IT training outlook TruePDF 18 march 2019

If so, people of India cannot forgive the grand old party for such narrow mindedness.. Apparently, such stringent public declarations have given Indian forces a free hand to kill people

RNI NO 7044/1961

21 million women missing from 2019 rolls

Higher women turnout is bad news for BJP

Opinion polls get the trend right 97%

EVMs are foolproof

Exclusive extracts from book on Indian elections

by Prannoy Roy and Dorab Sopariwala

WOMEN’S DAY SPECIAL

NEW AGE HEROINES

RNI NO 7044/1961

21 million women missing from 2019 rolls

Higher women turnout is bad news for BJP

Opinion polls get the trend right 97%

EVMs are foolproof

Exclusive extracts from book on Indian elections

by Prannoy Roy and Dorab Sopariwala

WOMEN’S DAY SPECIAL

NEW AGE HEROINES

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MARUTHANCODE G David

Milton: This refers to your cover story

Why can’t we Solve Kashmir? (March 4)

We have to be realistic about the

Kashmir dispute and India-Pakistan

rel-ations Jingoism, bellicosity and sabre-

rattling will only make things worse

First of all, we must all agree on avoiding

more loss of life, a negotiated resolution

of the Kashmir dispute and the need for

normalisation of India-Pakistan

rela-tions We need to assert our basic

hum-anity and say that the life of every

human being, be it that of a militant or a

member of government forces, is equally

precious Steps need to be taken to

change the conditions that incubate

mil-itancy in the Valley The deeply

disquiet-ing ways used by government forces to

eliminate militants from the Valley

actu-ally breed more militants Militancy is

better fought by confronting its causes

If the Kashmiri youth line up for

recruit-ment to the army, it has more to do with

unemployment and desperation for

sur-vival than with any zeal ‘to serve the

tri-colour’ New Delhi has to seriously

consider the demand for the right to

more autonomy so as to fulfil the

politi-cal aspirations of Kashmiri people, and

assure them that Kashmir’s distinct

identity will be preserved and protected

The two countries that share a

com-mon destiny and need peace to unlock

their economic potential should see each

other as neighbours and partners, and

not as adversaries or enemies The

grow-ing chorus for isolatgrow-ing or boycottgrow-ing

Pakistan is misplaced and unwise It

used to be said that ‘terror and talks

don’t go together’ and now it is said that

‘coffins and cricket don’t go together’

We should not let our moral compass be

shaken or shrunk by forms of devotion

such as nationalism and religion

HYDERABAD J.S Acharya: A

21-year-old Kashmiri ‘Indian’ was killed

while carrying out the attack that left so many Indian paramilitary men dead

Why are Indian jawans dying for the nation, while young Kashmiri Indians are dying fighting against them? Every death is a loss for our motherland What

is drawing these young people to ism? And what was it that ensured there was no actionable intelligence about 300

terror-kg of explosives being collected, ported and used to assemble an IED, or about the recce and rehearsals that must have preceded the attack? What is it that ensured the forces were in the dark about all this happening despite the int-ense military, intelligence and police deployment in the Valley? There is a big difference between sacrificing our sol-diers for the nation and getting them butchered because of this incompetence

trans-Salute to the bravehearts who got no time to display their bravery

ON E-MAIL Nitin M Majumdar: If you ask me, the solution lies in com-merce and economics rather than poli-

tics, diplomacy and armed escalations If dialogue has to take place, it should be between apex bodies of commerce and industry of India and Pakistan Free trade and regulated movement of citi-zens across the border, akin to Nepal, would lead to normalised cordial rela-tions between two countries The port city of Karachi would prosper, business centres will flourish, the trading com-munity will benefit and consumers will

be happy In that event, vested interests and strong public opinion in favour of peace across the border and cordial rela-tions with India would emerge

It is sad that our leaders have failed to show statesmanship to solve the Kashmir issue According to journalist

and writer Sanjaya Baru (in his book The

Accidental Prime Minister), Manmohan

Singh had almost resolved the legacy of history where both Indira and Rajiv had failed Baru felt that Sonia Gandhi wanted to wait till Rahul became PM so that he could claim credit If so, people of India cannot forgive the grand old party for such narrow mindedness

SRINAGAR Yasir Altaf Zargar: Why

do educated youth in Kashmir choose to take arms? It’s the side of the conflict that gets drowned in aggressive TRP-driven coverage by the mainstream media Ever since the Indian Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani was located and killed, the Indian army has adopted a policy of locating and killing militants as well as those who come to rescue them when cordon and search operations are carried out at several places in Kashmir Since then, there has been a continuous cycle of violence in the Valley and protests erupt every day with growing support for the militants and the freedom struggle that they rep-resent The Indian army’s highest officer, General Bipin Rawat, made it clear in

2017 that whosoever appears at sites

where militants are trapped and tries to

help them escape would be treated as an

OGW (Overground worker, a term used

for those who come to rescue militants

or work for them) The General further

stated that any such civilians would be

treated the same as any militant holding

a gun Apparently, such stringent public

declarations have given Indian forces a

free hand to kill people in Kashmir and

justify the civilian killings

The new trend which has been

adopted by the armed forces not only

goes against the humanitarian ethics

and values but also has been

prohib-ited under Rule 113 of Geneva

Conventions which clearly states,

“Each party to the conflict must take

all possible measures to prevent the

dead from being despoiled Mutilation

of dead bodies is prohibited.”

An Early Run

CHENNAI Kangayam R

Narasimhan: Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi

K Palaniswamy has stolen a march over

well-entrenched dynast and DMK

presi-dent M.K Stalin by forging a mega

alli-ance with the BJP and the PMK (Silently

With A Smile, Mar 4) The DMDK,

Vasan’s Tamil Manila Congress and a few

smaller parties will likely join

the coalition Thus, EPS has

adumbrated a canny coalition

formula for the Lok Sabha

polls: if coalition partners

demand constituencies of their

choice, they will have to accept

the number of seats offered If

they don’t, AIADMK will be

generous in allotting them an

adequate number of seats

Palaniswamy has thus

bull-dozed the BJP into accepting

just five seats in constituencies

of the BJP’s choice!

Surprisingly, a copycat DMK

has adopted the same formula

vis-à-vis the Congress EPS’s

key strategy is to get the

sup-port of all coalition partners

for the bypolls to the 21 vacant

seats that may be held along

with the LS polls, so that he

could continue as chief

minis-ter for the rest of the minis-term

Unlawful Shackles

VARANASI Indu S Dube:

This is about the cover story

Law Is A Bully (Feb 25) Many writers,

journalists, activists and politicians have delineated with arguments their case against the NSA, UAPA and sedi-tion laws These critics have skewered the above laws by pitting them against freedom of speech and the right to dis-sent But then, everyone should be careful that while expressing dissent they don’t cross a limit If a group of people demands abs olute sovereignty, with an intention to create a new na-

tion, what is to be done? It’s und eniable that freedom of speech is important in

a democracy, but then laws can be used too… Therefore, the way ahead would be to formulate a mechanism without much ado to prevent the abuse

mis-of power through draconian laws, tead of just repealing them This is because a flat repeal of laws would encourage all manner of people

ins-to go ahead and speak thoughtlessly, harming the unity of the country

Monkey In Me

DURGAPUR Jyotiranjan

Biswal: The babes of Outlook’s

Glitterati—a long-standing tradition of the magazine—is a favourite section of mine, pro-viding relief from the gravitas that usually makes up the rest

of the magazine Take the superbly written ‘item’ on Esha Gupta, for example

(Monkey On Her Back, Feb 11)

It’s worth drooling over Long live the brave, bindaas army of bodilicious sirens who make our boring ‘man’s’ world a trifle interesting!

Old Timer

HYDERABAD Giri Raj:

Refer to The Eternal Rebel

Friend (Feb 11), Yashwant

Sinha’s tribute to the late George Fernandes Fernandes was a fiery trade union leader once and would have been irre levant in these commu-nal ly charged times

How’s The Hate?

NEW DELHI Sangeeta Kampani: The backlash on Kashmiris after the Pulwama

attack is most unfortunate (No Rules In

War-mongering, March 4) In this context, I had a

personal experience recently A Kashmiri tleman, who comes to my home from year to year, with his exquisite range of shawls, visited

gen-me On being asked how he was, his eyes welled up with tears His family was the target of the brutality that was unleashed by right-wing goons in Dehradun His silent gaze shamed me deeply It is for all of us to realise that such incidents only alienate a community further and spur radicalisation The need of the hour is empathy, not muscle; compassion, not brute force And above all, it cannot be forgotten that the perpetrator of Pulwama was

an Indian, a Kashmiri Kashmir is a festering wound Mere Pakistan bashing

is not going to lead us anywhere Nothing probably can be more obsolete than violence as a means to achieve peace Any solution to the Kashmir con-flict can happen only in partnership with the people of Kashmir, not against them The buck doesn’t stop at Pakistan The buck stops with us

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of origin) Address : AB-10, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi-110029.

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of origin) Address : AB-10, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi-110029.

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sd/-LONELIEST PLACE, WITH COVERS

‘loneliest place’ on earth “I often go to the Parliament library because that is supposed to be one of the repositories

of knowledge… Every time I go there, the librarian hugs me, because she hasn’t seen a person in about 10 days,” he said at

a conclave Wonder how many parliamentarians knew they have a library before Gandhi made it cool and viral And what percentage of MPs actually reads a book or two?

THE SUBCONTINENTAL MENU

I N & A R O U N D

ROMEO HIJACKER

FOR all the and-woh jokes, this one is fatally serious It so happened that Mohammad Polash Ahmed

husband-wife-of Bangladesh had a tiff with his missus, like they often did, and their domestic disharmony flew out of control A depressed Polash—condition unstable, say authorities—booked a Biman Airlines flight to Dubai, slipped

a toy gun into his cabin bag, held a member of the cabin crew hostage and tried to hijack the plane carrying 148 people

The 25-year-old demanded

an audience with the PM to discuss his family “issues”, and

he forced the plane to land in Chittagong, where commandos cut his miserable life down A day later, his father said his son was in love with a film-star

The influence of a third party was further corroborated by intimate images of the pair on social media.

WITCH MEMORIAL

in Odisha’s Keonjhar won’t draw

much attention, but plaques

sur-rounding the black sculpture would

It’s a first-of-its-kind memorial

dedicated to victims of witch-hunts,

an outlawed practice that thrives

in poor and tribal communities

where illiteracy, superstition and

a rigid caste hierarchy ensure women

are branded witches and persecuted

The plaques bear the name of 55

women killed over suspicion that

they were ‘witches’ Women are

beaten, sexually assaulted, stripped

naked and paraded or thrown into

wells after being branded witches

and blamed for everything—from

a poor monsoon to illness, or sudden

death The statue is part of the

campaign to exorcise the evil

VASTU’S NON-BUNGALOW

Colony, Bhopal That’s the address to a spacious government bungalow earlier allotted to foreign minister Sushma Swaraj

as she is a parliamenterian from Madhya Pradesh, representing Vidisha constituency for the past two terms Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who had

Illustrations by MANJUL; Curated by ALKA GUPTA

to vacate his official bungalow after the BJP lost power in the assembly elections, was eyeing the house allotted to Swaraj But he backed out when a vastu expert from Delhi found “flaws”

in the construction Thereafter, finance minister Tarun Bhanot cited similar reasons when the bungalow was allotted to him

NEPAL HAS A GAG BAG

N EPAL’S elected Communist government

doesn’t tolerate any criticism as it

ham-pers the good work it is doing, like buying

a helicopter for the president So, the

gov-ernment has introduced a bill in Parliament

that allows it to punish people for posting

anti- administration content on social media

Punishment includes a fine of Rs 1 million

and/or five years in jail The opposition

Nep-ali Congress called the bill a move towards

authoritarian rule Ole, Oli, Oligarchy!

have had the

oomph-est junior engineer on the

pla net, but for a prank that

catches the competent

clerical cadre or

bum-bling bureaucracy

in various stages of

undress Well,

Sun-ny Leone ‘topped’

the merit list of

the Bihar public

health engineering

department’s exam

for hiring 200 junior

engineers She scored

98.50 points, while

another candidate, bnnb” (father’s name: “mg-gvghhnnnn”), came third with 92.89 points Sunny was registered in the general cat-egory with her father’s name as Leona Leone

“bvcxz-The Bollywood up—whose photos find space in many places, including the voter card of

pin-a wompin-an npin-amed Durgawati in UP—

tweeted that she was glad “the OTHER me has scored so well”

Khaire is the Shiv

Sena’s Lok Sabha MP for

Auranga bad Last week,

he told a congregation of

medical professionals that

he had cured people by

feeling their pulse,

chant-ing mantras, and givchant-ing

them vibhuti (residual

wood ash from ritual fires)

to eat or to place under

the pillow in a pouch

Khaire said he wanted to treat BJP leader Pramod Mah ajan after he was shot but couldn’t because of the strict security That, apparently, was the only failure of this amazing apothecary Hope this BSc from Marathwada University, who also has

a diploma in personnel management, can feel the pulse of the nation

IF fawning supporters of Imran Khan have their way then the Pakistani Prime Minister will soon join the ranks of both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin as a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize It is another matter if he will win the coveted honour, if nominated But his nomination alone can make him rub shoulders with a host of other world leaders that range from Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin to Fidel Castro.

A resolution was submitted recently in the Pakistani parliament by information minister Fawad Khan He felt Imran was a deserving candidate for the “sagacious role” he played in reducing tension between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of last month’s Pulwama terror attack.

While turning down the proposed nomination for the Peace Prize, the Pakistani PM tweeted, “The person worthy of this would be the one who solves the Kashmir dispute according

to the wishes of the Kashmiri people and paves the way for peace and human development in

the subcontinent”.

Former Pakistani cricketer Wasim Akram also joined Imran’s camp-followers in singing his praise He said the country has taken a giant leap since the Pak istan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government came to power “Our country has taken a gigantic step

in the right direction since you became our leader The people are positive and feel safe for the first time in years Skipper, you don’t need to be awarded the Nobel Peace prize, in our eyes you already have it!” Akram said.

Much of the hype about Imran’s statesmanship came from his decision to hand over IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman to India The IAF pilot, caught in a dog-fight with an intruding Pakistani fighter, landed in Pakistani territory when he bailed out of his damaged aircraft He was in custody for a day but Imran made an announcement in parliament that he had decided to release Abhinandan as a “peace gesture.”

Last year, two Norwegian right-wing parliamentarians had decided to nominate Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his initiative to denuclearise the Korean peninsula through talks with Kim Jong Un, the North Korean supremo.

Of the five categories for the Nobel awards—physics, chemistry, medicine and literature, the peace prize has often run into controversy Among others it was awarded to Men- achem Begin and Anwar Sadat, two controversial leaders of West Asia Since Barack Obama also won it in 2009, barely a year after assuming the US president’s office, few can fault Imran’s supporters for hoping that the Pakistani PM may also have a handy chance to win the peace prize.

Imran’s Modesty

Imran’s camp followers see his ‘role in defusing the recent tension with India’ as worthy of a Nobel Wasim Akram, too, joined in with the others

CURE-ALL KHAIRE

SUNNY, THE EXAMINATION TOPPER

18 March 2018 OUTLOOK 17

HEIRS IN A HURRY

DMK’s Kanimozhi is not the only political heir readying to contest the Lok Sabha elections The two- time Rajya Sabha member filed her request to contest from the Thoothokudi LS seat The move

is seen as positioning herself for

a bigger role in party affairs after winning popular support through

a direct election Also wanting

to enter the fray is senior DMK leader Durai Murugan’s son Kathir Ananth (44) from Vellore On the AIADMK’s side, Raveendranath Kumar, one of the sons of deputy chief minister O Paneerselvam, has already filed his application for the Theni seat Fisheries minister D Jayakumar’s son Jayavardhan, presently MP from South Chennai, is also looking for re-election, refusing to give

up the seat for the BJP A more confident Karti Chidambaram, son

of former Union finance minister

P Chidambaram, is also said

to be ready to try his luck from Sivaganga, having finished fourth

in 2014.

POLL POSITION

While all the political parties

in Jammu and Kashmir are unanimous in their demand for early elections in the state, they claim that Governor Satya Pal Malik is insisting that assembly elections should be held after the Lok Sabha polls They claim that the Governor is enjoying his innings and the limelight that comes with it On March 4, when a poll panel team visited Srinagar, representa-tives of all state parties pressed for state elections along with LS polls and com-pared the Governor’s rule with the Emergency To their surprise, the Governor stepped in, claiming he has no problems with early elections The parties have taken it with

a pinch of salt as he has ently said something else to the Centre

appar-LALOO’S PAAN…ERR PUN

Prime Minister Narendra

Modi recently shared the

stage with Bihar chief

minis-ter Nitish Kumar at a rally in

Patna for the first time since

their “infamous” encounter at

a similar congregation in

Ludhiana in 2009 Then,

Modi had raised the hand of

the reluctant Bihar

strong-man to kick up a storm within

the alliance This time, it was

all hunky-dory, though Party

leaders called the rally a huge

success but the opposition did

not miss the chance to recall

what had happened a decade

ago Jailed RJD patriarch

Laloo Yadav took a dig at the

rally on Twitter, saying even

his casual stopovers at paan

shops in the past used to draw

more crowds than what the

Modi-Nitish duo was able to

attract at Patna’s historic

Gandhi Maidan

deep throat

MISSION KARNATAKA

by Ajay Sukumaran in bangalore

possible seat-sharing formula,

Karnataka’s coalition partners,

Janata Dal (Secular) and

Con-gress, both pointed out that they

would be flexible with the

negotia-tions The two parties successfully

fought by-elections together a few

months earlier and they are also used

to various local pacts But this is the

first time the two parties will be facing

a Lok Sabha election as pre-poll alli es

By most accounts, it’s a tricky task

Tricky, because the Congress has a

wider presence across the state while

the JD(S) is firmly entrenched in

south-ern Karnataka In many of the 28 Lok

Sabha seats in the state, especially in

the northern districts, the smaller party

is not much of a factor, says political

commentator Narendar

Pani “So, we are talking

about, maybe, 10-12

con-stituencies where the

Congress and JD(S) are

the main rivals,” he says

Both parties will look to

protect their turf, being

wary of ceding ground to

the other

Last weekend, JD(S)

sup remo H.D Deve Gow

da indicated that his party

has asked for 12 seats

“But I will also not be rigid in saying that they should give us 12,” the former prime minister said, adding the Congress too ought to be flexible A co-ordination committee meeting in Bangalore rem-ained inconclusive “If you look at the public statements, they are striking a conciliatory note But that doesn’t mean there’s no tension,” says Bangalore-based political analyst A Narayana “The JDS is asking for seats which were won last time by the Congress.”

In 2014, the BJP won 17 of the 28 seats

in Karnataka while the Congress held 9 and the JD(S) won in Mandya and Hassan,

a Vokkaliga stronghold These two seats have garnered much of the attention in recent weeks with local Congressmen demanding that their party not let go of them even as the JD(S) indicated that Deve Gowda’s grandsons Nik hil Gowda and Praj wal Revanna would likely be the

candidates there Actress Sumalatha, widow of the filmstar-Congressman M

H Ambareesh is inclined

to contest elections from Mandya, complicating things further for both parties given the popular-ity that Ambareesh enj-oyed Last November, the two parties had jointly fought and won the Mandya Lok Sabha by-election “As the sitting

MP of Mandya is from JD(S), they may probably field the candidate and there is

no question of us supporting any other candidates,” said Congress leader Siddaramaiah, indicating that the party won’t back Sumalatha’s bid for a party ticket The JD(S), meanwhile, is under-stood to be angling for Bangalore North, Mysore, Chikka ballapura, Tumkur and Chitradurga among others The last three are held by Congress

Both parties have indicated that the seat-sharing arrangement will be final-ised in a week after their national leaders meet The JD(S)-Congress coalition took shape in May 2018 when the two parties formed the government even as the BJP fell short of a majority, despite emerging the single-largest party Since then Kar-nataka’s coalition partners have faced many a precarious situation, the last epi-sode coming in February when—faced with a BJP onslaught—chief minister H

D Kumaraswamy released audio clips as proof of his allegation that the opposition party was trying to topple his government

by luring legislators with money and ministerial positions

The numbers game came back to haunt the government as Congress legislator Dr Umesh Jadhav sent in his resignation to the Speaker Jadhav is among a handful of dissenting Congress MLAs who had kept the party on tenterhooks Siddaramaiah tweeted about the Congress’ petition seeking disqualification of four MLAs, including Jadhav The petition is still pending with the Speaker Meanwhile, there’s speculation that Jadhav may con-test the Lok Sabha polls against Malli-karjuna Kharge (sitting MP from

It takes two to tango

Congress, JD (S) tie up to take on the BJP in LS elections

The Congress and

JD (S) will fight a general election as pre-poll allies for the first time in Karnataka

In 2014, the BJP won

17 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, Congress bagged nine while the

JD (S) got two

JAI HO!

Congress and JD (S) leaders after finalising the poll alliance

by Abdul Gani in Guwahati

W an gkhem completes 100 days

in jail But it’s an ‘old story’ by

now, almost forgotten by India,

his name not finding space

even in the inside pages of

natio nal dailies; there are no dharnas

and slogans by crusaders of free

speech for his release In Manipur,

meanwhile, his wife and a close circle

of friends continue to wage a long,

lonely battle seeking

justice for the journalist

arrested under the

dra-conian National

Securi-ty Act (NSA) for

criticis-ing chief minister N

Biren Singh and the PM

Wangkhem’s arrest had

reignited the debate over

the indiscriminate use of

laws that appear to be

disproportionate to the

alleged crimes The

Manipur jou rnalist, who is

a father of two young girls,

was first arrested on

November 21, 2018 and

charged with sedition for a

Facebook video critical of

the CM But a local court

100 Days

of Solitude,

Behind Bars

Wife wages lonely battle for

Manipur journalist jailed for

Facebook post criticising CM PILLAR OF STRENGTH Wangkhem’s wife Ranjita

threw out the sedition charges following which he was re-arrested on November

27, this time under the NSA Critics say the slapping of the draconian laws was aimed at silencing dissenting voices

Wangkhem’s wife Ranjita Elangbam agrees “Things are getting difficult for

me The state machinery is trying its best to defeat us with various tactics,”

Ranjita tells Outlook “Life has totally

changed during the last 100 days It’s full of challenges and learning new things Now, I’m more into a fighting

mode…meeting new ple to get the things done for our case,” she adds

peo-And though she is trated by the winding legal process—“some-times I feel defeated”—

frus-Ranjita says she is hopeful of getting justice

as she has faith in the Indian Constitution

Sources close to Ranjita say that the journalist’s family has been dismayed

by the lack of support from the media frater-nity, especially at the national level Tho ugh the Indian Jou rnalists’

Union and the Press

Council of India had lent their support

in the initial days after Wangkhem’s arrest, they seem to have almost aban-doned the cause now

“The Human Rights Law Network has been helpful They are providing me the possible help The Socialist Students’ Union of Manipur and Manipur Students’ Association, Delhi (MSAD) are also helping me in fighting the case,” says Ranjita Ranjita also feels that MSAD advisor Thokchom Veewon was arrested because he was also vocal about Wangkhem’s case and wrote sev-eral posts on Facebook against the BJP government Wangkhem’s lawyer N Victor says the Imphal High Court has completed hearings in the case and is likely to pronounce its verdict soon.For the two minor children of Kishorechandra, these 100 days have felt like a life time

“The elder one has started missing her papa very badly She gets emotional even when she watches cartoon on TV and sees any scene depicting a fat her-daughter relationship She starts crying She would ask me when he is coming home why has it been so long that he is not at home My sister is getting mar-ried on March 18 and the kids are expecting their papa to be at the wed-

Mainstream media seems to have given up

on Wangkhem’s cause after an initial, brief period of support.

DISSENT BARRED

The human body is a complex assortment of organs, an

intricately linked mix of complex, but complementing

functionalities On one hand, it is dependent on

environmental aspects for a proper functioning, and on the

other it relies on other facets like gene- pool and lineage to

sustain a smooth, error- free operation It is due to lineage

that individuals of Indian descent carry a higher risk of

contracting diabetes in comparison to other, especially

western, nationalities, the prime cause of which is our body

having adapted to the climactic distinctiveness of the sub-

continent This unique body- structure leads to a lower

body mass index (BMI), thus multiplying the chances of

accumulating belly- fat among Indians

Diabetes is directly related to insulin; hence to understand

diabetes better, one needs to understand how insulin

functions in our body Meals increase the level of glucose in

the blood, and pancreas produce insulin in order to control

the levels of glucose in the blood stream It is due to this insulin

that the body uses surplus glucose as a fuel to power internal

function, bringing the level of blood- glucose back to normal

But, insulin- resistance hampers this normal functioning

and strains the body (liver and pancreas) to burn the excess

glucose, which leads to the need of producing more than

normal insulin Prolonged stress on pancreas to produce

more of insulin leads to exhaustion of the organ over time,

and a permanent decrease in its ability to produce sufficient

quantity of the much- required chemical Lack of sufficient

insulin leads to enduringly increased blood sugar levels, and

the result is Type-II Diabetes

Such a condition also leads to metabolic irregularities

Insulin resistance causes increased presence of glucose in

the blood, over time translating to an increased weight,

which in turn further fortifies the condition of insulin-

resistance In addition to this, other conditions related to

diabetes, like tissue damage, hypertension, dyslipidemia,

metabolic syndrome and heart disease etc., become a real

peril to well- being

While insulin- resistance is caused by bodily imbalances,

the reason is based in lifestyle as well to a great extent Obesity,

lack of physical exercise, uncharacteristically high levels of cholesterol, lack of proper and sufficient sleep etc serve to intensify the effects of glucose- resistance Small changes in lifestyle can help avert the danger of glucose resistance, and with it, diabetes In addition to this, Ayurveda also describes several potent and time- tested ways to combat the condition Natural herbs like Amra, Jamun, Gudmar and Karela etc., and concoctions infused with the power of Ayurveda prove adequately helpful in lowering body’s insulin resistance and regulating the level of blood glucose

Though identification of such herbs and concoctions is helpful, mixing them in the right proportions and arriving at the perfect blend to aid the body in its combat against diabe-tes is extremely tricky, and calls for distinctive expertise, a feat Dabur has achieved and replicated successfully over the years, owing to the decades of knowledge and proficiency in the field Aided by the numerous years of practicing Ayurveda in its many facets and being a pioneer when it comes to ayurve-dic supplements, Dabur has developed scores of blends which have proven their efficacy with years of use Dabur’s Glycodab is a prime example of such supplements developed over the years Available in the form of a tablet, Glycodab is infused with the power of Ayush 82 powder, which has been certified by Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India

Diabetes is a serious health concern, which may gradually lead to development of a cornucopia of bodily imbalances and anomalies Over the passage of time, combined with increased insulin- resistance, it can damage the body beyond repair Diabetes is a condition bred of irregularities that can make your body a slave to unwelcome health concerns Hence

it is crucial to curb it at the very onset of the first symptoms, and prevent its advent by taking all necessary steps In this direction, while making small changes in your lifestyle will help immensely, your efforts can be robustly complemented

by preventive measures in the form of ayurvedic herbs and blends The most important part is to effect positive changes

by incorporating them as a part of your daily life, so that glucose stays in check, and you enjoy life worry- free

InsulIn Resistance could signal the

onset of diabetes

POLL VAULT

by Sandeep Sahu in Bhubaneswar

was rife in Odisha that former

Kendrapara MP Baijayant ‘Jay’

Panda, who openly accused the

BJP of ‘going soft’ on his bête

noire CM Naveen Patnaik, was in talks

with the Congress about contesting

the forthcoming Lok Sabha election

from his former constituency with its

support No wonder his decision to

join the saffron party on March 4 has

surprised many But why this sudden

volte face? Political pundits in Odisha

feel the

industrialist-turned-politi-cian changed tack after realising the

tide had turned in favour of the BJP

after the air strike across the LoC

On the back foot since the defeat in

Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chh­

attisgarh over issues such as unemploy­

ment and attacks on Dalits and Muslims,

the BJP found in the air strike an oppor­

tunity to put the Opposition on the def­

ensive In any case, the Congress had

apparently made it clear that it was will­

ing to field Jay from Kendrapara, but not

back him as an independent candidate as

he wanted With time running out, Jay

must have decided that joining the BJP

was the best available course for him

Speculation about Jay’s entry into BJP

had started right after the

2014 elections due to his

frequent praise of PM

Narendra Modi on various

issues in his columns and

tweets Such talks gath­

ered momentum when he

started targeting Naveen

indirectly by calling for

‘introspection’ after the

ruling BJD conceded

nearly 300 zilla parishad

seats to the BJP in the

February 2017 panchayat

elections However, Jay stuck to his “all three options (joining the BJP or the Congress, or forming his own party) are open” line until a couple of weeks ago

Now that he has made his choice, the talk has shifted to whether he can win his former constituency for the BJP

Kendrapara has always been an anti­

Congress bastion with first Socialists and then various avatars of the ‘Janata Parivar’ winning successive elections since 1957 The BJP, in contrast, does not really have a large support base in Jay’s former constituency, and indeed the whole of coastal Odisha, which has been

a BJD stronghold since 2000

Besides, he also has to contend with a vengeful Naveen, who is known to go to great lengths to ensure the defeat of those who fall out with him A case in point is Bijoy Mohapatra, the once powerful leader with a solid base in Kendrapara, who has failed to make it to

the assembly since being tricked out of the BJD by a wily Naveen just before the 2000 election

It also remains to be seen

if Muslims, who comprise

a significant section of the Kendrapara electorate and have supported him in the past, would back him now that he has joined a party that is seen as ‘anti­

Muslim’ It is surely not going to be easy for Jay to

reverse the trend, though he has, by all accounts, nursed his constituency well during his two terms as MP

The BJP is marketing Jay’s joining as a big acquisition and a sign of the tide turning against Naveen The former MP has charisma, after all, and is seen as a well­meaning and earnest politician by

at least a section of the Odia youth But senior journalist and political observer Ashutosh Mishra believes the BJP may benefit to a limited extent from Jay coming on board, but it would do noth­ing to fundamentally change the politi­cal scenario in Odisha as a whole in favour of the saffron party

“Jay is a resourceful person whose family runs OTV, the No 1 Odia channel

in the state, which can play a crucial role

in the elections,” Mishra tells Outlook

“Besides, he has some support in Kendra­para, though it is difficult to say if that is enough for him to win without the BJD banner And he is, by no means, a mass leader In fact, a major problem for the BJP is that it has no mass leader with a pan­Odisha appeal.”

Besides taking on the BJD’s might, Twitter­savvy Jay also has the challenge

of holding his own in his new party BJD heavyweights Bijoy Mohapatra and Dilip Ray had earlier crossed over to the BJP only to resign afterwards If he can beat these seemingly daunting odds and come out trumps, he would be well on course to play a major role in Odisha

Jay, the

Saffron

Struck

Post-Pulwama mood settles

it for the former BJD leader

Speculation about Jay’s entry into the BJP had started way back in

2014 when he praised

PM Modi several times

The BJP is marketing Jay’s joining the party

as a big acquisition and

a sign of the tide turning against CM Naveen.

NEW ADDRESS

‘Jay’ Panda with BJP chief Amit Shah

PTI

STRIKE FORCE

by Preetha Nair

nic Gandhi Maidan last week,

Ram Vilas Paswan was a touch

more than effusive in praising

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

“Earlier, we used to say that his

chest is of 56 inches But, today, Gan­

dhi Maidan is honouring you by saying

Narendra Modi’s chest size is not 56

inches, but 156 inches.” Held in the

backdrop of India’s dram atic airstri­

kes in PoK, and the breathless media

coverage of it, the rally was nat ura lly

dyed in those colours With just weeks

left for a general election, the political

scenario has been irrevocably given a

‘natio n alistic’ turn And Paswan, a wily

veteran known as the best hand at

spotting which way the wind is blo w­

ing, had already hitched his wagon to

what he deemed the rising star So dra­

matically art iculating a theme that the

ruling Nat i onal Democratic Alliance

(NDA) will make its war cry for 2019

makes sense for him Given the strong

sentiments the theme can evoke, wha­

tever else happens, ‘nationalism’ is not

about to disappear from the narrative

And that’s bad news for Opposition

parties, still struggling to find common

ground for a possible alliance—or set of

alliances—to take on Modi and a

rejuve-nated BJP There may be doubts over

the efficacy of the airstrike at the JeM

camp, but there’s really no doubt that

among its casualties, at least in the

im-mediate term, is the Oppo sition The

‘nation alistic’ rush has knocked it off its

feet when it was just finding its feet, and

its best-laid, if tentative, plans have

been put to waste, at least for now

Pol-itical analysts agree “I’ve no doubt that,

post Balakot, the BJP will benefit

elec-torally At the moment, people beli eve

that PM Modi taught a lesson to Pak

is-tan and only Modi can do it,” Sanjay

Kumar of the Centre for Study of

Deve-loping Societies (CSDS) tells Outlook.

Psephologist-turned-political activist

Yogendra Yadav too says its vast reach on

social media allows the BJP to exploit

the situation to its advantage “The

Balakot strike is being used to change

the narrative in an unprecedented way

The 1971 war was followed by the 1972

elections, but it wasn’t crude like now

Kargil was followed by the 1999 elections

but not like this What we are witnessing

is nothing short of a hijacking of a tional general election,” says Yadav

na-Congress leaders admit that they need

to recalibrate their alliances and take a fresh look at things “The Opposition will have to revise its strategies to match the BJP’s changing goalposts There’s a con-solidation of parties,” says senior Congr-ess leader Tom Vadakkan The immediate strategic objective, of course, will be to deflect public conversations back to the Modi government’s “failure” in the socio -economic sphere “Our election campaign will be on unemployment, the farmer crisis, Rafale, inflation, black money and other pressing iss ues,” says Vadakkan

If that’s going to be difficult, trying to clean up the mess on the coalition-mak-

ing front is no less daunting ‘Opposition unity’ seemed a fragile idea after talks between Congress and Aam Admi Party floundered again, thanks to the former’s uncompromising stand on seat-sharing With AAP already announcing six candi-dates out of the seven Lok Sabha seats in the state, even hopes of a last-minute thaw seemed to evaporate

But even as the BJP basks in the ria after the airstrike, Congress leaders are at pains to point out that this isn’t the first time India has seen military success, that the country fought two of its most successful wars—in 1965 and 1971—under Congress governments “Amit Shah says

eupho-‘this is a new India and not the old India’

He forgets that India has fought four wars

the BJP controls the game after Balakot as the Opposition loses the narrative and bonds loosen How Many

Have Fallen?

18 March 2019 OutlOOk 29

before We even div ided Pakistan to get a

new country in 1971 But Indira Gandhi

never used it for political benefits,” says

party spokesperson Shama Moha med

Some analysts also cast doubt on

whet-her electoral gains necessarily follow a

military success, and cite voting patterns

after the Kargil conflict in 1999 and the

2016 surgical strikes The

two-month-long Kargil war was fought under the

BJP-led Vajpayee government, followed

by Lok Sabha elections in October While

the BJP did return to power, its seat share

remained the same as in 1998 Analysts

also say the surgical strike of 2016 didn’t

benefit the BJP much in the assembly

elections in Uttar Pradesh,

Punjab and Uttarakhand

Though war clouds are

dissipating on the western

front, the enthusiasm in

the BJP camp is palpable

in rallies led by Modi With

its new catchphrase, ‘Modi

Hai Toh Mumkin Hai’ (It’s

possible with Modi at the

helm), the saffron party is

going all out to project the

PM’s decisive leadership

And the shift in the

politi-cal narrative is helping it consolidate its alliance too Despite playing hardball with the BJP, its oldest allies—Shiv Sena and Akali Dal—have mellowed after the strike The shift was especially striking

in the case of the Shiv Sena, which had been attacking Modi and the BJP over the last few months The parties sealed ties with the BJP in Maharashtra and Punjab respectively after the Pulwama terror strike Though BJP had to bend backward to accommodate the demands

of its allies, including Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in Bihar, the post-Pulwama scenario has changed the equation in a favourable way for them

Also, small parties in itically crucial Uttar Pra d-esh, like the Apna Dal and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), which had rebelled earlier, seem to have got behind the BJP

pol-Apna Dal, which holds two Lok Sabha seats in UP, had earlier accused the BJP of not taking care of its allies

However, Apna Dal (S) chief Ashish Singh Patel says he is hopeful of the

central leadership conceding to their dem ands “Our meeting with party presi-dent Amit Shah was positive and our iss-ues will be sorted out soon,” says Patel And in Tamil Nadu, the alliance with the AIADMK and PMK has given much-needed heft to the BJP After sealing the alliance, Modi addressed two meetings

in Tamil Nadu to exhibit the new-found bonhomie with the AIADMK leadership The Abhinandan angle has come in handy to counter the narrative of BJP’s image as an anti-Tamil party

Next door, in the two states formed after the division of Andhra Pradesh, the Tela-ngana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and Jagan-mohan Reddy’s YSRCP can potentially turn the tide in an evolving political sce-nario But will Balakot resonate in the Deccan? “It will have no bearing on the Andhra voter,” feels senior YSRCP leader Ambati Rambabu People are angry with Modi for going back on his promise to grant ‘special status’ to Andhra Pradesh,

he says A final word on their inclinations can be only said post-poll, though

Forced onto the backfoot, Opposition parties are struggling not only in their attempt to bring economic issues back into focus to counter the BJP narrative They are floundering in their bid to find

a viable way to deny BJP the glory and halo of a ‘heroic’ cross-LoC strike For, any question they raise invites charges

of politicisation “The BJP government

is committed to national security and protecting citizens against terrorism It’s unfortunate anyone can even doubt the decision to give a free hand to the army and air force It’s condemnable,” says BJP leader Nalin Kohli

Worn down by mutual distrust in their alliance-making and bereft of the rhet-orical advantage, the Opposition faces

an unenviable task—only a united front can even try to meet the challenge “At the mom ent, grand alliance is an idea, not a reality A proper grand alliance is the need of the hour More than that, the Oppos ition has to devise a new narr-ative,” says Yadav One sign of consoli-dation emerged last week as the CPI(M) extended the olive branch to the Con-

with inputs from G.S Shekhar in Chennai and M.S Shanker

in Hyderabad

The NDA’s war cry for the 2019 general elections has been sounded: nationalism and nati onal security

Opposition parties are forced on the backfoot after the BJP targeted them for “politicising”

the Balakot airstrike

RIDING A WAVE PM Modi and other BJP leaders at a rally in Dhar, MP

Photograph: Pti

As tension subsides, India pursues vigorous diplomacy to make Pakistan act on terror

by Pranay Sharma

face-off between India and

Paki-stan, with its attendant

fev-erishness, seems to be over

how ever, to construe it as the

end of PM Narendra Modi’s war

on terror inside Pakistan could

per-haps be a mistake except that the

the-atre has now expanded to also include

the diplomatic front

Not that the other front has entirely

cooled Yes, in an interesting

manifesta-tion of a thaw, the two sides agreed to hold

a mee ting along the Attari-Wagah border

in Pun jab on March 14 to discuss the

Kar tarpur Corridor The proposed

passa-geway will enable Sikh pilgrims from

India to visit and pay homage to Guru

Nanak at his final resting place at Kar ta

r-pur gurudwara in Pakistan It might seem

to be a positive sign of de-esc alation, but

the unabated exchange of heavy shelling

and firing between rival troops along the

Line of Control indicate otherwise

“All options are open,” sources in India say, on the eventuality of another terror-ist attack from Pakistan Indeed, political and diplomatic circles are hotly speculat-ing about a further bout of hostility, and what form and intensity it might take In plainspeak, if there was another terror attack on India from across the border, New Delhi’s response could well be as dramatic as the February 26 airstrike on the Jaish-e-Mohammed

terrorist facility at Balakot deep inside Pakistan

How Pakistan reacts to such an event and if this could spark a full-fledged armed confro nta tion bet-

w een the nucl ear-armed neighbours con tinue to be tetchy questions among regio nal nations and those beyond volatile South Asia

India had dubbed the

‘non- military, pre-emptive’ strike to deter the JeM from launching attacks, a rea-soning that Pakistan had refused to acc-ept Within 24 hours of the airstrike, it had flown its fighter jets across the LoC into India, targeting Ind ian military facil-ities The timely, effective joining of battle

by Indian fighters notwit hstanding, the ensuing dogfight ended in IAF fighter pilot Abhinandan Varthaman bailing out

of his aircraft into Pakistani territory and

being captured

His safe return has tributed to a pause in overt hostilities, though India maintains it is in no mood

con-to relent on the pressure

on Pakistan until it ntles the jehadi infrastruc-ture on its soil

disma-For now, India seems to have concentrated its focus on increased diplo-

pressure—some-thing that reportedly bore

A Hum Of Persuasion

afTer The fire

Sushma Swaraj addresses the foreign ministers’ meeting of the OIC in Abu Dhabi

Pakistan has arrested two terror accomplices

of Masood Azhar, and

42 others from different proscribed groups

On March 13, the initiated resolution to declare Masood a

P-3-‘global terrorist’ will be put to vote at the UN

Photographs: Pti

afTer The fire

down heavily on Pakistan

after both the Pulwama

at-tack and the Balakot

air-strike New Delhi has

activated its missions in

dif-ferent world capitals and

entrusted ambassadors to

apprise host countries of the

reason behind India’s

act-ions Documentary

evide-nce sha red with Pakistan in

the aft ermath of the

Pulw-ama attack clearly shows the

vic ious hand of the Jaish

hand behind the murderous

act It has been shared with

other governments

Much of the initial drive was led by

ext-ernal affairs minister Sushma Swa raj,

who briefed her Chinese and Russian

counterparts, Wang Yi and Sergei Lavrov,

in China’s Zhejiang last week On March

1, she notably also became the first Indian

leader to address the Organisation of

Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Her pre sence

at the OIC foreign ministers’ meeting as a

‘guest of honour’ was both historic and

also an attempt by OIC leaders to correct

a 50-year-old wrong

con-vened hurriedly at Morrocan capital

Rabat in 1969 in the wake of an attack

on the Al Aqsa mosque in Palestine

by an Australian fanatic, India was

invited as a country with a substantial

Muslim population (60 million out of a

population of 540 million in 1969) But

when Pakistan president Yahya Khan

objected and refused to attend the

pro-ceedings, India was forcedly kept out

This time around too, Pakistani foreign

minister Mehmood Qureshi made a

sim-ilar demand of withdrawing the invitation

given to Sushma Swaraj But neither the

host UAE nor other members of

57-mem-ber organisation heeded Islamabad’s plea

A sulking Qureshi had to sit out while

Swaraj spoke before the OIC leaders She

not only stressed on

India’s pluralism but also

argued that “the fight

against terrorism cannot

be seen as a fight against

any particular religion”

Significantly, the

conspi-cuously warm welcome

to Swaraj didn’t stop the

OIC from declaring its

customary pro-Kashmir

resolut ion—an embarrassment for New Delhi, given the strongly worded call for India to cease its “atrocities” But, equally sig ni fi cantly, its refusal to withdraw the invitation to India indicates a growing keenness in the Islamic world to balance its old, natural tilt towards Pakistan by actively engaging New Delhi

Meanwhile, growing international pressure seeking urgent action against terrorist groups based in Pakistan—inc-luding by the global money-laundering watchdog FATF’s vigil against terror funding—seems to have had some salu-tary effect Last week, it launched a drive against 44 proscribed terror out-fits that had hitherto been operating freely On March 5, it also took both Masood Azhar’s brother, Mufti Abdul Rauf, and son Hamad Azhar into “pre-ventive custody” But there is nothing yet to suggest that these two JeM leaders, who had been named in the Indian dos-sier given to Pakistan, were to be tried for any crime In the ongoing drive, Pakistani officials also took into custody 42 leaders

of other proscribed groups It also put former Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Falah- e-

Insaniyat Fou n d ation (FIF) on the list of banned terror outfits

But the fact is, neither Masood Azhar, reported

to be seriously ill, nor Hafiz Saeed were arrested, rai sing questions in India about the genuineness of Pakistan’s new, ostensi-ble drive against terror-

ists New Delhi actually has enough reason to be disap-pointed with Paki stan Sev-eral terrorists flourishing in Pakistan had earlier been identified, with supporting documents, of being in-volved in terror acts in India Though Pakistan, in order to mollify Indian outrage after

a fresh terror act, takes some highly publicised ac-tion against them in the ini-tial stages, soon they are released using the old—and vague—excuse of ‘insuffi-cient proof’ They are then free to roam the country, spew venom against India, recruit jehadis and plot their next terrorist operation

However, despite such a norm being set,

a lot of hype seems to be gathering around the resolution initiated by the P-3—France, the US and UK—at the UN Security Council to declare Masood Azhar a ‘global terrorist’ On March 13, it will be known whether the resolution—unsuccessful four times in the last 10 years—could get enough support The key country: China, whose earlier ‘technical’ objections had stalled the move each time.Indian officials, along with key countr-ies like Russia and the US, have been try-ing to convince Beijing to stand with others to see its smooth passage If it does pass at the UNSC, Azhar would face a travel ban, an arms embargo and a freez-ing of all his assets Crucially, it would seek an end to all financial aid to him too

If implemented in earnest, it will hurt him grievously Will Pakistan do so?

“I don’t see how things will be different this time,” says former Indian foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal “At best, it can yet again put China’s resolve to fight terror-ists to test,” he adds That would be inter-esting to watch, given China’s ambiguous silence till now Ack now ledging that the successful passage of the resolution could

be a key diplomatic victory for India, Sibal says, “It may then raise serious question about the durability of Sino-Pakistan rel ations It may also tell Islamabad that the Chinese umbrella has begun to leak.”Will all this strong-arm blitz fundamen-tally alter India-Pakistan ties, where a wary, responsible Pakistan treads carefu-lly, mindful of India’s mus cular strategic shift after Balakot? Opt imism notwith-

If the UNSC sanctions Masood Azhar,

it will hurt him

But would Pakistan implement it?

Pakistani officials announce the crackdown on terror groups

by Naseer Ganai in Handwara

and Pulwama

THe Valley is in the grips of a contin uous cycle

of violence since the Pulwama att­

ack of February 14

in which a suicide bomber blew up

40 CRPF person­

nel The number of enc ounters has

gone up and so have the death counts

In the five encounters since February

14, a total of 12 security personnel

and 11 militants have been reportedly

killed These recent encounters rev­

eal a concerning statistic for the forc­

es: the proportion of men lost on

their side is unusually higher if com­

pared to the encounters that took

place before the Pulwama attack

Some of these encounters have been

long-drawn affairs, increasing the

distur-bance in daily life in several areas of the

Valley The first encounter post the

Pulwama attack took place just four days

after, in Pinglan village on February 18 It

was an 18-hour gunfight in which four

army men and a policeman were killed

Among the four slain from the army was

Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal, 33

Two Jaish-e-Mohammed militants

were also killed One was identified as a

local: Hilal Ahmad Naik alias Rashid, 24,

a laboratory technician who had joined JeM in 2018 The other one was a Pakistani, identified as Jaish commander Kamran, whose elimination is being seen

as major success by the security forces, as

he was believed to be the one to have recruited 19-year-old Adil Ahmad Dar, who carried out the Pulwama attack

A civilian named Mushtaq Ahmad, 43, too lost his life in the encounter His family says the forces banged the door of his house on February 18, took him along and allegedly used him as a human shield during the encounter The police have denied the charges

  The next encounter happened on February 25 in Turigam village, Kulgam, killing three JeM militants, a deputy SP of the J&K police and an army man Two militants have been identified as Pakistanis, while the third was 22-year-old Raqeeb Ahmad Sheikh, whose pre- recorded video advocating the new trend

of ‘fidayeen’ attacks as an alternative to gun fights in Kashmir surfaced recently

  The most damaging encounter for the forces has been the one in Bab-agund village of Hand-wara, one of the most long drawn gun fights in Kashmir that accounted for the maximum casual-ties among the five enco-unters after the Pulwama attack It began on Feb-

Security forces’ body count rises in a spate of

encounters after the Pulwama attack

ruary 28 and lasted till March 3, resulting

in the death of five security personnel—three from the CRPF and two from the J&K police—two Lashkar-e-Taiba mili-tants and a civilian

It left a part of the village burnt and crumbled in its wake Standing near the debris, which was his house just a few days ago, Abdul Majeed, a middle aged farmer, says he was in the mosque for prayers when at about 2 pm on Thursday army and security forces cordoned the village Majeed and his neighbour, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, weren’t allowed to step out

of the mosque and were told that the ing would end soon They were later taken to a house in the village where 40 people were huddled, where they remained for three days, hardpressed for basics like food and water “When I stepped out, my village had reduced to rubble,” says Bhat

fir-Soon after the encounter, scores of people were at the village, examining the debris and collecting money for the fam-ilies whose houses were razed The villag-ers say that many cows were buried under the debris “It all happened so suddenly that we didn’t get time to untether them,” says a villager. The Babagund encounter took place just a day after another gun fight between the security forces and militants in Shopian, on February 27, in which two JeM militants were shot deadwhile there was no loss of life for the security forces This tally repeated a couple of days after the Babagund face off,

on March 5 in Tral, where two JeM tants were again killed by the forces   Apart from suffering heavy losses in the recent encounters which have also esca-lated like tensions on the border, the secu rity forces stare at the possibility of the new, more dangerous modus oper-andi, the example of which was seen in the Pulwama bombing “There is lurking

mili-danger of fidayeen attacks

by less-trained local tants, in comparison to foreign ones, who would try to emulate the Pul-wama attack,” says a pol-ice official “There’s lot of noise on TV that much has changed after Pul w-ama Yes, but things have

Some of these encounters have been long, increasing disturbances in the daily lives

of civilians.

javed ahmad

after fire

BULLS & BEARS

Return of optimism on the India-Pakistan front

doesn’t mean the market will see a rally soon

Doves, Hawks and Market Lows

by Lola Nayar

market in the wake of

may be waning due to hopes

that the cross-border

hostili-ties are easing or may well be

contained Though the second day of

trading in March showed 2-3 per cent

gains in some midcap and smallcap

stocks, there are few expectations of a

rally, which may happen only post

elec-tions, say market observers Market

data shows the BSE Sensex has dipped

around 8 per cent from the peak of

38,989.65 on August 29 last year

In February, the S&P BSE Sensex dec­

lined 1 per cent due to the impact of cor­

porate results and the escalating tensions

on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices Ltd Both the S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap indices declined

by more than 1.5 per cent over the month, according to data from BSE’s India Index Dashboard, which also states that the S&P BSE India 10­year sovereign bond index dropped 0.2 per cent with elections

S&P/ASX All Australian 50 4.22% 11.05% -0.40%

EQUITY INDEX 1M YTD 12M

HOW INDIA FARED IN FEBRUARY

Source: India Index Dashboard, S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC

Alternate Strategies CEO Andrew Holland “Scams and NBFCs were con­tributing factors, but not the real reason The accommodative stance of the US Fed and the removal of trade risks with the US and China expected to reach a deal on trade tariffs are helping emerging mar­kets, as they are cheaper, while India is seen more as a domestic market.”

Besides opening up trade opportunities, the changing global scenario is already benefiting stock markets in several emerging markets, but not in India Last month, Indian equities offered a sharp contrast to the strong performance from global equities and Asian markets, which were given a leg up by US­China trade optimism That other emerging markets have done better than India is a matter of concern, according to First Global chief global strategist Shankar Sharma “Basi­cally, the corporate numbers have been terrible They have not recovered in the last four to five years Ultimately, the stock market runs on corporate numbers, the final deciding factor There has been

no improvement in corporate earnings growth as we are growing between 0­5 per cent for the fifth year in a row In many cases, there has been flat growth Expec­tations of a revival in the capex cycle and capacity­creation by corporates have not materialised,” says Sharma

While the wheels of the economy are surely turning, it is not good enough to drive markets substantially Lots of scams have also come out, axing away market confidence in the numbers given out by companies, say market experts

According to mymoneymantra.com

MD Raj Khosla, while border tension has

an impact on investor sentiment, which

is relevant in the short­ and medium­term,

it does not have as big an impact on the

fundamentals, which is what long­term

investors in equity should be concerned

with The underlying factors then are

domestic issues “There is as yet no damp­

ener related to India­Pakistan relations

The joker in the pack is the macro eco­

nomics of the country,” says Khosla

Recent macro­economic data is not

very encouraging GDP growth slipped to

6.6 per cent in the third quarter This is

the lowest in the past six quarters “Basing

on the second advance estimate of 7 per

cent in 2018­19, an SBI report says GDP

growth in Q4 is further expected to ease

to 6.5 per cent,” he adds “The big worry is

that the government has already overshot

the fiscal deficit targeted in the 2018

budget At the end of January 2019, the

fiscal deficit had touched 121.5 per cent of

the full­year target of Rs 6.34 lakh crore

With two more months to go, the govern­

ment is loosening its purse­strings in the

run­up to the general elections, and

things do not look pretty on this front.”

Over the past several months, many

scams, included repeated failure of

and Dewan Housing

Ltd, have raised disquiet

in the minds of market players and participants

Shockingly, the market regulator and rating agencies failed to detect symptoms of this failure

Another factor affecting market sentiment is the failure of the system on pledge of shares, which have blasted like a time bomb It kills the wealth of investors

as the pledged shares were allowed to

be carried outside the market platform

Another threat is in derivative trading, which has started ringing alarm bells with hyper trading activity

Against Rs 16,000­crore average daily cash market volume, the derivative mar­

ket on a given day would reach Rs 8­16 lakh crore On an average, the derivative market volume would be 30 times the cash market, making India the world’s most speculative market “It can act as a weapon of mass destruction The worst part is that the systems are failing, and the

sooner it is corrected, the better it would be,” says KRChoksey Inv estment Managers Pri v ate Ltd MD Deven Cho ksey, who has sent the government and the regulators a 15­point recommendation on how

to revive market investor sentiment

Sharma points out that the past three to four years have been good, so people have got used to seeing the market behaving in that way “As things stand, a dose of realism is not a bad thing People should accept some slide as we cannot have Diwali the year round,” he adds

For yet another rally, much will have to change on the home and global front The increasing number of scams and bankruptcies with delay in resolution are not helping matters As the BSE rep­orts, despite the government’s ann­ouncement on February 21 of a $7 billion injection to state­owned banks, the bel­eaguered S&P BSE Finance continued to underperform and closed the month

Market data shows the BSE Sensex has dipped around 8 per cent from the peak of 38,989.65

on August 29, 2018.

GDP growth slipped

to 6.6 per cent in the third quarter This is the lowest in the past six quarters

Business with a Purpose

Director External Affairs and Partnerships AMESA,

RECKITT BENCKISER

‘United we stand’ for then only goals become a reality Investing in healthier and happier lives is akin to building a happier future for all

Ravi BhatnagaR

need to look after each other

Together we can achieve any

goal and when those goals are

to serve, they make us humane The core

philosophy of Reckitt Benckiser (RB)

is also to serve the society Some call it

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

but for us it’s business with a ‘purpose’

We invest in the future, which means

investing in healthier lives, happier lives

and happier homes This is the soul of

what we call ‘purpose’, which others call

CSR

Rather than working in silos, we

work together Our team works to invest

‘timely, rightly and adequately’ Our

relationship partners are more than just

a donor-donne We appreciate and value

the skill sets and money that our partners

bring and invest with us for achieving a

shared vision

Normally visions are frames hanging in

offices But for us at RB, they speak from

the frames We just don’t hang them in

office, we translate these into reality At

RB, we chase dreams with our partners

and beneficiaries till they manifest And

our investments for a ‘purpose’ have

always been realised, as our partners

have always shown the inclination and

commitment to chase a common dream,

mission and goals

This vision or dream or goal lies

in ‘prevent, promote and treat’ The

foundation of our activities is based on

the principle—prevention of disease

and promotion of good health If these two pillars are taken care well, there are strong chances that occurrence of many preventable diseases among young children and adolescents will reduce by

a large number, along with behavioural change communication

It is a pleasant coincidence that India and the world are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi recently with focus on ‘Clean India’ and improving sanitation I have also been reviewing two critical reports that are related to this

‘Hygiene Index 2.0’ and ‘Project Hope’

As a member of the Hygiene Index (HI) technical committee that meets quarterly

to monitor the progress of Dettol Banega Swacch India (DBSI), it was personally a humbling experience To be part of a team that aims to help 100 million Indians lead

a healthier and better lives by 2020, is perhaps the most invigorating activity of

my career till now

These reports help understand the forces which are transforming the urban infrastructure and sanitation in our cities

Project Hope also suggests ways to tackle public health challenges in rural India

The rigour HI brings to DBSI programme

is a reflection of RB’s (erstwhile Reckitt Benckiser) commitment to support the efforts of Government’s ‘Swachh Bharat’

mission

Key inputs from Dr Indira Chakravarti , Padamshree , formed basis for a major learning and is reflected in HI “One size fits all” is not a solution to achieve the sanitation goals This is reflected in

the results recorded in 25 cities that were covered under HI 2.0 report

Our report results prove with empirical evidence the inadequacy of sanitation facilities and the existing challenges to address them This was possible since the data captured in HI 2.0 are from the same 25 cities that were examined in HI last year

Looking at the fact that air pollution has become a national health emergency, we also covered air quality standards of the cities in this report In that context HI report is small step for a big leap to achieve sustainable sanitation and hygiene for all Indians

The World Bank links one in ten deaths in India to poor sanitation It also points that more than 300,000 children

in India die from diarrhoeal diseases The Government and the private sector, jointly and independently, need to continue and take more action to improve sanitation and hygiene of children and women in urban and rural India Failure to do so will have far reaching impact not only on health of India’s population but also its economy

While the execution of good health may not be challenging, making health and hygiene a habit might be a challenge

if not inculcated in time I was taught the virtue of washing hands by my mother There was an added incentive of a gift or increased pocket money if I secured full attendance at school Today, Project Hope aims to do something similar for women

in rural India save their children from

diseases like diarrhoea and also enjoy the significant change it can bring to their health, education and economy.

It is not just about reaching out to the number of kids, it is also about the fall in diarrhoea rates in the kids who have been exposed to the intervention It is about the change in school attendance rates and change in the body mass index of boys and girls Our efforts should help in reduction of personal disposable incomes of families in treatment of illness, which are preventable ‘Project Hope’ reflects RB’s core ethos of ‘Business with a purpose’ and also the integrated approach to Swachh Bharat Mission Our approach has been to co-opt the values that cleanliness mission espouses, that includes identifying the talent of women in rural India

as economic growth drivers

It is also in line with RB’s partnership with ‘Save the Children’ campaign, to protect children from diarrhoea

by 2020 The aim of our pilot project is to create a market for low cost soap with a sustainable and effective supply chain

Results are surprising and heartening at the same time We found a considerable rise in awareness about washing hands with soap where we conducted our pilot project A breakthrough was achieved where communities, especially women, were empowered with knowledge of best hygiene and sanitation practices The adoption of hygiene also opened up economic opportunities for women, to become an entrepreneur or gain through employment

Jagwanta, mother of four, a health worker in Gopalpur village in District Shrawasti of Eastern Uttar Pradesh sells more than 200 Asha soaps a month She also covers two-three villages on foot in a day to sensitise women on importance of washing hands

For us, Project Hope is yet another success of RB to align bottom line profits with its purpose to improve health and quality of life for Indians, which drives the DBSI initiative

In the DBSI programme, we will go to three lakh schools across the country In this journey, we are supported by Aga Khan Foundation, Learning Links Foundation and All Indian Imam Organisation Our target is to reach out to more than 5.5 lakh Madarsas across India in the next three years RB believes in sustainable and measurable impact When the government and private players move with the same thought, the overall load on programmes like

‘Ayushman Bharat’, which is also more on treatment part, will come down The prime role of state or centre today is not just working on the GDPs and credit ratios But they have started thinking ways of igniting body, mind, spirit and soul -the latest example being yoga

The kids and adults who do yoga have a regular routine, which benefits in prevention of new age diseases (non communicable diseases) like obesity and diabetes So all this is working towards an enabling environment, where there is public-private and patient participation We are looking at treating both type of patients, those who are at the border line and the probable patients

No task comes without a challenge, but when there are

so many hands and hearts working in unison to achieve

a common goal, change is sure to be seen sooner than expected

18 March 2019 OutlOOk 39

Photographs: GETTY IMAGES