Seven years after Nirbhaya died, a Delhi court has issued
a death warrant against four convicts. The order was pronounced by Additional
Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora. The four convicts sentenced to death in the
Nirbhaya case will hang at 7 am on January 22.
Akshay Thakur Singh, Mukesh, Pawan Gupta and Vinay
Sharma were found guilty in the 2012 gang-rape, torture and killing of a young paramedic
student in Delhi. Last month, the Supreme Court dismissed the last review
petition in the case, filed by Akshay Singh. Nirbhaya’s parents then asked a
lower court to issue a death warrant but the judge had deferred a decision
until today.
Besides the four convicts, two more were accused in
the rape and murder. Ram Singh, the fifth accused, committed suicide and a
juvenile was released after three years in a reform home.
The 23-year-old paramedic student was gang-raped
and tortured with an iron rod on a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16,
2012, before being dumped on a road, naked and bleeding. She died on December
29 amid street protests across the country.
The convicts are currently in Delhi’s Tihar jail. AP
Singh, lawyer for the convicts, has said that they will file a curative
petition in the Supreme Court.
Not many in India are aware of
Major General Qassem
Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran — the man who was killed by a surgical
drone airstrike near Baghdad airport on the morning of January 3. The killing
began the New Year and decade with a trigger that may have far-reaching consequences.
But first, Soleimani needs a brief introduction.
“His brilliance, effectiveness, and
commitment to his country have been revered by his allies and denounced by his
critics in equal measure,” wrote US General Stanley McChrystal in 2018.
“Soleimani is arguably the most powerful and unconstrained actor in the Middle
East today. A ghostly puppet master, a practical strategist.” It was Soleimani
who put the Quds Force among the top few forces of the world that have the rare
capability to combine intelligence with special forces strike capability and
possess a fiercely strategic ideological orientation. The IRGC, with Quds Force
at its core, is an organisation which oversees and executes Iran’s regional
interests, maintains linkages with other friendly forces and also works through
a system of local proxies. Its effectiveness over time has created linkages
with the Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Palestine, Houthis in Yemen, militias
in Iraq, Bashar al Assad’s forces in Syria and, very importantly, with the Russians
in the Middle East. Iran’s Middle East strategy was developed through this
capability and it gives out the message that it cannot be meddled with.
The US can use a sledgehammer to defeat
and destroy Iran and its forces but after the Iraq and Afghanistan experiences,
it is aware that victory in such wars does not necessarily belong to the
stronger side.
Soleimani had been in the US’s crosshairs right from the time the US declared the Quds Force a terror organisation. His operational effectiveness had the US worried but it is learnt that even when opportunities to target him arose in the past, former President Barack Obama desisted from following up with an authorisation simply because the next steps in escalation gave no positive options. That is the issue now as well. While no one in the US laments Soleimani’s death, no one is happy with it either since it was not part of a strategy with a focused aim. Is that being fair to President Donald Trump, who is obviously revelling in this achievement?
A short chain of events in Iraq, set off
in the last few days of 2019, led to the assassination. US military facilities
in Kirkuk (Iraq) were attacked on December 27 by a Shia militia, killing a US contractor.
The US responded on December 29, killing 25 militants — Iraq’s leadership was
extremely upset. This sparked a retaliatory attack on the US base in Taji
before a mob attacked the US Embassy compound in Baghdad on December 31. This
is a flagship US embassy in the Middle East, spread over 100 acres, and the
breach of its security unnerved the US — that is actually all the more reason
that any attack on the Quds Force Commander should have been outside Iraq. The
US cannot afford to yield space in Iraq to an Iran-driven popular people’s
movement — very much a possibility as a consequence of Soleimani’s killing.
The question everyone seems to be asking
is related to the feasibility of an all-out war. There is no doubt that the
domestic political environment of the US is in flux and Trump would risk
anything for a fillip to his chances of re-election. However, the US is war
weary and if Trump thinks that an all-out war will help his re-election
chances, he would be mistaken. A limited set of military actions from time to
time — those that exploit US technological superiority — will draw more
favourable support. Of course, a lot is contingent upon the nature of Iran’s
retribution for the death of the man who was often called a “living martyr”.
Iran’s leadership is aware of its
limitations and would wish to stay short of a tipping point, which the US could
use to commence an all-out war. For its own larger cause and image, the US
would be least concerned about the worldwide economic ramifications of it subsequent
actions. Energy price rise, risk to shipping and the economic collapse of the
Gulf economies will probably be of less concern than it did in 1990 because the
US is no longer dependent on the Middle East for energy. It will, of course,
have to be mindful of the worldwide economic impact.
The other question for strategic minds is
the nature of a future proxy war in the Middle East. Early reactions from
US-based thinkers appear to conclude that a war between the US and Iran will
now be direct and beyond proxies. This may not be entirely correct. Weaker
nations, such as Iran in this case, choose to fight through proxies who are not
exactly unorganised and undisciplined elements. If the US chooses to confront
them directly without using its own proxies, it runs the risk of an Afghanistan
or an Iraq type of commitment. For Iran’s proxies, borders remain just lines on
maps; they can be crossed at will despite modern surveillance systems. In flat
organisations, such as those the proxies are part of, there is minimum control
and direction. That is where Iran too runs the risk of overplaying its strategy
without presence of a strong and experienced commander like Soleimani, which
could lead to a more direct confrontation. An irregular entity such as the
Islamic State (IS) lacked air power, armed drones and missiles and yet
displayed its conventional war fighting capability. All this will be available
if irregular proxies receive a higher level of state support.
Finally, a look at the effect on Indian
interests. Energy prices, a diaspora of eight million and $40 billion in
remittances form the core of India’s concerns. Energy prices are already on the
rise, without even an inkling of the Iranian response. The diaspora presence is
mainly in the Gulf countries, which have thus far been largely out of the
theatre of proxy war, except for Saudi Arabia. However, this situation is not
permanent. It is contingent on the intensity of escalation of the war by
proxies and could extend beyond the current sub regions of the conflict,
engulfing the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. That would be apocalyptic for
Indian interests.
This article was first published by The Indian Express and has been reproduced in News Intervention with the Author’s permission for purpose of education and research.
In a delayed response to the bushfires that have
caused irreparable ecological and immense economic loss in Australia, Prime
Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday established a National Bushfire Recovery
Agency to co-ordinate recovery efforts ranging from rebuilding infrastructure
to providing mental health support even as authorities struggled to tackle the
raging bushfire crisis which has so far claimed the lives of 24 people. The
agency, headed by former federal police chief Andrew Colvin, will help bushfire
affected communities recover, media reports said.
Prime Minister Morrison has also cancelled his
planned first visit to India from January 13 due to the catastrophic bushfire
crisis.
Morrison has been facing widespread criticism in
Australia for his handling of the crisis, particularly, for taking a family
vacation in Hawaii at the start of the wildfire crisis, with many people
complaining about the lack of readiness in utilisation of resources. Last week,
he was heckled when he visited a township in New South Wales where houses have
been destroyed and one of them belonged to one of the three volunteer
firefighters who have died in the crisis.
Australia is experiencing a devastating fire season
that is expected to grow worse as the summer months continue. Record high
temperatures and drought exacerbated by climate change have ignited blazes that
have destroyed more than 1,000 homes and nine million acres and killed 18
people. An estimated half billion mammals, birds and reptiles have been killed
since the bushfires started in September, according to ecologists from the
University of Sydney. The actual number is likely much higher.
Australian authorities continued to struggle with
the ongoing bushfire crisis across several states including Victoria, South
Australia and Queensland, the PM announced that an additional $2 billion over
two years will be made available to support bushfire recovery efforts and
rebuild the towns decimated by the crisis.
Scott
Morrison has called up 3,000 military reserve troops to combat the bushfires,
the first time that reservists were called up in such a large number “in
the living memory”. In a press conference in the Parliament house on
Saturday, he said, “I want to start by extending my sincere condolences
and sympathies once again to all of those Australians and families who’ve lost
loved ones during the course of these devastating bushfires. Twenty-three
confirmed deaths to date and we are facing another extremely difficult next 24
hours.”
Fresh warnings have been issued to hundreds of
people sheltering in New South Wales’ coastal town of Eden with authorities
urging them to vacate the area immediately.
The incident of mob violence at Gurdwara Nankana Sahib in Pakistan
on Friday, January 3rd has raised deep concern worldwide, especially
amidst the Sikh community. Reports suggest that post the afternoon Friday
prayers, a mob comprising of hundreds of Muslims laid siege on Gurdwara Nankana
Sahib. The holy premises were pelted with stones and Sikhs offering prayers in
the Gurdwara were threatened. The homes of other Sikhs residing in Nankana
Sahib were also attacked with stones and they were told to vacate the city.
The matter was taken up at the highest level with the Governor of
Punjab (Pakistan) getting involved. Jagjit Kaur stated that she had converted
and married by her own will. Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar, however, gave
instructions for shifting of the girl from the house of her so called ‘husband’
to Darul Aman in Lahore. Eight people suspected for the kidnapping of Jagjit Kaur
were also taken into police custody. Later, a video recording of the Governor
stating that the marriage would be considered void and the girl would be sent
back to the house of her parents became public. The girl, however, has still
not returned to her parents and the matter continues to be under judicial
scrutiny.
In this latest incidence of violence at Nankana Sahib, the brother of Mohammad Hasan is seen prominently in the video footage. He is seen leading the crowd and making provocative statements. He is seen alleging that authorities are forcing the girl to go back to her parents while she is very content with her conversion to Islam and her marriage to Mohammad Hasan. He is openly threatening to drive away all Sikhs from Nankana Sahib and rename the city and the Gurdwara as “Ghulam-e-Mustafa.”
The large mob of radical Muslims shouting slogans at the Gurudwara Nankana Sahib in Pakistan on January 03, 2020.
India, very rightly, has strongly condemned the “wanton acts of
destruction and desecration of the holy place,” and called upon the government
of Pakistan to take immediate steps to ensure safety, security, and welfare of
the members of Sikhs. Pakistan has responded by alleging that, “….attempts to paint this incident as a communal issue are
patently motivated” and that “all insinuations particularly the claims of acts
of ‘desecration and destruction’ are not only false but also mischievous.”
Pakistan’s Foreign Office has issue a statement saying that the
incident has not occurred at all and what actually happened was a scuffle
between two Muslim groups. Further, reputed English dailies of Pakistan like
the Express Tribune and Dawn have not even mentioned the incident at all; there
is a media blackout in place. This blatant denial of the very serious incident
by the Pakistan government is a matter of grave concern.
The Sikhs are quite distressed by the incident. “Appeal to
@ImranKhanPTI to immediately intervene that the devotees stranded in Gurdwara
Nankana Sahib are rescued and the historic Gurdwara is saved from the angry mob
surrounding it,” said Punjab Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, in a
tweet. Various other Sikh leaders, institutions and prominent personalities
also expressed concern.
The aforementioned pressure by India and the Sikhs had the desired effect. Within no time videos of Pakistani attempts to restore the situation went viral on social media. The brother of Mohammad Hasan made a video in which he apologised for his behaviour; leaders of all faith establishments and local officials and politicians too came on screen to assure the Sikh community that they were integral to the society of Nankana Sahib and Pakistan.
Nankana Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan. The mob of radical Muslims pelted stones at the revered Gurdwara on January 3rd and demanded that the Gurdwara be razed down and a mosque be erected at this site.
Apparently, the Pakistani establishment is very worried about the
repercussions of the incident, especially on their efforts to woo the Sikh
community, and it wishes to put the matter under wraps. The fact, however,
remains that the family of Mohammad Hasan, through this violent and obnoxious
protest, is attempting to pressurise the authorities into putting an end to the
judicial proceedings against Mohammad Hasan.
If the family had a problem against the administration, it should
have organised a street protest or laid siege on the government installations.
That it chose to show its strength at the Holy Gurdwara is a clear message that
an inability on the part of the administration to bring early closure to the
case would result in danger for the Sikh community. In other words, to remain
safe in Nankana Sahib, the Sikhs would have to accept the conversion of Jagjit
Kaur and her marriage to Mohammad Hasan.
It becomes quite apparent from the proceedings that this family has
the political power and wherewithal to gather a violent mob at will. It stands
to logic, therefore, that the abduction of Jagjit Kaur was done on the strength
of this political power. The incident also points towards a bigger conspiracy
of creating circumstance wherein the exodus of Sikhs from Nankana Sahib could
be engineered. Jagjit Kaur is a mere pawn in this higher game plan.
The deep acrimony against minorities in Pakistan has once again
become visible. Any and every minority voice being raised for justice is
considered to be an affront to the Sunni majority and mob violence is used to
suppress the same. The reality of Pakistan lies in the mob violence and the
statements made therein and not in the placating voices and half-hearted cover ups.
It is time for the world in general and India in particular to
take note of the blatant suppression of minority communities in Pakistan with
use of brute force. There is a need to get the government of Pakistan out of
its denial mode and compel it to take concrete action to ensure protection of
all communities.
Coming close on the heels of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s “…We will show Modi’s India how to treat minorities” jibe, the Pak Foreign Office’s attempt to water-down the Nankana Sahib incident is understandable. But after hearing its version, one is reminded of George Washington’s famous advice that “It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.” I’m sure that Pakistan’s Foreign Office has no dearth of talent and that’s why it’s all the more surprising that its mandarins seem to be incapable of even spinning a convincing yarn. How could the Foreign Office ever believe that people will disregard what they have seen and heard for themselves and instead, believe its version that two quarrelling groups somehow found a common meeting ground and ended up uniting to jointly direct their hatred at a Gurdwara– and that too in the very place where founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak was born?
Gurdwara Nankana Sahib in Pakistan. On January 3, 2020 a large mob of radical Muslims pelted stones at the Gurdwara, raised slogans and demanded that the revered Gurdwara be razed down and a mosque be erected at this site.
If the Foreign Office thinks that merely saying “The opening of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor is a manifestation of Pakistan’s special care extended to the minorities” will completely dispel the fear which Nankana Sahib incident has instilled within the Sikh community, then it’s sadly mistaken. Nor will its allegation that “attempts to paint this incident as a communal issue are patently motivated,” in anyway help to mitigate the pain inflicted worldwide on the peaceful Sikh community. But the most unfortunate thing in the Foreign Office’s statement is the mention that “Most importantly, the Gurdwara remains untouched and undamaged,” as it obfuscates the whole incident and this is very dangerous as it will surely embolden fundamentalists.
Regrettably, despite the plethora of audio-visual evidence available in public domain, Pakistan’s media has also gone overboard in downplaying this incident. For example, Dawn newspaper’s version is that four customers taking tea at a stall outside Gurdwara Janam Asthan started a conversation regarding a youth named Muhammad Ehsaan who had allegedly married a Sikh girl after forcing her to convert. This enraged the tea stall owner who coincidently happened to be Ehsaan’s uncle and this led to an altercation in which a “small group gathered to raise slogans.” According to the Dawn news report, it was a minor incident and a spontaneous act triggered by heightened emotions that luckily ended on a happy note– thanks to “a team of Nankana Sahib Police that had to intervene briskly to control the situation.”
But there’s enough circumstantial evidence to prove that the
Nankana Sahib incident wasn’t precipitous — it was definitely pre-planned.
Some pointers:
The sheer numbers of slogan shouting protesters that can be seen in the video recordings of this incident belies the Dawn newspaper’s claim that it was “small group (that had) gathered to raise slogans.”
From the determined way in which the mammoth crowd can be seen converging onto Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, it’s clear that the mob had been instigated beforehand and that this holy site had been predesignated as the ‘target’.
With eviction warnings being issued to Sikhs, the desire to rename Nankana Sahib as ‘Ghulam-e-Mustafa’ being expressed and threatening the demolition of this Gurdwara in order to make place for a Mosque, can we still say that this incident isn’t communal in nature?
Doesn’t the conspicuous absence of any law enforcement personnel at one of the most revered religious shrines of a minority community (even after it was besieged by an unusually large congregation of angry protesters belonging to the majority community) seem suspicious?
In its 2019
Pakistan Chapter Report, United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom (USCIRF) observed that “During the year, extremist groups and
societal actors continued to discriminate against and attack religious
minorities, including Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Ahmadiyas, and Shia Muslims.”
The USCIRF went on to indict Islamabad by stating “…the government of Pakistan
failed to adequately protect these groups, and it perpetrated systematic,
ongoing, egregious religious freedom violations; this occurred despite some
optimism about the potential for reform under the new government of Prime
Minister Imran Khan.” Based on Islamabad’s perceptible failure to protect the
religious rights of its minorities, the US Department of State has
re-designated Pakistan as one of the nine “Countries of Particular Concern
(CPC).”
Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokeswoman Aisha Farooqui tried
to deflect this ignominious designation by terming it as “selective targeting
of countries” and even waxed eloquent on how “Pakistan is a multi-religious and
pluralistic country where people of all faiths enjoy religious freedom under
constitutional protections.” Imran Khan has been also been blaming external
forces for all the ills afflicting Pakistan and even in this case, his Foreign
Office has tried to do the same by mentioning how “patently motivated” attempts
were being made to “paint this incident as a communal issue.” But one doesn’t
have to be a rocket scientist to conclude that the Nankana Sahib incident is
undoubtedly and downrightly communal in nature that shows just how widespread
and vicious the malaise of fundamentalist ideology is in Pakistan.
Now that Islamabad has officially concluded that the Nankana Sahib incident wasn’t communal in nature, it’s evident that the culprits won’t be either booked or punished for hurting the religious sentiments and intimidating the minority Sikh community in Pakistan. Therefore, in this case, while the Government of Pakistan may not be guilty of having “perpetrated systematic, ongoing, egregious religious freedom violations,” but by letting the perpetrators off the hook, it has conclusively proved that the US State Department certainly wasn’t “selective” when it designated Pakistan as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’!
Postscript– Since the Nankana Sahib incident openly scoffs
Imran Khan’s idea of the ‘Naya (new) Pakistan’ he has promised his
people, perhaps his being more assertive and calling spade a spade instead of
brushing communal acts under the carpet will do both him and Pakistan some
good!
Though mandated to deal with military matters, Pakistan Army’s media wing Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) is notorious for its proclivity to transgress into the realm of politics and diplomacy, leading to severe embarrassment. Therefore, Director Gen (DG) ISPR Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor’s puerile tweet conveying Christmas wishes to “Christians in Pakistan, across the globe and especially to the ones in the states of Odisha and alike under the Hindutva obsessed environment” comes as no big surprise– although its timing certainly does!
Isn’t it ironical (and equally amusing) that the DGISPR’s
sarcastic tweet comes just on the heels of Pakistan being re-designated as a ‘Country
of Particular Concern’ (CPC) by the US State Department for being guilty of “particularly
severe violations of religious freedom,” implying official tolerance towards “systematic,
ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom”? Or could it be that this
knee jerk reaction is mere manifestation of the frustration arising out of Pakistan’s
continued inclusion in the CPC list? Whatever may be the reason, but if Maj Gen
Ghafoor had thought that his tweet would find favour with the Christian
community and arouse anti-government sentiments amongst them, then he was
terribly mistaken.
Christians the world over (including India) have not quite
appreciated the idea of their faith being used as ‘ammunition’ by Pakistan for
its ongoing war of words with India. Furthermore, the DGISPR’s tweet rekindles
bitter memories of how Christians are repeatedly being targeted in Pakistan and
the case of Asia Bibi, who was terrorised and wrongly confined for eight long
years on trumped up charges of blasphemy automatically comes to mind. Indian MP
Dr. Sasmit Patra, (who himself is a Christian) hit back at Maj Gen Ghafoor with
a strongly worded tweet that read, “Please hear a young Christian MP (Dr.
Sasmit Patra himself) from Odisha (since you referred to Odisha), slamming
Pakistan’s anti-minority barbarism before 170 countries this year at 141
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Belgrade.”
Patra also tagged video footage of his 141 IPU speech in
which he can be heard saying that “It is shameful and derogatory,
condemnable the kind of action Pakistan has been taking over the years. The
minorities in Pakistan are fleeing Pakistan because Pakistan is perpetrating
crimes on them. Can Pakistan confirm that it is home to 130 UN-designated
terrorists and 25 terrorist entities listed in UN? Is this the agenda of
Pakistan?” India’s Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Minister of
Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan from Odisha too hit back at DGISPR by tweeting “So
says a man sitting at the epicentre of genocide against religious and
ideological minorities.”
But in a way Maj Gen Ghafoor’s uncharitable Christmas tweet
has done India good because it has fully exposed Pakistan’s grievous intent of
vitiating the secular environment here. Minorities need to understand that the
great concern that Pakistan is displaying is solely to instigate them to
indulge in violence and this, as we all know, they have done earlier in Punjab
and J&K. Whereas the people of Punjab saw through the Pakistan Army’s
game-plan and rejected terrorism before it was too late, the people of Kashmir haven’t
been as lucky since they have amongst their ranks, those, who being recipients
of Islamabad’s largesse are using the deadly combination of religion and strong-arm
tactics to ensure that normalcy doesn’t return to the Kashmir Valley.
DGISPR’s tweet has also brought back focus on the way Pakistan is treating its minorities and one is reminded of how he had sounded more like a novice politician rather than a mature military officer when in an obvious mention to Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) he had said, “Their time is up” The PTM is neither a terrorist or fundamentalist organisation. On the contrary, it’s a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan-based social movement for Pashtun human rights that was originally created by students for pressing the authorities to remove landmines laid by Pakistan Army in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Shaken by continuing incidents of rampant extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances, PTM added the demand for a truth and reconciliation commission on extrajudicial killings and presenting missing persons before courts.
The very mention of enforced disappearances and
extrajudicial killings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa–Balochistan regions upsets the
Pakistan Army and this is but natural because of its humungous magnitude.
Infact, during the same press conference in which he warned PTM that “their
time was up,” the DGISPR himself conceded that “The list (of missing persons) has
shortened to 2,500 cases today and the (missing persons) commission is working
day and night to resolve those cases.” Whereas for Maj Gen Ghafoor it may be a
matter of great pride that the list of missing persons had been “shortened to
2,500,” but this monstrous figure would certainly shock any God-fearing mortal.
The Pakistan Army is in full control of the Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa– Balochistan regions and therefore such large number of persons missing
isn’t possible without the army being either involved or at least aware of
these disappearances! Though Rawalpindi has always denied it, but Maj Gen
Ghafoor’s own statements made with reference to the PTM belie Rawalpindi’s
claim. Examples:
DGISPR said that the army
chief ordered him to engage with PTM and that “I was given one order by the
army chief: ‘Do not use a harsh hand with them.’ The question that arises here
is that if the Pakistan Army goes by the book and respects human rights, then
where was the need for its army chief to specifically caution a senior officer
holding the rank of a Maj Gen not to use “a harsh hand” against social
activists?
Maj Gen Ghafoor further
said that “People will not face any sort of problem and neither will any
unlawful path be adopted.” He also emphasised that “Everything will
be done lawfully.” Now, if the Pakistan Army has been doing things
lawfully all along, then where was the reason for DGISPR to reassure the people
that “Everything will be done lawfully”?
While speaking about the
PTM leadership, what did the DGISPR mean when he said: “You have enjoyed
all the liberty that you wanted to,” especially when correlated with the “Their
time is up” threat!
Tailpiece- By originating a tweet on Christmas that
has reminded the world of the skeletons stuffed in Pakistan’s own cupboard, Maj
Gen Ghafoor has once again completely ‘goofed’ it up. Let’s now wait and see
what’s he’s going to entertain us in this New Year 2020!
There is an interesting story about Ajoy Chakrabarty, the genius and probably India’s finest classical singer. During the recording of show for Zee Telefilms, he exhorted his daughter, Kaushiki, to sing an old one, Saat Bhai Champa, even as he explained the notes to musicians on the stage. And then, after a pause, Chakrabarty looked into the camera and said it was high time people need to close the chasm that existed in India between Classical and Western music. Everyone should sing whatever they love, said Chakrabarty. “Many ask me why do you sing songs of Kishore Kumar, please do not do it. It hurts our feelings. I told them they should all stop this Panditji, Panditji business. Let people sing whatever they want, and if they can sing both classicals and Western songs well, applaud them and do not criticise.” Chakrabarty reminded me of the 1980 Telegu language movie, Sankarabharanam, where the protagonist JV Smayajulu said a similar thing to a gang of boisterous rappers, silencing them after he performed a song with perfection. And when it came to the turn of the youngsters to do a Classical one, they collapsed within seconds. This was no power show, Sankara helped the rappers understand the genesis of music and told them not to slice music into various compartments.
Ajoy Chakrabarty, the genius and probably India’s finest classical singer.
Chakrabarty is a root man, seeped into music, Shyam Banerji’s wonderfully scripted book, Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty: Seeker of the music within – a product of Niyogi Books — explains the man and his music, and his life and struggles. I loved the chapter — all have a signage of the word Ga on top — where Banerji talks about Chakrabarty’s early days when his father, Ajit Chakrabarty, bought a dismantled weaving loom from Mymensingh (now in Bangladesh) and wanted to earn some extra cash by weaving Sujani, a quilt made from recycled sarees. Read these lovely lines: “The click-clack of the loom was a rhythm that I soon got used to. What I loved most was my father calling me and asking me to sit on his lap while he wove the cloth. Matching the beat of the loom, he made me practise the sargam.” Ajoy Chakrabarty looked at the colours and heard the sound of the loom for hours, it was absolutely enchanting for him.
Ajoy Chakrabarty’s daughter Kaushiki Chakrabarty is also a classical singer.
The rickety loom was his gateway to life, Ajoy Chakrabarty remembered his music forever.
Many moons later, sarangi maestro Pandit Hanuman Prasadji Maharaj, told Chakrabarty that he (Hanuman Prasad) was happy at Chakrabarty’s usage of laya in his songs. Chakrabarty’s father was probably standing close. He instantly quipped: “Well, it pays to listen to a heavy dose of chautal, teevra and dhamaar at a very young age (he was referring to the kirtan sessions). Singing kirtans — Bengali Holy songs devoted to Lord Krishna — did not help Ajit Chakrabarty earn enough cash but grounded him in musical brilliance, his son Ajoy happily walked on the pavement of gold.
Biographies of legends can always be boring if its too, too laudatory without much insights, almost like the tomes written on cricketers and film stars. They rarely tell you the right stories, do not say why the batsman failed for three successive seasons and why as many as seven movies one after another did not work for an actor India knows as a superstar. But this one is different, it scores because it has both pain and gain. It has some of the most fascinating insights about the man who once stood close to the mighty Ganges in Kolkata like a character from the 1951 Jean Renoir film, The River, to shoot a commercial exhorting non resident Bengalis to return to Kolkata and boost the economy of the state. The Ganges, Ajoy Chakrabarty and his music was the highlight of the film. The book, time and again, explains why the protagonist has earned both name and fame, how hard, hard, hard he honed his skills to emerge as the Big Boss of Indian Classical Music. And how the Ganges remained an integral part of his life because he lived close to the river, almost like his gurus who could make out by the rustle of his slippers that Ajoy had come for his music lessons. I read how his father took an expensive loan from an Afghan trader — once Bengal had loads of them offering both dry fruits and cash — to buy a tanpoora for Ajoy. The instrument cost ₹90 in those days and Ajit Chakrabarty eventually ended up paying a whopping ₹300. Sounds lovely in these days of unpaid loans and non performing assets (NPAs) of the nationalised banks (isn’t it a whopping ₹8 lakh crores?). In those days, how many could have paid ₹220 extra for an instrument costing just ₹80. This was not just for music, this was also for life, this was also for the future of a rising star, Ajoy Chakraborty.
Ajoy Chakrabarty, during his younger days.
Ajoy Chakravarty wanted to do things in style. He wanted blessings from the Gods, was very, very keen to meet up Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. Chakrabarty loved Khan’s music. Chakrabarty waited for an opportunity to meet the legend. But getting across to Khan was very, very difficult. Eventually, on a balmy morning in 1966, Chakrabarty met Khan in the corridors of the imposing All India Radio building in Kolkata. Chakrabarty touched Khan’s feet and the latter remarked instantly: “Jeetey raho beta.” Chakrabarty, then a teenager, was floored by the humility of the legend. Khan died on April 26, 1968, around the time when the UK pop charts buzzed with What a Beautiful World. Chakrabarty was crestfallen. He told the author: “I had come to regard Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Saheb as my ideal. I had heard so many tales of his generosity, his personality and his devotion to music. I wanted to be like him. His passing away was a heavy blow that weighed me down for days. There was a sense of gloom.”
Banerjee, the author, explains how Ajoy Chakrabarty was encouraged by his father to rise and sing again, not to be depressed because of the death of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. It seemed to me — the author does not write this one in the book — the rise of Chakrabarty was like that of the proverbial Arjuna from depression in the battle of Mahabharata, the words of Lord Krishna ringing in his ears, words that eventually formed the Holy Gita. For Chakrabarty there was no battle, no armies, no bows and no Godspeed fired arrows. Chakrabarty had to emerge from gloom. Eventually he rose, Chakrabarty recharged his batteries with that single memory of meeting his God in the corridors of AIR. He was back again, and there was no looking back.
Ganges remained an integral part of Ajoy Chakrabarty’s life.
Wonderfully written, the book is like a bangle studded with precious diamonds. I loved the one where the author explains how he — sitting in front of a radio — took notes from Tagore songs. The idea was to write down the lyrics and notations of each word of the songs and the transition of each note in a span of 15 minutes — obviously it was an AIR programme — and then emerge stronger. Chakrabarty remembered lines from his favourite Sukumar Ray poem, Ei Dekho Pencil, Notebook Ei Haathey (which translates into Look Here Is My Pencil, And Notebook In My Hand). And then, after training hard, Chakrabarty impressed his Guru Jnan Prakash Ghosh, who often asked his students to repeat what he taught. On that day when Chakrabarty outsmarted everyone, he had learnt by heart as many as 17 compositions. It was like scoring a hat trick in front of the coach, and also the club owner.
In a world of styles and brands, Chakrabarty does not need special hairdos, nor he needs a Merc or a designer kurta to make a statement, he rarely talks about his performances. He is an unusual musician who is at ease at the various musical conferences, and also at the lobby of a five star hotel jam-packed to receive Shah Rukh Khan. Once he used to sing like Munawar Ali Khan, only to be rebuffed by his father. And then he developed his own style. A style of singing the world loved, loved and continues to love. His inspiration comes from an extraordinary insight into the structure of ragas. He once told a reporter that he sees his place at the feet of Saraswati, the Indian goddess of learning who rides a swan and is worshipped at the start of the new year. I have a feeling Chakrabarty prides himself being Paramahansa, the swan who drinks milk by separating it from water. The title in Bengal, till date, is reserved for the sage Ramakrishna who was born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay.
What a lovely read, and imagine the book is unjustifiably priced at Rs 1500. If I was a publisher, I would have priced it three times the current price. Those interested in music make some right investments, and not seek all answers from Alexa or Google. They must buy the right kind of books to enrich knowledge. All music schools must pick up copies of this one and make it mandatory purchase for its students. Will they do it? If they do, the publisher will earn some decent cash.
Indian singer Prateek Kuhad’s song “cold/mess” has made it to
former US President Barack Obama’s favourite music of 2019 line-up.
The list, shared by Obama on Twitter on Monday, has 35 songs which includes
“Hello Sunshine” by rock legend Bruce Springsteen, “Show Me
Love” of Alicia Keys featuring Miguel and “Go” by the band Black
Eyed Peas.
“From hip-hop to country to The Boss, here are my songs of the year. If
you’re looking for something to keep you company on a long drive or help you
turn up a workout, I hope there’s a track or two in here that does the
trick,” the ex POTUS captioned the list.
Featuring actors Zoya Hussain and Jim Sarbh, Kuhad’s “cold/mess”
featured on number 22 and the Delhi-based singer said he was honoured by the
gesture.
“This just happened and I don’t think I’ll sleep tonight. Totally flipping
out. I have no idea how ‘cold/mess’ even reached him but thank you
@barackobama, thank you universe. I didn’t think 2019 could’ve gotten better,
but damn was I wrong. What an honour,” Kuhad replied on Obama’s tweet.
Sarbh also gave a shout-out to the singer on Twitter.
Previously, Obama shared his favourite movies and TV shows of 2019, and the
list includes Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s “Fleabag” season two, limited
series “Unbelievable”, Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” and
Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s genre-defying class drama “Parasite”.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate
Change (MoEF&CC) recently shared key highlights of the work done by the
Ministry in the year 2019. In its report, the ministry claims that India’s leadership
and commitment on environmental issues under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi has led to landmark achievements. With significant developments such
as India for the first time ranking among
the top ten countries in the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) goes
further to prove that all efforts and activities being currently undertaken by
the country under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
(MoEF&CC) are setting a tone of vast improvements.
Some of the major highlights of the Ministry in the
year 2019 are outlined below:-
Environment:
Air pollution is one of the biggest global
environmental challenges of today. A time bound national level strategy for pan
India implementation to tackle the increasing air pollution problem across the
country in a comprehensive manner in the form of National Clean Air Programme
(NCAP) was launched on 10th January,
2019.
Third Indo-German Environment Forum with the theme
“Cleaner Air, Greener Economy:” held in New Delhi in February. The
one-day event through panel discussions and parallel sessions focused on
challenges, solutions and necessary framework conditions of air pollution
control, waste management and circular economy as well as implementation of NDCs
and SDGs based on Paris Agreement and Agenda 2030 of UN respectively.
In a significant first, India piloted resolutions
on two important global environment issues relating to Single-use Plastics and
Sustainable Nitrogen management at the fourth session of United Nations
Environment Assembly (UNEA) which was held in Nairobi from 11th to 15th March
2019.UNEA adopted both the resolutions with consensus.
India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) Launched in March
this year. India is one of the first countries in the world to develop a
comprehensive Cooling Action plan which has a long term vision to address the
cooling requirement across sectors and lists out actions which can help reduce
the cooling demand. Cooling requirement is cross sectoral and an essential part
for economic growth and is required across different sectors of the economy
such as residential and commercial buildings, cold-chain, refrigeration,
transport and industries.
In order to strengthen the implementation of environmentally sound
management of hazardous waste in the country, the Ministry amended the
Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management & Transboundary Movement) Rules,
2016 vide notification G.S.R. G.S.R. XX (E), dated 01 March 2019. The amendment
has been done keeping into consideration the “Ease of Doing Business” and
boosting “Make in India” initiative by simplifying the procedures under the
Rules, while at the same time upholding the principles of sustainable
development and ensuring minimal impact on the environment.
On World environment Day, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and
Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar launched
a people’s campaign #SelfiewithSapling urging all to join and plant a sapling
and post the selfie with the sapling on social media. Shri Javadekar stressed that
‘Jan Bhagidari’ is integral towards tackling the environmental issues and
environment protection has to be a people’s movement.
The country has leapfrogged from Bharat Standard IV to Bharat Standard
VI for vehicle emission norms and from 1st April 2020, vehicles will be BS VI
compliant. There is also a strong push for use of e-vehicles by introducing
multiple policy interventions and incentives.
Forest & Wildlife:
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in
February between MoEF&CC and University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada
for next 10 years in New Delhi. Both the institutions shall explore
opportunities for future collaborations in the field of forestry science
through their respective organizations namely Indian Council of Forestry
Research and Education, Wildlife Institute of India, Forest Survey of India,
Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy and Directorate of Forest Education,
Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India and University of British Columbia, Vancouver,
Canada.
A dedicated“Asiatic Lion Conservation Project” with
a budgetary contribution of Rs 97.85 Cr from Central Government was launched in
February . The Asiatic Lion endemic to Gir landscape of Gujarat, is one of the
21 critically endangered species identified by the Ministry for taking up
recovery programmes.
‘Not
all animals migrate by choice’ campaign launched to raise awareness on illegal
wildlife trade.
On the occasion of International Tiger Day, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi released the results of the fourth cycle of All India
Tiger Estimation – 2018 in New Delhi on July 29th,
2019. The count of tigers in India has risen to 2967, in 2018, according to
this census.
In a major boost towards promoting afforestation
and achieving green objectives of the country, the Ministry handed over
Rs.47,436 crores of Compensatory Afforestation Fund anagement and Planning
Authority, CAMPA funds to various states in August. Important activities
on which the fund will be utilised will be for the Compensatory Afforestation,
Catchment Area Treatment, Wildlife Management, Assisted Natural Regeneration,
Forest Fire Prevention and Control Operations, Soil and Moisture Conservation Works
in the forest, Improvement of Wildlife Habitat, Management of Biological
Diversity and Biological Resources, Research in Forestry and Monitoring of
CAMPA works etc.
With efforts towards protecting and conserving Snow
Leopards, the First National Protocol on Snow Leopard Population Assessment in
India was launched on the occasion of International Snow Leopard Day in
October.
Draft amendment to the Indian Forests Act withdrawn
to remove any misgivings, thereby enriching the livelihood of tribals and
forest dwellers.
The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash
Javadekar recently released the biennial “India State of Forest Report (ISFR)”,
in New Delhi. The report is published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) which
has been mandated to assess the forest and tree resources of the country
including wall-to-wall forest cover mapping in a biennial cycle. Starting 1987,
16 assessment have been completed so far. ISFR 2019 is the 16th report in the
series.
Announcing the results the Union Minister said that India is
among few countries in the world where forest cover is consistently increasing.
Shri Javadekar told that in the present assessment, the total forest and tree
cover of the country is 80.73 million hectare which is 24.56 percent of the
geographical area of the country.
The Environment Minister further said that as compared to the
assessment of 2017, there is an increase of 5,188 sq. km in the total forest
and tree cover of the country. “Out of this, the increase in the forest cover
has been observed as 3,976 sq km and that in tree cover is 1,212 sq. km; Range
increase in forest cover has been observed in open forest followed by very
dense forest and moderately dense forest and the top three states showing
increase in forest cover are Karnataka (1,025 sq. km) followed by Andhra
Pradesh (990 sq km) and Kerala (823 sq km).”, said the Minister.
Area-wise
Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country followed by
Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra. In terms of forest
cover as percentage of total geographical area, the top five States are Mizoram
(85.41%), Arunachal Pradesh (79.63%), Meghalaya (76.33%), Manipur (75.46%) and
Nagaland (75.31%).
The
Mangrove ecosystems are unique & rich in biodiversity and they provide
numerous ecological services. Mangrove cover has been separately reported in
the ISFR 2019 and the total mangrove cover in the country is 4,975 sq km. An
increase of 54 sq Km in mangrove cover has been observed as compared to the
previous assessment of 2017. Top three states showing mangrove cover increase
are Gujarat (37 sq km) followed by Maharashtra (16 sq km) and Odisha (8 sq km).
The
total growing stock of India’s forest and TOF is estimated 5,915.76 million cum
of which 4,273.47 million cum is inside the forests and 1,642.29 million cum
outside. There is an increase of 93.38 million cum of total growing stock, as
compared to the previous assessment. Out of this the increase in growing stock,
there is an increase of 55.08 million cum inside the forests and 38.30 million
cum outside the forest areas.
The extent of bamboo bearing area of the
country has been estimated 16.00 million hectare. There is an increase of 0.32
million hectare in bamboo bearing area as compared to the last assessment of
ISFR 2017. The total estimated green weight of bamboo culms is 278 million
tonnes, slowly an increase of 88 million tonnes as compared to ISFR 2017.
Under the current assessment the total
carbon stock in country’s forest is estimated 7,124.6 million tonnes and there
an increase of 42.6 million tonnes in the carbon stock of country as compared
to the last assessment of 2017. The annual increase in the carbon stock is 21.3
million tonnes, which is 78.2 million tonnes CO2 eq.
Wetlands within forest areas form
important ecosystems and add richness to the biodiversity in forest areas, both
of faunal and floral species. Due to importance of wetlands, FSI has carried
out an exercise at the national level to identify wetlands of more than 1 ha
within RFA. There are 62,466 wetlands covering 3.8% of the area within
the RFA/GW of the country.
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