Estimates say 617 worshipers killed at houses of worship in the US in 20 years, between 1999 and 2019
WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): The US, which last week graded countries on the Freedom of Religion index, has come under attack for shortcomings on this score. Estimates said 617 worshipers were killed at houses of worship in the US in 20 years, between 1999 and 2019. This includes the murder of six members of Gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, and the murder of nine members of the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in 2015.
Minority religious places of worship were not the sole targets, between 2000 and 2020, American churches experienced 19 fatal shootings. According to the official statistics, hate crimes rose to their highest numbers in two decades in 2020, with more than 1,000 religion-based incidents.
These attacks have led to demands for increasing the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NPSG) which allows any at-risk nonprofit organization, including houses of worship and other religious institutions, to seek financial support to help protect itself from violence.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said the increased funding for the NPSG program will allow additional marginalized groups to secure their communities.
Max Sevillia from the Anti-Defamation League estimates that 80 per cent of Protestant pastors say their church has some security measures in place.
“The threat of violence is now a tragic feature of religious life in America, forcing many faith leaders to become ad hoc security planners. But safety, and all that it entails, is an expensive and complex process that most houses of worship simply cannot afford,” he said while seeking higher NPSG funding. Recently, the Congress appropriated $ 90 million for this program this year and $180 million next year. “The problem is that even though the program’s funds have increased, the money available has not kept pace with the scale of the problem,” said Sevillia. The Build Back Better budget has promised $100 million in funding, which, in addition to the $180 million appropriated, brings the amount closer to the $360 million that is necessary to meet the demand. “But at a time of increased vulnerability to hate-motivated violence by domestic extremists, Congress must support this funding,” he says.
WASHINTON, D.C. (TIP): US Congressman Andy Levin has welcomed the repeal of the three farm laws in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, November 19 announced that the government had decided to repeal the three farm laws, which were at the center of protests by farmers for the past year and appealed to the protesting farmers to return home. “Glad to see that after more than a year of protests, the three farm bills in India will be repealed,” Congressman Andy Levin said on Friday. “This is proof that when workers stick together, they can defeat corporate interests and achieve progress – in India and around the world,” he said in a tweet.
In his address to the nation on the auspicious occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti, Modi insisted that the laws were for the benefit of farmers and then apologized to people of the country while adding that the government could not convince a section of farmers despite its clear heart and clean conscience.
“I have come to tell you that we have decided to repeal the three farm laws. In the upcoming Parliament Session starting at the end of this month, we will complete the constitutional process to repeal the three farm laws,” Modi said. Hundreds of farmers have been camping at the three Delhi borders since November 2020 with the demand that the government repeal the laws.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): US regulators on Friday, November 19, opened up Covid-19 booster shots to all adults, expanding the government’s campaign to shore up protection and get ahead of rising Covid cases that may worsen with the holidays. Pfizer and Moderna announced the Food and Drug Administration’s decision after at least 10 states had already started offering boosters to all adults.
The latest action simplifies what until now has been a confusing list of who’s eligible by allowing anyone 18 or older to choose either company’s booster six months after their last dose — regardless of which vaccine they had first.
But there’s one more step: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must agree to expand Pfizer and Moderna boosters to even healthy young adults.
If the center agrees, tens of millions more Americans could have three doses of protection ahead of the new year. Anyone who got the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine can already get a booster.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): When NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins launches to the International Space Station next year, her debut spaceflight will make history. Watkins is set to become the first Black woman to join the space station crew, and live and work in space on a long-duration mission on the orbiting outpost. The agency announced Tuesday that Watkins will fly to the space station in April 2022, alongside NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren and Robert Hines and astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency.
They are slated to launch aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission, known as Crew-4, is expected to last six months.
Watkins, a geologist who earned an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and a doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles, will serve as a mission specialist during the Crew-4 flight. She was chosen to become an astronaut candidate in 2017 and the April mission will be her first trip to space, according to the agency.
Though a handful of Black astronauts have visited the space station over the course of its 21-year history, almost all had short stays typically lasting less than two weeks during NASA’s space shuttle program.
Last year, Victor Glover became the first Black astronaut to embark on a long-term mission at the space station, and Watkins is set to become the first Black woman to do the same.
In 2018, NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps was expected to become the first Black astronaut — man or woman — to launch on an extended mission at the space station, but she was unexpectedly replaced less than six months before the flight. NASA did not offer an explanation for the switch and The Washington Post reported at the time that Epps’ brother blamed racism at the space agency for the abrupt crew change.
Global wealth tripled over the last two decades, with China leading the way and overtaking the US for the top spot worldwide, Bloomberg reported.
NEW YORK (TIP): Global wealth tripled over the last two decades, with China leading the way and overtaking the US for the top spot worldwide, Bloomberg reported. A report by McKinsey & Co. examines the national balance sheets of ten countries representing more than 60 per cent of the world’s income. China accounted for almost one-third of gains in global net worth over the past two decades, the report said.
“We are now wealthier than we have ever been,” Jan Mischke, a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute in Zurich, said in an interview. Net worth worldwide rose to $514 trillion in 2020, from $156 trillion in 2000, according to the study. China accounted for almost one-third of the increase.
Its wealth skyrocketed to $120 trillion from a mere $7 trillion in 2000, the year before it joined the World Trade Organisation, speeding its economic ascent, the report said. The US, held back by more muted increases in property prices, saw its net worth more than double over the period, to $90 trillion.
In both countries — the world’s biggest economies — more than two-thirds of the wealth is held by the richest 10 per cent of households, and their share has been increasing, the report said. As computed by McKinsey, 68 per cent of global net worth is stored in real estate. The balance is held in such things as infrastructure, machinery and equipment and, to a much lesser extent, so-called intangibles like intellectual property and patents, it added.
Mount Kailash, Tibet (China) – Guru Nanak had discourses with the ‘Siddhas’, accomplished spiritualists.Khost, Afghanistan – Local resident, Khalida Begum, shared her motherly love in remembrance of the departed adherents of Guru Nanak with whom she grew up in this village.Baltistan, Pakistan – Filming in the high-altitude cold desert. The crew expressing a moment of joy after completing the filming in these hard to access areas.Ruins of Baghdad Gurdwara adjacent to the shrine of Faqir Bahlool.Balochistan.By Harbans Lal, Ph.D., D. Lit (Hons)
Five centuries ago, Guru Nanak undertook a worldwide journey to alert people of both the Sindhu civilization east of Sindh River Delta, and those of Turk civilizations west of Sindh Delta against clergy-concocted religion. Everywhere he visited, he advocated God as the virtual reality manifested in all creation. Thus, Guru Nanak’s God is realized through an appreciation of the natural designs that flourish within and around all peoples in every corner of the world and everywhere in the universes. ‘ALLEGORY, A Tapestry of Guru Nanak’s Travels’ (website) is a 24-episode documentary that chronicles the vast expanse of sites that were visited by Guru Nanak in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Tibet, Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka. Approximately 70 percent of this landscape today falls in geographies where filming is difficult.
Between the 15th and 16th centuries, the universal narratives of Guru Nanak’s travels were rendered solely through oral narratives. In the 17th century, these were documented in the form of books called ‘Janamsakhis’, written by men of faith, and not historians. It gave rise to a diverse canvas of storytelling, travelogue, and hagiography.
But today, these are forgotten, and, alongside the deeply entrenched division of land and nationality, many of the sites have become inaccessible. In addition, Guru Nanak’s narrative today stands limited to Sikh places of worship, gurdwaras, whilst he traveled to multi-faith sites – Islamic, Sufi, Hindu, Yogi, Buddhist & Jain.
In an ambitious three-year effort, Amardeep Singh and Vininder Kaur, the Singaporean couple filmed the entire narrative of Guru Nanak’s travels and are releasing one episode a week on the website TheGuruNanak.com. The project was financed by donations from many nonprofit organizations and philanthropic individuals.
The project has been mostly completed beyond the ambitions of its undertakers. With the aid of stories written half a century after Guru Nanak’s passing away in 1539, along with popular stories and archaeology, the team followed the trails of sites of various faiths visited by Guru Nanak. The team traveled from Mecca to Mount Kailash, filming under the shelling of gunfire in Afghanistan and the scalding summer heat in Iraq, across the waters of river Sindh on the boat, and the desert expanse of Medina to Baghdad. They have gone from the mausoleum of Bahauddin Zakariya in Multan to the Hinglaj Nani Mandir Caves in Balochistan; from Baba Farid’s grave at Pakpattan, Pakistan, where during his visit, Guru Nanak collected the verses of Baba Farid, later enshrined in the Guru Granth Sahib, to the congruent region of Para Chinar, which stands between Pakistan and Afghanistan. In a world where visa constraints, nationalist mandates and geographic divisions are often successful in restricting access, Amardeep and his team continued remaining steadfastly unbounded in their efforts to document the narrative for posterity. Their team comprised of Muslims and Hindus, reflecting the spirit of ‘Oneness’, the teaching of Guru Nanak.
The docuseries, ‘Allegory, A Tapestry of Guru Nanak’s Travels’, is an attempt to appreciate Guru Nanak. It is jointly produced by ‘Lost Heritage Productions’ and ‘SikhLens Productions’. (The author is Emeritus Professor and Chairman, Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth Texas, and Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies, Guru Nanak Dev University at Amritsar)
Time to rejoice: Guru Nanak has arrived to redeem humanity
Guru Nanak, a great advocate of humanism of the 15th century of India is considered as the model of interreligious harmony. He dedicated his whole life to promote harmony among the people of different faiths. Unlike an ordinary man, from his boyhood Nanak started to search for the true meaning of life and a way to bridge the gaps among the followers of different religions. His teachings form the basement of Sikhism and he is regarded as the first Guru of the Sikh religious tradition. The teachings of Guru Nanak can be termed as the model for establishing universal peace by eliminating communal conflicts-a task which he himself wanted to accomplish throughout his whole life.
On this happy occasion while we are celebrating the 552nd Birth Anniversary of the Master, let us all take a leaf from his life and imbibe in our lives the principle he recommended for a world of fraternity and peace:“Those who have loved are those that have found God”.
Modi obviously calculated that advantage lay in taking a step back on farm laws
By Neerja Chowdhury
The BJP can live with defeats in smaller states, but winning Uttar Pradesh in 2022 is essential for the party, or else 2024 becomes dicey.
“Modi must have calculated that at the end of the day, he will be able to mollify the Jats. Even that ‘little bit’ will help. The BJP brass must have also been worried about the enthusiasm evident at the meetings addressed by Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav. His in-principal ally, Jayant Chaudhary of the RLD, has also encountered an exciting response in western UP, not accorded to his party in the past 20 years. The BJP was happy with Priyanka Vadra getting some traction — and it may even be aiding the process — for it would create confusion amongst the Muslims. But that does not seem to be happening at the ground level.”
By announcing to repeal the three controversial farm laws, the Prime Minister has stooped to conquer. His reason for backtracking, something Narendra Modi is not given to do, is political. It can be summed up in two words — Uttar Pradesh. Winning UP in 2022 is a must for the BJP, or else 2024 becomes dicey. The party can live with defeats in smaller states, but it can take no chances in UP.
The BJP has been nervous about UP, notwithstanding the high-decibel campaign CM Yogi Adityanath has already launched in the state, showcasing his many ‘achievements’, and the PM’s high-profile inaugural event for the Purvanchal Expressway which really sounded the poll bugle.
It is thanks to the farmers’ movement that the Jats moved away from the BJP in western UP. Their support to the BJP in 2014 helped it sweep the region and ensured the party’s victory in the General Election.
From the beginning, UP has been critical to Modi’s rise. Had the BJP not got 71 seats in 2014 from UP, it would have been a coalition government at the Centre. It was Amit Shah who, between July 2013 and May 2014, took a stagnant and faction-ridden BJP from a tally of 10 Lok Sabha MPs to 71, rebuilding the organization which he had been tasked to do. He did it when the BJP was not even in power at the Centre. Of late, the Gujjars in western UP have been increasingly unhappy, not finding representation in the state government. After the mowing down of farmers at Lakhimpur Kheri, the Sikhs, too, now nurse a grudge against the party. The Muslims will not look at the BJP anyway. This virtually covers the entire lank of western UP. Western UP, going up to the Terai region, accounts for around 100 seats, and could be decisive. Unlike 2014, and its effect was felt even in 2017, Hindu-Muslim (the Jat-Muslim divide) polarization had helped the BJP mop up a rich crop. In the past year or so, many Jats — they are mostly farmers and have felt that the farm laws would dispossess them of their lands — have been heard saying that ‘this time we are not going to be taken in by the Hindu-Muslim rhetoric’.
Modi must have calculated that at the end of the day, he will be able to mollify the Jats. Even that ‘little bit’ will help. The BJP brass must have also been worried about the enthusiasm evident at the meetings addressed by Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav. His in-principal ally, Jayant Chaudhary of the RLD, has also encountered an exciting response in western UP, not accorded to his party in the past 20 years. The BJP was happy with Priyanka Vadra getting some traction — and it may even be aiding the process — for it would create confusion amongst the Muslims. But that does not seem to be happening at the ground level.
The backtracking by the PM came on Gurpurb. It gave the impression that Punjab was a factor in the PM’s change of heart. The PM’s decision could open up the political scenario in Punjab. It is not as if it will put the BJP in the winning seat. The party was being completely written off. The upper-caste urban voter was looking at the Aam Aadmi Party as an alternative to the BJP. Since the farm laws were the reason why the Akali Dal, the BJP’s old ally, broke ranks with it, could the repeal of the laws bring them together again?
Former CM Captain Amarinder Singh has already indicated that he is open to joining hands with the BJP. This will become easier for him to justify, with the farm law story becoming a thing of the past. It’s possible that the government will try and re-enact the law under another garb in future as part of ‘agricultural reforms’. But it is unlikely to do so before 2024 and risk singeing itself, or the Modi brand.
The repeal is a victory for the farmers who sat on dharna for almost a year. It will give new heart to other agitating groups fighting for their rights. But the bottom line is clear: protests are effective when they influence votes.
Of course, the farmers see this as their victory and there is no reason why they should give the credit to the PM or to any other party. Some of the farmers’ leaders may well decide to contest in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Punjab as Independents.
The Opposition will flay the government for the hardships caused to the farmers and the needless deaths that took place during the past more than 11 months.
Endowed with sharp political instincts, which few other contemporary leaders possess today, the Prime Minister has made a move to control damage. It is not a poll-winning ploy. But much will depend on how the BJP resets the narrative in the coming days. Modi is bound to talk about deferring to the people’s wishes. The PM’s address to the nation gave a foretaste of it, when he said despite tapasya, he was unable to convince a section of the farmers.
The PM has obviously calculated that the balance of advantage lies in taking a step back, and then, to give the narrative a new pitch. Managing perceptions is something Modi and the ‘new BJP’ are so adept at.
It would not be surprising if in the coming days, Modi starts to publicly distance himself from Adani and Ambani in a visible — maybe not substantive — way. If there is something that the farmers’ movement has done, it is to club him with the corporate duo. It is an image he would like to do without, of being seen to be helping the richest in the country, when life is becoming harder for the ordinary folk, with price rise spiraling and loss of livelihoods going unaddressed.
That each day, Indians govern themselves in a pluralist democracy is testimony to his deeds and words.
It is the edifice of democracy that Nehru constructed that remains the most indispensable pillar of his contributions to India.
“It was by no means axiomatic that a country like India, riven by so many internal differences and diversities, beset by acute poverty and torn apart by Partition, would be or remain democratic. Many developing countries found themselves turning in the opposite direction soon after Independence, arguing that a firm hand was necessary to promote national unity and guide development. With Gandhi’s death, Nehru could have very well assumed unlimited power within the county. And yet, he himself was such a convinced democrat, profoundly wary of the risks of autocracy, that, at the crest of his rise, he authored an anonymous article warning Indians of the dangers of giving dictatorial temptations to Jawaharlal Nehru. “He must be checked,” he wrote of himself. “We want no Caesars.” And indeed, his practice when challenged within his own party was to offer his resignation; he usually got his way, but it was hardly the instinct of a Caesar.”
Four men embodied the vision of free India in the 1940s — Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and Ambedkar. Gandhi’s moral rectitude, allied to Jawaharlal Nehru’s political passion, fashioned both the strategy and tactics for the struggle against British rule. Sardar Patel’s firm hand on the administration integrated the nation and established peace and stability. Ambedkar’s erudition and legal acumen helped translate the dreams of a generation into a working legal document that laid the foundations for an enduring democracy.
Setting the way
While the world was disintegrating into fascism, violence, and war, Gandhi taught the virtues of truth, non-violence, and peace. While the nation reeled from bloodshed and communal carnage, Ambedkar preached the values of constitutionalism and the rule of law. While parochial ambitions threatened national unity, Patel led the nation to a vision of unity and common purpose. While mobs marched the streets baying for revenge, Nehru’s humane and non-sectarian vision inspired India to yearn again for the glory that had once been hers.
Of the four, Gandhi and Nehru stood out. Despite differences over both tactics (Nehru wanted Independence immediately whereas Gandhi believed Indians had to be made ready for their own freedom) and philosophy (the agnostic Nehru had little patience for the Mahatma’s spirituality), the two men proved a formidable combination. Gandhi guided Nehru to his political pinnacle; Nehru in turn proved an inspirational campaigner as President of the Indian National Congress, electrifying the nation with his speeches and tireless travel.
Keeper of the flame
Upon the Mahatma’s assassination in 1948, just five months after Independence, Nehru, the country’s first Prime Minister, became the keeper of the national flame, the most visible embodiment of India’s struggle for freedom. Gandhi’s death could have led Nehru to assume untrammeled power. Instead, he spent a lifetime immersed in the democratic values Ambedkar had codified, trying to instill the habits of democracy in his people — a disdain for dictators, a respect for parliamentary procedures, an abiding faith in the constitutional system. Till the end of the decade, his staunch ally Patel provided the firm hand on the tiller without which India might yet have split asunder.
For the first 17 years of India’s Independence, the paradox-ridden Nehru — a moody, idealist intellectual who felt an almost mystical empathy with the toiling peasant masses; an aristocrat, accustomed to privilege, who had passionate socialist convictions; an Anglicized product of Harrow and Cambridge who spent over 10 years in British jails; an agnostic radical who became an unlikely protégé of the saintly Mahatma Gandhi — was India. Incorruptible, visionary, ecumenical, a politician above politics, Nehru’s stature was so great that the country he led seemed inconceivable without him. A year before his death a leading American journalist, Welles Hangen, published a book entitled After Nehru, Who? the unspoken question around the world was: “after Nehru, what?”
Today, looking back on his 132nd birthday and nearly six decades after his death, we have something of an answer to the latter question. As an India still seemingly clad in many of the trappings of Nehruvianism steps out into the 21st century, a good deal of Jawaharlal Nehru’s legacy appears intact — and yet hotly contested. India has moved away from much of Nehru’s beliefs, and so (in different ways) has the rest of the developing world for which Nehruvianism once spoke. As India nears its 75th anniversary of Independence from the British Raj, a transformation — still incomplete — has taken place that, in its essentials, has changed the basic Nehruvian assumptions of postcolonial nationhood. Nehru himself, as a man with an open and questing mind, would have allowed his practical thinking to evolve with the times, even while remaining anchored to his core beliefs.
The pillars of his imprint
In my 2003 biography, Nehru: The Invention of India, I sought to examine this great figure of 20th-century nationalism from the vantage point of the beginning of the 21st. Jawaharlal Nehru’s life is a fascinating story in its own right, and I tried to tell it whole, because the privileged child, the unremarkable youth, the posturing young nationalist, and the heroic fighter for independence are all inextricable from the unchallengeable Prime Minister and peerless global statesman. At the same time, I sought to analyze critically the four principal pillars of Nehru’s legacy to India — democratic institution-building, staunch pan-Indian secularism, socialist economics at home, and a foreign policy of non-alignment — all of which were integral to a vision of Indianness that is fundamentally challenged today. Of these, it is the edifice of democracy that Nehru constructed that remains the most indispensable pillar of his contributions to India.
It was by no means axiomatic that a country like India, riven by so many internal differences and diversities, beset by acute poverty and torn apart by Partition, would be or remain democratic. Many developing countries found themselves turning in the opposite direction soon after Independence, arguing that a firm hand was necessary to promote national unity and guide development. With Gandhi’s death, Nehru could have very well assumed unlimited power within the county. And yet, he himself was such a convinced democrat, profoundly wary of the risks of autocracy, that, at the crest of his rise, he authored an anonymous article warning Indians of the dangers of giving dictatorial temptations to Jawaharlal Nehru. “He must be checked,” he wrote of himself. “We want no Caesars.” And indeed, his practice when challenged within his own party was to offer his resignation; he usually got his way, but it was hardly the instinct of a Caesar.
A deference to the system
As Prime Minister, Nehru carefully nurtured the country’s infant democratic institutions. He paid deference to the country’s ceremonial presidency and even to its largely otiose vice-presidency; he never let the public forget that these notables outranked him in protocol terms. He wrote regular letters to the Chief Ministers of the States, explaining his policies and seeking their feedback. He subjected himself and his government to cross-examination in Parliament by the small, fractious but undoubtedly talented Opposition, allowing them an importance out of all proportion to their numerical strength, because he was convinced that a strong Opposition was essential for a healthy democracy. He took care not to interfere with the judicial system; on the one occasion that he publicly criticized a judge, he apologized the next day and wrote an abject letter to the Chief Justice, regretting having slighted the judiciary. And he never forgot that he derived his authority from the people of India; not only was he astonishingly accessible for a person in his position, but he started the practice of offering a daily darshan at home for an hour each morning to anyone coming in off the street without an appointment, a practice that continued until the dictates of security finally overcame the populism of his successors.
It was Nehru who, by his scrupulous regard for both the form and the substance of democracy, instilled democratic habits in our country. His respect for Parliament, his regard for the independence of the judiciary, his courtesy to those of different political convictions, his commitment to free elections, and his deference to institutions over individuals, all left us a precious legacy of freedom.
The American editor, Norman Cousins, once asked Nehru what he hoped his legacy to India would be. “Four hundred million people capable of governing themselves,” Nehru replied. The numbers have grown, but the very fact that each day over a billion Indians govern themselves in a pluralist democracy is testimony to the deeds and words of the man whose birthday we commemorate tomorrow.
(The author is a third-term Member of Parliament (Congress Party) representing Thiruvananthapuram and an award-winning author of 22 books, including most recently, The Battle of Belonging)
EDISON, NJ (TIP): Indian American Samip “Sam” Joshi, 32, is set to become Edison, New Jersey’s first South Asian and youngest mayor on Jan 1. Son of Indian immigrants, Joshi would replace Democratic Mayor Thomas Lankey whose term ends Dec. 31. Lankey did not seek reelection.
Previously Jun Choi, the township’s first Asian American mayor, was the youngest to serve in the post.
Currently Township Council Vice President Joshi, a Democrat, won the hotly contested race for mayor of the township defeating Republican Keith Hahn and independent candidate Christo Makropoulos in the Nov 2 election.
“I am honored and humbled to be elected as the next mayor of Edison Township,” Joshi said in a Facebook post.
“Thank you to all my friends, family, and supporters for making this election possible. I pledge to be a mayor for all of Edison and will work hard every single day to address and solve the issues we’re faced with,” he said.
“Mayor Lankey and I have spoken regarding our transition, and I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and get to work. I want to also thank Mr. Hahn for reaching out. I look forward to having the community come together as one as we move forward to a united Edison.”
Joshi and Hahn were the frontrunners throughout the campaign, according to local media. Both candidates are township natives, supported Edison’s open space referendum, a change in local government to a township council ward system and planned to serve as mayor full time.
During the primaries in June, Joshi defeated another Indian-American aspirant Mahesh Bhagia by 63 percent of the votes to 34 percent, despite Bhagia being the municipal chair of the Democrats.
A ‘son of the soil’, Joshi was born and raised in Edison. Joshi was elected as an at-large Council member at 27, making him the youngest elected official in Edison’s history.
He also served on the Fair Rental Housing Authority Board from 2010-2015 and the Edison Zoning Board from 2016 until he was elected to the Edison Township Council.
Sam’s father Pradeep Joshi had moved to the US from Gujarat’s Shirvrajpur in the early 1990s. Pradeep’s brother Raj Joshi had first migrated to the US, following which, their elder brother Arvind, and later younger brother Pradeep, too, shifted to America, Times of India reported.
Politics was deeply rooted in the family, Pradeep’s friend Manorsinh Rathod told the Times. The father-son duo had last visited Shivrajpur around eight years back, “They have a house here and land too,” he said.
Sam’s grandfather Rasiklal Joshi was a doctor who had also contested assembly polls as an independent in the 1970s, according to Rathod. Rasiklal’s wife (Sam’s grandmother) Sharda Joshi was a district panchayat member. “Arvind was also the sarpanch of Shivrajpur,” he said. The family originally hailed from Ratanpur near Godhra. However, Dr Rasiklal shifted to Shivrajpur and started his private practice there.
NEW YORK (TIP): An Indian American entrepreneur in a weird attempt had hired a woman to slap him every time he opened his Facebook account. Maneesh Sethi, founder of wearable devices brand Pavlok, had reportedly hired the woman named Kara, for $8 an hour, to watch his screen and slap him if he went on the social media platform.
Sethi’s act was advertised in Craigslist back in 2012 and has started doing the rounds on social media nine years later after Tesla CEO Elon Musk reacted to it using two ‘fire’ emojis. “When I am wasting time, you’ll have to yell at me or if need be, slap me,” Sethi had written in the 2012 ad. Sethi reacted to Musk’s response with doubt, wondering if the ‘fire’ emojis symbolized his ‘Icarus flying too close to the sun moment. “I’m the guy in this picture. Is @elonmusk giving me two emojis the highest I’ll ever reach? Is this my icarus flying too close to the sun moment? Was that implied by the fire symbols elon posted? Time will tell,” he tweeted on Wednesday, November 10.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): President Joe Biden has announced his intent to nominate Indian American Geeta Rao Gupta as Ambassador at Large for Global Women’s Issues at the US Department of State.
India born Gupta is currently a Senior Fellow at the UN Foundation and Senior Advisor to Co-impact, a global collaborative philanthropy for systems change, according to a White House announcement Friday, November 12.
While at the UN Foundation, Dr. Gupta with a PhD in Psychology from Bangalore University and a Master of Philosophy and Master of Arts from the University of Delhi, founded and served as Executive Director of the 3D Program for Girls and Women.
She currently serves as co-chair of the WHO Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee for health emergencies, chairs the Global Advisory Board of WomenLift Health, a new initiative to promote women’s leadership in global health. She also serves as Commissioner for the Lancet-SIGHT Commission on Health, Gender Equality and Peace and as a member of the Board of UBS Optimus Foundation and of the Advisory Board of Merck for Mothers.
Previously, Dr. Gupta was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University and also served as co-Chair of the Gender-Based Violence Task Force of the World Bank. Before that, Dr. Gupta served as Deputy Executive Director, Programs at UNICEF. Earlier, she was a senior fellow at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and served as president of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW).
Dr. Gupta has served on several boards, including the Global Partnership for Education; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health; and the MAC AIDS Fund.
She is the recipient of numerous awards, including InterAction’s Julia Taft Award for Outstanding Leadership, Harvard University’s Anne Roe Award and Washington Business Journal’s “Women Who Mean Business” Award.
LONDON (TIP): Gurpareet Bains, a celebrity British Indian chef, who described himself as a “food disrupter”, and known for creating healthy meals packed with superfoods, has passed away at the age of 43.
London-based Bains was believed to have suffered a heart attack on Thursday, November 11 and his marketing agency announced the tragic news of his demise on social media on Friday, November 12.
“We’re absolutely devastated about the tragic passing of Gurpareet Bains,” said Palamedes PR on Twitter.
“The international bestselling author, Indian superfoods pioneer and creator of ‘the world’s healthiest meal’ was a close friend and long-standing client. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family and friends,” the statement read.
Bains was the co-founder of Vedge Snacks, a venture through which he helped develop vegetable-based snack bars.
He first hit the spotlight in 2009, when he created what was dubbed as the “world’s healthiest meal” – a simple chicken curry with blueberries and goji berry pilau – which contained antioxidants equivalent to 23 bunches of grapes. Bains’ debut recipe book, ‘Indian Superfood’, which was published by Bloomsbury a year later, proved to be a huge hit.
As a food writer and nutritionist, his culinary concept revolved around the finding that nearly one-fourth of the top antioxidant-rich foods available to us are spices.
According to his website, he focused on combining these spices with nutrient-dense vegetables, fruits, low-fat proteins and nuts – widely known as superfoods – to create the ‘Indian Superfood’, a collection of “the world’s most antioxidizing recipes”.
His second recipe-book and culinary concept, ‘Indian Superspices’, includes recipes that are believed to help alleviate everyday ailments.
“It proves the robust Indian kitchen is the ideal laboratory in which to explore the medicinal and culinary possibilities of spices together,” Bains had said.
Bains’ third recipe-book, ‘The Superfood Diet’, was a multi-cuisine, healthy cookery book.
In 2011, he was crowned Chef of the Year at the inaugural English Curry Awards.
During the 2020 lockdown, Bains created what he dubbed the world’s healthiest cookie, which consisted of fruits and vegetables. Bains’ fans included Hollywood star and Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Shristi Sharma, an Indian documented DREAMer from North Carolina has won the $5,000 First Prize in Indian American Impact Project’s “We Are Home” Essay Contest. The contest was open to undocumented and documented South Asian DREAMers who face many obstacles including constant uncertainty over their status and limited opportunities for employment, scholarships, and financial aid.
Undocumented or documented immigrants who grew up in the United States as children but do not have a path to citizenship, have come to be described as DREAMers after the DREAM Act, a bill in Congress that would have granted them legal status.
Manasvi Perisetty from Texas won the $2,500 Second Prize, while Khushi Pate from Indiana and Reet Mishra from California were tied for $500 Third Prize.
“The dozens of submissions we received from students in more than 22 states reflect the need for comprehensive immigration reform” said Sarah Shah, Director of Community Engagement of the Impact Project said announcing the winners and finalists of the contest Nov. 12
“These youth, who only know the United States as home, represent the very best of America and deserve a clear pathway to citizenship.”
Shristi Sharma, a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, said, “I am incredibly grateful for Impact’s initiative to elevate the stories of documented dreamers like me.
“I never imagined getting such an honor and I’m thankful to be able to help bring visibility to our situation for the first time; knowing that people care about hearing our stories is extremely uplifting.”
Shristi had the opportunity to read her winning poem in front of distinguished guests such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at the Impact Project’s Diwali Reception on Nov. 3 in Washington, DC.
Finalists: Ayaan Siddiqui (Arizona), Sneha Shrinivas (Texas), Bhavey Jain (Indiana), Pareen Mhatre (Iowa), Sai Sumana Kaluvai (California), Sarvani Kunapareddy (Illinois)
All winners and finalists will be invited to Washington, DC for an event with special guests, and their essays published in Brown Girl Magazine.
“We hope by sharing their stories, leaders and policy makers will understand that these DREAMers are Americans,” Impact, a leading community organization said.
As the Sikhs across the world get ready to celebrate the 552nd birth anniversary of their First Master Guru Nanak Dev Ji, it is pertinent to ask if the Great Master’s message is kept in mind while celebrating the momentous event in Gurdwaras and elsewhere. The universal message of Guru Nanak has always had relevance. It is more relevant today when the world is getting more and more strife ridden and people are taking to the path of hatred and violence, forgetting the virtues of love and peace. Guru Nanak, more than five hundred years ago, preached a philosophy that could rid the world of much of its ailments and miseries. He preached universal brotherhood. He declared that he recognized human race as one. “Maanas ki jaat sabhe eke pahchanbo”, he said.
Again, he said, “Na ko bairi, nahe bigana, sagal sang humko ban aayee” which means there are no enemies, nor strangers. I am on terms with all. Peace, harmony, love are the virtues Nanak gave value to. In fact, in recognizing human race as one, he was only taking forward the old Indian idea of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam” which means the whole world is a family. In Guru Nanak’s times in India, there were two major religious groups- the Hindus and the Muslims. The latter came to India as invaders and forced many Hindus to convert to Islam. There was natural hatred amongst the Hindus for their Muslim oppressors.
Guru Nanak raised his voice against the tyranny of the Muslim rulers but never became a part of the hate campaign. He had two constant companions- one a Hindu, Bala, and the other, a Muslim, Mardana. He gave out a message of love and oneness of humanity in having the two of them from rival communities. It is said when Guru Nanak left this world his body was claimed by both the Hindus and the Muslims for the last rites.
We need a Guru Nanak today. And we can find him in his teachings. The world can certainly become a better and a more beautiful place to live in if we turned to Guru Nanak for guidance on the art of living in love and peace as brethren.
On Prime Minister Narendra’s Announcement of repeal of farm laws
By Prof. I.S. Saluja
After remaining adamant for more than a year on not repealing the farm laws, Prime Minister Narendra Modi acknowledged in his address to the nation on November 19th, the 552nd birth anniversary of the First Master of the Sikhs Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, that there was widespread resentment among the farmers over the farm laws, and announced the laws will be repealed. Hopefully, the announcement will end a painful period in the lives of the farmers of India who lost 700 of their brethren during a year and a half of protest against the farm laws, besides untold suffering the protesters and their families went through.
One man who with his plain-speak has endeared himself to farmers and all right-thinking people across the world is Satya Pal Malik, Governor of Meghalaya who despite being a Modi appointee, warned Modi government of consequences of having a confrontation with the farmers, and always asserted that he would prefer to stand with the farmers rather than stay glued to his cushy job.
The farmers’ protest has united the farmers over a large part of north India. A number of leaders, including Rakesh Tikait, have emerged as potential power centers and have all the opportunity to lead farmers to political power. It is well to recall the well-known and strong leaders like Chaudhary Charan Singh in Uttar Pradesh and Devi Lal in Haryana who wielded political power on the strength of the farming community that they belonged to.
Indians abroad must be feeling vindicated for their support to the protesting farmers in India. Some of them including Darshan Singh Dhaliwal in the US had their OCI cards revoked and they were not allowed to enter India for their support to protesting farmers. Government of India should now restore their OCI cards and visas and welcome themto India. And this decision should be taken now.
Sometime between the year 1510 and 1520, just before the Mughal rule began in India, Guru Nanak is said to have traveled to the Arab lands visiting, among other places, Mecca and Baghdad. He was in his 40s then. Some say he even performed the hajj, but there is no conclusive evidence to support that claim. On the way back from his sojourn in the Arab lands, Guru Nanak passed through Kabul and Peshawar and halted at a small hamlet, the present-day Hasan Abdal, at the foot of a steep hill.
Attracted by his simple lifestyle and engaging conversation, many people from the village, both Hindus and Muslims, started flocking to Guru Nanak. As the word about him spread, the number of devotees increased.
It so happened that there also lived a Muslim saint, Baba Wali Kandhari, at the summit of the hill above the hamlet. His last name suggests his origins in Kandhar, Afghanistan. Other than having a vantage point from where he could see all that was happening in the village below, Baba Kandhari also had the benefit of having a freshwater spring at the summit, which also flowed down the hill to the village.
From the hilltop, Baba Kandhari could see the people flocking to Guru Nanak. He felt a pang of jealousy, which soon turned into outright resentment against the new saint on the block. If he couldn’t stem the flow of Guru Nanak’s devotees, Baba Kandhari thought, he could perhaps drive the Guru away from the area by stopping the flow of water to the village down below. And stop the water he did.
Guru Nanak took this development calmly, but the villagers were greatly upset over the cutting off of their water supply. They sent a delegation to Baba Kandhari beseeching him to let the water flow, but the Baba was not moved. He sent the delegation back taunting them to ask their guru to divine water for them. The villagers turned to Guru Nanak, who asked his lifelong disciple and companion, Bhai Mardana, a Muslim, to go to Baba Kandhari and plead with him the case of the villagers. But the Baba did not relent. Guru Nanak sent Bhai Mardana again, and yet again, to beg the Baba for water, but to no effect. Not knowing what to do, the desperate villagers approached Guru Nanak once again for advice. As the story goes, Guru Nanak told them not to despair. Pointing to a rock embedded in the ground, he asked them to dislodge it. When they pushed the rock aside, freshwater gushed forth from the ground, enough for the needs of the little village, and some more.
Baba Kandhari was dismayed at this development. But his dismay turned into red hot anger when he discovered that his own spring had meanwhile dried, the water having been sucked by the spring below. Enough was enough, he told himself and decided to get rid of the Guru.
One day, when Guru Nanak was sitting, as usual, surrounded by his devotees, Baba Kandhari pushed a huge boulder down the hill in the direction of the Guru. The boulder rolled down, gaining speed and kicking up dust. When the devotees sitting around the Guru heard the rumble and saw the boulder hurtling down in their direction, they fled in panic. But Guru Nanak continued sitting calmly where he was. When the boulder came close, and it seemed it would surely crush him, Guru Nanak raised his right hand as if ordering the rock to stop. The boulder pushed against Guru Nanak’s hand — and stopped! The Guru’s palm sank into the boulder as if into soft wax, leaving a deep imprint on it.
Upon seeing the miracle, not only the faith of the villagers was reinforced in their saint, but it also convinced Baba Kandhari of the spiritual reach of Guru Nanak. According to one version of the story, Baba Kandhari came down from the hilltop, touched Guru Nanak’s feet, and also joined the Guru’s devotees. Another version says both saints became friends and lived happily thereafter, tending independently to their respective flocks.
Today, the rock with a clearly visible hand imprint is embedded in the concrete structure of the building complex of Panja Sahib. Clear fresh water gushing out from somewhere in the ground cascades down the face of the rock, washing the hand imprint, into a very large pool. Next to the pool, on an elevated platform, stands a beautiful gurdwara, built in the Mughal style by Maharaja Ranjeet Singh (1780-1839). The gurdwara houses the Granth Sahib – the holy book of Sikhs.
(Excerpts from an article by Aziz Ahmad. Source: Internet)
PANJA SAHIB IN PICTURES
Ace photographer Jay Mandalhas visited Panja Sahib a couple of times and took plenty of lovely photographs. He has selected some for the readers of The Indian Panorama which we are glad to reproduce here in this special edition commemorating Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s 552nd Birth Anniversary.
The shrine is considered to be particularly important as the handprint of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, is believed to be imprinted on a boulder at the Gurdwara.
Text and Photos / Jay Mandal-On Assignment
Gurdwara Panja Sahib complexSandeep Chakraborty, former Consul General of India at New York at the Gurdwara.The old entrance of Gurdwara Panja Sahib.Outer periphery (Parikrama)The Diwan HallHealth Center at the Gurdwara.Children enjoying a jump in the pool.Children at the Gurdwara Sahib.Langar (free food for all) is a unique feature of Sikhism. Volunteers making rotis (prasada) in the kitchen.Prayers are being offered before the food is served.Visitors eat food. All have to sit together on the ground regardless of caste, color, creed, status- a brilliant principle of equality.The locals help in serving food in the langar.Volunteers clean the utensils.A view of the beautiful building of the Gurdwara.Happy devotees at the Gurdwara.Sajjad Azhar, based in Islamabad, is a senior journalist with Urdy Independent. He has done a lot of work on the Sikh temples in Pakistan, particularly Gurdwara Panja Sahib and Gurdwara Nanakana Sahib. Here he is seen at the Gurdwara Panja Sahib. A personal friend of The Indian Panorama editor Prof. Indrajit S Saluja, Azhar has agreed to send his articles on the Sikh Gurdwaras in Pakistan for publication in The Indian Panorama. Thank you, Azhar. (Photo / Courtesy Sajjad Azhar.)
Farmers decide to continue their agitation till farm laws are formally repealed
NEW DELHI (TIP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an address to the nation on November 19 announced that the three contentious farm laws introduced in 2020 will be repealed.
“We haven’t been able to explain to our farmers. This is not a time to blame anyone. I want to tell you that we have taken the farm laws back,” said the Prime Minister, urging farmers to return to their homes and fields.
The decision comes ahead of key state elections, over a year after farmers began protesting the laws. PM Modi said his government did its best to educate and inform the farmers about the laws and will continue to keep working for their betterment. Prime Minister said the laws would be repealed in the upcoming winter session of Parliament and a panel formed to make the MSP regime more effective. “Apologizing to the people with a sincere and pure heart, I want to say that something must have been lacking in our dedication that we could not explain to farmers what was as clear as the light of a diya,” said the PM, describing the three laws as “enactments made with full integrity, clear conscience and with the best interest of farmers at heart.”
Acknowledging chinks in government’s outreach to farm unions (11 rounds of talks starting December 3, 2020, failed to break the deadlock), the PM said, “Today is Gurpurb. This is not the time to blame anyone. I have come before the country to say that we have decided to withdraw all three agricultural laws. In the Parliament session starting later this month, we will complete the constitutional process to repeal these three agricultural laws.” The rollback announcement comes ahead of elections in five states, including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, early next year and a week ahead of the first anniversary of farmers’ protests on November 26. Before announcing the climbdown, the PM justified the three legislations as “sacred things, absolutely pure, a matter of farmers’ interest. “…we left no stone unturned in our attempt to understand the farmers’ concerns,” he said.
The PM also appealed to agitators to return home from Delhi borders and urged them to go in for a “new beginning and a fresh start”.
The Prime Minister’s 18-minute address to the nation was high on symbolism as he invoked both Guru Nanak Dev and Guru Gobind Singh to underline NDA’s commitment to farmers. He spoke of his government’s “highest priority to agriculture, breaking past procurement records, effecting a five-fold budget increase and ensuring over Rs 1.25 lakh crore annual spending on the sector.” The PM, however, lamented that the government had failed to convince all farmers about the benefits of the laws “despite its best efforts” and said the sole objective was to ensure a fair price for farm produce and maximum selling options.
The announcement, seen as the government’s massive outreach to farmers ahead of elections, also carried PM’s assurance on legal guarantee for MSP — a demand farm union leaders repeated today.
The Prime Minister said a committee with representatives of the Centre and state governments, agricultural economists and farmers would soon be formed to suggest ways of making the MSP more effective and transparent. Also, to suggest cropping pattern changes to achieve the goal of zero-budget farming.
The PM signed off his speech with Guru Gobind Singh’s revered hymn, “Deh Shiva bar mohe ihai, shubh karman te kabhu na tarun” (Grant me this boon O’ God, may I never refrain from righteous act), assuring farmers, a major political constituency, of NDA’s “continuous support”.
Meanwhile, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha announced that the agitation will continue till farm laws are formally repealed.The SKM on Saturday, November 20, decided to go ahead with the pre-decided programs of the farmers’ agitation till November 29. It includes the Lucknow Mahapanchayat on November 22, observing the anniversary of the agitation on November 26 and the tractor march to the Parliament on the first day of the Winter Session.
RICHMOND HILL, NY (TIP): An impressive Parade (Nagar Kirtan) was taken out by the Sikh community of the Tri-State of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut on November 13 in celebration of the 552nd Birth anniversary of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the First Master of the Sikhs.
Thousands followed the Guru Granth Sahib, the Holy Book considered to be the Living Masteratop a motorized vehicle, with the priests attending and singing hymns (shabad kirtan). All along the 3-mile route of the parade, a number of organizations and individuals served food and beverages, called langar (free food) to each and everyone. Langar (free food) is a unique feature of Sikhism.
Sikhism is the youngest and the fifth most followed religion of the world. The Sikhs, known for their enterprise, are present in every part of the world, and contribute richly to their nations of adoption. The U.S. Canada, UK, account for a larger percentage of the Sikh population. The annual Guru Nanak parade is organized by Gurdwara Baba Makhan Shah Lobana Sikh Center in Richmond Hill in cooperation with the Sikh Gurdwaras and the Sikh organizations in the Tri-State area. The 2021 parade was into its 21st year.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Dr. Rahul Gupta on Thursday was sworn in as the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. His nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Oct. 28. The swearing-in ceremony took place at the White House. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., delivered the oath. “I myself had the honor of working with Dr. Gupta when I was Governor and he served as the director of the Kanawha County Health Department,” Manchin said. “His advice and expertise helped guide Charleston and Kanawha County through difficult times, and I will always be grateful for his help and continued friendship.” Manchin and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., spoke favorably of Gupta during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in September. Gupta is the first physician to preside over the office. Here are some excerpts from Dr. Gupta’s Remarks at Ceremonial Swearing in at the White House on November 19, 2021. I’ve been a practicing primary care physician for more than 25 years – I’ve served in towns as small as 1,900 residents and cities as large as 25 million. I was the Health Commissioner for West Virginia under two governors, and I’ve seen firsthand the heartbreak of the overdose epidemic. I’ve learned that an overdose is a cry for help, and for far too many people, that cry goes unanswered.
I’ve witnessed the challenges that people, providers, and communities face in responding to addiction and overdoses. And at the same time, I’ve seen how public safety and public health leaders can work together to develop strategies that save lives…and how evidence and data are critical to developing and implementing effective policy. And I commit to you that during my tenure, the Administration’s drug policies will continue to be based on the best evidence and data available to us. We will continue the work underway to expand access to high-quality, evidence-based prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery supports while also reducing the supply of harmful substances in our communities. Our work will be centered on supporting the people affected by this epidemic – the victims and their families, and those who currently have a substance use disorder and need care.
My focus at the beginning will include four specific areas that align with the Administration’s drug policy priorities:
First: Making sure that naloxone is available at every overdose incident… I firmly believe that no one should die of an overdose simply because they didn’t have access to naloxone. But sadly, today, that is happening across the country and access to naloxone depends a great deal on your zip code. To help reduce these deadly disparities, yesterday, ONDCP announced a new model law for state policymakers to consider that would ensure all states have consistent policies on naloxone.
Next: Scaling up treatment so our capacity meets the needs of everyone seeking care. Too many people seeking care are not able to access it today, despite the progress we have made in the last decade. We need more providers who are ready to support people with substance use disorder on their path to recovery.
Third: Getting more timely, actionable data to guide our overdose response strategies. Our policies are based on evidence and data, but as we’ve seen with the COVID pandemic, the timeliness and accuracy of data are critical… I will work closely with our interagency partners to do everything we can to improve this so we can make informed policy decisions that will help us save lives.
And finally: Cracking down on illicit finance… Drug trafficking organizations exploit the finance system to move illicit profits and support their operations. We must prioritize dismantling these financial resources in order to weaken their capabilities and reduce the supply of illicit drugs entering our country.
These elements of the Biden-Harris drug policy priorities are critical to reducing the number of overdose deaths as soon as possible while also strengthening our nation’s addiction infrastructure. As the first physician to lead this office, I know that we must build a better addiction infrastructure, centered on individuals, families, and bringing communities together…from public health to law enforcement to faith-based organizations and the private sector, so we can meet people where they are and save lives. I said earlier that an overdose is a cry for help. The Biden-Harris Administration is working to make sure these cries are heard…and answered.
Addition of local agrarian demands into the call for the repeal of the farm laws may have forced the Government’s hand
“The Union government’s response to the protests were appalling and marked by hubris. Its focus was on controlling and positivizing the narrative. Efforts were made to break, divide, buy out, demean, denigrate, demonize and shame the protesters, who were conveniently branded as terrorists and Khalistanis. Sedition cases were filed against the protesters. Teargas shells rained on the protest marches, and officials publicly asked the police to smash the heads of protesters. In Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, a vehicle was driven into a peaceful demonstration, killing several persons. That the protests endured and survived such brutal responses is indeed salutary.”
The repeal of the three farm laws by the Union government, on Friday, November 19, marks a historic victory for the farmer’s movement in India. For more than a year, thousands of farmers had barricaded Delhi, and their protests were gradually evolving into a pan-Indian movement of resistance. The belated, though wise, decision by the Government to repeal the laws brings down the curtains on the agitation in Delhi but is unlikely to douse the political fervor it has left behind. The Union government’s response to the protests were appalling and marked by hubris. Its focus was on controlling and positivizing the narrative. Efforts were made to break, divide, buy out, demean, denigrate, demonize and shame the protesters, who were conveniently branded as terrorists and Khalistanis. Sedition cases were filed against the protesters. Teargas shells rained on the protest marches, and officials publicly asked the police to smash the heads of protesters. In Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, a vehicle was driven into a peaceful demonstration, killing several persons. That the protests endured and survived such brutal responses is indeed salutary.
The broader context
“Reforms” in agriculture, advocated by right-wing economists after 1991, were focused on dismantling the institutional support structures in Indian agriculture that were established after the 1960s. These support structures — in prices, subsidies, credit, marketing, research and extension — were instrumental in India’s achievement of food self-sufficiency between the 1960s and the 1980s.
In agricultural marketing, the focus of attack was the mandis governed by the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Acts passed by State Assemblies. It was argued that if India needs to diversify its cropping pattern into export-oriented and high-value crops, mandis need to give way to private markets, futures markets and contract farming. The APMC Acts discriminated against farmers by not allowing them to interact directly with the big corporate buyers and exporters. So, the APMC Acts must be amended so that any private market or rural collection center can freely emerge anywhere without approval of the local mandi or the payment of a mandi tax, and so that contract farming can be popularized. Similarly, the advocacy for the amendment to the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 rested on the view that private corporate investment can be incentivized into storage and warehousing if stock limits are relaxed for traders. It was a long-held constitutional consensus in India that agricultural marketing was the legislative arena of State governments. Thus, in 2003, the Union government prepared a Model Act on agricultural marketing and sent it to States for passage in State Assemblies. This was followed by the preparation and circulation of two other Model Acts, in 2017 and 2018. Reception to these Model Acts was neither dismissive nor welcoming. Many States selected a few clauses, which they found attractive and suitable to their contexts, and accordingly amended their APMC Acts between 2003 and 2020. Only one State — Bihar — used the occasion to completely annul its APMC Act in 2006.
Laws were unconstitutional
The consensus was broken in 2020, when the Union government took up on itself the task of legislating on agricultural marketing and passed the farm laws. Federal principles were violated as the Union government invoked Entry 33 of the Concurrent List to intervene into matters in Entry 14, Entry 26 and Entry 27 of the State List. The farm laws even interfered with Entry 28 of the State List, which were not subject to Entry 33 of the Concurrent List. Thus, to begin with, the farm laws were reasonably and justifiably argued to be unconstitutional.
However, the Supreme Court of India refused to act swiftly on petitions filed before it. Instead, without consulting the protesting farmer’s organizations, it appointed, in January 2021, a committee of four persons, all of whom had publicly declared their support for the farm laws. Farmer’s organizations, on their part, distanced themselves from the committee and continued with their agitation.
Apart from constitutionality, the contents of farm laws were also widely criticized. Bihar’s example showed that private investment was unlikely to flow into agricultural markets even if APMC Acts were annulled. In fact, the exploitation of farmers by unscrupulous traders intensified in Bihar after 2006. Kerala never had an APMC Act.
Yet, there was little presence of private investment in its agricultural markets. Maharashtra delisted fruits and vegetables from the ambit of APMCs in 2016. Still, the inflow of private investment into agricultural markets was only marginal. Thus, what was likely was that a formal and regulated market might fragment itself into an informal and unregulated market if the APMC Acts were weakened. Furthermore, two other problems were highlighted. One, mandi taxes were used to invest in rural infrastructure in States such as Punjab. If mandis are weakened, what would substitute for such investments? Two, even if private markets emerged, how would they address the structural problem of poor farm-gate aggregation of the produce of small and marginal farmers? Would one middleman be simply substituted by another? Proponents of farm laws had no convincing answers.
The grievance redress mechanisms for contract farming also came up for criticism. The obliteration of the power of civil courts and their substitution with a weak mechanism led by the sub-divisional magistrate threatened to be a serious impediment to a just redress of complaints. It was feared that this may benefit corporate sponsors more than the contracting farmers.
It pointed towards corporates
Finally, the overall thrust of the farm laws appeared to encourage the participation of larger corporate players in agricultural markets rather than farmer-friendly organizations, such as cooperatives or Farmer Producer Companies (FPC). Especially in the case of the amendment of the Essential Commodities Act, there was reasonable suspicion that a handful of corporate players were to substantially benefit from investments in logistics, storage and warehousing.
The farmers’ protests began from States such as Punjab and Haryana where the mandis were deeply rooted institutions in the local economy and society. However, as days passed, the agitation spread to western Uttar Pradesh and from there to many other States. In a few months, the agitation threatened to grow into a pan-Indian phenomenon with a constant addition of local agrarian demands into the larger demand for the repeal of farm laws. Such local customization of the agitation immensely helped in the cause of mobilization. An unusually large number of women actively participated in the protests. In regions such as western U.P., the protests also threatened to bridge and repair the communal fault lines that were consciously cultivated after the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013. Numerous protesters perished on the protest grounds, but support for the protests grew not just domestically, but also globally.
A mindset of intolerance
It was not just hubris that marked the Government’s response, but also infantilism. When pop star and celebrity Rihanna tweeted a rather innocent comment about the protests, the entire machinery of the ministry of external affairs was awoken for an extraordinarily disproportionate response. Indian embassies were asked to spread the word that she and other celebrities were propagandists who had irresponsibly ganged up to discredit progress in India. These responses showed nothing but a deeply disturbing official mindset of intolerance and insecurity.
The repeal of the farm laws has, at least temporarily, put an end to an ugly and eminently avoidable chapter of confrontation between the Union government and the farmers. However, the momentum that the agitation has left behind would surely linger on. The agitation has led to a positive politicization of several agrarian demands, including the need for stable markets and remunerative prices. A confidence has grown that committed struggles matter and even aggressive governments can be made to kneel. New rural mobilizations around demands to address the larger and persistent agrarian crisis are likely to emerge and grow. We surely are in for interesting times.
(The author is Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai)
Novak Djokovic secured a semi-final place at the ATP Finals with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Russian Andrey Rublev on Wednesday, Nov 17, his 50th match win of the year, while Stefanos Tsitsipas withdrew from the tournament due to an elbow injury. The Greek world number four was replaced in Turin by British world number 12 Cameron Norrie, who took Casper Ruud to three sets on his debut in the late match before the Norwegian prevailed 1-6 6-3 6-4.
Djokovic, who won his opening match against world number eight Ruud, was in early trouble in his first career meeting with Rublev when he was broken in the first game.
The Serb, looking for his sixth title at the season-ending event, was given an immediate reprieve when Rublev double- faulted to bring up two break points, the second of which Djokovic converted.
The pair were on an even keel until the eighth game when Djokovic pounced on a heavy volley from Rublev and sent a winning pass beyond the Russian to claim the vital break on his way to taking the first set.
The second was more assured from the world number one, forcing his opponent into errors that helped Djokovic to victory in 68 minutes, his 40th win at the ATP Finals.
The 34-year-old and 20-times Grand Slam winner tops the Green Group standings with two wins from two.
Djokovic will play Norrie on Friday while Rublev and Ruud meet in what amounts to a straight shootout for the last semi-final place.
“The good thing is that I qualified for semi-finals, so I won’t have that much pressure to win the match… but obviously every match matters, so I will go with the intention to win,” said Djokovic.
Ruud allowed the first set to get away from him before coming back strongly but Norrie still saved three match points in the final game to come back from 40-0 before the Norwegian served out.
Jaipur (TIP): Skipper Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav produced sublime knocks as India bungled towards end before recovering in time to fashion a five-wicket win over New Zealand in the opening T20 International ushering in a new era in Indian cricket. Martin Guptill (70 off 42) and Mark Chapman (63 off 50) took New Zealand to 164 for six on a good batting surface. India’s chase was set up by Rohit (48 off 36), who made his full-time captaincy debut, and Suryakumar Yadav (62 off 40) who came in at number three in place of rested Virat Kohli.
The home team was cantering to a comfortable win but messed up the chase in the final four overs. In the end, with New Zealand running out of bowling options, the job was done in the 20th over bowled by part-time pacer Daryl Mitchell. Debutant Venkatesh Iyer hit his first ball in international cricket for four before Rishabh Pant got the winning runs. The game marked the start of a new chapter in Indian cricket with Rohit as T20 skipper and Rahul Dravid as head coach. With both teams resting some of their key players as part of workload management, it was very much an even contest before the first ball was bowled.
India raced to 50 for no loss in five overs with Rohit playing some delightful shots. He got going with back to back fours off Tim Southee in the third over before unleashing his signature front pull on the final ball of the over.
The seasoned pace duo of Southee and Trent Boult were put under pressure upfront by both the openers. K L Rahul (15 off 14) got into the act with a massive six over deep square leg off Boult before Rohit hit another pull shot to collect 21 from the over.
Rahul fell to a soft dismissal on the first ball of Mitchell Santer’s spell to give New Zealand a wicket against run of play. Suryakumar meant business from ball one and the most memorable shot of his innings was the pick up stroke off Lockie Ferguson to get to his third T20 fifty. Both Rohit and Suryakumar should have gone on to finish the game but that didn’t happen. From a straight forward 23 off the last 24 balls, India made it complicated by making the equation to 10 runs off the last over. Earlier, Guptill and Chapman ensured New Zealand were well placed for a 180 plus total on a batting beauty but Ravichandran Ashwin’s double strike in one over put the brakes on the scoring rate. Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers for India, taking two for 23 in four overs while senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/24 in four overs) too got his swing back. Expecting heavy dew later in the evening, Rohit opted to field. Venkatesh was expectedly handed a debut while New Zealand made four changes to the playing eleven that played the T20 World Cup final on Sunday as part of workload management.
British researchers said they had identified proteins in the coronavirus that are recognised by T-cells of people who are exposed to the virus but resist infection, possibly providing a new target for vaccine developers.
Immunity against COVID-19 is a complex picture, and while there is evidence of waning antibody levels six months after vaccination, T-cells are also believed to play a vital role in providing protection.
The University College London (UCL) researchers examined 731 health workers in two London hospitals during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and found that many had not tested positive despite likely exposure to the original coronavirus.
They found that, while a subset of the workers did not generate antibodies or test positive with PCR tests, they had still generated a large and broad T-cell response following possible exposure. This suggests that rather than the workers avoiding exposure to the coronavirus altogether, the T-cells had cleared the virus before there were any symptoms or positive test result – a so-called “abortive infection”, the researchers said.
“We know that some individuals remain uninfected despite having likely exposure to the virus,” said Leo Swadling, lead author of the study, which was published in science journal Nature.
“What is really informative is that the T-cells detected in these individuals, where the virus failed to establish a successful infection, preferentially target different regions of the virus to those seen after infection.” Current vaccines, which provide high protection against severe disease but do not fully stop transmission or re-infection, target the spike protein of the coronavirus. In contrast, the T-cell responses that led to abortive infections in the UCL study recognized and targeted instead “replication proteins”. The researchers said that while such T-cells were associated with protection from detectable infection, they were not necessarily sufficient for protection alone, and the study did not look at whether people had protection on re-exposure.
In today’s time, the most searched topic on the internet is how to take care of oily skin. To take care of oily skin depends on many factors, including your daily diet, lifestyle, the weather of the city where you live, medication, and beauty products you use. Meanwhile, it is very important to effectively manage your skin. The skin gets oily when it produces too much sebum. Sebum is an oily substance that plays an important role in keeping our skin healthy and hydrated. However, too much sebum can lead to clogged pores and acne.
However, using a serum can help you get rid of excess sebum and help nourish your skin.
Apart from changing lifestyle and diet, adding serums to your daily skincare routine can be a simple and effective treatment for oily skin.
Serums are water or emulsion-based formulations, which are non-sticky like gel or water. Serum provides hydration, keeps skin moisturized.
To reap the benefit of serum, you need to use the right formula as per your skin. High-performing serums which contain skin energizing ingredients like hyaluronic acid, salicylic acid, and vitamin C are recommended.
Hyaluronic acid keeps dull and dehydrated skin fit. Salicylic acid is oil soluble and helps clear out excess sebum from pores and reduce oil. Vitamin C acts as an antioxidant, leading to skin rejuvenation.
Oily skin needs hydration too and serum is best for oily skin as it is made up of smaller molecules that penetrate deeper into the skin and nourish the skin than an average cream or moisturizer. The serum is one and maybe only beauty product that can eliminate the need for skincare products like creams or moisturizers.
An easy-to-use serum is a skincare product that you apply after cleansing your face. A few drops of this beauty tonic give your skin the necessary nourishment and prepare you for the whole day.
Gently apply the serum to your face and neck and use your fingers to lightly tap, pat, and apply. When you’re dealing with oily skin, just turn to your most effective beauty product, a serum, and watch your skin change.
Source: News18
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