The Modi Years: Dismantling Democracy, Brick by Brick

HINDUTVA IS FASCISM

Among some of Modi’s firsts, his 10-year regime was marked by the shortest Lok Sabha sittings, endless judicial interventions, Supreme Court strictures, gubernatorial meddling and FCRA cancellation of 20,000 NGOs.

A selfie point featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi installed at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus railway station in Mumbai in August. Image Courtesy: Twitter/ @Central_Railway 

P Raman | 27 Mar 2024

Let’s begin with Parliament, which is the foundation of what Narendra Modi describes as the ‘Mother of Democracy.’ During the G20 Summit in India, a booklet was published and an exhibition was held on the virtues of democracy.

The visuals of Modi kneeling at Parliament’s doorstep when he first entered the building as Prime Minister in May 2014 are still fresh. He broke down and was in tears. 

Then, during his second tenure, Parliament was shifted to a new magnificent building, which the Prime Minister — not the President who, along with the two Houses constitute Parliament — inaugurated in September last year with great pomp and show.

All such song and drama was to conceal a harsh truth: the Modi regime’s consistent attempts to devalue Parliament as the powerhouse of a vibrant democracy.

The Prime Minister’s Office answered just 13 questions in Parliament till 2022, as compared to Manmohan Singh’s 85 questions during the 10 years of the United Progressive Alliance government.

Let’s look into how during the Modi decades, Parliament lost its role as a forum of deliberative democracy. 

• As per PRS Research, the 17th Lok Sabha was the shortest since 1952. Of the Lok Sabhas that completed full term, the 16th House (also under Modi) had just 331 sittings, the lowest number. 
• Modi’s 17th Lok Sabha had the lowest number of Bills subjected to committee scrutiny — 37 of 210 Bills or 17.6 %. It was 25% during the 16th Lok Sabha. No Bill was referred to committees during the last Winter session of Parliament. The figures for the previous Manmohan Singh decade were 60% and 70%, respectively. This sharp decline shows the present regime’s disdain for scrutiny.
• Similarly, there was a big fall in the number of short duration discussions during the 17th Lok Sabha. Such discussions allow members to express their views.
• The 17th Lok Sabha was without a Deputy Speaker throughout its tenure.
• For the first time, Parliament under Modi witnessed a record number of arbitrary suspensions — almost 20 % of the Lok Sabha during the Winter session.
• The PM himself was present in the Lok Sabha for just four hours during 2021.

All his predecessors, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, made it a point to be present during all important days, often taking notes and intervening in debates.

Independent India has never gone into general elections with so many Opposition state ministers, including a Chief Minister, political workers and social activists, humanitarian workers and media persons languishing as undertrial prisoners. Many were in jail for over eight years. Octogenarian Father Stan Swamy died in prison, while it was Supreme Court that freed an ailing Varavara Rao (in the Bhima Koregaon case). Activist Gautam Navlakha’s term in the same case was reduced to house arrest on court orders.

Former JNU scholar Umar Khalid, for instance, has had 14 adjournments in SC, and was forced to withdraw his bail petition from the top court and go back to the trial court.

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soran is in jail. The Enforcement Directorate is gunning for another CM, Arvind Kejriwal, who has also been put in jail. The Modi regime has put several senior opposition state ministers in jail in different states on charges filed by ED/CBI.

Like a true elected authoritarian, the incumbent PM has changed the whole ecosystem of governance, brick by brick, grabbing for himself the control of all levers of administration.

Let’s look at what happened during his 10-year rule:

• No PM in India has himself laid so many foundation stones and inaugurated so many projects as Modi: Each of the 82 Vande Bharat trains, many physically and some virtually, Na Mo Bharat trains,, every Central project in states, including defence, even the ordinary launches. He himself announced the names of India’s astronauts and stole the limelight.
• No regime in the past has arm-twisted the judiciary so brazenly. Barely three months after coming to power, Modi tried to snatch the power of appointments and transfer of judges to himself by passing the National Judicial Appointments and Transfers Bill in August, 2014. But the Supreme Court struck it down and restored the collegium system.
• The Modi regime tried to frustrate the collegium system by resorting to a ‘pick and choose’ approach to notifying the names recommended by the collegium. At times, around 50 names recommended by the collegium were pending with the government. The Supreme Court had to come down hard.

 The government even tried to manipulate the roster system allegedly to tweak verdicts in its favour.

• India has never witnessed so many public interest litigations in Supreme Court and High Courts — a clear symptom of the excesses or inaction by the Modi government. Aggrieved citizens are left with no way but to knock at the judiciary’s door. Every other day, the Supreme Court and high courts intervene, sometimes favourably, and often justifying the government.
• Another first for Modi was his attempt at politicisation of the armed forces. Last year’s Combined Commanders’ Conference was held not at military station but at the Kushabhau Thakre Centre, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) idol Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as the backdrop. Next to the gate of the venue was a big picture of Modi flanked by Rajnath Singh (Defence Minister) and the then Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. 
• Last year, 822 Modi selfie points were put up at different points in military establishments. This was on orders by the Defence Ministry. This had never happened in the past.
• We have already dealt with systematic cult creation by setting up Modi colleges, schools, NaMo lotus, NaMo trains, temples, Modi chalisa and naming welfare schemes after him. A Modi critic-turned cheer leader has also mooted establishing Modi study centres in every district in India. Now someone in Maharashtra, hold your breath, is working on a ‘Modi script.’
• If encounter killing is an old practice, bulldozer justice, bulk closure of madrasas and attacks on Muslim establishments are Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s innovation to target minorities. Other BJP-ruled states, like Madhya Pradesh, are also vigorously adopting these methods. The latest entrant in this “extra-judicial punishment” is cancellation of passports and visas of supporters of the protesting farmers.
• Modi’s other record relates to the harassment of political rivals and minorities. The Lok Sabha was told that 8,947 people were arrested, 701 cases of sedition were registered under the anti-terror UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) and 5,024 cases filed under UAPA between 2018 and 2022. This does not include arrests by ED, NIA, CBI, tax department and the now the narcotics board.
• Modi has broken all records in personal publicity at the Central and BJP state governments’ expense. Even in normal times, it is routine to carry full-page or half-page ads in print media and digital media. With elections too close, the second week of March witnessed a sudden spurt in advertisements with Modi’s pictures (on March 10, Times of India had seven pages and Indian Express six pages). On March12, six full pages in IE and seven pages in ToI). There are also plans for massive outdoor displays like hoardings.
• Now we are told that at least 10 Bollywood films, including the just released Article 370, amplifying Modi’s image are set to swamp the theatres all over the country — just in time for the elections.

Wait for more such big budget propaganda.

• Never in the past has the Centre so blatantly let loose Governors on Opposition state governments. They have harassed the states by withholding Bills passed by the Assemblies, thus necessitating Supreme Court intervention. This has happened in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. They have dismissed Vice-Chancellors, which has led to protests in every Opposition state, including West Bengal. Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan also indulged in street fighting.
• Another first for the Modi government: Every NGO and think- tank that dares to criticise his government’s actions has faced ire. This includes the prestigious Centre for Policy Research. Some had to close down. The FCRA (Foreign Currency Regulation Act) licences of a record number of 20,000 NGOs and think-tanks have been cancelled.
• For the first time in India, the Modi regime’s tax officials arbitrarily seized Rs. 64 crore from the main Opposition party’s bank account. This poll-eve swoop was on the premise of a delay in submitting accounts. As expected, the income tax appellate tribunal refused to intervene. This raises the question: Why were BJP and its allies spared of similar action.

This was followed by the seizure of a Rs. 10.29 crore draft linked to the Trinamool Congress by ED involving a business group. The next target was Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD. The ED arrested Lalu Yadav’s ‘associate’ Subhash Yadav in connection with alleged money laundering and seized ‘unexplained’ cash of Rs 2.37 crore. The Election Commission, unusually, has engaged ED to undertake such pre-poll seizures.

The incumbent PM has an inherent aversion for public scrutiny. Unlike his predecessors, he has never held any press conference or even the annual where media persons used to grill the PM. Instead, arm-twisting media owners seemed to be a preferred option.

• Two years ago, Modi broke a record when he opted for a Rs. 12 crore Mercedes Benz Maybach S650. The other BJP PM Vajpayee was the one who switched from Hindustan Motors’ Ambassador to the armoured BMW7 series. But Manmohan Singh, who took over as PM next, had preferred ordinary cars and allotted the high-end vehicles to tourism and diplomatic pools.
• The Modi regime’s latest target is Google’s Gemini chatbot, the Artificial Intelligence, for describing him as a ‘fascist’. A caller asked the machine whether Modi was a fascist to which it said ‘yes’ in a roundabout way. Then all hell broke loose and the entire government of India machinery targeted its owners who quickly withdrew Gemini from market. 

The list is too long: silencing the statutory watchdogs like CAG  or Comptroller and Auditor general, data fudging the latest being consumer expenditure survey figures, imposing PM schemes that are in concurrent list on states, starving Opposition states of funds and so on.

The writer is a veteran journalist. The views expressed are personal.

HINDUTVA IS FASCISM

Bihar: Ruling BJP Candidate List Shows Party Continues to Rely on Upper Castes

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In the party's list of 17 candidates for Lok Sabha 10 belong to upper castes, which is nearly 60% of its total candidates.

Patna: For Bihar's ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), the upper castes matter more than others. This is clear as the saffron party has played a calculated caste card in selecting candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

In the party's official list of 17 candidates, 10 belong to the upper castes, which is nearly 60% of its total candidates.

BJP has been contesting 17 of 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state and its allies, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United is contesting 16 seats, Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) five seats and one seat each by HAM of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and RLM of former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha.

While BJP might be displaying its love for OBCs (other backward classes) and projecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an OBC leader, the fact is that the party leadership is still banking on the upper caste arithmetic in the state.

A senior BJP leader, belonging to the Bhumihar community, powerful landed upper castes, told NewsClick on the condition of anonymity that this reflects the party's confidence in supporting its traditional base of upper castes, which remains intact in Bihar.

"The party has given more importance to upper castes in its list of candidates. Our party understands that it enjoy overwhelming support of upper castes. The party is dominated by upper caste leaders, whose faces played major role in winning polls", he added.

The BJP leader further claimed that his party had successfully sent a political message by giving majority tickets to upper caste candidates. "BJP has made it loud and clear that it has more faith in upper castes than others", he said.

According to BJP's list of candidates, five  belong to the Rajput caste, followed by two for the Bhumihar caste, wo Brahmins and one candidate from the Kayastha community.

The party has renominated most of its upper caste MPs except Ashwani Kumar Choubey, who is a Union Minister. Choubey is an incumbent MP from Buxar Lok Sabha seat and has been replaced by Mithilesh Tiwari, a young party MLA.

What has surprised poll-watchers is that BJP has not changed its old faces, contrary to reports that new faces will replace them. The party has renominated Union ministers R K Singh from Ara, Griraj Singh from Begusarai and former Union ministers Rajeev Pratap Rudy from Saran, Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib and Radha Mohan Singh from East Champaran.

In the caste-ridden politics of the state, since the early 1990s, the BJP has been substantially relying on the upper caste vote bank and has emerged as a significant party in Bihar that claims to safeguard their interests.

Political watchers say it is well-established that upper castes have been overwhelmingly backing BJP in post-Mandal politics in the state.

Ironically, the population of upper castes has come down in the state after the 2011 census. As per last year Bihar Caste survey report, the population of upper castes, locally known as savarnas, has come down 15.52%, including 2.86% Bhumihar, 3.66% Brahmin,3.45% Rajput and 0.60% Kayasth. The remaining 4.8% are upper castes among Muslims, including Syed, Sheikh, Pathan.

According to the Bihar caste survey, there are 215 castes in Bihar and total population of Bihar is 13.7 crore, that includes 36% Extreme Backward Classes (EBCs,) 27% Other Backward Classes (OBCs),( OBCs and EBCs together account for 63%), 19% SCs (Dalits) and 1.68% STs (Adivasis).

BJP has given ticket to four OBCs, including three belonging to the Yadav caste and one from the Vaishyas. Besides tickets have also been given to two members of the EBCs and only one seat to a Dalit.

Expectedly, the party has not given any ticket to Muslims that has disappointed Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, former Union Minister, and well known Muslim face of BJP.

As per the report,s Chief Minister Kumar’s caste, Kurmi’s, population is 2.87% and his main ally RJD chief Lalu ’s caste, Yadav, is 14.26%, one of the highest among all the castes.

BJP state president Samrat Kushwaha’s caste Koeri or Kushwaha (OBC) population is 4.21%.

The caste survey report revealed that the total Hindu population is 81.9%, followed by 17.7% Muslims, 0.05% Christians,0.01% Sikh,0.08% Buddhists,0.0096% Jains and the remaining from other religions.

"This is nothing new. The BJP has been trying to make a dent in the social support base of the ruling Mahagathbandhan led by Lalu Prasad, Congress, and Left parties. This was made in public when a BJP leader pointed out that the party was worried about consolidating backward castes given an aggressive Lalu Prasad.The BJP had failed in its attempt to make a dent in Lalu's caste votes despite trying time and again. The saffron party promoted Nityanand Rai, who belongs to the Yadav caste, to state-level politics, projected him as a CM candidate and appointed him as Union minister, but that hardly made any difference", said a political watcher.

Lalu Prasad is still considered an undisputed Yadav leader, who has got overwhelming support from the community in consecutive elections.

BJP's major ally, JD-U, has given three of 16 tickets to upper caste candidates. It has mainly given tickets to OBCs and EBCs.

BJP's other ally LJP (Ram Vilas) is likely to give one of its five tickets to an upper caste candidate. The party is yet to officially announce its candidate list.

INDIA

Manipur: Kuki Youth, Women Decide to Boycott Lok Sabha Polls; Call for ‘Meaningful’ Talks for Peace

LOK SABHA IS PARLIAMENT

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The Kuki Zo organisations said the boycott served not only as an expression of collective dissent but also as a plea for urgent attention to the community’s plight.

Sandip Chakraborty | 28 Mar 2024

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Kolkata: Representatives of several Kuki youth organisations, along with a global Kuki women organisation, have decided to boycott the upcoming Lok Sabha, as they feel that their grievances have been overlooked ever since ethnic violence began in Manipur on May 3, 2023.

In a press release, Young Kuki, in the outer Manipur Lok Sabha constituency, said a collective decision had been taken following deep-seated grievances and a series of unaddressed injustices that have plagued Kuki tribes, especially since the violent outbreak.

The release said that this “drastic step” was being in the face of continued violence against the Kuki people, and “impunity of the perpetrators of this violence” from the state machinery of Manipur.

They said the “destruction and displacement, unchecked arms violence, inadequate support for displaced Kukis, unaddressed crimes against Kuki women, defamation by state officials, including the chief minister calling the Kuki tribes monkeys, directly attack our dignity and demand immediate accountability.”

The organisations said the poll boycott serves not only as an expression of collective dissent but also as a plea for urgent attention to our community’s plight.

“It is a call for justice, for the protection of our rights and for the acknowledgement of our existence and sufferings,” said the release adding that the organisations were open to constructive dialogue with Centre, and urged it to engage with the community in “meaningful discussions to resolve these pressing issues.”

A newsletter brought out by the Kiki Zo community, backing the boycott call, said this was the “loudest and clearest way to demonstrate that there is an absence of political representation for the Kuki-Zo people and all is not well with the great Indian democracy.”

Listing details of some reasons for the tribal community’s decision, the newsletter pointed out the lack lack of basic amenities, like proper roads, drinking water, street lights in Kuki inhabited areas,  claiming that “20 of our Kuki-Zo women were raped & killed/ strangled to death/ lynched to death/ shot dead/ mutilated & burnt besides paraded naked, raped, attacked by Meitei mobs; more than 168 Kuki-Zo died and no NIA or CBI enquiry was done…more than 360 Kuki-Zo churches/synagogues burnt” and over 200 villages and 7,000 houses burnt.

Eligible voters among the more than 9,000 displaced people from strife-ravaged Manipur, who are now living in Mizoram, also appear unlikely to be able to vote this year.

The Kuki organisations also pointed out that as the Model Code of Conduct comes into effect, all areas participating in the upcoming elections will be mandated to surrender and deposit their licensed guns to the state police authorities.

“If we are to engage in the election process we would be compelled to comply with the regulations which will leave our frontlines defenceless. Our Village Volunteers will be stripped of the little arms supply they have, rendering them unable to protect our villages and towns from any attacks from the Meitei radicals,” they said.

Highlighting that the “demographic figures are stacked against us, a small community like ours just does not have the numbers to win an MP seat on our own. In the current situation no major party has offered any tickets to any Kuki-Zo candidate, not to mention that a significant part of the Outer-Manipur constituency includes Thoubal and Jiribam, areas that are Meitei-dominated. It is highly unlikely that Meiteis or Nagas will vote for a Kuki-Zo candidate”.

Meanwhile, over 15 Kuki Zo Hmar women organisations also said they would boycott the Lok Sabha polls.

“The crux of our decision stems from the following unresolved issues: the absence of justice for the ethnic cleansing that has resulted in the displacement of over 41,425 Kuki-Zomi-Hmar from Imphal, along with the lack of prosecution for the rape and murder of more than 20 Kuki-Zomi-Hmar women, and 167 confirmed deaths” among others.

They said the “continued negligence of our demand for a separate administration under the Indian Constitution disregards the distinct cultural identity and governance needs of our community.”

Alleging discrimination and disenfranchisement of internally displaced people outside Manipur, they pointed out “there are no special arrangements for internally displaced persons (IDPs) outside the state of Manipur to exercise their right to vote. This discriminatory treatment is a denial of their constitutional rights that are tantamount to their disenfranchisement which will be a blot on the credibility of the democratic process in India.”

“This decision is a call for urgent and sincere engagement from the government with our community to address grievances and work towards a just and equitable solution,” the women’s organisation added.

 

Over 60 Environmental, Social Orgs Seek Ban on Mega Infra Projects in Himalayas

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The ‘People for Himalayas’ campaign also demanded a multi-disciplinary review of all such ongoing projects.

Flooded Teesta river in North Sikkim, Oct. 4, 2023. File Image: PTI

Newsclick Report | 30 Mar 2024

New Delhi: Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, over 60 environmental and social organisations under the banner of ‘People for Himalaya’ campaign have called for a complete ban on all mega infrastructure projects in the Himalayas. These include dams, four-lane highways, railway and hydel projects.

They have also demanded a multi-disciplinary review of all ongoing projects.

The demands are part of a charter of five demands for all political parties, the forum said in an online press conference, reports PTI.

Calling for making democratic decision-making through referendums and public consultations compulsory for large infrastructure projects, the forum said.

Addressing the press conference, Magsayay award winner and climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has just ended his 21-day fast in Ladakh, said: "While industries exploit the riches of the Himalayas, the local people bear the brunt of disasters. The government uses taxpayers' money for rehabilitation efforts, yet those who reap the benefits are not held accountable."

‘People for Himalaya’ has also demanded scrapping of amendments of the Environment Impact Assessment 2020 and of the Forest Conservation Act 2023, strengthening of the EIA 1994.

In his address, Mohan Saikia from the Northeast Dialogue Forum, warned of severe ecological impacts of massive hydropower development proposed on the Brahmaputra river and its basins, without the consent of the local indigenous communities, said the PTI report.

Atul Sati of the Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti and Guman Singh from the Himalaya Niti Abhiyan said the Beas floods and the land subsidence in Joshimath were "man-made, policy-led disasters’, while Vimla Vishwapremi of the Parvatiya Mahila Adhikar Manch, Himachal Pradesh, said pastoralists, landless Dalits and women, who contribute the least to these policy disasters and the climate crisis, are the worst hit, the report added.

“Anmol Ohri from the Climate Front Jammu warned that mindless pilgrim tourism, road construction in glacial regions and riverfront development projects will increase the risk of floods in the region”, PTI said.

The ‘People for Himalya’ campaign was formed early this month after as series of climate disasters have been hitting the Himalayas, such as the glacial lake outburst in Sikkim, the huge cracks appearing in Joshimath, widespread landslides and floods.

A declaration adopted by the campaign pointed out that the climate disasters being seen in recent times were “systemic and policy-induced” and a result of the “historical process of exploitation and governance failure at various levels – global and local.”

 INDIA

Are Left Parties Poised to Win Lok Sabha Polls After Nearly 25 Years in Bihar?

LOK SABHA IS PARLIAMENT

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With strong pockets of influence, the Left parties – CPI(ML), CPI(M) and CPI— are contesting 5 seats as part of the INDIA bloc

Representation image (Credit: Kerala Kaumudi)

Mohd. Imran Khan | 03 Apr 2024

Patna: The Left parties, major allies of Bihar's Mahagathbandhan, a part of the Opposition’s Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), are confident of winning one or two seats in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Bihar. If this happens, it will break the nearly 25-year-old jinx that the Left parties have been facing in winning Lok Sabha polls in Bihar.

Leaders and workers of the Left parties have been campaigning on the ground since the past one month with the sole aim of defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance this time.

It was in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls when Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate Subodh Rai won from the Bhagalpur seat, the last Left party candidate to have been in the Lok Sabha from Bihar. After that, the Left parties contested unsuccessfully in the 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 polls.

This time, the Left parties, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation (CPI(ML), CPI(M) and Communist Party of India (CPI), are jointly contesting the Lok Sabha polls as part of the Opposition INDIA bloc, in contrast to the 2019 and 2014 elections.

"We are sure that Left parties will win some seats this time. People are unhappy and angry over unemployment, price rise, growing disparity and an undeclared emergency in the country,” CPI(M) state secretary Lalan Choudhary told NewsClick.

The Left parties are contesting five of 40 seats in Bihar after the Mahagathbandhan finalised its seat sharing formula on March 29,2024. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is contesting 26 seats and Congress nine seats.

The CPI(ML) is recognised as a potent political force with 11 MLAs in the Assembly and a significant support base across various districts, especially in rural areas. The party had demanded five seats. CPI(M), with two MLAs, had requested four seats, and CPI, with two MLAs, sought three seats.

Among the Left parties, the CPI(ML)is contesting from three seats -- Arrah, Karakat and Nalanda. CPI is contesting from Begusarai, the party’s traditional stronghold and CPI(M) from Khagaria.

The CPI(ML)has fielded Sudama Prasad to contest from Arrah parliamentary constituency. He is a party MLA from Tarari Assembly seat in Bhojpur district. Prasad is contesting against BJP candidate and Union Minister R K Singh, an IAS-turned-politician.

In the 2019 elections, Singh won the seat and defeated his nearest rival from CPI(ML).

The CPI(ML) has fielded former party MLA Raja Ram Singh from Karakat parliamentary constituency, who is contesting against former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, who is the head of Rashtriya Lok Morcha, an ally of NDA.

CPI(ML) has given a ticket to its young leader and first time MLA Sandeep Saurav from Nalanda parliamentary constituency, which is the home district of Janata Dal-United president and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. JD-U has been winning this seat since the late 1990s.

The CPI has fielded former party MLA Awadhesh Rai from Begusarai. He is contesting against BJP candidate and Union Minister Giriraj Singh.

In the previous polls, CPI fielded Kanhaiya Kumar, former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president, who is now a vocal Congress leader. Kumar unsuccessfully contested from Begusarai.

Exactly five years ago, Kanhaiya, then a firebrand CPI youth leader, had attracted a lot of attention across the country when he contested against Union Minister Giriraj Singh, a champion of Hindutva politics.

The CPI(M) has fielded Sanjay Kumar from Khagaria parliamentary constituency.

Left party leaders argue that traditionally, the Left had a sizeable presence in Bihar, with the CPI as a dominant political force. Even now, the Left has certain pockets of strongholds and social support bases that are quite visible during protests and rallies.

Political watchers here said that Left parties collectively have a strong support base in at least a dozen Lok Sabha seats, where they can influence the poll outcome. They also pointed out the significance of Left parties in shaping the balance in favour of or against any candidate in some seats.

‘Modi’s Guarantee’: The Grim Reality of Rural & Agri Workers

Contrary to BJP’s well-oiled propaganda machinery, the past decade of Modi rule has heightened the distress of the rural poor.

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Vikram Singh | 03 Apr 2024| NEWSCLICK

India, the largest democracy in the world, is going for Parliamentary elections very soon. Elections are times when there is an evaluation of the performances of the Government, their promises in the election manifesto, and the implementation of these performances.

Ironically, the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is projecting India as the ‘Mother of Democracy’ but the real issues of voters and citizens and their rights are missing from its election campaign.

In the past 10 years of Modi rule, we have witnessed how a narrative is built by the ruling party using its robust propaganda machinery and corporate-controlled media in favour of BJP. This propaganda is so packaged so well that even well-educated youth and the middle class have become prey to it.

This year, we are witnessing a new term, ‘Modi’s Guarantee’. Citizens are being forced to listen and believe this campaign tagline frequently. Big claims are being made for every section of society under this campaign, with the help of a lucrative digital machinery. Under this shining campaign, there is an effort to bury the reality of the citizens with the help of millions of funds collected from donations and extortion from corporates through the unconstitutional electoral bonds.

Let us make an effort to check some of the claims being made under the ‘Modi’s Guarantee’ campaign for rural and agricultural workers vis-à-vis the ground reality.
‘Modi’s Guarantee’ of Increased Income of Rural Masses

Reality: The neoliberal economic policies adopted by the BJP-led Central government are deepening the agrarian crisis, resulting in huge unemployment in rural India. Coupled with the use of labour displacing technology, manual work in the farm sector has reduced to a minimal level.

The wages for the major agricultural and non-agricultural occupations have declined by 3% per annum from 2013-14 to 2018-19. The main reason for the decline in rural wages were demonetisation, roll out of GST (goods and services tax) and reduction in Budget allocation for many social security schemes, including MGNREGA (the rural job guarantee scheme), and cuts in subsidies.

A sharp deceleration in the growth of wage rates for major rural occupations at the all-India level was seen from the time of the lockdown, but the deceleration had started much before the COVID-19 pandemic, from June 2019.

An ILO (International Labour Organisation) working paper also points to negative trends in the purchasing power of rural Indian wages in recent years. It says, “Drawing on inflation data, together with the rural monthly wage index published by the Indian Labour Bureau, the Ministry of Finance has observed negative trends in the purchasing power of rural Indian wages in recent years. Thus, in its Economic Survey 2022-23, the Ministry highlighted a negative growth in real rural wages (that is, rural wages adjusted for inflation) due to elevated inflation between April and November 2022.”

A recently released study by the Reserve Bank of India has revealed that workers in the three BJP-ruled states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, are getting daily wages much below the national average. The farm workers in Gujarat get a daily wage of Rs. 241.9, which is Rs 100 below the national average of Rs.345.7. Madhya Pradesh has the lowest wage at Rs. 221.9. Kerala pays the highest daily wage to workers- Rs. 764.3 for farm workers and Rs. 852.5 for construction workers.

‘Modi’s Guarantee’: Increased Budget for MGNREGA

Reality: Despite MGNREGA proving its importance for the livelihood of the rural poor and the rural economy, the Modi-led BJP government is working to kill off the scheme. Neoliberal economic policies are the guiding force of the Modi government, which not only consider MGNREGA unnecessary but also a hurdle for the so-called economic growth of the country.

This demand-driven employment scheme has been weakened by the Modi regime through inadequate funding, low wage rates, undermining social audit infrastructure, discouraging both workers and local officials of MGNREGA, and most importantly, the recent changes made in the (online) attendance, (caste wise) fund allocation and ABPS (Aadhaar-based Payment System) wage disbursement. According to data provided by LibTech India, a consortium of academics and activists, as many as 7.6 crore job cards have been deleted from the system over the last 21 months.

The major attack on MGNREGA by the BJP government is the continuous denial for the adequate fund allocation in successive Union budgets. In fact, overall allocation for MGNREGA as a proportion of total budget has decreased. The rural job scheme had 1.98% share of the total budget in 2013-14. This has come down to 1.33% of the total budget for 2023-24. There is zero increase in allocation in comparison to the revised estimates for the current financial year (2023-24).

In the interim budget, Rs 86,000 crore has been allocated for MGNREGA while for the current year, the total expenditure on MGNREGA so far has been ₹ 88,309.72 crore. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development has also observed, “A reduced budget at the outset of the financial year for MGNREGA has a “cascading effect on various important aspects” of the programme and a telling impact on its progress.

As a result, despite guarantee of 100 days of work, the average working days provided under MGNREGA never crossed 50, except in the pandemic year 2020-2021 (51.52 days) under the Modi regime. Last year, the average working days were only 47. This is also resulting in low wages and a huge delay in wages. The average daily wages paid to workers under MGNREGA are Rs 208 in 2021-2022, Rs 216.57 in Rs 2022-23. This year also, the increase in the wages is miniscule and inadequate to fulfil the objective of the scheme.

Section 6 of the MGNREGA Act, 2005, makes a provision that notwithstanding anything contained in the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Central government, may by notification, specify the wage rate for the purposes of the Act which may be different for different areas. The provision further implies that the wages so notified shall not be less than the wages guaranteed under Minimum Wages Act for agricultural labourers.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, in its report (placed in Parliament on February 8, 2024) has recommended that observing the quantum of wages since 2008, it found the wages inadequate and not in consonance with the rising cost of living. At this juncture, agricultural labourers and other labourers involved in masonry/miscellaneous works command a daily wage more than the wage guaranteed under MGNREGA.

Further the committee felt that the need for having a wage guaranteeing rural employment scheme of such a grand scale emanated from the need for providing a sense of security in terms of employment and wage to poor people in rural areas who do not have any other job avenues. The Central government committee on minimum wages, the Anoop Satpathy Committee, had also recommended that the wages under MGNREGA should be minimum Rs 375/day.

The Modi government has completely ignored the findings and recommendation of the Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj and is working in the interest of the big corporates and landlords who are in principle opposed to MGNREGA.

‘Modi’s Guarantee’: Social Security for All Rural Masses

Reality: Under conditions of low income and huge unemployment, the lives of agricultural workers greatly depend on welfare schemes and public sector institutions of the social welfare state. But the entire concept of a social welfare state is unacceptable to both foreign and Indian capital. With the exception of the Left Democratic Front-led Kerala government, the public sector, including health and education, is being heavily privatised, jeopardising our present and future.

The crisis is so acute that agricultural workers are being forced die by suicide. This shows the stressful conditions they are living in. According to the National Crime Records Bureau report last year, 5,563 agricultural workers died by suicide. Overall, 40,685 farm labourers have been forced to kill themselves since 2014. The policies of BJP have miserably failed to address this alarming situation.

‘Modi’s Guarantee”: Equal Share of Resources for All

Reality: There is much hype by the propaganda machinery that all the sections of society are being given their due share of resources. This is not even a gimmick. The most important resource of land, for which landless labourers and other poor have been waiting for years, is being handed over to corporates by the Modi government.

Data from the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) show that about 41% of rural households did not own any agricultural land in 2018-19. Data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) show that about 47% of rural households did not own any agricultural land in 2015-16.

Concentration of land in a few hands remains a grim reality in India’s villages. NSSO data for 2018-19 show that the top 20% of rural households owned 76% of all land. This concentration has risen over the last decades.

The government is pooling land for various purposes in the name of development projects. The primary beneficiaries are the corporates and the acquisition of land is displacing small and marginal farmers. Even agricultural workers are losing their small pieces of land. Farmers are getting some compensation for the acquired land but agricultural workers are losing employment opportunities on this land.
‘Modi’s Guarantee: Empowering Annadatas

Reality: The basic understanding of the Modi Government about agricultural producers is hollow. All their propaganda about empowering Annadatas does not include agricultural workers, the toiling masses involved in manual labour, the primary producers. The most propagated PM-KISAN scheme does not include agricultural workers, who do not receive any assistance from the government. Even the meagre benefits of compensation of crop insurance don’t cover sharecroppers and agricultural workers. Similar is the case of debt and loans.

Read Also: 10 Years of Modi: An Area of Darkness for the Old and Poor!

Pension Scheme: Social Security for Farm, Migrant Workers

Reality: There is no specific scheme of social pension for agricultural and rural workers, except in Kerala where the State Welfare Board for agricultural workers ensures pension for all registered labourers.

The Modi government has created much hype for the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan (PM-SYM) pension scheme launched in 2019. This includes workers of the unorganised sector, including agricultural workers. There is provision for monthly pension of Rs. 3,000 after attaining the age of 60 years. Under this scheme, 50% monthly contribution is payable by the beneficiary. Only 49,25,155 beneficiaries are registered in this scheme but none has availed any benefit due to the age bar.

After the intervention of the Supreme Court of India during the pandemic regarding the plight of migrant workers, the Union government launched the e-Shram portal in August 2021 with an objective to create a National Database of Unorganised Workers but without any specific social benefits. The corporate media also hyped this portal as a ‘big scheme’ for benefits of migrant workers, but in reality not a single worker has yet benefited from this scheme.

The track record of the Modi government for the betterment of the rural toiling masses is dismal. Against the tall claims made by the government, the condition of workers and peasants has deteriorated. The rural toiling masses are sure to give a befitting reply to the BJP government and its propaganda machinery of complete lies and defeat the Hindutva-corporate nexus in the upcoming Parliament elections.

The writer is Joint Secretary, All India Agriculture Workers Union. The views are personal.

PAKISTAN / INDIA

Trade dynamics

Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry 

Published April 7, 2024 

DAWN

FIVE years after World War II, French foreign minister Robert Schuman proposed that the coal and steel industries of France and West Germany be placed under a single authority to prevent another war between the two countries. This ‘solidarity in production’ led to a common market in Europe, and eventually morphed into what became the European Union.

Conversely, in South Asia, mutual mistrust has prevented India and Pakistan from recognising the role of economics in building peace. Should India and Pakistan ever decide to open trade, traders on both sides would have access to vast, teeming markets, creating a win-win scenario for both. However, South Asia hasn’t embraced this logic.

Consequently, intra-regional trade in South Asia has shrunk from 19 per cent in 1948 to 4pc in 1950 to 2pc from 1967 to 1990. Bilateral trade has also been insignificant except for a brief period in 2006-7, when the India-Pakistan peace process was at its peak. In terms of formal trading arrangements, only ad hoc steps were taken. A bilateral trade agreement was signed in 1957, which expired in 1965. A protocol was signed in 1975. After the creation of the WTO, India accorded MFN status to Pakistan in 1996, but withdrew it in February 2019. The unpredictable state of relations has never led to an environment conducive to the expansion of bilateral trade.

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar recently hinted that the government intended to examine trade ties with India. He referred to the concerns of Pakistani traders who had to incur extra freight, transshipment and transportation costs for trade via Dubai or Singapore. This has ignited a media debate in Pakistan and India. Dar’s statement was apparently aimed at indicating the government’s willingness to permit bilateral trade while also testing the response of the Indian government, which has not yet commented.


It isn’t in the interest of Pakistan and India to have conflictual ties.

Those trading houses in Pakistan which favour trade with India argue that it is the end consumers who would benefit most. For instance, during recent price hikes in Pakistan, it would have made sense to import essential food items, like onions, potatoes, etc, directly from neighbouring India to enable our consumers to buy these commodities at affordable prices. Trade with India would also divert Pakistan’s trade with other countries to the region due to lower transportation costs. Even informal trade currently being routed through Dubai would revert to the region. This segment of the trading community feels more confident and is less worried about the influx of goods from India, arguing that Indian goods would find a market in Pakistan only if they were cheaper than the ones imported from other countries, including China. Protecting inefficient domestic sectors should not translate into higher costs for our consumers. All in all, the proponents of bilateral trade point to the economic opportunities resulting from access to a large neighbouring market, saving both our importers and exporters substantial costs.

However, some traders and industrialists are not in favour of opening trade with India. One notable concern is that cheaper Indian goods could flood Pakistan’s market because of the economies of scale and technological advantage, similar to what happened after the free-trade arrangement with China. Another concern is the balance of trade. During 2004-8, when trade with India had soared to $3.6 billion, Pakistan ran a negative balance of trade mainly because of non-tariff barriers that India had imposed.

Notably, bilateral trade was suspended in August 2019 after India annexed the territories of Jammu and Kashmir that were under its illegal occupation. Some an­­­alysts argue that see­king to open trade would be a climb-down from a position Pakistan took to protest Indian actions in Kashmir. True, India has done little to ins­pire good-neighbourliness. However, given the common challenges that remain for both sides, such as poverty, pollution, etc., it is not in the interest of either side to maintain a perpetually conflictual relationship. Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires in New Delhi, speaking at the Pakistan Day reception, aptly remarked that the founding fathers of Pakistan and India envisio­ned amicable bilateral relations. “A cycle of perpetual conflict and tensions, is not our ordained destiny. We can emerge from the shadow of the past and script a future of hope for our two peoples based on peaceful coexistence, sovereign equality and mutual respect.”

India is headed for general elections in April-May this year. Should the Modi-led BJP return to power and seek to normalise relations with Pakistan, a limited and regulated trade opening with India could be considered. To do so, a propitious political environment and a better common understanding of trade dynamics would be required to move in this direction.

The writer is a former foreign secretary.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2024

PAKISTAN
Adventures of the famous six

Abbas Nasir 

Published April 7, 2024

DAWH

THE famous six — no less heroic than Enid Blyton’s Famous Five — write a letter which grabs newspaper headlines and becomes the subject of endless hours on ‘TV talk shows’.

When the Supreme Court takes up the letter, even more news is generated. And then the superior court judges start receiving letters with ‘toxic’ powder in them and yet another topic of discussion is born.

If you find what is written above sort of confusing because it tries to squeeze in way too much in just a few lines, welcome to Pakistan where any week or 10-day period, brings with it so much excitement, generating news stories in print, TV discussions and a buzz on (VPN-accessed) social media, that your head starts to spin. It is symptomatic of a systemic collapse.

Before many commentators, friends among them, who have monopolised the moral high ground these days accuse me of trivialising a very serious issue such as that of meddling, interference in, and intimidation of, the judiciary by the country’s security services in order to secure verdicts in line with the latter’s wishes, let me state unequivocally that nobody in their right mind would try to trivialise an issue of such import.

After all, the rule of law and the dispensation of unadulterated justice must remain the basis of any state’s claim to a democratic status for itself. When the six honourable justices of the Islamabad High Court in their letter to the Supreme Judicial Council asked for an institutional discussion on and response to their serious allegations, it was clear that the chief justice would have to tread with caution.

Our judiciary has been at the receiving end of untold pressure since the country’s inception.

Yes, he needed to tread with caution because in such a charged political environment — where what was expected of him by many liberals in the country mirrored the expectations of those who have called liberals ‘scum’ — there would be immense pressure on him. This pressure would have been compounded by so many commentators calling the IHC Six brave, courageous, intrepid, etc.

My opinion does not count or I would have humbly submitted that braver than their letter was their decision to join the judiciary and take oath as honourable justices in the hope of dispensing justice without fear or favour, despite our history and the ugly ground reality.

The truth is, our judiciary has been at the receiving end of untold pressure since the country’s inception, whether by military dictators, civilian governments or hybrid regimes as all those individuals and institutions which often publicly lament intolerance embody the worst forms of it. The judiciary would normally remain one of the few checks on their conduct but has often been found wanting.

If we were a normal state, political parties would have been in the forefront of the struggle to check excesses and denial of fundamental rights. They would be the standard bearers of the rule of law and constitutionalism. They aren’t. The reason is straightforward.

There is very little democratic ethos in our political parties, even among those who have struggled against military dictatorship in the past. Those who find themselves alienated from the establishment today and at the receiving end of its wrath are, to be honest, no different. They’d give their right arm to be back in favour with those who can pave their path back to office.

As for those parties that are in office (I deliberately refrain from using ‘power’) today, the less said the better. They have compromised on their ideologies and their principles, if they had any, in order to be the beneficiaries of the trappings of office, the razzmatazz, with little at their disposal to make a difference to the millions of poor and dispossessed in the country.

As the recent elections to the assemblies and the Upper House have demonstrated, these political parties have also willingly and happily contributed to the disenfranchisement of at least one of the deprived provinces, and in other instances, facilitated the entry into parliament of individuals representing the interests of extra-parliamentary forces.

The letters addressed to several members of the superior judiciary from the unknown Tehreek-i-Namoos Pakistan gratefully did not contain the initially feared anthrax but investigators confirmed the powder was toxic, with some claiming it was arsenic.

The obvious question that needs to be answered is whether the dispatch of letters to the judges on the heels of the letter by the IHC judges and the Supreme Court delving into the matter were a not-so-subtle warning to keep them away from diving deep into the allegation. Or was it an act of opportunism by a third party to capitalise on the existing tension?

If you ask me my honest opinion, nothing much will emerge from the investigation into the ‘toxic’ letters and our questions won’t be answered. And if some finding is indeed reached and made public, it is likely to lack credibility. I see a similar fate of the Supreme Court suo motu into the six judges’ letter.

The chief justice has hinted at a full court when the hearing resumes in three weeks, yes three weeks, but even that may not ensure progress or dramatic breakthroughs in terms of the allegations. Instead, all a full court may end up doing is to once again shine a spotlight on the differences of opinion among the honourable members of the bench.

I tend to agree with fellow columnist Arifa Noor who has suggested that perhaps one day there is realisation in the centres of power that the cost of maintaining this status quo is getting too high, the challenges too debilitating.

The IHC letter and other gestures of defiance can be likened to one or two or three cuts from among the thousand that may be needed to bring to an end what is unsustainable. We live in hope.

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

abbas.nasir@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2024

PAKISTAN

ASER’s verdict

Corruption is the real malaise that pervades the education sector

Zubeida Mustafa 

Published April 5, 2024 

DAWN

Zubeida Mustafa


WHEN Gen Charles Napier conquered Sindh in 1843, he sent a single-word message to his bosses in London. It read, “Peccavi”, a Latin word that translates to ‘I have sinned’. This was a pun.

More than 180 years later, we learn that Sindh has been ‘sinned’ against once more. How else would you describe the failure of those who control the destiny of this province to empower its children by educating them? This is no exaggeration. A look at the Annual Status of Education Report [ASER] 2023 is enough to inform the reader about the miserable state of education in the province.

Aser is an independent citizens-led group that has been testing children in Pakistan every year since 2008-09 and its results are credible. In 2023, over 1,53,000 children were tested in 274 districts. The findings are shocking.

As has been ASER’s practice, students of Grade III and above were tested by being asked to read a story in Urdu/ Sindhi and a sentence in English, and solve a two-digit division sum of Grade II level. Barely half of the Grade V students tested across the country could give correct answers — 50 per cent, 54pc and 46pc respectively.

Among the provinces, Sindh stood at the bottom rung of the education ladder, with only 39pc, 22pc and 27pc clearing the test. This should give us enough cause for worry. Also disturbing is the steady decline that has been visible in Sindh. Ten years ago, in ASER 2014, Sindh’s children fared much better at 41pc, 23.6pc and 30.5pc.

Corruption is the real malaise that pervades the education sector.

What needs to be done then? At the lau­nch of the Sindh report in Karachi last week, panellists put forward many suggestions that have been made by others as well over the decades. They seemed to be like old wine in new bottles. It would have been instructive to hear the Sindh minister of education on the subject. Unfortuna­tely, he could not attend. Hence we had to be content with the same analyses and remedies that we have been hearing for ages.

Planning is poor. Teachers’ attendance and performance are not effectively monitored. The education budget is insufficient and most of it is consumed by the salaries of the staff. Teachers need training and their numbers need to be increased to make education accessible to all children.

This neglect of details has produced bizarre results. Here is a system comprising 40,382 schools for the entire province. But 89pc of them are primary institutions enrolling children from kindergarten to Grade V. This makes a high dropout inevitable. All students who manage to complete Grade V are not ensured further education as there are only a handful of secondary institutions, which cannot accommodate all of them.

What is worse is that nearly two-thirds of primary schools are staffed by only one or two teachers each. There is no education going on in them even if the teacher is present. Then there are thousands of shelterless schools and teachers who have no schools to report to. This is what the Sindh school census 2022-23 tells us. I have visited numerous such schools over the years. For decades, this paper has been writing about this comedy of errors. The government’s own advisers — be it the legendary Anita Ghulam Ali or Kaiser Bengali — tried hard to make those yielding power see reason.

At the ASER launch, one suggestion put forward was that district education authorities be set up to decentralise the system. On paper this sounds good, but without accou­ntability, it would lead to more corruption. Already the district education officer exercises unparalleled powers in the area of his jurisdiction.

One of them is known to be running his own school and using English as the medium of instruction. There are others running tuition centres. Doesn’t this amount to a conflict of interest? Will the district authorities be able to check corruption, which is the real name of the malaise that pervades the education sector?

Another observation made at the launch event was that political will was needed to reform education in Sindh. Absolutely! That is the real challenge given the fact that exploitative landowners have actually resisted the opening of schools in areas under their jurisdiction. They fear that education would make people aware of their rights and that they would then become more difficult to exploit. The failure of the government to open schools has given a boost to the private sector. Hence the commercialisation of education in a big way.

Can one be optimistic that ASER 2023 is a watershed mark? We will have to wait and see. But we must thank ASER’s team and its driving force, Baela Raza Jamil, for serving as the conscience of the nation and producing this report year after year, when others are making hay when the sun shines.

www.zubeida-mustafa.com
Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2024