14 AN ECSTASY OF IDEAS THE TIMES OF INDIA, AHMEDABAD

MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2017

A thought for today

The tree that is beside the running
water is fresher and gives more fruit
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA
On A Slippery Slope
Exclusive focus on demonetisation hides NDA’s broader economic mismanagement

Save Our Rivers

Salman Anees Soz minimum support prices (MSPs) and
the safety net of MGNREGA. Instead,
Demonetisation will the government blindly followed right
live in infamy as one of wing dogma to restrict MSPs. Modi used
the worst economic a speech in Parliament to run down
India is heading for a grave water crisis, initiatives in post- MGNREGA.
it must take remedial measures urgently Independence
However,
India.
focussing
In the three years between 2014 and
2016, two of which were drought
almost exclusively on demonetisation affected, the government increased

I
t is on the banks of its rivers that India’s civilisation and its
cities emerged and were nurtured. Population pressures and detracts attention from a series of mis- MSPs of rice by a mere 3.9% per year, 6
steps by the government that hurt the percentage points below the rate in the
developmental imperatives may have led to overexploitation of
economy well before November 8, 2016. last three years of the UPA. In FY15,
our rivers and groundwater, but poor planning and wilful neglect In the first quarter of 2017-18, the MGNREGA generated the least number
breaking the organic links between rivers, nature and people is economy grew by 5.7% after growing by of person days and household employ-
no longer acceptable. India is heading for a grave water crisis and only 6.1% in the previous quarter. Job ment since the start of the scheme. By
remedial measures cannot be postponed. Irrigation accounts for losses, farm distress, anaemic credit restricting support, the government
nearly 80% of water demand followed by drinking needs, industry offtake, weak private investment and contributed to rural distress. This ended
industrial activity, uneven export per- up adversely affecting the broader
and energy sector. On the demand side mitigatory steps like changing
formance, food price inflation, and other private sector as well. The government
cropping patterns, curbing wasteful practices, and promoting indicators show an economy in trouble. missed the forest for the trees.
renewable energy must be stepped up. Demonetisation can partially explain Management of fuel prices is another
One clear indicator of strain is annual per capita water avail- this malaise. However, it cannot explain example of the Modi government priori-
ability. This was 5177 cubic metres in 1951 which declined to 1545 slowing growth prior to demonetisation. tising fiscal over economic management.
cubic metres in 2011, against the In fact, the growth rate has declined for After crude prices dropped precipitously,
six straight quarters. the government decontrolled diesel
international threshold for water

I believe policy missteps helped
stress pegged at 1700 cubic metres. slow the economy down well before
However, National Institute of Hydro- demonetisation. The government has
logy pegs India’s utilisable per capita been far more concerned with managing
water availability at just 938 cubic public finances and public perception
metres in 2010, and expects this to drop than with making tough and smart
to 814 cubic metres by 2025. choices to help the broader economy
grow. While fiscal prudence is commen-
Among the solutions proposed to dable, it cannot be the single biggest
rejuvenate rivers is their interlinking focus of a government.
so that surplus in one river can be Prime Minister Narendra Modi
transferred to another. The science and finance minister Arun Jaitley, the
stewards of India’s economy, appear
behind this is very dubious. Yet governments appear keen to pilot
such expensive engineering feats. The Rs 18,000 crore Ken-Betwa obsessed with taxes and the fiscal
deficit. At times, the government has
interlinking project could destroy 10,000 hectares of forests, with gone to absurd lengths to manage its own
nearly half of that in the Panna Tiger Reserve. Forests are of course finances at the expense of consumers
critical catchment areas for rain-fed rivers. It’s best to avoid such and the private sector. Worse, the
schemes that could do more harm than good. government has failed to act in other
In safer waters, the Rally for Rivers campaign has proposed vital areas impacting the economy.
Banking is widely considered an
that a one kilometre wide belt along river banks be reserved for
economy’s lifeblood. In 2014, when
generating tree cover. The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act the Modi government took over, non-
will make Rs 6,000 crore available annually to state governments, performing assets (NPAs) were begin-
atop a corpus of Rs 42,000 crore that went unspent for years. These ning to choke banks. Gross NPAs as a
monies could be devoted to firm up tree cover along the rivers, which share of total advances stood at 4.1%.
would deliver environmental, social and economic benefits. Pollu- But, instead of proactively dealing with
NPAs, the government spent its conside-
tion of rivers through discharge of industrial effluents, municipal
rable political capital on an ill-conceived
waste and generation of thermal energy must also be checked. The plan to roll back the land acquisition law
Centre’s Namami Gange programme must deliver results soon. that BJP helped pass in 2013.
Much onus is also on state governments as water is a state subject. NPAs now stand at about 10% of total
Act now or prepare for desertification.
advances. This has contributed to a
slowdown in lending. In 2016-17, overall
bank credit grew at about 7% with
credit to industry contracting by 1.6%.
Aggressive action in 2014 could
have mitigated the NPA problem. A new
and popular PM with a gift of oratory
could have explained the necessity of
prioritising the NPA problem. Instead,
the government’s pussyfooting has
created a huge problem that continues
to weigh the economy down. Even the
Rs 70,000 crore under the Indradhanush
scheme for bank recapitalisation
was considered “far from sufficient”
by the government’s own Economic
Survey.
Banking sector problems are mirro-
red in weak private investment, which
started to shrink in 2015-16 and
contracted by more than 7% in 2016-17.
The government stepped in with public
investment but the Economic Survey
considers it insufficient to “arrest a fall
in overall investment”. The government
has been marketing Make in India even
as manufacturing capacity utilisation
hovers around a mere 71%.
Chad Crowe
Government has gone to
absurd lengths to manage its
own finances at the expense
of consumers and the private
sector. Worse, it has failed to
act in other vital areas
impacting the economy
While the government takes credit
for attracting FDI, we should remember
that it accounts for only about 2% of
GDP. If India’s private sector is not
investing at home, is it reasonable to
expect foreigners to invest in a big way
in India? The incoherent response to
the twin balance sheet problem (banks
and corporates) is a serious error of
omission.
Policies for rural India have also
contributed to the slowdown. When PM
Modi formed the government, drought
warnings had already been issued. This
was a time for the government to step
up assistance in rural areas through
prices in October 2014 (UPA decontrolled
petrol prices). However, as crude prices
kept falling, the government started
levying excise duties to mop up extra
revenue instead of passing on the benefits
to consumers.
According to the Economic Survey,
the increase in petrol tax was 150%
between June 2014 and November 2016.
Having more money with consumers
could have had a positive impact on
household and business finances, which
could have resulted in higher economic
output. The inept rollout of a seriously
flawed GST is making matters worse.
Cheering a bad tax in the middle of an
economic slowdown makes the govern-
ment look arrogant and unmindful of
principles of economics.
Perhaps due to a deficit of experience
and a surplus of arrogance, the govern-
ment has frittered away a huge mandate.
The obsession for managing public
finances and public perception must
end. Modi and Jaitley must learn
from their mistakes, consult widely,
and help reverse the Indian economy’s
downward trajectory. Otherwise, demo-
netisation won’t be the last big blunder
they commit.
The writer is a Congress spokesperson.
Views are personal

‘We take inspiration from Leicester City’s EPL triumph ... U-17
Testing 280 Characters World Cup will have a huge impact on future of football here’
Because the trademark brevity of ■ India played against the US and
Amarjit Singh Kiyam will be leading football, history has taught us that U-20 World Cup in 2019. The U-17 World
tweets has also proved a liability India at the FIFA U-17 soccer World anything is possible. Look at Leicester Cup will have a huge impact on the Colombia earlier but lost heavily.
Cup that begins on October 6. This is City’s fairytale triumph in the Premier future of football here. We faced the US last year in the

I
n a significant change for social media buffs, Twitter is doubling the first team from India to play at any League. Nobody gave them a chance, ■ India toured extensively across AIFF Youth Cup when we were not in
the character count of its tweets to 280. Although for now soccer World Cup and the Manipuri yet they stunned the world and won Europe, Asia and South America to good shape. A lot has changed since then.
the change will be seeded with only some accounts, it’s being midfielder, who was unanimously elected the English Premier League. We take prepare for the World Cup. Have we There is a big difference in the team that
viewed as a sign of things to come. So far brevity has been the captain in a vote by his teammates, spoke inspiration from them. In football, done enough? we had for the Youth Cup and the World
to Marcus Mergulhao about the there is nothing like a team is We are ready. The practice Cup. The players didn’t have enough
defining attribute of the platform and many people embraced this
Indian team’s plans and how it is destined to fail. When you matches have made us exposure earlier. Now we have travelled
fervently. The 140 character limit lent itself to voicing thoughts looking to punch above its weight enter the field, it’s always 11 vs better. There were some everywhere. We played Colombia last
spontaneously. And given the platform’s open design, anyone in the tournament: 11. Anything is possible. tough games. We didn’t month. But just because we lost against
could become a publisher. But brevity-driven spontaneity soon ■ The U-17 World Cup is the always win but after every Colombia last month in Mexico, it
transformed into a lot of trolling and abuse. ■ As captain of the first team from biggest football event to be game we learnt something doesn’t mean we will lose again in India.
Instead of really facilitating an exchange of India to play at the World Cup, do you played in the subcontinent. new. The training facilities It will be a different game.
feel the pressure? How much of an impact do too were top class. ■ India has not won a single compe-
ideas, the platform proved ideal for harassing
I am the leader of this team so, you think it will have on ■ India will play the titive match on Indian soil during the
personalities, brands and organisations. Any understandably, there will be pressure. I India and football? opening match AFC U-16 Championship, AIFF Youth
anonymous Twitter warrior could besmirch a have to shoulder the responsibility. Football is getting a lot of against the US and Cup and Brics Cup. Is that a cause for
reputation with a few acerbic characters. While There will be pressure on other players attention in India in recent also have former concern?
it’s true that several politicians have taken to too and I need to ensure they are not times. There is lot of champions We made mistakes and now we have a
Twitter to communicate with the ‘masses’, here burdened with expectations. We are improvement happening. Ghana and chance to set the record straight. For
the first Indian team to play in a FIFA Look at the FIFA Colombia in the sure, we will give our 100%. A lot of people
too things haven’t gone according to plan. Many
World Cup. That’s a huge honour. It rankings – India made group. How dif- want to know what we are targeting at
of these politicians tend to view Twitter as a substitute for prudent hasn’t happened before. it to the top 100 recently. ficult will it be? the World Cup. I tell them, the target, for
policy making; a convenient tool to simply manage perceptions of the ■ How are the players handling this The All India Foot- Nobody has now, is to win the first match. Once we
electorate. US President Donald Trump is a prime example of a tribe pressure? ball Federation any doubt that have done that, the target will be to win
of social media users who throw caution to the wind while commen- They are leaders in their own right. (AIFF) has been it’s a tough the second match. We have to take one
ting online, leading to chaos and confusion in the aftermath. All of them know their roles. I am supporting us group. For us it match at a time.
officially their captain because you quite a lot. doesn’t matter ■ Most of the players come from mo-
Overall there’s far too much negativity on Twitter. This helps
need to appoint someone to lead on the AIFF has who we are up dest backgrounds. Do the players use
explain why the platform’s user growth has slowed down considerably, field. The players know how to handle even bid for against. We football as means to escape poverty?
affecting the company’s revenue. Increasing the character count of this pressure, both on and off the pitch. the U-20 have to go out Many of us come from poor families.
tweets is not only an attempt to boost usage, but also a belated admis- ■ At least on paper, India is consi- World Cup. there and give We want a better life. We want to improve
sion that short social media posts aren’t constructive in the long run, dered the weakest in the competition. May be this our best for but more than anything we are all
given the complexities of the world today. Longer commentary as seen Do you believe India can still measure team that is those 90 minu- focussed on the World Cup. We don’t
up to the challenge? playing in the U-17 tes. The results know when an Indian team will play in
in print media is better suited to reflect nuanced positions and spur pro-
Yes, why not. This is football and in World Cup can play in the are secondary. the World Cup again.
ductive conversations. By contrast hit-and-run invective just polarises.
dilbert Sacredspace
Porn in the USA For Truth’s Sake
I’ll tell you one thing for sure:
What desi libidinous letches once you get to the point where
and lascivious libidos drooled over you’re actually doing things for
Chidanand.Rajghatta@timesgroup.com truth’s sake, then nobody can
The difference between art and pornography, mused Family
ever touch you again because
Guy Peter Griffin, is a government grant. Occasionally, it can you’re harmonising with a
also be a family endowment. It might surprise some to know greater power.
that Hugh Hefner, the Playboy publisher who died last week at
91, co-founded the magazine partly with a $1,000 loan from his
mother, affirming the argument of free expression advocates George Harrison
who maintain that “pornography is in the loin of the beholder” and “obscenity
is whatever gives the Judge an erection.”

Recalling Gandhiji’s Perspective On Religion

Indeed, the mother-of-all male magazines tested boundaries of propriety
from the time of its launch, when it was heralded as an escape from the
family-oriented conformity of 1950s America. It helped ignite sexual licence
in the swinging 60s, even as feminists derided its intellectual pretensions by
calling it “literature designed to be read with one hand.” Ashok Vohra brings us face to face with our Maker.” between the Maker and itself.” may be governed by the spirit, either of
Mixing highbrow with low-low-low (long before the song by Flo Rida), Playboy Elaborating on his use of the term Gandhi in ‘Hindu Dharma’ explains religion or of irreligion.”
tucked in stories by PG Wodehouse and Arthur Clarke, and interviews with Fidel

M
K Gandhi was aware of the
Castro and Bertrand Russell, between tantalising déshabillé and taut derrière, its difficulties in defining the term
mostly young, male viewership masquerading as readership. Many believed that ‘religion’. He took pains to
penis mightier than the word. At one time, a quarter of all American explain it in a number of his writings
college men were buying or subscribing to the magazine. over several years. He was aware that
Here in India, libidinous letches and lascivious libidos drooled the term religion can be, and is, used in
over dog-eared, hand-me-down copies extracted from the raddiwalla, two senses – to refer to organised
even as a prissy PMO objected to a purported 1963 interview the magazine religion and to refer to ethical or moral
claimed to have conducted with Prime Minister Nehru. Decades later, it would practices that have their root in a
be an Indian billionaire, venture capitalist Suhail Rizvi, who would rescue the specific ontology and metaphysics.
magazine and restore it to Hefner amid a welter of acquisition wrangles. He uses the term in both these
Throughout his flamboyant life, Hefner was excoriated for objectifying senses. In ‘Hind Swaraj’ he says,
women – even though the exercise predates him back to our own sex manuals – “Religion is dear to me ... Here i am not
even as he argued on a higher plane that “the major civilising force in the world thinking of the Hindu ... or the Zoroast-
is not religion, but sex.” Progressive women found the dross dressed in gloss rian religion, but of that religion which
uncivilised. “A woman reading Playboy feels a little like a Jew reading a Nazi
manual,” Gloria Steinem remarked.
underlies all religions.” That Gandhi
does not use the term religion to
Playboy’s decline – as with much else relating to below the belt – began connote such individual religions or
with advancing years and increasing competition, as sharper, smuttier faiths is clear when he says, “By
publications milked the genre dry. When last heard, Playboy Enterprises was religion, I do not mean formal religion,
deriving much of its income from licensing – rather than the licentiousness its or customary religion, but that religion
prime property once boasted of. which underlies all religions, which
‘religion’ further, he says, “Religion
does not mean sectarianism. It means a
belief in ordered moral government of
the universe.” According to him,
religion is that “which transcends”
the limits of any particular
religion. It does not supersede
individual religions like
Hinduism, Islam, Christianity
... but “harmonises them and
gives them reality”.
This kind of religion is one
“which changes one’s very
nature, which binds one
indissolubly to the truth within, the
and which ever purifies. It is a
permanent element in human
speaking
nature which counts no cost too tree
great in order to find full expression and
which leaves the soul utterly restless
until it has found itself, known its Maker
and appreciated the true correspondence
this: “All of us with one voice call God
differently as Parmatma, Ishwara,
Shiva, Vishnu, Rama, Allah, Khuda,
Dada Hormuzada, Jehova, God, and an
infinite variety of names. He is the One
and yet many; He is smallest,
smaller than an atom, and
bigger than the Himalayas. He
is contained even in a drop of
the ocean, and yet not even the
seven seas can encompass
Him.”
That Gandhi does not
regard religion or being
religious or following of a
religious order or creed as
something external, some kind
of a ‘job’ or ‘profession’ is
abundantly clear when he asserts, “I do
not conceive religion as one of the many
activities of mankind.” The main
reason for this is that “the same activity
Gandhi regards being religious as
something inherent to humankind. The
term religion, as used by him pervades
all our activities. Therefore, he concludes,
“For me every, tiniest activity is
governed by what i consider to be my
religion.” He explicitly admits this fact
when he says, “This is the maxim of life
which i have accepted, namely, that no
work done by any man, no matter how
great he is, will really prosper unless he
has a religious backing.”
Gandhi’s notion of religion is
‘metaphysical or the ideal’. In this
context, there can be no conflict
between religions because it assumes
that there is just one universal religion
or that there is just one religion
underlying all religions. Then, the
word religion would be always used in
singular and never in the plural.
Post your comments at speakingtree.in