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SHOULD RAILWAY MINISTER SURESH PRABHU STAY OR GO? p.13

With Nilekani’s Return, it’s Back to the Future at Infosys p.08

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WHY INDIA IS SEEING A FRESH WAVE OF GLOBAL INNOVATION CENTRES

www.economictimes.com | Bengaluru | 28 pages | `10

August 27-September 02, 2017

Leave Me Alone How individual autonomy, personal choice, plurality and diversity have got a leg up p.04-07

PLUS Junk the Hindu Civil Code, Adopt Family Laws: Madhu Kishwar’s Open Letter to PM Modi p.10 Adieu to the Shotgun Divorce: Outcome of the Triple Talaq Judgment p.12 How the Judiciary Scored in Panchkula p.07

p.16

Wrong Arm of the Law: 12 Years in Jail for Terror Crimes not Committed p.20

More Takers for Sustainable Dining p.24

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what’s news AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 02, 2017 Army conducts a flag march near the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters in Sirsa on Saturday —PTI

PM Announces `500 cr for Flood-hit Bihar

You Surrendered Before Dera Followers: HC to Haryana Govt Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday castigated the Manohar Lal Khattar government over the deadly violence that erupted in the state, saying it had “surrendered” before the followers of Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for “political considerations”. At a special hearing, a full bench of the court minced no words in slamming the CM for “protecting” the Dera followers and extending political patronage to them. The court observed that the BJP government seemed to have “surrendered before the followers of Dera Sacha Sauda for political considerations”. “This was a political surrender to allure vote bank,” it observed a day after Dera followers went on a rampage across Haryana, following the conviction of the selfstyled godman in a rape case by a court in Panchkula. —PTI

Khattar Likely to Continue as CM, BJP Backs Him H aryana Chief Minister ML Khattar is not likely to be removed despite the death of 31 people in violence following the arrest of Gurmeet Ram Rahim, convicted in a rape case, as the BJP central leadership is focused on bringing the situation to normal and in preventing any untoward incident on August 28 when the quantum of sentence will be announced. BJP sources said there has been no discussion on whether Khattar should be removed and that he is likely to continue in office. Khattar, a former RSS man who shared accommodation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their days as ordinary BJP-RSS workers, has the strong backing of the Sangh. Gurmeet had tacitly supported the BJP over the last few years and this is seen as a reason for the Khattar government’s reluctance to take preventive measures. A senior BJP leader maintained that reports of PM Modi being unhappy with Khattar are misplaced. The BJP central leadership has not received any plea

from the Haryana unit of the party that Khattar be replaced, sources said. A senior BJP leader said that had the Haryana High Court not asked the DGP and other senior officials to present themselves in court and kept them there without their phones, the situation would have been brought under control sooner. All eyes are now on the quantum of punishment the CBI court will give to Gurmeet. He could get punishment from seven years to life imprisonment. There are apprehensions that a fresh round of violence may erupt on Monday when the verdict is announced. The court ordered the Haryana government to make arrangements for the special CBI judge to be flown to the Rohtak district jail, where Gurmeet is lodged, for pronouncing the the quantum of sentence on Monday. The court asked the government to make arrangements for the security and safe transport by air of the judicial officer and two staff members. — Our Political Bureau/ New Delhi

Amarinder Assures Peace in Punjab Punjab CM Amarinder Singh has assured peace in his state on Monday, the day of the sentencing of Gurmeet Ram Rahim. “Punjab has beefed up security at vital installations and is ready to enforce curfew in sensitive areas of the state on Monday, if needed,” he said in Chandigarh on Saturday evening. It has also been decided to extend the ban on mobile data services in the

state till Tuesday, the CM said, adding that 19 potential trouble makers had been taken into preventive custody and that the crackdown would continue ahead of the sentencing. Some leaders of Dera Sacha Sauda, who are likely to instigate followers, have been arrested while discussions are being held with the rest to defuse tensions. — Our Bureau/ New Delhi

Purnea: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday made an aerial survey of flood-hit areas of Bihar and announced `500 crore as immediate relief for the state besides `2 lakh each to the kin of those who died in the deluge. He also said a Central team would be sent to the state soon to assess the damage caused by the floods. The decisions came after the PM held a meeting with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and senior officials of the state government, following his aerial survey. “After the review, the PM promised all possible support to the Bihar government,” the PMO said in a statement. The PM made the aerial survey of four affected districts — Purnea, Katihar, Kisanganj and Araria. —PTI

ED Arrests Moin Qureshi in Money Laundering Case New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi in connection with its money laundering probe against him and others. Officials in the agency said Qureshi was arrested on Friday after he was called for questioning in the case. The meat exporter has been arrested under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and was produced before a court on Saturday, they said, alleging that he was not cooperating in the probe. Meanwhile, the court granted ED the custody of Qureshi till August 31. He has been questioned multiple times in the past by the agency which is probing Qureshi after it registered two FIRs under the PMLA. In the latest FIR against him, former CBI director AP Singh has also been named. The meat exporter is also facing probes by the I-T Department and the CBI for alleged tax evasion, money laundering and corruption, among others. —Agencies

8 Security Men Killed in Attack on Police Complex in Pulwama Srinagar: Eight security personnel, including four CRPF men, were killed when militants carried out a suicide attack on a district police complex in south Kashmir’s Pulwama on Saturday, triggering a massive gunfight in which three terrorists were killed. The terror strike took place at the crack of dawn when the militants, believed to be foreign mercenaries, entered the police complex in Pulwama district, 25 km from here. Police, CRPF and army personnel quickly swung into action and cornered the militants and ensured that family members of the police personnel living in the complex were taken out to safety. By afternoon, the security personnel neutralised one of the three terrorists while another militant’s

body was recovered after 5 pm, officials said, adding the firing had stopped and the third body would be recovered soon. The militants had entrenched themselves in all the three blocks of the police complex and were firing at approaching troops, they said. Lt Gen JS Sandhu, General Officer Commanding of Srinagar-based XV Corps, said it is a “fidayeen” (suicide) attack. Among those killed, four were from the CRPF, one was a constable of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and

three were Special Police Officers working with the state police. Two of the four CRPF personnel were killed at the fag end of the operation when they were defusing one of the improvised explosive devices planted by the militants. “The boys fought bravely and we are only more determined to wipe out militancy from the entire state,” said Director General of Police SP Vaid. The authorities have suspended mobile internet services in the district as a precautionary measure. —PTI

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news analysis AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 02, 2017

Ballast or Bombast? Donald Trump’s new Afghan policy is good shock therapy for Pakistan, and marks a radical departure from the cajoling of the past 16 years of the conflict :: Seema Sirohi | Washington

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onald Trump’s new Afghanistan policy has clarity of purpose, it identifies the real problem and marks a distinct shift from the past. Trump has given no timetable for the return of US troops, has put Pakistan on notice with an “or else” hanging in the air and has openly embraced India as a partner in the project to stabilise Afghanistan. This is a radical departure from the previous administration’s policies. “We can no longer be silent about Pakistan’s safe havens for terrorist organisations…. We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting. But that will have to change,” Trump said. “It is time for Pakistan to demonstrate its commitment to civilisation, order and to peace.”

The writer is a journalist

The use of words as weapons, the implicit threats and the scope of possibilities are bigger than before. But how much is bombast and how much is ballast remains to be seen. Still, it can’t be pleasant for the Pakistani establishment to be called out for providing safe havens to the “agents of chaos, violence and terror”. The policy is clearer and appears harder without the usual bureaucraticdiplomatic caveats and rationalisations. The American toolkit could go deep — starting small but growing bigger with economic sanctions and denial of IMF tranches in the future. India will watch if the toolbox is used at all, used sparingly or used well. The Pakistanis are shocked despite early warnings. It seems they were expecting only a rap on the knuckles but what they have got is a full-fledged blow

to the head. How they react would determine the future of US-Pakistan relations for some time.

The Pakistan Dependence American shock therapy for Pakistan may or may not work in the end but after 16 years of bribing, cajoling and failing, it’s worth a try. Barack Obama’s carrot-heavy attempts over eight long years to persuade Pakistan to break its dependency on terrorists didn’t produce results. He began by treating Pakistan on a par with India, buying Rawalpindi’s line that the road to peace in Afghanistan went via Kashmir. He offered Islamabad a strategic dialogue to match the one with India, poured billions of dollars into Pakistan army’s coffers while his administration treated Rawalpindi generals as de facto prime ministers. It took years for the Obama Administration to publicly acknowledge India’s development aid to Afghanistan because it feared an Ashfaq Kayani or a Raheel Sharif might take umbrage. Obama even approved the sale of F16s to Pakistan except the US Congress came in the way. As a former official of the Obama Administration admitted after leaving office: “We tend to overstate our dependence on Pakistan and understate our leverage.” The embrace of reality towards the end was halfhearted and a case of too little too late when the administration withheld $350 million in coalition support funds after a huge internal fight. Trump has begun where Obama left off without going back to square one and thus avoiding the long learning curve on Pakistan. That his team had the temerity to go against entrenched views — don’t rock Pakistan’s boat, placate not punish, push India on Kashmir — is noteworthy. The risk-averse thinking had severely burdened US presidents in the past. The intense scepticism in Washington from the academic-expert community to Trump’s speech was expected. A president they don’t particularly respect has challenged their deeply held, theoretically safe assumptions. Their main concern: Pakistan will go completely rogue, as opposed to being partially rogue. Trump’s open call to strengthen the strategic partnership with India in the same speech sent shock waves not just in Islamabad but also in Washington, so ingrained is the tendency to equate India and Pakistan. The general Beltway view is that Trump undermined his pitch to Pakistan by urging a bigger role for India. The expert commentary casually equates Pakistan’s deadly game in Afghanistan with India’s role in building

roads, schools, dams, the Parliament building and providing training to Afghan security forces. There is hardly any recognition of what the Afghans want. It’s all about Pakistan’s need to feel secure, a need that cannot be filled in any realistic fashion. Trump’s new policy — if implemented as it is articulated — should restore some balance in the power politics of South Asia. To be sure, China and Russia will try to undermine US objectives in this new game of thrones. That presumably was a good part of the US calculation. 

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cover story AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 02, 2017

Leave Me

Alone

How individual autonomy, personal choice, plurality and diversity got a leg up after a nine-judge bench pronounced that right to privacy is a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution :: Rajiv Singh

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n Thursday afternoon, Gunjan Gupta (name changed), 34, was about to leave her home in Sector 54, Gurgaon, to meet with her lawyer Sunieta Ojha when she got a call from the advocate herself. “There’s hope,” the lawyer said. Hope was something Gupta had almost given up on. She is fighting a case against her husband who allegedly raped her. “Life became hell after the first few months of the wedding,” she says over the phone, about her four-year-old marriage. “He treated me like commodity. Sex for him meant forcing himself on the wife.” She separated from her husband two years ago. Her in-laws told her, she says, that it was the wife’s duty to remain with her husband; even the law wasn’t of any help. The police, she claims, didn’t register a criminal case against her husband and advised her to settle the family matter. “It was a losing battle,” she says. But now there is hope. Hope is in the landmark, nine-judge Supreme Court ruling that declared privacy a fundamental right. Hope is in that grand narrative of freedom in 1,39,057 words, spread across 547 pages of six judgments. Hope is in the lines that say, “Privacy, in its simplest sense, allows each human being to be left alone in a core which is inviolable”; and “Privacy with its attendant values assures dignity to the individual and it is only when life can be enjoyed with dignity can liberty be of true substance”.

“My right over my body is now a fundamental right. It must come under the right to privacy,” says Gupta. “Nobody, not even my husband, can violate it. A rape is a rape is a rape. Sexual intercourse without consent is a rape, whether it is with an unmarried woman or with the wife.” Marital rape, says Ojha, violates bodily integrity and the dignity of a woman. The exception in Section 375 of the IPC — “Sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under 15 years of age, is not rape” — will now be struck down, hopes Gupta. On Monday, the Delhi High Court will hear the petition on the constitutionality of marital rape exception. Advocate Karuna Nundy says: “The verdict on privacy paves the ground to declare marital rape as unconstitutional. Though the government has been opposed to enacting a law against marital rape, as it has been doing in its submissions to the court, I don’t think it can go against the Constitution now.”

nition of freedom, illumining it for the modern times. They said, in six separate judgments, that privacy is a fundamental right. “Privacy ensures the fulfilment of dignity and is a core value which the protection of life and liberty is intended to achieve.” In this new glow of freedom, the citizen stands tall in all her glory, holding the inviolable right to wear what she wants, eat what she wants, live where she wants. The judgment under“My partner and I scores that privacy indon’t want to leave the cludes at its core “the land we are born and preservation of perlive in but we look sonal intimacies, the forward to having a sanctity of family life, marriage, procreafavourable legal and tion, the home and social system. The sexual orientation”. It verdict mentioning safeguards individual sexual orientation as autonomy and recoga right brings new nises the ability of the individual to control hope for us” vital aspects of her Jijo Kuriakose, 34, life. In the era of Big cofounder, Queerala, Data, there’s somean LGBTIQ organisation, Kochi thing even bigger: the right of the individual to prevent the interference of the state and non-state actors. In the most interconnected age, the ruling offers the freedom to stay off the grid, to be left alone. Alone: that a l m o s t mys t i c a l sounding word is rooted in a physical reality and represents the inviolable self. The bench went back in time — to England in 1603 and updated for the contemporary times what William Pitt, the Elder, had said: “The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the force of the Crown. It may be frail — its roof may shake — the wind may blow through it — the storm may enter, the rain may enter — but the King of England cannot enter — all his force dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.” There are rightly pragmatic shouts to quell the euphoria — for we have yet to see how reasonable restrictions will play out and how the judgment will be put to action. Says Nundy: “Just as the Supreme Court has come up with this bold verdict, it will be for the courts to stand firm to ensure that the spirit of this judgment doesn’t get diluted by the government in the name of reasonable restrictions to fundamental rights.” Pranesh Prakash, cofounder, Centre for Internet & Society, Bengaluru, says the judgment is “more of a retaining

What the Judgments Say There were six judgments by the nine-judge bench. Here’s the heart of what they said about privacy Privacy includes at its core the preservation of personal intimacies, the sanctity of family life, marriage, procreation, the home and sexual orientation. Privacy also connotes a right to be left alone. Privacy safeguards individual autonomy and recognises the ability of the individual to control vital aspects of his or her life”

Historic Verdict The Supreme Court bench — headed by outgoing chief justice JS Khehar and including justices DY Chandrachud, RK Agrawal, S Abdul Nazeer, J Chelameswar, SA Bobde, Rohinton F Nariman, Abhay Manohar Sapre and Sanjay Kishan Kaul — which delivered the historic right to privacy judgment elaborated on and expanded the defi-

JS Khehar

RK Agrawal

DY Chandrachud

S Abdul Nazeer

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cover story

of status quo than a great leap forward”. “What it does is put the right to privacy on a much firmer standing than ever before.” With the privacy judgment coming two days after the Supreme Court banned the instant triple talaq or talaq-e-biddat, this week has been an unequivocal affirmation of greater freedoms.

AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 02, 2017

“My sexuality is now a fundamental right. Nobody can snatch it away or question it. The legal stamp on my identity is what was missing”

What It Says Section 377: “Sexual orientation is an essential attribute of privacy. Discrimination against an individual on the basis of sexual orientation is deeply offensive to the dignity and self-worth of the individual. The right to privacy and the protection of sexual orientation lie at the core of the fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution”

Ahmed Faraz, 30, customer analyst, Google Accenture, Gurgaon

Section 377 In the expansive embrace of the right to privacy judgment are people who were shoved to the margins, denied even their basic rights on the basis of their marital status, like Gupta, or sexuality, like Jijo Kuriakose. A 34-year-old researcher, he was at his workplace in Kochi on Thursday, waiting, waiting for the judgment. And he got a ping from his partner in Bengaluru: it was a link to a report saying the bench had unanimously upheld the right to privacy. Kuriakose whooped with joy and called his friends — the news rippled across the LGBTIQ community in Kerala — and “even a couple of homophobes” to share that it was indeed a new day. Kuriakose is one of the many living under the sword of Section 377 of the IPC that criminalises homosexuality. “My partner and I don’t want to leave the land we are born and live in but we look forward to having a favourable legal and social system. As far as Kerala is concerned, LGBTIQ people lack any support system and stay invisible at workplaces. The verdict, which mentions sexual orientation as a right, brings new hope for us,” says Kuriakose, who is the cofounder of an organisation called Queerala for the LGBTIQ community. While a curative petition on Section 377 is pending before the Supreme Court, Justice Chandrachud said that a two-judge bench’s reasoning in Koushal was flawed and could not be accepted. “Sexual orientation is an essential attribute of privacy. Discrimination against an individual on the basis of sexual orientation is deeply offensive to the dignity and self-worth of the individual. Equality demands that the sexual orientation of each individual in society must be protected on an even platform. The right to privacy and the protection of sexual orientation lie at the core of the fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.” It’s that remarkable line, among several, that has given Kuriakose and others a reason to dream of a different tomorrow. For Kuriakose, who writes Kochi as “Qochi” and cook as “cooq”, imprinting the “Q” of queer movement in his

vocabulary, courts can now be “qourts”. A rainbow arched from Kerala to Delhi that day. Ahmed Faraz, 30, a customer analyst at Google Accenture in Gurgaon, will not forget August 24. His iPhone kept ringing and beeping all day but it was only after work that he got around to checking the missed calls and WhatsApp messages. All of them were from his partner. “Love you. God never lets us down,” read one message. Another said: “A great day for the community.” After reading the third, “Supreme Court has made right to privacy a fundamental right… 377 soon won’t be a nightmare,” he rang his partner up. “It was pleasantly shocking,” recalls Faraz. Though he knew that the Supreme Court was slated to deliver the verdict on right to privacy, he did not think it would be a day of deliverance for them. Sitting in the office of Humsafar Trust — arguably India’s oldest LGBT organisation — at Sant Nagar, Delhi, he says, “My sexuality is now a fundamental right. Nobody can snatch it away or question it.” He stays with his partner in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar. His parents, living in the same locality, disowned him when they got to know about his sexual orientation from a Facebook post two years ago. Unhappy with himself for not coming out, Faraz had posted a message on Facebook — that he was gay and not ashamed about it — and tagged all family members. The verdict, says Faraz, will make the LBGTIQ community more assertive about their identity and sexual

Data Protection: “The dangers to privacy in an age of information can originate not only from the state but from non-state actors as well. We commend to the Union Government the need to examine and put into place a robust regime for data protection. (It) ... requires a careful and sensitive balance between individual interests and legitimate concerns of the state” State Interfering with Diet: “I do not think that anybody in this country would like to have the officers of the State intruding into their homes or private property at will or soldiers quartered in their houses without their consent. I do not think that anybody would like to be told by the State as to what they should eat or how they should dress or whom they should be associated with either in their personal, social or political life”

orientation. “It will make life a hell lot easier.” His partner, who doesn’t disclose his name, hasn’t yet come out to his family. Now, he might, bolstered by the judgment. “Why should being gay be a crime? Finally, the ghost of Section 377 would stop haunting us.”

beef was stored in his fridge, this judgment could see petitioners pleading for the right to eat without the state interfering in their plate. As it crucially says, rights are not about majoritarian opinions: “The purpose of elevating certain rights to the stature of guaranteed fundamental rights is to insulate their exercise from the disdain of majorities, whether legislative or popular. The guarantee of constitutional rights does not depend upon their exercise being favourably regarded by majoritarian opinion.” Bezwada Wilson, national convener of the Safai Karamchari Andolan and one of the petitioners who filed a PIL in 2012, challenging Aadhaar, says, “If the judges have commented on why the choice of food, dress and sexual orientation must be personal, it only goes to show how much the judges are concerned about what is happening in the country. If you clamp down on the eating of beef, saying that it hurts the sentiments of a certain section of the people, then one must not forget that those eating it also have sentiments. At the end of the day, laws are not made on the basis of sentiments. The sentiments of the majority can’t be used as an excuse to bulldoze the minority. This goes against the essence of democracy. The Supreme Court judgment helps in reinforcing this critical aspect of democracy.” (Read more in the interview, “Human beings are not numbers or data”.) The judgment will have a bearing not just on Aadhaar — which set the ball rolling for this extraordinary verdict — but also the DNA Based Technology (Use and Regulation) Bill, 2017. However, as Supreme Court advocate-on-record Lakshmi Ramamurthy says, “Balancing the right to information and the right to privacy will be tricky, and could take some time in bringing about a more equitable relationship between the citizen and the state.” Meanwhile, there is one person who needs this judgment more than anyone. Hadiya, the 24-year-old from Kerala, who was denied the freedom to marry and practise a religion and was put under the custody of her parents by the high court. The Supreme Court, instead of freeing her, put the NIA on the case. With this verdict, the citizen wrests back her agency. So will Hadiya. That’s the hope. 

Right to Eat Less than two years after Mohammed Akhlaq was lynched in Dadri on the suspicion that

Additional reporting by Charmy Harikrishnan, Prerna Katiyar and Indulekha Aravind

Fundamental rights are the only constitutional firewall to prevent State’s interference with those core freedoms constituting liberty of a human being. The right to privacy is certainly one of the core freedoms which is to be defended. It is part of liberty within the meaning of that expression in Article 21”

Privacy... eminently qualifies as an inalienable natural right, intimately connected to two values whose protection is a matter of universal moral agreement: the innate dignity and autonomy of man”

The inalienable fundamental right to privacy resides in Article 21 and other fundamental freedoms contained in Part III of the Constitution of India. MP Sharma and the majority in Kharak Singh, to the extent that they indicate to the contrary, stand overruled”

‘Right to privacy of any individual’ is essentially a natural right, which inheres in every human being by birth. Such right remains with the human being till he/she breathes last. It is indeed inseparable and inalienable from human being. In other words, it is born with the human being and extinguishes with human being”

The right of privacy is a fundamental right. It is a right which protects the inner sphere of the individual from interference from both State, and nonState actors and allows the individuals to make autonomous life choices”

J Chelameswar

SA Bobde

RF Nariman

Abhay Manohar Sapre

SANJAY KISHAN KAUL

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cover story AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 02, 2017

SC FRAME OF REFERENCE “Balancing Right to Information & Right to Privacy will be Tricky” Lakshmi Ramamurthy, advocate-on-record, Supreme Court

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he word ‘privacy’ will still remain open to interpretation. This judgment has not gone into specific entitlements and interests that would define the fundamental right to privacy and which has to be decided on a case-bycase basis. What implications the ruling would have on state policy and citizens’ rights will be the core issue. A welcome aspect of the judgment is that it makes it clear that sexual orientation is part of privacy and constitutionally protected, and that the 2014 verdict upholding Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code is flawed. The judgment has implications on the state-citizen relationship vis-àvis national security and freedom of speech. And, somehow, privacy as a notion is up against the larger public interests of national security, the needs of a knowledge society and even socio-economic policy. Drawing the line on balancing the right to information and the right to privacy will be tricky, and could take some time in bringing about a more equitable relationship between citizen and state.

“Your Freedom will Stop the Moment it Hurts Others” H Chandra Sekhar, advocate-on-record, Supreme Court

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n individual’s right to privacy is absolute unless it hurts or affects other person’s freedom. Every freedom has got its own restriction, termed as reasonable restriction. Despite privacy being intrinsic, the government can restrict it for legitimate aims. Example: Article 14 deals with equality for all before law. Still reservation has been kept for the backward classes, for those who are socially or economically backward. Many people challenge reservation. They feel it amounts to inequality. But this comes under reasonable restriction. Similarly, when a person involved in a crime is interrogated, they take all the information and can even tap his phone. What about beef ban? Does that impinge on one’s right? Cow is considered sacred for Hindus. One person has the fundamental right to eat anything but when one eats beef it hurts the other person’s religious sentiment. So the rights of the two people become contradictory. Every person and every group has complete freedom until it affects another person’s freedom. Again, you may have freedom of speech and right to silence. You can say whatever and whenever you want as long as it does not cause actual harm to anyone. As the saying goes: one’s freedom ends where another person’s nose begins.

“A Lot of Linking Data is Actually Sharing it” “Earlier I Had No Way of Saying No” Nachiketa Joshi, advocate-on-record, Supreme Court

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he way we are going into the internet world, and with the increasing impact of information technology on us, this was the right time to press the button whereby you have a balance between fundamental rights and the exposing of all your personal information to various authorities and companies. Now if I don’t want something, I can, at least, exercise that option. Otherwise, all my personal information gets distributed in the market. There was no way I could stop it or say no.

D Ashok Rajagopalan, advocate, Supreme Court

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he government will now be forced to protect the data secured from its citizens. At the same time, enforcing right to privacy is a thin balancing act. On the one hand, the government wants to save citizens from illegal activities by promoting the sharing of information in a responsible manner. On the other, when everything is related to your email, data-sharing between the government and third-party facility services is easy. Even the security of an individual is under threat as one may have knowledge of one’s location. The government has made linking Aadhaar to PAN mandatory. But a lot of that linking is actually sharing data. After this welcome judgement, I hope the government will now take security of data seriously. As told to Prerna Katiyar

“Human Beings are Not Numbers or Data” Bezwada Wilson, one of the petitioners who filed the PIL in 2012 challenging the Aadhaar scheme on the grounds that it violated fundamental rights to privacy and equality, is relaxed, less than 24 hours after the Supreme Court declared privacy a fundamental right. “I stand vindicated,” says the Magsaysay Award-winning activist and national convenor of the Safai Karamchari Andolan. The verdict, he says, will convey one message strongly: that human beings are not numbers or data. Whatever Bhim Rao Ambedkar established in the Constitution has been reinstated by this judgment, he says. Excerpts from an interview with Rajiv Singh:

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n what the verdict means to the people For long, people have patiently listened to whatever the state has told them, and followed obediently whatever the governments asked them to do. This landmark verdict unequivocally changes the paradigm. It tells people that whatever the state has been telling them to do for so long is not always correct. This verdict gives a ray of hope that from now onwards India will get to see more citizencentric policies. This verdict also makes it very clear that privacy is an integral part of liberty, which happens to be one of the foundations of the Constitution of India. The emphatic judgment also rekindles hope that the practice of logical and rational questioning, which has been fast disappearing from society, will get a new lease of life. On why Aadhaar loses its essence after this verdict Aadhaar violated fundamental rights to privacy and equality. Why should I have Aadhaar? Human beings are not mere numbers or data. This strong judgment by the nine-member bench will hopefully make the government learn some lessons. Though I can’t predict the future of Aadhaar, after this verdict it clearly loses its meaning. The government must drop this idea and shelve it. Government can’t go back to the court, arguing that it has spent loads of money on the project, and so it can’t shelve it. Who asked them, in the first place, to spend so much money on the project which never had constitutional validity? On the impact of the judgment on the manual scavenging community The manual scavenging community, like all citizens, has the fundamental right to privacy. Nobody should compel them to disclose their identity. It’s their right to stay private. If the government comes up with ‘reasonable restrictions’, citing that the fundamental right is not absolute, it will only expose its anti-people nature. I don’t think the government would try to do it, especially after this emphatic verdict.

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Die an Aadhaar Day? Maybe Not It may be back to square one for the “flawed” ecosystem that developed around the Aaadhaar

ber law expert Pavan Duggal. The SC judgment impacts state actions on collecting any biometric data and using the same to offer services or linking to multiple other services, like PAN, driving licence, pensions and so on, like in the case of Aadhaar. However, Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), told agencies that linking of PAN with biometric identifier Aadhaar will continue as previously directed; as will the

:: Shelley Singh

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n an increasingly digital world, in which artificial intelligence and big data are converging, there’s ostensibly no place to hide. The state has access (over the cloud) to your dates, dinners, calls, holidays, work, bank account et al. Besides, an expanding ecosystem for your unique ID Aadhaar, linking it with PAN cards, bank accounts, death certificates etc has raised questions on privacy and security — and inevitably prompted numerous WhatsApp quips, including: “We finally know the one thing you will take with you when you die. The Aadhaar number!” On Thursday, the Supreme Court came to the rescue, ruling that privacy is a fundamental right, protected as an intrinsic part of right to life and personal liberty and as part of freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. In effect, “the judgment has put the ball in the government’s court to come up with a privacy law,” says cy-

:: Rajiv Singh

I

n 2007, when the rape case against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was handed over to DIG Mulinja Narayanan at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), he came under pressure from predictable quarters. Few thought that he would be heralded as the man who cracked the case a decade later, after he retired. That’s exactly what has happened. “Kudos to the CBI for doing a thoroughly professional job,” says social activist Ranjana Kumari. The proximity of the Dera chief to ruling political parties over the last decade would have made it difficult for the investigative body to pursue the case. “The fact that they persisted speaks volume about their resolve,” she adds. Legal experts, however, reckon that it’s too early to conclude that the CBI, for long perceived as a caged parrot, has suddenly found its wings. Don’t forget that it took 15 years for the CBI to close the case — the Punjab and Haryana High Court had taken suo motto cognizance of the letter written by the two sadhvis to the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, narrating how they were raped by

Judiciary Scores in Panchkula It talks tough to the Haryana government a day after the conviction of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief

quoting of the 12-digit ID number for availing various government subsidies. “The SC verdict holding privacy as a fundamental right has in no way stopped the quoting of Aadhaar for various schemes as well as the filing of income tax returns,” says Pandey. Duggal points out that the SC judgment is monumental and recognises privacy as a fundamental right. “From 2009 to 2016 (almost 1 billion people were enrolled in these seven years), information was being collected based on an executive order. The Aadhaar Act was passed on the presumption that it is voluntary but later its use was being made mandatory. An ecosystem started developing around Aadhaar,” said Duggal. That ecosystem “is flawed as it does not address cybersecurity, privacy and security of data issues. Government will have to amend the Aadhaar Act,” added Duggal. Pandey, for his part, maintained that the “SC judgment has not said anything about the Aadhaar Act”. The SC judgment overturned a 63-yearold ruling that refused to recognise privacy as a fundamental right. Since then, much data has been generated and digitised, making it easier for the state to dive deep into citizen’s private lives. Recognising the challenges, even UIDAI’s first chairman Nandan Nilekani told ET in an interview in late April that India needs an advanced data protection, security and privacy law to deal with the data deluge. The SC judgment could now accelerate that. 

Singh and referred the case to CBI in September 2002. “In spite of the comprehensive investigation done by the CBI, the idea of its complete independence stays a myth,” says senior lawyer Siddharth Luthra. Credit instead should go to the Haryana and Punjab High Court that monitored the case closely. The court also talked tough to the Haryana government the day after 31 people died and 250 got injured in riots after the verdict. “You let a city like Panchkula burn for political gains. You let the situation escalate. You surrendered the situation,” the court thundered. Senior criminal lawyer Rebecca John contends that the real heroes are the two women who showed immense courage in sticking to their ground and recording their testimonies in spite of immense pressure, adding the investigating agency did play a crucial role in nailing the guilty, The credit for bringing the trial to its logical conclusion goes to the two sadhvis, says John. “They are the real heroes of the day.” 

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Restoring the Power Centre Why the idea of a renewed Infosys is difficult without the blessings of the man who founded it :: Kunal Talgeri

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ack in 1978, aged 23, Nandan Nilekani walked into the Pune office of Patni Computer Systems (PCS), a familypromoted company, in search of a job. He found NR Narayana Murthy. In 2008, he wrote in Imagining India: Family firms then “wielded tremendous operational and financial control and, while some of them remained competent despite the perverse incentives that came from such power, quite a few were run haphazardly and rarely made profits for the small shareholder.” The urge to build a better kind of a company in India catalysed him, Murthy and five others to create Infosys, now a $10.2 billion company. Now, Nilekani has returned as the non-executive chairman of Infosys in which the founders have a 12.75% stake. Corporate governance, or the thesis by which companies are controlled and directed, formed its bedrock. “Infosys was among the first companies to change this perception of Indian business through an ethos of transparency,” Nilekani wrote, a message he reiterated several times on his comeback on Friday. While Infosys is a far cry from the $780-million PCS (in 2010), in which the promoters had more than 40% stake until its sale to iGate in 2011, there are question marks over where the power centre resides in the Bengaluruheadquartered company. The past six years on Infosys’ board of directors have been rocky, even allowing for the ill-fated tenure of the first non-founder CEO Vishal Sikka. This is also the time

span in which the company began to move away from its promoter and longest-serving chairman, Murthy. Nilekani is the fourth person to chair Infosy in six years, excluding the co-chairman stints of Ravi Venkatesan (four months in 2017) and Kris Gopalakrishnan (two years). KV Kamath left Infosys in June 2015 to head the New Development Bank of BRICS countries, headquartered in China, and was succeeded by Seshasayee. But this tumultuous phase also saw Murthy come back — in June 2013 — as executive chairman, then a few months shy of turning 67. In radically different circumstances, Nilekani has repeated the act of a founder com-

BEFORE NILEKANI RETURNED… The past three financial years was the first time in 36 years that a founder wasn’t at the helm of the board 2011

2012

2013

REVENUE

REVENUE

REVENUE

$6,041 bn

$6,994 bn $7,398 bn

EMPLOYEES

2014

2015

2016

2017

REVENUE

REVENUE

REVENUE

REVENUE

$8,249 bn $8,711 bn $9,501 bn $10,208 bn EMPLOYEES

EMPLOYEES

EMPLOYEES

EMPLOYEES

EMPLOYEES EMPLOYEES 1,30,820 1,49,994 1,56,688 1,60,405 1,76,187 1,94,044 2,00,364 CHAIRMAN

CHAIRMAN

NR Narayana Murthy

NR Narayana Murthy

CHAIRMAN

CHAIRMAN

KV Kamath + Kris Gopalakrishnan

KV Kamath + Kris Gopalakrishnan

NO. OF DIRECTORS

NO. OF DIRECTORS

15

14

SD Shibulal took over as CEO from Kris Gopalakrishnan

NO. OF DIRECTORS

NO. OF DIRECTORS

15

15

Vishal Sikka took over as CEO from Shibulal

CHAIRMAN

CHAIRMAN

CHAIRMAN

KV Kamath

R Seshasayee

R Seshasayee + Ravi Venkatesan

NO. OF DIRECTORS

NO. OF DIRECTORS

10

9

NO. OF DIRECTORS

10

ing back after the Seshasayee-led board was dismantled in the backdrop of an eight-month feud with Murthy. In spirit, how is the promoter stronghold—minority shareholders — on Infosys different from the scenario at a typical Indian family business; or, say, of the Patnis’ control of PCS? Life does come full circle.

Consensus Building On August 25, when Nilekani addressed his first press conference in seven years, he had just finished a board meeting. A press release, capturing the action points of that meeting, was circulated among reporters present after the briefing began. Its second paragraph evoked Murthy again. “The Board believes it to be unfortunate that various differences of opinion have arisen between Mr Murthy and the board in the recent past. It wishes to express that it was not its intention to cause Mr Murthy or any other affected person any personal distress or anguish…” (A week before, Seshasayee’s board had attributed Sikka’s exit to Murthy.) When ET asked Nilekani if the board would prioritise curbing the influence of promoter groups over the board, he replied, miffed: “This is a board-managed company, where the chairman and board members will take all decisions in the full interests of the company, and keeping 100% of the shareholders in mind.” Earlier, he cited the board’s immediate priority as stability. “Basically, (to) have a stable environment, make sure that the management and the whole board and people working in Infosys are all back to doing what they should be doing, which is satisfying customers, transforming companies and so on.” The question is whether the performance is intricately tied in with promoter interest, as was the case in 2013. When Murthy returned that year Infosys, working under

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SD Shibulal’s Infosys 3.0 strategy (in new technology areas), he reset its focus on the traditional IT services business because it lends itself to volumes growth. More starkly, key first-line managers like Ashok Vemuri, BG Srinivas and V Balakrishnan — once identified by the board’s succession plan — quit the organisation. A former employee who had worked at Infosys for many years told this reporter then: “Murthy has an aura that suppresses a lot of intellectual output because people want to hear him speak. If you came with 10 points to share, you’d be lucky if you can do three points. The Murthy aura kept people from putting their best foot forward.” “Nilekani (as Infosys CEO) would argue with Murthy, whereas the other founders would figure out how to do something in the knowledge of how Murthy would do it,” he said. What helped Nilekani was he was deeply trenched in business and connected with the real world, which helped him build his case strongly, while Murthy focussed on corporate governance and values which were inwardfocused. Nilekani brings heft to the boardroom, and has Murthy’s trust. According to a former board member, there was a school of thought to renew Nilekani’s term as CEO back in 2007, purely for his business acumen. At TCS, Natarajan Chandrasekaran was being groomed for the top post, and Francisco D’Souza, aged 38, at $2.2 billion Cognizant had become CEO. Infosys had the momentum ($4.2 billion) with 35% annual growth, even though it lagged TCS ($5.7 billion in size) growing at 22%. But the board stayed true to the other school of thought that founders were professionals too, and the best of them could be considered for Nilekani brings CEO. heft to the The Board’s task was made easier boardroom, and by Nilekani, who would become cochairman, and had wider interests has Murthy’s trust. According like public governance. Already, his most prominent project was the to a former book Imagining India. By 2009, he board member, moved on to head the Unique Identithere was a fication Authority of India, at thenschool of thought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s to renew Nileka- invitation. Infosys cofounders Goni’s term as CEO palakrishnan (2008-11) and SD Shibulal (2012-14) succeeded him as CEO. back in 2007, Last Thursday, there were four purely for his departures from the board headed business acumen until then by Seshasayee: the chairman himself, Sikka, and independent directors Jeffrey S Lehman and John Etchemendy. The authority of that board — and Sikka — had been undermined, especially on repeated question marks around three points, which had been mooted more than a year ago and have been investigated since. One, the departure of chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal, two, the $200 million buyout of Panaya, and severance packages. Nilekani will get a full briefing on the investigations, and decide appropriate action. At Infosys’ international investors call on Friday, Abhiram Eleswarapu, an analyst with BNP Paribas, asked: “If the further briefing (by Nilekani) on investigations show no wrongdoing, then the recent disruptions may not have had a strong enough reason to start with. On the other hand, if you do find wrongdoing, it would raise fears that Mr Murthy was privy to more information than the others, both of which are not comfortable situations. So my question is how do you propose to put in a system for the long-term, so that such discussions do not occur again?” Nilekani was reluctant to get into a speculative conversation, but replied that if he learns of systemic things that need to be done, “we will do those systemic things.” But the Infosys patriarch had crept into the question again. The new chairman insists this is not about founders and non-founders. “This is about all of us working together to align and unite a company. I am here representing 100% of the shareholders.” Nilekani, an optimist, is clear: “I am a guy who thinks about the future. I have come here to address the future, at the request of all stakeholders.” 

PE for Infy? Private equity investors would love to get a slice of the one-time IT bellwether — only if they could INFOSYS ONE-MONTH STOCK PRICE

1,050

994.05 July 26, 2017 1,000

912.15

950

24 August, 2017

900

850 31 July

7 August

14 August

21 August

:: Malini Goyal

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man – who in turn has the backing of the founder nexpected showers lowered temperature in India’s who matters most – will be willing to sell equity to a Silicon Valley, Bengaluru, earlier this week. But perstrategic or/and financial investor. As for the first haps not enough to put out the fire that India’s most question, there may well be PEs with a craving for famous homegrown company, Infosys, is fighting. companies like Infosys. “A global player like As its storied founder NR Narayan Murthy Infosys can have an appeal for large global took on the board led by chairman R Seequity funds,” says London-based Alok shasayee and CEO Vishal Sikka, culminatOberoi, founder of PE firm ACPI Investing in the latter’s resignation, the compaments. ny’s shares began to tank. Most investors watched the freefall with dismay as brokerage houses downgraded the stock. PE Eligibility One section of investors, though, There’s an outright counterview to A top-tier IT may have sensed an opportunity bethat. Sanjiv Kaul, partner at ChrysCapiservices firm, fore Nandan Nilekani’s entry as nontal, reckons PEs shouldn’t waste their its compelling executive chairman two days back. time sniffing around Infy. “This organivaluation and CNBC TV18, citing unnamed sources, sation does not qualify for a PE to come reported that global private equity (PE) on board,” he says. He has his reasons. low promoter giant Blackstone had offered to buy a Even though Infosys was going through holding make stake in Infosys, and that the proposal Infy appealing a crisis it is hardly a distressed compacame up at the Infosys board meeting “In fact, growth was getting refor large global ny. on Thursday, and was duly rejected. stored. Strategically, it was headed in PE firms When contacted, an Infosys spokesthe right direction. This is an organisaperson said “the company will not com- Shriram Subramanian, tion that faltered while in transition,” MD, InGovern ment on speculation.” While ET Magahe adds. Another reason for Infy not being PE zine could not determine the report’s material, according to Kaul, is that the company’s veracity, it is fodder for thought: what if a PE fund shareholding is too fragmented to suit this class of wanted to buy into the in-the-wars IT services beheinvestors. The founders hold 12.75%, foreign institumoth whose price/earnings multiple has plunged to tional investors 38.31%, domestic institutions under 17 from highs of over 40 not too long ago. 11.98%, the general public 9.9%, non-banking muAfter all, it is not unusual for PE firms to actively tual funds 8.33% and others 18.24%. “For private look for beaten-down assets for a potential acquisiequity, complete control is very important to make tion. As India Inc reels under a debt crisis — bad a move,” adds Kaul. loans outstanding for banks stood at a decade-high However, Shriram Subramanian, MD of inves14% of total advances — a slew of PE giants like tor advisory firm InGovern, believes that a TPG, JC Flowers, CPPIB and KKR are reportlow promoter (founder) holding may be one edly flocking to India looking for attracof the reasons for Infy appearing alluring to tively priced assets. Infosys does not by a PEs. The other reason: a compelling valualong stretch qualify as a non-performing tion for a top tier IT services firm with a or distressed asset, but the strategic brick sound customer and employee base. wall it has hit coupled with the boardAmit Tandon, founder of investor adroom brawl has resulted in its valuation “Strategically, visory firm IiAS, has a different take. taking a hammering. This begs two it was headed “From a shareholder point of view, it (a questions: Are there PE funds that have PE entry) wouldn’t have changed the appetite and stomach for Infosys? in the right And, more importantly, would the direction. Infy much. It basically would have been one (newly-constituted) board be keen to does not quali- investor being replaced by another investor,” he says. What would have wortake up the offer? fy for a PE to ried him is if a PE investor was asking The second question is easier to answer: There’s pretty much no way that come on board” for special rights. But, then again, in the Sanjiv Kaul, partner, case of Infy, that would be wishful a company that’s got a cofounder and ChrysCapital thinking.  past CEO back as non-executive chair-

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Breaking the UCC Stalemate

In an open letter to the PM, Madhu Kishwar writes that an alternative to a UCC would be to junk all laws with a communal tag — including the Hindu Civil Code — and adopt existing Indian family laws

Dear Prime Minister Modi, You have hailed the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court on triple talaq as “historic” for granting equality to Muslim women and for “being a powerful measure for women empowerment.” This despite the fact that the convoluted and tortured 272-page verdict of Chief Justice JS Khehar pronounced that “Triple Talaq is a constitutionally valid mode of divorce being intrinsic to Islamic personal law and hence part of fundamental rights”. Interestingly, three other justices didn’t see this interpretation worth supporting. It’s a sad commentary on our secular democracy that a full bench of the Supreme Court, which doesn’t have to go begging for Muslim votes, couldn’t muster the courage to take a firm view against abhorrent practices that even Islamic, theocratic countries have banned. The fact that the mighty Supreme Court judges couldn’t make up their mind on the validity of triple talaq within Sharia, leave alone its constitutional validity, shows how illequipped our secular courts are to don the mantle of qazis, mullahs and maulvis. It defies comprehension why those who defend the divine sanctity of the Muslim personal law have willingly submitted to adjudication by India’s secular courts where non-Muslim judges unfamiliar with the intricacies of Islamic law and zero knowledge of Arabic decide matters ostensibly based on Sharia and Koran. It is akin to having IAS officers delivering Friday sermons or leading Eid prayers. As with much else, you have inherited this political mess from Congress government led by ultra-secular Nehru who, in the 1950s, doggedly pushed through half-baked reforms to create a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) only for Hindus. This, despite Ambedkar and several other leading lights of the Congress insisting that India needed to live up to its promise of being a secular state and hence honour the Directive Principle enshrined in Article 44 of the Indian Constitution, which clearly mandates that “the state shall endeavour to secure for all citizens a Uniform Civil Code throughout the territory of India”. But Nehru bestowed to Muslim personal law a status far above India’s Constitution and gave us a messed-up version of a Hindu Civil Code, which has had to be amended again and again, with many new laws added in recent decades for protection of Hindu women’s rights in the family. Do Only Muslims Follow Personal Laws? Most people rooting for the enactment of UCC are under the mistaken impression that only Muslims and Christians follow their customary laws. The reality is that even Hindus by and large follow the customary practices prevalent among their respective castes, sects and communities. For instance, despite amendments in the Hindu Succession Act that give women equal inheritance rights, daughters in countless Hindu families don’t get any share in parental property. Instead, parents seek to “compensate” daughters by giving them dowry at the time of marriage, which has been declared illegal by the Dowry Prohibition Act. Similarly, most Hindu communities continue to avoid intra-gotra marriages because they uphold this belief with passion that peoThe writer is Maulana ple belonging to the same gotra Azad share a brother-sister bond. In national professor, ICSSR, and founder of Manushi

their moral universe, a sagotra marriage is as good as incest even though there is no bar on sagotra marriages under the Hindu Marriage Act. Likewise, the custom of marrying within one’s caste and community continues among Hindus, Muslims and Christians alike, even though Hindu, Christian, or Muslim law doesn’t require people to marry within their caste. Tribal customary laws are lethally weighted against women without anyone daring to touch them because the issue is seen as politically volatile. Breaking the Stalemate: The only way to break the stalemate on UCC is to undo the damage done by the Nehru-led government, which

forced India’s secular courts to decide on family disputes on the basis of laws claiming religious sanction. The solution is much simpler than made out to be: The following proposal made by me in 1985 at the time of Shah Bano controversy has the potential to break the stalemate on UCC even today, that too without coercing Muslims and Christians into reform. It also enables the government to follow the Directive Principle of our Constitution that mandates that “the state shall endeavour to secure for the citizens Uniform Civil Code throughout the territory of India”: The secular courts of our

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country should stop adjudicating disputes on the basis of personal laws of any community — be it Hindu, Muslim, Christian or Parsi. Let’s junk all the laws containing a communal tag, including Hindu Civil Code. The state should confine itself to adjudicating cases only under the already existing secular laws such as the Indian Marriage Act, Indian Divorce Act, Indian Succession Act, and Indian Wards & Guardianship Act. This will cancel out the need to enact a new Uniform Civil Code. The existing “Indian” laws should be applicable to all citizens that decide to approach the secular courts, irrespective of their caste, creed, gender or religion. However, these laws may need to be carefully reviewed and improved in order to make them truly egalitarian and gender-just. Those who wish to continue with the customary practices of their community, claiming religious or customary sanctity, should be free to do so, provided they don’t expect secular courts of India to adjudicate and enforce their personal laws. The onus of ensuring compliance with what passes under the guise of the Muslim, Christian, Sikh, or Hindu customary law should rest with the consensually accepted leaders of that community instead of putting it on India’s secular law courts. However, if even one party to a family dispute feels wronged or dissatisfied with the verdict of the authority adjudicating customary law, that aggrieved person should have the right to approach the Indian courts where the dispute should be adjudicated only within the framework of secular laws & constitutional principles. Laws Apply Only When People Seek its Protection: Those who think this amounts to giving a free hand to regressive elements within each community should remember that family laws enacted by the state, including provisions of the Indian Penal Code, come into play only when someone invokes their protection through the police and law courts. For example, beating up one’s wife is a punishable offence. But if a battered wife chooses not to seek redress, the best of laws cannot be of help to her. Similarly, Muslim women who accept second or third marriages of their husbands are not going to benefit even if the arbitrary triple talaq is declared illegal. There is now concrete evidence that when better opA growing tions are available, women number of don’t hesitate to avail of Muslim women them. Today, a growing numare filing cases ber of Muslim women are filunder the Dowry ing cases under the Dowry Prohibition Act as Prohibition Act as well as the law against domestic viowell as the law against domestic lence, even though these laws don’t draw legitimacy violence, even from the Koran or the Sharithough these laws at. Neither the AIMPLB nor don’t draw any maulvi has dared prohiblegitimacy from it Muslim women from doing so. This is because these laws the Koran or the don’t have the word “Hindu” Shariat attached to them. The spontaneous, voluntary use of secular laws by affected women of all religions have had the salutary effect of bringing Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, tribal, non-tribal women on a common platform to fight for what are problems for women of all communities. Therefore, if we are serious about a Uniform Civil Code, let’s do away with laws with a communal tag and let the two systems compete with each other on the basis of voluntary compliance. Dumping the Hindu Civil Code will also take the wind out of the sails of all those who allege that UCC is a ploy to Hinduise Muslims and Christians. 

C O U N T E RV I E W

After Triple Talaq, UCC on the Double Why the government must now hasten to enact a Uniform Civil Code :: GR Gopinath

T

he Supreme Court by a majority verdict ruled that the practice of divorce through talaq-e-biddat or instant triple talaq among Muslims is “void”, “illegal” and “unconstitutional”. This clears the deck to hasten the enactment of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) across the country. In a society that aims to be decent, egalitarian and enlightened, laws have to be amended progressively. One hundred and fifty years ago, we had the practice of Sati and child marriage. It was fortunately abolished by reformers like Raja Ram Mohun Roy. Though Sati is no longer practised now, there are still cases of burning women over dowry and instances of child marriage. Bonded labour was abolished only when India became a Republic. Many of these practices have no legal sanction, but are still prevalent and not uncommon in many parts of the country. The Hindus, an amorphous people, do not have uniform customs and practices. There are myriad castes and sub-castes with their own beliefs and systems for marriage and remarriage, which is different for men and women, and even inheritance of property rights is not equally applied.

For the Woman In many parts of the country, a Hindu widow cannot and criminal code applicable to all citizens and immiremarry, while a widower can and in some communities grants, irrespective of caste, creed, colour or gender. he usually marries the unmarried sister of his late wife. The justice system and civil codes in all these countries Whether it is the dreaded khaps or honour killings and have evolved over more than 200 years. Who can bemany other regressive practices in many castes regardlieve that women had no franchise in America just a few ing property rights, marriage, divorce and alimony, it is decades ago or that slavery and slave trade flourished the women who bear the brunt and suffer the most. It is there or that homosexuals were imprisoned or that men the same among Muslims and their sub-sects or other with warped minds are still sitting in Senate to decide on minority faiths in the country. In the name of religion the abortion rights of women? and the power it bestows on them, they practise a tyrIt should be no one’s case to foist anny that mutilates women physithe civil code applicable to Hindus cally and emotionally and opEvery citizen must come on Muslims or other minorities. presses those who suffer the ignounder a common civil and Khap panchayats are probably miny, shame, privations, and penal code so that all are more inhuman and detrimental to denial of social, economic and poequal under the law. If a women and society’s progress than litical equality and dignity. fatwas or Shariat courts. Every citiWhen the Supreme Court passed nation cannot protect its zen must come under a common a judgment three years ago, saying women and give them civil and penal code so that all are that fatwas lack legal sanction, total freedom and equal equal under the law. If a nation canmaulanas tried to defend their opportunities to lead a not protect its women and give rights to practise their religion, increative and liberal life them total freedom and equal opcluding the issue of fatwas, under without fear of their men, portunities to lead a creative and the constitutional guarantee of reliwe are barbaric liberal life without fear of their gious freedom. The Supreme Court men, we are barbaric. And the new decree pertained to the case of a government will do well to take the initiative and disfather-in-law who raped his daughter-in-law; the punishtance itself from its own party hawks and associated ment meted out by the fatwa was for the man to live with hardline outfits to depoliticise the issue and under the the woman, the rape victim. One of the bizarre arguguidance of the Supreme Court take the best from the ments offered was that it was the father-in-law’s punishdemocratic world and our own various laws and pass a ment to live and maintain the girl whom he had raped well-crafted and thought-out Uniform Civil Code in Parand that it would serve as a deterrent to the rest of the liament so that it becomes law in every Muslims — completely ignoring the cruelty and the barstate in India without exception. baric nature of the punishment and not even considering Then India will not only be a truly develthat this could encourage more rapes. And what about oped country in the widest sense of the the woman who is the unfortunate victim? Has anyone word, but also a modern and civilised soasked her opinion? ciety where the creative energies of its In mature democracies of the West, the law guaranThe writer is the men and women can flourish in equal tritees citizens freedom to practise their own religion in founder of umph.  their private lives but they come under a common civil Air Deccan

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:: Sylvia Vatuk

T

Vatuk is professor emerita of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Chicago, and author of Marriage and its Discontents: Women, Islam and the Law in India

he widely publicised Supreme Court judgment is a welcome development, hailed enthusiastically by many in India and overseas who have long deplored the persistence among Indian Muslims of the practice of talaq-e-biddat, in which a man unilaterally dissolves his marriage, with instantaneous effect, by pronouncing the word “talaq” three times in quick succession. In recent decades, demands that this form of divorce be made illegal — as it already is in a large number of predominantly Muslim countries and others with significant Muslim minorities — have become ever more frequent and more strident, with the increasing use for this purpose of modern technologies, first the telephone, then email, instant messaging, Skype, Facebook et al. Previously, a man intent upon divorcing a woman from whom he was separated could, of course, put his words into writing and send — or have a qazi or his lawyer send — a letter informing her that they were no longer married. But newer means of communication have made it even easier — and arguably more common than before — to divorce one’s wife by long distance and with great rapidity. In the judgment’s 395 pages, the five justices — each representing a religion — addressed in different ways five very similar writ petitions, combined for this hearing by the court. Each asked that divorce by talaq-e-biddat be outlawed, as violative of a woman’s fundamental constitutional rights to equality with other citizens of India. While the case was groundbreaking in the sense that the Supreme Court has not previously directly addressed the question of the constitutional validity of such divorces, it has already ruled on their legality in a different context. As Flavia Agnes pointed out in a May 2016 piece for the Economic and Political Weekly — and as was reiterated by more than one justice in this case — the Court decreed in the 2002 Shamim Ara case that for a male-initiated Muslim divorce to be valid, it must be pronounced in a way that accords with Koranic injunctions that require allowing gaps of approximately one month between pronouncements and attempting a reconciliation with the help of arbitrators. Since 2002, a number of subsequent High Court judgments have been based on this precedent. But it is doubtful that the lower courts have uniformly heeded it when confronted with similar cases — principally in maintenance suits filed under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code, wherein the husband questions his wife’s eligibility for relief, referring to a provision of the 1986 Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act that denies a divorced Muslim woman the right to obtain a maintenance order against him under that section. The court did not invalidate male-initiated unilateral divorce, as such. It struck down only this one particularly egregious method of accomplishing it, one that

Adieu to the Shotgun Divorce The outcome of the triple talaq judgment will not be revolutionary, but with it will begin a gradual process of social change

what she has been promised — as mehr, the gift that a groom presents to his bride, to seal the legality of their marriage contract. Since in India it is quite rare for the mehr to be handed over at the time of the wedding and few wives obtain it thereafter, typically no cash changes hands when an agreement for khula is made. It is important to stress that a divorce by khula requires the husband’s cooperation. Should he refuse to consent — or if he cannot be located — the wife may be able to have her marriage dissolved by a qazi or by the imam or the lay committee ( jamaat) of her local mosque, assuming that she can convince them of the religious validity of her reasons for wishing to part from her husband. If all extra-judicial options fail, she can file suit in a civil court under the 1939 Dissolution of Marriages Act. This law enables a Muslim woman to divorce an unwilling (or absent) husband, on one or more of nine grounds, including his cruelty, desertion, impotence, or use of her property without her consent. For a variety of reasons, however, including the cost and the time involved in obtaining a judgment, women generally prefer to obtain an out-of-court divorce, if possible. Therefore, among Muslims, these account for the vast majority of woman-initiated divorces.

Real Impact

It is not widely

Muslims versus Hindus. In even the All India Muslim known that any case, the rates in both Personal Law Board (AIMMuslim women communities are far lower PLB) — which submitted to can initiate than in Western countries the Court an affidavit in opdivorce. Khula or even in most Muslim-maposition to the petitioners is the most jority countries in the Mid— considers “sinful” and commonly dle East and elsewhere. In advises its followers to reemployed any case, whatever the total frain from employing. If a extra-judicial figures on male-initiated diMuslim man wishes to disprocedure vorce are, there is little solve his marriage, to condoubt that the overwhelmform to the law he must ing majority result from a talaq-e-biddat now do so in the phased manner depronouncement, rather than by one of scribed in the Koran and must participate the more religiously approved, gradual in arbitration sessions aimed at persuadmodes of declaring talaq. ing him to change his mind before the divorce becomes irrevocable. Questions are often raised concerning Divorced by Women the Muslim divorce rate. It is, however, It is not widely known that India’s Muslim unknowable, since male-initiated divorcpersonal law also allows women to initiate es among Muslims take place extra-judia divorce. Khula is the most commonly cially and usually in private. Furtheremployed extra-judicial procedure. It inmore, just as in every other religious comvolves an offer by the wife to materially munity in India, divorces are not subject compensate her husband for releasing to any kind of official registration. For the her from the marriage. This usually same reasons, it is impossible to compare means either returning what she has rethe relative prevalence of divorce among ceived — or relinquishing all claims to

Thus, Muslim women seeking a way out of an unhappy or abusive marriage are not completely helpless and void of remedies. But it remains true that divorce is much easier for a man than for a woman and most Muslim divorces are accomplished by the man pronouncing talaq. Even after this momentous court judgment, it is not possible to speak of gender equity insofar as Muslim divorce is concerned. Finally, there is the question of this Supreme Court judgment’s practical significance. Will it have a real impact on the daily lives of Muslim wives in India and, if so, how and how soon? The AIMPLB may even feel the pressure to further revise its position on talaq-e-biddat, going further than simply “advising” men to “avoid” the practice or threatening them with a social boycott. As knowledge of this judgment spreads, one will see increasing numbers of court cases in which the issue of a woman’s marital status is crucial to the outcome. In particular, growing numbers of women who were divorced by triple talaq will be encouraged to file as married women for maintenance orders against their husbands under Section 125. Some will succeed in obtaining orders for stipends payable from the date of the invalid divorce, even if the husband immediately initiates a new one, this time adhering to the approved procedures and waiting out the necessary three months. In short, the outcome of this judgment will not be revolutionary. But it will mark the beginning of a gradual process of social change for the ultimate benefit of all Muslim women, at least in this one sphere of their lives. 

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CHANGING TRACK

Prabhu’s Pet Projects BULLET TRAIN Work on a `1 lakh crorehigh speed rail project from Mumbai to Ahmedabad is likely to start later this year IMPACT: A change of guard is unlikely to impact the project, as the funding has been tied up — Japan government has agreed to largely fund it (loan with 0.1% interest) with the government’s contribution being less than 20% of the project cost

The current incidents of derailment are not an issue as the safety mechanism in high-speed rail is different from that of the conventional trains

IR Control Room Voiceovers

Suresh Prabhu had kick-started the process of reforming the Railways in right earnest. Whether he’s replaced or not, those reforms have to continue, with a sharper eye on safety and execution :: Shantanu Nandan Sharma

A

t around 7 am on Wednesday, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu called up the Prime Minister’s residence to seek an appointment. The minister insisted he wanted to meet the PM immediately. The PM apparently conveyed the message that Prabhu could meet him after the cabinet meeting scheduled to be held that day. Prabhu seemed restless; he woke up at 4 am that day and instructed his key officers to move in no time to the Rail Bhawan’s control room. Soon after the cabinet meeting ended and Prabhu had a brief interaction with the PM, he tweeted, saying he was extremely pained by the “accidents, injuries to passengers and loss of precious lives”. Then he announced he had offered to resign. “Hon’ble PM has asked me to wait”, he clarified. He did not come to his office; instead he left the PMO and headed straight to an “undisclosed” location. “We have no clue. He has gone out of Delhi,” said one of his key aides when media persons rushed to Rail Bhawan that afternoon to hear from the horse’s mouth. ET Magazine spoke with four railway officers to piece together this report. None wanted to come on record. At least on two points, they echoed the same versions. First, the two rail accidents in four days — Kalinga Utkal Express derailment at Khatauli in Muzaffarnagar (in which 22 died and 106 were injured) and Kaifiyat Express derailment at Auraiya (25 injured), both in Uttar Pradesh — took place because of human error by railway employees. Two of them doubted the authenticity of the control room audio clips that got circulated after the first incident, but conceded that there was enough proof to conclude that the men on the ground goofed up and allowed the train to pass at high speed despite glitches on the track. The audio clips, which ET Magazine heard but couldn’t verify, make it clear that punctuality got precedence over safety. Second, officers close to Prabhu said the minister is indeed emotional. He thought of quitting soon after he had returned from the site of the Indore-Patna Express derailment last November, one of the worst train accidents that

Excerpts of audio clips, purportedly between the Khatauli station master and Delhi division control room ahead of the Kalinga Utkal Express derailment that killed 22 and injured 106. It appears a 20-minute block was asked for maintenance work, but was denied by the Delhi division’s control room

STATION REDEVELOPMENT IR has begun the process of modernising 400 railway stations; tangible progress seen in 75 stations IMPACT: As IR does not need to pay a rupee for the `1 lakh crore station development project, earmarking more fund for safety is unlikely to impact it

A change of guard may however slow down the current momentum

Khatauli…Abhi nahi chale Utkal? Signal de de? 1ST VOICE:

(From Khatauli…Utkal Express has not started? Should we give the signal?)

SAFETY REFORMS 2ND VOICE: Abhi nahin… (Not now)

1ST VOICE: Khatauli…20 minutes ka PWI block mang rahe hain (Khatauli…They are

asking for a 20-minute maintenance work block); PWI is the permanent way inspector who heads the team of gangmen entrusted to physically check the tracks

3RD VOICE: Ye kaun sa block hain? (Which block is this?)

1ST VOICE: Pata nahin, koi gluejoint change karne ke liye bol rahe hain. Main isko bol raha hu, gaadiyo ka group hain. Ye kaise hoga? (I don’t know

exactly. They are talking about changing some joints; I was telling how can we order a block when there is a queue of trains?)

IMPACT: Safety will be the top priority

irrespective of who becomes the next railway minister The tendering process of retrofitting 40,000 ICF coaches to superior coaches to get expedited; more emphasis likely in the removal of unmanned crossing

1ST VOICE: De du 15-minute ka block? (Should

we give it a 15-minute block?)

Block ka time nahi hain. Gaadiya bohut hain…(There’s no time for

4TH VOICE:

the block. There are a number of trains)

1ST VOICE:

Prabhu got the government’s nod for a non-lapsable safety fund of `1 lakh crore to be spent over the next 5 years; IR also decided to stop producing inferior ICF coaches

Thik hain (okay)

(*ET Magazine can’t verify the authenticity of the clips though at least 2 railway officials have confirmed the clips’ authenticity; IR owned up the lapses before suspending 4 employees and sending another 4 senior officials on forced leave)

resulted in 150 deaths. Yes, poor safety statistics — 251 death from 145 derailments in the last two and half years alone — will continue to haunt Prabhu or his replacement. And if the PM does replace Prabhu, the new minister will surely accord the highest priority on safety. But that raises several questions on other fronts. Will there be a pause on spending on rail infra — `4 lakh crore has been spent between 2014 and 2018 as against `4.9 lakh crore between 1947 and 2014? Or, will the IR succeed in mobilizing huge extra budgetary resources (like, for instance, the `1.5 crore loan taken from the Life Insurance Corporation)? Or, will the raging safety debate slow down the highspeed rail project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, for which the government needs to cough up just 20% of the proposed `1 lakh crore; the rest will come from a Japanese government loan at a meagre 0.1% interest? Prabhu may have failed the nation on safety, but will a new minister be able to match him on the reforms front? “I wish the new minister won’t take the railways on older tracks, like announcing new trains and laying foundations without any followup,” a railway insider quips. 

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AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 02, 2017

RISE OF INTERNET Netflix Market Value:

$77.8 billion

Popular Original Shows: House of Cards, Stranger Things, Narcos The pioneer in video streaming, which has 104 million members in over 190 countries, including India, plans to spend $6 billion on programming in 2017. In India, Netflix has commissioned an original series based on Vikram Chandra’s novel Sacred Games and has put out stand-up comedy specials by Vir Das and Aditi Mittal

15

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AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 02, 2017

Apple Market Value:

Fans of video streaming will now be truly spoilt for choice with Apple, Facebook and Google making clear their intent to take on the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and HBO Go. They are spending billions of dollars on original content, besides acquiring popular TV series and films. ET Magazine gives you a snapshot of the video on demand (VoD) market globally and in India, and the rising influence of streaming platforms

$815.4 billion

Facebook

Popular Original Shows: Planet of the Apps, Carpool Karaoke (on Apple Music)

Market Value:

Apple may have been late to the video streaming space, but Netflix and Amazon cannot take the iPhone maker lightly. After all, it has a cash pile of around $260 billion, more than three times Netflix’s market value. Apple is reportedly spending over a $1 billion next year on original content, which could result in ten shows, and has hired two of Sony’s TV honchos to lead the effort

:: G Seetharaman

$492.6 billion The social media behemoth earlier this month announced that its users will soon be able to enjoy live and recorded shows under the ‘Watch’ tab on its website and apps, and has hired a former MTV executive. According to the New York Times, Facebook is willing to spend $3-4 million per episode of original content

Google Market Value:

$649.5 billion

Popular Original Shows: 12 Deadly Days, Prank Academy Google hopes to use the popularity of YouTube to take on Netflix and Amazon with its subscription service, YouTube Red, with original content targeted at the young, including spin-offs of Karate Kid and Step Up. The New York Times has reported the company is willing fork out $3 million per episode of drama and $2 million for an episode of a comedy series

The global VOD market is set to grow steadily

Amazon

Market size in 2016

Market size in 2021

$16.2 bn

$23.9 bn

Riding on its huge e-commerce customer base, Amazon is Netflix’s biggest competitor at the moment, with its streaming service, Prime Video, available in over 200 Market Value: countries. Amazon is reportedly spending $4.5 billion this year on content. Amazon, which entered India after Popular Original Shows: Transparent, Netflix, was the first in the original series race, with Inside Mozart in the Jungle, Edge, inspired by the Indian Premier League; there are 17 The Man in the High Castle more Indian originals in the pipeline

$474.4 billion

63

VOD accounts for less than a fifth of the digital media market

China’s market is expected to rise by a quarter annually till 2021

Share of digital media market in 2016 (%)

CAGR in VOD in 2016-2021

China Europe US

25.5%

8%

Digital music E-Publishing

3.7%

16.8%

The US accounted for over half the market in 2016

58.5%

21.5%

5.5%

Source: KPMG

10%

VOD

17.7%

Games

55.5%

13.2 9.5 4.6 4.2 2.4 OZEE (Zee)

NETFLIX

SONY LIV

Source: Statista

Netflix’s The Crown bagged the Golden Globe for Best TV Series — Drama for 2016

Manchester by the Sea, also distributed by Amazon Studios, took home the Oscars for Best Actor and Best Screenplay, and was nominated in the Best Film category

AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

Share of China

Active subscribers in January 2017 (million)

Amazon’s Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle have both won the Golden Globe for Best TV Series — Comedy or Musical

VOOT (Viacom)

Share of US in VOD market

Share of Europe

Hotstar is India’s most popular video streaming service

The Salesman, an Iranian film distributed by Amazon Studios in the US, won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film

HOTSTAR (owned by Star India)

Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) — 8.1%

Streaming services are taking the fight to Hollywood studios and TV networks in prestigious awards

The White Helmets, a documentary short distributed by Netflix, won an Oscar this year

13th, a Netflix original documentary, was nominated for an Oscar, as were Netflix-distributed documentaries like What Happened, Miss Simone? and Virunga

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PHOTOS: DEEPAK G PAWAR

E H T F O N RETUR S E V I T P CA Vijay Ratnaparkhe, MD, Robert Bosch Engg and Business Solutions

Why India has become a nerve centre for a fresh wave of global innovation centres :: Malini Goyal

Lalitha Indrakanti, central leader, Cargill Business Services Cargil Inc is a $109-billion privately-held MNC in a range of agri-commodity related businesses

India GIC: Set up in September 2014, the India centre is the largest global GIC for Cargill

A

Has 1,800 employees, almost half of its global staff strength of 4,000 The centre works closely with the global HQ in critical areas like finance, procurement, data analytics, HR, logistics. Global freight management, staff management of Cargill happens out of India. Over 60% of the global finance work is done out of India

“Access to talent is the biggest draw. In no other country can we dream of touching 1800 staff in two years”

fter 23 years with global information technology (IT) giants like IBM and SAP, in 2014 Lalitha Indrakanti, 42, made the surprising move to foods & agriculture multinationnal Cargill. “I couldn’t have asked for more,” Indrakanti told ET Magazine earlier this week. If you’re wondering why a techie would be so upbeat about such a switch, the answer is a simple one: Indrakanti had joined as head of Cargill’s business services centre in Bengaluru, which provides the parent company back-end services across functions like IT, human resources, logistics and sourcing. The Cargill centre has 1,800 of the 4,000 employees that Cargill employs at its six such service centres across the world, including China and Brazil. India is the largest and the only one in which all business verticals are present. “In no other country could we have dreamt of touching 1,800 in such a short time,” says Indrakanti. Numbers tell only part of the story. The growing confidence of the HQ and the rising complexity of work that India does make Indrakanti happier. “We have a seat at the table at the HQ,” she says. Over 60% of the global finance work is done out of India. More importantly, in a range of new areas and technologies like digital, artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, India is the only go-to place. The global Cargill app was developed here. Its new immersive learning centre (ILC) in Bengaluru will work on new ideas, seed new products and accelerate prototyping before being rolled out globally. The ILC also has a machine learning microlab to help Cargill focus on this space. “India’s young tech-savvy workers willing to experiment is a big draw. Even the cost of failure here is much lower,” says Indrakanti. By 2019, she expects the staff count to nudge 3,000. GICs or global innovation centres have been around since the 1990s when MNCs like Texas Instruments first set foot in India. Of late, though, there has been a surge in interest. “From being a critical part of sourcing strategy, India is now a critical part of an MNC parent’s innovation agenda,” says Somak Roy, senior analyst, Forrester, a market research firm.

“Value creation in our R&D has now shifted from mechanical to to embedded software. That’s where India excels” Bosch is a German engineering and electronics MNC with a revenue of $79 billion with over 3.9 lakh employees India GIC: Among the earliest, it was set up in the 1980s

Over the last three years, its employee count has gone up from 6700 to 19,000 today Besides India, it has a center in Vietnam (1300 staff) and Mexico (300 staff). A lot of very critical products, especially for the emerging markets, are designed and developed in India

GICs may not be big job creators like the IT services firms... With under 200 employees:

200-500 employees:

55 %

20 %

500-1000 employees:

10 %

15 %

More than 1,000 employees:

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GICs in India: A Steady Build-up India’s importance as GIC hub is growing

1,208 1,101 1,165

911 497 122 2000

2005

2010

2013

2015

2016

Global Hub India accounts for over

50% of the GICs globally and over 65% of the global captive headcount

68%

24%

of GICs in India are from US

from Europe

A slew of new MNCs are looking at India while old ones are scaling up their presence. Last year, Apple Inc set up an R&D centre in Hyderabad which will eventually employ 4,000 people and work on Apple Maps. Many like Google, LinkedIn, Uber, GroupOn, Facebook, Rubrik have built or are building their R&D campuses in India, in most cases their largest outside of the US. Vijay Govindarajan, professor at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, says there are three phases of evolution for GICs, and General Electric (GE) is a good example of that. The first step is to do plain-vanilla business process outsourcing on labour-cost arbitrage. In the second phase, they leverage talent to innovate for their global products. GE has graduated to the “third phase, which is about reverse innovation, creating products in India relevant for other markets”. New sectors and new geographies are adding momentum to the GIC wave. Over 20 Japanese MNCs — including Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi — have set up or are exploring India centres. German auto component maker ZF-TRW Automotive, Swiss software development firm Luxoft Holdings, Latin-American beer giant AB InBev and department store chain Falabella are all scouting for a centre here. “From labour arbitrage the game is now shifting to tech arbitrage. It’s a sign of India’s growing maturity in the GIC space,” says Arup Roy, research director, Forrester India. Unsurprisingly, Rishabh Kaul, cofounder of Belong, an online job search platform, says he is seeing a surge in GIC clients. New sectors beyond the traditional banking, financial services & insurance, and IT are a part of the new surge. With the Amazonisation of retail, the big retailers — JC Penney, Walmart, L Brands and Target — have set up GICs in India. Many digital native MNCs from Amazon to Expedia too are here. Consulting firm Zinnov says new sectors include aerospace, manufacturing, oil & gas and medical devices. Bengaluru-based Nasscom vice-president VS Viswanathan says the IT industry lobby gets one new MNC query every two weeks. Lalit Ahuja, founder at ANSR — the company that helps MNCs set up GICs in India

Hari Vasudev, vice-president technology, Walmart Labs The $486 billion retailing giant has 2.3 million employees, 260 million customers a week with 11,695 stores in 28 countries

— could not be more upbeat: “MNCs have tasted blood. GICs in India are at an inflection point.” Having helped companies like Target set up their GICs, Ahuja reckons that at a global level India today already has over half of the number of GICs and 65% of the global captive headcount. Ahuja’s ANSR alone has helped set up 27 GICs in India that today employ over 50,000 executives and have brought in investments of over $1 billion.

A Sunset & a Sunrise

A chunk of India’s $150-billion IT industry, which contributes over 9% to GDP and emIndia GIC: Set up in November ploys close to 4 million people, is under threat. 2011, the GIC today has 1,200 Built on cost arbitrage in the 1990s, their busiengineers ness model is facing challenges. Digital disruption and new technologies like cloud computThis is Walmart’s third GIC in ing, artificial intelligence (AI), IoT (internet of the world, the other two are Things) and big data are the new buzzwords. A in the US and Brazil report by consulting firm Bain & Co says that IT budgets are shifting towards digital technoloAs Amazon outpaces Walmart in gies, from 20% till recently to as much as 45% the digital era, the latter is today. Unsurprisingly, from 14% of the revestrengthening its ecommerce nues today Nasscom expects digital-led busioffering. The India GIC helps nesses to bring 60% of the IT industry’s revebuild new platforms to supnue by 2025. port ecommerce and store It is in this context that green shoots of GICs businesses globally and their potential hold significance. GICs — a subset of the IT industry and earlier called capFor example, India has helped tives — have been around since the 1990s with build data lake Infrastructure and MNCs like GE, American Express and Texas machine learning platforms to Instruments as pioneers. Perhaps low-profile analyse and harness its global by choice, they were often overshadowed by customer data. Walmart’s the media-savvy outsourcing giants like next-gen pricing strategy is being Infosys and TCS and their dazzling shaped here. Its year on year growth of next-gen global “The India lab is up to 40% in the go-go logistics services changing what our years. The trend has has been built customers expect now reversed, what in India from us – at our with IT outsourcing physical stores, slowing down, and mobile, social and the staid and steady even online plat- GIC growth — beforms. We are creat- tween 2005 and 2016, ing the future of 711 new GICS were shopping here” setup — looks impressive. More importantly, they hold out hope for an industry staring at its sunset.

Up the Value Chain

Understanding the Current Wave Many digital native companies like Uber, Linkedin, Groupon are leading the current GIC wave

Global retailers like JC Penney, Target, Walmart — feeling the heat from Amazon — are looking at centers in India

Companies from new geographies — Asia and Latin America — are joining in. Examples: InBev, Sony, Hitachi

Older GICs like NetApp, Texas Instruments and Bosch are setting up startup accelerators and collaborating with universities

...but the multiplier effects for India are compelling

Mentor startups: GICs’

Patents & product push:

Research in colleges: GICs

Stake in digital future: R&D

cost-arbitrage led IT wave, it will mark a shift towards innovation-led IT industry

accelerator programs will nurture startups and connect them to MNCs’ global networks

Innovation-led GICs will help India file more patents and produce more product startups

are setting up centres of excellence in colleges in new areas like AI, IoT to align graduates with industry

spend for MNCs is rapidly shifting from hardware to software. GICs will help India benefit from it

Source: ansr; Nasscom; Zinnov

Innovation focus: From

But there are other important deeper shifts. Pioneer of India’s BPO pioneer Raman Roy says: “Earlier, we were order takers. The HQ knew what they required and we replicated it here. Some called it ‘your mess for less’.” No longer. “Today, with new technologies like AI, cyber security, the HQ doesn’t have the answers. We have a seat at the table. It’s a partnership where we sit as equals,” he adds. Take retailer Target, for example. Its GIC started in 2005 driven largely by cost arbitrage. Steadily, the importance and the complexity of the India GIC has risen. “2011 was our inflection point when the Target.com platform, developed in India, went live. From a transactional centre used to taking orders, our role became more strategic,” says Anand Venkateswaran, vice-president, Target. Amid Amazon’s threat and that of digital disruption, the India GIC is becoming critical. To accelerate innovation, three years back it launched its only accelerator program that has nurtured 30 Indian startups, bringing new tools and innovation to its fold. Oher retailers have followed suit. “We de-

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sign, prototype and build technology-fueled products that bridge the gap between what’s next and what’s best. We are not just ready for the future of shopping. We’re creating it,” says Hari Vasudev, vice-president (technology), Walmart Labs. Set up in 2011, the lab has 1,100 employees today. It is a similar story at SAP Labs, which started in India in 1998. “Today, our network of three labs in India with 7,300 employees contribute significantly to SAP’s flagship products like SAP HANA, the platform for next-gen applications and analytics,” says Dilipkumar Khandelwal, managing director, SAP Labs India. Texas Instruments set up its India captive way back in 1985, “driven not so much by cost arbitrage as much as finding great talent,” says Santhosh Kumar, managing director, Texas Instruments. Today, with 1,200 employees, the India GIC focuses on new projects like autonomous cars and electric vehicles, and is co-creating products with its global customers in India. “Our relationship with the HQ has matured. We are not dependent but interdependent,” Kumar says. Interestingly, close to 100 global leaders of the MNC are today based out of India. Deepak Visweswaraiah, MD at data management firm NetApp, sums it up well: “The R&D landscape in India has attained a mature credibility on two aspects. One is the ability to drive ecosystem connects. The sec-

The global engineering and R&D footprint of top 10 MNCs across 13 verticals

350

240 200 180

180 131

156

130

135

105 2011 2016 2020

65 West Coast

Eastern Europe

India

China

India’s Silicon Valley Bengaluru is the biggest hub with over 500,000 full-time employees (%age of GICs city-wise)

Bengaluru:

41

Chennai:

16

Hyderabad:

9

Pune:

9

Others:

25

LK Prasad, founder, Acceleron Labs

Set up in 2014, the startup develops software defined mini-data center (MDC). Its MDC reduces data center’s costs by accelerating server performance and deploying green data center solutions The GIC connect: It is part of Intel India’s

Maker Lab incubation program for startups. The program, rolled out in 2016,has supported over 50 startups offering them support, mentoring, access to its partners and technologies. So far 10 startups under the program have launched their products in the market

“Intel’s Maker Lab has given us technical mentorship, access to network partners while opening new doors for us”

Keshav Vijayaraghavan, founder, The House of Blue Beans A six-year-old startup, it works with virtual reality and computer graphics technology to create solutions for the homes and lifestyle industry

The GIC connect: Picked by global

retailer Target as part of its accelerator program, it is developing products like Digitize that Target is using to create 3D library ASHWANI NAGPAL

How India Compares

340

“Target has helped us gain access to the US market. Lowe’s is also our customer”

ond is its ability to influence and lead global product charters.” Visweswaraiah wears two hats, one as a India GIC leader and another as one of the global senior vice presidents leading a global team.

Why India

compelling location for GICs. Also, India’s poor bandwidth, low technology penetration, price sensitivity and a young tech-savvy population make it a great testbed to create and test new products before rollout in other markets. LinkedIn, which set up its technology centre in 2011 in Bengaluru, has launched three critical madein-India products, including LinkedIn Lite in 60-odd countries. “The technology centre here powers our innovation, technology and research that make the LinkedIn experience richer for members globally,” says Akshay Kothari, country manager and head of product, LinkedIn India.

For many reasons, India is uniquely positioned to capture the global GIC wave. “China is the hardware capital of the world. And India is the software capital,” says Anand Subramaniam, engagement manager, consultancy firm Zinnov. It helps that the ongoing disruption in the corporate world — from automobiles to consumer electronics — is all about software as a differentiator. Most MNCs have had experience of out- The Multiplier Effect sourcing IT services to India in the past. In- “GICs are where the innovation happens and dia’s abundant supply of young engineers is hardcore development gets done. These are a huge plus. “India’s amazing the most valuable jobs that Intalent supply relevant to our dia can attract and will do the From telecom to energy, India is industry is at a scale like no most to boost innovation. Othleapfrogging tech- er countries offer huge incenother. We are partnering nologies in many with colleges to further build tives to companies to locate sectors. Problems on it,” says Nivruti, Rai, R&D centers there,” says Vivek in India today have Wadhwa, distinguished fellow, country head, Intel India. Inglobal relevance, dia has big edge over China Carnegie Mellon University. making India a on many counts: proficiency The relative share of corpoin English, cultural adapta- compelling location rate R&D is rapidly shifting for GICs bility and a better alignment from hardware to software in a with the MNC culture. Addirange of industries. “Value tionally, at least three GIC heads spoke about creation has shifted to embedded software. concerns around data security and patent We do lot of manufacturing in China. I protection in China. As a result, most GICs in haven’t heard of many who are looking at China focus on the domestic market needs China’s software capabilities. They think of rather than the HQ needs. India,” says Vijay Ratnaparkhe, MD, Robert Three other important factors are catalys- Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions ing India’s GIC wave. For many MNCs like Which has 20,000 staff in India. Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and Uber, the With the GICs working on cutting edge lure of India’s domestic market is rising. technologies, number of patent applications From telecom to energy, India is also leap- in India is rising. In 2015-16 it surged by 30% frogging technologies in many sectors. Prob- to 3.41 lakh vis-a-vis a year ago. Qualcomm lems in India (think 4G and 5G) today have leads with 1,884 patent applications. “Qualglobal relevance, making India an even more comm really values India’s talent, their skill-

sets and knowledge. Not just India, these engineers work across projects in multiple locations,” Larry Paulson, vice-president, Qualcomm India. GICs are playing a critical role in nurturing India’s startup ecosystem. Stints at a GIC play a foundational role in grooming new entrepreneurs. Texas Instruments has been a great incubator for over 10 entrepreneurs including Raghunandan G of TaxiForSure (which was acquired by Ola), Venugopal Gopinathan, cofounder of Angiometrix, a medical device company, Mettl cofounder Tonmoy Shingal and Amagi Media cofounder Baskar Subramanian. “Just two GICs – GE and Amex – helped build India’s BPO wave in the past. I expect the same in future,” says serial entrepreneur K Ganesh. Already, Indian startup are slowly evolving from global copycat business ideas (think Ola, Flipkart, Olx) to more innovation-led ones. Examples: product discovery platform Unbxd Inc and Betaout, a marketing automation platform for ecommerce companies. GICs are also revving up the startup ecosystem with their accelerator programs. Accelerators of many like Microsoft, SAP, NetApp, Target are mentoring young startups. “A chance to work on real global-scale projects gives these startups a great advantage,” says Ganesh. Nasscom president R Chandrasekhar says it has identified eight technology areas – including AI, IoT, cloud computing, machine learning, cyber security — and over 150 jobs of the future. A platform-based online and offline course offering is in the works that will help train and upskill Indian workers and students in these relevant technologies. This may not tackle the looming layoffs in India’s IT outsourcing industry. But, perhaps, it will pave the way for a new — and more promising — future for India’s tech industry. 

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India’s

AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 02, 2017

Innovation

D vas

Last week, the MIT Technology Review announced its annual list of top 35 innovators under the age of 35. Called TR35, it had inventors, entrepreneurs, visionaries, humanitarians and pioneers. For over a decade, MIT Technology Review has recognised exceptionally talented technologists whose work has the potential to transform the world. Past honorees include Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, and Jonathan Ive, chief designer of Apple. This year’s list has three Indians, all women. In interviews with Vanita Srivastava, the women innovators talks about their research and more. Edited excerpts:

“Focus on Quality of Research, Not Quantity” “Go Against the Flow” Neha Narkhede, 32, is cofounder and CTO of Confluent, a company backing the Apache Kafka messaging system that she has co-created. Before founding Confluent, she led streams infrastructure at LinkedIn. After completing her bachelor’s in computer science from Pune University, she went to the Georgia Institute of Technology for her master’s. On the work for which she was selected I helped co-create Apache Kafka, an open source technology that acts as a central nervous system to connect all of a company’s data and make it available for use within a few milliseconds. At Confluent, the company behind the Apache Kafka project, I oversee the technology direction, product strategy and engineering, ensuring we build the right product for our customers. Kafka has seen widespread adoption across thousands of companies like LinkedIn, Netflix, Pinterest, AirBnb, Verizon, Salesforce. We are solving a key problem that companies face, which is collecting data about everything happening inside the company and allowing applications and systems to react to events in real-time. On the broader objective behind this research Our mission is to build a central nervous system for every company in the world. There is a tectonic shift happening in data processing needs as companies become more digital. The old world of batch processing needs to be replaced by a modern world of real-time data and stream processing. Building the technology that helps companies make the shift from batch to real-time is the objective of Confluent and Apache Kafka. Data used to locked up in silos. Traditional solutions could not keep up with the newer high throughput data sources. Kafka provides an elegant solution to this problem. On India’s research ecosystem India is at the forefront of technology and the startup ecosystem ripe for disruption. It is exciting to see the change in business ecosystem with the rise of venture capital. The availability of capital is the key to enable India’s bright minds and budding entrepreneurs. On message to India’s young researchers Go against the flow, find opportunities that solve a real problem and develop persistence to turn your vision into reality.

Radha Boya, 32, is a Leverhulme early career fellow at the University of Manchester where she is exploring the fundamentals and applications of atomic scale nanocapillaries. She completed her PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru, in 2012. On the work for which she was selected I make atomically thin and ultra-smooth pipes — capillaries. Individual atomic planes, which are removed from a bulk crystal, leave behind flat voids of a chosen height. When one-atom-thick layer of graphite — graphene —was isolated in 2001, it led to a scientific revolution, bringing in new types of 2-D materials. What I have made is an antipode of graphene by focusing on what is left behind after extracting one-atomic layer out of a crystal — an ultrathin cavity. This is a completely new type of nanoscale system, which can be made as a cavity (to confine various substances) or an open-ended tunnel (for transporting matter). Tiny pipes which can allow flow of fluids through them have interesting mass transport properties when the size of the pipe itself approaches the molecular size. The art of making such tiny pipes till now relied on removing material in a structured way from conventional materials such as silicon, glass, quartz, etc. This is the first time that an unprecedented control in making such ultra-fine capillaries has been achieved, thanks to the atomically flat 2-D material, graphene. On the research ecosystem of India The place from where I did my PhD, JNCASR, is at par with the research institutes that I have worked in the US and UK. Awareness needs to be spread about the quality of research that needs to be done rather than the quantity. Importantly, fundamental research that has implications for societal benefits in the long term needs to be encouraged, apart from science for immediate commercial applications. We need to think ahead, for the long term.

“Try Figuring Out Big, Open Problems” Suchi Saria, 32, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University, has built algorithms from medical data for early identification of sepsis. Hailing from Darjeeling in West Bengal, she did her PhD at Stanford. On the work for which she was selected My research is in the field of statistical machine learning and computational healthcare. I develop computer algorithms that make use of large-scale data routinely collected during doctor visits to figure out new ways to improve treatment. TR35 points to my work on early identification of sepsis. Sepsis kills more patients than breast and prostate cancer combined. It also evolves very quickly so timely treatment is important. Now, sepsis often goes undetected until patients are suffering from organ dysfunction because of sepsis. My work shows that we can devise new computer algorithms that can recognise sepsis early and precisely. On the broader objective of this research Our health data is now stored electronically. I want to leverage this data to find new algorithmic protocols for personalising the delivery of medicine. On her message for researchers in India Middle school education in India is very rigorous. This means we are taught the necessary fundamentals for tackling interesting technical problems. But, at some point, the system relies too heavily on tests to incentivise students to learn. Here is what I say to my little siblings: focus on identifying the big, interesting, open problems that deserve your time and attention and then figure out what you can do to fix them.  The writer is a Delhi-based journalist

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special report AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 02, 2017

12 Years A Slave

As more and more accused spend years in jail for terror crimes they did not commit, the credibility of the criminal justice system lies in tatters

:: Indulekha Aravind

E

leven years, two hundred and twenty-two days. Mohammad Abdul Kaleem remembers, to a day, the time he has spent behind bars for a crime he did not commit, as the courts recently underlined. “Imagine sitting in a room like this, even for three days,” he says, gesturing to the narrow sitting room of his friend’s house in the bylanes of Moosarambagh in Hyderabad. “We were inside for over 11 years, seeing only walls and bars for 24 hours. Having a cup of tea whenever I want, like we are doing now, feels like a luxury.” Kaleem was 23 when he, a welder, was sent to prison. Now he is 34 and unemployed, with a prison record. His friend and co-accused, Mohammad Abdul Zahed, nods. “We were undertrials but everyone labelled us ISI agents, in jail and outside, even the media.” On August 10, around 10 days before the Malegaon terror blasts accused Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Purohit was granted bail for the first time, a Hyderabad sessions court exonerated Kaleem, Zahed and eight others of terror charges. They had been tried for conspiracy in a case where a suicide bomber, allegedly a Bangladeshi, had blown himself up at the office of the special task force in Begumpet, killing himself and another guard, on October 12, 2005, the day of Dussehra. The police named Zahed’s brother, Abdul Shahid alias Bilal, as the main accused and said he, along with others, had planned, trained and sent the Bangladeshi to Hyderabad, as part of a plot to attack several targets in the city. Another brother, Abdul

Jailed for Nothing What The Court Ruled

October 12, 2005 A suicide

bomb attack on city police commissioner’s task force office in Begumpet, Hyderabad, leaves two dead December 2005 The case is

transferred to a Special Investigation Team and the arrests begin, including of Moham-

mad Abdul Kaleem and Mohammad Zahed January 2006 Preliminary

charge sheet is filed. The police name 20 people as accused, of which 10 are arrested, 7 declared absconding and 3 dead, by the end of the trial 2007 The trial begins and con-

tinues till 2012, when investigating officer goes abroad. In between, it is shifted to a special court for fear of communal disturbances. Trial resumes when he returns in 2014 August 10, 2017 The judge delivers a verdict of not guilty against those arrested, who had by then spent close to 12 years in prison

The Prosecution’s Case The two main accused, Abdul Shahid alias Bilal and Ghulam Yazdani, established a base in Bangladesh and conspired to destroy the office of the task force and several other buildings in Hyderabad through suicide bombings. They brought the third accused, Dalin, a Bangladeshi national, who carried out the bombing and died in the process. They were assisted by the other accused in their conspiracy and were alleged to have links with terror group Harkat-Ul-Jihad-e-Islami, according to reports

The sessions court found the prosecution unable to prove its case against the accused on several grounds. It mentioned that the evidence was not “truthful and convincing”, that evidence of some of the witnesses was doubtful and had inconsistencies, that there was no material to conclusively prove links between the suicide bomber and the other accused, that several important links were missing and that there was a delay in sealing seized items and sending them for forensic analysis

“Ultimately, the prosecution could prove a strong suspicion against the accused persons, but it is settled law that suspicion however strong cannot take (the) place of proof”

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The Reality Of Undertrials

Bail For Purohit After Nine Years Lt-Colonel Shrikant Purohit, one of the main accused in the September 2008 Malegaon blasts case, was granted bail by the Supreme Court last week, after he spent nine years in jail. He was released from Tajola jail in Maharashtra on Monday. His co-accused, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, was granted bail earlier this year by the Bombay High Court while it rejected his application. Both had spent time in continuous custody till then. Purohit told the Supreme Court that in these nine years, no charges had been framed against him.

Majeed, was also named in the charge sheet which accused 20 people of the crime. Both brothers are now presumed dead — killed in Pakistan, according to reports quoting the police, and shot dead by the police in Delhi, according to Zahed and his family. The brothers, they said, had been missing for years and had had no connection with the family. The court declared the accused to be innocent in a 65-page judgment that picked several holes in the prosecution’s case, from unreliable witnesses to the lack of evidence of a link between the bomber and the other accused. “…the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that there was any conspiracy between the deceased (the bomber) and any of the accused persons to commit the said blast,” it said, even while acknowledging that such cases rely largely on circumstantial evidence. Deputy Commissioner of Police Avinash Mohanty says they will appeal the verdict, and the process for this has been initiated. “There are certain interpretations of the court that we do not agree with. We have found there is sufficient ground for appeal,” says Mohanty. Incidentally, Mohanty’s father had been the city police commissioner when the blast took place. “This is a very important case for the Hyderabad Police. The blast was an attack on the police itself,” he says. Zahed, while relieved at the outcome, is weary after the long duration of their trial. “It was a fabricated case. After 11 years, the evidence is still the same as it was in the first year.” Unspoken is the question many have asked: why do these trials take so long, keeping people in prison at times for longer than what their jail sentence would have been, if they were found guilty? And how much worse is it, for those who spend years together in jail, before the courts exonerate them of all charges?

A Sentence Before The Verdict The most recent reminder of how long India’s terror trials take is the bail for Purohit. The bomb blasts in Malegaon he is accused of orchestrating took place in September 2008, and Purohit has since been serving time as an undertrial. His bail had earlier been denied by the Bombay High Court and lower courts. “We have been fighting for bail from the very beginning but every step of the process takes a long time. This is something that needs to change but I don’t know when it will,” says Aparna Purohit, wife of Lt Colonel Purohit.

This is despite the Supreme Court’s stand that bail should be the norm, and jail the exception. “When the undertrial prisoners are detained in jail for an indefinite period, Article 21 of the Constitution (the right to life and liberty) is violated,” it had ruled in 2011. Mohammed Abdul Azeem, one of the advocates defending the accused in the task force blasts, says it is common for the prosecution in terror cases to use various tactics to delay the trial. “The trial should be completed in two years,” he says. There is a provision whereby the accused are entitled to bail if the charge sheet has not been filed within 90 days, so it is often filed in a hurry to prevent this, and then supplementary charges are filed later, prolonging the trial. In its Prison Statistics India 2015 report, the National Crime Records Bureau revealed that 67% of those in jail in India are undertrials, that is, people who have not yet been convicted of any crime. At the end of 2015, the undertrial population stood at a damning 2.82 lakh. Over 3,500 of these undertrials had been in prison for more than five years. A report by Amnesty International India titled “Justice Under Trial” also pointed out that over half of India’s undertrial population was constituted by those belonging to the Muslim, Dalit and Adivasi communities, a figure disproportionate to their representation in the general population. Muslims, for inMufti Abdu l Qaiyum M ansuri was charges of acquitted of atta Gujarat in 20 cking the Akshardham Templ 02. The apex others as w co urt acquitted e in ell, after th five ey had spen t 11 years in jail

67% of prisoners in India are undertrials

India has the third largest undertrial population in Asia

53% of undertrials are from the Muslim, Dalit and Adivasi communities Source: Amnesty International India

“All detainees have a right to trial within a reasonable time or to release. Prolonged undertrial detention can violate their rights to liberty and fair trial, and adversely impact their lives and livelihood. The overuse of undertrial detention effectively ends up punishing people before they are convicted, and makes a mockery of their right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

stance, make up 21% of undertrials though they are only 14% of the population. Like Zahed, the courts have recently acquitted others too accused in terror cases, particularly Muslims, after finding no evidence of the prosecution’s charges. In June this year, a Hyderabad court acquitted Mohammad Riyaz Khan and Mohammad Abdul Sayeed of the charge of terror conspiracy and murder of two policemen in the city. By then, they had spent nearly seven years in jail without bail. Last May, the Supreme Court found Nisarud-din-Ahmad innocent in a case of multiple bomb blasts in trains on the first anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition and the Ajmer bomb blasts. The verdict came after Nisar had spent 23 years in prison. In January this year, the Human Rights Commission ordered state authorities to pay `5 lakh to Mohammed Amir Khan for keeping him in jail on terror charges since he was 18 years old, till he was acquitted, 14 years later.

“Don’t harass us anymore” From “Justice Under Trial”, a report by Amnesty International India

Justice Delayed, Denied The Hyderabad Police picked up Nisar-ud-din-Ahmad and his brother for five blasts on trains on the first anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition. They were also charged in the Ajmer blasts. While Nisar’s brother was released in 2008 when he contracted lung cancer, he remained in prison. The Supreme Court finally acquitted Nisar of all charges in May 2016, and ordered his immediate release. By then, Nisar had spent 23 years in jail. Following a fidayeen attack on Akshardham Temple in Gujarat in September 2002, the Gujarat Police charged six Muslim men as part of the crime. A trial court sentenced three of them to death, life imprisonment for two and a 10-year term for one. Eleven years later, in May 2014, the Supreme Court acquitted the six of all charges and pulled up the Gujarat Police for framing innocents. A 28-year-old Kashmiri, Gulzar Ahmed Wani, was arrested from Delhi in July 2001, after being named as an accused in the August 2000 Sabarmati Express blast case. He was also accused of being a conspirator in 10 other cases. In April this year, the Supreme Court said his custody without bail for 16 years was “a shame”, having been acquitted in 10 of 11 cases. A month later, he was acquitted of all charges

Zahed says he does not plan to seek compensation or any other help. “We don’t want to extend our hands for help before the government.” His priority now is to get married and try and start some kind of business. The years of incarceration have taken a toll on the prisoners and their families. “I had to get a surgery for a lung illness I contracted in jail. The authorities refused to let me get proper treatment for 10 years. The surgery has left me too weak to do physical work,” says Kaleem, pointing to large scars left by the operation. There are scars on his hand, too, which he says were remainders of the electric shock given by the police when he was arrested. Both Zahed and Kaleem allege that they were tortured by the special investigation team and the local police soon after they were arrested, even subjecting them to what they term “rocket treatment”. “That’s when they tie your hands behind your back, and your legs, and pull you up using a rope tied to the ceiling. You are left hanging,” Kaleem describes. Zahed’s mother, Hafeeza Begum, says even her sisters stopped coming to their house after he was arrested. The only regular visitors all these years were the police. “They would ask me whether I was teaching my students how to make bombs,” says Abdul Wahid, Zahed’s father, who is a retired principal of a government school. “Everyone is telling us to get our son married. But the girl’s family will also talk about those 12 years,” Hafeeza Begum’s voice trails off. Zahed and Kaleem say any anger they had against the system seemed to have melted away once they were released. “I feel as if I have been given a new life,” says Kaleem. But there is still resentment at the treatment meted out to them, and a sense of loss that will not be repaired so easily. “Who will bear the responsibility for the years of our life taken away from us?” asks Zahed. His only plea now is that they be left alone, a sentiment he repeats several times in his conversation. “It is our fervent plea, don’t harass us anymore. We just want to live our life.” 

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interview AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 02, 2017

“The Ring Changed Dushyanta to an Honourable Man” In Wendy Doniger’s ingenious new book, The Ring of Truth: Myths of Sex and Jewelry, she traces the story of the ring across tales and cultures: from Shakuntala’s ring to Portia’s, from Rama’s ring that Sita recognises to DeBeers’ engagement rings. The ring often signifies the woman’s self, it saves honour, reveals identity, ignites memory and marks desire while the wearing of the ring imitates the act of sex. In an email interview with Charmy Harikrishnan, Doniger, who is the Mircea Eliade distinguished service professor of the history of religions at the University of Chicago, talks about the evolution of the signet ring in some of the prominent Indian texts, how the ring helped Kalidasa whitewash Dushyanta’s erotic record, and how Indians are now confusing their great myths with ancient history, and hurling racial and sexist abuses at scholars like her and Audrey Truschke. Excerpts:

W

hen and how did the signet ring appear in Indian texts? It has a significant presence in literature — from the Ramayana to Vishakhadatta’s Mudrarakshasa to Kalidasa’s Abhinjana Shakuntalam. The texts you mention, which I discuss in the book, are the earliest ones I know that refer to signet rings. It’s generally thought that such rings came into India with the Greeks under Alexander the Great in 326 BCE. But I think, since we have hundreds of examples of seals, though not seal rings, from the Indus Valley Civilisation before 2000 BCE, someone in India may well have had the bright idea of using a seal on a ring long before the Greeks came to India.

In the earliest version of Shakuntala’s story in the Mahabharata, there is no ring but the woman is wise, vocal and discourses on dharma. But Kalidasa’s Shakuntala, as you say, is ‘hardly more than a child and says little’. Kalidasa created his Shakuntala at a time when the power of women — which was fairly robust in the Mahabharata; think of Draupadi! — had significantly waned. The perfect heroine would no longer be able to defend herself as the Mahabharata’s Shakuntala was able to do, to chastise King Dushyanta and teach him a lesson in dharma. So Kalidasa had to give his heroine some help, in the form of the magic ring that first erased and then restored Dushyanta’s memory of her.

Kalidasa created his Shakuntala at a time when the power of women — which was fairly robust in the Mahabharata; think of Draupadi! — had significantly waned. The perfect heroine would no longer be able to defend herself as the Mahabharata’s Shakuntala was able to do, to chastise King Dushyanta and teach him a lesson in dharma” Raja Ravi Varma’s Shakuntala

Interestingly, you and critics like Romila Thapar point to Kalidasa’s use of the device of the ring to protect the king from ‘blame’ and ‘the royal sin’ of abandoning a woman. Yes, the ring changed Dushyanta from a lying cad (which he was in the Mahabharata) to a perfectly honourable man who was the victim of a curse — carried by a ring — that clouded his memory. Since Kalidasa’s patrons, the Gupta dynasty, traced their lineage back to Bharata, the son of Shakuntala and Dushyanta, it was in Kalidasa’s best interests to whitewash the king’s erotic record. How did the ring become a repository of so much even when it doesn’t hold huge symbolism in the

society at large in India? Even wedding rings are rather recent. Rings signify an enduring promise of love, but they also signify the identity of the lover. The idea of endurance is suggested by the material that the ring is made of, usually a form of metal. And the idea of sexual love is suggested by the relationship between the ring and the finger. Given as an emotional pledge of affection, rings often end up as vital legal evidence of marriage and paternity. As for their prominence in India, they play an important part in the earliest literature of India, which is in Sanskrit, and the use of Sanskrit at first was limited to the very small upper crust of the Indian population. The rings in these texts, therefore, usually belong to kings and princesses, though also to merchants. Some

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of those stories about rings filtered down into the folk literature in several vernacular Indian languages; for instance, the story of the clever wife — who uses a ring to prove to her husband that he fathered her child — is told in many folk traditions ‘in society at large in India’. But wedding rings are not prominent in these folk tales, or in Indian popular culture; bangles and anklets and nose rings really play a larger part there. Still, they are rings (circular jewellery)!

You trace the presence of the ring across cultures. How different is it in Indian literature? The Indian stories share many of the more general meanings — of love, marriage and betrayal — that are found throughout the corpus in the Indo-European world, but they have a particular inflection of their own, growing out of ideas, unique to India, about the nature of women, the customs of marriage, the physical process of paternity and the distribution of wealth. And, in my humble opinion, the Indian stories are the best, the most ingenious and the most richly embellished, simply because the Indian tradition of storytelling is the most vivid and robust.

Since we have hundreds of examples of seals of the Indus Valley Civilisation, someone in India may well have had the bright idea of using a seal on a ring long before the Greeks came to India (under Alexander the Great)”

envy’ of the West has recently been revived by Hindu nationalists, against whose fabrications genuine Indian scientists have vehemently protested. Hindutva factions have also mixed myth and history by asserting that the Babri Masjid was built over the place where Rama was born and by opposing the construction of a shipping canal between India and Sri Lanka by insisting that such a canal would destroy a causeway that, according to the Ramayana, an army of talking monkeys built in order to attack the fortress of a ten-headed demon.

How do you see the ‘Hinduisation’ of present-day India by the editing out of Mughals — from renaming roads and railway stations to changes in school and university syllabi? Hindutva factions are, again, at the heart of these attempts to replace history with myth, in this case anti-Muslim myth. In a similar way, PN Oak’s argument that Hindus built the Taj Mahal was revived this month when the Central Information Commission reportedly ‘sent a directive to the Union Culture Ministry to clarify its stand on whether the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum built by Shah Jahan or a Shiva temple’.

In India, why is there a tendency to approach literature/ myths as historical truths rather than as texts? India has always had a rich tradition of literature and myth, and it has also always had a rich tradition of science, in the form of the shastras: the sciences of mathematics, grammar and astronomy, architecture, medicine, the care of horses and elephants, and much more. These two realms of myth and science were always quite distinct. But in reaction to the scorn of the British during colonisation, and Indian admiration for colonial scientific achievements such as trains, some Hindus began to insist, first, that Europe might have science but India had spirituality; and, then, that Hindu religious texts (particularly the Vedas) also had science — such as airplanes — long before the British did. Dayanand Saraswati argued that Krishna and Arjuna had flown to North America during the Vedic period (so that when Columbus landed in 1492 and called the people there ‘Indians’, he was right). This sort of colonial-period ‘science

Why has it become so difficult for scholars to study, analyse and write about India? After the case against your book The Hindus: An Alternative History, there was the vicious trolling of Audrey Truschke over her book on Aurangzeb? The difficulty comes not in the writing — some excellent writing about India has been published by Indian scholars in recent years — but in the ability of authors and publishers in India nowadays to avoid violent repercussions against serious works of scholarship. Despite a lawsuit, my books are still available in India and are widely read; some people like them, some people don’t, as should always be the case with scholarship that deals with volatile issues. But some booksellers are afraid to carry them, or to carry them openly, and, given the violence of some of the Hindutva censorship tactics, I certainly cannot blame such booksellers, though I applaud the courage and integrity of those who do in fact sell the books. The attacks on Audrey Truschke are more of the same; such attacks have nothing to do with the author or the treatment of the subject, but with an anti-Muslim agenda backed by physical violence that the present India has always government of India shows no inclinahad a rich tradition tion to control. The attacks, on both me of literature and myth, and Dr Truschke, are laden with sexism and anti-Semitism that have nothand it has also always ing to do with the issues raised by our had a rich tradition of books — issues that should instead inscience, in the form of spire spirited discussion of the actual historical evidence. the shastras: the

A painting of Pushpaka Vimana from Himachal Pradesh, c 1650

sciences of mathematics, grammar, astronomy, architecture, medicine and much more. These two realms of myth and science were always quite distinct”

I particularly love Amruta Patil’s retellings, and Chitra Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusion, and Arshia Sattar’s version of the Ramayana for children. The old Amar Chitra Katha reduced all the stories they retold and bowdlerised them; these modern retellings, by contrast, make the stories stretch and expand into the modern world, taking on deeper meanings”

Have you looked at some of the popular retellings of the epics and puranas? I have indeed, and some of them are truly wonderful. I particularly love Amruta Patil’s retellings, and Chitra Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusion, and Arshia Sattar’s version of the Ramayana for children, but there are many others. They bring

out threads and connections and undertones that are really there in the Sanskrit texts but are muted and hidden, easy to miss until these perceptive modern writers bring them out. The old Amar Chitra Katha reduced all the stories they retold and bowdlerised them; these modern retellings, by contrast, make the stories stretch and expand into the modern world, taking on deeper meanings.

The attacks, on both me and Audrey Truschke, are laden with sexism and antiSemitism that have nothing to do with the issues raised by our books”

Apart from rings, jewellery is central to Chilapatikaaram and Mrichhakatika. Was it indeed the line that a woman can be identified by the jewellery she is wearing? Indian jewellery, in particular, is beautifully wrought in silver and gold; Indian craftsmanship is rightly famous throughout the world. Such pieces would therefore be unique, and make it possible to identify the woman who owned them, as in fact Sita’s jewellery identifies her in the Ramayana. And India has been the home of fabulous jewels, often unique rubies and emeralds, the pearls of Sri Lanka and the diamonds of Golconda, the source of so many European stories of the stolen idol’s eye and other enormous jewels with equally enormous curses upon them. So it is not surprising that jewellery should identify the women in some of the greatest works of ancient Indian literature, and that this mythology should also find its place in popular folklore. 

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food & drink AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 02, 2017

A Suitable Plate How chefs, restaurateurs and food producers are working together on sustainable dining, a movement that is slowly gathering pace :: Avantika Bhuyan

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Avantika Bhuyan is a Delhi-based writer

t Vrindavan Farm in Palghar — a couple of hours from Mumbai — a harvest of seasonal fruits and greens is ready, all set to be transported to owner Gaytri Bhatia’s home in Churchgate. From there it will be distributed to restaurants and bakeries, and picked up by individual clients. A newsletter, listing the week’s harvest, has already gone out to subscribers. It’s almost as if all of nature’s bounty has gathered in one place, with doodhi, moringa leaves, cashew apples, tomatillos and yams forming part of the harvest. The farmland is home to nearly 500 mango trees and, in season, these yield 3,000 to 7,000 kilos of the fruit. Bhatia, a former environmental analyst with the US Environmental Protection Agency in Boston, moved back to Palghar nearly six years back to manage her family land. Today, the farm supplies produce to restaurants such as Olive Bar and Kitchen, 212 All Good, Kala Ghoda Café and The Pantry. “We specialise in seasonal, heirloom and indigenous. For instance, the tribes here depended on the moringa leaf more than spinach as it is way more nutritious and is endemic to the area. We have brought it to the fine dining table. Farmers have information on what’s in season and what’s local. We need to take it to the chef, who brings it to the plates. Together, we form a tight ecosystem to spread the knowledge of quality local food,” she says. Today, chefs and restaurateurs are working with producers such as Bhatia to further the cause of sustainable dining — a movement which started haltingly a cou-

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ple of years ago, but is slowly gathering pace in India. Today, you find artisanal salts being sourced from Himalayan villages, tree-to-bar chocolates, honey produced by the Apis cerana, a bee species native to Uttarakhand, and farmer groups in West Bengal being tapped for black rice. According to an article on the website of the Food and Agriculture Organization, sustainable local procurement is the need of the hour. “The term means that in addition to food produced near its point of consumption, other sustainability themes are also considered, such as: food sovereignty, fair pricing and environmental conservation. At the heart of the local food movement, is the goal to establish healthy communities and sustainable regional agricultural economies,” it states.

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Thou Shalt Not Overfish Given that the movement is still young, the definition of sustainable dining is still dependent on individual chef ’s ethos and food philosophy. For Manu Chandra, chef-partner, Toast & Tonic, The Fatty Bao and Monkey Bar, it is about giving back to the planet. “Sustainability is not to be confused with organic. The ecosystem needs to keep replenishing itself. However, the way we are eating is allowing for anything but that. We are overfishing, over-foraging, over-farming,” he says. There is a constant attempt to bring certain foods in vogue and over-consume them. According to the Chandra, the biggest victims have been the fish. “Over fishing has led to a point of no return for a lot of species,” he says. It is for this reason that he works with vendors from Kochi, who fish only in certified waters. According to Know Your Fish, a voluntary initiative that encourages consumers to eat seafood responsibly and adopt an ocean-friendly lifestyle, 90% of the world’s fisheries are now fully exploited or have collapsed. It is to remedy this that the ITC Hotels has become India’s first participant in World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Choose Wisely programme aimed at promoting informed choices on fish consumption. WWF has designed visual indicators — red (endangered), orange (declining) and green (healthy)— to help customers. The ITC Hotels has taken this a step further by eliminating the red species from its kitchen. Know Your Fish has come up with an ocean-sen6 sitive seafood calendar for In-

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1 ,2 & 3. Original Indian Table takes indigenous ingredients like black rice, amaranth and timur (a type of pepper) from farmers to restaurants. 4. Cofounders Jhajharia and Mehta 5. Chef Chandra gets his catch from vendors who fish only in certified waters 6. Smoked Cochin Mackerel at Chandra’s Toast & Tonic 7. ITC Hotels is part of Choose Wisely programme that promotes informed fish consumption

dia’s west coast, which has caught the eye of many chefs. A team of researchers has listed the months best to eat fish and the ones to avoid. The team requests consumers to spare the fish during the breeding season and when they are young. For instance, according to available literature, most of the breeding for king fish takes place between October and November, so it is suggested that one avoid eating it in these two months. Besides adhering to such guidelines, there are certain internal checks that chefs follow when choosing the right kind of producers. They visit the facilities often and examine the soil, seeds and growing practices. Manish Sharma, executive chef, The Oberoi, Gurgaon, makes sure that they “choose crops well-suited for their local growing conditions, minimise use of synthetic pesticides, and avoid groundwater for irrigation”. Sharma is drawn to passionate first-generation en7

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food & drink AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 02, 2017 9

trepreneurs and small farms who are innovative. His key vendors include First Agro from Karnataka for lettuce, tomatoes and vegetables; butternut squash from Offering Farms in Pune, mushrooms from Swadeshi Mushrooms, Delhi, quail and chicken from French Farms, Gurgaon, and cheese from Spotted Cow in Mumbai.

8. Chef Manish Sharma of Oberoi, Gurgaon, makes sure that the farms and orchards he sources from follow sustainable practices. 9. Organic falafel with whole wheat pita at the Oberoi 10 & 11. Regal brings out tree-to-bar chocolates from its 220 acre cocoa orchard 12. Chef Moser of AnnaMaya 13. Tossed Garden Vegetables at AnnaMaya 14. Chef Kinny of 212 All Good 15. He sources adzuki bean from a small Japanese community in Uttarakhand that produces it

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hope is that as the business scales up, it will have a direct impact on the number of farmers growing these varieties and they will get the price they deserve. In the past couple of years, he has seen demand for black rice from Bengal shoot up, so much so that they ran out of stock last year. “Amaranth has also seen a gradual pick-up, as it is more nutritious than quinoa. Another interesting product is timur, which is akin to Sichuan pepper and grows in Uttarakhand. Chef Alex Moser uses it beautifully in a lamb dish at AnnaMaya,” he says. Moser has carved out a name for himself for creating AnnaMaya, a European food hall that inspires guests to “Eat Mindful. Shop Artisanal. Raise Awareness”. “While sourcing a product, I go by the AnnaMaya ideology of Made in India as all products have to be produced in the country, must have a socially inspiring story behind the busi-

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Tree-to-Bar Chocolate Karthikeyan Palaniswamy of Regal Chocolates claims to be India’s first tree-to-bar chocolate maker. “Bean-to-bar is a huge trend in the US. As part of that, chocolate makers source their beans from a separate farm. We breed our own trees, hence are completely in control of the chocolate-making process, from the growing to the fermentation of beans and the tempering of the chocolate bar,” he says. This singleorigin chocolate is made in a group of farms spread across 220 acres, nestled at the foothills of the Annamalai range, where sustainable practices of permaculture and aquaculture are followed. Only indigenous breeds of cattle, zebu, are used to manage the land. Palaniswamy, together with his brother-inlaw Manoj, came up with this idea nearly three years ago. The duo visited cacao farms in Vietnam and Cambodia, and with bean-to-bar chocolate makers in the US, to get a better understanding of the processes and finally set up a fermentation facility. “It has taken us 18 to 20 months to put everything together. We came up with baking bars, Regal, last year and then in February this year, we launched edible bars called Soklet,” he says. The brand has added another laurel to its hat. At the International Chocolate Awards 2017, Dubai-based chocolate brand, Mirzam, won a silver medal for its single-origin 62% bar made using Regal’s beans. “This is the first time that an Indian bean has won such an accolade,” says Palaniswamy. Today, he works with Toast & Tonic, The Fatty Bao, Olive Beach as well as

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bakeries such as Bliss in Delhi, besides supplying beans to bean-to-bar makers in the US and the Middle East.

Amaranth Beats Quinoa Yet another key player in the sustainable food movement is Delhi-based Original Indian Table, cofounded by Puneet Jhajharia and Ishira Mehta, which gets indigenous ingredients straight from farmers to restaurants. A former venture capitalist, Jhajharia started in 2013 by visiting farmers in 20 states to help them market their produce efficiently, and thereby raise their incomes. “We realised that farmers were consuming sustainable food such as millets and amaranth, but there was hardly any market out there,” he says. However, the past two to three years have brought about a change in consumer behaviour. With an epidemic of lifestyle diseases, people want to eat healthy and are looking for the right options. “We are trying to bridge that gap between farmers and consumers. We work with 20 farmer groups from Ladakh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Kerala and more to supply to restaurants such as AnnaMaya at Andaz in Delhi’s Aerocity, ITC Hotels, Olive Beach, the Park Group, The Bombay Canteen and the Leela. We also retail in spaces such as Foodhall,” says Jhajharia. The

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ness execution and their current business module must be socially relevant in order to help communities and their respective environments,” says Moser. His producers range from Artisan Palate for flavoured, natural Himalayan Pink Salt, Devbhumi for Himalayan honey, Original Indian Table for timur, bhangjeera salt, bamboo rice and amaranth flour, Luvin Paryani for bean-to-bar chocolate, and more. “I go according to the suppliers’ produce, what is grown by them at what time and the quantity of their production. My menu is designed and redone according to seasonal deliveries,” says Moser. This is a philosophy that is followed by chef Paul Kinny of 212 All Good in Mumbai and Gresham Fernandes, culinary director of Riyaaz Amlani’s Impresario Handmade Restaurants as well. Both try to look for local alternatives of high quality, if and when possible. For instance, for adzuki beans and miso, Kinny taps the small Japanese community in Uttarakhand, which produces these. Fernandes even makes his balsamic vinegar from scratch using local produce such as beetroot juice and local port wine. “In Mumbai, we try and source everything from Bandra, except for fish, which we get from seafood specialist Off The Hook. Our cheese comes from Kodaikanal,” he says. Kinny works closely with Bhatia of Vrindavan Farm for moringa leaves and tendli. “People usually get pickled gherkins from France. But in Mumbai, we get the tendli, which has a similar texture. Why not look inwards?” he asks. Bhatia is all praise for the team at 212 All

Good for presenting sustainable produce in a fun way. The team has even sourced ingredients such as hibiscus, green pepper and gentian roots from her to make their bitters inhouse. “We grow local mulberry, which is smaller than the one available in the market, and then dehydrate it. So, when Tanai Shirali, mixologist from 212, comes to me and says let me make gin with it, it’s quite exciting. We can offer the produce and knowledge, but chefs need to present that to the consumers in a fun and innovative way,” she says. Some hotels and restaurants are taking the sustainability movement beyond the produce as well. For instance, ITC is the only hotel chain to introduce at its establishments zero-miletravelled water in glass bottles to reduce plastic waste. At 11 of its hotels, leftover oils from the kitchens are shared with companies engaged in generating biofuels through oil. Fernandes too is looking at eliminating plastic — cups, takeaway packets — from his restaurants by year-end and is looking at working with bamboo and banana alternatives. Of course, these endeavours come with their share of challenges. “At this point of time, I don’t think restaurants can work entirely with sustainable produce. There are organic suppliers in the market, but one doesn’t know how reliable the certification process is, unlike in the US where this space is more regulated,” says Gauri Devidayal, cofounder of the Colaba restaurant The Table. So she gets produce from her own farm in Alibaug as she knows the seeds and soil. “It’s heartening to see that restaurants are trying to bring about a positive change, but consumers are still a bit hesitant in paying a premium price for the food. Logistics 12

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are still an issue as cold storage transportation is next to nonexistent,” she says. Her thoughts are echoed by Fernandes, who feels that customers want standardised products. “Now apple and celery vinegar made from local produce in Mumbai would taste very different from the one in Delhi because of the difference in bloom and terroir, but people want standardisation. Hence, this can be done for standalone restaurants, but is difficult to replicate for chains,” he says. Price parity is not applicable in most cases where sustainable dining is concerned. The output is far superior, from a qualitative perspective, but is a fraction of industrial produce from a quantitative point of view. It is this scenario of high demand and low supply that leads to most people opting for massproduced goods. Sustainable practices are difficult simply because there are just so many mouths to feed. “But this is not a hollow pipe dream,” says Chandra. “We are not a 100% sustainable restaurant yet, but now there are suppliers who are bringing about a change and are happy to be supplying to establishments.” 

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food & drink AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 02, 2017

Bread-time Story Armenia is a mind-boggling array of grilled meats, flavour-charged dishes and fresh salads, with ovenwarm flatbreads at the heart of its gastronomy :: Neeta lal

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about two feet) till it becomes translucent. ucculent shashliks grilled to a gossamer Plunging her torso, the baker quickly gold, aubergines- and tomato-stuffed Boplants the rolled dough into the hot rani (fried chicken) bursting with flavour, oven, smacking it against the glowing baked vegetables saturated with the smell oven wall. Almost immediately, the lavash of coals, khorovats (barbecued meats) begins to crackle and crisp. When it starts dripping golden juices, kyuftas (meatblistering, the bread is removed with an balls) that melt in the mouth, brine-ripiron rod and stacked in a tray. ened cheeses, dolma (stuffed grape leaves) brimming with meaty goodness… A happy embrace of different cultures — Turkish, Iranian, Russian, Arabic — means Armenia is also rich and diverse. Centuries before Turkish or Soviet intrusions, the south Caucasian country of three million people was on a key Silk Road route that led to cross-cultural influences, resulting in a mind-boggling array of grilled meats, flavour-charged dishes, fresh salads and oven-warm flatbreads. As I travelled across the pint-sized country — peppered with valleys, gorges, lakes — the diversity of its food (cereals, lentils, vegetables, fruits) nurtured on mountainous terrain characterised by multiple distinct microclimates — was a treat to savour. Bread lies at the heart of Armenian gasVillagers selling honey tronomy. At the Trinity Canyon Vineyards in Vayots Dzor, in south-eastern Armenia, we were invited for wine tasting and a tonir-lavash baking ceremony where we get to watch the village baker make the Armenian flatbread in the tonir (clay oven). First, a wheat flour and water dough is prepared and laid across a rabata (hay-filled cushion) to stretch. After a while, one portion of the now-pliable dough is pulled out and rolled thin (to Bread is the soul of an Armenian meal

Sujuk for sale

Grilled meats are integral to an Armenian table

Fresh cheese & salads

Lavash, explained our host Hovakim Saghatelyan, owner of Trinity Canyon, a 4.5-hectare organic vineyard that combines contemporary oenology with Armenian traditions, “is one of the oldest breads in the world”. The way it is crafted features on UNESCO’s Representative List Of The Intangible Cultural Heritage Of Humanity; There’s leavened or unleavened lavash, thick or thin, soft or crisp. Different villages have their own fiercely-guarded recipes. Lavash baking can also be a communitarian exercise with ladies preparing large batches to store them for the punishing winter months. The bread remains unspoilt for over a year. Just sprinkle some water over it, heat it and its as good as new. As the baker brings the tray load of lavash to our table — set amidst vineyards overlooking magnificent mountain landscapes — our feast begins. We wrap the bread around khorovats (pork meat), stuff salty cheese and spicy peppers into it and top it all with thick creamy curds called matzun. It was a delicious mess. And use of cutlery was eschewed. Lavash was our napkin, plate, spoon, serving bowl, all rolled into one!

Meat Treat

The writer is a Delhibased journalist

Sujuk and gata being sold outside a monastery

Feasting on lavash, khorovats along with wine tasting at Trinity

Meat dishes occupy a cult status in Armenia. Shashlik comes at the top of the carnivore’s pyramid cooked the same it was 1,500 years ago. I try out at least a dozen varieties in restaurants and people’s homes. The reason why Armenian shashlik is so delicious; a local chef tells me conspiratorially, is because before

Churchkela being sold on roadsides

we marinate the meat in cognac or wine to tenderise the protein. There’s prolific use of herbs and condiments as well. We use over 300 kinds of wild grasses and flowers as seasonings, a local grocer tells me as I survey his smorgasbord of peppers, coriander, fenugreek, black pepper, mint, tarragon, basil, thyme, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, saffron, vanilla and a gazillion other spices and aromats. Armenia is also fruit country and apricot is the national fruit. The fleshy fruit is mashed to make jellies, jams, marmalades, boiled and distilled into compote (a clear fruit juice), stewed with lamb or chicken or steeped in pilafs and stuffed in meats. Story goes that in the first century BC, Roman general Lucullus took several apricot saplings from Armenia to Rome. The Romans planted those saplings in their city and eureka, the “Armenian plum” was born! At the ancient monasteries, the sight of women selling garlands of dried fruits (churchkela) hanging like curtains from their makeshift stalls is ubiquitous. They also sell sweet Sujuk, a chewy nougat made from honey, nuts and fruits as well as gata, a sweet pie studded with slivers of almonds. Armenian rivers and lakes brim with fish which chefs proudly put on their menus. Trout bred and caught in Lake Sevan (the largest water body in the Caucasus region) is called ishkhan and is particularly prized. At a local restaurant, I try the fish to find out what the fuss is all about. The fish is cooked simply, on a grill with a smidgen of olive oil and rock salt. But it was to die for! 

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feel smart AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 02, 2017

Flight Color

PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS MAKING HEADLINES

an 8-ft base that depicts six women from different ethnic backgrounds, the university said. Christopher Slatoff worked on the statue for more than two years.

DID USC CHANGE THE NAME? Despite some criticism, USC is standing by the spelling, saying that there are variations of Shakespeare. 'To E, or not to E, that is the question,' USC said in a statement.

YOU MEAN SHAKESPEAR? So you know what I’m talking about.

HEARD ABOUT IT. WHAT EXACTLY IS THE FUSS ALL ABOUT? University of Southern California recently unveiled the new statue of Hecuba, the queen of Troy. The statue featured verses from Hamlet and the dramatist’s name, which was noticeably missing a final 'e'.

BUT IS THE SPELLING WRONG? Not exactly. The name has been spelled nearly two dozen different ways over the years. The bard himself was known to switch up the spelling of his last name during his lifetime, although he did spell it Shakespeare on the last page of his will, filed shortly before his death in 1616.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Students from USC’s longtime rival, UCLA, spotted the small, but glaring, detail and pointed it out in a tweet. This ignited a cross-town debate between the two famed universities

THAT’S ROUGH! Yes but it’s strangely heartening than the far uglier confrontations around statues in America.

WELL, WHAT’S IN A NAME! Some might be muttering ‘What fools these mortals be’. But to USC officials, 'it's much ado about nothing'.

WHAT ABOUT THE STATUE? The 12-ft bronze sculpture includes

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SHAKESPEARE

Game for Android & iOS Get It For: Free light color has a simple gameplay — you only need to control the movement of a flying aircraft. The objective is to make sure that the aircraft stays on the same colour path — fly into a tile of another colour and its a game over. The aircraft can move five positions (left or right) to stay in the proper coloured tile. Sometimes, the tiles also move which adds to the difficulty. You need to build your skills and reflexes, making split second changes to avoid crashing into the wrong tile. As you play, you have to collect golden squares — these can be used to make purchases in the store. Purchases can include changing the colour palette or different aircraft. There is a persistent banner ad at the bottom of the screen. However, it does not interfere with the game. Occasionally, you'll see a full screen ad too. These can be removed permanently with an in-app purchase of `64. —Hitesh Raj Bhagat

Night Mode by EyeCare Lab App for Android; Get It For: Free

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WATC H

Boltt Verve Honor Band 3

Fitness Band Get It For: `1,699

Fitness Band with heartrate sensor Get It For: `2,799

For more effective exercise tracking, you need a fitness band with heart rate monitoring. And you don’t need to spend too much either because this one gives you all the basics in one lightweight (18 grams) device. It has a single colour OLED display and heart rate monitoring. You can get it in three colours: orange, navy blue and black. Though in each case, it’s only the band colour that changes while the core remains the same. It works in the way you’d expect: you get the app and pair the band with your phone. A simple tap on the screen switches between time, steps, heart rate and exercise modes. Wear it at night and it will track your sleep. It can also show you notifications from your phone if you enable it. Since the band is water resistant up to 50m, you can use it for a swim workout. As usual, most of the info and statistics are shown in the app but note that you will need Huawei Wear and Huawei Health to make full use of all the features. —Karan Bajaj

After a showcase at CES 2017, Boltt wearables are now available in India. The Verve fitness band is their cheapest offering and the price includes a 3 months subscription to their coaching plan. The band in itself does not look and feel too premium but is comfortable to wear. It has a monochrome OLED display that shows steps, distance, calories burned, notifications plus the usual time/date. The core has a direct USB connector so you just plug it in to any USB port to charge. What makes Boltt stand out is its companion app (currently only on iOS). Once you create a profile, the app shows you activity data and gives you access to a ‘AI’ coach. The coach offers advice over chat to help you stay fit and achieve your fitness goals. The coach also gives you audio feedback during a workout to keep you motivated and improve your routine. You will need to wear headphones (wired/wireless) to hear feedback from the coach during a workout. After your 3 month free subscription, it costs `499/ month. You can always continue without the coach if you don’t want to pay — the app will continue to track your activity and sleep. —Karan Bajaj

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GET

tudies show that light — specifically blue light — emitted by screens messes with the body’s circadian rhythms. Problems can range from shorter to less restful sleep. The best way to counter this is by cutting out the blue light a couple of hours before bedtime — either by not looking at screens (ideal) or by using a blue light filter. Some phones have this feature built in but if yours doesn’t, you can add it using this app. This is one of the best apps for the purpose because it’s lightweight (1MB), doesn’t have any ads and doesn’t require too many permissions. You can switch on the night-mode manually or schedule it at a set time. There are various presets built in plus it gives you control over the night mode itself, including colour, temperature, intensity and screen dimming. The last option is particularly useful if you find your screen too bright at night. —Hitesh Raj Bhagat

PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. By Mr. R. J. Prakashan at 40/1, S&B Towers, M.G. Road, Bengaluru-560001. (Phone: Office: EPABX- 080-42200000, Fax: 080-42200100) and printed by him at Bennett, Coleman & Co. Limited, No. 9/10/11-A, 4th Main Bommassandra Industrial Area, Hosur Road, Bengaluru-560099, Ph: 080-42200500. Registered Office: Dr Dadabhai Naoroji Road, Mumbai-400001. EDITOR: Brian Carvalho (Responsible for selection of news under PRB Act). © Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. All rights reserved. RNI No.: KARENG/2014/55880. VOLUME 04 NO.34.