PUTIN'S GRIFTER IN CHIEF

'You got to pay!': Trump threatens to 'encourage' Russia to attack NATO allies behind on payments

White House hopeful Donald Trump said on Saturday he would "encourage" Russia to attack members of NATO who had not met their financial obligations, his most extreme broadside against the military alliance he has long expressed skepticism about.


Issued on: 11/02/2024

01:31

Former US President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump attends a "Get Out the Vote" Rally in Conway, South Carolina, on February 10, 2024. 

By: NEWS WIRES|

Video by: Matthew-Mary Caruchet

With US lawmakers debating new aid for Ukraine ahead of the second anniversary of Russia's invasion, the former president has repeatedly said it was unfair to commit the United States to defending NATO's 30 other member nations.

Speaking at a campaign rally in South Carolina Saturday, Trump described a conversation with a fellow head of state at an unspecified NATO meeting.

"One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, 'Well, sir, if we don't pay, and we're attacked by Russia, will you protect us?' I said, 'You didn't pay, you're delinquent?'"

"No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills."

Trump's remark comes after Senate Republicans on Wednesday rejected a bipartisan bill that would have included sorely needed new funding for Ukraine, plus aid for ally Israel, along with reforms to address the US-Mexico border crisis.

The White House hit back at Trump's assertions, touting President Joe Biden's efforts to bolster alliances around the globe.

"Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged," White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement Saturday night.

"Rather than calling for wars and promoting deranged chaos, President Biden will continue to bolster American leadership," Bates added.
'Deportation operation'

The Senate bill's death highlighted Trump's iron grip on the Republican Party, as its lawmakers acceded to the former president's calls to torpedo any deal in order to deny Biden a win on immigration ahead of November's election.

At the rally Saturday, Trump celebrated the collapse of the legislation, vowing that, if reelected, he would carry out a massive "deportation operation" on his first day in office.

"Let's not forget that this week we also had another massive victory that every conservative should celebrate. We crushed crooked Joe Biden's disastrous open borders bill," Trump declared at a rally in South Carolina.

"The whole group did a great job in Congress."

Trump -- whose first presidential campaign featured a central plank of building a "big, beautiful wall" on the US-Mexico border -- on Saturday declared that deporting migrants would be one of his first tasks.

"On day one I will terminate every open border policy of the Biden administration and we will begin the largest domestic deportation operation in American history. We have no choice."

The Senate is now considering a foreign aid package that decouples the aid from the border issue entirely.

The $95 billion package set to be debated next week includes funding for Israel's fight against Hamas militants and for key strategic ally Taiwan. The lion's share, however, would help Ukraine restock depleted ammunition supplies, weapons and other crucial needs as it enters a third year of war.
Haley's husband

At the South Carolina rally, Trump needled Nikki Haley, his former UN ambassador who is also seeking the Republican Party's nomination, though her bid is almost certainly doomed as she badly trails her ex-boss in the race.

Addressing voters in Haley's home state, Trump questioned the whereabouts of her husband Michael, who has not been seen on the campaign trail as he is on a year-long military deployment to the Horn of Africa country of Djibouti.

"Where's her husband? Oh, he's away. He's away. What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband," he said, raising his voice for dramatic effect.

Haley clapped back on social media platform X.

"Michael is deployed serving our country, something you know nothing about. Someone who continually disrespects the sacrifices of military families has no business being commander in chief," she said.

And Michael Haley had his own message for Trump, tagging the candidate in a post on X that was accompanied by a close-up photo of a wolf overlaid with the text: "The difference between humans and animals? Animals would never let the dumbest ones lead the pack."

(AFP)

Guenter Brus, last of Austria's 'actionism' art movement, dies at 85

Vienna (AFP) – Contemporary artist Guenter Brus, the last surviving key member of Vienna's famed "actionists", has died at the age of 85, the museum dedicated to the radical and provocative art movement said Sunday.

Issued on: 11/02/2024 - 

Brus and fellow actionists founded the 'Body Art' movement, using blood, urine and excrement as they defied the confines of traditional painting 

© DIETER NAGL / AFP/File

His death in hospital on Saturday came "after a short illness", a spokesperson for the museum told AFP, confirming reports by press agency APA.

Born on September 27, 1938, in the village of Ardning, central Austria, Brus co-founded "Viennese Actionism" and pioneered using the body to make art.

He lived in Graz, eastern Austria, where a museum dedicated to him is located.

"From an Austrian perspective, Guenter Brus is certainly one of the few who have outstanding international significance. It is impossible to imagine art history without him," Roman Grabner, who runs the Graz museum, had told AFP in September ahead of a special retrospective exhibit for the artist's 85th birthday.

With Otto Muehl, Hermann Nitsch and Rudolf Schwarzkogler, he founded the 1960s "Body Art" movement, not shying away from using blood, urine and excrement as they defied the confines of traditional painting.

One of Brus's most notable and first performances was in 1965 when he criss-crossed Vienna with his body painted white and bisected by a jagged black line before being arrested by police.

Grabner said the "legendary" act demonstrated "the rift in Austrian post-war society, including of course that of the individual who suffered from this situation".

But the movement at times took a heavy toll on the artist.

Brus, with his wife Anna and their young daughter, fled Vienna in 1969 after he was sentenced to six months in jail for degrading Austrian state symbols.

He had taken part in a performance that involved stripping naked in a university lecture hall, defecating and masturbating while chanting the national anthem.

"In Austria nothing more would have been possible. We were shadowed by the judiciary as rioters, and rebels," said Brus at the time. He settled in Berlin with his family before eventually moving back home.

Actionists, who were the children of war, refused to accept Austria casting itself as a victim rather than facing up to its role in the Holocaust, a shift that came in the 1980s.

"Vienna, as all of Austria, was contaminated by ageing Nazis," Brus had said about the country that was the birthplace of Adolf Hitler.

His last live performance was held in Munich in 1970, when he appeared nude and cut himself with a razor blade.

© 2024 AFP

IN MEMORIAM: ‘A REAL ACTOR’S DIRECTOR’

Lisa Coulthard 

Published February 11, 2024 

THE CONVERSATION

Producer-director Norman Jewison, left, demonstrates how he wants an actor to wash the feet of Jesus, portrayed by Ted Neeley, during filming of the movie version of the rock musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, in October 1972 | AP

How should we think about the late Canadian filmmaker Norman Jewison’s legacy?

Cinema studies professor Bart Testa’s opening for his insightful chapter “Norman Jewison: Homecoming for a ‘Canadian Pinko’” argues that “Jewison has not been highly regarded or carefully discussed by film critics, Canadian or American.”

This statement could not ring more true than on the occasion of Jewison’s death.

Although there are numerous obituaries listing Jewison’s high-profile films, including Fiddler on the Roof, Moonstruck and In the Heat of the Night, not all discuss the prolific nature and significance of Jewison’s career.

With more than 40 films and television shows, Oscar, Bafta and Golden Globe nominations and awards — and his establishment of the Canadian Film Centre — Jewison’s legacy is notable.

The enticing contradictions of Norman Jewison’s movies

And yet, as Testa’s analysis suggests, scholarly and critical attitudes towards Jewison have sometimes been marked by indifference or even dismissal for his blend of commercial and populist success.

Jewison has always been seen as a good director who made many enjoyable, socially pertinent films. But he should also receive his due as a varied filmmaker who succeeded in multiple genres, focused on actors and scripts and was innovative in musical and social justice genres.

Effective writing, strong performances

A Torontonian by birth who got his start in Canadian television, Jewison honed his skills working on Tony Curtis and United Artists comedies.

He quickly turned to serious drama with In the Heat of the Night, before making hit musicals Fiddler on the Roof and Jesus Christ Superstar.

Canadian cultural historian George Melnyk characterised Jewison’s work as “generally indistinguishable from other well-made mainstream American cinema”, commenting on a perceived lack of an auteurist signature.

Director Quentin Tarantino assessed F.I.S.T. as a “bland epic” that plays like “a truncated ’70s television miniseries.”

In director Douglas Jackson’s National Film Board of Canada documentary Norman Jewison, Film Maker (1971), Jewison notes that he is “not an intellectual filmmaker” but an “emotional one.”

Although this description might seem self-evident to anyone familiar with Jewison’s many emotionally resonant films, it indicates an approach to filmmaking that focused on effective writing (many of his films were based on plays or Broadway adaptations) and strong performances.

As is evident in the Jackson documentary, filmed during the making of Fiddler on the Roof, Jewison was hyper-focused on the nuances, details and impact of actors’ performances. The documentary shows Jewison revelling in the minutiae of performance — where the pause, breath or accent hits in a line delivery.

This focus perhaps comes from his early training as an actor or his entry into comedy filmmaking, where timing is always everything. It’s a detail we see throughout Jewison’s films.

Big stars, film newcomers

Jewison was able to manage big-star personalities such as Rod Steiger, Al Pacino, Sylvester Stallone, Nicholas Cage, Denzel Washington, Danny DeVito, Steve McQueen, Carl Reiner and Cher and direct them to more nuance.

At the same time, he was able to draw out strong performances from actors who were cinematic newcomers (like Chaim Topol and Ted Neeley).

Testa focuses on Jewison’s politics (liberal, anti-establishment, leftist) and his place in the industry of filmmaking at such a crucial time in cinematic history when the studio era was ending and independent filmmaking was on the rise.

Often working as both producer and director, Jewison had artistic freedom but also anxieties about budget. In the Jackson documentary, Jewison describes these as particularly “Canadian” concerns, but they were considerable for a director who worked in international locations and took risks on unknown actors the way he did.

Although award-winning and popular, Jewison was also on the edge of Hollywood: he was not American and not part of the film-school generation or Hollywood renaissance (1967-74).

The title of his 2004 autobiography in some ways says it all: This Terrible Business Has Been Good to Me.

Jesus Christ Superstar’s cult fandom

Although only passingly mentioned in some obituaries, I believe Jesus Christ Superstar most clearly represents these contradictory strands of Jewison as a director.

At the time of the movie’s filming, Jewison had been nominated for and won key awards, making a name for himself in American cinema.

It was nonetheless a risky project: a rock opera starring unknowns, filmed on location in Israel and featuring a cast of actors with no or very little film experience.

It was also plagued by budget issues and controversy. Surprisingly, it was not only a box-office success at the time, but continues to have a cult following that extends to the star of the film as well.

The fandom for a film such as Jesus Christ Superstar shows that assessments of Jewison as an indistinct but adequate filmmaker are misguided.

My early exposure to the film was a chance viewing on TV with my father when I was about 11. My parents were not religious, not intellectuals and not cinephiles, but Jesus Christ Superstar quickly became a family favourite.

At a time when theatres host group sing-alongs for films such as Grease and The Sound of Music, my particular set of friends opt for sing-along parties for Jesus Christ Superstar.

Jewison’s ultimate legacy

This tension between cult, critical and popular appeal alongside a scholarly disregard is in fact Jewison’s most prominent legacy.

Bridging American, Canadian and English systems and industry cultures, Jewison can be viewed less as a merely skilled, socially minded filmmaker, and more as an enticing contradiction.

He was both an insider and an outsider in terms of the industry, both Canadian and American in terms of sensibilities, both mainstream and progressive in terms of politics and independent and commercial in terms of filmmaking.

Perhaps Jewison’s distinctive indistinction is precisely his legacy. These contradictions allow for what Jewison notes in the Jackson documentary as an essential directorial quality — a lack of ego.

And in an industry full of ego, this distinction allowed him to be, as Denzel Washington says, “a real actor’s director”, shaping and nudging star performances in subtle and effective ways, drawing out what he saw as the emotional core of his films.

The writer is a Professor at the Department of Theatre & Film at the University of British Columbia , Canada

Republished from The Conversation

Published in Dawn, ICON, February 11th, 2024

PAKISTAN
Debt-for-nature swaps

Maha Qasim | Noor Fatima Anwar 

DAWN

Published February 10, 2024 


PAKISTAN needs $340 billion until 2030 to address its climate challenges. With a debt-to-GDP ratio of 78 per cent, the fiscal space to finance climate action is limited. Could debt-for-nature swaps solve Pakistan’s climate finance conundrum?

Debt-for-nature swaps are financial arrangements whereby a debtor nation agrees to protect or restore its natural resources in return for debt relief. Debt-for-nature swaps are gaining global momentum.

In 2022, the Barbados government, The Nature Conservancy — a global environmental organisation — and the InterAmerican Development Bank completed a $150 million debt conversion in return for Barbados’s commitment to protecting up to 30pc of its exclusive economic zone and territorial sea. In 2023, Gabon agreed to a deal with the Bank of America, the US International Development Finance Corporation and TNC, to refinance $500m in national debt in exchange for financing marine conservation within the country.

In a bilateral debt-for-nature swap, a creditor country can forgive part of the money it is owed by the borrowing country in exchange for the latter investing an agreed amount in a conservation plan. In other words, the agreement ensures that part of the freed capital is used by the debtor country to preserve its natural resources.


The debt crisis in the Global South needs innovative solutions.

The debt crisis currently facing the Global South needs innovative solutions such as debt-for-nature swaps. Developing countries borrow from international creditors to finance development but they are also at the front line of climate change and biodiversity loss. Increasingly frequent climate disasters can destroy any development gains, locking them in a vicious debt cycle. The challenge is particularly pronounced in countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh which have been repeatedly hit by extreme climate events.

In Pakistan, the challenges of high debt and climate vulnerability continue to exacerbate one another. Displacement and loss of assets, infrastructure and livelihoods due to climate change erodes tax revenues and imposes steep costs for reconstruction and recovery, potentially requiring borrowing from international donors and banks. Simultaneously, high debt reduces countries’ capacity to invest in climate projects due to repayment burdens and higher borrowing costs.

High debt may also crowd out private-sector investment. Around 60pc of climate finance is already executed through debt-based instruments, making it difficult for countries to take on more debt finance. In addition, climate vulnerability itself can increase debt. One study found that climate vulnerability raised the average cost of borrowing by 1.2pc over the last 10 years.

The merits of debt-for-nature swaps are evident in countries where climate action or protection of nature would not have been otherwise undertaken. Swaps can upgrade a country’s sovereign credit rating, making government borrowing cheaper. As noted, debt-for-nature swaps can generate more revenue for nations with “valuable biodiversity” enabling them to “charge others for protecting it and providing a global public good”.

However, compared to climate finance instruments, such as carbon credits, the transaction costs of debt-for-nature swaps can be significantly higher due to complex legal requirements. The swap’s effectiveness also depends on the debtor nation’s ability to make long-term financial commitments in order to undertake climate action as part of this financial agree­­ment. Addi­tionally, institutional arrangements to advance opportunities for debt-for-nature swaps are insufficient in Pakistan. Both the IMF and World Bank have called for transparency and accountability in matters of foreign-funded projects. Such transparency is key to garnering international support and attracting climate financing.

To address the above challenges, the number of swap transactions could be scaled up by channelling investment into mainstream projects structured around countries’ broad climate and environmental goals and employing simple-to-monitor metrics such carbon emissions, deforestation, or ocean exploitation. The terms of swap transactions could be enhanced by increasing the nation’s debt share, involving more third parties (foundations and civil society organisations), repurchasing debt at the lowest possible price by incorporating incentives for creditors — such as allowing them to trade in carbon credits arising from the transaction — and minimising the cost of financing the debt buyback by offering partial guarantees to investors.

Maha Qasim is a climate and sustainability expert. Noor Fatima Anwar is a research associate.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2024

CROP CIRCLE

Andean farmers use age-old technique amid climate change

Acora (Peru) (AFP) – From the sky, they look like huge, circular patterns made by aliens -- but in fact, they are an age-old technique farmers have brought back to fight the climate crisis on the Andean plateaus of Puno.

Issued on: 10/02/2024 - 

An aerial view shows a pre-Hispanic agricultural system called Waru Waru, in a field in the Acora district in Puno, Peru, on February 6, 2024

 © Juan Carlos CISNEROS / AFP

On the border of Peru and Bolivia, the Waru Waru -- an indigenous Quechua word that means ridge -- are once again protecting potato and quinoa crops as they did in the region 2,000 years ago.

"It is an agricultural system that lets us face climate change, which has changed the seasons of the year. It is very beneficial in times of drought and frost," farmer Cesar Cutipa, 42, told AFP.

Puno lies on Lake Titicaca about 3,812 meters (12,507 feet) above sea level. Farmers have made six Waru Waru nearby in flood-prone fields.

Furrows form a rectangular platform, where planting is done. Surrounded by water, the planting beds are up to 100 meters long, between four and 10 meters wide and one meter high.

The water around the plants creates a microclimate, absorbing heat from the sun during the day and radiating it back at night to ward off frost in sub-zero temperatures.

"The Waru Waru cannot flood during the rainy season because they have an intelligent drainage system that reaches the river. They have many advantages," agronomist Gaston Quispe told AFP.

In 2023, when Puno suffered one of the largest periods of drought in almost six decades, Waru Waru helped farmers cope with lack of water and avoid food shortages.

The area is home to mostly indigenous farming communities, mostly Quechua in Peru -- and up the Andes -- and both Quechua and Aymara in Bolivia.

"We are able to live here peacefully because we have our potatoes, our quinoa and barley. We can be in peace without going to the city," said 22-year-old farmer Valeria Nahua.

© 2024 AFP

PAKISTAN ELECTION

Whither religious parties?

Muhammad Amir Rana 

DAWN

Published February 11, 2024 

ON the basis of the provisional results, the success of PTI-backed independents in Thursday’s elections shows that most voters were against the establishment’s role in politics. Political parties aligned themselves accordingly in their electoral campaigns, leading to a pro- and anti-PTI contest in Punjab and KP. Once again, Sindh supported the PPP, a party that avoided aligning itself with the pro-establishment camp. The outcome in Balochistan followed a predictable pattern as pro-establishment candidates won more seats and nationalist parties received limited representation. Religious parties, however, struggled to gain traction in an environment dominated by pro- and anti-establishment sentiments, failing to create any significant impact.

The performance of religious parties in the general election has been one of the worst — as it was in the national polls of 1997. In 2024, JUI-F only secured three National Assembly seats, similar to the 1997 results. Pakistan’s political landscape was not significantly impacted by a Taliban dispensation’s presence in Afghanistan in 1997. A similar trend is observed in these elections. However, it is noteworthy that Maulana Fazlur Rehman secured a National Assembly seat from the border district of Pishin in Balochistan, a constituency directly influenced by changes in Afghanistan. It was considered the safest constituency for him as his position was under threat in his home constituency in Dera Ismail Khan, where the PTI defeated him.

It was expected that the JUI-F would manage a share in a coalition set-up in Balochistan, but the results for the party leadership are not what they expected. Several factors contributed to JUI-F’s electoral defeat. These include internal differences, flawed candidate selection influenced by the leadership’s favouritism, and alleged ticket selling. There was a significant error of perception that the establishment had determined a governance role for the party in KP and Balochistan. The ascendancy of the Taliban in Afghanistan had bolstered this perception, leading the party leadership to believe it had the establishment’s support. However, the establishment could only utilise the party by ‘granting’ it a share in power. Additionally, the JUI-F overlooked the fact that these elections were against the status quo, which the establishment is seen to protect.

The JUI-F secured a few votes in Sindh without any significant success; the major contributing factor in this performance was that the mainstream political parties hardly made serious attempts to challenge the PPP in the province. One of the main contenders, the Muslim League Functional, led by the Pirs of Pagaro, which is becoming weak because of internal differences. The space has been left for the growing madrassah network, mainly along the National and Indus highways. The madressah has many political expressions based on sectarian identity, but JUI-F-affiliated madressahs are politically more vibrant and effectively show themselves in the colours of Sindhi nationalism. However, some would point out that JUI-F growth in Sindh needs to be more organic. Space is also available for mainstream political parties.

The performance of the religious parties in these elections has been one of the worst.

The recent underwhelming performance of the Jamaat-i-Islami in the general elections is a stark reminder that the party and its leadership are losing traction rapidly. The reliance on electoral tactics from the 1980s and 1990s is common among religious parties, who have yet to craft an appealing narrative or a compelling manifesto for the public.

Clearly, the JI needs to undertake deep introspection and strategise to leverage its unique grassroots strengths for electoral success, prioritising local body elections, given its extensive welfare network and trained human resources. One notable example is the surprising victory in Balochistan of a JI candidate, who won a provincial assembly seat due to his renowned welfare work, which resonated with the voters.

In Karachi, while the party benefited from the MQM’s boycott of the last local body elections, its perceived suitability for local governance also played a significant role in its success. JI can carve out a niche on the mainstream political landscape by focusing on local bodies in urban constituencies for at least the next two terms.

The rise of Haq Do Tehreek, led by Maulana Hidayatur Rehman in Gwadar, is another reminder that the JI and other religious parties still have space available if they focus more on local issues. Maulana Hidayat’s legitimacy comes through challenging the status quo in his region.

Sardar Akhtar Mengal had also sensed that anti-establishment sentiments would be instrumental in securing a few seats for Balochistan, and he consistently supported the Baloch Yakjheti Committee led by Dr Mahrang Baloch, a prominent advocate of human rights in Balochistan, particularly regarding the issue of missing persons. Mengal recognised that backing her cause during the election campaign and via social media posts could help his party regain lost momentum, especially as pro-establishment candidates posed tough competition in his core constituencies.

There was much hype surrounding the TLP’s electoral prospects, but the party has yet to impact the political landscape, except for securing a seat in Punjab and a few hundred thousand votes across Pakistan. Its performance shows that the strength of the religious partitas lies in their ideological narratives and sectarian sloganeering; when a conducive environment is not available to exploit public sentiments, these parties fail miserably.

Interestingly, the TLP tried to project itself as a mainstream political party, offering an inclusive manifesto, with women’s participation, and highlighting inflation and price hikes in its election campaigns. However, the party failed to understand that mere sloganeering doesn’t qualify it to become a mainstream party. One can easily differentiate between a religious party and a party that understands the economy and is entrenched in the power structure. Most importantly, even if such parties abandon their toxic narratives and sectarian politics, their past will continue to haunt them. In its pursuit of becoming a mainstream party, the TLP has damaged the support base of Barelvi parties in Punjab and Sindh, as it split their vote and weakened their bargaining position with the mainstream political parties.

Despite their poor performance, this is not the end of the road for religious parties in Pakistan, as their institutions will continue thriving on the resources of the state and donations of the people.

The writer is a security analyst.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2024

HINDUTVA IS FASCISM

Kasganj: Allegations of Custodial Torture Surface After Dalit Youth's 'Attempted Suicide'

Newsclick Report | 11 Feb 2024

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"My son was illegally kept in police custody for a week. The investigating officers tortured and tried to make him confess to a crime which he never committed. My son cannot attempt suicide," said Raghuraj Singh, father of Gaurav.

Image for representational purpose. 

Lucknow: The critical condition of a dalit youth, who was called to Uttar Pradesh’s Amanpur Police Station of Kasganj district in connection with the kidnapping of a minor girl, has triggered allegations of custodial torture against the police. The girl had gone missing from near her house on February 2 and was found two days later. The youth reportedly attempted to take his own life.

The situation took an ugly turn on Saturday afternoon when family members and villagers came to know about the youth's alleged suicide. A mob reportedly resorted to pelting stones at the police station following the critical condition of the youth. Police lathi-charged to disperse the crowd after it allegedly went out of control, leaving several injured.

The situation was restored to normal when a senior police officer arrived at the spot, assuring stern action against the accused cops. Later, the Kasganj police on Saturday lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against unidentified policemen and two others in connection with the “attempted suicide” of the 24-year-old dalit youth.

"A youth tried to commit suicide in police custody. In the case, Inspector Yatindra Pratap and Gaya Prasad, who were investigating the case, were suspended, with immediate effect. The preliminary investigation of the case has been handed over to additional superintendent of police Jitendra Kumar Dubey for a comprehensive investigation into the entire incident," said Superintendent of Police, Kasganj, Aparna Rajat Kaushik, speaking to NewsClick.

An FIR accessed by NewsClick confirmed that a case has been made against unidentified policemen and two relatives of the girl, who are also dalit, citing Sections 343 (wrongful confinement for three or more days) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The complaint has been filed by the youth’s father.

THE CASE

On February 3, Gaurav (24), a native of Raslua Sulhapur village, was picked up by the police for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping case. However, he was kept at the police station for a week despite the missing girl being found two days later. Depressed Gaurav allegedly attempted to hang himself from the washroom at the police station on Saturday. Thereafter, he was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared his condition to be critical.

The youth’s family claimed that he had been held by the police since February 2 on dubious grounds and they did not release him even after the girl was found.

"My son was illegally kept in police custody for a week. The investigating officers tortured and tried to make him confess to a crime which he never committed. My son cannot attempt suicide," said Raghuraj Singh, father of Gaurav, adding that despite repeated requests, police did not let them meet Gaurav at the police station.

He further added, "We went to the police station every day to meet our son but were not allowed to have a glimpse of him. Why was he kept in police custody after the girl was found?”

Accusing the cops of torture, the deceased father said, "Like every other day, I along with my relatives went to the police station to meet my son. The cops informed me that Gaurav tried to commit suicide by hanging himself with a muffler. We saw him lying on a stretcher with eyes closed."

They said Gaurav has no criminal history. The youth and his father work as labourers.

Kasganj made national headlines in 2021 when a Muslim youth arrested by the state police on suspicion of eloping with a Hindu woman allegedly died in police custody.

The family of the deceased had alleged that he was tortured by police in the lockup, which led to his death. Police, however, claimed that the accused killed himself using the drawstring of his jacket’s hood when he went to the lockup washroom.

In 2022, Uttar Pradesh topped the charts across the country in cases of custodial murders. As per GoI data, Uttar Pradesh recorded 451 custodial deaths in 2020-21, the number accelerated to 501 in 2021-22.

 

Farmers in Rajasthan Unlock Horse Power, Earn in Lakhs Every Year

Amarpal Singh Verma | 06 Feb 2024

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Apart from the booming local sales, proximity to horse-rearing hubs in Punjab increases both the demand for animals and income opportunities for rearers and allied business dealers in the Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar districts.

Horse at the fair in front of the viewers (Photo - Himanshu Midha)

Hanumangarh/Sriganganagar, Rajasthan: Farmers of Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar districts of Rajasthan are earning lakhs of rupees every year through horse rearing. Though the practice has been in existence among the farmers of both districts for about two decades, it has emerged as a profitable venture in recent years.

"Once upon a time, horses were considered a symbol of pride. Now hundreds of farmers are rearing horses as a business, as part of their agricultural activities," says Satyadev Suthar (53), the founder member of Hanumangarh District Horse Breeding Committee and Peerakamadia resident.

Farmers rear Marwari and Nukra horses, both rare breeds. The big stud farms at Peerkamadia, Surewala, Saliwala, Rathi Khera, Jakharanwali, Makasar, Jodkiya, Rodawali, Rampura Matoria, Burjwala, Padampur, 31 H, 4 FF, 17 O, 71 RB, and 24 PS have become famous.

"The trend of horse riding is rapidly increasing. Besides horse shows and safaris, horses are used for marriages and religious programmes. The BSF and police in different parts of the country also promote it, due to which horses are in demand everywhere," explains Suthar.

The Good Day School of Hanumangarh has nine horses in its stable, while the Oasis School in Pilibanga has three. Many schools in Sriganganagar also have horses.

Babulal Juneja, patron, SRS Shikshan Samiti, an organisation of private school operators in Hanumangarh, says horse riding proves helpful in developing children physically and mentally. 

"They learn to take risks in life. Parents have started requesting us to teach horse riding in schools."

The week-long horse fairs in both districts have become famous far and wide. Along with local horse breeders, those from Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and other districts of Rajasthan attend them.

During the horse fair organised in Hanumangarh this January, local breeders and those from Punjab and Haryana exhibited around 750 horses, of which about 300 were sold. Similarly, 270 of the 700 horses that participated in the fair in Sriganganagar were sold. Other than through the fairs, the process of buying and selling horses continues throughout the year.

People selling horse-related accessories and grooming materials have also found employment. Shopkeepers associated with such businesses come to the fairs.

Horses brought to the horse fair held in Hanumangarh (Photo - Amarpal Singh Verma, 101Reporters

Bhagwan Singh (43) of Sriganganagar has been selling grooming tools for almost two decades. 

"My business runs from the horse fairs of Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh. Due to an increase in my income, our family's living conditions have improved. In the fairs, farmers buy bridles, saddles, stirrups, bells, and ornaments for anklets and shins." 

"There are many big stud farms in our village. I have seven horses now. About 20 years ago, I bought a mare as a hobby based on my friend's advice, after which it became a business. I earn an average of Rs 5 to 7 lakh yearly by selling horses and crossing them for breeding," says Suthar.

Manraj Singh (52), a resident of 1 DD village in Sriganganagar district, is the secretary of the Maharana Pratap District Horse Breeding Committee. He started raising horses 22 years ago. 

"Right now, I have 10 horses. In our district, about 600 farmers are earning good profits through horses."

According to the 2019 Animal Census of the Animal Husbandry Department, the Sriganganagar district has 775 horses, and Hanumangarh has 761. The animal census is done every five years.

When asked about the number of horses present today, Dr Ajay Verma, Joint Director, Animal Husbandry Department, tells 101Reporters that this will be known only from this year's census. 

"Local farmers are increasingly oriented towards horse rearing. It is a source of additional income for them, supplementing their agricultural activities."

Ashok Kadwasara (57) of Hanumangarh Town is into his ancestral businesses of fishing and farming. Two years ago, he started to rear horses. "I started off buying six horses. To date, no one has suffered losses from horse rearing in my area. So I expect good profits," he says

Local farmers spend Rs 30,000 to 35,000 a month to meet the feeding and medical requirements of a horse. Besides selling, there is another way of making money by mating horses of good breeds. A minimum of Rs 50,000 is charged for one mating.

The stud farm of Iqbal Singh Bhandal (55) of Padampur in Sriganganagar houses about 40 horses. Very high prices have been offered to buy some of his horses. He charges Rs 1 lakh for one mating with his special horse Gurjot.

Explaining the money involved, Suthar says a young mare is sold for Rs 7 to 10 lakh. The prices of horses depend on their height. 

"More the height, more the money. A female offspring aged three to four months is sold for Rs 2 to 3 lakh, and a male offspring for Rs 1 lakh. So, the annual profit of horse rearers is in lakhs. If someone has five horses, the income is around Rs 5 lakh per horse," Suthar says. Farmers mostly prefer female horses for rearing.

Both Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh are near Punjab, so horse rearers here benefit more. Bathinda, Mansa, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Faridkot and Moga are not far away from Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar. All these districts are counted among the major horse-rearing areas of Punjab. Horse riding has become a status symbol of the youth there.

In Punjab, horses are used to shoot regional films and serials. To meet the increased demand, horses are bought from Rajasthan. 

"The demand for our horses is now far and wide. Apart from Punjab, people from Kerala, Karnataka, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat mainly come to buy Nukra horses," says Manraj Singh.

At the same time, local horse rearers raised issues over the healthcare facilities available. 

"If the government opens a special hospital for horses here, appoints veterinarians having expertise in horse diseases and makes arrangements for ultrasound and X-ray for investigation, we will benefit a lot because horses die due to lack of emergency treatment. This translates to huge losses for farmers," he says.

Explaining that colic in horses can prove fatal, he says about 20 horses die in a year due to this in the Hanumangarh district alone.

"We have to take horses to Bikaner or Ludhiana for emergency treatment. Many times, the animals die due to the long distance. In Sriganganagar, even a proper blood test of horses is not possible. We have to take blood samples to Bathinda," Manraj Singh informs.

Dr Verma, meanwhile, says the department provides all possible help for the treatment of horses. "Rearers move the sick animals to other places for better facilities," he adds.

Manraj Singh also demands that the government should arrange a permanent place for the annual horse fair in Sriganganagar. "We have to organise fairs at different places every year," he says. 

A Single Hold-all Measure Like GDP is a Camouflaging Device

Prabhat Patnaik | 03 Feb 2024

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It serves to hide the structural dichotomy introduced by imperialism -- of growing urban-rural divide, gap between upper middle-income and working people, and large sector and MSMEs.

There are well-known problems associated with the concept of gross domestic product (GDP) as well as with its measurement. The inclusion of the service sector within GDP is something that Adam Smith would have objected to on the conceptual grounds that those employed in this sector constituted “unproductive workers”. Certainly, in the former Soviet Union and East European socialist countries, it was not the GDP but the gross material product, excluding the service sector, that was considered the relevant measure.

Even if the service sector is included in GDP, there is a conceptual problem associated with measuring its output, since what constitutes the rendering of a service is difficult to distinguish from what constitutes mere transfer payment. After all, one may derive satisfaction from making a transfer payment exactly as one derives satisfaction from the performance of a musician; how then can we include the one and not the other within the ambit of GDP?

But, in addition to these conceptual problems, there are also problems associated with the measurement of GDP, problems that arise inter alia because of the vast petty production sector, for which we do not have reliable, regular and timely data. In India, for instance, several economists have suggested, though for different reasons, that the measurement of the growth rate of GDP is an over-estimate.

It is also obvious that GDP is no index of national well-being; the most salient reason for this is that the distribution of GDP can be extremely unequal. But the operation of imperialism creates a particular type of dichotomy within a Third World country that makes GDP utterly inapposite for measuring economic progress. Indeed, the GDP serves to camouflage this dichotomy that even has a tendency to grow over time.

Imperialism has two distinct effects on a contemporary Third World economy. Because such an economy is typically located in the tropics, industrial countries require from it a range of agricultural products (quite apart from minerals) that only the tropical land-mass is capable of producing, or producing during the period when the cold temperate regions of the world, which constitute the home base of capitalism, are frozen over.

Thus, other than wheat and corn, imperialism requires a whole range of primary commodities from the Third World, that it can itself either not produce at all in any season, or that it can produce only in its warm season but not in its winter. These have to be imported. But the extent of the tropical land-mass is limited, and since “land-augmenting” practices, such as irrigation, and other technical changes that raise land productivity, typically require an activist State, and capitalism is opposed to all kinds of State activism that supports and promotes not itself but peasant agriculture, such “land-augmentation” is not forthcoming to an adequate degree.

The required supplies of tropical products for metropolitan needs are forced out for exports to the metropolis by reducing their domestic absorption within the Third World. Imperialism, therefore, necessarily imposes an income compression, entailing a demand compression, on the Third World.

One of the main functions of the neoliberal regime is to open up the Third World to the unrestricted exports of such commodities, and, to attain this, to impose demand compression as a matter of routine. Such opening up requires that the peasants’ choice of which crops to grow must be influenced not by considerations of national food self-sufficiency or of local needs, but exclusively by the “market”, which means the pull of the purchasing power of the metropolis.

To ensure this, in Southern countries, all government price support for foodgrains in particular, and stocking of food crops for sustaining the public distribution system must go, and the domestic prices must become aligned to international prices through the removal of all quantitative trade restrictions and the imposition of zero or minimal tariffs. This is exactly what the World Trade Organisation seeks to ensure. At the same time very high direct cash subsidies to their own agricultural producers of foodgrains and cotton continue to be given by industrial countries, labelling these as ‘non-trade -distorting’.

If there is insufficient supply of crops that the metropolis wants to import, then inflation ensues, to counter which demand compression measures are imposed as a matter of routine which necessarily restrict domestic demand, and lead to greater supply for the metropolis. The overall effect of the neoliberal regime through all these mechanisms is to reduce the net per capita foodgrain availability in the Third World, and to make the land grow crops instead that are demanded by the metropolis. This is exactly what we observe.

There is a second impact of imperialism on Third World countries. This arises from the fact that colonial deindustrialisation had left these countries with massive labour reserves which kept the real wages tied to a bare subsistence level, even as the real wages within the metropolis kept increasing more or less in tandem with labour productivity.

Because of this widening gap between the wages of the two regions, multinational corporations from the metropolis are now willing to locate plants within the Third World for meeting not the local market but the world market. This relocation of activities from the metropolis to the Third World, especially of “lower-end” or less skill-intensive activities, is not on a scale to absorb the labour reserves, so that the lower real wages continue, exacerbated by the income compression mentioned earlier. But it does become a source of urban growth, including what in the context of the Third World constitutes middle-income employment.

These two effects of imperialism create between them a dualistic structure within the Third World. Colonialism which had created within the Third World “enclaves” where foreign capital operated, had given rise to such a dualistic structure anyway. The post-colonial Third World state that had emerged on the basis of an anti-colonial struggle had been committed to overcoming this dualism. But, the replacement of the dirigiste regime by neoliberalism has re-created this tendency toward dualism within the Third World, with the gap between the two sides widening over time.

To be sure, the gap between the workers in the growing “modern” segment of the Third World and their counterparts in the stagnant or declining segment, such as peasant agriculture and petty production, does not increase. Both sets of workers are victims as much of the massive and growing labour reserves that keep down the real wage rate, as of the demand compression imposed in order to squeeze out the requirements of the metropolis from the tropical land-mass without generating significant inflation.

But the gap between the local big bourgeoisie and upper middle-income professionals engaged in the “modern” segment on the one hand, and the working people engaged in both the modern and the traditional segments, distinctly increases. And this has also a spatial dimension, which expresses itself most clearly in a rural-urban dichotomy.

This growing rural-urban dichotomy is clearly visible in Indian official data themselves. If we take the magnitude of nutritional poverty, defined as access to less than 2,100 calories per person per day in urban India and less than 2,200 calories in rural India, then the proportion of urban population below this norm increased from 57% in 1993-94 to about 60% in 2017-18. In rural India, by contrast, this proportion increased from 58% to more than 80% over the same period. (The National Sample Survey data from which these calculations are made by Utsa Patnaik in a forthcoming book and have since been withdrawn by the Government of India because of what they show). In fact, under the National Democratic Alliance government, which has pursued an aggressive, unashamed neoliberal policy, this dichotomy has greatly widened.

In the face of such a stark and accentuating dichotomy between two segments of the economy, the use of a single hold-all measure like the GDP serves as a camouflaging device. It is not just that growing income inequality makes the GDP an inappropriate measure for economic well-being, a proposition that is readily accepted; but this growing inequality has a spatial dimension, recreating a dualistic economic structure, under the ascendancy of neoliberalism which represents a re-assertion of imperialism. The use of the GDP, therefore, serves to hide this growing structural dichotomy that imperialism introduces. It serves, in short, to camouflage the operation of imperialism.

But that is not all. All preliminary estimates of GDP in India are made on the basis of data for the large-scale sector and the growth rate of the large-scale sector is attributed in many instances to the small-scale sector as a “provisional” step. But this implies assuming that the languishing sector is growing as rapidly as its counterpart, which is a travesty of the truth.