarwal admits that he has been at it since 2008, which means nine years, almost soon after he became a minister in chief minister Raman Singh’s government.  Agarwal refused to explain anything to the Indian Express reporter saying, “Right now, there is an environment. After this ends I will give point wise answer. I have asked for many documents. After I get them, I will clear the air. There has been an investigation for eight years, why are notices appearing now?” No outcry in the media or in the BJP and its Government at the Centre or in the state. After all he is no Tejaswai Yadav, who was called upon by Nitish Kumar to immediately clear the air about the allegations.

Agarwal also discloses the embedded nature of our media saying how television channels have gone to the concerned village and the villagers said they are happy that this project is coming up and is bringing development. “We have not put pressure or trouble anyone,” he claimed . But the newspaper interviewed three different people including a widow who clearly say they were either cheated through forgery or simply coerced to sell off their plot of land on which they were doing a little farming to earn a respectable living. But the minister is blasé and says “I have not used my position to get any work done.” That’s it! That is the explanation of the minister and neither Raman Singh, himself involved in thousands of crore rice scam, with son named in Panama papers, seeks to remove Brijmohan Agarwal from his cabinet nor does our supposed squeaky clean Prime Minister Narendra Modi ostensibly crusading against corruption, so much as bats an eyelid. No press conferences by another crusader against corruption, Bihar Deputy chief minister and one of the senior most national leader of the BJP, Sushil Modi. No dismay or shock expressed by one more soldier for probity in public life, a corporate lawyer Ravi Shankar Prasad. It does not even register with Nitish Kumar, for whom only the Sangh and Sanghis can be incorruptible.

You never know BJP and Modi might even incentivise Birjmohan  Agrwal with further elevation, perhaps as the next chief minister in case Raman Singh is elevated and brought to the Centre. After all Agarwal has not said anything different from M Venkaiah Naidu when it turned out that Naidu’s son’s car selling company was bestowed special favour by the Telangana government for buying scores of Toyota  Innovas in one sweep giving as seller’s commission worth crores of rupees. Venkaiah also denied bestowing any favours upon his daughter’s NGO and Modi patted him on the back and fielded him the Vice President candidate and thereby the chairman of the Upper House of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha.

Raman Singh has done much more than Agarwal but not an eyebrow raised. As for the Vayapam scam involving not just Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan,his wife and his secretarial staff, not to forget top leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which ruined the career of thousands of prospective doctors in Madhya Pradesh, where in almost every one who rose to expose or could expose has been systematically eliminated and thus everyone has forgotten.

But why are we talking of Vyapam murders only when the list of cases against UP Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya include Sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Criminal Procedure Code (Cr. PC) 302 (murder), 120B and 153A conspiracy 188, 147, 148, 153, 153A, 352, 323, 504, 506, 147, 332, 295A, 153A, 353, 186, 504, 147, 332, 147, 332, 420, 465, 467, 171, 353, 380, 148 and 341 in a series of cases including murder, rape, cheating, forgery. You name it and there is not an Indian penal section Keshav Prasad Maurya has not violated. Similarly Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath too has violated the law of the land with impunity with cases of inciting murder, loot, arson and rape, publicly to his Hindutva brigade under sections 506, 307, 147, 148, 297, 336, 504, 295, 153A and 435 were registered against him much before he became the chief minister. But that was all in the service of Hindutva and that was a nationalist act. So no media rushed to confront Maurya or the Yogi on their criminal past. The UP Governor Ram Naik refused to grant sanction against Yogi or Maurya. But when it concerned Azam Khan in the previous regime, he wasted no time, even when a statement by him did not amount to any provocation.

Republic TV Pope Arnab Goswami sends ten reporters to question Shashi Tharoor on his former wife Suananda Pushkar’s death. But he firmly believes THE NATION DOES NOT WANT TO KNOW OF THE VYAPAM SCAM and all the murders linked to this scam all of which lie at the doorstep of the  Madhya Pradesh chief minister.. The nation only wants to know of Sunanda Pushkar’s alleged murder. (Alleged by Subramanian Swamy and Arnab Goswami)

The Republic and Times Now have yet again pulled out from his grave that long retired Swedish police constable Sten Lindstorm with some questionable past association with our Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to aid the BJP to resurrect the dead Bofors gun issue to splash some corruption dirt on Sonia Gandhi. BJP South Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi, desperate to become a minister,  was prompt enough to take the cue and raise it in the Lok Sabha, exposing who made that parrot Lindstorm speak. Remember since 1999 every time they saw some possibility of Sonia Gandhi emerging as the counter to BJP, they brought in Bofors. Lindstorm is a parrot who has been singing the same tune since 1987. Never mind that the Rajya Sabha records have a speech by Ram Jethmalani, (who once led the Bofors charge against Rajiv Gandhi with daily “TEN QUESTIONS”) wherein he had asked the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao to close the issue and charge the Hinduja brothers, exposed as one of the Bofors payoff beneficiaries, whatever loss the state might have incurred pleading that the Hindujas were willing to pay several times more to bury this. Hindujas, one time big patrons of the BJP are still thriving in Modi regime as well and their Indusind Bank opening branches all over the country.

And what about the Prime Minister himself?  Prashant Bhushan, who by no stretch of imagination could have anything to do with the Congress party and even fallen out with AAP and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, gave the cheque numbers of the payoffs made by Sahara group and Aditya Birla to Narenedra Modi when he was Gujarat chief minister and demanded a probe. It was an open and shut case. All the Supreme Court had to do was to verify whether these cheques were really issued and encashed and when and by whom and the truth would have been out. Instead it refused to entertain the petition accusing Bhushan of trying to denigrate and undermine the institution of the Prime Minister. What faith do we have in the institutions when the same Supreme Court let out Saharashri Subrat Roy on a specious plea for a week close to two years ago and the man is still out enjoying full freedom thumbing his nose at our institutions? Is it unfair to see a quid pro quo involving the most sacred institutions here?

The same courts have a different standard for Lalu Yadav. He is corrupt, his wife is corrupt and even his son is corrupt. Never mind if he was not even old enough when the supposed act was committed. But we have to fix Lalu Prasad.
There was a big scandal in Arunachal Pradesh with Union Minister of State for Home Kirren Rijiju’s brother leading a sand mining mafia presenting false bills of transporting stones and sand in trucks while on an inquiry later it was found that the registration numbers turned out to be scooters and motorcycles of their friends and relatives and using his brother’s name to browbeat and influence the officers qustioning him. Remember while campaigning against Lalu on alleged fodder scam Ravi Shankar Prasad and Sushil Kumar Modi had made precisely this allegation that the receipts of the cattle fodder supposedly carried bore the registration numbers of scooters and such other smaller vehicles. So during flood time carrying fodder on two wheelers even bicycles is unheard of for the BJP leaders and the media which went to town on that. But large boulders, stones and sand can be ferried in a scooter dicky or on a motorcycle and there is not even a murmur in the media after Rijiju makes some half-hearted statement defending his backside, because here it is a BJP leader.

Just last week almost immediately after Nitish dumped the Mahagathbandhan the architect of the entire game, Arun Jaitely rushed off to Chennai for his next mission to induct the entire All India Anna DMK, (both factions) into the BJP and the first thing he did upon landing in Chennai was to go and place a wreath at Jayalalaitha’s memorial. Who cares if Jayalaitha was convicted by the Supreme Court on corruption? But Arnab Goswami or Navika Kumar won’t send a single reporter to question Jaitley. Why would they, but why not? unless they are either politically or otherwise compromised to the BJP and this Government. So much for our concern about corruption and probity in public life!

This article was first published on faraz1951.
 

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Image credit: Rana Magdy

Six years have passed since that fateful day on January 25, a day that changed Egypt.Two years ago, as Egypt started palpably plummeting into a terrible state, people started asking: “Was it worth it?” The question lingers with no definitive answer till this day.

How did we arrive at this state? After having witnessed the events leading up to this point in time, I can no longer offer a political analysis of the situation without factoring in psychological changes that affected the various sections of Egyptian society.

The most significant changes that took place over the past few years were within people’s minds, more so than in policy, both political and economic. People’s beliefs and emotions form their motivations which shape today’s political arena. People’s drives are a result of their mental and emotional changes. Resistance to the status quo comes from within the mind, as does acceptance.

This is the battle we see before us today, a battle of minds and will.
 

The seed

Six years ago, when people took to the streets to protest, they were not fully aware of how deep the rabbit hole went. They were not aware of the depths of corruption and the lengths those in power would go to in order to safeguard their interests. People viewed Egypt’s institutions as capable of change and underestimated the formidable bonds of corrupt interests that were more powerful than a revolution.

When people began protesting on January 25, they were motivated by a handful of incidents that proved to be the tip of the iceberg of endemic corruption.

A few examples of the major events that led to the January 25 and January 28 protests were: the cold blooded murder of Khaled Said by the police and attempts by forensics, prosecution and an array of other Egyptian institutions to cover it up; and the unabashed wide scale election fraud in 2010 by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).

Numerous other factors also contributed to people’s general sense of dissatisfaction, some of which were: government incompetence and corruption, the cut back on welfare, Mubarak’s succession plan to hand over power to his son Gamal Mubarak, extortion of the middle class by security agencies and mass income inequality.

What initially started out as calls to end corruption and police brutality rapidly turned into chants for the removal of Mubarak.

These reasons for disgruntlement built up over time and became unbearable in 2010, and when Tunisia managed to remove Ben Ali, the people became motivated to join the planned protests to decry police brutality on January 25. This date was symbolically chosen because it was ‘Police Day’ – a national holiday.

What initially started out as calls to end corruption and police brutality rapidly turned into chants for the removal of Mubarak. It’s true that from day one people chanted, “The people want to bring down the regime”, but it was transformed into real resolve only after having been provoked by the police’s brutal response to protests.

Perhaps people’s ignorance of the measures the regime would take to maintain its interests is why the people continued to escalate and didn’t back down, hoping that change would take place once and for all. After all, it seemed ridiculous at the time that the regime’s response to calls of ending police violence and brutality was more violence and brutality.
 

The roots

Image credit: Rana Magdy

The role of journalism slightly changes under oppressive regimes. These regimes are not merely built on brutality and repression, but on lies to justify the necessity of the crimes committed against the people.Real journalism is about conveying the factual story within a context of some moral guidelines. In other words, at the risk of oversimplifying, real journalism is about spreading the truth. But truth that counters an oppressive regime’s lies becomes an instant enemy and so do its bearers.

In this manner, I consider myself part of the movement to overhaul Egypt’s corrupt political system by exposing crimes and lies spread by the regime. Anyone who has simply reported on facts and is not afraid to challenge the official narrative is part of that movement.

It is also in this vein that I consider any journalist who has truthfully reported events that took place within the context of Egypt’s revolution part of that movement. Because even if they claim neutrality, a truthful account would naturally be biased against the oppressor.

The movement that came to life as a product of January 25, in its purest form, became a fight for truth, rights and justice. Those referred to as ‘revolutionaries’ are just ordinary people who managed to believe in this fight in some way or another.

It is this adamant rejection of the reality of the regime’s ugly crimes that is most conducive to despair.

In a sense, the greatest triumph of January 25 was to lay bare the truth about Egypt’s rulers and institutions, and to galvanize blocks of citizens into resiliently exposing that truth. Yet the greatest disappointment remains that facts are not enough to set things right. This is possibly a global trend with the rise of racism and intolerance.

Now, it’s back to a battle that is shaped by people’s emotions and mental state rather than by the facts at hand. In Egypt, denial runs deep and people would sooner turn their backs on incontrovertible facts than change their minds.

It is this adamant rejection of the reality of the regime’s ugly crimes that is most conducive to despair. To see a nation full of brainwashed individuals who can no longer engage logically in an argument or acknowledge facts presented to them paints the bleakest of all pictures.

Growing up I never imagined dictatorships and authoritarian regimes in color. I imagined them in morbid colors, sometimes in black and white but mostly in sepia, a desert shade where air was polluted distorting nature’s colors.

Yet here I am living through the darkest page in Egypt’s modern history and I can still see my world in color. It’s only when I remember everything that we have been through that the memories all turn really dark once again, with a heavy burden of sadness and helplessness taking over my senses.
 

The pests

It is difficult to meaningfully list all the events that took place over the past six years that led us here, but there are a few key aspects of the struggle that have remained a constant thread.

There was never any democratic transition at any point, even with the relatively fraud free elections that brought Mohamed Morsi in as president. Morsi was negotiated into presidency and the results were announced later than scheduled on account of that.

There were no attempts for the creation of independent state institutions to instill checks and balances – neither by SCAF, Morsi, Adly Mansour, or Sisi. What did exist, at intermittent times, is true power for the people on the ground pushing for change, but this was never translated into power within national institutions.

Egypt has been kept on a tight leash with the army’s grip on power ensuring the protection of its military economic empire as its primary mandate.

Egypt has been kept on a tight leash with the army’s grip on power ensuring the protection of its military economic empire as its primary mandate.

The goal of the Egyptian security apparatus has been to quell the protests against rulers. With the failure of the democratic movement to create a sustainable framework, Egypt’s blueprint for moving forward became entirely security based.

That roadmap was accompanied by a revenge agenda, mainly targeting the people, for daring to question their leaders. Young people taking to the streets, revolutionaries continuing to push for change and the Muslim Brotherhood who dared envision themselves in power have been the prime targets.

A snapshot of today’s Egypt is unpleasant. The leadership is reckless with its resources, benefiting the corrupt at the expense of people.

An Italian researcher Giulio Regeni murdered by Egyptian security forces. Egypt’s legendary football star Mohamed Abutrika along with over 1500 others arbitrarily placed on a terror list. Political prisoners are in the thousands.

The police are killing with impunity and abusing their positions. The judiciary and public prosecution have no structural independence, often politicized or coerced. The military is expanding its economic empire, rigging the economy for its benefit.

Minorities such as Copts, Nubians, Shiite Muslims, north Sinai Bedouins are still discriminated against with no signs of a move towards equal rights. Loan agreements are being made without any consideration of the effect they will have on future generations. Prices have doubled and the pound’s purchasing power has greatly diminished. The media is being strictly controlled and all critical voices are being silenced.

The opposition is being targeted by all means available: prison, military trials, asset freezing, forced disappearances, assault on privacy by leaking private phone conversations, physical assault, threats, etc… pretty much the full range of the arsenal available to despotic regimes.

In many discussions about the Egyptian revolution, the narrative revolves around existing structures of power that participated, such as the military, the NDP and the Muslim Brotherhood. These structures certainly had a role to play and their motivations affected the outcome, but it was not only these organized structures that created the present context.
 

The fight

Image credit: Rana Magdy

I would argue that it was more the unorganized and their individual, yet collective, actions and decisions. Take for example Mohamed Mostafa “Karkea”, the Ultras fan and tennis champion who left his home to join protesters when they were being shot at by the army in December 2011. He was in turn killed by the army.Or Mina Danial who believed in a secular state yet joined the march to Maspero in October 2011, because he believed that all citizens must leave their closed communities and demand equality for all as citizens of this country. Mina was killed in what became infamously known as the Maspero massacre.

Maybe all these attempts failed to bring about the demands of their bearers, however, those and countless others helped shape what the revolution is: a battle of minds.
The activists who foresaw a military overtake and marched to Al Kobba Palace on July 2, 2013 denouncing both Morsi’s undemocratic trajectory and the foreseeable military rule. Many were detained and put on military trial.

Or the activists who decried military trials for civilians while the constitution was being written, and were in turn punished by being thrown in jail.

Maybe all these attempts failed to bring about the demands of their bearers, however, those and countless others helped shape what the revolution is: a battle of minds.

Similarly, those who fell prey to the regime’s counter narrative helped shape the counter revolution. You hear them say the same things, parroted over and over, to justify crimes.

They recycle phrases such as, “at least we’re better than Syria and Iraq”, “Egypt is fighting a war on terror”, “Sisi saved Egypt” and countless other statements that cannot withstand the test of facts and logic.

The middle class, divided between calls for justice and their fear of losing what they already have, has certainly shaped this arena. The poor are caught between those promising religious piety and those promising protection under a banner of nationalism. Of course, neither of these promises are fulfilled, but their faith in what could come next helped shape the context in which we’re now living.

When people rose up six years ago, they only saw dreams of a better country. Now fear and violence cloud their vision. The middle class that rose up against the murder of Khaled Said delivered a clear message, that they too could be killed at any point like Khaled Said. Their murderers would be protected by state institutions much like the murderers of Khaled Said. In short, the response to the middle class was: “Indeed, you are all Khaled Said”, and remains so.

Egypt is now a land of fear and oppression butFull Blurb a few brave souls remain behind bars as others fight for truth and justice.

Egypt is now a land of fear and oppression but a few brave souls remain behind bars as others fight for truth and justice. However, the battle now is also against people’s fear and denial.

Six years ago, there was no collective consciousness that there were others who saw the same reality of corruption, greed and oppression.

Six years on, there is an ambiguously shaped entity referred to as ‘the revolution’ whose members are possibly in hundreds of thousands, yet unable to bring about many of its dreams.

Six years on, ‘the revolution’ brought on an awareness and a will to fight oppressive structures that opened up the gates of hell.

The power of the revolution was not in the political changes it brought about but on the influence it exerted on each individual en masse. In a sense, it was a collective journey experienced personally by each individual.

The true cost of that journey of awakening and awareness was to antagonize the oppressive powers into resisting a vision of a country without their oppression.

The result is what we see today, an era of political, cultural and economic decadence and a body of resistance that remains scattered, crushed, targeted and defamed yet resilient and adamant.

Was it worth it? Perhaps that remains debatable, depending on each individual’s personal journey and perspective.

(Wael Eskandar is an independent journalist and blogger based in Cairo. He is a frequent commentator on Egyptian politics and has written for Ahram Online, Al-Monitor, Daily News Egypt, Counterpunch, Middle East Institute, Atlantic Council: Egypt Source and Jadaliyya, among others. He has also contributed to Egypt's Kazeboon campaign and other projects that focus on youth and digital information. Eskandar has made media appearances for numerous news channels including France 24, Russia Today, Al Jazeera and Alhurra).

(This article was first published on openDemocracy).

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