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In a joint statement, the Central Trade Union Organisations (CTUOs) have reiterated their serious concern at the hardships and miseries imposed on the workers, particularly in the unorganised sector, farmers, agricultural labourers and rural poor, on small traders and street vendors by the Modi government due to the demonetization.

The statement is signed by leaders of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Hind Mazdoor Sabha ( HMS), Central Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India Union of Trade Unions Centre (AIUTUC), Trade Unions Coordination Centre (TUCC), Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), United Trade Union Congress (UTUC) and Labour Progressive Federation (LPF).

The CTUOs took note of the ongoing spontaneous protests by various trade unions throughout the country against the miseries inflicted upon the workers, farmers, self-employed and small business by demonetisation process and stressed upon the need for carrying on the same initiative as a part of their united struggle against the anti-worker, anti-people authoritarian policies of the Government. Reports have been pouring in from all over the country, during the last two months, about closures of thousands of small and medium enterprises, lakhs of workers, particularly the migrant workers losing their jobs. Lakhs of migrant workers employed in construction, brick kiln, textile and garments, jewellery, leather, sports goods etc have lost their work.

Quoting a recent study by the All India Manufacturers’ Organisation, the statement said that in the first 34 days since demonetisation, micro small scale industries suffered 35 per cent job losses and a 50 per cent dip in their revenues. It is also projected 60 per cent drop in employment and 55 per cent loss in revenue by March 2017. There is large scale reverse migration to the rural areas. More than 100 people have died due the demonetisation onslaught and its impact on the people.

This exercise has resulted in the ruin of micro and small industries. It will further increase the already wide income inequalities. It is only intended to help finance capital by sucking in people’s money into the banks for their recapitalisation so that they can provide cheap credit to the big corporate and business houses. 

None of the objectives of this demonetisation, outlined by the government, – unearthing black money, curtailing corruption, stopping funds to terrorist activities and preventing counterfeiting have been fulfilled calling a bluff on the loud noises made by the Government through media. There was no attempt to bring back the huge amount of black money stashed in foreign countries despite the Government having the list of those big black money holders. Counterfeit money in the form of the new Rs 2000 notes are already being printed and brought into circulation. While old avenues of corruption continue unabated, new avenues have been opened in the form of exchanging old withdrawn notes for new notes.

The Government is refusing to take concrete action of even recovering black-money in domestic soil being generated by huge direct tax-default to the tune of Rs 5 lakh crore every year, speculation in the commodity market, under-invoicing and over-invoicing in foreign and domestic trade by the big traders, deliberate default of bank-loans etc. 

Poor unorganised workers having no bank accounts are being robbed of their meagre earnings by unscrupulous commission agents. Farmers are being compelled make distress sale of their produce, both grains and vegetables. The Nagrota terrorist attack clearly establishes the failure of this exercise in stopping terrorist funding and terrorist attacks. Now the government shifted the narrative to converting the country into cashless economy and digital economy, which is nothing but impossible at this juncture given the huge unbanked areas in rural India. 

In fact as the facts revealed by RBI and various other agencies, the demonetisation has resulted in making the black-money white and legitimising the counterfeit currency made clear by the data of demonetised currency received by the banking system to the tune of more than 98 per cent by the end of December 2016.

Instead of taking measures to mitigate the sufferings of the workers the government is branding those who voice their sufferings as black money holders, corrupt and anti national. This is nothing but a clear exhibition of authoritarian tendencies by the government and the BJP leaders.

The Central Trade Unions while seriously condemning this authoritarian attitude of the government  call upon the working people to organise at state capital and  district level joint demonstrations all over the country on 28 January, demanding that the government compensate the toiling people for the job losses, wage losses, crop losses and loss of livelihood.  

About the author: The author is a practicing hack, a cynic to core.”

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The coming together of the youthful Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi which appears to be on the cards can change the political dynamics in the country’s most populous state.

It can put the Samajwadi party-Congress combine in the driver’s seat as its patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav or Netaji as he is known is increasingly becoming irrelevant in the fast changing political landscape in UP. Once again the BJP is handicapped not having a chief ministerial face to project as evidenced two years back in Bihar. Banking solely on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pull the chestnuts out of the fire as it were might not be easy. 

The lotus party seems to have alienated its supporters of small traders as well as the Brahmins. As the ideologue of the BJP, the RSS needs to realise the new realities on the ground and that 2014 is not 2017. Three years back in the general elections the BJP secured a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha for the first time since it was formed in 1980. Along with its allies the NDA crossed the rubicon of 300 finishing with a comfortable tally of 340 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha.

Since the November 8 demonetisation the small trader vote bank of the BJP is keenly looking for an alternative having been badly hit. The other backward classes on whom the BJP strategists were placing their bets are also having second thoughts. 

The SP-Congress combine has the portends of holding the trump card in the February-March assembly elections in UP. If the Mahagatbandhan sent the BJP packing in2015 in Bihar, one of the battleground states in the Cow belt, the SP-Congress combine can disturb the apple cart.

This assumes significance as the Muslims in particular want to vote decisively against the BJP. Numerically it has the largest Vidhan Sabha in the country with 403 seats along with contributing the maximum number of 80 seats in the Lok Sabha.

It is a do or die battle for the Lotus party in UP which can set stage for the general elections two years later in 2019. The Modi government needs to increase its seats in the Rajya Sabha where it is handicapped being in a minority. This has compelled the BJP led NDA at the centre to resort to Ordinances which has been decried by constitutional experts. 

Important legislation pertaining to economic reforms has invariably come up against a wall and fallen by the wayside in the House of Elders. The politically conscious electorate in UP is acutely aware of the complexities of the caste and class combination. 

Having burnt its fingers in Bihar, BJP strategists have tried a new social engineering aimed at turning the Lotus party into a non-Yadav OBC party in a bid to woo the most backward castes. This is bound to alienate the Brahmins as they don’t vote in sync with the OBCs.

Bahujan Samaj party’s supremo Mayawati seemed to have envisoned having the chance of becoming the chief minister for a record fifth time in Lucknow in the wake of the turmoil in the SP. Its chances of fructfying are receding with each passing day, thanks to a three cornered contest.

If the youthful Akhilesh and Rahul Gandhi coming together materialises, she realises she might have blown her chances. In a worst case scenario she is capable of transferring her Yadav votes to defeat the BJP.  

Realising she had lost the gambit in the 2014 general elections, her party’s votes got transferred to the BJP as people wanted a change of government at the centre. In the prevailing scenario, some analysts believe the saffron brigade and its strategists might well be committing harakiri.

At this juncture, Akhilesh and Rahul Gandhi want to throw up a fresh political alternative in UP the significance and importance of which cannot be undermined. Akhilesh has the support of more than 90 per cent of his party members. His clean image and being backed by the younger generation, he wants to concentrate on all round development direly needed in UP.

On his part Rahul Gandhi is endeavouring to recapture the Congress party’s vote bank of yore which had moved away to regional satraps. There are indications Rahul’s sister Priyanka Vadra Gandhi and Akhilesh’s wife Dimple might also be campaigning jointly in the state. 

The importance of Western UP having 77 seats in the assembly cannot be undermined. While the Muslims constitute 25 per cent of the population 73 per cent are Hindus. In 2012 the Muslims won 26 seats from this region. The Muzaffarnagar communal flare up in August 2013 claimed 46 lives and injured 93. It is a jat stronghold and the Ajit Singh factor of the RLD has been eroded over the years.

Polarising the votes in the 2014 general elections led to the Lotus party winning a mind boggling 71 seats out of 80, far beyond its own expectations and along with its allies finished with a tally of 73. The SP won five seats and the remaining two successful candidates were Congress President Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli and her son Rahul Gandhi from Amethi. 

For the BJP repeating that mind boggling performance in the ensuing assembly elections with Modi having completed half his five-year term might be both unrealistic and overestimating itself.

(T R Ramachandran is a senior journalist and commentator. The views are personal.)”

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President Pranab Mukherjee is anguished with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government viewing nationalism in a new perspective leading to increasing intolerance. Such a mismatch adversely affecting the country’s plurality is not new as it has been evidenced since the BJP led NDA government assumed power at the Centre in May 2014. 

In the present instance it is with regard to the November 8 high power demonetisation unleashed by Modi continuing to cause great distress to poor.  

The Head of State believes that in the short to medium term, demonetisation is unlikely to achieve its three pronged objective — eradicating the scourge of poverty, tackling black money along with dealing a crippling blow to the menace of terrorism. The poor encompassing the daily wage earner, farmers, the underprivileged as well as the oppressed and depressed cannot afford to wait for the long term. The copybook President has once again found it necessary to bring to the fore the core values of Indian civilisation.

These embrace tolerance and debate. Mukherjee underlined yet again the need to protect the virtues of democracy revolving around the “”freedom to doubt, express disagreement and discuss without fear and prejudice””. 

He was categorical that  the troubles of the poor cannot be brushed aside by a government on the promise of long-term dream of prosperity. A case in point is the widespread distress sale by farmers and lay offs underlying there is need for social security. 

Impartial observers believe as the protector of the Constitution, his efforts in outlining yet again the virtues of democracy could not have come at a more opportune moment. Making these observations while addressing Governors and Lt Governors in the new year through teleconferencing, Mukherjee said it is natural to love one’s country and take pride in its past glory. 

It should be remembered that patriotism puts blinkers on people’s eyes. The lens of patriotism can sometimes present or distort too one sided or too partisan a view of the past. The First Citizen was quick to say “”they bear reiteration, especially at the present conjunction in India when any criticism of India’s past or present is condemned as being anti-national””.  

The response to the Head of State’s observations by the Prime Minister has been tepid in the past. On one occasion while campaigning in the run up to the assembly elections in Bihar in 2015 Modi responded publicly exhorting the people to follow the President’s advice. 

In his message on New Year’s eve, Modi announced waiving bad loans wa well as cutting taxes and interest rates for businesses to soften the ruffled feathers of those badly affected by demonetisation. Providing these sops is one thing even as direly needed social security is nowhere in sight. The President emphasised those suffering “”need to get succour here and now””. 

Amid all this the BJP leaders are singing paeans of Modi about the second surgical strike pertaining to demonetisation is bound to turn the tide. They are emphatic that Modi is determined to transform this country by leap frogging to a cashless world.  

The economy is expected to grow at 7.1 during the current fiscal far slower than 7.6 per cent in 2015-16. The negative impact of demonetisation is far greater in the rural areas. The country faces an extraordinary situation due to demonetisation. It has become imperative to reach new notes to areas which continues to be affected by the liquidity crisis. 

The Central Statistics Office forecast does not take into account the adverse impact of demonetisation which by some accounts is a daring step. The CSO’s prediction is based on data for the first seven months till the end of October last year. The CSO chief T C A Anant conceded that the latest projection may have to be reworked once data for the remaining period becomes available. 

An alarming trend discernible in the country since the Modi government assumed office having completed half its term of two-and-a-half years, is to take nationalism to a new level particularly by the BJP’s ideologue and mentor, the RSS. 

This in turn has shown nationalism in a different perspective of indulging in violence and whipping up a fear psychosis leading to increasing intolerance. Inevitably dissent and debate are becoming the casualty. 

The Prime Minister has rarely ever intervened in curbing such aberrations. His silence has been stoic and on the odd occasion mild mannered. In October 2015, the President was categoric that coexistence of opposition forces, different opinions, strengthen ties along with increasing society’s capacity to move forward. 

The President wondered aloud “”if acceptance of dissent is on the wane? Humanism and pluralism should not be abandoned,”” he emphasised. Another disturbing trend has been the propensity to use the Ordinance route for political expediency. This has been deprecated by superior courts as well as constitutional functionaries. There is the fear of defeat in the Rajya Sabha where the BJP led NDA government is in a minority. 

There is no doubt that people in rural areas have borne a disproportionate burden due to demonetisation. The government must pay attention to the President’s warning of a looming crises in rural India rather than seeking to brush it under the carpet. The Modi government’s efforts in rendering assistance to the poor has to be direct and focussed. 

(T R Ramachandran is a senior journalist and commentator. The views are personal.)”

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To tap the fast-growing Indian car market, Japanese carmaker Nissan has adopted two-pronged strategy – target smaller cities and towns across India by opening new dealerships and develop a robust network of modern workshops. The second-fastest growing car company in India plans to open 20-30 new dealerships every year to cover 250 districts pan India within next three to four years.
“We now have 150 dealerships…We are now focusing on major districts and towns across India so that our products are within reach of our potential customers. Every year we will open 20-30 new dealerships that will have a fully equipped, state-of-the-art workshops. We are the only car company that offers two distinct brands – Nissan and Datsun – to our customers. From current two per cent market share we will capture five per cent by 2020…To meet this demand we are fully prepared,” said Arun Malhotra, Managing Director, Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Malhotra, who opened a new Nissan dealership at Kangra in Himachal Pradesh last week, said small towns and cities offer good growth possibilities for the Japanese carmaker. Ã¢Â€ÂœWe are offering best after-sales service to our customers which is boosting our growth. We have improved considerably over the years in the annual J.D. Power India Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) Study…Last year we stood second which shows people’s affinity towards our brand. For better customer experience, we are opening highway service centres so that those driving Nissan cars are never far away from our service engineers. We have opened 20 highway service centres and plan to add more covering all major highways across India,” he added.

Mr. Malhotra said Nissan plans to introduce eight new Make-in-India models by 2020 – four each from Nissan and Datsun stable – that will be exported across the globe. Ã¢Â€ÂœNissan is betting big on Indian market. Apart from Japan and US, Nissan has opened its R&D Centre in India. We have also set up 600-acre state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Chennai to cater to Indian and global markets. India is turning out to be a major export hub for the Nissan Group,” Mr. Malhotra added. Incidentally, Nissan along with its Datsun brand has emerged as a real challenger to the market leader — Maruti Suzuki — by offering a range of products from entry-level to mid-level cars.

(Sandeep Joshi is a Delhi-based independent journalist)”

“51tYLOOHJL._SX322_BO1204203200_”” alt=””51tYLOOHJL. SX322 BO1204203200 “” />South Asia is on the boil with major civil or internal wars having domestic and global consequences. The conflict in Jammu and Kashmir continues to make headlines while those in the Northeast and central India simmers with sudden strikes on the security forces by the insurgents and Maoists. There appears to be no clear resolution of the civil war and occupation in Afghanistan, even as Nepal and Sri Lanka work out their very different post war settlements. In Bangladesh the 1971 liberation war remains a political faultline. This volume demonstrates the importance of South Asia as a region. It has become necessary to deepen the study of civil wars and armed conflicts inevitably opening up questions of sovereignty, citizenship and state contours. This book originated in a workshop on civil war in South Asia held in Delhi University in 2010 which has been edited by Aparna Sundar and Nandini Sundar. While Aparna is Associate Professor, Azim Premji University in Bengaluru, Nandini is Professor of Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. The Pakistan-Afghanistan border is often referred to as one of the most dangerous places on earth. Conflicts continue to remain unresolved in Kashmir as well as Northeast India and in Myanmar’s hill regions. Even as Nepal and Sri Lanka work out their very different post-war settlements, the underlying causes of civil war remains unaddressed. The long settled civil wars such as the one resulting in the creation of Bangladesh continues to fester in both Bangladesh and Pakistan. This book has endeavoured to use the lens of the civil wars to focus on larger questions of economic development, state capacity and sovereignty in South Asia. Answers are being sought for the specificity of these processes to explain the civil war and conflict in general terms. Mass displacement has been a major issue. The partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 remains the emblematic moment for more than 12 million displaced people. Citizens continue to flee their homes or forcibly shifted as a consequence of civil war. Partition of India constitutes a foundational civil war in South Asia. Afghanistan has topped the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the last 32 years with 6.2 million refugees in 1990 which is the most massive population flow not only in South Asia but anywere in the world. In 2009 the fierce climax to the three decade long civil war between the militant Liberational Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan army led to massive deaths and the displacement of thousands into camps. During the same year in Pakistan two million civilians were displaced during army action in Swat and South Waziristan. In India one lakh civilians were displaced in Chattisgarh between 2005 and 2010 in the wake of the state sponsored vigilante counter insurgency operation against the Naxalites or Maoist guerillas. This has proved to be less strategic than the hamletting practised in Mizoram between 1967 and 1980 which affected 80 per cent of the population and made Mizoram the most urbanised state in India. Similar displacements occured in Nepal during the civil war and have been continuing in the hill regions of Myanmar for several decades. The dominant explanation given for the onset of civil war include greed, grievance, ethnic differences and poverty. The scholars studying civil war “”see no reason why there should be one overarching variable for the onset or termination of civil war; even when they can be fitted into one type, this is often at the risk of ignoring the complexity of factors that make up any such war.”” Greed that best explains the onset of war in Afghanistan is not the local rent seeking by various militias, but the cold war desire to control strategic regions which led to the CIA support for the mujahideen and Osama Bin Laden in the first instance. While poverty and lack of development are widely accepted as correlated to civil war, the nature of the relationship is contested. In the most common formulation it is the lack of development that creates conditions for civil war as low income levels create inadequate opportunity which in turn results in rebellious, unemployed youth readily joining insurgent groups. In post war Sri Lanka the government announced a “”Northern Spring””, ostensibly aimed at bringing growth and development to the North and reintegrating Tamils into the national mainstream. The ground evidence, however, shows that much of the new economic growth in this region is the result of resettlement and home building in areas in this region colonised for the families of Sinhala soldiers who fought in the war or for various military enterprises. Studies reveal Pakistan is not a failed state in the sense of Congo or Rwanda. It is a dysfunctional state and has been so for almost four decades. At the heart of this dysfunction is the domination by the army and every period of military rule has made things worse. This has prevented the emergence of stable political institutions. In central India it is the extension of a corrupt and repressive police force which was one of the grievances that helped fuel support for the Naxalites. On the other hand, parts of India such as the western ganglands of Uttar Pradesh have the highest number of gun wielding civilians with mafia like dons who run their own regimes of instance justice. These are often folded into state structures of authority rather than opposed to them. If the police was used to control populations rather than resolve their problems with crime, the army was used ‘in aid of civil power’. A law like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) which gives the army the right to shoot to kill on mere suspicion in “”disturbed areas”” needs to be set against a range of other provisions and laws which give impunity to the police.  In its security policy based on covert warfare through Islamist militants in neighbouring states, Pakistan not only empowered militant clerics in the border region with Afghanistan but made them vital and strategic allies. This in turn has created a genie which has now come to bite as the writ of the Pakistani state in large swathes of FATA has collapsed leading to frequent bomb blasts, suicide attacks and kidnappings of innocent civilians.The changing rules of positive international law are indeed indicative of a new political culture of sovereignty that has shifted from one of impunity to one of responsibility and accountability. The book has ten chapters by scholars which has been classified as (1) wars due to regional, linguistic and ethnic discrimination (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka); (2) wars due to regional ethnic discrimination but also the unfinished business of decolonisation (Kashmir, Northest India, Myanmar); (3) wars for democracy and redistribution (Nepal, central India); and (4) wars intiated or conditioned by the Cold War and the ‘war on terror’ (Afghanistan and Northwest Pakistan). The book casts common light on these diverse cases along with demarcating civil war as a critical field of study in the politics of South Asia.

TR

(T R Ramachandran is a senior journalist and commentator.)
”

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A celebration of stories and storytellers, the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival now offer a perfect platform to celebrate the tales and narratives of craft, craftsmen and women, in its many-hued avatars – traditional and contemporary. Direct Create (DC), the online and offline platform that enables makers, designers and buyers to collaborate, co-create and sell handcrafted products, is hosting a vibrant crafts marketplace`the Bazaar’ at ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2017. For this year’s festival, DC has brought together a community of over 50 individual makers, designers and buyers to curate this marketplace. The unique crafts showcase honors the versatility and skill of traditional crafts, combining it with a new design language. Celebrating 10 years of the Festival, the Bazaar has a distinct identity. Working across mediums and materials, the makers and craftspeople bring a range that speaks of a creative synergy, power of craftsmanship and the skill of generations. The Bazaar at the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2017 will include an artisan pavilion at Cox & Kings Charbagh and a special Studio section featuring a larger showcase by select designers and manufacturers at the poolside. It will also host the official festival store featuring products that celebrate its decade long journey. The Bazaar will showcase more than 20,000 exquisite and curated, handcrafted products made by a diverse group of makers coming from more across 15 states of India. Every product is handmade, with great detailing, and a sense of love and affection.

All these inspiring makers are translating years of traditional wisdom and creativity into a product, and in today’s cluttered world where everyone is seeking something meaningful of their own, these products create a sense of belonging. Direct Create will have MateenDijjo of ‘Blossoms of Heaven’ bring his masterpieces in the form of Ikat Pashmina stoles, while Swarang mixes Madhubani art with uber stylish bags and accessories. Saba and Amir from ‘Books Etc.’ celebrate everything about books with their range of stylish and fun accessories line. ‘Coppre’ has stunning copper and kansa wares that speak of both function, beauty and a unique reinterpretation of tradition. Master craftsman Rajesh Singh from Benares makes innovative toys in wood and lacquer. Siraj, an accomplished artist has customized special Khurja vases for Direct Create while ‘Heirloom Naga’, a design firm innovates existing Naga textiles using the help of traditional weavers. This is just a glimpse of the range of craftspeople and their crafts that await festival attendees. DC is the brainchild of Sheela and Rajeev Lunkad who have between them decades of experience understanding this specialized language of craft, craft renewal and creating and engaging with sustainable ecosystems.

According to Rajeev Lunkad, Founder and CEO, Direct Create: “With the Direct Create Bazaar at ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival we are hoping to create an amazing space connecting those who appreciate creative evolution of the arts crafts or literature. We are excited to bring the results of the collaboration and co-creation of our artisans and designer community members to what we feel is one of the best platforms to showcase contemporary handcrafting traditions of India.’’ In India craft continues be a way of life for thousands of families, who have inherited their skills and trade from ancestors and continue to depend on handicrafts for their survival. However, with the rise of mass produced, commoditized goods, the livelihood and knowledge of the artisans is eroding. Direct Create is fostering a community of makers, connecting them to new ways of production and design and empowering them with the best tools available in the market across communication, co-creation, design, project management, e-commerce, finance, marketing, community and a global reach.”

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The group led by U.P. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav “is the Samajwadi Party”, the Election Commission ordered on Monday. His father Mulayam Singh Yadav who had founded the party 25 years ago will have to now look for another symbol to contest the assembly elections in U.P. which goes to seven-phase polls from February 11. 

In its 42-page order, the EC said that Akhilesh Yadav “”enjoys overwhelming majority support both among the legislative and organisational wing of the party.”” The Commission applied the test of majority support approved by the Supreme Court in the case of Sadiq Ali and consistently applied by the EC thereafter in all cases of disputes in recognized political parties.  The Commission also rejected party patriarch Mulayam SIngh Yadav”s claim to the party and the symbol. 

Earlier this month, in a special national convention called by Ramgopal Yadav in Lucknow, Mulayam Singh was removed from the president post appointing Akhilesh in his place. After it, Mualaym Singh Yadav had challenged the Akhilesh Yadav’s elevation, terming the convention as illegal.

The ruling Samajwadi Party in U.P. has been plagued by the Yadav family infighting and differences. While Mulayam Singh Yadav is supported by his brother Shivpal Singh Yadav, his another cousin brother Ramgopal Yadav, a Rajya Sabha member, has backed the young CM Akhilesh Yadav. 

With the symbol issue settled, Akhilesh Yadav will move swiftly to formalise the alliance with the Congress party as he has already hinted that SP-Congress alliance has the potential of winning over 300 seats in assembly. It would face a stiff challenge from the BJP and Mayawati’s BSP who are seeing it as a do or die battle in U.P. to grab power in India’s most crucial State politically. 

For the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple, a Lok Sabha member, and Priyanka Vadra from the Congress party are said to be working behind the scene to put together grand alliance in the State.”

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The art and culture hub of Jaipur – Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK) — has been committed to promote multiple types of art ever since its inception.

On January 20 the arena of visual arts will witness a breakthrough with the reopening of the Museum Galleries which constitute the erstwhile Museum Alankar and the three art galleries which had been under renovation. Refurbished with concrete flooring, state of the  art lighting systems and walls, the Museum galleries will be ready to receive a spate of thematically curated exhibitions which will continue for a period of 2-4 months each and which will not only enrich the cultural landscape of Jaipur but also give the visitors a dynamic experience.

In the past one year, JKK has been instrumental in bringing to the Pink City high quality performing art and literary programmes with Navras (week long performing arts festival), Bookaroo (Children’s Literature Festival), Raag (an all night classical musical event) and Thirak (Classical Dance Festival) being the major highlights. 

According to Pooja Sood, Director General of JKK, creating a centre of excellence for the arts was the vision of the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Ms. Vasundhara Raje who will inaugurate the refurbished galleries Museum gallery. The Museum galleries open with an exhibition of the moving image which will be the first of its kind event in the state.

Entitled ‘तह-सतह: A Very Deep Surface, Mani Kaul and Ranbir Singh Kaleka: Between Film and Video’, the exhibition is curated by eminent film historian and scholar Ashish Rajadhyaksha. The avant garde film maker was from Jaipur and a lot of his work references the landscape and sounds of Rajasthan.

The show is essentially a conversation between India’s leading filmmaker Mani Kaul’s classic celluloid films from the 1970s and 80s and his digital experiments in the 2000s along with several video-on-canvas works by internationally renowned artist Ranbir Singh Kaleka. Consisting of over 10 single and multichannel video installations, a sound installation which includes poetry and music alongside video projections on canvas, the exhibition is an attempt to ask new questions about the moving image in 21st century India.

A series of collateral events will unfold during the 6 week period of the exhibition.  A first full retrospective of Kaul’s films, including his rare final digital works, will be on view at JKK. There will be a series of talks by the artist Ranbir Singh Kaleka and curator Ashish Rajadhyaksha as well as by other A series of collateral events will unfold during the 6 week period of the exhibition.  A first full retrospective of Kaul’s films, including his rare final digital works, will be on view at JKK. There will be a series of talks by the artist Ranbir Singh Kaleka and curator Ashish Rajadhyaksha as well as by other eminent curators, writers and scholars. Daily walkthroughs for visitors by JKK’s curatorial staff will also be available, thus making JKK a center of learning as well as critical discourse, said Ms. Sood.

 A souvenir shop, ‘The Gallery Shop by Play Clan’ will also open simultaneously in the Museum block.”

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The year just gone by was an eventful year for the Indian Space programme with significant successes across all domains whether it was launch vehicle, satellite, applications or space exploration.

2016 saw an unprecedented total of seven launches, which were all successful, placing 34 satellites in their planned orbit safely and securely — eight of Indian Space Research Organisation [ISRO], 22 foreign satellites, and four student satellites. The year also witnessed the maiden test flights of a technology demonstrator for a reusable launch Vehicle [[RLV-TD] and another technology demonstrator for Scramjet engine.

The RLV-TD, which was launched May 23, attained a peak altitude of 65 km and glided back to its pre-defined landing spot over Bay Bengal without any mishap. It entered the atmosphere at a speed of around Mach 5 [five times the speed of sound]. During the flight, critical technologies such as autonomous navigation, guidance and control, reusable thermal protection system and re-entry mission management were successfully validated.

India’s first experimental mission on scramjet engine was conducted on August 2. Designed by ISRO, the engine uses Hydrogen as fuel and Oxygen from the atmosphere as the oxidiser. The test was conducted with a hypersonic flight at a speed of Mach 6. ISRO’s advanced technology vehicle, which is an advanced sounding rocket, was the solid rocket booster used for the testing at supersonic conditions. With this test, India has become the fourth country to demonstrate flight testing of scramjet engine. It is an important milestone in the development of engines for ISRO’s future space transport systems.

The year had begun with the completion of the task of setting up of the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System [IRNSS] consisting of a constellation of seven satellites. The agency’s workhorse, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles, placed the fifth, sixth and seventh satellites of the navigational system in three launches, on January 20, March 10 and April 28 in copybook style. With this, the space segment of IRNSS has been fully deployed. Apart from these, ISRO was successful in launching 20 satellites in a single mission.

On June 22, a PSLV launch vehicle soared into the sky with 20 satellites. The payload included two satellites from two academic institutions and 17 satellites of foreign customers from Canada, Germany, Indonesia and USA. The main payload was the fourth satellite in ISRO’s Cartosat 2 series. Weighing 727 kg, the satellite is designed to help further mapping capabilities in the country. ISRO also played a significant role in handling a series of fire incidents in the hill state of Uttarakhand during the last week of April. Satellite based temperature anomalies were used for detection of active fire locations. About 1,600 active forest fire locations were recorded between April 24 and May 4.

(The writer is a Delhi-based freelance journalist.)”

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The Union Cabinet has approved for introduction of the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2017 to repeal another 105 Acts from the law book.

A two-member committee constituted by the PMO, the Law Commission of India and the Legislative Department had identified 1,824 redundant and obsolete Central Acts for repeal.  

After careful examination and consultation with various Ministries and Departments in the Government, four Acts have been enacted to repeal 1175 Central Acts (during the period May, 2014 to August, 2016) by Parliament.

These are:  The Repealing and Amending Act, 2015 (17 of 2015) repealing 35 Acts; The Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2015 (19 of 2015) repealing 90 Acts; The Appropriation Acts (Repeal) Act, 2016 (22 of 2016) repealing 756;  Appropriation Acts including Appropriation (Railways) Acts; and the Repealing and Amending Act, 2016 (23 of 2016) repealing 294 Acts.

Of these identified 1,824 Acts, as many as 227 Acts (including Appropriation Acts enacted by Parliament for the States under President’s Rule) are identified to be repealed by State Governments. States have been requested to take necessary action to repeal these.

A list of the remaining 422 Central Acts was circulated among all the Ministries and Departments for their comments on repeal of Acts. As of now, 73 Ministries and Departments including Legislative Department have agreed to repeal 105 Acts and rejected repealing of 139 Acts.”