India is a diverse economy that encompasses agriculture, agribusiness, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of services sectors, categorized under private and public sectors. The handicraft sector that is engaged in the production of crafts which are handmade with the help of tools. The Indian handicraft industry is highly labor-intensive, cottage based, and decentralized. The industry is spread all over the country from east to west and from north to south. Majority of manufacturing units are located in rural limits. The handicraft sector statistically forms the second-largest source of employment in India. The spirit of handicrafts is the raw materials used for easily available crafts. Craftsmen and Artisans can produce products in unlimited numbers without any sustainability issue. The handicraft products can be multiuse.
The most important thing which guide the customer is the brand of the products. But handicraft products are not brand driven since this is an unorganized sector. Millions of artisans are engaged in the production of the handicraft products. They face issues to penetrate the market among the competitors.
Indian Handicrafts & Gift items today has become a show window of Indian handicrafts among all the leading overseas buyers with out any introduction. The participation trend symbolises the approach of different participants in the fair programs organized for the handicraft sector. The trend of handicraft export orders from India explains that the demand for Indian crafts is growing and their role in earning foreign exchange for the country is fast improving.
The intiative called Uthhan has become a ray of hope for artisans. Uthhan is an online platform for artisans through which they can easily showcase and sell their products . There are no middlemen in the platform and so the exploitation of artisan is zero. As of now uthhan is feeding more than 10000+ artisans in different states like Karnataka, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar Jharkhand, etc .
दक्षिण पूर्व एशिया में संघर्ष व सम्बंध की जो स्थिति- परिस्थिति दिन-प्रतिदिन बदल रही है और विशेषकर वुहान वायरस के बाद वह तो हम देख ही रहे हैं और भारत न तो इससे अछूता रह सकता था और न ही रहा है। उन बदलती परिस्थितियों का विशलेषण व निरंतर बदलते घटनाक्रमों को तो हम देख ही रहे हैं, आवश्यकता है इन घटनाक्रमों के बीच होती उन छोटी बातों को ध्यान से देखने की तथा उनका स्वयं ही विशलेषण करने की। यह घटनाएं व बातें उभरती तो हैं एक कौंधती बिजली की तरह परन्तु पल भर में ही गायब हो जाती हैं और हमें पता भी नहीं चलता कि इसका प्रभाव कहीं पडा है या नहीं। यहां पर Geo-politics का कुछ ज्यादा ही मानवीकरण हो गया।
पहले हाम्रो मित्र नेपाल की बात करते हैं। वहाँ राजनीति व भू-राजनीति दोनों में ही परिस्थितियां बदल रही हैं। खैर.. हम विदेशी मामलों में बहु-चर्चित शब्द PEOPLE TO PEOPLE CONNECTकी बात करते हैं। नेपाल व भारत के यदि People To People Connect की बात करें तो हम सोचते हैं नेपाल व भारत के बिना बाड़-बंदी की हुई सीमाएं, व्यापार, समान रूप से चलते आ रहे सांस्कृतिक महोत्सव व रीति-रिवाज, एक दूसरे के यहाँ शादी-ब्याह (बिहार व उ.प्र. से लगे क्षेत्रों में)। हालांकि यह people to people connect का एक मजबूत पक्ष है जोकि वास्तविक भी है परन्तु एक पक्ष दूसरा भी है जिसने इस people to people connect को विस्तार दिया है और इस पर दुष्प्रभाव भी डाला है, वह है हमारा प्रिय सोशल मीडिया जिसने सीमाओं की बडी रुकावटों को समाप्त कर दिया है जो पहले बडी संख्या में लोगों को मिलने से रोकती थीं। लेकिन इससे पडने वाला दुष्प्रभाव दोनों देशों के नागरिकों के बीच टाइपिंग युद्ध के रूप में देखने को मिलता है जहाँ पर सोशल मीडिया कभी-कभी WAR ZONE में बदल जाता है। इसका कारण यह भी है सोशल मीडिया पर उपस्थित लोग politically aware होते हैं।
जब हम किसी नेपाली से मिलते हैं तो हम कहते हैं कि “तुम चाइना की तरफ झुकाव रखते हो, देख लेना चीन तुम्हारे देश में जब कब्जा करके बैठ जाएगा तब तुम्हें पता चलेगा”। लेकिन वह आपकी किसी भी बात से सहमत नहीं होगा क्योंकि आपने उसकी देश संप्रभुता पर सवाल खड़े कर दिए हैं तथा कोई भी अपने देश को इस प्रकार से नहीं देखेगा और वह यह भी नहीं चाहेगा कि कोई अन्य राष्ट्र उसके देश को कमजोर करके आँके कि वह किसी अन्य देश पर निर्भर है, चाहे वह हो भी और नेपाल है भी इसमें किसी की दो राय नहीं हो सकती। इसमें ध्यान में रखने वाली बात यह है कि हमें ऐसे टाइपिंग युद्ध में सम्मिलित नहीं होना चाहिए क्योंकि यह people to people connect पर दुष्प्रभाव डालते हैं किंतु कई बार counter-narrative व narrative सेट करने के लिए यह आवश्यक भी होता है। यदि किसी का ऐसा टाइपिंग युद्ध होता भी है तो उसे अपने चित्त को अधिक नहीं दुखाना चाहिए क्योंकि आपका प्रतिद्वंद्वी दूसरे देश का है, वह भारतीय नागरिक नहीं है और जब तो बिल्कुल भी दुखी नहीं होना चाहिए जब नेपाल में एक ऐसी populist communist govt जिसके संविधान के एजेंडा में भारत को ही विस्तारवादी बताया गया हो।
source: U.S. Library of Congress
बदलती भू-राजनीति के बीच एक और बिजली भी कौंधी थी यह आपको ध्यान होना चाहिए कि एक न्यूज आई थी कि हमारे पडोसी भूटान ने असम में पानी की आपूर्ति रोक दी है, जिसमें बाद में पता चला कि यह फेक न्यूज थी और यह आपूर्ति वुहान वायरस की वजह से प्राकृतिक रूप से सिंचाई चैनल में आई ब्लॉकेज के सही समय पर सही न कर पाने कारण रुकी थी। आमतौर पर सभी ने बाद में यही सोचा कि यह भी उस फेक न्यूज के ताल से उछली उस बूंद की तरह ही होगी जिसका हम प्रतिदिन सेवन करते लेकिन यह उससे अलग थी क्योंकि यह सोच-समझकर, आधी-अधूरी फैलाई गई थी ताकि वह मोदी को टारगेट कर यह कह सकें की देखों मोदी के शासन में सभी देशों से हमारे सम्बन्ध खराब हुए हैं तथा इस सरकार की विदेश नीति अप्रभावी है। असल में वह लोग चाहते ही यह हैं कि सभी देशों के साथ सम्बन्ध खराब हो जाएं और एक राष्ट्र के रूप में विश्व में भारत की छवि एक ऐसे देश की बन जाए जिसके किसी पडोसी देश से सम्बंध अच्छे नही हैं। ऐसी फेक न्यूज का असर यह होता है कि एक राष्ट्र के रूप में दूसरे देश की मीडिया व लोगों में भारत की छवि धूमिल होती है तथा उन्हें ऐसा महसूस होता है कि हम (भारत) उनके प्रति सोच अच्छी नहीं रखते।
Here’s good Indian journalism on an issue other Indian media (including mainstream media) did not care to report correctly on: https://t.co/tzJujchN7T
इन संघर्षों व सम्बंधो के बदलते हुए हालातों में अमेरिका की भूमिका काफी महत्वपूर्ण रही है और अब तक की घटनाओं से अबकी महत्ता को समझा जा सकता है। इस बीच कई खबरें निकल कर आई कि कैसे अमेरिका ने अपने USS NIMITZ व USS RONALD REAGAN ने दक्षिण चीन सागर में युद्धाभ्यास किया तथा बाद में उसने अपने B52 BOMBER विमानों को तैनात किया। एक और न्यूज यह निकलकर आई थी कि अमेरिका ने अपने जो ट्रूप्स रूस के विरुद्ध उसने COLD WAR के समय से ही तैनात कर रखे थे, उसकी संख्या घटाकर हिंद-प्रशांत और दक्षिण चीन सागर में उनकी संख्या बढा दी है। इन सब घटनाओं से यदि पहले की चर्चा करें तो यह सर्वविदित है कि U.S. ने कई दक्षिण-पूर्वी देशों जैसे वियतनाम व फिलीपींस आदि के साथ पहले से ही संधि कर रखी है और उसके नेवल-बेस इन देशों में उपस्थित हैं। इन सभी तथ्यों से स्पष्ट होता है कि अमेरिका का प्रभाव दक्षिण-पूर्वी देशों में कितना अधिक है जबकि यह उसकी समुन्द्री सीमाएं से कितने दूर हैं।
वर्तमान में तो यह भारत, दक्षिण पूर्व एशिया व मल्लका-स्ट्रेट के लिए सुखद स्थिति है परंतु भारत के लिए व भारत के भविष्य को देखते हुए अमेरिका का दक्षिण पूर्व एशिया में यह प्रभाव अच्छा नहीं है क्योंकि अमेरिका प्रत्येक उस शक्ति के विरुद्ध कार्य करेगा जो शक्ति उसके स्तर तक पहुँच जाएगी। आज के समय में भारत अमेरिका के लिए हर प्रकार से महत्वपूर्ण है चाहे वह डिफेंस डील व हथियारों का क्रय हो, दक्षिण एशिया व दक्षिण पूर्व एशिया में एक बडी लोकतांत्रिक व परमाणु युक्त सैन्य ताकत के लिहाज़ से हो। जिस दृष्टि से भारत दुनिया के इस हिस्से में अमेरिका के लिए महत्व रखता है उस हिसाब से तो अमेरिका का जो प्रभाव दक्षिण पूर्व में है वह भारत का होना चाहिए था।
हाल ही में भारत अपने इस प्रभाव को विस्तार देने के लगातार प्रयास कर रहा है जैसे अभी म्यांमार के साथ Russian Made Kilo-Class Diesel Electric Attack Submarine, म्यांमार के कार्गो जहाजों को तकनीकी सहायता व म्यांमार के सैन्य अधिकारियों का भारत की सैन्य अकादमी प्रशिक्षण का समझौता किया गया है लेकिन इस क्षेत्र में सैन्य कार्यवाही व युद्ध की स्थिति में किसी देश के सैन्य बेस का प्रयोग करने जैसा कोई समझौता नहीं है। हमें U.S. के दक्षिण पूर्व एशिया में प्रभाव को कब्जाने की आवश्यकता है।
An oft-repeated saying is that ‘everything is fair in love and war.’ Many social practices operate from this premise simply because a selected few fulfill their vested interests by worshiping at the altar of inequity. They might as well be getting a kick out of depriving others of their right to live a life of dignity.
However, there does come a time when the oppressed no longer continues continues to bury its head in the sand (even if the powerful doesn’t have the slightest pangs of conscience). Unfortunately, racism is one such social evil that wasn’t nipped in the bud. Therefore, it continues to make its presence felt, despite waves of liberalization, industrialization, and globalization that have leveled the playing field by providing equitable access to resources, opportunities, and capacities across racial groups.
In the wake of Black Lives Matter protests in response to in- custody killing of a 46-year-old black American, many multinationals have announced that they would re-brand their skin lightening creams. In one such move, Unilever has decided to drop the word ‘fair’ from the name of its bestselling ‘Fair and Lovely’. Although this can be justified on account of the fact that consumers resonate with socially responsible brands, it is yet to be seen whether a simple makeover of a brand can actually carry the message of change it espouses.
On the flip side, a slightly deeper analysis of the situation can make Unilever and other players in the market look for a shift towards purpose-led brand building. In this direction, brands can work towards coming up with a formula that works for acid-attack survivors and burn victims. After all (if not more), they yearn at least as much as others, for a glowing skin.
स्वदेशीकरण आज का विचार नही है। भारत में स्वतंत्रता प्राप्ति के पहले भी, महात्मा गांधी के नेतृत्व में इसकी अलख जगायी गयी थी। उस समय अंग्रेजों के विरुद्ध आंदोलन के दौरान अंग्रेजी कपड़ों की होली जलायी जाती थी। स्वदेशी की मुहिम स्वतंत्रता आंदोलन का एक साधन बन गयी थी, परिणाम स्वरूप भारत स्वतंत्रता के पश्चात कपड़ो के क्षेत्र में ही सही, इस मामले में आत्मनिर्भर हो गया था।
परन्तु वर्तमान समय में पुनः स्वदेशीकरण की आवश्यकता क्यों महसूस हुई है?
इसका मुख्य कारण विश्वभर में फैली कोरोना वायरस की महामारी जिसने विश्व की सप्लाई चेन की व्यवस्था को बुरी तरह प्रभावित कर दिया। जैसा कि हम जानते हैं की चीन विश्व का सबसे बड़ा निर्यातक देश है, रोजमर्रा की प्रयोग किये जाने वाले वस्तुओं का ज्यादातर का निर्यात लगभग सभी देश चीन से ही करते हैं। देखने में आया है कि चीन ने इस स्थिति का भरपूर लाभ उठाने की कोशिश की है, मास्क एवं पीपीई किट मनमाने दामों पर निर्यात किया। भारत भी चीन के इस दंश से अछूता नही रहा, कुछ रिपोर्टों के अनुसार, चीन ने खराब गुणवत्ता की किटें निर्यात की। और अब जब भारत में कोरोना की महामारी चरम पर है, जिसमे अब तक दस लाख लोग कोविड-19 से संक्रमित हो चुके हैं, औऱ अर्थव्यवस्था का पतीला लग चुका हो, लाखों लोग बेरोजगार हो चुके हो, हज़ारों कंपनियां बन्द हो चुकी हो, तो पुराने तौर तरीकों से देश नही चलाया जा सकता और न ही इस संकट से उबारा जा सकता है। इसी दिशा में भारत सरकार ने आगे बढ़ते हुए आत्मनिर्भर अभियान की शुरुआत की, जिसमें सर्वप्रथम 300 अरब डॉलर का “विशाल राहत पैकेज” देकर ढलती हुई अर्थव्यवस्था को एक धक्का देने का प्रयास तो किया गया है, परन्तु इसका असर स्वदेशीकरण में कितना सहायक सिद्ध होगा यह आगे देखने वाली बात होगी।
प्रधानमंत्री श्री नरेंद्र मोदी जी ने अपने एक राष्ट्रीय संबोधन में “क्वांटम लीप” कि परिकल्पना की, इसका तात्पर्य, कुछ विशिष्ठ उपायो से देश अप्रत्याशित गति से दौड़ पुनः सकता है, और 2024-25 तक 5 ट्रिलियन डॉलर की इकोनॉमी का लक्ष्य प्राप्त किया जा सकता है। इस लक्ष्य प्राप्ति के लिए कराधान से लेकर कई रेगुलेटरी सुधार करने की आवश्यकता होगी। इसी क्रम में भारत ने स्पेस सहित रक्षा क्षेत्र प्राइवेट सेक्टर के लिए खोल दिया है।
इसी बीच एक घटना ने स्वदेशीकरण की मुहिम को तेज कर दिया, वो थी LAC पर लदाख के गलवान घाटी में भारत और चीन सैनिकों के मध्य हुये ख़ूनी झड़प में, जिसमे हमारे 20 जवान वीरगति को प्राप्त हो गए, हालांकि चीन के भी करीब 43 सैनिक मारे गए परुन्तु चीन की ओर से इसका अनुमोदन अभी तक नही किया गया। इस घटना के पश्चात देशभर के लोगो में चीन के प्रति तीव्र रोष देखने को मिला। “बायकॉट चायना” मुहिम स्वतः ही अपने चरम पर पहुँच गयी। देश में उठे रोष को देखते हुए सरकार ने भी तेजी से कार्य करते हुए 59 चाइनीज़ ऐप को प्रतिबंधित कर दिया जिसमे बेहद लोकप्रिय टिक टॉक ऐप भी शामिल था और कई टेंडर जो कि चीनी कम्पनीयों से अनुबंधित थे उन्हें रद्द कर दिया। इससे अब भारतीय कंपनियों को अपने प्रोडक्ट्स को बाज़ार में जल्द से जल्द उतारने का एक खुला मैदान मिल गया है।
स्वदेशीकरण कि मुहिम इस समय की सबसे बड़ी आवश्यकता बनकर उभरी है। प्रधानमंत्री भी बार बार आत्मनिर्भरता पर जोर देने लगे है, आज भारत जैसे मास्क और पीपीई किट्स के मामले में स्वदेशीकृत हुआ है वैसे ही आज भारत को अपने सोशल मीडिया प्लेटफॉर्म की जरूरत है, आज भारत को अपने सभी डिफेंस इक्विपमेंट्स की बनाने की आवश्यकता है, आज भारत को अपने स्वदेशी जीपीएस मैप जैसे बहुत सारे यूटीलिटी सॉफ्टवेयर बनाने की जरूरत है, आज भारत को पूर्ण आत्मनिर्भर होने की जरूरत है। इतना ही नही, भारत को वैश्विक सप्लाई चेन में अपना योगदान बढ़ाना होगा, जितनी जल्दी हो सके उतनी जल्दी निर्यात आधारित अर्थव्यवस्था का निर्माण करना होगा। इस समय भारत सरकार ने कुछ इंसेंटिव की घोषणा भी की है, जिसमे टॉप 5 कंपनियों को भारत में किसी भी राज्य में मैनुफैक्चरिंग सेक्टर में निवेश करने पर कैशबैक मिलेगा।
भारत में अभी भी सुधार की बहुत आवश्यकता है। लालफीताशाही, पुराने लेबर लॉज़ एवं कॉरपोरेट टैक्स अभी भी अर्थव्यवस्था के लिए विशेष कांटे बने हुए है। “ईज ऑफ डूइंग बिज़नेस” को गति देने के लिये इन काँटो को तेजी से हटाना होगा और कड़े फैसले लेने होंगे तभी स्वदेशीकरण के “लय” को पाया जा सकता है, अन्यथा “चार दिन की चांदनी फिर अंधेरी रात”।
They say marriages are made in heaven. Isn’t it? Well someone has to tell to those in heaven to make it a quick for the sake of the girls here on earth. When you are a girl, unmarried, aged 30 and above all you live in India then you are a good for nothing girl. Whether it is home or any other place will always have to carry the answer to the one and only question that is ‘girl,when are you getting married’?
I don’t understand why people are so much concerned about someone’s marriage that they think a girl can’t get married after crossing a certain age. In our country marriages are all about cliches. People seek astrologer’s advice also they say it’s your fate you know you can’t change the fate as written by god. Parents of the girls are being tortured emotionally for not being able to find a nice groom for their girl within the time limit set up by our society.
In fact I used to believe late marriage possessed no charm. But in course of time I have realized that late marriage is always better than a bad marriage. Just because we happen to have landed ourselves in this primitive society,that is no reason why we should submit to their primitive morality. These things happen only to a girl’s family and I keep wondering why the same does not go for a boy. What never fails to surprise me is that, girls who face such a situation have now turned themselves into those people who once have made their life miserable. It makes me really sad to see how can people forget their past.
It’s sometimes easy and even a better option to give up the past but we must never forget that life can only be understood backward. Back then in olden days the girl was married off young because man wanted a pure bride. Today they say time has changed. Girls are enjoying liberation of choosing their life partner. But where is the change? What liberation? I don’t deny the fact that it is not uncommon for few of the girls who live In big cities to choose their life partners at any age but most of the girls still in our society face the trauma of being unmarried by a certain age.
Marriage? What does it mean? For me it’s an Union of two people emotionally, legally and like Google says it is the state of being husband and wife. So as far as my knowledge is concerned marriage is not defined by age. It can happen at any age when there is understanding,love and care between two people and yes there is no confirmed source till date that marriage is made in heaven.
Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot animosities against one another have been brewing up for a long time, ever since the Rajasthan government formed in Dec 2018. The Congress leadership (if there is any) has been neglecting the issue, instead of sorting out amicably, knowing full well that it may lead to the tipping point later. For, the ailing Sonia Gandhi was forcibly made interim president of the party, though she was an unwilling taker, after Rahul Gandhi’s resignation to the post soon after the debacle in April-2019 parliament elections. Rahul Gandhi never worked as a full time politician. For him, politics seems to be one of the hobbies. He always shirks responsibility. Never took up a ministerial berth during UPA I&II, not out of altruism, but out of being his own self probably to travel abroad on personal errands.
Again, Priyanka Gandhi is her own person, going to parties in fashionable circles of page-3 culture in Lutyens Delhi. Now, since she is asked to vacate her bungalow in Lutyens, it is doing rounds in the Congress circles that she may be made as Rajya Sabha (R.S) member to retain her house to which she has been an occupant for twenty two years (i.e. 1997). Why did she not become an R.S member so long? She could have easily become if she wanted to when her party was in power for ten years in UPA I&II. The reason is simple. They (both she and her brother) enjoy their status in Delhi as an entitlement without any hard work. Being a Member of Parliament and being a minister gives in-depth knowledge about the country, people, parliamentary proceedings and also crisis management within the party. Working from close quarters is different from working from above. Neither Rahul Gandhi nor Priyanka Vadra would like to slog for the country. For, they think they don’t need to, for, everything comes to them on a silver platter.
Sachin Pilot’s grievances (he being sidelined and his political career being stymied or about to be wiped out by Gehlot in Rajasthan) were not addressed by the Congress High Command i.e. the first family. If there is any inner strife in the party, the High Command should smoothen. The High Command is expected to apply balm to the bruised feelings of Sachin Pilot when they admitted that he is one of their promising young leaders. They allowed Sachin Pilot to think that it was suicidal for his political career to remain in the party. The Congress leadership brought him to that pass. He was a victim of both in his state and in Delhi and was subjected to harassment. He was pushed to wall. So, he had to leave. Before leaving he faced ignominy of the worst order.
All in all, Sachin Pilot’s troubles did not stop there. He was charge sheeted on some trivial grounds. After revolt along with his MLAs, he was stripped off his Deputy C.M post and other in charges. Similarly, his associates, the MLAs with him, were disqualified by the speaker. Now, he had to go to the High Court to appeal. Yet, the Congress party makes a clarion call in public asking him to come back to the Congress family? What for? What is left for him? Assume, if he came back what work would the Congress give? Some low, non-descript job, where he needed to serve some big master, meekly surrendering? Already they have cast aspersions on him being hobnobbing with the BJP. Then, why are they asking him to come back? To taunt him?
In TV debates, the Congress has been taking an absurd stand. When the Congress party- spokespersons were asked, as to why they were not heeding to the request of Sachin Pilot to be the chief minister for at least a year before the Rajasthan assembly term ends, almost all spokespersons, in all channels said: ‘the Congress is a democratic party. Most of the MLAs want Gehlot to be the CM. How could Pilot be made?’ This is the height of absurdity. It’s out in the open that Sachin Pilot worked very hard to win the elections in 2018 in Rajasthan. Even Gehlot must have worked. When they both went to Rahul Gandhi claiming for the top-post, it is Rahul Gandhi, who pitch forked Gehlot to the top. The Rajasthan MLAs were not given a chance to elect nor had a secret ballot to choose between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot.
In that case, why now? Once a person assumes high office as a CM, he ensures that his flock is with him. The other person, a deputy CM equal to the rank of a minister, how could he muster majority MLAs around? In the long history of the Congress Party, it is always the High Command (taking the advice of MLAs is tokenism) selects the C.M-candidate that suits the High Command at large. All MLAs unanimously elect him. So, to deny opportunity to Sachin Pilot, the Congress is now citing democratic process.
Coming to the part of the BJP’s role from behind the curtain, is something insignificant compared to the mess that the Congress created in its own house. The Congress could not control the inner turmoil. It has allowed the crack to wide-open and divided. The BJP behaved like any other political party to see anything that turns good for it. The party knows it has no numbers. In the matter of numbers, the Congress Party is no paragon of virtue. After winning the election, it was on wafer thin majority. After gobbling up the BSP MLAs of Rajasthan, it gained stability. So, there is a kind of surreptitiousness among political parties.
To say that the BJP is vile, expansionist etc; is of no use. Sachin Pilot was and is (as he says) a die-hard Congress man, why he has turned against the Congress– what is his motive– if he has really (as the Congress says) made parleys with the BJP- what has brought him to this pass i.e. to trespass his own party’s boundaries and ideology– are yet to be known.
In any case, this Rajasthan crisis continues for some more time to come. The court judgment on the disqualification of MLAs–pending and phone call recordings/alleged tapes making a mystery, the Sachin’s saga is not yet over. For the present CM-Gehlot, it is an uphill task to keep his flock together to support him once assembly starts. All this head-ache, is the Congress’s own making.
Half of the year passed by in the shadow of Covid-19. The way things are going, I think a lot more months in the near future are going to get disappeared in this. Unless people start asking questions.
You must have already seen numbers like the ones shown in the figure. There might be some more details like the population or the age distribution or deaths per million so on and so forth. But does this information mean anything?
The one question that has been troubling me for some time now is “Did these twenty two thousand people die because of Coronavirus or did twenty two thousand dying people tested positive for Coronavirus?“
I am not playing with words. I haven’t been able to get my eyes on any reliable reports and figures that provide me with an answer to this question.
Covid-19 is caused by SARS-COV-2, a virus that belongs to the Coronavirus family, similar to SARS and MERS and causes respiratory illness from mild cold to fatal pneumonia.
Lets go back to the times before Covid-19. There used to be a number of other respiratory illnesses that ended up killing people. For this article lets take Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). It has been killing lakhs of Indians every year and the number keeps on increasing. In 2005 it was responsible for 5 lakh deaths and in 2017 the number increased to 9.6 lakh i.e. around 2630 people dying every single day.
This also means that there would have been almost a million people dying this year due to COPD even if there was no Coronavirus outbreak. And mind it, a million is a conservative number, since the factors responsible for the increase in COPD cases like Tobacco Smoking and Air Pollution are increasing unabated.
Now, coming back to the question, how covid-19 deaths relate to these other fatal respiratory illnesses?
There can only be one of the three cases. I try to show with the help of a Venn Diagram. The gray circle represents the number of deaths from conditions like COPD and the black circle denotes the Covid-19 related deaths. The gray circle is big because the number of COPD deaths alone is several times the number of Covid-19 deaths.
(a) means that these twenty two thousand covid-19 deaths are mutually exclusive to COPD Deaths i.e. the two are independent of each other and none of the Covid-19 patients suffered from COPD.
(b) means that some of the twenty two thousand dead people who tested positive for Coronavirus were already suffering fromCOPD.
(c) means that all of the twenty two thousand dead people who tested positive for Coronavirus were already suffering from COPD.
Can you pick one out of the three? No, you can’t. Why? The relevant information regarding this is not made available to the general public. It is not that the concerned authorities don’t have the numbers to publish a report, it is just that the people who were supposed to ask these questions are not interested. If you find any such reports please do mention in the comment section. I would be eager to read such a report.
Back in the month of Feb/March, I wrote The unwarranted fear of Coronavirus! to give a perspective to the number of deaths in comparison to the number of flu deaths in different countries every year. I intentionally did not speak about this correlation because I was hoping or rather was quite certain that Mainstream Media and Journalists would do this and present us with the latest data for the year 2020. Unfortunately, even after seven months, when every hour we see some news segment on Coronavirus, there isn’t a talk on any such correlation. “Amitabh Bacchan had a sound sleep the night before, after waking up in the morning he went to the loo, his potty process was as usual“. That’s an interesting research, brilliant piece of journalism! Kudos!!
You could pick any other respiratory illness like Asthma but I chose COPD for some reasons. First, it is one of the diseases that people don’t talk about but the disease still kills a million people every year in India,it is incurable and progressive i.e. worsens with the time. In a study by IndiaSpend a total of 55.3 million people suffered from COPD in the year 2016. India has 18% of the world population but 32% of the total COPD cases. Second, it is in stages, not sudden like asthma attacks. There are four stages with approximate life expectancy. So it should be easy to track as to how many people were in the critical stage and died during this Corona outbreak. Third and last, the root cause for this disease might explain why some states are struggling more than others.
In west the major cause of COPD is tobacco smoking but in developing countries like India it is air pollution. India is among the top four countries for highest number of deaths by smoking. I am not going to talk about how smoking increases the risk of Coronavirus or increases the severity of any other respiratory disease or weakens the immunity etc. I am also not going to waste my as well as your time in talking about how smoking is injurious to health in general or how smoking kills. A majority of smokers already know that. To be precise, 68.2% of the smokers in India already know the harmful effects of smoking on their health. But still continue doing so. I was actually quite surprised to see the magnitude of tobacco industry; it contributes a whooping Rs. 11,79,498 Crore to the Indian Economy and generates employment for 45 million i.e 4.5 crore people in the form of farmers, farm labors, Factory workers, leaf puckers and traders.
Yes, I know Covid-19 is different from COPD and is highly contagious. But so is flu. If you test an HIV positive dying person for Influenza virus and the result comes out positive. Would you infer that flu virus killed the person? I don’t think so.
You must have heard of co-morbidity while talking about covid-19 deaths. That’s exactly the correlation I am talking about. The only thing I am doing here is asking for numbers. Why isn’t the media showing these numbers? If they have to show the numbers to scare people, they very well could just start counting the the total number of deaths that happen every year in India. Can you take a guess as to how many people die in India every year? 7.3 deaths per 1000 people i.e. 9 million or 90 Lakhs a year. Out of that 1 million i.e. 10 Lakh die because of smoking and an even scarier part is that 15% of the people who died of smoking never touched a cigarette i.e. passive smoking. I guess they were too polite to push the smokers away from them.
Now, you could imagine why people in Delhi are dying more. For some years now, Delhi has been a front runner in the race to win “the most polluted city in the world” trophy. And since Delhi is a high income state in India as compared to other states, smoking is also a bigger factor in Delhi as compared to other states. More and more people are dying and they will continue to die, corona or no corona. Its just that we never bothered to pay attention to these deaths. Delhi has a grim future ahead. Freebies are only good for winning elections, nothing more than that. We will see what happens to Delhi in four more years and hopefully learn from it.
The political opposition in India is in a different world altogether. Their eyes have rigid caste/religion filters. They can only see castes and religions; upper castes vs lower castes, forward castes vs backward caste or extremely backward castes, Brahmins vs Dalits, Hindus vs Muslims, us vs them and that’s it. They don’t know what to ask. In fact by starting a counter for the number of deaths in the name of Coronavirus, Rahul Gandhi and his party have scored a massive self goal. If the general elections were to happen today, congress would set a new low record. I will be writing a separate article on this as to why. Please follow my blog to receive a notification for the upcoming article.
If you like the content of this article please do share as much as possible. Since, neither the media nor the political parties are going to change in a day, it is the people who need to start asking questions and highlight these concerns in whichever way possible be it via social media or something else.
Meticulous examination of history would bounteously justify the aforesaid quote. The history of the Hindus is a conspicuous chronicle of fortitude- a much-desired trait that remained notwithstanding the presence of enemies without and within.
Quite akin to the opposite poles of Earth, however, the story of the Hindus is replete with misfortunes despite all its wondrous history. Should it be narrated to a man of conscience, he would not but shed tears at this moving tale of the pride and valour of a much maligned, mistreated and persecuted community. From the egalitarian wisdom of the Sarasvati Civilization to the defeatism in British India, their history yields lessons too valuable to mankind.
Momentarily, pray reflect upon the Second World War. The mind inevitably imagines Nazi Germany and the petrifying mistreatment of the Jews. Now, pray reflect upon what has happened thereafter. The Jews spread far and wide, but stayed fundamentally united. They ensured that their story appealed to the conscience of the world. The civilized world today knows of the Jews as a much persecuted religious group that has with its forbearance built the state of Israel — a nation no less than an epitome of success.
Yet, the story of the Hindus — a national group persecuted in perhaps greater measure, remains untold. The Hindus are misrepresented as a religious group — courtesy the paramountcy of the societal interpretation by colonial authorities. To their misfortune, they were not persecuted in a physical way alone. They continues to remain under persecution intellectually. They have faced centuries of enslavement, but none so daunting as the last two of them. They attained administrative independence but not independence of thought. Under the Turkic colonial rule, as thousands of their temples were desecrated, their women subjected to indescribable depravity and their universities set afire, they put up a valiant fight, and even succeeded in expanding again and re-establishing the Maratha Empire.
The later British invaders, however, were much more cold and calculating. They exploited internal differences, succeeded in positioning one ruler against the other, secured loyalty from numerous natives and succeeded in establishing their colonial rule over the nation. That alone did not suffice. The Hindus were systematically stripped of their strengths. Their scriptures derisively dismissed as myth, their cultural institutions shocked almost beyond recondition by the gradual effacement of their mother language Sanskrit, their people gradually made to accept that they were an inferior race meant to serve its colonial masters, their own education system dismantled and replaced and the divisions of their people amplified manifold. Compendiously, their sense of pride and memories of their past valour were scrupulously suppressed and a sense of defeatism engendered within them. As a consequence, there remains a significant section in the Hindus driven by pathological contempt for its own identity despite decades of administrative independence. Nothing but imbecilic self-disgust explains their wonder at the historical monuments of lands beyond, but contempt at temples of the land that is their own.
The Hindu stands powerless. He is tormented at the fact that the expanse of the word “Hindu” has been narrowed to the theological aspect of his culture. The jaundiced notions of secularism forbids the government and the elite to acknowledge the Hindu heritage of India. To them, it is merely another religion and must ipso facto be treated just like Islam or Christianity. Aforementioned judicial interpretations appear to mean little to them. The Hindu is further tormented at seeing his community riddled with caste divisions and the abominable caste-politics that has a firm grasp over Indian politics. He is tormented at seeing his community dormant and not lawfully demanding that government renounce control over temples. He is tormented at seeing caste-based reservations compound ad infinitum.
Truly, there remains a trace of caste discrimination, but it is nowhere as prevalent as it was decades ago. He has developed prescience enough to discern that these reservations would only exacerbate caste differences. He grimly realizes that no government could muster the grit to cease asking for castes in official documents. He is tormented by the ebullient propagation of absurd theories of the origins of his culture, such as the Aryan Invasion Theory, employed by vested interests to fuel separatist sentiment among the South Indians.
Perhaps, the much-touted Hindu Renaissance would be able to consolidate the Hindus. The most significant question of them all, however, remains. How would the Hindus and the Muslims ever resolve their differences?
So far as inter-religious existence is concerned, a Hindu would like nothing better than harmonious co-existence with the Muslims. On 20 June 2020, eminent author Amish Tripathi launched a book titled “Suheldev: The King who Saved India”. In the interviews he has been able to appear for, he explains how king Suheldev of Shravasti managed to unite Indians of all religions and castes and inflict a crushing defeat on Turkic invaders in 1033 CE. Thereafter, while the invaders went about conquering numerous other lands, they dared not set a foot in India for the next 160 years until the 1190s. That is a greater amount of time than the rule of the British Crown over India (1857–1947). This means there were also Muslims in India who stood resolute with Suheldev against the invading forces, notwithstanding that the invaders identified with Islam. Most importantly, Amish notes that the common Indian Muslims were never part of the ruling elite either under the Delhi Sultanate or the subsequent Mughal rule.
Yet, under the British Raj, the Muslims were perpetually made to believe that they were once the rulers of India. This was part of an elaborate divide-and-rule strategy. The pernicious Khilafat movement ensured that the Muslim community remained fanatical. By the onset of 1920 itself, the Congress should have seen the inevitability of Partition.
Notwithstanding the clear responsibility of Islamism for the sanguinary Partition, the Hindus were expected to merely have faith in the patriotism of Muslims who had stayed back in India now that it was independent. In all fairness to the Muslims, the patriotic among them must also have had feared the prospect of living in India in those days of rampant communalism where they could have been construed as responsible for the Partition and thus subjected to attacks. The government, as opposed to facilitating a comprehensive dialogue between the two communities, sought suppression of traumatic memories of the past and march on the path of economic progress as if nothing had happened. As historian Dr. Vikram Sampath aptly notes, such suppression is bound to transmogrify into a temporarily controlled wound that eventually festers, develops pus and proves further detrimental. An individual may forget the memories and move on, but it is impolitic to expect communities to do the same.
An ideal comprehensive dialogue between the Hindus and the Muslims would have included, inter alia, the following:
free and honest admission of wrongful action by both sides;
negotiation for the resolution of conflicting religious beliefs;
firm commitment to national interest and identity over religion;
firm commitment to secularism in public life; and
an agreement to work together for the future of India.
None of this was ever planned. As a result, having been forced to forget past memories and live together, latent mistrust was bound to have developed. While on the exterior it may have seemed as if both communities lived in harmony, especially by means of government propaganda through radio and television as well as contortion of history, the truth was that both communities harboured deep suspicions about the other. Sooner or later, the latent sentiment was bound to have erupted. Precisely the same is happening today. Neither community had experienced a catharsis of emotions and memories by means of productive dialogue. The anger and feeling of betrayal among the Hindus and the ostensible affinity of the Muslims towards Wahhabism at present bear testament to that effect.
Such catharsis would have enabled the Hindus to express their centuries-long trauma, and the Muslims to admit the ills that afflicted their society. Justice to the Hindus could have been served.
At present, the situation appears bereft of hope. Yet, efforts at reconciliation must be undertaken. Perhaps, the innocence and forthrightness of childhood, when we fraternized with fellow children not so much as knowing the concept of religion, may continue well into later in life despite awareness of such distinct identities. Perhaps, as opposed to suspicion and insecurity, an adherent of one religion may behold an adherent of another with a genuine sentiment of humanity. For who is to say that the endeavour of reconciliation never bears fruit?
The last few months are very difficult for India- be it complete lockdown, migrant crisis, economic slowdown, border tensions and rising coronavirus cases. Amid of all this, Nitin Gadkari – a highest-ranking cabinet minister said Covid-19 is the blessing in Disguise, which insights that the medium and long term picture of New Delhi would be completely different.
Even in this crisis and lockdown India’s IT sector is managed to serve their customer seamlessly and Pharmaceutical industry exported HCQ so-called life-saving drugs to 97 countries which were lauded by many industry executives and countries, this gives New Delhi a bigger power and trust especially in the West when its other counterpart Beijing is busy in taking the advantage of this situation.
But now let’s look at the bigger picture and what things are changing and what impact it is going to make in the future for World’s biggest Democracy? While most of the companies are looking for China plus one policy India seems to be a tough competitor to Southeast Asian countries. The situation was different a year before, according to the study of Nomura just 3 out of the 56 companies are planning to shift their manufacturing base in India and remaining were planning to shift to Vietnam (26), Taiwan (11) and Thailand (8).
The majority of these companies are electronics or electronic component maker in which China is a leading exporter. But something has changed in a few months starting with Production linked Incentive (PLI) of around 40,000 crores to promote phase electronic manufacturing. This scheme has succeeded earlier assisted India to become a net exporter of mobile phones and increasing the local value addition to 17%.
The impact of this PLI is that Apple wants to shift its 20% of manufacturing to India, Samsung to relocate its display manufacturing plant with an investment of 3500 crores. One plus and Samsung start assembling TV’s in Noida. Japan’s AC manufacturer Daikin is poised to open its 3rd manufacturing plant that will also cater to the African market. HP, printer and laptop manufacture is too planning to shift its manufacturing and export it to close markets.
But the long term commitment by these MNCs is just due to the PLI scheme and is it limited to electronics manufacturing only? Not really!
Things have changed after Covid -19, RBI has down the interest rate to 4 % making the cost of capital much cheaper. Uttar Pradesh (UP), Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat relaxed labour laws, large land banks are identified and offered to industries both in economic zones and non-economic zones. Almost all large states are competing to take the larger pie of industries shifting to India from China and the increasing efforts by the central government to ease the business ranking and open more market to the foreign firms including the current reforms in agriculture and coal sector.Also, the impact is not limited just to the electronic sector, German footwear brand Von Wellx is shifting it’s entire production from China to UP. Swiss major IMR Mettalugical Resources – AG and Hyundai propose to start their steel plant in Andhra Pradesh.
The biggest beneficiary is the Pharmaceutical industry which apart from exporting HCQ and Paracetamol there is a high chance that the Vaccine manufacturing to the world will be through the doors of Serum Institute of India, world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. The Covid-19 panic situation compels the government to manufacture API locally with 10,000 crores of investment provided by the GOI to develop a complete value chain in the country itself. Due to the world’s supply chain disruption in Pharmacy US FDA has approved the record licenses to the Indian Pharma company which will give a big boost to the export to the US.
In the case of Atmanirbharta (self-reliance), domestic companies have played a great role in manufacturing PPE, ventilators and COVID testing-kit which has never been manufactured before. Army canteens to provide only made in India products, Adani group to manufacture solar cells in the next 3-5 years to reduce the influence of China.The current tension with India-China border fuels the need of Atmanirbhar Bharat, GOI asks industries to reduce their import from China, most of the companies who don’t find effective import substitution from alternative countries will make in India. Government entities try to reduce their import from China to zero especially in the telecom and power sector, even some domestic engineering companies tend to benefit if their Chinese counterparts are boycotted to participate in government global tenders and companies.
On diplomatic front New Delhi has gained a great edge vis-vis Beijing whom West is considering the threat to the world after the start of this pandemic. Trump invites Modi in G-7 expansion. Borris Johnson, UK Prime Minister wants India to participate in developing 5G equipment, New Delhi becomes a founding member of GPAI (Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence), an Artificial Intelligence group among large democracies. And Andaman-Cocos island swap agreement with Australia for military use to counter Beijing’s threat in the South China Sea and Indo pacific region. Russia ready to fast track sales of 33 fighter jet to India to counter its friend China whom it shares 4200 km of the boundary.
On the current situation, anyone can debate that India is not China in terms of economy and manufacturing powerhouse and above achievements are just a tip of the iceberg but Covid-19 gives a new start and positive image to New Delhi and if GOI focus on continues improvement in the land, labour and electricity reforms, faster and massive development of infrastructure, reduce red tape, greater spending on Research and Development, consistent state and central policies and becomes trusted and reliable partner of West then India can definitely surpass China in few decades.
It had to happen.. It was predictable. That it took a while, is the surprise. Not the event or the happening. And when it has happened, it has not set a ripple. It has set a storm. A storm of protests from within themselves. Not from the outside. It is not a Us v. Them story. It is Us v. Us. Or Them v.Them, as you will .What am I taking about. I am talking about the July,7,2020 letter penned by writers/intellectuals/elites, the crème de le crème of the literary/writer/artists world. It is satirical at best and laughable at worst that the liberals should be pouncing on the fellow liberals for exercising their Free Speech, the ‘very core of a being’, the liberals used to muse. The Letter published The Harpers’ magazine is a complete expose of the hypocrites the liberal clan are!
Donald Trump, his base and his bandwagon must be smiling, as the Nov, 2020 Presidential elections are upon us. The print, social and electronic media lost face and psephologists led by Nate Silver had to eat crow for their projections. “They” were convinced that Trump was there as a Republican candidate, to cause more than a flutter. They were delighted with his presence as he added to the eyeballs and media revelled in the attention quoting every word of Trump and keeping him in public eye, from the day he came down the stairs of Trump Tower in New York, in June,2015. He was the darling of the liberal media for bashing.
Bash they did. But Trump was never a taker, when it came to abuses. He gave it harder than he got. His verbiage and skill at turning the tables ex tempore were legendary. He was a narcissist, but a skilled one. Media unearthed many a scandal. Even perverted and prurient ones. But, “he was not worried in the least’, said his Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. He loved the attention even of the darkest hue. He loved the limelight, as a reality star- The Apprentice. Trump loved to take on the media. His twitter handle was buzzing 24×7 and he called- ‘Media was enemy of the people”.
In the land of free speech and First Amendment, it was a red rag. Liberal Media went to town and continues to, in these Pandemic times. They concluded that Trump was a virus, for which they needed to find a vaccine quick and that was removal of him from occupancy of the White House. What is going on in the columns of New York Times, Washingron Post- leaders of the liberal media- and CNN and MSNBC- the electronic versions of them, is entertaining stuff. Trump is on theit faces, every minute of the day. Each one of them is his sole selling agent.
Trump has cancelled regular media briefings in the White House. He talks incessantly on FOXNews his polarised megaphone. He just shouts from the lawns of the Rose Garden every now then to the media folks dying for sound bytes. That too is incendiary and provocative. Be that as it may, what then has happened with the liberals that they are fighting among themselves, in public, as to what is wrong with themselves in taking down Trump? The tolerance levels they are exhibiting is deeply touching and moving.
Newsmen are making news. All wrong. Trump’s base is debased. He does not hide the fact. But Trump and his base are in it together and they love him to take on the swamp as he seeks to drain it. Trump has delivered on most of his promises- rid the US-Iran Nuclear deal, got off Paris Climate agreement, re negotiated with Canada and New York, engaged in dialogue with China for a new trade deal, pulled out of World Health Organisation, the works. All wrong, the liberals scream. But Trump and his base rejoice.
Remember the famous “ The basket of deplorables’ jibe from Hillary Rodham Clinton about Trump’s supporters. She was crucified even as she withdrew as she was grossly insulting the white Americans and mostly the elderly grandpas and grandmas in rural areas. The Liberals have called worse of Trump’s Whitehouse. Trump went after his Attorney General Jeff Sessions who recused himself from the Robert Mueller probe. Now, a day or two ago, Sessions lost the Republican primary elections to try and become a Senator. If you tangle with Trump, Alabama will get you, Trump says.
The liberals are now fighting among themselves which discloses their own Intolerance with a capital I. Even as Trump assumed office, the universities, who as the bastion of free speech declared that conservatives were anathema. It was a shame as Steve Bannon was afforded audience before NewYorker festival and then ‘disinvited’, and then New York Times apologised for carrying Tom Cotton, Republican Senator’s article on their digital version- urging Trump to “Send in the Troops” to handle the Black Lives Matter protests. There was such a deluge of protests within the editorial teams of NYT that its opinion editor James Bennet put in his papers for his ‘indiscretion’ to host the Cotton piece. Some free speech doctrine this, inside the NYT pages and editorial rooms!
It has not died down. Now, you have the resignation of another opinion editor- Bari Weiss- of New York Times- who calls herself a ‘centrist’ who has been hounded out by the liberals. In a direct assault of the NYT editorial policy in the Trump era- she has laid bare the warts and all of the’ harassment and hostile environment created by people who disagreed with her’. Her resignation letter to the management is a scathing indictment of the conduct of the liberals who seemingly espouse the cause of liberalism with the entrenched emphasis on the ‘cancel culture’ vintage which had a wholly different construct, in its historical perspective. Add Andre Sullivan, a conservative columnist, though she calls herself a centrist, also resigned from the magazine. She said, “Intellectual curiosity is now a liability at The Times”. Some certification this to the liberals!
And then you have the grand July 7,2020, “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate” signed by the whose who from the world of arts, literature and scholars. They have called out this ‘harassment’ culture from the Liberals. The letter makes fascinating reading, as they expose themselves too in the bargain for their unwillingness to tolerate criticism. It is an OMG moment in the liberal media culture. The entire liberal media stands exposed, as every other day someone somewhere is compelled to resign for their open and candid comments. Is this the land of the free? Is this the land of First Amendment? Is this the nation which delivered on the Pentagon Papers? Is this the nation where Free Speech includes Hate Speech too, as they proudly proclaim?
The Liberals have been shown up for what they are. ‘The hypocritical bunch’, as historian Niall Ferguson called them once. It is strange that they cannot stand the heat in their kitchens. The house is theirs. The modular Kitchen is made to order. The chefs are theirs. The recipe is theirs. Just that they find the product unpalatable, from their own brethren, as it is hot. The Liberals have been shown up for who and what they are. If they can go after Noam Chomsky the Godfather among them for writing this July 7, 2020 letter and provoke Stephen Pinker, the Havard Psychologist, to defend his signature to the tune, the Liberals have thoroughly, thoroughly exposed themselves for their INTOLERANCE.
(Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan-Author is practising advocate in the madras High Court)
