A Single Source of Current Affairs from Newspapers

A blog exclusively for UPSC examination. This is wonderful blog for the current events of national and international importance. It also has compilation of science and technology and social issues. This is all point of view from Civil Services Examination's General Studies papers of both Prelims and Mains. I hope this attempt may reduce load of the candidates and help them in their endeavor to master currents facts. For more details about exam please refere http://www.upsc.gov.in/

Thursday, 2 August 2018

Reconsider ban on oxytocin

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/reconsider-the-ban/article24575834.ece

Saturday, 21 July 2018

Fault lines in a ‘landmark’ judgment

The verdict on the SC/ST Atrocities Act marks the collapse of the constitutional scheme to protect the weaker sections

On July 6, the day of his retirement as a judge of the Supreme Court, Justice A.K. Goel defended the verdict that he delivered on March 20, 2018 for the bench — framing guidelines on how to deal with a person accused under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

He had said, “An innocent should not be punished. There should not be terror in society… We do not want any member of the Scheduled Castes (SCs)/Scheduled Tribes (STs) to be deprived of his rights.” Leaving aside the extraordinary implication of his comments as well as the judgment that the Atrocities Act is creating “terror in society”, no sensible person can question the need to protect those who are innocent from arbitrary arrest.

Before the saga fades from public memory, we must place on record how the Goel verdict symbolises the collapse of the constitutional scheme to protect the weaker sections of society as well as a certain intolerance of persons in high places towards requirements of social justice.

Friday, 20 July 2018

91 new projects to boost State’s irrigation potential

Cabinet clears works under centrally sponsored scheme

The BJP-led State government has received a boost to its electoral prospects, with the Centre clearing 91 irrigation projects for the drought-affected Marathwada and Vidarbha regions.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the implementation of a centrally sponsored scheme to complete 83 minor irrigation projects and eight major/medium projects. The projects are expected to create 3.77 lakh hectares of irrigation potential in the regions, at a cost of ₹13,600 crore. Of this, the Centre will cover about ₹3,800 crore.

Farmers and trade representatives, however, have said much more should have been done in the first phase of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) - Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP), under which the projects have been approved.

Ashish Garde of the Marathwada Chamber of Commerce said, “While it is a welcome move that the Centre is chipping in with funding for irrigation projects, the sentiment here is that the parameters are a bit lopsided. For example, Vidarbha has got better project funding because of the higher number of farmers’ suicides as opposed to Marathwada. They could have done more in the first phase of PMKSY.”

Overall, the Centre has shortlisted 132 projects under PMKSY in the State’s drought-prone talukas: 98 in Vidarbha and 34 in Marathwada, with an assurance of ₹4,098 crore and ₹3,090 crore, respectively. Another 67 drought-prone area projects (DPAPs) have been approved in districts where there have been several farmers’ suicides.

Following the CCEA’s decision, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis tweeted: “Thank you @narendramodi ji & Union Minister@nitin_gadkari ji for Cabinet decision of 25%share by GoI in completion of 91pending irrigation projects in Vidarbha,Marathwada&other drought prone districts.”

Senior officials said they have already pointed out to the Centre the desperate need to increase Maharashtra’s irrigation potential, currently pegged at 18%. The State has also requested central aid for the long-pending Ghosikhurd irrigation project and the Tapi recharge irrigation project.

Senior NCP leader Nawab Malik said, “The State has not created any substantial irrigation potential under this government. All they have done is give revised cost approvals to projects worth ₹40,000 crore.”

The Centre has said utilisation of the irrigation potential created by the projects will generate more employment opportunities through increase in cropping intensity, change in cropping pattern, and agro-processing and other ancillary activities.

The projects under the special package are separate from the 26 major/medium projects in the State funded under the PMKSY-AIBP. With the potential of 8.501 lakh hectare, these projects are slated to be completed by December 2019. The works will be monitored by the State and Central Water Commission, officials said.

Highhanded bureaucrats: panel to suggest amendments

Pending breach of privilege motions will be cleared within 15 days, says Fadnavis

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday announced the formation of a joint committee of members from both Houses to discuss amendments to the law for a better control of public officials.

On Wednesday, MLAs across parties demanded that the amendments, which raised the prison term for causing hurt to deter a public servant from discharging duty from two years to five years and made the offence cognisable and non-bailable, be repealed. The government had brought these amendments to Sections 332 and 353 of the Indian Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure (Maharashtra Amendment) Act, 2017.

Report in three months

“The opinion about the amendments has changed. Now we need to discuss as to what should be done. We will go by the law. The joint committee will discuss and recommend new amendments and submit its report within three months,” Mr. Fadnavis said.

The CM clarified that directions have been given to the bureaucracy to treat elected representatives with utmost respect. “Officers come to the position by clearing just one examination, but elected representatives face people’s tests every day. They have to live up to their expectations.”

Referring to the pending breach of privilege motions, Mr. Fadnavis said all will be cleared within 15 days. “Also a committee of the members of the Assembly will be set up to discuss such issues and suggest actions,” he said.

CM announces 16% reservation in govt. jobs for Marathas

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/cm-announces-16-reservation-in-govt-jobs-for-marathas/article24465742.ece/amp/

Art reflects Faith at Sithannavasal

Sithannavasal is special for its history, murals and architecture

It is 10 in the morning and the sun is shining down on us benevolently as we begin the ascent on the 70m-high rock, out of which the Sithannavasal Jain Temple, in Pudukottai District, is carved. The climb is easy because of the low height of the steps. Known as Arivar Koil (Temple of Arhats), the temple atop the rock has a humble façade.

According to the prominent board placed at the entrance, the temple was excavated in the early seventh century and renovated by Ilan Gautaman, (probably referred to as Tiruvasiriyar), during the rule of Pandya King Sri Vallabha.

Damaged murals

The steps lead to a rectangular mandapam or hall, where two carved pillars and two pilasters stand. King Vallabha and the queen are depicted as paying respect to the guru, Ilan Gautaman. The side walls in the mandapam have bas-relief figures. The murals on the ceiling are severely damaged, but paintings of birds, man, animals, fish, and lotus tank are lucid, as if highlighting the Samavasarana faith in Jainism.

The vegetable colours of black, green, yellow, orange, blue and white, which have been used in these paintings, are still intact and are found to be akin to those adorning the Ajanta Caves! How did they learn the lasting property of vegetable colour and use it to such perfection? These should easily be among the best examples of medieval paintings! As Paramasivam, who introduces himself as the caretaker of the temple explains, we listen with rapt attention.

“The entire temple has been carved out of a rock one and half metres long,” he adds. As we drink in the diligence and skill of those who created the beautiful monument thousands of years ago, we also rue the fate of the beautiful murals that have been peeled out by vandals. The defacement is appalling!

The temple faces west and in the small, square-shaped sanctum sanctorum is Parshvanath, the 23rd Thirthankara, in a meditative pose, with a five-hooded serpent above his head, and the figure of a saint in a niche.

Our attention is also drawn to reliefs of Jain Acharyas on the wall and the carved wheel (‘Dharma Chakra’) in the ceiling. Paramasivam says that when he stands at certain spots in the sanctum, he can hear some kind of humming sound and demonstrates it. We are impressed, because it is more like the sound of ‘Om.’ We learn that only when you utter ‘Om’ inaudibly do we hear an audible echo! Indeed Sithannavasal is a rich and unique heritage site where art and religion blend beautifully. However, there’s very little information at the place to give us a clear picture of its greatness!

The Jain shelter

Nearby is Ezhadipattam, which Jain ascetics used as shelter. But it is quite a climb! Seventeen well-polished rock beds (‘samanar padukkai’) are seen.

The names of ascetics who fasted to death are inscribed here. But sadly, the graffiti on the beds have spoilt the sanctity. Though late, authorities have woken up to the damage and Ezhadipattam has been fenced.

Yet a lot needs to be done. Replacing the dull, grilled partition that runs from one end of the temple to the other as a protective shield, with artistic doors and lattices, for instance!

The art of utterances

Vaikhari’, a film on the concept of padhant to be screened, while ‘Paraspar’ will bring together Baul and Odissi

Vaikhari, a film produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust and directed by Lubdhak Chatterjee under the guidance of Guru Parwati Dutta, will be screened at India Habitat Center, New Delhi, on July 26, 7 p.m. A part of the Habitat Film Appreciation Forum, moderated by filmmaker Aparna Sanyal, the film revolves around the concept of ‘padhant’ (utterances) taking inspiration from nature, sacred spaces, Pakhawaj, Dhrupad and silence (Trailer link: Vaikhari Parwati Dutta ).

Vaikhari, which in Sanskrit means intelligent and articulate utterances, primarily focusses on ‘padhant’ which is the art of recitation of mnemonic syllables used in Hindusthani Classical Music and Dance. The film incorporates different artistic streams in allusion to padhant thereby aiming at a profound aesthetic experience of rhythmic utterances in its multiple manifestations. Kalidasa’s Meghdootamserves as a template for narrative development while creating a realm of different temporal designs fabricated by various rhythmic elements (percussion, dance) where padhant lies at the nucleus of artistic expansion.

Musical dialogue

Paraspar, a musical dialogue between Baul sangeet of Parvathy Baul and Odissi nritya of Parwati Dutta on the occasion of Ashadhi Ekadashi on July 23 (7 p.m.), Rukmini Sabhagriha, MGM, Aurangabad.

Presented by Mahatma Gandhi Mission, the evening of soulful music and dance based on Krishna consciousness is open to all.

Bauls were mystic minstrels of West Bengal. Parvathy has not only kept the tradition alive but has popularised this music across the world. She has participated in several festivals; making the audience understand the spirit and essence of her music.

Parwati Dutta, an exponent of Odissi, who also runs a gurukul ‘Mahagami’ near Aurangabad, believes in the wholesome understanding of art. She conducts regular workshops, seminars, film screenings and performanaces by various artistes for young learners to imbibe the aesthetics in the truest sense.

Making Kabir your own

https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/making-kabir-your-own/article24461054.ece/amp/

Language the hands speak

The hastas create an energy field with the ultimate goal of a higher state of consciousness

Naadi means river just like Nadi, and is extended to include other currents and courses, such as those of the bio-energy and the pulse. There are said to be seventy-two thousand naadis in the human organism. They are the pathways of Prana Sakti or life force. The human body is conceived of as a tree — the root is at the top of the head, and it ramifies downwards. The Sushumna channel is at the centre between the left and right channels or Naadis (Ida and Pingala). Ida belongs to the moon, the emotional and intuitive, the feminine aspect and Pingala to the sun, the logical, the masculine aspect.

In dance, while the left is active during Abhinaya, which is composed with insightful sensitivity to the plot of the play, the right is dynamic during Nritta which is composed with analytical and mathematical calculations as the spectacular element. In the state of a freeze, Nishanna, there is the merging of duality of Ida and Pingala energies into the Sushumna which is stable, observing and resting. Then the vibration restarts.

Mudras are sacred ritual gestures or hand positions. When used in dance they become an elaborate hand language called Hastas. They create an energy field with the ultimate goal of a higher state of consciousness. By harnessing the energies of the body, emotions and mind, one realises not the end in itself but a potent means to the ultimate goal of realising the true nature of reality.

Temple worship gestures have a definite structure and purpose and are generally practised in silence. Some of the priests have 16 gestures to denote the Vedic texts. The Mudras are especially subtle as they follow also a musical notation or sound — Sabda Nada and are coherent with Mantra, the magical formula.

The aesthetic Hastas in dance have a close connect with the ritualistic Mudrās. In dance and drama, which is for public consumption they are more elaborate, with better clarity and simultaneously have a lot of expressive use. The science and art of dancing have adapted only these worshipful and life invoking Mudrās, which have to be practised in privacy. The dance gestures, however, hold no secrecy and whatever healing potential they create is spontaneous in the dance execution.

In Bharatanatyam (which follows Abhinayadarpana for hand gestures besides Natya Sastra) and Kathakali and Mohiniyattom (which follow the Hastalakshanadeepika), it is generally observed that the Hastas are held with more firmness while in Kathak and Manipuri, they are comparatively held soft. In general, during Nritta, they are held tight while in Abhinaya, they are offered fluidity for expression of the story. Bharata has nowhere forbidden new symbols and gestures for new ideas. There is ample room for the exhibition of Manodharma (aesthetic creativeness).

Hastas get added appeal when the hands in dance are painted. The decoration of the dancer symbolises the elements, sun, moon and planets with the designs and motifs. The bells on the feet suggest the bells in the temple sanctorum. The dancer literally performs the role of a priest, worshipping with hand gestures and offering the self before the Lord. The Yantra here is the body-mind-spirit called Kumbha and refers to an overflowing pot or a body filled with devotion and knowledge. So, the nectar of the Kumbha manifests in the dance form, meaning it liberates us while we are still living.

The author is a Bharatanatyam exponent and researcher

Pleasing tunes of Pepa - This traditional instrument of Assam is played during Bihu and other festivals

This traditional instrument of Assam is played during Bihu and other festivals

It is often said that folk dance or music is a perfect representation of a region’s culture and tradition. Combined with rich history, the music, dance and instruments play a vital role in giving a distinct identity to a region. We realised it on our visit to Guwahati last April, a month marked by traditional festivals. We had the opportunity to witness Assamese dance and music performed during Rongali or Bohag Bihu.

Bihu connotes three different festivals — the Rongali or Bohag Bihu, celebrated during the month of April, Kongali or Kati Bihu, in October, and Bhogali or Magh Bihu, in January. Of the three, the Rongali Bihu is the most important one, which marks the Assamese New Year and spring festival.

This is also the time when the traditional musical instruments are played as an accompaniment to different music and dance forms. The most significant instrument is the Pepa. Apart from Pepa, many other instruments such as baanhi, dhol, gogona, taal, toka and xutuli are played during the New Year celebrations and sowing season and at weddings.

During Rongali Bihu, girls perform the Bihu dance, also known as Bihu Naas. Sometimes the Pepa performer sits in the centre and plays the music, while the girls dance around him in a circle. The dhol performers stand outside the circle and play the instrument. The Rongali Bihu festival is celebrated for seven days and is known as Xaat Bihu.

Pepa is a reed pipe that is connected to a buffalo-horn. Also known as pempa, pepati, singra and xuri, it is an aerophone or a wind instrument, usually made with a buffalo horn, with a small bamboo pipe attached to it. Pepa has four parts namely the hing or thula, the reed pipe known as the gofnola or nolisa, supohi or the reed and the mukhoni, which is the mouthpiece.

Three varieties of Pepa are seen in the Assamese traditional music namely, the Gutia Pepa, which consists of all these four parts, the Jur Pepa, where two separate Pepas of four parts each are used, and the Juria Pepa, where there are two separate Pepas with three parts each. They are tied together with a single fourth part which is the mukhoni.

Versions of Pepa

There are two versions of Pepa — single and double. The single horn/bamboo has five or six holes and the dual-bodied instrument has four holes. A metal ring is attached to the opening of the horn that functions both as a mechanical reinforcement and an embellishment. The Pepa is usually under two ft in length, but the size may vary.

Blowing of long notes and use of the trill are common among Pepa players. During Bihu it is performed with the dhol. It is said that Pepa was introduced by the buffalo herders. Legend has it that once the horn of a dead buffalo was found lying on the banks of the Brahmaputra. When a gentle breeze blew, a soft sound started emanating from the horn. This piqued the interest of the local buffalo herder, who was inspired to create the Pepa. The sound of the Pepa used to be heard early morning in the villages of Assam, when the buffalo herders would make their way to the fields. With the decreasing number of buffaloes in Assam, Pepa is now being made of wood, bamboo or cane, instead of the buffalo horn.

The writers are well-known Carnatic musicians

Wildlife scientists satellite-collar a dhole

In a first, wildlife scientists have collared a dhole, the Indian wild dog, with a satellite transmitter to study the habits of the endangered species.

With less than 2,500 individuals surviving in the wild globally, the dhole is already extinct in about 10 Asian countries.

It took a team of scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) over 10 days to to track down a pack of 14 dholes in Bishanpura meadow in the Mukki range of the Kanha National Park. The team tranquilised an adult female, tested its health and fixed a tracking collar around its neck as the rest of pack cautiously observed from a distance.

“We don’t know a lot of aspects of their ecology, which makes conserving dholes far more difficult than tigers,” said Y.V. Jhala, senior scientist at WII.

Conservation ecologists believe the renewed efforts can help protect dholes.

Japanese start-up to deliver ‘meteor showers’ on demand

https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/japanese-start-up-to-deliver-meteor-showers-on-demand/article24464583.ece/amp/

India may lose U.S. trade spat in WTO over export support

Income levels in India had crossed the threshold for export subsidies: Teaotia

Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia on Thursday said there was a “real” possibility that India could lose the trade dispute that the U.S. had filed in the WTO on export subsidies.

This, she said, was because income levels in India had crossed the threshold for exports to be subsidised.

‘Very strong response’

“There is a real possibility that India will lose the trade dispute with the U.S. at WTO over subsidising exports,” she said at an ICC interaction here. However, India has been responding “very strongly” to the U.S. allegations, Ms. Teaotia said.

She said while direct subsidy to exports cannot be given, the government can legitimately support regulatory compliances required in other countries.

“Benefits to services’ exports will remain untouched, and GST refunds to the exporters will continue as well,” she said.

Support for input subsidy is also legitimate, the Commerce Secretary said.

“However, incentive only for exports is not eligible. There must be a cost incurred and then compensation.” The government has already set up an expert group to look at WTO-compliant support to exports, and a draft set of schemes will be announced for discussion, she said.

The U.S., in March this year, dragged India to the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism over export subsidies, saying that these incentives were harming American companies.

Army planned attack on Rohingya

Rights group says Myanmar authorities made systematic preparations for crackdown

Myanmar’s military engaged in “extensive and systematic” preparations for a bloody crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, a rights group said on Thursday, in a damning new report that it says justifies a genocide investigation.

A bloody military campaign that started last August forced some 7,00,000 of the effectively stateless minority over the border into Bangladesh, where they have recounted allegations of rape and extrajudicial killings.

The UN and the U.S. have called the campaign ethnic cleansing. Myanmar denies the accusations, saying it was responding to an attack by Rohingya militants.

But Fortify Rights said its report, based on months of research in Myanmar and Bangladesh and hundreds of interviews with both victims and authorities, found that security forces disarmed Rohingya civilians and trained non-Rohingya communities to fight. The army also cut off food aid from Rohingya and removed fencing from their homes for a clearer line of sight.

“Myanmar authorities made extensive and systematic preparations for the commission of mass atrocity crimes against indigenous Rohingya civilians during the weeks and months before Rohingya militant attacks on August 25, 2017,” Fortify said.

The report also said that the August attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which Myanmar has cited as a reason for its counteroffensive, was a far more ad hoc operation than previously believed, and that crackdown plans were already under way.

“This is how genocide unfolds. And this is how genocide has unfolded in Rakhine State,” Fortify co-founder Matthew Smith said.

Lanka awaits experts’ report for India JV

New Delhi is keen on running the Mattala airport in the south despite its loss-making record

The Sri Lankan government is awaiting a report from experts to finalise its joint venture with India, to run the loss-making Mattala airport in the island’s Southern Province.

Once the report is out, the proposal will be taken to the Cabinet for clearance, a top official in the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation told The Hindu.

According to the proposed joint venture between the Airports Authority of India and the Airport & Aviation Services in Sri Lanka, India will own a 70% stake and pump in $225 million to revamp and run the airport, while the Sri Lankan side will invest the balance amount. As per the draft agreement, fine-tuned over three formal rounds of negotiations in Colombo, India will operate the airport on a 40-year lease. “We need to revive this dying airport, which caused a massive loss of rupees 20 billion,” Minister of Civil Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva told Parliament recently.

Getting here was not easy for either side, particularly with opposition forces, aligned to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, staunchly opposing the deal that they claim amounts to the “sale of national assets” to foreigners. Ever since Mr. Rajapaksa built the airport in 2013, at an initial cost of about $200 million — coming primarily from an Export-Import Bank of China loan — the facility has been incurring huge losses and has made international headlines as the “world’s emptiest airport”. In June, Dubai’s flydubai became the last airline to pull out of Mattala, Sri Lanka’s second international airport.

Struggling to repay the $8 billion debt it owes China — mostly from loans taken by the Rajapaksa administration for infrastructure projects — the Sri Lankan government is trying to convert what it calls “white elephants” it inherited, into revenue generating projects.

“The Mattala joint venture will explore options like setting up a flying school, running a training academy, and re-routing air traffic, because the aim is to somehow make the facility commercially viable,” the top official said. However, those at the negotiating table know that it is no easy task.

With a current operational cost of LKR 250 million (roughly $1.56 million) per month, without a single flight, the airport offers little commercial logic. All the same, its proximity to Hambantota, less than 30 km away, where China holds a 70% stake in the massive port it helped build, and a lease spanning 99 years, appears to be reason enough from India’s strategic standpoint.

As part of its ambitious One Belt One Road initiative, China is investing heavily in the southern tip of the island — $600 million to make Hambantota port operational, in addition to the $1.12 billion from the sale of the port, to partly service the outstanding debt.

Meanwhile, India’s well-known strategic concerns here have fuelled opposition from some quarters, including the Rajapaksa camp that is trying to make a political comeback. “India only wants to take charge of the commercial aspects of the airport. They fully appreciate Sri Lanka’s sole responsibility in security matters and have not asked for any role in that,” the senior Civil Aviation Ministry official said.

According to sources in the Sri Lankan government, Colombo has sought a detailed business plan from New Delhi on how it plans to run the Mattala airport. New Delhi too is keen on firming up the deal. During his recent visit to the island, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale urged Sri Lankan authorities to expedite India-assisted projects, including the Mattala airport

A decisive moment in Israeli history: Netanyahu

Law states Jews have a unique right to self-determination

The “nation state law” approved by the Israeli Parliament on Thursday declares that Israel is the historic homeland of the Jews and that they have a “unique” right to self-determination there.

However, a deeply controversial clause that had been seen as more specifically legalising the establishment of Jewish-only communities was changed after it drew criticism, including from Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.

“It is our state, the Jewish state, but in recent years some have tried to question that as well as the principles of our existence and our rights,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after the vote on the legislation, backed by his right-wing government.

He called its approval a “decisive moment” in Israeli history.

A range of Opposition politicians denounced the vote. The head of the mainly Arab Joint List alliance Ayman Odeh called it “the death of our democracy”.

‘Racist law’

Arab Parliament members, who called the legislation “racist”, ripped up copies of the Bill in the chamber of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, after it was passed. “This is a law that encourages not only discrimination, but racism as well,” lawmaker Yousef Jabareen said.

Arab citizens account for some 17.5% of Israel’s more than eight million population. They have long complained of discrimination.

Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, called the legislation a “dangerous and racist law” that “officially legalises apartheid and legally defines Israel as an apartheid system”.

The sponsor of the law, Avi Dichter from Netanyahu’s Likud party, has said it aims to defend Israel’s “status as a Jewish and democratic state”.

But others pointed out that references to “Jewish and democratic” in earlier versions of the law had been removed and that the law lacked references to equality as specified in the country's 1948 declaration of independence.

Shuki Friedman of the Israel Democracy Institute think tank said much of the law is symbolic, but it would force the courts to consider the country’s Jewish nature and lead to a more “narrow interpretation of Arabs' rights”.

BRICS news portal soon

A decision to establish a BRICS Media Academy and a BRICS news portal were among those taken at the 2018 BRICS Media Forum at Cape Town in South Africa on Thursday.

The Forum, a high-level dialogue among media organisations from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, was held over two days under the theme — ‘Fostering an Inclusive, Just World Order’.

Initiated by Xinhua News Agency, the BRICS Media Forum is supported by Brazil’s CMA Group, The Hindu Group, Sputnik News Agency and Radio and South Africa’s Independent Media. The Forum was attended by 38 mainstream media organisations from BRICS nations, including five from India.

The Forum, which opened on former South African President Nelson Mandela’s 100th birth anniversary on July 18, unanimously agreed to adopt the Cape Town Declaration 2018.

It pledged to strive to create a media landscape that upholds the integrity of news that is created and shared through the BRICS nations. It also committed itself to limit the spread and effect of fake news and increase people-to-people exchanges between journalists and others employed in the media.

The 2018 BRICS Forum was co-hosted by Iqbal Surve, Chairman of the Independent Media Group, and Cai Mingzhao, President of Xinhua News agency.

Assam Cong. seeks Central intervention to end NRC ‘bias’

Claims specific input about large-scale exclusion of Indians

The Congress has sought Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s intervention in stopping an allegedly biased Assam government from deleting lakhs of Indian citizens from the process of updating the Supreme Court-monitored National Register of Citizens in the State.

The first draft containing the names of 1.9 crore out of 3.29 crore applicants was published on December 31 last year. The second and final draft is scheduled to be published on July 30.

In a memorandum to Mr. Singh in New Delhi on Thursday, Rajya Sabha member and Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president and Ripun Bora claimed “several lakh Indian citizens will find no place” in the draft NRC as the Assam government wanted to misuse the NRC for political gains by “creating religious polarisation”.

Mr. Bora said the APCC has specific information that names of lakhs of people belonging to religious and linguistic minority communities as well as Nepali people will be deleted from the draft NRC. Documents of citizenship of such people were rejected on flimsy grounds deliberately, he claimed.

“It is very surprising that the SC directed to delete names of 1.5 lakh people whose names appeared in the first draft. Apart from putting on hold the names of 1.25 lakh D-voters [doubtful voters] and their descendants, names of some 90,000 declared foreigners and their descendants will not appear in the final draft. The names of another 1.72 lakh people and their descendants whose cases are pending in the Foreigners’ Tribunals will also not appear in the draft NRC,” the APCC president said.

Accusing officers of NRC Seva Kendras of rejecting documents of many people of targeted groups with certain motive, Mr. Bora said many D-voters declared as Indian citizens by the Foreigners’ Tribunals have been marked D-voters again and sent notices.

“Even some families of original inhabitants, freedom fighters and sons of the soil have been made D-voters to deprive them from registering their names in the draft NRC,” he claimed, pointing out that minority people who move to different parts of Assam for work as labourers have been the worst sufferers.

The APCC president said panic has set in among people feeling victimised.

“If, as we apprehend, the names of lakhs of genuine Indians are left out, it will not only be an injustice but abuse of constitutional powers. People will lose faith in the administrative system and some vested interest groups may take advantage of the [insecurity] to create social unrest,” Mr. Bora said.

Fugitive offenders Bill passed

Entire exercise reeks of tokenism and political double-speak, says Tharoor

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, which will now replace the Ordinance by the same name promulgated by the President in April.

“In so many years, we saw that there is a law [to tackle fugitive economic offenders], but the time taken to carry out the due process showed us that there is a need for strict and speedy procedures,” Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said while responding to the Opposition’s objections to the Bill.

“It was necessary to bring this legislation as an ordinance to ensure that this process was not halted, and we show that we are strict about this issue.”

The Bill empowers special courts to direct the Central government to confiscate all the assets belonging to a fugitive economic offender, including those assets that are proceeds of the crime and that do not belong to the offender. The legislation gains importance against the background of high-profile cases where individuals such as Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi escaped the country.

No remedy: Opposition

The Opposition raised several objections to the Bill, including that it did not do any more than what’s already provided for by existing legislation, that the ₹100 crore limit above which the law becomes applicable was untenable, and that the provision in the Bill disqualifying a fugitive economic offender from availing the Indian judicial system for civil cases was unconstitutional.

“I’m sorry to say that there is absolutely no indication in the Bill of a remedy or even a slightly progressive step to address the malaise in our regulatory and financial institutions,” Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor said. “Instead, we have a poorly crafted draft... the entire exercise reeks of tokenism and political double-speak.”

In response, Mr. Goyal said that the ₹ 100 crore limit was placed so that big offenders could be tackled quickly. “Offenders below that limit will continue to be tackled by the existing various laws and courts.”

What is ‘scope neglect’ in psychology?

Also known as scope insensitivity, this refers to a cognitive bias which makes people incapable of properly understanding the size of problems. This can cause their response to problems to be disproportionate to the size of the problems. So even when there is an exponential increase in the scope of a problem, the response of people to the problem may only be linear in nature. This was proved by William H. Desvousges and other researchers in their 1992 study “Measuring Nonuse Damages Using Contingent Valuation”. The researchers studied what people were ready to pay to save migrating birds from devastating oil spills.

Regulating foreign universities in India

An earlier Bill attempted to provide a framework

Reports this year said the government has renewed its push for foreign universities in India. The development comes after the UPA government’s detailed law on foreign varsities, their entry and regulation — the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulations of Entry and Operations) Bill of 2010 — lapsed. This Bill was meant to introduce a comprehensive regulatory mechanism to prevent students from falling for the attractions offered by these establishments.

Due to a regulatory regime or policy, it has been difficult to make a meaningful assessment of the operations of foreign educational institutions. The statement of objects and reasons of the 2010 Bill says that this has given chances to adopt various unfair practices and for commercialisation.

At present, only the All India Council for Technical Education has notified regulations for the entry and operation of foreign universities and institutions imparting technical education in India. The objective of the Bill was to maintain high standards of education. The Bill provided that a foreign educational institution shall not impart education in India unless it is recognised and notified by the Central government as a foreign education provider under the proposed legislation. The quality of education, curriculum, methods of imparting education, and the faculty should be the same as those employed by the institution in its main campus. The institution should maintain a corpus fund of not less than ₹50 crore or such sum as may be notified by the Central government.

The Centre can refuse to recognise and notify a foreign educational institution as a foreign education provider if it is not in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, etc. The Centre can withdraw the recognition and rescind the notification of a foreign education provider on the grounds of violation of the provisions of the proposed legislation or the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, or any other law.

Any person who is associated with an unrecognised foreign educational institution and who offers or gives admission to any person as student, or collects fee or awards any degree, shall be liable to a penalty of ₹10 lakh to ₹50 lakh in addition to a refund of the fee and confiscation of any gains made out of it.

Any disputes under the Bill would be heard under the National Educational Tribunal, also a forum proposed.

Should WhatsApp be held accountable for lynchings?

YES | NIKHIL PAHWA

WhatsApp needs to change its platform to enable messages to be either public or private

Misinformation and propaganda have flooded our messaging apps and little is being done by law enforcement agencies, the government, and WhatsApp to fix this.

Primary responsibility

The primary responsibility to fix this lies with law enforcement agencies. A mob takes the law into its hands if it believes that either law enforcement agencies are incapable/unwilling to help or that its crimes will go unpunished. A lynching is a lynching, whether or not it was precipitated by a WhatsApp forward. Mob violence is not an act of nature: someone leads the mob and there is often politics behind such acts, perhaps even protection.

Law enforcement agencies shut down the Internet to prevent the forwarding of messages and possible riots. In 2017, according to data from the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), India had 70 Internet shutdowns. We’re halfway through 2018 and we have already reached that number. An Internet shutdown is a suspension of the constitutional right to free speech; a disproportionate act of censorship of all speech in response to the actions of a few. The data suggest that there are no shutdowns in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, while smaller towns bear the brunt of such actions. The lack of capacity of law enforcement agencies in smaller towns to deal with these situations is a worrying sign, especially in the run-up to elections. The data also indicate that the States with the maximum Internet shutdowns are where the BJP is in power or in a coalition: Jammu and Kashmir (before the government collapsed), and then Rajasthan, Haryana, U.P. and Gujarat.

State governments need to build law enforcement capacity and ensure prosecution in case of mob violence. A new law covering lynchings will be ineffective if our criminal justice system is incapable of enforcing the law. The Centre needs to do better while engaging with messaging and social media platforms: it took the Information Technology Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, till 2018 to ask WhatsApp about action being taken to address misinformation. This is despite the fact that three years ago, T.N. Seema, a Rajya Sabha MP, had asked the Home Ministry to clarify “the mechanism existing with government to deal with the danger of high-tech rumour-mongering kind of Internet-rumour-bombs which may lead to communal tension and fear among the common masses.”

It is important for platforms like WhatsApp to not be legally accountable for the messages being sent through them. That would amount to holding telecom operators accountable for the calls that you make. However, that doesn’t mean that WhatsApp isn’t responsible for helping ensure that users are held to account for their messages.

What WhatsApp should do

WhatsApp needs to change its platform to enable messages to be either public or private. Messages between individuals should remain private and not be those that can be forwarded. However, if a message creator wants to enable the forward ability of that message, the chat should be treated as public, and attributed with a unique ID linked to the original creator. This will allow WhatsApp to shut down such a message across its network once it is reported, and identify the creator when a court-directed request is made by law enforcement agencies. This will ensure accountability, allow the platform to remain neutral, and ensure that illegal speech is addressed. It’s important to remember that incorrect or false information is not illegal and people could be mistaken. It is messages with incitement of violence that need to be addressed. However, given the apathy from the government, law enforcement agencies, and WhatsApp, there is likely to be more mob violence and lynchings.

Nikhil Pahwa is the founder of MediaNama.com

JAIJIT BHATTACHARYA

The government must educate the public and law enforcement agencies should do their job

We have come to witness the destructive power of social media. The obvious question is, who is responsible for these lynchings? The easiest thing to do is to find the most obvious entity in this chain of malicious videos being spread, and blame that entity. In this case, the entity is WhatsApp.

There is no doubt that mobile messaging platforms are in a powerful position to make significant interventions to prevent mob attacks that are arising out of what they themselves are facilitating. However, messaging platforms are only one actor in the chain of malafide content that is being spread.

Understanding the chain

The chain of malafide content being spread includes people who are creating such content (and are clearly investing significant time and perhaps money in doing this), mobile messaging platforms, people who are forwarding such content, people who are organising the mobs, and authorities who are responsible for maintaining law and order.

Let us look at the chain of spreading malafide content. First, there is a content creator. This is not the first time that mob frenzy has been triggered in India through a mobile messaging platform. A prominent case was in August 2012 when there was mass exodus of northeastern people from Bengaluru. Why did we have such a social media-led panic in Bengaluru? If an adversary is quickly learning how to spread hate from a city to the entire country, as is the case now, it is only a matter of time before the adversary’s next attack is on institutions. That would have a far greater destructive impact on the country. So, would it help if we only forced one mobile messaging platform to take steps to stop the spread of malicious videos? Yes, it may help for now, but the forces that seem to be getting better at social media-led attacks will use an alternative platform, just as they started with MMS for the mass exodus from Bengaluru and then moved to mobile messaging.

We must also keep in mind that India is perhaps the only place in the world where mobile messaging has led to such a widespread mass exodus and lynchings.

Vested interests

Why hasn’t the same happened in other countries? Clearly, one of the reasons is that such behaviour is being engineered by powers with vested interests that are detrimental to India. But there is also the fact that we have some uneducated, underexposed and gullible citizens who are living in a society with deep fissures and mistrust. We also have highly educated people — doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. — who fail to understand the power of technology in creating chaos and who find it hard to differentiate truth from fiction.

It is necessary for the government to urgently educate the public. Similarly, enforcement agencies need to develop standard operating protocols to tackle such situations. Such a step needs to be reinforced by appropriate regulatory changes that make it mandatory for entities in the chain of information dissemination to share appropriate alerts with the law enforcement authorities, in a real-time electronic format.

In the absence of such a regulation, information intermediaries can neither be triggered to act, nor be held illegal for any acts of omission on their part.

Jaijit Bhattacharya is president, Centre for Digital Economy Policy Research

COMPLICATED | MISHI CHOUDHARY

The fixes are available if we can stop the blame game and work together

In the past two months, more than 20 people have been killed in attacks by mobs that have been provoked by messages on social media. Several media outlets are urging for some immediate action against WhatsApp without offering any concrete ideas. The government has warned WhatsApp’s parent company, Facebook, that it cannot evade “accountability and responsibility”. Meanwhile, WhatsApp has offered an award of $50,000 to anyone who can help stop the spread of fake news on its platform.

These cacophonous demands to hold WhatsApp as the sole responsible party for the lynchings underscores a classic response from our society: blame the messenger and avoid looking into the mirror. This problem actually has multiple facets.

Maintaining law and order

First, if people sometimes take the law into their own hands, it is because they believe that the government is unable to prevent violations of public order, that the government cannot investigate or prosecute those responsible and secure justice. Vigilantism is a consequence of this basic failure of the government in India. No government likes to admit that each lynching exposes this fundamental flaw, so it looks to blame other forces when attacks occur. Foreign platform companies are convenient to blame. Investigating those responsible for the crime that occurred in real life, not online, should not be complicated. If the perpetrators are brought swiftly to justice, the message that there is no impunity for mob justice will ring loud and clear. The demands for action should be directed at law enforcement agencies which have the responsibility of maintaining law and order.

Second, the responsibility of WhatsApp should be assessed with appreciation for how the platform actually works. This should not be used as an excuse to break encryption and deprive secure communications to users. There was a legal tussle between Apple and the Federal Bureau of Investigation over access to the iPhone used by a shooter in the San Bernardino shooting in 2015. These tussles between technology companies and the government do not have any good outcomes for the users.

Third, WhatsApp is responsible, as any business must be, for assessing the social risks it creates and for helping manage those risks. Short messaging is an immensely powerful social force, as advertisers, politicians, governments and wrongdoers have all learned. A system that broadcasts intense emotional signals must take account of its effects. That doesn’t mean regulating it out of existence, but we as a civil society have a right to expect careful analysis not only of business opportunities, but also of social needs.

Fixes are available

As a range of organisations led by SFLC.in have pointed out, WhatsApp allows people to be added to groups without their knowledge or consent. This is a bug in the platform that causes increased social risk, because socially inflammatory messaging is easily spread by adding people to groups formed for the purpose of incitement. These are groups that these people would probably never join on their own.

Fixing this will reduce the risks. We shouldn’t need to build a system of intrusive regulation to inspire platform companies — whose every choice of feature or implementation affects the lives of billions of people — to take more care of the consequences of their programme’s behaviour. The fixes are available if we stop the blame game and work together.

Mishi Choudhary is the founder and legal director at the Software Freedom Law Center

Making it difficultto ‘Other’ the Muslim

https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/making-it-difficult-to-other-the-muslim/article24464473.ece/amp/

Lynching & the law

Supreme Court order highlights the bigotry and prejudice behind the mob violence

The Supreme Court order calling for a special law to deal with lynchingsends a strong message about the growing phenomenon of mob violence. From vigilante violence targeting cattle traders in the name of cow protection, it has taken a new turn. While the former was organised vigilantism, the recent spate of killings seemingly comprises impulsive and unplanned acts of violence, fuelled by rumour and panic-inducing social media messaging. Last year the apex court reminded the Centre and the States they cannot remain silent while vigilantes take the law into their own hands in the name of cow protection. It asked all States to appoint nodal officers in each district to curb mobs. While the incidence of lynching and violence committed by self-styled gau rakshaks appear to have reduced since then, the killing and attacks on those mistaken to be child-kidnappers have had a disquieting rise. The police say the circulation of videos and other messages about child-lifters through messaging apps is the main reason. In its 45-page order, the Supreme Court has significantly located lynching and vigilante violence in a socio-political framework linked to disrespect for an inclusive social order, rising intolerance and growing polarisation. There is an implicit indictment of the preponderant mood of the times when it says that “hate crimes as a product of intolerance, ideological dominance and prejudice ought not to be tolerated”.

India to expand polar research to Arctic as well

Three decades after its first mission to Antarctica, the government is refocusing priorities to the other pole — the Arctic — because of opportunities and challenges posed by climate change.

This month, it has renamed the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) — since 1998, charged with conducting expeditions to India’s base stations to the continent — as the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research. It’s also in talks with Canada and Russia, key countries with presence in the Arctic circle, to establish new observation systems, according to a source. Now, India only has one Arctic observation station near Norway.

Along with the Arctic, India’s earth sciences community also views the Himalayas as a “third pole” because of the large quantities of snow and ice it holds, and proposes to increase research spends towards understanding the impact of climate change in the Himalayas. It has already established a high-altitude research station in the Himalayas, called HIMANSH, at Spiti, Himachal Pradesh.

“…The Hon’ble Minister for S&T and Earth Sciences has approved the renaming of National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Goa to National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa,” says a July 5 notification by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

While annual missions to maintain India’s three bases in Antarctica will continue, the new priorities mean that there will be more expeditions and research focus on the other poles, the source. M. Rajeevan, Secretary, earth science ministry, wasn't available for comment.

Climate change, said the source, was a decisive factor in India re-thinking priorities. Sea ice at the Arctic has been melting rapidly — the fastest in this century. That means several spots, rich in hydrocarbon reserves, will be more accessible through the year via alternative shipping routes.

India is already an observer at the Arctic Council — a forum of countries that decides on managing the region’s resources and popular livelihood and, in 2015, set up an underground observatory, called IndARC, at the Kongsfjorden fjord, half way between Norway and the North Pole.

A big worry for India is the impact of melting sea ice on the monsoon. Over the years scientists across the world are reporting that the rapid ice-melt in the Arctic is leading to large quantities of fresh water into the seas around the poles. This impedes the release of heat from the water and directs warm water into the seas around India, the theory goes, and eventually weakens the movement of the monsoon breeze into India. “Therefore we need more observations and stations in the Arctic countries to improve understanding of these processes,” the source added.

House panel concerned over Assam kidnappings

Chidambaram-led committee suspects trafficking link, recommends inter-State probe

A parliamentary standing committee has expressed deep concern over a large number of kidnappings in Assam, mostly of women, and surge in insurgency in Arunachal Pradesh, which it termed as “alarming”.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, headed by Congress leader P. Chidambaram, in its report said that it was deeply worried that a large number of victims who were kidnapped or abducted in Assam before and during 2016 were yet to be recovered.

“Even more worrisome is the fact that a large majority, at more than 81%, of victims are women. The committee is of the view that this may also point towards a connection between such abductions and human trafficking,” the panel said in its report submitted to the Rajya Sabha.

Inter-State probe

The committee recommended that an inter-State investigation may be carried out to find out the reasons for this extremely high rate of kidnappings of women.

Status note

“The committee also recommends that sustained operations must be launched to trace and recover the victims of kidnappings and abductions. The committee desires that the Ministry submit a detailed status note about the action taken to recover such victims,” it said.

Referring to Arunachal Pradesh, the panel said unlike the overall Northeast region, which shows a declining trend of insurgency-related incidents and casualties suffered by the civilians, the State has seen a rise in the number of such incidents.

“The committee is alarmed to observe that in 2012, Arunachal Pradesh accounted for just 5 % of the incidents in the entire region, however, in 2017, it accounted for almost 20 per cent of the incidents in the region,” the report said.

This is an indication of the fact that the security situation has deteriorated in Arunachal Pradesh vis-à-vis in the entire Northeast region, it said.

Agitation over milk prices called off in Maharashtra

State asks cooperative, private milk societies to pay ₹25 per litre from July 21

The Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) led by Lok Sabha MP Raju Shetti announced the withdrawal of agitation by dairy farmers late on Thursday night. This followed the State government’s directive to cooperative and private milk societies to pay ₹25 per litre milk to producers from July 21.

“Since the government has accepted our demand to give ₹25 per litre rate to dairy farmer, we have decided to withdraw the agitation,” Mr Shetti told The Hindu after a meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Earlier in the evening Dairy Development Minister Mahadev Jankar said in the Assembly, “The government has decided to not give any subsidy on packaged milk. For the rest of milk production, the government will give ₹5 per litre subsidy which will be given either to milk collection societies or to the ones which will process the milk.”

This announcement followed a meeting attended by Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Mr. Fadnavis, Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, NCP leader Ajit Pawar, and leaders and representatives of milk suppliers federation.

Following the decision, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis called Mr. Shetti for a meeting to Nagpur.

The farmers had been holding protests across the state since Monday, seeking a hike of ₹5 per litre in the procurement prices.

The impact of the protest was felt in some cities, including Pune, where the supply of milk was partially affected.

At a previous meeting on July 10, the government had announced ₹50 per kilogram subsidy on milk powder produced for export. To avail this benefit the societies will now have to pay ₹25 per litre to dairy farmers.

No effective measures taken to clean Ganga: NGT

https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/no-effective-measures-taken-to-clean-ganga-ngt/article24466806.ece/amp/

Details of 2015 Naga agreement emerge

Framework agreement’ recognises uniqueness of Naga history.

The government has informed a Parliamentary panel that it signed a framework agreement with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) after it agreed on a settlement within the Indian federation with a “special status.”

R. N. Ravi, interlocutor for the Naga talks, told the committee that it was a departure from their earlier position of “with India, not within India,” and that the government called it a framework agreement and signed it. This is the first time that details of the agreement signed at the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 3, 2015, have emerged.

The details are part of the 213th report on the security situation in the Northeastern states tabled by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. The committee was also informed that the “contours” had not been spelt out in the framework agreement that was “just about the recognition of the uniqueness of the Naga history by the Government of India”, and some special arrangements will have to be made for the Nagas.

“On being asked what the special arrangement will be, the Committee was told that with respect to Nagaland...Article 371A of the Constitution makes it clear that they are special and a special status has been accorded to them. A similar kind of status, with some local variation, and some change to the Nagas in the neighbouring States can be explored,” the report said. According to the report, Mr. Ravi also informed the committee that the Nagas had now reached a common understanding with the government that “boundaries of the States will not be touched” and “some special arrangements would be made for the Nagas, wherever they are.”

“The Interlocutor apprised the committee about the broad status of the negotiations that boundaries of any State will neither be changed nor altered. Initially, the Nagas had stuck to the idea of unification of Naga inhabited areas, resolutely maintaining their stand of ‘no integration, no solution.’ However, they have now reached a common understanding with the Government that boundaries of States will not be touched,” the report said. The NSCN-IM has been fighting for ‘Greater Nagaland’ or Nagalim — it wants to extend Nagaland's borders by including Naga-dominated areas in neighbouring Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, to unite 1.2 million Nagas. The Chief Ministers of the three States have warned against any tinkering with its boundaries.

“While briefing the committee, R. N. Ravi, interlocutor for Nagas, stated that the Government has been talking with the NSCN-IM for the last 20 years and their position from the very beginning has been that Nagas were exceptional, Nagas were not Indians, Nagas were sovereign and any settlement could be reached only on the basis of the fact that this is a settlement between two sovereigns“During the course of the last several years, the Government started opening out and reaching out to civil society organisations, Naga tribal bodies and other stakeholders other than the NSCN-IM,” the report said.

Getting the language count right

Getting the language count right

G.N. Devy

JULY 19, 2018 00:02 IST

UPDATED: JULY 18, 2018 23:11 IST

Recent Census data appear to inadequately reflect India’s linguistic composition, and are inconsistent with global ideas

The story, “Death of Jagmohan, the Elephant”, by Bengali writer Mahasweta Devi, is about the death of an elephant. For a reader, the story may appear to be about a rather “big death”, but what the writer wanted to say was that there are also many “small deaths”. They include the deaths of Dalits and tribals who are trapped by hunger and humiliation. Anonymity surrounds them and our lack of compassion gives them finality.

The death of a tree or a forest sacrificed at the altar of development is mourned but not spoken about. Similarly, the death of a language is literally shrouded in silence. Because of its nature, a language is not visible and fails to move anyone except its very last speaker who nurtures an unrequited hope of a response. When a language disappears it goes forever, taking with it knowledge gathered over centuries. With it goes a unique world view. This too is a form of violence. Large parts of culture get exterminated through slight shifts in policy instruments than through armed conflicts. Just as nature’s creations do not require a tsunami to destroy them, the destruction of culture can be caused by something as small as a bureaucrat’s benign decision. Even a well-intentioned language census can do much damage.

Over the last many decades, successive governments have carried out a decadal census. The 1931 Census was a landmark as it held up a mirror to the country about the composition of caste and community. War disrupted the exercise in 1941, while it was a rather busy year for the new Indian republic at the time of the 1951 Census It was during the 1961 census that languages in the country were enumerated in full. India learnt that a a total of 1,652 mother tongues were being spoken. Using ill-founded logic, this figure was pegged at only 109, in the 1971 Census. The logic was that a language deserving respectability should not have less than 10,000 speakers. This had no scientific basis nor was it a fair decision but it has stuck and the practice continues to be followed.

Hits and misses

The language enumeration takes place in the first year of every decade. The findings are made public about seven years later as the processing of language data is far more time consuming than handling economic or scientific data. Early this month, the Census of India made public the language data based on the 2011 Census, which took into account 120 crore speakers of a very large number of languages. The Language division of the Census office deserves praise but the data presented leaves behind a trail of questions.

During the census, citizens submitted 19,569 names of mother tongues — technically called “raw returns”. Based on previous linguistic and sociological information, the authorities decided that of these, 18,200 did not match “logically” with known information. A total of 1,369 names — technically called “labels” — were picked as “being names of languages”. The “raw returns” left out represent nearly 60 lakh citizens. And because of the classification regime, their linguistic citizenship has been dropped.

In addition to the 1,369 “mother tongue” names shortlisted, there were 1,474 other mother tongue names. These were placed under the generic label “Others”. As far as the Census is concerned, these linguistic “Others” are not seen to be of any concern. But the fact is that they have languages of their own. The classification system has not been able to identify what or which languages these are and so they have been silenced by having an innocuous label slapped on them.

The 1,369 have been grouped further under a total of 121 “group labels”, which have been presented as “Languages”. Of these, 22 are languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, called “Scheduled Languages”. The remainder, 99, are “Non-scheduled Languages”. An analysis shows that most of the groupings are forced. For instance, under the heading “Hindi”, there are nearly 50 other languages. Bhojpuri (spoken by more than 5 crore people, and with its own cinema, theatre, literature, vocabulary and style) comes under “Hindi”. Under Hindi too is the nearly 3 crore population from Rajasthan with its own independent languages. The Powari/Pawri of tribals in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh too has been added. Even the Kumauni of Uttarakhand has been yoked to Hindi. While the report shows 52,83,47,193 individuals speaking Hindi as their mother tongue, this is not so. There is a similar and inflated figure for Sanskrit by counting the returns against the question about a person’s “second language”.

English use

As against this, the use of English is not seen through the perspective of a second language. Counting for this is restricted to the “mother tongue” category — in effect bringing down the figure substantially. Given the widespread use of English in education, law, administration, media and health care, a significant number of Indians use English as a utility language. To some extent it is the language of integration in our multilingual country. Therefore, isn’t the Census required to capture this reality? It can, given the data on the language of second preference, but it does not for reasons that need no spelling out. So the Census informs us that a total of 2,59,678 Indians speak English as their “mother tongue” — numerically accurate and semantically disastrous.

The language Census may not attract as much attention as news about fuel prices. But in the community of nations, the Indian census is bound to be discussed. A body such as UNESCO will look at it with interest. From the 1940s, when its General Council decided to establish a Translation Bureau to years later, in 2008, when its Executive Board debated “Multilingualism in the Context of Education for All”, UNESCO has progressively developed its vision and deepened its understanding of global linguistic diversity.

Focus points

From time to time, UNESCO tries to highlight the key role that language plays in widening access to education, protecting livelihoods and preserving culture and knowledge traditions. In 1999/2000, it proclaimed and observed February 21 as International Mother Language Day, while in 2001 the ‘Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity’ accepted the principle of “Safeguarding the linguistic heritage of humanity and giving support to expression, creation and dissemination in the greatest possible number of languages.” In pursuit of these, UNESCO has launched a linguistic diversity network and supported research. It has also brought out an Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, which highlights the central place of language in the world’s heritage. Is our language census consistent with these ideas and principles?

One expects that the Census in India should adequately reflect the linguistic composition of the country. It is not good practice when data helps neither educators nor policy makers or the speakers of languages themselves. The Census, a massive exercise that consumes so much time and energy, needs to see how it can help in a greater inclusion of the marginal communities, how our intangible heritage can be preserved, and how India’s linguistic diversity can become an integral part of our national pride.

G.N. Devy is a literary critic and a cultural activist. E-mail: ganesh_devy@yahoo.com