Burning Story: Indians spited by the H-1B clampdown can get another visa to work in the US—as long as they can spare $500,000

As the H-1B visa program goes on the chopping block, a 27-year-old visa is getting some new attention. Meet the EB-5.

The way things stand, most H-1B applicants come from India and Southeast Asia. They enter the H-1B lottery and then, if they receive a temporary work visa, may have to wait more than a decade for permanent residency.

Violence in hospitals: Three steps towards mending doctor-patient relationships

Delhi’s mohalla clinics and Mumbai’s Swasth clinics have the right idea – make primary healthcare better.

Even after repeated protests, mass leaves and assurances from authorities of better security, incidents of violence against doctors continue unabated. Last week, a man whose critically ill father died at Sion Hospital manhandled a resident doctor, even though several security personnel had been deployed at the hospital since April.

Unpaid and shunned, ragpickers are critical for waste management in India

They help clean up a significant proportion of the 62 million tonnes of waste generated annually.

The Ajmer Shatabdi pulls into the New Delhi station every night at around 11 pm. During the six-hour journey from Ajmer, the train serves tea, snacks, soup, dinner and dessert – more food than an average person can eat in that time.

‘I don’t bowl with the intention of taking wickets’: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, IPL 2017’s Purple Cap holder

The 27-year-old spoke about his tremendous form at the IPL this year where he has taken 23 wickets in 12 matches.

Come each year, the Indian Premier League throws in a slew of players’ names to keep track of. These players range from the most established names in the sport to the relative novices, who not only wade through the fervour and flavour of the IPL, but also seek to make the tournament their own.

Telangana, Andhra Pradesh Reel Under Heatwave, But Petty Politics Takes Centrestage

As the mercury soared to a new 10-year record of 43 degrees Celsius in Hyderabad recently – a heatwave for the third consecutive year — the demand for spicy buttermilk or masala majiga too soared. This product of Heritage, a unit owned by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, notched an all-time high business of nearly 12 lakh sachets being sold by 17 April. It also kicked off a political satire on social media that summer did not take note of bifurcation of state and that it did not differentiate between people of Telangana and Andhra.

Is The Indian Railways' Ambitious Modernisation Plan In Danger Because Of Its Financial Mess?

"We have lost a lot of revenue to the road sector. So, now we have to bring back that share of traffic to the railway sector."

India's mammoth state railways, much of them stuck in colonial times, have missed earnings targets for the third straight year and debts have shot up, documents seen by Reuters show, raising doubts about an ambitious modernisation drive.

The previously unreported figures will make uncomfortable reading for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the son of a train station tea seller who set out plans to overhaul the world's fourth largest rail network after he took power in 2014.

Is Mid-term poll likely in Telangana?

Will Telangana face mid-term polls next year? 

This is the question which is making rounds in the ruling TRS circles. Sources close to CM did not rule out the possibility of midterm polls in 2018. They are avoiding saying anything openly. Sources indicated that KCR has made up his mind to go for Assembly polls without waiting for the general elections of 2019.Those who are close to CM have hinted that Mr. KCR is in favour of midterm polls presenting his son, Mr. KTR as the next CM. KCR wants to grab power before BJP and other opposition parties get stabilized in the State.

Is it time to say goodbye to Rs 2,000 note?

It's up to none other than Prime Minister Modi to decide.

It seems the government is fed up of the “pink note” exactly as Indians are warming up to its shocking pinkness. According to a report in The Statesman, “The central government is preparing to gradually phase out the new Rs 2,000 note. The government is also preparing to bring in laws to take penal action against hoarders of the new Rs 2,000 note, according to people in the know of the development.” 

The fear of Hindu Rashtra: Should Muslims keep away from electoral politics?

After Uttar Pradesh election results, Muslim community debates whether their very presence in the political arena has become problematic for Hindus.

Four months before the Uttar Pradesh election results sent Muslims in India reeling in shock, former Rajya Sabha MP Mohammed Adeeb delivered a speech in Lucknow, which, in hindsight, might be called prescient.

“If Muslims don’t wish to have the status of slaves, if they don’t want India to become a Hindu rashtra, they will have to keep away from electoral politics for a while and, instead, concentrate on education,” Adeeb told an audience comprising mostly members of the Aligarh Muslim University’s Old Boys Association.

It isn’t that Adeeb wanted Muslims to keep away from voting. His aim was to have Muslim intellectuals rethink the idea of contesting elections, of disabusing them of the notion that it is they who decide which party comes to power in Uttar Pradesh.

Adeeb’s suggestion, that is contrary to popular wisdom, had his audience gasping. This prompted him to explain his suggestion in greater detail.

“We Muslims chose in 1947 not to live in the Muslim rashtra of Pakistan,” he said. “It is now the turn of Hindus to decide whether they want India to become a Hindu rashtra or remain secular. Muslims should understand that their very presence in the electoral fray leads to a communal polarisation. Why?”

Not one to mince words, Adeeb answered his question himself.

“A segment of Hindus hates the very sight of Muslims,” he said. “Their icon is Narendra Modi. But 75% of Hindus are secular. Let them fight out over the kind of India they want. Muslim candidates have become a red rag to even secular Hindus who rally behind the Bharatiya Janata Party, turning every election into a Hindu-Muslim one.”

Later in the day, Adeeb met Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was in Lucknow. To Adeeb, Azad asked, “Why did you deliver such a speech?”

It was now Azad’s turn to get a mouthful from Adeeb. He recalled asking Azad: “What kind of secularism is that which relies on 20% of Muslim votes? The Bahujan Samaj Party gets a percentage of it, as do the Samajwadi Party and the Congress.”

At this, Azad invited Adeeb, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, to join the Congress. Adeeb rebuffed the offer saying, “First get the secular Hindus together before asking me to join.”

Spectre of a Hindu rashtra
A day after the Uttar Pradesh election results sent a shockwave through the Muslim community, Adeeb was brimming with anger. He said, “Syed Ahmed Bukhari [the so-called Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid] came to me with a question: ‘Why aren’t political parties courting me for Muslim votes?’ I advised him to remain quiet, to not interfere in politics.” Nevertheless, Bukhari went on to announce that Muslims should vote the Bahujan Samaj Party.

“Look at the results,” Adeeb said angrily. “But for Jatavs, Yadavs, and a segment of Jats, most Hindus voted [for] the Bharatiya Janata Party.” His anger soon segued into grief and he began to sob, “I am an old man. I don’t want to die in a Hindu rashtra.”

Though Adeeb has been nudging Muslims to rethink their political role through articles in Urdu newspapers, the churn among them has only just begun. It is undeniably in response to the anxiety and fear gripping them at the BJP’s thumping victory in this politically crucial state.

After all, Uttar Pradesh is the site where the Hindutva pet projects of cow-vigilantism, love jihad, and ghar wapsi have been executed with utmost ferocity. All these come in the backdrop of the grisly 2013 riots of Muzaffarnagar, which further widened the Hindu-Muslim divide inherited from the Ram Janmabhoomi movement of the 1990s and even earlier, from Partition. Between these two cataclysmic events, separated by 45 years, Uttar Pradesh witnessed manifold riots, each shackling the future to the blood-soaked past.

I spoke to around 15 Muslims, not all quoted here, each of whom introspected deeply. So forbidding does the future appear to them that none even alluded to the steep decline in the number of Muslim MLAs, down from the high of 69 elected in 2012 to just 24 in the new Uttar Pradesh Assembly.

They, in their own ways, echoed Adeeb, saying that the decline in representation of Muslims was preferable to having the Sangh Parivar rule over them with the spectre of Hindutva looming.

“Muslims need to become like the Parsis or, better still, behave the way the Chinese Indians do in Kolkata,” said poet Munawwar Rana. “They focus on dentistry or [their] shoe business, go out to vote on polling day and return to work.”

He continued: “And Muslims?” They hold meetings at night, cook deghs (huge vessels) of biryani, and work themselves into a frenzy. “They think the burden of secularism rests on their shoulders,” said Rana. “Educate your people and make them self-reliant.”

Readers would think Adeeb, Rana and others are poor losers, not generous enough to credit the BJP’s overwhelming victory in Uttar Pradesh to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development programme. In that case readers should listen to Sudhir Panwar, the Samajwadi Party candidate from Thana Bhawan in West Uttar Pradesh, who wrote last week on the communal polarisation he experienced during his campaign.

In Thana Bhawan, there were four principal candidates – Suresh Rana, accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots, stood on the BJP ticket; Javed Rao on the Rashtriya Lok Dal’s; Abdul Rao Waris on the Bahujan Samaj Party’s, and Panwar on the Samajwadi Party’s. It was thought that the anger of Jats against the BJP would prevent voting on religious lines in an area where the Muslim-Hindu divide runs deep.

This perhaps prompted Rana to play the Hindu card, and the Muslims who were more inclined to the Rashtriya Lok Dal switched their votes to the Bahujan Samaj Party, believing that its Dalit votes would enhance the party’s heft to snatch Thana Bhawan.

Communal polarisation
Sample how different villages voted along communal lines.

In the Rajput-dominated Hiranwada, the Bahujan Samaj Party bagged 14 votes, the Rashtriya Lok Dal not a single vote, the Samajwadi Party seven, and the Bharatiya Janata Party a whopping 790.

In Bhandoda, a village where the Brahmins are landowners and also dominate its demography, followed by Dalits, the Bahujan Samaj Party secured 156 votes, the Rashtriya Lok Dal zero, the Samajwadi Party nine, and the Bharatiya Janata Party 570.

In the Muslim-dominated Jalalabad, the Bahujan Samaj Party received 453 votes, the Rashtriya Lok Dal 15, the Samajwadi Party 6 and the Bharatiya Janata Party 23.

In Pindora, where Jats are 35% and Muslims around 30% of the population, the Bahujan Samaj Party polled 33 votes, the Rashtriya Lok Dal 482, the Samajwadi Party 33, and the Bharatiya Janata Party 278, most of which is said to have come from the lower economically backward castes.

In Devipura, where the Kashyaps are numerous, the Bahujan Samaj Party got 86 votes, the Rashtriya Lok Dal 42, the Samajwadi Party 1 and the Bharatiya Janata Party 433.

In Oudri village, where the Jatavs are in the majority, the Bahujan Samaj Party bagged 343 votes, the Rashtriya Lok Dal 15, the Samajwadi Party 12, and the Bharatiya Janata Party 22.

This voting pattern was replicated in village after village. Broadly, the Jat votes split between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal, the Muslim votes consolidated behind the Bahujan Samaj Party, with the Samajwadi Party getting a slim share in it, the Jatavs stood solidly behind the Bahujan Samaj Party, and all others simply crossed over to the Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP’s Suresh Rana won the election from Thana Bhawan.

“Can you call this election?” asked Panwar rhetorically. “It is Hindu-Muslim war through the EVM [Electronic Voting Machine].” Panwar went on to echo Adeeb: “I feel extremely sad when I say that Muslims will have to keep away from contesting elections. This seems to be the only way of ensuring that elections don’t turn into a Hindu-Muslim one.”

The Bahujan Samaj Party’s Waris differed. “Is it even practical?” he asked. “But yes, Muslims should keep a low profile.”

Hindu anger against Muslims
For sure, Muslims feel that the binary of secularism-communalism has put them in a bind. Lawyer Mohd Shoaib, who heads the Muslim Rihai Manch, pointed to the irony of it. “For 70 years, we Muslims have fought against communalism,” he said. “But it has, nevertheless, grown by 70 times.”

Indeed, those with historical perspective think Uttar Pradesh of 2017 mirrors the political ambience that existed there between 1938 and 1946 – a seemingly unbridgeable Hindu-Muslim divide, a horrifyingly communalised public discourse, and a contest for power based on mobilisation along religious lines.

Among them is Mohammad Sajjad, professor of history at Aligarh Muslim University. “The 69 MLAs in the last Assembly was bound to, and did, raise eyebrows,” he said.

But what irks Hindus even more is that Muslims constitute nearly one-third of all members in panchayats and local urban bodies. “It is they who have become a sore point with Hindus,” said Sajjad. “When they see Muslim panchayat members become examples of the rags-to-riches story, the majority community feels aggrieved. It is not that Hindu panchayat members are less corrupt. But every third panchayat member being Muslim has given credibility to the narrative that Muslims are being favoured.”

The Hindu angst against Muslim empowerment is also on account of both the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party being popularly perceived to be indifferent to the aspirations of certain subaltern social groups. For instance, it is this indifference that has led to non-Jatav Dalits and most backward castes, clubbed under the Other Backward Classes for reservations, to leave the Bahujan Samaj Party, as non-Yadav middle castes have left the Samajwadi Party. They did so in response to Mayawati turning hers into primarily the party of Jatavs, and the Samajwadi Party pursuing the Yadavisation of the administration.

“These aspirational Hindu groups are angry with the SP [Samajwadi Party] and the BSP [Bahujan Samaj Party],” said Sajjad. “Their anger against them also turned into anger against Muslims.” This is because it is popularly felt that the support of Muslims to the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party brings them to power, turning these parties callously indifferent to the aspirations of other groups.

It is to neutralise the efficacy of Muslim votes, and also to teach their parties of choice a lesson, that these aspirational groups have flocked to the BJP. “This is why the very presence of Muslims in the political arena has become problematic for Hindus,” Sajjad said.

So then, should Muslims take Adeeb’s cue and retreat from the political arena or at least keep a low profile?

Sajjad replied, “Go ahead and vote the party of your choice. But after that, play the role of a citizen. If people don’t get electricity, protest with others. You can’t be forgiving of those for whom you voted only because they can keep the BJP out of power. This is what angers aspirational Hindu social groups.”

Indeed, it does seem a travesty of justice and democracy that Muslims should rally behind the Samajwadi Party in Muzaffarnagar after the riots there. Or that they voted for the Bahujan Samaj Party in Thana Bhawan in such large numbers even though Mayawati didn’t even care to visit the Muslim families who suffered unduly during the riots.

Introspection and self-criticism
Like Sajjad’s, most narratives of Muslims have a strong element of self-criticism. Almost all vented their ire against Muslim clerics. Did they have to direct Muslims which party they should vote for? Didn’t they know their recklessness would trigger a Hindu polarisation?

Unable to fathom their irresponsible behaviour, some plump for conspiracy theories. It therefore doesn’t come as a surprise to hear Obaidullah Nasir, editor of the Urdu newspaper Avadhnama, say, “They take money from the Bharatiya Janata Party to create confusion among Muslims. I got abused for writing this. But how else can you explain their decision to go public with their instructions to Muslims?”

Poet Ameer Imam, who teaches in a college in the Muslim-dominated Sambhal constituency, said, “Muslims will have to tell the maulanas that their services are required in mosques, not in politics. When Muslims applaud their rabble rousers, can they complain against those in the BJP?”

To this, add another question: When Mayawati spoke of Dalit-Muslim unity, didn’t Muslims think it would invite a Hindu backlash?

Most will assume, as I did too, that Muslims fear the communal cauldron that Uttar Pradesh has become will be kept on the boil. But this is not what worries them. Not because they think the Bharatiya Janata Party in power will change its stripes, but because they fear Muslims will feel so cowered that they will recoil, and live in submission. “Our agony arises from being reduced to second-class citizens, of becoming politically irrelevant,” said journalist Asif Burney.

True, members of the Muslim community are doing a reality-check and are willing to emerge from the fantasy world in which they thought that they decided which party won an election. The Uttar Pradesh results have rudely awakened them to the reality of being a minority, of gradually being reduced to political insignificance, and their status as an equal citizen – at least in their imagination – challenged and on the way to being undermined.

But this does not mean they wish to enter yet another world of fantasy, which journalist and Union minister MJ Akbar held out to them in the piece he penned for the Times of India on March 12. Akbar wrote,

“…[T]his election was not about religion; it was about India, and the elimination of its inherited curse, poverty. It was about good governance.”

One of those whom I spoke to laughed uproariously on hearing me repeat Akbar’s lines. So you can say that with them believing their future is darkled, Muslims at least haven’t lost their humour.

In Mughal India, Holi was celebrated with the same exuberance as Eid

There were no barriers of caste, class or religion, and even the poorest of the poor could throw colour at the Emperor.

Hori kheluungii, kah Bismillah.
Naam Nabi ki ratn chaRii,
BuuNd paRi Allah Allah.

I start playing Holi with a Bismillah.
Covered with the light of Prophet’s name,
Showered by blessings of Allah.

When I celebrate Holi, Muslims often tell me that the practice is haram (forbidden), because colour is prohibited in Islam. But the 18th-century Punjabi mystic Bulleh Shah’s words above provide the perfect frame for the subcontinent’s centuries-old syncretic culture, our Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb that is under threat from fundamentalists of both religions.

As it turns out, Islam does not prohibit colour: it’s just that when we perform our ablutions for namaz, water should touch the skin, so there should be no colour at that point. Wash the Holi colours away before praying, I tell the critics. It’s simple. I do it.

Tale of harmony
This fundamentalism is a recent phenomenon. In the past, the influence of the Sufi and Bhakti movements encouraged harmony between the communities.

In Alam Mein Intikhaab Dilli, Maheshwar Dyal writes,

“Holi is an ancient Hindustani festival which is played by every man and woman irrespective of religion and caste. After coming to India, the Muslims also played Holi with gusto, be it the Badshah or the Faqeer."

Basant Panchami would signal the onset of the festivities and people would be carrying squirt guns with colours and smear gulaal (red powder) on each other’s faces. Mustard flowers would be offered in temples and abiir/gulaal would be flying in the air.

Flowers from the Tesu/Palash/Dhaak plants (flame of the forest) would be immersed in earthen water pots. It is believed that Lord Krishna played Holi with Radha using colours made from the red Tesu flower, which blooms during the spring season.

All colours used were natural and plant extracts. There were neither chemicals nor hooliganism.

Holi is one of the most delightful and colourful festivals of India. It is aimed at uniting people by forgetting their complaints and embracing one another.

Early references
In the 13th century, Amir Khusrau (1253–1325) is said to have written many verses in celebration of Holi.

kheluungii holi, Khaaja ghar aaye,
dhan dhan bhaag hamare sajni,
Khaaja aaye aangan mere

I shall play Holi as Khaaja has come home,
blessed is my fortune, o friend,
as Khaaja has come to my courtyard

The Mughal Emperor Akbar encouraged syncretism and tolerance. During his reign, all festivals were celebrated with equal gusto and it was a practice that was followed by all his successors barring Aurangzeb.

In the 16th century, Ibrahim Raskhan (1548-1603) wrote:

Aaj hori re Mohan Hori
Kaal hamare aangan gaari dai aayo, so kori
Ab ke duur baithe maiyya dhing, nikaso kunj bihari

It's Holi, Mohan, its Holi today
Who was it who came yesterday to our courtyard and swore at us
Now you hide behind your mother, far away , Oh come out Kunj Bihari

In Tuzuk e Jahangir, Jahangir (1569 –1627) writes:

Their day is Holi, which in their belief is the last day of the year. This day falls in the month of Isfandarmudh, when the sun is in Pisces. On the eve of this day they light fires in all the lanes and streets. When it is daylight, they spray powder on each other’s heads and faces for one watch and create an amazing uproar. After that, they wash themselves, put their clothes on, and go to gardens and fields. Since it is an established custom of among the Hindus to burn their dead, the lighting of fires on the last night of the year is a metaphor for burning the old year as though it were a corpse.

Much fanfare
Holi would be celebrated on the same scale as Eid in the Red Fort or Qila e Moalla (Exalted Palace). It was called Eid e gulaabi or Aab-e-Pashi (Shower of Colourful Flowers), with everyone joining in.

There would be melas or fairs behind the Red Fort on the banks of the Yamuna. A huge crowd would gather from the fort till Raj Ghat. The dhaf, jhanjaen, nafiri (tambourine, cymbal and trumpet) would be played and nautch girls would dance. Groups of traveling musicians and artists would gather under the Red Fort and display their tricks and talents. The mimics would imitate the Emperor, prince and princesses too and nobody would take offence.

The queens, princesses and noble women would be sitting in their jharokas (overhanging enclosed balcony) and enjoying the entertainment. The Emperor would reward these artistes handsomely.

At night, there would be a grand celebration of Holi in the Red Fort with singing and dancing throughout the night. Famous courtesans from throughout the country would come here. The most popular song would be Bahadur Shah Zafar’s Horiyan. Bands of entertainers would go around Shahjahanabad entertaining the aristocrats and the rich in their Havelis. There would be much good-natured leg-pulling with the slogan “Bura Naa Mano, Holi Hai!”Don’t take it the wrong way,it's Holi.

Children would also go around entertaining elders with their acts. At night there would be mahfils (soirees) in the walled city with the aristocrats, traders and shopkeepers all enjoying themselves.

Emperor joins in
Bahudar Shah Zafar (1775–1862) would join the celebration with great gusto and enthusiasm and mingle with his subjects. He wrote a song for the occasion:

Kyun mope maari rang ki pichkaari
dekh kunwarji du’ngi gaari

(Why have you squirted me with colour?
O Kunwarji I will swear at you)

bhaaj saku’n main kaise moso bhaajo nahin jaat
thaa’ndi ab dekhu’n main baako kaun jo sun mukh aat

(I can’t run, I am unable to run
I am now standing here and want to see who can drench me)

Bahut dinan mein haath lage ho kaise jaane deoon
Aaj main phagwa ta sau Kanha faita pakad kar leoon.

(After many days have I caught you, how can I let you go
I will catch you by your cummerbund and play Holi with you)

shokh rang aisi dheet langar sau khelay kaun ab hori
mukh meedai aur haath marore karke woh barjori

Who can play Holi with such a mischievous Kanha
My face you have coloured and my wrist you have twisted in your playfulness.

Jam-e-Jahanuma, an Urdu newspaper, wrote in 1844 that during the days of the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, special arrangements were made for Holi festivities, and goes on to describe the frolicking and exchange of colour made from the tesu flowers.

Nazeer Akbarabadi (1735–1830) was the "people’s poet" who wrote:

Jab Phagun Rang Jhamakte ho,
Tab dekh bahaare’n Holi ki
Jab Daf Ke Shor Khadke Hon
ab Dekh Baharein Holi Ki
Pariyon Ke Rang Damkte Hon
Tab Dekh Baharein Holi Ki.

When the month of Phagun shines with colour
Then see the celebration of Holi.

Mehjoor Lakhnavi (1798-1818) in his book Nawab Syadat Ali Ki Majlis-e-Holi talks of the sensuous aspect of Holi , with which many can associate today.

Gulzar Khile Hon Pariyon Ke
Aur Majlis Ki Tyari Ho
Kapdon Par Rang Ke Cheeton Se
Khushrang Ajab Gulkari Ho

Roses are blooming on fairies
Preparation is on for a soiree
Clothes are smeared with colour
As bright as painted flowers.

Shah Niaz’s (1742-1834) Holi song has been made immortal by Sufi singer Abida Parveen.

Holi hoye rahi hai Ahmad Jiya ke dwaar
Hazrat Ali ka rang bano hai Hassan Hussain khilaar

Holi is being played at beloved Ahmad’s doorsteps
Hazrat Ali has become the colour and Hasan and Husain are playing.

Lasting tradition
Royal patrons who were mostly secular in those days like Ibrahim Adil Shah and Wajid Ali Shah used to distribute mithai (sweets) and thandai (a drink) to everyone in their kingdom. It was a common and beloved festival of all.

This is the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb that prevailed all over India right till the 19th century. It still does in most of India despite attempts to divide and rule.

The famous poet Mir Taqi Mir (1723-1810) wrote on Nawab Asifud Daula playing Holi:

Holi khela Asifud daula Vazir
Rang sohbat se Ajab hain Khurd-o-Pir

Asidud daula plays Holi
Commoners and kings are happy after being drenched with colour.

Munshi Zakaullah (a mid-19th century Delhi intellectual) in his book Tarikh-e-Hindustani, even questions the fact that Holi is a Hindu festival and describes the Holi festivities lasting for days during the Mughal rule. There were no restraints of caste, class or religion and even the poorest of the poor could throw colour on the Emperor.

I don’t think there can be a better ending than Gauhar Jaan singing:

Mere Hazrat ne Madeene mein manaayi Holi.

Making Pakistan Bleed By A Thousand Cuts

By M H AHSSAN ! INNLIVE

India must now step up, not ease up, its multi-pronged strategy against terrorism.

The hit-and-run terrorist attack in Baramulla on October 2 left one BSF jawan dead and another critically injured. Following India’s precision surgical strike in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on September 29, ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) have risen sharply.

India must now step up, not ease up, its multi-pronged strategy against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.

Strategic restraint as an anti-terrorism doctrine has been given a quiet burial. Two issues stand out. First, further Pakistani retaliation: what form it will take and how to neutralise it. Second, India’s unfolding counter-terrorism strategy.

Renewed Pakistani retaliation could take two forms. One, attacking soft targets like malls, theatres, markets and other populated urban areas by activating sleeper cells and terrorists who had crossed over into India before the Uri terror attack.

Two, more hit-and-run attacks by Pakistani terrorists on Indian border posts and increased LoC shelling.

India must be prepared for both forms of retaliation by a Pakistani army humiliated by India’s precision surgical strike.

Meanwhile, the multi-pronged strategy to counter Pakistan-sponsored terrorism can be broken up into four broad areas:

Military
India’s covert strike on September 20/21 (not officially acknowledged) reportedly killed around 20 terrorists. The surgical strike on September 29 killed an estimated 40 to 55 terrorists, though the actual figure could be higher.

More than the damage inflicted on Pakistan’s terror machine, India’s political will to strike and its military capability to do so have been clinically established.

Doubting Thomases in India abound. Some said the surgical strike was a routine affair. Others bemoaned the dangerous path India had embarked on. A few said economic growth would suffer.

The government should ignore these perennial naysayers. Vested interests in India are sometimes more beholden to Pakistan’s national interest than India’s. That is the nature of a subverted ecosystem. It will unravel in the fullness of time.

Economic
Implement the full ambit of the Indus Waters Treaty. India must optimise the water it is legally entitled to under the treaty. Pakistan can object only to abrogation of the treaty, not its full legal implementation.

As a result, Jammu and Kashmir will receive more water and generate an extra 15,000MW of hydroelectric power. All India needs to do to achieve this without violating the treaty is to build barrages and water storage facilities in J&K.

The Tulbul project (dubbed the Wullar barrage by Pakistan) is a good start. China’s move to block part of the Brahmaputra’s flow into Assam and Arunachal Pradesh should not deter India.

Pakistan will pay in two ways.

On one hand, it will receive progressively less water under the legally incontestable provisions of the Indus treaty. On the other, the principal beneficiary will be the people of J&K. The political capital this can deliver to the J&K government is incalculable.

Simultaneously, Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status granted to Pakistan in 1996 on the principle of reciprocity (a principle brazenly flouted by Islamabad and meekly accepted by Delhi for 20 years) must go. 

Official trade between the two countries is low ($2 billion). Unofficial border trade is higher ($15 billion). All this misses the point. You cannot isolate a terror state by retaining its most favoured nation status. The messaging gets blurred, the outcome compromised.

Diplomatic
Isolate Pakistan both internationally and regionally. Admonitory statements from the United States, Russia and other major powers directed at Pakistan after India’s surgical strike have made it clear that the world’s patience with Islamabad has run out. The winter session of Parliament will present an opportunity to pass a resolution to declare Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism.

Meanwhile, the cancellation of the SAARC summit has isolated Pakistan regionally. Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Bhutan have made common cause with India by pointing to Pakistan as the repository of terrorism.

The BIMSTEC forum is the obvious replacement for SAARC. It brings together a group of countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Dubbed the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, BIMSTEC comprises Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.

Five BIMSTEC members are also members of SAARC which comprises eight countries. If Afghanistan and the Maldives (both part of SAARC) are invited as observers in BIMSTEC, the grouping will give India an even wider geopolitical footprint across Asia. Pakistan, the eighth SAARC country, will be isolated.

Concomitantly, China’s move to block Maulana Masood Azhar as a UN-designated terrorist can be used to shame China internationally as a protector of global terror. It will not be easy for an aspiring global power like China to live that down.

Strategic
Grant Baloch dissidents asylum in India and allow them to establish a government-in-exile. The "Free Balochistan" movement will keep Pakistan off balance.

Meanwhile, India must shift its strategic goalposts on J&K. The LoC is no longer sacrosanct. PoK is Indian territory, as a parliamentary resolution in 1994 underlined. The only issue now to be resolved in the "dispute" over Kashmir should be Pakistan’s vacation of PoK.

The Manmohan-Vajpayee doctrine recognised that a dialogue with Pakistan was necessary to demilitarise J&K, thus indirectly legitimising Pakistan’s claim on a part of Kashmir that is in India’s possession.

That argument has now shifted decisively. The only area in dispute and open to dialogue is the part of Kashmir illegally occupied by Pakistan.

This represents a paradigm shift in India’s stand on J&K. More that last week’s surgical strike, it is this shift and its long-term implications that has rattled Pakistan the most.

Myths
Meanwhile, banish three myths that invariably surface when Pakistan is under pressure as it is today. One, that "we are the same people". We are not.

Two, that "the people of Pakistan do not support terrorism against India". Most do. The antipathy towards Indians amongst ordinary Pakistanis is far stronger than most Indians recognise.

Three, "Both India and Pakistan are victims of terrorism". This false equivalence has infected the vocabulary of peace professionals in India. The difference of course is India does not send gangs of terrorists to Lahore and Islamabad to kill ordinary Pakistanis.

This fraudulent equivalence on terror victimhood is a narrative that, like strategic restraint, must be buried forever.

India In Midst Of Lentil Glut: About Two Lakh Tonnes Of Dal Lie Idle As Price Of Pulses Plummets

By NEWSCOP | INNLIVE

After a prolonged spell of pulse poverty, the Centre is now striving to store an embarrassment of riches. 

About 1.76 lakh tonnes of imported stock coupled with a lack of interest from states to pick up their allotted share have left the government weighing its options to stow the supply. Apart from this, domestic procurement has also reached 1.20 lakh tonnes.

Any Solutions For The Illegal Organ Trade Thrives In India?

By LIKHAVEER | INNLIVE

Kidney and liver diseases are growing in India. But the number of cadaver donations remains low.

On June 24, Mukesh Chaddwa died of kidney failure in Mumbai. His name featured in a waiting list maintained by Mumbai’s Zonal Transplant Coordination committee for people requiring a life-saving kidney transplant. The patients registered by the committee are allotted a kidney when the family of a brain-dead patient consents to donate his or her organs.

Political Vultures, Real Estate Sharks And Criminals Ganged Up To Ruin Bengaluru

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

India's tech capital Bengaluru is falling apart - well, almost. A city, whose infrastructure can support just about 30 to 40 lakh people, is now home for more than double that number. In the first of a two-part series, INNLIVE traces the origins of Bengaluru's destruction which began even before the city was swamped by IT professionals.

Hospitals In India And Corporates Are Duping New Mothers By Feeding Babies Formula, Not Breastmilk

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

Three months ago, I delivered a healthy baby boy at a private hospital in Bengaluru. However, I didn’t get to hold or feed him until several hours later. And much to my disappointment, and without my consent, he was given infant formula for his first meal.

Turns out, I’m not the only new mother to whom this has happened. Two years ago, 31-year-old photographer Sannika Chawla delivered a child in a reputed private hospital in the city. Although she had had a normal delivery, hours after the birth, hospital staff fed formula to Chawla’s baby as the exhausted mother rested a few feet away.

In Focus: How To Curb The Dengue Disease More Effectively?

By LIKHAVEER | INNLIVE

Besides notification, the government will have to identify ways to involve the private sector to get more accurate figures on dengue cases.

On June 9, the Central government made dengue a notifiable disease. This means that any confirmed or suspected case of dengue, as per the set parameters, should be reported to the district health authority. This rule applies to both public and private practitioners.

Spotlight: More Than 10,000 Indian Companies Have Defaulted On 'Provident Fund' Payments

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

The numbers of defaulting companies and institutions is growing.

It should have taken 30 days for Sanjaya Kumar, 27, from Odisha to withdraw his father’s provident fund of Rs 40,000, the post-employment rainy-day or retirement stash that companies must compulsorily deduct from salaries.

In Their Search For Pure Islam, Many Muslim Sects Consider Others 'Insufficient' Or 'Infidels'

By NEWSCOP | INNLIVE

One of the key reasons why Muslim societies are in ferment concerns a theological tradition practiced by Islamic clerics to declare other Muslims as munafiqeen (hypocrites), kafir (infidels), or simply insufficient Muslims.

On 5 August, the Mumbai-based Urdu daily Roznama Inquilabpublished a report on its frontpage raising alarm that Qadianis have been included in the 2011 census report as Muslims.

Dark Night Advisories: How Raj-Era Prejudice Still Taints Police Attitudes Towards 'Criminal Tribes'?

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

The authorities in North India believe that it is necessary to treat these communities differently.

About once every month, police departments in North Indian states issue rather unique instructions to those on the beat: “Dark Night” advisories that alert police teams about potential strikes by dangerous gangs that usually contain more than a few references to communities once known as criminal tribes.

'Cow Vigilantes': Has Moditva Started Ascending Over Hindutva?

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

Indeed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at those indulging in "cow vigilantism” thrice: First, he made it clear to them thatswayamseva wasn't about suppressing and terrifying others; it was about empathy and sacrifice.