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www.afeias.comIMPORTANT NEWSCLIPPINGS (07-Sep-16)

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Date: 07-09-16

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Date: 07-09-16

Let science lead

After more than a decade of GM drought, a mustard variety rises

In a significant step, a technical sub-committee of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee has

concluded that a genetically-modified variety of mustard named Dhara Mustard Hybrid 11 is safe for

human consumption, animal feed and the environment. This strain has been developed by a team of

scientists at Delhi University. It uses a system of genes from common non-pathogenic bacteria that

makes mustard better suited to hybridisation. If given the final clearance, DMH-11 would be the first

GM food crop in Indian fields. As of now, the environment ministry has made the biosafety report of

DMH-11 public for scrutiny and comments.

The history of GM crops in India has been a turbulent one. Much of this has been because of politics

rather than science. In 2010, GEAC had cleared Bt brinjal. But its commercial release had been over-

ruled by then environment minister Jairam Ramesh following opposition from civil society groups.

For a certain section of activists continue to believe that commercialisation of GM crops will harm

biodiversity, negatively affect farmers livelihood, and lead to market monopolies in seeds and loss of

food sovereignty. Some of these fears have been brought on by Indias experience with Bt cotton.

Cotton yield more than doubled since Bt cottons introduction in 2002. But subsequent controversies

over pricing and intellectual property rights made people wary.

However, theres a need to untangle the policy issues from the science of GM crops. And the science is

unequivocal that GM crops can be safe, sustainable and desirable. For example, a 2014 analysis of GM

field trials across the world by researchers at University of Gottingen, Germany, found that use of GM

technology boosted crop yields by 22% and reduced chemical pesticides by 37%. As far as introduction


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of GM mustard is concerned, every year India imports millions of tonnes of soyabean and rapeseed oil

originating in GM crops.

Adoption of GM crops ought to be a pivotal strategy in increasing agriculture yields and ensuring

Indias food security launching a much-needed second Green Revolution. But for that to happen

politics needs to be kept at bay with science forming the sole basis of formulating policies regarding

GM crops. With hunger still a major challenge, government needs to ensure an enabling environment

for GM technology research and adoption.

Plain speaking Apex court reminds all that criticising the government is not sedition or even defamation

It should not have needed reminding but the Supreme Court has reminded all authorities that

criticising the government is not an offence under the sedition law, or even the defamation law. While

hearing a petition on gross abuse of sedition law to stifle dissent, the court suggested that constables,

magistrates and others brush up on the guidelines framed by a constitution bench in the 1962 Kedar

Nath Singh vs State of Bihar case, which are clear that sedition law is applicable only when there is

violence or proven incitement to violence.

This reminder became necessary because of the way in which sedition charges are plentifully and

carelessly bandied about in diverse cases such as student protests at JNU or a Kashmir debate

organised by Amnesty or praise for the people of Pakistan by former Congress MP Ramya.

Governments of all hues stand guilty of misusing this law to counter both serious dissent and silly

slogans. Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju told Parliament that the definition of sedition in the

IPC is so wide that anybody who speaks against the government can be booked for this charge,

punishable with imprisonment for life.

Criminal defamation is likewise abused to muzzle offending views in arbitrary ways. Both sedition

and criminal defamation are basically colonial era gags that are a misfit in modern India. Indias first

prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had found the sedition law to be highly objectionable and


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obnoxious while advocating the need to get rid of it way back in 1951. Seven decades on, lets just do

it. And also make defamation a civil, not a criminal offence. Both these laws are having a chilling

effect on our democracy.

Date: 07-09-16

Vote Bank To Thought Bank

Dalit empowerment could emerge through consensus not conflict, dialogue not

dominance.

The next stage of Dalit empowerment will encompass

representation, which would be made possible through

integration and not confrontation.

The makers of our Constitution were men and women of

great vision and foresight. A subaltern leader who voiced

the concerns of the depressed classes chaired the drafting committee of the Constitution: Babasaheb

Ambedkar stood for the empowerment of the socially and politically deprived segment of the society.

His vision drives the battle for Dalit dignity today.

Untouchability is still rampant in different forms. My years in politics I started in the student wing

of a naxalite organisation and have been with the BJP for the past three decades have convinced me

that the panacea for social ills lie in dialogue, discussion and debate. As a politician and a teacher, I

have tried to engage with the stakeholders of the Dalit discourse, even at the cost of facing barbs from

friends and foes.


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In this context, I want to speak about a recent incident in Lucknow, where I was invited to speak at

the Diversity day celebration. The organiser, H.L. Dusadh, has been working tirelessly to advance

the cause of Dalit representation in key sectors through his writings and literary interventions in the

past two decades. His idea of diversity is inspired by the US model of affirmative action and

protective discrimination for ensuring justice and equality in public spheres. Diversity in the Indian

context is social diversity. This means women, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are adequately

represented in decision-making bodies.

Guests, speakers and delegates from across the ideological spectrum had been invited to the event.

Former governor of Arunachal Pradesh, Mata Prasad, Ashok Bharti of the Republican Party of India,

Radhika Vemula, mother of the late Rohith Vemula, Jignesh Mevani from Ahmedabad and I were to

speak at the event. Invitations were circulated and the event gained traction on social media. Then, to

my surprise, I was told that Mevani and Radhika Vemula backed out because of my presence. I was

taken aback. Soon after the unfortunate death of Rohith Vemula, I had expressed my angst on twitter

at the cost of antagonising my party. I had also met Radhika Vemula at a press conference in New

Delhi.

To label us khaki-nikkerwala and disengage with us is antithetical to the larger Dalit cause. Evading

debate indicates lack of faith and confidence in ones ideology. Is this a devious attempt to keep out

other views and thereby demoralise the BJP and the BSP? If so, how feasible is it? Why should it not

be denounced as an exclusionary approach impervious to core democratic values such as dissent, free

speech and constructive engagement between contrasting viewpoints?

The Congress-Left-Socialist nexus ruled the nation for six decades and robbed the Dalit community of

opportunities. The Congress, which perpetuated the interests of one family, commoditised the Dalits

and saw them as a vote bank. The new Dalit aspiration transcends petty politics; we want to be

perceived as a thought bank.

The current prime minister comes from a humble background. He is aware of the pain, agony,

challenges, deprivations and everyday threat a socially disadvantaged person faces in the rural set-up.

Under his leadership, Parliament discussed the life and works of Ambedkar. The Jan Dhan Yojana has


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ended financial untouchability to a large extent. The BJP currently has the highest number of Dalit

parliamentarians.

The next stage of Dalit empowerment will encompass representation, which would be made possible

through integration and not confrontation. Any strategy of Dalit empowerment could emerge through

consensus and not conflict, through dialogue and not dominance. The present need is to depoliticise

the Dalit discourse and strive towards an independent, objective, dispassionate and solution-centric

Dalit narrative.

Date: 06-09-16

A little bit of realism

Strains at G20 summit point to crisis in global leadership. India must claw out what

can be had from an iniquitous world order.

The air of studied gravitas that has descended on the ancient city of Hangzhou, where leaders of the

20 most important nations have assembled, will do little to dispel suspicions that the world is adrift

without a map, compass or captain. Founded, in 2008, to weld the so-called G7 group of developed

economies with the worlds rising economic powers, notably China and India, the strains evident at

this G20 summit point to a broader crisis in global leadership. Beijing and Washington have signed

on to the Paris Agreement, marking welcome progress on climate change, but bruising battles lie

ahead on other, critical fronts. The US wants international law to be respected in the South China Sea;

China will not countenance backing down on its defiance of the United Nations Convention on the

Law of the Sea. China and the US want an end to subsidies on fuel; India wants to continue giving its

poor the benefits of cheap coal. Indian allies are pushing China to accede to Indian membership of the

Nuclear Suppliers Group but China is waiting to see what it might get in return. China is casting

itself as a champion of the World Trade Organisation rules, while the US has begun seeking regional

trade agreements; Europe is focused on the problems in its banking system, and Britain on the

consequences of exiting the European Union.


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These conflicts tell us there is no consensus on what rules should guide a world in which the structure

of power is changing rapidly. In 2008, as Lehman Brothers collapsed, and the global financial crisis

loomed, the G20 played a key role in averting a calamity. The members no longer have a common

cause. There has been little progress on agreed ends witness the fate of last years G20 summit

agreement for cooperation against terrorism.

For India, there are lessons to be drawn from this tale. The G20 had been born amid fond hopes that

it would see Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa the powerhouses of the new world

economy together shape the rules of a new world order. The reality has proved more complex:

India lines up with China on some issues, and with the US on others, while new power China behaves

much like old power US in asserting its interests. The brave new world, thus, has proved not

dissimilar to the cynical old one. Prime Minister Narendra Modis government has responded by

pulling closer to the US than any of its predecessors. This, too, will take India only so far. Like in the

past, India will have to claw out what can be had from an iniquitous global order, not imagine it can

piggy-back on allies and friends.

Date: 07-09-16

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