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Maximum restraint
India-US strategic ties |
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Unfit for consumption Mid-day meals pose a challenge OVER 50 students of government schools in three villages of Kurukshetra district fell ill on Thursday after consuming mid-day meal in which a lizard was found. The same day, the students of the senior secondary school of Raghuwana village in Sirsa district refused to eat the mid-day meal alleging that the food given to them was fungus-infested.
Andhra in turmoil again
Memories
‘Made in India’— a hit abroad
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Maximum restraint
THE
general reaction to Wednesday’s three blasts in Mumbai, coming after 31 months of the 26/11 attacks, has been one of restraint, which is remarkable. Despite the grave provocation, Mumbaikars have kept their cool and resumed normal life, defeating the terrorist design of targeting the city’s social cohesiveness and peace. Since the immediate investigations were inconclusive, the Prime Minister and the Home Minister did not jump to conclusions or point a finger at Pakistan. However, BJP leader L.K. Advani could not hold himself. He blamed the UPA policy on terrorism and questioned the rationale of pursuing Indo-Pakistan talks. Rahul Gandhi could have kept quiet to avoid the kind of response he has got. The terrorists got ample support from TV channels, which gave Mumbai non-stop coverage accompanied by visuals of the devastating happening and unguarded comments. This is certainly not the opportune time for fault-finding. Let the public in general and the grieving families in particular first come to terms with the tragedy. The police needs public support, not criticism. Londoners set an example of responsible behaviour when the July 2005 blast shook Britain. The media did not over-react. Mumbai is repeatedly targeted perhaps because the impact here is the maximum both in terms of casualties and media publicity. In fact, no city is safe, given the haphazard growth, crowded and chaotic bazaars and lanes littered with randomly parked vehicles everywhere. Once the dust settles down, the government will be — and should be — held to account for the frequent loss of innocent lives. The anti-terrorism strategy needs a review. A lot has been done but there are still shortcomings: shortage and poor training of policemen and lack of Centre-state intelligence coordination. A National Intelligence Grid was proposed after 26/11 but it is yet to materialise. Some people see the grid as an affront to privacy. Some of the people who make maximum noises at terrorist attacks are also those who resent security checks. If the US has avoided another incident after 9/11, it is partly because their VIPs willingly submit themselves to police searches. The public mindset here needs a change.
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India-US strategic ties
THERE are two major issues which may have a bearing on India’s relations with the US — the situation in Afghanistan after the US troop withdrawal is completed in 2014, and the new guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) on uranium enrichment and reprocessing technologies — if Washington DC does not play a proactive role to help New Delhi in protecting its interests. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who will be in New Delhi on Monday on a three-day visit to India, must be ready with American answers to satisfy India’s concerns. India will be appreciative if the US shows its readiness to honour its commitments related to the fight against terrorism with the Af-Pak region in sharp focus and the NSG’s waiver granted to New Delhi as a consequence of the Indo-US nuclear deal. It is true that India does not figure in President Barack Obama’s scheme of things as prominently as it did during the days of the George Bush administration. But it is obligatory on the US to use its clout in the NSG to ensure that nuclear cartel’s new guidelines, announced recently, do not deprive India of the advantages that it got after the Indo-US nuclear deal was operationalised. The US-led NATO pullout from Afghanistan is unavoidable in view of the American domestic compulsions, but there are factors which cannot be ignored in the interest of peace and security in South Asia and the rest of the world. The US should not allow Pakistan to influence the course of events in Afghanistan, where the Taliban continue to remain a major factor despite the international military drive to eliminate the extremists. There is need to keep aside the pro-Pakistan Taliban factions during the ongoing negotiations to induct the extremists in the Afghanistan government because of their masters’ (Islamabad’s) unholy intentions in the war-ravaged country. The pro-Pakistan extremist elements in Afghanistan may try to derail the Hamid Karzai government whenever they find the right opportunity to help Islamabad realise its dream of strategic depth. The agenda of these Taliban factions — to establish their own government in post-2014 Afghanistan — is unlikely to change. Any new strategy for Afghanistan — where India has made huge investments in nation-building projects — must be finalised in consultation with all the regional powers, which, too, have a stake in stability in the
Af-Pak area. |
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Unfit for consumption
OVER 50 students of government schools in three villages of Kurukshetra district fell ill on Thursday after consuming mid-day meal in which a lizard was found. The same day, the students of the senior secondary school of Raghuwana village in Sirsa district refused to eat the mid-day meal alleging that the food given to them was fungus-infested. Even one such incident should be unacceptable. Unfortunately, these come to light almost on a regular basis, without much action. All that changes is the location. That shows that there is something seriously wrong with the implementation of the well-meaning scheme aimed at improving the nutritional status of children and encouraging children from disadvantaged sections to attend school. While the Cooked Mid-Day Meal Scheme has successfully addressed classroom hunger and also helped increase attendance at most schools, the quality of the food has been suspect at many places. A nationwide Planning Commission survey last year found startling lapses in the programme. Logistical issues like absence of cooks, kitchen sheds and stores, besides the non-involvement of gram panchayats, dog the scheme. In Bihar, a staggering 72 per cent students complained about the quality of the food. Twentythree per cent of the students in Punjab and Karnataka had the same grouse about the food. At many places, the grains used for making the meals had rat droppings or were insect-infested. Not only do teachers have to frequently take time out of their duties to help prepare the meals, but students also have to pitch in for washing the utensils – spending up to nine hours of their valuable school time per week in some states in this task. That by any standards is a shocking situation. Since the shortcomings are known to the government, it must conduct a thorough review and take corrective measures lest the scheme starts scaring away students instead of luring them in. |
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Leadership — the ability to see what no one else sees, to listen when others talk and the ability to be optimistic when others are pessimistic. — George W. Cummings
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Andhra in turmoil again
Andhra Pradesh is in a state of turmoil once again with political turbulence threatening to burst out from the Telangana region. The majority of the elected representatives from Telangana, cutting across party lines, submitted their resignations to the respective presiding officers in the state and at the Centre. They included 12 Members of Parliament and 81 MLAs, all belonging to the Congress from Telangana. In a show of unity in demanding Telangana, the MLAs of the Telugu Desam Party, the CPI and the BJP also resigned. In all, 99 of the 119 MLAs from the Telangana region decided to resign. The Telangana Joint Action Committee, coordinating the agitation, used this opportunity to give a call for a 48-hour bandh on July 5 and 6. The Congress general secretary-in-charge of Andhra Pradesh, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, tried to dissuade the legislators from precipitating a crisis in the state, but to no avail. The Chief Minister of Andhra, Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy, also could not succeed in making them change their decision. The Telangana agitation has assumed a more serious dimension after the resignation of parliamentarians and legislators. The Congress high command and the government are unable to arrive at a decision. The December 9, 2009, statement by the Home Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, cannot be overlooked, much less forgotten. The Telangana legislators are demanding the implementation of the promise made in 2009. The Justice Srikrishna Report is another major issue which has not been dealt with satisfactorily so far. Apart from the preliminary discussion with the Home Minister and with the party leaders from Andhra Pradesh on the various recommendations made by Justice Srikrishna, nothing has been done. It was announced that after the assembly elections in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducheri, a decision would be taken. However, there has been no movement on the issue. The Andhra crisis illustrates the inability of the UPA government to arrive at a decision in respect of the complicated Telangana problem. In fact, this attitude of drift has been noticed for well over 50 years. It may be recalled that the State Re-organisation Commission of 1955 with Justice Fazal Ali as Chairman had inter alia recommended the formation of Telangana state. This recommendation was ignored by the Centre. There were indeed no valid reasons why the recommendation was not implemented. In handling the socio-political issues emanating from the Telugu-speaking districts of the erstwhile Madras Presidency, the Centre had shown little understanding. When the demand for Andhra state snowballed into a major agitation in the early 1950s, Potti Sriramalu’s announcement of fast-unto-death on the Andhra issue was ignored by the Centre. The death of Sriramalu led to extensive riots and damage to public properties in the Telugu-speaking districts of the Madras Presidency, which included Rayalaseema and Telangana. The Andhra state, which came into being in 1953, initially had its capital in Kurnool in the Rayalaseema area. Even at that time, there were demands for Telangana as well as for a coastal state. However, the Telangana demand was consistent and this was conceded by the Fazal Ali Commission, but not implemented by the Centre. There were widespread agitations in the early 1960s. The Telangana Praja Samiti led by Dr Channa Reddy spearheaded the agitation demanding the declaration of Telangana as a state. However, Dr Reddy gave up the agitation, joined the Congress party and became a minister in the state. Later he emerged as Chief Minister of Andhra. But the demand for Telangana was never given up. The agitation was revived in 2009 by K. Chandrasekhara Rao, who headed the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, a composite body consisting of various parties and groups. The Justice Srikrishna Committee report, recommending various options, has been under examination by the Centre, but it has not been able to make up its mind regarding its implementation. At one stage, the Centre almost decided to reject the Telangana demand, but announced the formation of a regional council with constitutional guarantees. The present crisis, precipitated by the resignation by so many MPs and MLAs representing the Telangana region, is far more serious and cannot be ignored. Apart from the law and order problem, which can possibly be handled with mixed results, stability in Andhra Pradesh itself is at stake. If the MLAs’ resignations take effect, the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh is most likely to fall. An alternative Congress government is nowhere in sight unless a favourable decision is taken on Telangana. Andhra Pradesh goes in for the next Assembly elections in 2014 along with the parliamentary polls. The prospects for the Congress party appear dim not only in Telangana, but also other regions, particularly Rayalaseema. Unless Telangana is conceded, the Congress may be wiped out in the districts in this region. In Rayalaseema, Mr Jaganmohan Reddy, who has raised the banner of revolt against the Congress high command, is most likely to capture most of the seats for his newly formed YSR Party. In the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, people may partly vote for the Congress and partly for other parties like the TDP. Should the Congress go adrift and face such a huge setback in 2014 elections? The Congress Core Committee discussed the Telangana crisis when it met on July 6. The Home Minister also held a Press briefing but there was no decision on the burning issue of Telangana. The reports from Hyderabad speak of the situation having reached a point where only an announcement regarding the formation of Telangana can bring about a change. The Centre and the Congress, however, seem to be in no mood to oblige those demanding the creation of a Telangana state. Whether the crisis will be resolved soon remains to be
seen.
The writer is a former Governor of UP and West Bengal.
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Memories
I do not bank on memories and even when I visit my children in Sanawar, a place where I lived for 30 years, a place where every nook and corner should be layered with memories of my childhood, my years as a teacher and later as Headmaster and the memories of my children’s childhood, nothing stirs in me. Then last winter, when the children, most of the staff and even the Headmaster were away, I took a long walk in that most beautiful place in the world. I came, finally, to the door of the Headmaster’s residence. And then memory, as elusive and as unbidden as love, asserted itself. I looked at the squat, ugly little building of the kitchen which had escaped the fire of 1996 because it was detached from the main house. It had, when I was a teacher, been Phiroza’s kitchen. She was the Headmaster’s wife and kept an open house and an even more open kitchen. But the memories that came back to me had nothing to do with Phiroza’s culinary delights. Sanawar was an isolated place then and what is taken for granted today was just not available. I baked the children’s birthday cakes because there were no cakes available in the neighborhood. On one of my son’s birthdays I ran into trouble: the sponge just did not rise. I finally realised that there was something wrong with the flour. The remedy lay in Phiroza’s kitchen. I went up and ‘borrowed’ some flour. By four in the morning I had the cake ready. I was stage manager for the Founders’ play. The day before the first performance, the heavy, glazed cotton curtains donated by Mr Shammi Kapoor in memory of his wife Gita Bali, were put up. I waited patiently while Raj Kumar and his friends ironed the curtains. But they didn’t do a very good job because when Gopal finally put them up, there were enough creases in them to keep them four inches above the stage floor. We took them down again and then we ran out of coal. Once again I remembered Phiroza’s kitchen. I borrowed some charcoal, went home and made some coffee and omelets for my dhobis and by five in the morning, when the curtains were hung up again, they touched the floor. After the house had burnt down, a visitor asked if he could go up and see the ruins. When he came back he shook his head at me and smiled: “I saw three young men in the kitchen, attempting to put together shards of blue and white porcelain which they had retrieved from the ruins. I told them that you can’t put broken pots together again. They replied that they were not trying to mend pots – they were trying to put together their Sahib’s memories.” Memory was playing tricks again: it was pushing me into nostalgic yearning for a way of life which had once been and was now lost forever. I braced myself against the sudden gust of wind and walked quickly
away.
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‘Made in India’— a hit abroad Rudra veena exponent Ustad Asad Ali Khan once observed that the day is not far when Indians will have to go abroad to procure a veena, or, to just listen to the veena. In terms of visual arts, perhaps, the situation has already arrived. Blame it on the lack of good galleries, curatorial expertise, inadequate research facilities, or, sheer co-incidence- almost all the great artists from the land, from classic miniature art to contemporary art are showcased abroad this summer. Does that mean Indians have to travel abroad in order to see the best of Indian art? Also, despite the very best organisational skills of the galleries abroad- with their vast experience in well researched documentation and technology assisted expertise in display, the curatorial attempt to identify Indian art with certain motifs and a strong urge to define ‘Indianness’ sometimes becomes a limiting factor of these vastly successful exhibitions. For, the Indian art scenario is thriving, is multi- hued, and is far more adventurous in its creative search than a few names that keep appearing in the foreign shows. Their signatures have become recognisable with the time-tested materials and motifs that represent a stereotyped India. This restricted insistence on defining Indianness by foreign galleries that invest millions of dollars and years of hard work in organising these mega shows leaves a first- time viewer of Indian art with certain biases about Indian art.
Indian Highways in Europe It took over two years for the exhibition titled “Indian Highway” to reach Lyon in France, from London, where it started, and about five years in its preparation. The exhibition of contemporary Indian art does more than just travel- it takes a new spin with every stop it takes. With works of around 30 contemporary Indian artists–including Nikhil Chopra, Bharti Kher, Jitish Kalat and Subodh Gupta, the exhibition is reinterpreted each time to fit changing venues, by making room for new works and to satisfy curatorial whims for each of its new phase. The show found its first home in December 2008, in a crammed Serpentine Gallery in London before unwinding in Oslo, then it went to the Danish city of Herning, to reach Lyon this summer, where it will be on view till the end of July. It is supposed to come back to Delhi, but no one is sure when? Some critics in London raised questions about Indianness of the works of artists like Bharti Kher, born and brought up in London, who they thought would have more in common with Damien Hirst than with Husain, whose works were later withdrawn from the show because of brewing controversy back home, adding to more confusion about what should and should not come under the parameter of Indian art in these shows. Some also expressed concern that the Indianness of the work defined by bindis, rickshaws and steel tiffins may overshadow–and sometimes take precedence–over artistic merit. Others suggest that this is done to make the show more palatable to a Western audience, who may find it difficult to come out of its perceived ‘image’ of India. But the show has improved from its London avatar, with focus on themes like urbanization which has given it a sharper edge. Perhaps by the time it reaches Delhi, it will be an even better show for the home- viewers in India.
Indian Masters get a name-Zurich One cannot help wondering why this could not have been done, here, in India. The Way Of The Masters – The Great Artists of India, 1100–1900, shown at Museum Rietberg, Zurich, between May to August, 2011, traces landmarks of 800 years of Indian painting with some 240 masterpieces by more than 40 artists. For the first time an exhibition offers a place of pride to the names of the anonymous painters who remained in oblivion for centuries despite greatness bestowed upon their art. The exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of the entire history of Indian painting. What makes it unique and exciting is that the focus throughout is on individual painters rather than on miniature art itself, as has been the practice.
A result of decades of painstaking research to identify individual artists- for which small signatures were deciphered microscopically, pilgrim registers were searched for artists’ names and genealogies, and systematic stylistic comparisons were made to ascertain the names. In addition, the museum is accompanying the exhibition with a major publication on its findings on the unsung painters which would provide new bases for further research in miniature art.
More than forty artists at the centre of the exhibition, whose works convey a broad and comprehensive idea of Indian painting to the visitors are picked from different geographical regions. The earliest exhibits are illustrated manuscripts from the twelfth century, the latest works- from the early twentieth century are large-format paintings from Udaipur, which in their choice of composition and perspective reveal the growing influence of photography. It is a unique effort on the part of its three renowned curators, Milo C. Beach (Smithsonian, Washington), B.N. Goswamy (India) and Eberhard Fischer (Zurich), to lend an identity to the most significant painters from over 800 years of history and area spread from Esfahan in Iran to Delhi and the Deccan in India. The exhibition will also be shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from 26 September 2011 to 8 January 2012. Chances of its travelling to India are bleak.
New masters in Venice India is making a debut at the 116 year old Venice Biennale, one of the world’s biggest and the most elite art carnivals that draws the best of visual art selected from across the world. The exhibition, with its 28 settled country pavilions, built inside the Giardini, has, for the first time given space of about 250 sq metre to India for four months ( June- Oct). The Indian pavilion showcases seven contemporary mixed media art works christened “Everyone Agrees: Its About to Explode” by four leading artists. For a country of a billion people, with the diversity that only India can absorb, selecting such works that make a “ strong symbolic statement about the country”, in the words of Ranjit Hoskote, who curated the exhibition, was not an easy task. The India exhibition includes new-age installations, video art and paintings by New York-based Zarina Hashmi, Gigi Scaria of Delhi, Amsterdam-based Praneet Soi and Guwahati-based Desire Collective Machine (DMC) – a multi-disciplinary art collaboration between two young artists, Sonal Jain and Mrigankya Madhukaillya. Zarina Hashmi represents “post-partition and diasporic sentiments”. She challenges the perceptions of space and borders through her work – in the way familiar locations in the country are delimited, traversed and the memories they invoke in us. The DMC has shot a 35 mm film portraying cultures, realities and change in the region. Praneet Soi works across spaces with the marginalised potters and clay idol makers of Kumartuli – an old potters’ colony by the bank of the Ganges in Kolkata, he has created a 50-feet mural in Venice. Mixed media artist Gigi Scaria represents the internal migration, his works portray the changing social realities and “interpretations of home”. He has made video installations. The show is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, this was for the lack of financial support that India could not participate in The Biennale for 116 years. And ordinary Indians who cannot travel to Venice will be deprived of seeing it.
Paris- Delhi- Bombay For a country viewed as an emerging economic power, the form of unique confrontation of perspectives on its cultural complexity draws fresh artistic energy. Expressed through artistic experiences and creative visions, Paris- Delhi- Bombay, an exhibition of Indian and French artists on display at Centre Pompidou in Paris, is a unique amalgam of visuals on India, with all possible contradictions and genres, documenting and yet eluding India of a million shades. Whereas the possibility of two cultures merging into one remains perennially debatable, the exhibition is certainly an unprecedented example of Franco- Indian collaboration, created on a scale that is enormous. With a long and impressive list of art historians, curators, sociologists, political scientists, philosophers and anthropologists from both the countries, who worked with a team from Centre Pompidou on the concept of the exhibition for over four years, the analysis and reports prepared by the experts were then sent to select artists, majority of whom then worked on special commissioned works. The 30 artists from India are well known names like Subodh Gupta, Atul Dodiya and Sudarshan Shetty, to the very young quirkier voices of Tejal Shah, who is never shy of expressing sexuality of a different shades and Nikhil Chopra, whose works with performance art have created a unique niche. The curators were careful to select artists who made their first mark in the India of the liberalized economy; therefore reflecting global aspiration in the Indian art. Most of the artists filtered for the show are in the age group of 35 to 60, barring Vivan Sundaranm and Nalini Malini, both of whom have continued the process of rediscovering themselves. The exhibition which started in May will run through September, 2011.
High art accessible abroad “One can be India in different ways from different locations. India is not a territorially bounded entity. It expands in the global space of imagination.” Ranjit Hoskote, curator, Indian art show at Venice Biennale.
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Director Amit Dutta, in collaboration with miniature art expert Eberhard Fischer created the first ever authentic, visually engaging documentary on Nainsukh, the greatest Indian painter of the eighteenth century. “Nainsukh” was shown at the Venice Film Festival and in shorter versions as well as in a special show at, The Way Of The Masters, Museum Rietberg, Zurich.