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RNI REGD NO. ORIENG/2004/13647
VOLUME 10, ISSUE 22 | FORTNIGHTLY
16 JANUARY 2015
` 30
INDIA
FIRST
S
P
E
A
K
S
Y
O
U
R
M
I
N
IN THE ROUGH
As one after another BJD
leader comes under the CBI
scanner, can the immaculate
image of Naveen Patnaik
help the party survive the
Saradha scam?
D
The investigation into Sunanda Pushkar’s case has, until recently, been as
inexplicably puzzling as her murder itself
MIRED IN MYSTERY
Only at Lalchand Jewellers
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
“Amid the welter of information
emanating over the past couple of weeks
from police interrogation and media
reports pertaining to what has now
become a fully fledged murder mystery, it
will be important for the sake of posterity
to winnow out only those truths that will
truly matter”
NOT BESIDE
THE POINT
By SUNJOY HANS
Editor-in-Chief
T
here is no smoke without fire, so goes an old
adage. The latest round
of investigation into the death of
Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Congress MP and former union minister and United Nations
diplomat Shashi Tharoor, finally
seems on the way to reaching its
logical conclusion – or so it is
hoped.
Amid the welter of information
emanating over the past couple
of weeks from police interrogation and media reports pertaining to what has now become a
fully fledged murder mystery, it
will be important for the sake of
posterity to winnow out only
those truths that will truly matter.
For instance, it is immaterial
whether there was anything
hanky-panky between Tharoor
and Pakistani journalist Mehr
16 JANUARY 2015
Tarar, which apparently led to Pushkar’s public outbursts against both, whether it be on Twitter or TV
channels, not long before her death. It is a personal
matter and need not be for public consumption, as it
has been made out to be thanks to the increasing
mainstreaming of tabloid journalism. But if there
might even be an iota of truth to Pushkar’s declaration
last January that Mehr is or was an Inter-Intelligence
Service (ISI) agent of some sort, then Tharoor’s acquaintance with Tarar assumes greater import and
doubtless ought to be of public interest. More importantly, it might even have implications on Pushkar’s
murder – who knows?
Similarly, Pushkar’s statement to The Indian Express
about taking upon herself “the crimes of this man during IPL (Indian Premier League)” may be nothing
more than a wife venting her anger (Sunanda was
known to have a short fuse) for whatever reasons – but,
as senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy recently
pointed out to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a recent letter urging him to order a CBI probe into
Pushkar’s murder, the cause of her death may have
something to do with her threat of disclosure of the
money laundering in the IPL scam.
Moving on to the investigative process, it is not important whether there is any politics of vendetta at
play, which Tharoor is accusing the BJP of. Finding
Pushkar’s killers is, of course, top priority; but once
that is done and dusted, it is important to dig deeper
into all the fireworks surrounding this matter at the
prestigious All India Institute of
Medical Sciences (AIIMS) that was
tasked with the responsibility to
bring out some truths through
Pushkar’s postmortem report. For
starters, why did AIIMS forensic
department head Sudhir Gupta,
who had also headed the panel set
up for Pushkar’s autopsy, claim last
year that he was pressured by top
officials to write in his postmortem
report that the death was "natural"? If Dr Gupta was serious
about his allegations, he has to be
asked to name those names. Who
were these top officials that were
trying to obstruct the course of justice? And what was their motive in
doing so?
Truths about these incidents will
not only help the investigation
under way, but also – from a big
picture perspective – help identify
and weed out the bad eggs in the
system. n
INDIA FIRST 3
INDIA
FIRST
S P E A K S
Y O U R
CONTENTS
M I N D
Editor-in-Chief Sunjoy Hans
[email : [email protected]]
Consulting Editor Pankaj Kumar
Associate Editor Siddhartha Tripathy
Senior Special Correspondent Kabita Dash
General Manager Bimal Ku. Bhanjdeo
Legal Advisors Yasobant Das, M.R. Mohanty
Auditor A.K. Sabat & Co. Chartered Accountants
Orissa Correspondent H.K. Rath
Delhi Correspondent Samita Chaudhary
Special Correspondents Tarun Khanduja,
Ashok Mehta
Production Head Debabrata Mishra
09 MIRED IN MYSTERY
COVER
STORY
The investigation into Sunanda Pushkar’s case has, until
recently, been as inexplicably puzzling as her murder itself
Assistant Art Director Prabhakar Hota
General Manager Finance Niranjan Das
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THE SARADHA
EFFECT
Thanks to the fallout of
the mother of all ponzi
schemes in the country,
Eastern India’s political
equation with the
Centre seems all but
set for a reset
18
COLD IRONY
NATION
The homeless in New
Delhi are choosing the
streets over
government night
shelters this winter
32
THE ARMY’S COLD
REALITY
Printed at
Batra Art Press, A-41, Naraina Industrial Area,
New Delhi- 110028
All rights reserved throughout the world.
Reproduction in any manner is prohibited. Printed
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RNI Regd No. ORIENG/2004/13647
Volume 10, Issue22, 16 January 2015, Fortnightly
email : [email protected]
28
TOURISM
4 INDIA FIRST
HIMACHAL LURES
SKIERS
With snowfall aplenty
this winter, the
mountain state has
become heaven for
skiing enthusiasts
DEFENCE
Indian soldiers, who
must often work in
inhospitable weather
and unforgiving terrain,
continue to be ill-clad,
ill-equipped and illarmed
16 JANUARY 2015
In
a
nutshell
Bumpy Ride
I
ndia's first all-women tourism taxi
service, flagged off three months
ago in Goa, has hit a roadblock. A
Church-operated NGO Centre for Responsible Tourism (CRT) recently said
that contrary to public knowledge, a private company was running the cab service and that the women drivers were
being allegedly forced to drive at night
with male passengers without any security. CRT blamed the Goa Tourism Development Corp (GTDC) for the "scam
and sham". According to Fr. Maverick
Fernandes, who heads Caritas (under
which CRT functions), the social and
charitable wing of the influential Roman
Catholic Church in Goa, the 10 women
taxi drivers roped in to drive the radiotaxi fleet were not even trained in basic
martial arts. GTDC launched the cab
service in October last year. Goa is one
of the leading beach tourism destinations in India and attracts nearly three
million tourists annually. But the lack of
public transport, coupled with the need
to ensure safer travel for women, led the
GTDC to start the all-women taxi service. The media kit provided to journalists at the time suggested that the taxi
service was started by tourism authorities. n
Goa Drug Menace
L
ike the proxy political battle over
drugs in Punjab between the Akali
Dal and the BJP, in Goa too the issue of
narcotics and drug peddling is fast rousing political parties out of their postNew Year stupor. Several U-turns by
Facing the Music
U
nion Minister of State for Urban Development Babul Supriyo was
allegedly heckled by activists of West Bengal's ruling Trinamool
Congress and prevented from entering a school in his constituency Asansol
recently. Supriyo, who during the day visited several schools in his constituency and interacted with students on the 'Swachh Bharat' Mission,
claimed local Trinamool leader and chairman of the Asansol Municipal
Corporation Jitendra Tiwari abused him and tried to attack his car. During
the Lok Sabha poll campaign last year, Tiwari filed a police complaint alleging that Supriyo had entered a temple in a drunken state during one his
poll campaigns. Denying Supriyo's charges, Tiwari claimed that the J K
Nagar School authorities had repeatedly requested him to postpone his
programme till the admission process was over. "The school had repeatedly urged him to postpone the programme till January 19 when the admission process ends. Being a VVIP, his presence would have
inconvenienced the students who had come for admission. So we had
urged him not to attend the programme," he said. n
ruling party legislators and a minister
appear to have exposed the will of the
ruling BJP to take on the drug menace,
especially after Prime Minister Narendra
Modi called for a battle against drugs in
his radio address to the nation in December. Tourism Minister Dilip
Parulekar, after declaring that he would
shut down mega-scale EDM festivals if
any suspicious activity or drugs were
found at such events, lashed out at the
deceased Isha Mantry, linking the death
of the costume designer to binge-drinking, even before the post-mortem examination. Goa attracts three million
tourists every year but is also known as
a narco-tourism destination where
16 JANUARY 2015
drugs are available in plenty and cheap
especially during the tourism season
from October to March. Not even Chief
Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and Civil
Supplies Minister Dayanand Mandrekar, both of whom hail from tourismsavvy coastal constituencies, have
escaped the accusations and counteraccusations. n
Being Supportive
T
he Congress was ready to support
an AAP government again in the
event of a hung assembly in the capital,
former chief minister Sheila Dikshit
said. "It is logical that we would want a
INDIA FIRST 5
stable government, and if the need
arises, the AAP will be our choice to keep
communal forces at bay," Dikshit said.
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal
was quick to react, saying "it means the
Congress has already conceded and
people should vote for the AAP instead
of the Congress." Congress' political in
charge of Delhi P.C. Chacko described
Dikshit's remarks as "her imagination
which has nothing to do with the party".
"Whosoever has said that doesn't matter. There is no question of supporting
the AAP," Chacko said. After winning
just eight seats in the 2013 election that
ended 15 years of its rule in Delhi, the
Congress propped up a minority government of the AAP headed by Kejriwal.
Dikshit, a three-time chief minister, was
defeated in New Delhi constituency by
Kejriwal by nearly 26,000 votes. n
Capital Case
O
f the outgoing legislators of the
2013 Delhi assembly, the BJP had
the largest number of 30 crorepatis
among the 31 elected, as well as the
highest number of MLAs with criminal
cases registered at 17, according to the
Association for Democratic Reforms
(ADR). Of the 28 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
MLAs, 12 were crorepatis while three
had criminal cases, ADR said quoting
from criminal, financial and other background details of MLAs in the 2013
elctions. Of the eight Congress MLAs,
seven were crorepatis, while two had
criminal cases against them. Of all the
70 MLAs clubbed together, 51 were
crorepatis and 25 had criminal cases
against them. Of these, 67 were male
and only three were female - all from the
Flying High
D
efending a paper presented at the Indian Science Congress which
claimed existence of aeroplanes in India thousands of years ago,
Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan asked the Indian scientific
community not to be ashamed of the country's ancient history. Claiming
that India had vast knowledge in all fields, he said even international documents mentioned about it. He said India was the most superior power in
the world not only in science, but even in medicine, art, culture, commerce
and anything that one can think of. The paper presented at the 102nd Indian
Science Congress, which concluded in Mumbai recently, claimed existence
of interplanetary aircraft and airplanes in India 7,000 years ago. n
AAP. Of the 25 MLAs with criminal cases,
20 declared serious criminal cases like
attempt to murder, dacoity and assault
against women etc., said ADR. n
Heritage Walk
O
ver 400 Buddhist monks recently
took part in a 13-km 'heritage
walk' in Bihar in a bid to revive the ancient route between Jethian and Venuvan which Gautam Buddha took after
attaining enlightenment. Monks from
over 30 monasteries in various countries
took part in the first heritage walk. The
ancient route was taken by Buddha
more than 2,500 years ago. The heritage
walk from Jethian in Gaya district and
Venuvan in Rajgir in Nalanda district
was organised by the Bihar State
Tourism Development Corporation
(BSTDC). The heritage walk was part of
the Rajgir festival to popularise the
event by following the footprints of Bud6 INDIA FIRST
dha. Millions of Buddhists from across
the world including in China, Japan,
South Korea, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand,
Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia and in the US and European countries regard the route as the
holiest one. n
A Filmy Avatar
B
e it on expensive TV commercials,
internet space, popular social networking sites, posters, other audiovideo mediums or his followers dressed
in colourful MSG attire moving around
in malls − he is all over. As his first movie
− "Messenger of God" or "MSG" − hits
over 4,000 screens across the country
January 16, self-styled guru Gurmeet
Ram Rahim Singh is ready to unveil his
new avatar as a film star. The hype over
the release of the Hindi action-thriller is
already building up, especially among
the 47-year-old spiritual leader's follow16 JANUARY 2015
ers. And, if the authorities at his Dera
Sacha Sauda sect are to be believed,
there are over 50 million of them. The
sect leader is himself on a tight and hectic promotional tour of the movie country-wide. "MSG' will also be dubbed in
other Indian languages for an all-India
release. The idea of making a movie and
projecting himself in rockstar fashion,
according to Insan, was to "reach out to
youth". n
Chief Concern
C
ongress did not rule out the possibility of Rahul Gandhi becoming
the next party chief, taking over the reins
from his mother Sonia Gandhi, who has
been the party's longest-serving president. Party general secretary Digvijaya
Singh has repeatedly demanded that
Rahul Gandhi, who is vice president at
present, should assume "full responsibility". Asked about the remarks, party
spokesperson Shobha Oza gave an
open-ended answer. "Both Sonia
Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are our respected leaders. The party has a constitution and organisational elections are
due," she said. Digvijaya Singh had
made the demand last week too, saying
Rahul Gandhi has taken responsibility of
party vice president and Sonia Gandhi
should give him full responsibility of the
All India Congress Committee. n
‘No Positive Agenda’
P
rime Minister Narendra Modi was resorting to personal attacks as
the BJP had no positive agenda for the upcoming Delhi assembly
polls, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said after being described as an "anarchist"
by Modi. "The prime minister called me an anarchist, I have never indulged in such personal attacks. It seems that BJP is nervous and have no
positive agenda for Delhi polls," Kejriwal said soon after Modi's rally where
he targeted Kejriwal for his "anarchist" remarks and asked voters to punish
the AAP in the assembly elections. The former chief minister said that Modi
spoke negatively of the Congress rule in Delhi and not of the 49 days of the
AAP government. "This means we did a good job. We ended corruption in
Delhi in 49 days. What has BJP done at the centre?" he asked. n
Modinama from Gujarat
S
haring the stage with people who
together control trillions of dollars
and give direction to world economy,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi scaled
his idea of Vibrant Gujarat to that of 'Vibrant India'. He called upon countries
and corporates to invest in India's
growth story and sold his 'Make in India'
campaign to the world business community. As the proceedings began at
Gandhinagar's Mahatma Mandir complex, Modi had UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State John
Kerry, World Bank President Jim Yong
Kim, the prime ministers of Bhutan and
Macedonia, ministers from Britain, Australia, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada,
Singapore and other countries, corporate czars and top CEOs by his side.
"This event is perhaps the biggest gathering on earth where a budding entrepreneur has the opportunity to see the
president of the World Bank. Where a
young farmer, dreaming to set up a food
processing unit, can listen to the views
16 JANUARY 2015
of the UN secretary general on issues
like food security," a visibly happy Modi
said. n
Solar Power for Tribal
Schools
S
chools and hostels being run by
Odisha's Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes development department will soon be given solar powerbased electricity supply. Realising the
difficulty in ensuring an uninterrupted
electricity supply to schools and hostels located in the state's inaccessible
areas, the Odisha government has decided to set up solar-panel based electricity facilities for them. The SC and
ST development department has
asked the district welfare officers and
integrated tribal development agencies (ITDAs) to identify high schools,
Ashram schools and Sevashrams, located in most interior pockets of their
districts, to set up facilities for solarpanel based power supply. n
INDIA FIRST 7
POLITICALLY
INCORRECT
A fortnightly update on the faux pas of the movers and shakers of Indian politics
“Those who dare insult Prophet Mohammed
deserve death and there is no need to initiate
legal procedure against them … I am ready to
pay the money if they [terrorists] come and
demand the declared reward”
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Haji Yakoob
Qureshi Qureshi on the French cartoonists of
Paris-based satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo
who were recently shot down by terrorists.
Qureshi had hit the headlines in 2006 after
declaring a reward of Rs. 51 crore for anyone who
would kill the Danish cartoonist who had created
a controversial cartoon of Prophet Mohammed.
“The concept of four wives and 40 children will
not work in India and the time has come when
a Hindu woman must produce at least four
children in order to protect Hindu religion”
A month after stoking controversy for calling
Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse a
patriot, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sakshi
Maharaj is now asking Hindus to have large
families to protect their religion.
“The real homecoming will be when people
of other religions embrace Islam. Muslims
are being allured with Rs.5 lakh and
Christians with Rs.2 lakh to convert. Only
five lakh? What a joke. Muslims can't leave
Islam even if you give them the wealth of
the world”
Adding fire to the controversy over
conversions, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
(MIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi says that Islam is
the “real home” of all religions and hence the
real “homecoming” will be when people of
other religions embrace it.
8 INDIA FIRST
16 JANUARY 2015
Cover
Story
MIRED IN
MYSTERY
The investigation into Sunanda Pushkar’s case has, until recently,
been as inexplicably puzzling as her murder itself
16 JANUARY 2015
INDIA FIRST 9
S
omewhere around this
time last year, there were
fireworks aplenty in the
world of Shashi Tharoor,
quite apparently in more
ways than one. Just when it
seemed like Tharoor, the then Minister
of State for Human Resource Development, had finally left the “cattle class”
controversy on social media website
Twitter in 2009 and the IPL controversy
in 2010 (which cost him his plum post as
External Affairs Minister that year) far
behind him, yet another one erupted –
this time, on a more personal front but
very much in public view, thanks to its
unfolding on Twitter again.
It was a crying shame: The loveydovey tweets on Tharoor's timeline, purportedly from Pakistani journalist Mehr
Tarar; Tharoor’s denial of receiving any
such tweets, with claims of his account
being hacked; the rejection of those
claims by Sunanda Pushkar, his third
wife, who told the Economic Times that
it was in fact she who was sending the
tweets of Mehr from Tharoor’s account
in a bid to expose the overtures of “a
Pakistani woman who is an ISI (Inter
Services Intelligence) agent” to a “flattered” Tharoor; Pushkar being quoted
by the same paper as saying that she had
taken upon herself “the crimes of this
man during IPL (Indian Premier
League)” and “I will not allow this to be
done to me. I just can't tolerate this”;
and her telling Indian Express, in a separate interview, that she wanted to divorce Tharoor.
Then, even as those tweets and interviews made headlines on January 16 and
spilled over into politics, with the Left
and the BJP in Kerala calling for Tharoor’s resignation from his post and
ouster from the cabinet over the raging
controversy (very untimely for Tharoor
and his party, given that he was to be
named as a Congress candidate in the
upcoming 2014 Lok Sabha elections) the
Tharoors issued a joint statement on
Facebook, saying that that the tweets
were unauthorized, misrepresented and
misinterpreted and that the two “are
happily married and intend to remain
that way”.
But that was, of course, not to be:
Pushkar was found dead the next day at
her suite in The Leela Palace hotel in
south Delhi.
According to the official police report
of the time, Tharoor – after attending the
All Indian Congress Committee (AICC)
session in the morning and a meeting in
the evening – entered his hotel room between 8-8.30 p.m. and found the main
hall of the suite open but Pushkar’s bed10 INDIA FIRST
Dr. Neerja Bhatla and Dr Amit Gupta of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) address a press conference regarding
controversy over the autopsy report of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of former Union minister and Congress leader Shashi
Tharoor in New Delhi on July 2, 2014. Pushkar was found dead in her room at a five-star hotel in Delhi January 17.
room locked from inside. The minister
then had to call the hotel staff and used
a "swipe card" to open the room where
he found Pushkar, who was dressed in a
nightgown and had a quilt over her,
lying on the bed. After this, the minister's aides called the police, who arrived
on the scene at 9.15 p.m.
START OF
CONTRADICTIONS
Tharoor's aide, Abhinav Kumar, had
told the media thereafter that Pushkar
was found dead and there was “no sign
of foul play, no poisoning." He had also
explained that the couple had checked
into the hotel as their house in Delhi was
getting painted.
Meanwhile, T.P. Sreenivasan, a former
diplomat and close friend of Tharoor
had worriedly informed him of his wife's
“serious” illness, for which she had “undergone treatment in France recently”.
There were other reports, too, that said
the couple had visited a leading private
hospital in Thiruvananthapuram recently and that certain tests were conducted on Pushkar. According to some
other sources, Pushkar was diagnosed
with suspected systemic lupus erythematosus – a connective tissue disorder
that has no definite treatment.
However, G. Vijayaraghavan, the doctor who was treating Pushkar in Thiruvananthapuram, said she was not
suffering from any grave illness. (Although, citing standard practice, he refused to share details about her illness
with the media.)
The next day, after a three-doctor
panel carried out the postmortem examination (including autopsy, videography and photography) of Pushkar’s
body, the doctor leading the panel declared that Pushkar had "injury marks"
on her body and that it was a "case of
unnatural, sudden death".
This was Dr Sudhir Gupta from the All
India Institute of Medical Sciences
(AIIMS).
A couple of days later, after the panel’s
report was submitted to Sub-Divisional
Magistrate (SDM) Alok Sharma, police
sources said the post-mortem report
had concluded that Pushkar’s death was
due to drug overdose. It was also revealed that the dozen injury marks in
the upper extremity of her upper body –
on one arm, hand, chin, and neck re16 JANUARY 2015
gions – suggested a scuffle before her
death.
Police investigators had said it could
be a case of drug overdose or overdose
of sleeping pills. With two strips of alprax drug had been recovered from her
hotel room, a police officer said, "The
huge quantity of consumption of such
drug may affect functioning of brain and
leads to a comatose situation.”
On January 21, however, the SDM in
his conclusion of the report probing
Pushkar’s death said her post-mortem
analysis suggested that she died due to
poison, adding that it would be “too
early to say … if she had consumed poison or the drug consumed by her acted
as poison". Sharma had also asked police to trace the cause of poisoning and
find out whether Pushkar’s case was that
of murder or suicide.
OFF TRACK
Everything that followed this line of
incomplete investigation was focused
more on Tharoor and politics than
Pushkar and her death.
When no new breakthrough in the
case was seen or heard of in the following week and the trail seemed to be
16 JANUARY 2015
going cold after a disturbingly quiet February, the Left opposition raised questions in Kerala assembly in March over
Tharoor's alleged links with Tarar and
also demanded that the probe into
Pushkar’s case be expedited. CPI-M
leader V.S. Achutanandan said that Congress leaders should answer why no
complaint had been registered against
Tharoor in connection with Pushkar's
mysterious death.
"It's time that Defence Minister A.K.
Antony and other senior leaders in the
Congress break their silence on the mysterious death of Tharoor's wife,"
Achutanandan said in a written statement issued in Thiruvanathapuram,
pointing out that as per law, if a woman
dies an unnatural death within seven
years of her marriage, a case should be
registered against her husband.
"Their marriage lasted under three
years and hospital authorities and police have already gone on record stating
that her death was a mystery. Till now,
no case has been registered against Tharoor and the silence of Antony and the
central government is baffling," he said.
Achuthanandan's statement came
after a complaint filed by Tharoor with
poll officials over the slander unleashed
against him by M. Vijayakumar, former
Kerala assembly speaker and a senior
leader of the Communist Party of IndiaMarxist and also a close aide of
Achuthanandan.
Towards the end of March, Pushkar’s
family members issued a joint communiqué to the media saying that despite
their earlier individual statements that
they suspected neither suicide nor foul
play in Pushkar's death, some elements
in the media and individuals with vested
interests were continuing to pursue the
angle of alleged poisoning, which was
causing them much distress.
"Now that the leaked viscera report
has apparently concluded that there was
no poison in her system, as we always
believed,we request all concerned to
stop their unfounded speculation," read
the statement signed by her father Lt.
Col. (retd.) Pushkar Nath Dass, her
brothers and son. "We stress that we
have not received any official copy of the
post-mortem report or the viscera report, and only know what the media has
reported. We urge the police to conclude
their investigations at the earliest so that
she can rest in peace."
But it seems as if the case instead was
practically put to rest.
Tharoor by this time had already filed
his nomination papers as the Congress
candidate from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat and the 2014 gen-
eral elections fever took over with advent of April.
SHOCKING CLAIMS
It would not be until July – after
Gupta, the head of forensics department
at AIIMS and the one who had headed
the panel that conducted Pushkar’s
postmortem, alleged that he was pressurised by top officials to manipulate
the report of Pushkar's autopsy and
show her death as "natural" – that the
case would see the light of the day once
again.
Reacting to the media reports carrying Gupta’s revelations, Union Health
Minister Harsh Vardhan sought on July
2 a report from the AIIMS. "In context of
his promotion, Sudhir Gupta had written a letter to the health ministry. It was
only after the media reports emerged, I
have sought a detailed report on it from
the AIIMS director," the minister said.
The AIIMS administration in turn was
quick to categorically reject Gupta's
claims."There was no attempt to change
the post-mortem," Neerja Bhatla of the
department of obstetrics and gynaecology said at a press conference on the
same day.
AIIMS clarified that Gupta has filed a
case before the principal Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) bench at
New Delhi regarding the promotion of
another member of the faculty of forensic medicine.
"This case is sub-judice and final decision of the honourable CAT is
awaited," Bhatla added.
In his affidavit, Gupta had alleged that
a decision was taken by AIIMS to promote his junior as the head of department and to remove him.
Gupta feared he was being removed
as he gave the "right post-mortem report", sources said.
As the controversy gathered steam
once again, Tharoor in a statement from
Thiruvananthapuram, which he still
represents in the Lok Sabha, said: "Upon
the tragic loss of my wife Sunanda and
from the very beginning, I have requested for a thorough investigation by
the authorities to be conducted and
concluded rapidly and transparently."
"I reiterate my request to bring this
protracted inquiry to a clear and definitive conclusion at the earliest, so as to
put all speculation to rest," the now former human resource development minister said in the statement issued in both
English and Malayalam.
The Congress on its part rebutted the
allegations made by Gupta."Triggerhappy reactions in the midst of sensationalism can do a lot of injustice," party
INDIA FIRST 11
spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi
tweeted.
"AIIMS has said that there are no facts
on this allegation," he said in another
tweet.
However, Bharatiya Janata Party
leader Subramanian Swamy made a
stern call for proper investigation.
"I have been saying this from the beginning that she was murdered by a professional gang. There should be proper
investigations in this case as there are
certain new aspects which have come
out and which strongly indicate that she
was murdered," Swamy said.
As of July 4, Delhi Police was still waiting for the final autopsy report of
Pushkar from AIIMS.
Police had sought the AIIMS's views
after they found contradictions in the
autopsy report submitted to the sub-divisional magistrate and the viscera report which came a few days after the
autopsy.
The post-mortem examination which
was submitted to magistrate June 20 had
said the cause of death was "sudden"
and Pushkar died of "drug overdose".
The autopsy had also shown "Alprazolam poisoning". However, the viscera report had suggested of "no poisoning"
and "no traces of Alprax tablets".
After hearing Gupta’s plea, the CAT
bench in New Delhi restrained AIIMS
from appointing the new head in its
forensic medicine department.
NEW TURN
A few months later, in a leak of the
post mortem report from the Central
Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL)
submitted to the Delhi Police by AIIMS
stated that the cause of her death was
"poisoning".
The leaked report said that the AIIMS
medical board "had thoroughly pursued
the various documents that were submitted to them by the investigating officers along with the post mortem report
and histopathology report of viscera
after which it was concluded the cause
of Pushkar's death is poisoning".
"Viscera are positive for ethyl alcohol,
caffeine, acetaminophen and cotinine,"
it said.
The report also revealed that the medical report reserved comment on the
specific poison or chemical responsible
since there was a lot of limitations on
the viscera report.
"The duration of injuries have been
opined already. However, the reason of
these physical injuries, circumstantial
evidences and statements have not
been submitted by the investigative officer," the report stated.
12 INDIA FIRST
The Delhi Police., however, later reported that the latest forensic evidence
available in the death of Pushkar was
"not conclusive”.
"The forensic report at the moment is
not conclusive, our inquest status is
pending," Delhi Police Commissioner
B.S. Bassi told reporters.
Bassi said investigators would draw
their conclusion once they get conclusive evidence. "We believe in the quest
for truth and whatever is required in the
quest for truth... we have been doing
and will continue doing," he said while
answering a question about the role of
the investigating officer.
"We are competent to carry out the
probe...Inquest is pending...And whatever is required will be done," he added.
Despite being harried by the media,
Tharoor, who was recently named by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be one
of the ambassadors of the Clean India
campaign, refused to comment on the
fresh autopsy report.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan,
meanwhile, distanced himself from the
controversy. "It is a medico-legal case.
This has nothing to do with the health
ministry. It has nothing to do with me, I
have no comments to offer," he said.
Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, however, called for a fresh
probe in the case.
MURDER IT WAS
Another couple of months later, after
the turn of the year, Bassi declared that
Pushkar was indeed poisoned to death.
"We have got the final medical report
from AIIMS, and we have been told that
it was an unnatural death... It was not a
natural death," the Delhi Police Commissioner told the media.
"She died due to poisoning. Whether
the poison was given orally or injected
into her body is being investigated," he
said, adding the report from the All
India Institute of Medical Sciences was
received on December 29.
Bassi said the quantum of poison
given to Pushkar, who was 52, had not
yet been ascertained. "For that we will
send her viscera abroad," he said,
adding that a murder case had now
been registered anyway and a special
team had been formed to probe the
case, which would be overseen by
Deputy Commissioner of Police Prem
Nath.
Asked why it took almost a year for the
final medical report to come, Bassi said
the interim report spoke of poisoning
but did not say it was an unnatural
death. "Even overdose (of medicines)
can be poisoning."
Bassi also pointed out that Delhi Police had sought the final medical report
from AIIMS several times earlier. "Now
that we have got it, we are registering a
FIR," he explained.
GETTING POLITICAL
And although Tharoor expressed
shock over the latest developments and
stated that that a comprehensive investigation be conducted so that “the unvarnished truth” could come out," the
Left and the BJP made fresh calls for his
resignation.
Former
chief
minister
V.S.
Achuthanandan said the Congress
should publicly apologise for "protecting" Tharoor when he was a minister in
the Congress-led central government.
"Now with a murder case registered,
Tharoor should resign and make himself
available for the probe," the Communist
Party of India-Marxist leader said in a
statement.
State Bharatiya Janata Party president
V. Muraleedharan also asked Tharoor to
resign from the Lok Sabha. "The Congress should apologise to the people for
fielding him (in the Lok Sabha polls),"
said Muraleedharan.
However, the Congress in New Delhi
maintained that it was unclear whether
Pushkar committed suicide or was murdered."Not yet certain whether
Sunanda's death was suicide or mur16 JANUARY 2015
Shashi Tharoor and Sunanda Pushkar
der," Congress spokesman Abhishek
Singhvi said, adding that the FIR was
"just a beginning and not an end of a
legal process".
"As police have also said it's not at all
clear that whether it's a self-administered poison or outside-administered
poison... every person has the full right
to be treated as completely innocent unless and until a process of law goes beyond and further," the Congress leader
pointed out.
Meanwhile, the BJP-led NDA government asked Delhi Police to carry out a
"free, fearless, and favourless" investigation into the death of Pushkar. "The
BJP's mindset is investigative agencies
should do their job freely, fearlessly,
without favour. And the truth should
come out," said BJP spokesperson Nalin
Kohli.
BJP leader G.V.L. Narasimha Rao said
the confusion stood resolved as it was
now clear that Pushkar's death was a
case of murder and not a suicide, as it
was perceived initially.
He said the case was not an act of political vendetta by the ruling party, and
the BJP would see it as just "another
case of crime".
"There is no politics in this, so BJP
would simply see this as another case of
crime. Delhi Police is quite capable of
handling this investigation and will ensure punishment for the accused."
16 JANUARY 2015
BJP's Subramanian Swamy, however,
maintained a different view.
Calling it "not an ordinary murder of
passion", Swamy alleged Pushkar was
silenced for attempting to tell the truth.
He found "conspiracy of silence" in this
"big murder" involving money that, he
claimed, could tarnish the image of
high-powered people who were involved in the incident.
On January 7, a police team was
formed to investigate afresh Pushkar's
murder, B.S. Bassi said.
"The special team is looking into each
and every possibility of the case. Whatever is needed will be done," Bassi told
the media. Informed sources said that a
Delhi Police team visited the Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences in Thiruvananthapuram last month to speak to
doctors who had treated Pushkar.
The same day, Tharoor alleged in a
letter made public that a police officer
tried to implicate him and a domestic
help in her mysterious death. In a letter
to Delhi Commissioner of Police B.S.
Bassi dated November 13, Tharoor
urged the police chief to take action
against the officer.
Tharoor said four police officers interrogated his domestic help Narayan
Singh for 16 hours on November 7 and
for 14 hours on November 8.
On both days, he alleged that Narayan
Singh was repeatedly physically as-
saulted by an officer."Worse, that officer
used the traumatic physical assault to
try and intimidate Narayan into 'confessing' that he and I murdered my
wife," Tharoor said.
He quoted Bassi as telling him that
such conduct was "completely unacceptable and illegal".
Delhi Police, however, denied the allegation.
Bassi told CNN-IBN news channel
that he checked with his officers about
the allegations made by Tharoor and
found that no physical assault had taken
place. "I had received an email. I had
asked the concerned officers. Nothing of
this sort was reported by them," he said.
Bassi admitted he had spoken to Tharoor over telephone but said Delhi Police believed in policing which was
governed by rule of law. "So in our policing, we have no place for strong tactics.
Anything of this sort is totally unacceptable. In this case, when I checked with
my officers, they found nothing of this
sort," Bassi added.
Tharoor had said in his letter that the
police action amounted "to the use of
physical coercion in the attempt to
frame an innocent man". He said he and
his staff had always made themselves
available for any investigation "but the
behaviour of the officers towards my
staff is a matter of serious concern to
any law abiding citizen".
Nevertheless, taking forward its probe
into the murder of Pushkar, Delhi Police
summoned Tharoor’s domestic help
Narayan Singh, again for further interrogation. The special team investigating
the murder of Tharoor's wife Sunanda
Pushkar took Singh to an undisclosed
location in south Delhi, an official revealed.
MORE REVELATIONS
Upon access to the FIR in the murder
case, it was further discovered that "alprazolam poisoning" was the reason for
Pushkar's death and that the injuries to
her were caused by "blunt force" which
did not cause death while her body also
bore injection and teeth bite marks.
"The circumstantial evidences are
suggestive of alprazolam poisoning,"
said the three-page First Information
Report, adding poisoning was through
oral route but an "injectable route"
could not be ruled out.
"All the injuries mentioned are caused
by blunt force, simple in nature, noncontributing to death and are produced
in scuffle, except injury number 10
which is an injection mark. Injury number 12 is a teeth bite mark. The injuries
number 1 to 15 are of various duration
INDIA FIRST 13
Sunanda Pushkar`s husband Sashi Tharoor and her son Shiv Menon during her
cremation at Lodhi Road crematorium in Delhi on January 18, 2014.
ranging from 12 hours to four days," the
FIR said.
The FIR also confirmed that Pushkar
was neither ill nor suffering from any
disease prior to her death.
"She was a normal, healthy individual. In view of the above analysis, death
due to natural cause is ruled out. The
cause of death in this case is poisoning.
The poisoning is through oral route,
however injectable route too also can't
be ruled out," the FIR said.
Narrating the sequence of events, the
FIR says that then station house officer
(SHO) of Sarojini Nagar police station
Atul Sood received a telephonic call on
January 17, 2014 from Tharoor's personal secretary (PS) Abinav Kumar that
Pushkar "has done something" in room
number 345 of Hotel Leela Palace. A
daily diary entry regarding the death
was lodged the same day.
Meanwhile, a friend of Pushkar, who
had dropped her to a south Delhi hotel
from the airport, was questioned in connection with her murder, Delhi Police
said, adding that 12 more people including Tharoor would soon be questioned.
Sunil Trakru, a businessman and a
close friend of Pushkar, had been questioned twice earlier, a few days before
the registration of FIR (first information
report) January 1, a police officer said.
He said Trakru's name had surfaced
during the questioning of Tharoor's domestic help Shri Narayan Singh in November last year. Singh was questioned
for a few hours, during which he revealed that the couple had a fight a day
before Pushkar was found dead.
Singh had also told police that Trakru
had dropped Pushkar from the Delhi
airport to Hotel Leela Palace where she
was found dead in her room later.
The couple had returned from Kerala
January 14 but Tharoor went to his
house in Lodhi Colony, while Pushkar
left for the hotel.
Delhi police officials also said that
they would soon question 12 more people including Tharoor, Pushkar's son
14 INDIA FIRST
Shiv Menon, her two brothers Ashish
Dass and Rajesh Pushkar and her cardiologist Rajat Mohan.
They were also looking for a person
named 'Kaitie' whose name surfaced
during arguments between Tharoor and
Pushkar, overheard by Singh.
Senior journalist Nalini Singh, with
whom Pushkar was believed to be in
touch over phone before her death,
would also be called to join the probe,
the officer added.
Besides, two of Tharoor's officers on
special duty (OSD) Shiv Kumar Prasad
and Abhinav Kumar, along with driver
Bajrangi were also to be questioned.
The special team investigating the
murder visited the hotel where they
questioned the staff and also went to the
room where Pushkar had stayed.
Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi told
media that he would brief them on the
case within three-four days after something new came out during the questioning and further enquiry.
"As and when I get some relevant
input that I can share, I will definitely do
that. Wait for three-four days and I will
brief you in detail and answer all the
questions," Bassi said.
MISSING PIECES
On January 10 it was revealed, from
the third and latest autopsy report
handed over to Delhi Police on December 29, that the AIIMS board, which had
conducted the postmortem of Pushkar,
had not been provided "the inventory
of the articles found at the crime scene”.
However, it was noted that inventory
of articles collected from the spot
needed to be placed before the board.
"Inventory of the articles found at the
crime scene has neither been placed on
record nor handed over to the board. We
have been asking for it. It needs to be
placed before the board," said the report.
"Each of the above points is important to find out the truth from the crime
scene as well as the post-mortem exam-
ination, as mentioned in the authoritative book written by the well-known expert S Ritz-Timme," it said.
"In the hotel room, pieces of broken
glass were found on the carpet and near
the curtain (suggestive of a scuffle)," the
report said. It also noted a big urine
patch mark found on the bed sheet
below Pushkar's body.
"A big patch mark of urination was
found on the bed-sheet. It is due to either deep sleep or the unconscious state
of the victim for long hours. Later on,
the CFSL report found cotinine, alcohol
and acetaminophine traces in the urine
sample," the report said.
As India First went to press, Congress
MP Shashi Tharoor reached the national capital and for possible questioning by Delhi Police in connection with
Pushkar's murder. Arriving at the Indira
Gandhi International (IGI) airport from
Kerala at around 2 p.m. and while heading for his house in central Delhi's Lodhi
Estate, Tharoor did not reply to questions from journalists, and merely said:
"I have already spoken with the media
(in Kerala)."
He drove away in a car with his security staff. After reaching home, he consulted his lawyers and discussed the
case. Policemen have been deployed
outside his residence.
While the latest round of investigation
into Pushkar’s case has been going at a
fairly fast clip, it begs a good few questions: What took the system so long – a
full year – to get some investigation of
possible consequence under way? Why
was there such inconsistency in the initial autopsy reports? What made Tharoor, or even other family members of
Pushkar for that matter, so sure that
there was no “foul play” at play in her
death? Why did the doctor in charge of
the Pushkar’s postmortem talk to the
media later about being pressurized by
top officials to manipulate the report of
Pushkar's autopsy, which eventually led
the CAT bench in New Delhi to restrain
AIIMS from appointing the new head in
its forensic medicine department? Why
and how was AIIMS not provided with
the inventory of the articles found at the
crime scene for so long a period, particularly when they were crucial to the
progress of the investigation? Is there indeed a strong nexus between nefarious
elements operating within and outside
the system, which has led to the investigation into the murder case as shrouded
in mystery as the murder itself? Could
the probe have reached this far in any
case had there been the same government at the Centre as last year?
There is no knowing yet. n
16 JANUARY 2015
Nation
THE SARADHA EFFECT
Thanks to the fallout of the mother of all ponzi schemes in the country, Eastern
India’s political equation with the Centre seems all but set for a reset
"Y
ou can cow down others but your arrests
and CBI threats will
have no effect on Trinamool. We will never be cowed down,”
roared West Bengal chief minister and
Trinamool Congress boss Mamata
Banerjee at the Narendra Modi government, while addressing a public meeting
at the Kharagpur College Ground a day
before New Year’s Eve.
Banerjee is putting up a brave front,
but there is no denying that the Saradha
scam – worth somewhere around Rs
200-300 billion and involving close to
two million investors from all walks of
life – is well and truly threatening to
shake up the political status quo in eastern India.
Over the past couple of weeks the
Central Bureau of Intelligence has been
turning up the heat on all those whose
names were linked with what is now
deemed as the mother of all ponzi
schemes that India has ever seen – and
a good many of them, as everyone
knows now, have turned out to be politicians of the ruling parties of West Bengal
16 JANUARY 2015
and Odisha.
On December 29, Trinamool Congress
leader Shankudeb Panda was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate
(ED) in connection with the scam.
"The nasty ploy of using the
CBI as a political tool by the
BJP continues. They could not
fight us politically in Bengal in
the Lok Sabha elections. So
now, these dirty tactics months
before the corporation
elections"
– Derek O'Brien, TMC MP and
spokesperson
Questioned for over three hours,
Panda's statement was recorded under
the Prevention of Money Laundering
Act.
The journalist-turned-politician, who
is currently general secretary of the
party's state unit, was also quizzed
about his alleged involvement with cer-
tain firms that had made some financial
dealings with the tainted Saradha
Group. He also submitted records of his
financial transactions and income of the
past few years.
Perceived to be close to the party top
leadership, Panda arrived at the ED office covering his face with a shawl to
dodge the waiting media. After questioning, he left the office in a hurry without having a word with the journalists.
Two weeks later, the CBI summoned
former railways minister Mukul Roy –
considered West Bengal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee's right hand man and
number two in the Trinamool Congress
– for questioning on the same issue.
Confirming that he has been called
for questioning, Roy said he would appear before the CBI once he returns to
Kolkata.
"Question doesn't arise about any
summons but I have been informed by
the CBI. I am here (in Delhi) for a day or
two, and once I go back to Kolkata, I will
definitely meet the CBI people," Roy, a
Rajya Sabha member, told reporters in
Delhi asserting he was not involved in
INDIA FIRST 15
any illegal or immoral act.
‘POLITICAL VENDETTA’
Backing Roy – the key man in the
party's organisational structure and regarded as the architect of its electoral
victories – the Trinamool called the people to hit the streets against the move.
The party lashed out at the BJP-led
centre for its "political vendetta".
"The nasty ploy of using the CBI as a
political tool by the BJP continues. They
could not fight us politically in Bengal in
the Lok Sabha elections. So now, these
dirty tactics months before the corporation elections," said the party's Rajya
Sabha chief whip Derek O'Brien.
"This is blatant vindictiveness. Is the
CBI being run by (Prime Minister)
Narendra Modi's office or by Amit Shah
at the BJP headquarters?" he asked.
Describing the CBI as a "frontal office
for the BJP", Trinamool secretary general Partha Chatterjee said the people
will hit the streets against the "political
vindictiveness of the BJP".
"Party workers, supporters and common people will protest against the
BJP's misuse of the CBI in every block of
the state," he said.
Claiming that the Trinamool frontline
leadership was involved in the scam,
BJP national secretary S.N. Singh said
Roy's summoning was a major setback
for the state's ruling party.
"Roy was the last person whom
Saradha chief Sudipta Sen had met before he fled to Kashmir. So his summoning by the CBI is a significant step,"
Singh said.
While former state Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya said Roy's
summoning by the CBI "was imminent", Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Sitaram Yechury
demanded that properties of all those
involved in the scandal should be confiscated and sold off and every person
connected to the graft be called for
questioning, irrespective of their positions including Banerjee.
"The matter must be investigated in
its entirety and all those who are involved irrespective of their position
must be quizzed and if found guilty, action must be taken against them. More
importantly, the money that was swindled from the poor must be returned by
confiscating and selling their properties,
whatever position they may hold, including the chief minister," Yechury
said.
IN ANOTHER STATE
Meanwhile, on the same day, and in
what was a big jolt to the ruling Biju
16 INDIA FIRST
Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha, the CBI interrogated party MP Rabindra Kumar
Jena over his alleged link with the scam.
According to sources in the CBI, Jena
was questioned for about three hours
for his alleged link with the Seashore
Group, a major chit fund player in the
state. The Lok Sabha member from Balasore appeared at the CBI office here at
7.50 p.m. He is the second BJD MP to be
interrogated by the investigating agency
in the chit fund scam.
"I was questioned about some business transactions with Seashore. The
CBI wanted some clarifications and
documents over this. I have answered all
questions and provided all relevant documents to the CBI," Jena told media persons after coming out of the CBI office.
CBI sources said Jena headed the
Supratik group of companies, which had
availed term loan of about Rs.18 crore
from the Seashore group in 2010. He,
however, paid back the loan in 2013, the
"Trinamool's standing has
nose-dived in the eyes of the
people. They came to power
after winning a democratic
election. Now, whatever the
people understand about the
situation, will happen”
– Asok Kumar Ganguly, former
chief of West Bengal Human
Rights Commission
sources added.
Jena was also the co-CEO of Balasore
Alloys from January 31, 2007 to January
30, 2009. Later, he became managing director of the same company till November 2011.
These intense interrogations of Trinamool’s and the BJD’s political leaders
by the CBI were not a first in connection
with the scam.
Following the Saradha money trail,
the ED has already grilled a number of
Trinamool leaders, including several of
its MPs. While the CBI has taken into
custody Trinamool Rajya Sabha members Kunal Ghosh and Srinjoy Bose and
Transport Minister Madan Mitra, the ED
has grilled a host of party leaders, including actor-turned MP Mithun
Chakraborty and Textile Minister
Shyamapada Mukherjee. And in Odisha,
four BJD leaders (including Banki MLA
Pravat Tripathy, Mayurbhanj MP Ramchandra Hansda, former MLA Subarna
Nayak, all of who were even arrested)
and a BJD MP were already interrogated
before Jena.
The questionings and investigations
will certainly not stop anytime soon, either. And these may take a toll on the
popularity of the two regional parties
that have been going rock-steady in
their respective states irrespective of
who is ruling at the Centre.
WHAT EXPERTS SAY
Recently, state human rights panel's
former chief Asok Kumar Ganguly said
the public standing of the Trinamool has
"nose-dived" after the arrest and summoning of its top leaders in the scam.
"Trinamool's standing has nose-dived
in the eyes of the people. They came to
power after winning a democratic election. Now, whatever the people understand about the situation, will happen,"
said the former apex court judge.
Observing that signs were ominous,
political analyst Anil Kumar Jana said
latest move by the CBI has compounded
the miseries of the Trinamool.
"Roy is central to Trinamool's scheme
of things and binds the party together.
The Saradha issue has already created a
rift among its ranks and his summoning
will only fuel that. In case Roy is arrested
by the CBI, then Trinamool is headed for
a definite doom," Vidyasagar University
professor Jana told IANS.
Echoing a similar view, political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty said it was
extremely difficult for the state's ruling
party to come out of the crisis.
"Roy is a massive figure in the party
and this will severely dent the morale
and confidence of party workers and
supporters. Already cornered over various issue, Trinamool is steadily heading
towards an existential battle and it looks
extremely difficult for it to make an escape," Chakrabarty, a Rabindra Bharati
University professor, said.
Political observers in Odisha, too, say
that the BJD is desperate for an image
makeover after the unfolding of the
Saradha scandal, among other scams
While the Central government is tightening the screw on many of the who’s
who of Trinamool and BJD thanks to the
crackdown by investigative agencies, the
BJP is throwing down the gauntlet by
launching campaigns such “Bhag Mamata Bhag” in West Bengal and “Mahasangram” in Odisha.
The two parties doubtless have their
backs to the wall. Just how they will dig
themselves out of this hole – or can
they? – is uncertain. But one thing is for
sure: There will be some significant
changes in the region’s political landscape, sooner or later. n
16 JANUARY 2015
Politics
ESTRANGED
BJP-Akali ties have hit an abysmal low
I
t was shadow boxing earlier between the Shiromani Akali Dal and
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in
Punjab. It is now graduating into a fight
at the ground level. The two supposed
allies are doing everything to step on
each others' feet.
Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh
Badal, who is also the Punjab deputy
chief minister and home minister, has
challenged Prime Minister Narendra
Modi to stop the cultivation and production of drugs in BJP-ruled states like
Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Badal
even wants Modi to take up the issue of
drug smuggling into Punjab from Pakistan with Islamabad.
The reasons for Badal's latest posturing vis-a-vis the BJP and Modi are not
hard to analyse.
Modi, during a recent radio address,
specifically mentioned Punjab's rampant drugs problem, upsetting the
Akalis. Second, the Enforcement Directorate, under the union finance ministry, summoned and questioned
Punjab's powerful Revenue Minister
Bikram Singh Majithia for over four
hours.
Majithia, the younger brother of
union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal
16 JANUARY 2015
(Sukhbir Badal's wife), had to face the
music following allegations by a drug
racket kingpin that he (Majithia) was
linked to three NRIs accused of money
laundering in a Rs.6,000-crore international synthetic drug racket busted by
Punjab Police in 2013.
As Majithia was questioned last
month, BJP leaders demanded that he
quit the Punjab government. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir
Badal ruled out his resignation.
The Punjab government has now
started a PR exercise to "expose" that
the drugs problem was not Punjab's creation but "forced" on it by BJP-ruled
states, by Pakistan and Afghanistan and
states like Himachal Pradesh and
Haryana where pharmaceutical units
were producing synthetic drugs.
After the Lok Sabha polls last year, relations between long-time allies Akali
Dal and BJP have been on the brink.
Both have tried to embarrass one another.
Be it through BJP leader Navjot Singh
Sidhu's barbs against the Badals, the
BJP-led central government trying to
upstage the Akalis by announcing enhanced compensation to the 1984 antiSikh riots victims and the Akali Dal
trying to hit back when the compensation was not implemented immediately,
the controversy around Majithia or their
stand over drugs – both are trying to
outwit each other politically.
The BJP is starting an anti-drugs campaign in Punjab on January 22.
At the same time, both the Badals last
month met BJP president Amit Shah in
New Delhi and, after posing for the
photo-op, declared that "all is well" between both parties.
Having tasted success in recent assembly elections in other states, the BJP
is looking at a bigger pie for itself in Punjab in the 2017 assembly polls. Till now,
the Akali Dal used to give 23 seats to the
BJP in the 117-member assembly to
contest.
The BJP is in no mood to play second
fiddle. In that scenario, the BJP-Akali relationship could head the same way the
BJP-Shiv Sena split in Maharashtra before the assembly polls last year.
On top of everything, the BJP has
turned down the Akali Dal's demand for
the release of 13 Khalistani terorists
from prisons.
The BJP, its leaders say, is preparing itself for bigger things in Punjab – with or
without the Akali Dal. n
INDIA FIRST 17
Nation
Cold
Irony
The homeless in New Delhi
are choosing the streets
over government night
shelters this winter
D
elhi Police might want to play
the good Samaritan but the already overworked force are
not finding it easy to shift hundreds of
homeless in the national capital to shelter homes, from where many are preferring to stay away citing crowded
conditions and lack of hygiene.
Policemen admit that they often have
to use "force" because of orders that no
homeless should be allowed to stay out
in the bitter cold of Delhi's winter.
"It is not an easy task to convince
them (people sleeping outside). They
usually prefer remaining outside till late
at night as they find it easy to get food
and blankets," said a station house officer, who did not wish to be named.
"I took 12 homeless people staying
under a flyover to three separate night
shelters in my area. But two days later I
found they had returned to the same
place," he added. Delhi has 205 night
shelters.
"During the night, people would give
blankets if they were spotted on the
roads. But they would sell the blankets
the next morning," another police officer said.
"The situation in a few night shelters
is also very bad. They lack basic amenities and the toilets are poorly maintained. There is also a shortage of
blankets. In the southwest, west and
southeast districts, there is a huge shortage of blankets," a report prepared by
Delhi Police said.
The report also said that some 1,000
18 INDIA FIRST
"It is not an easy task to
convince them [people sleeping
outside]. They usually prefer
remaining outside till late at
night as they find it easy to get
food and blankets … I took 12
homeless people staying under
a flyover to three separate
night shelters in my area. But
two days later I found they had
returned to the same place”
– A station house officer,
speaking on the condition of
anonymity
people had been "persuaded" to move
into the shelters at night.
As instructed by Lt. Governor Najeeb
Jung, Delhi Police have to start persuading the city's homeless to utilise the
night shelters extended by the government and sleep inside them. They also
have to submit weekly report to Jung.
Recently, Jung asked the DUSIB (Delhi
Urban Shelter Improvement Board) to
start an active Whatsapp group on mobile number 8130135929, where people
can share information.
The report said Delhi Police officers
inspected the night shelters between
December 29, 2014, and January 4, 2015,
and found only 8,700 people sleeping
inside against a capacity of 11,700.
The report comes in the wake of 279
bodies being found in the city in December 2014 alone, the majority of
whom were homeless who died due to
the cold.
Now, station house officers and assistant commissioners of police (ACP),
under the supervision of the deputy
commissioner of police (DCP) concerned , inspect the shelters every night
and submit a daily report to Special
Commissioner of Police (Law and
Order) Deepak Mishra.
Police in the north district managed
to shift 300 homeless people to the shelters on the night of January 4.
"On an average, we daily shift 200
people to night shelters during the drive
between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Our patrolling staff drop off the homeless people in their vehicles," Deputy
Commissioner of Police (North) Madhur
Verma said.
Delhi has 160 police stations under 11
police districts.
"We welcome the initiative taken by
Delhi Police. The Delhi administration
should also take this matter very seriously, as it is their responsibility to look
after the homeless," said Indu Prakash
Singh, member of an NGO working for
the welfare of the homeless.
According to another NGO, a staggering 30,958 homeless people have died in
the national capital in the past 10 years
during winter. n
16 JANUARY 2015
Nation
A Boundless
Battle
While the BSF deserves a pat on the
back for seizing record-high
volumes of heroin along the IndiaPakistan border in Punjab last year,
the ever-bigger seizures also
indicate increasing heroinsmuggling activity on both sides of
the border
B
raving sub-zero temperatures
and dense fog this winter and
highs of up to 45 degrees Celsius last summer, India's Border Security Force (BSF) seized 361 kg of heroin
in 2014 – its highest in a single year on
the border with Pakistan in Punjab.
The seizure, according to BSF officials,
is worth over Rs.1,808 crore ($286 million) in the international market.
The seizures (till December 30) this
year are higher than the previous record
of 322 kg recovered in 2013 along the
barbed wire fenced 553-km border between India and Pakistan in Punjab.
In 2012, the BSF recovered 288 kg
heroin in the Punjab sector, comprising
the frontier districts of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Ferozepur and Fazilka.
"The BSF does not want even a single
gram of drugs to enter through the border. The high seizure of heroin along the
international border is because our men
are extra vigilant," BSF's Jalandharbased Punjab-frontier Inspector General Anil Paliwal said.
The BSF, despite guarding the international border in harsh weather conditions, has been targeted by Punjab's
ruling Shiromani Akali Dal over the
drugs issue.
To ward off attention from the Punjab
government's own failure to curb rampant drug abuse in the state, Akali Dal
leaders, led by its president Sukhbir
Badal, the deputy chief minister and the
16 JANUARY 2015
home minister, have been holding
protests near border checkpoints.
The protests earlier targeted the BSF,
blaming it for not checking smuggling of
drugs into Punjab from the AfghanistanPakistan route. These were toned down
to raise awareness on drugs.
While Paliwal refused to comment on
the politics behind the protests, a senior
BSF officer, requesting anonymity, said:
"Instead of protesting against the BSF,
let Sukhbir Badal, his ministers and
Akali Dal leaders spend a few nights
with BSF troopers who guard the border
24x7 in sub-zero temperatures and
dense fog with zero visibility. Let them
experience the bone-chilling duty that
our troopers do."
BSF field commanders say bigger
seizures also show that heroin smugglers in Pakistan and India have become
more active in the past few years.
The seizure of heroin by the BSF in
2011 was just 68 kg. It was 115 kg in
2010, 120 kg in 2009 and 100 kg in 2008.
The drug network operates along the
Afghanistan-Pakistan-India route.
While the BSF mans the international
border in the districts of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Ferozepur and Fazilka, the highest seizure of heroin this year, 187 kg out
of 361 kg, was in the Amritsar sector
alone. BSF officials at the border have to
deal with the border population as the
agricultural fields of many of them are
across the barbed wire fence. The fence
itself is erected 300-800 metres inside
Indian territory.
The seizure of poppy husk and fake
Indian currency notes (FICN) from the
Pakistan side has, however, fallen this
year.
Compared to over 246 kg poppy husk
and over Rs.52 lakh worth of FICN, the
seizures of these this year has been only
33 kg and Rs.11.83 lakh this year. In
2012, just 5.5 kg poppy husk was recovered.
BSF troopers killed four Pakistani and
three Indian smugglers while exchanging fire near the border this year. Sixteen
Indian smugglers were arrested.
The troopers, including women, say
they have to deal with extreme weather
and inhospitable terrain. The border in
Punjab is manned by nearly 135 BSF
battalions.
"Though we use technology, the
troopers have to rely on their personal
instincts to monitor any movement
along the border. It is a tough job," an
operational commander of the BSF said
in the Amritsar sector.
Smugglers from Pakistan use plastic
pipes to push heroin packets across the
electrified fence, bury them in fields or
throw the wrapped packets into Indian
territory.
Their Indian counterparts later pick
these up. The connivance of Pakistan
border guards, Pakistan Rangers, with
the smugglers is not ruled out. n
INDIA FIRST 19
W
ith global crude oil prices
going below $50 a barrel in
the first week of January,
India's finance and petroleum ministries have found themselves at crosspurposes in a way that recalls the
Roman two-faced god of the month,
Janus.
Before the first week of the New Year
ended, the Indian basket of crude oil
came down from $105 a barrel in April
2014 to $49 on January 6.
To make up for fall in taxes due to the
sustained decline in prices, the government, on New Year's Day, raised the
basic excise duty on petrol and diesel for
the third time in quick succession even
as the expected price reduction on fuels
failed to materialise.
Indeed, one can in jest point to the
conspiratorial aspects of a situation created in the past couple of weeks, where
with such expectations at their height,
and on a day when state-run oil marketers steeply cut rates of aviation fuel
and non-subsidised LPG, the website of
the Indian Oil Corp (IOC) was reportedly
hacked by a Turkish group as a result of
which dates and data on price changes
were reflecting wrongly for some time.
The government said the revenue collected from the additional excise would
go towards funding an "ambitious infrastructure development programme", including 15,000 km of road construction,
for the current and the next financial
year.
"However, retail price of petrol and
diesel will remain unchanged all over
India despite additional excise duty of
Rs.2/litre from midnight," Petroleum
Minister Dharmendra Pradhan tweeted
after the excise hike on January 1.
The money would fund welfare
schemes, Pradhan said.
Taxes on petroleum products contributed Rs.260,000 crore in 2013-14 to
the combined resource pool of the centre and the states.
Excise duty is the biggest component
of central tax revenue from petroleum
and collection from the sector rose from
Rs.68,000 crore in 2011-12 to Rs.77,000
crore in 2013-14, which was more than
one third of its total excise duty collections of Rs.179,000 crore in 2013-14.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told
parliament during its winter session that
the additional excise imposed will help
the government limit fiscal deficit to 4.1
percent of the GDP in the current fiscal.
While consumers have been spared
the impact of the excise hike, fuel prices
have a cascading effect on inflationary
processes and the duty increase will artificially maintain the gap between the
20 INDIA FIRST
Economy
Putting it Crudely
Dwindling oil prices have pitted India’s petroleum and
finance ministries against each other in a zero-sum game
global and domestic price.
The most significant piece of reform
in the sector has come with the deregulation of diesel in October after years of
subsidizing the rich consuming this
transport fuel. The falling global crude
oil prices have helped the government
reduce petrol price seven times since
August and diesel price thrice since October.
On the other hand, excise duty hits
the oil companies hard, as all three
state-run refiners – IOC, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum recorded sequential drops in their gross
refining margins in the September quarter, as falling crude oil prices led to inventory losses. Indian Oil reported a net
loss of Rs. 898 crore in the July-September quarter against a net profit of
Rs.1,683 crore in the same period last
year, resulting in an inventory loss of
Rs.4,272 crore.
Lauding the government's decision to
hike excise duty on transport fuels, industry chamber Assocham has called for
installing an oil price regulatory mechanism to ensure a surplus to be used in
hydrocarbons exploration and development.
"The oil and gas prices for the consumer would have to be kept at a reasonable level adjusted every quarter
through an independent mechanism to
create surplus that could then be
utilised in exploration and development
of oil/gas fields," it added.
Assocham said the principle in price
regulation should be to prevent precipitate fall in consumer level prices and
create as much surplus as possible.
And what of this remarkable descent
of oil, whose low prices drove growth in
the post-War world, and is driving
India's concerned ministries to be at
cross-purposes?
Analysts ascribe quite a few reasons
for the slide in prices – a threat of recession in Europe, cooling off of growth in
China, the shale boom in the US and
steady production from OPEC member
states. OPEC's decision not to cut production despite prices being in downward spiral is being seen as driven by
Saudi Arabia's long-term strategy to
drive US shale out of business. n
16 JANUARY 2015
state
Off the Ground
Odisha seems poised to finally realizing its civil aviation potential
O
disha is in the process of upgrading several airstrips in different
districts.
The
government has conducted a feasibility
study and is in consultation with aircraft
operators to fly to these airstrips to ferry
tourists and entrepreneurs.
A senior official said that connecting
Bhubaneswar and Jeypore on the one
hand and Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur,
Jharsuguda and Rourkela on the other
by small aircraft would be economically
viable.
Most routes would get nine-seater
planes.
The government also plans to put up
communication and surveillance apparatus, increase the length of runways
and build boundary walls to keep stray
animals at bay.
Odisha has 17 airstrips and 16 helipads. Baring the Birasal airstrip in
Dhenkanal district, all other airstrips
have existing runways that can take
small aircraft.
The government has entered into an
agreement with the Airports Authority
of India (AAI) to develop the Jharsuguda
airstrip in western Odisha into a fullfledged airport with an investment of
16 JANUARY 2015
"The government is in talk with
several private operators …
They can operate small aircraft
in the existing airstrips which
have 5,000 feet of runway”
– Sharad Kumar, Director of Biju
Patnaik Airport
Rs.210 crore.
The airport's business will primarily
be driven by corporate travellers, officials say.
Vedanta Group firms have plants in
Jharsuguda. While there are a number of
sponge iron units in the JharsugudaRourkela belt, the Ib valley region in
Jharsuguda is known for coal deposits
and mines.
The government has also proposed to
develop the Jeypore airstrip into a fullfledged airport over 310 acres. This
airstrip covers a region rich with major
industries, both in the private and public sectors.
It would also link tourism spots.
"The government is in talk with sev-
eral private operators," said Sharad
Kumar, the director of Biju Patnaik Airport.
"They can operate small aircraft in the
existing airstrips which have 5,000 feet
of runway," he said.
The bigger planes require at least
7,500 feet of runway to land and take off.
The airstrips would also need navigational aids and control towers.
The government is in the process of
developing five greenfield airports at
Rayagada, Paradip, Dhamra, Angul and
Kalinganagar to boost intra-state and
inter-state civil aviation.
The state-owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corp of Odisha Ltd
(IPICOl) in association with the civil aviation department has initiated a road
map to facilitate investment in aviation
related activities.
Odisha's draft industrial policy of
2014 also envisages developing existing
airstrips.
The government aims to provide
high-class civil aviation infrastructure
facilities and efficient and safe air services to meet the requirements of domestic and foreign trade and tourism, an
official said. n
INDIA FIRST 21
T
hese are hard times for chief
minister Naveen Patnaik and
his party. The worrying trend
that began for the Biju Janata Dal government towards the end of 2014 continues. What the party fears most is the
fallout of the multi-crore chit fund scam.
The BJD MP from Balasore, Rabindra
Kumar Jena has become the latest party
leader to be interrogated by the CBI in
connection with the scam. So rattled is
the party that some of its leaders, who at
one stage had welcomed the CBI probe
into the ponzy scam, have begun accusing the central agency of acting with a
political motive much in the same way
as Mamta Bannerjee in neighbouring
West Bengal.
“There is hardly any doubt left that
the CBI is acting in a partisan manner.
We have a feeling that it is targeting our
leaders at the behest of the BJP government at the Centre,” said a senior BJD
leader. He was only echoing what party
MP from Cuttack, Bhatruhari Mahtab
had said the day the CBI had taken into
custody Banki MLA, Pravat Tripathy for
his alleged links with Artha Tatwa group.
Mahtab had accused the CBI of deliberately targeting politicians and other high
profile persons.
Ruling BJD leaders are once again
touting conspiracy theories though Jena
has himself admitted to have been
quizzed in connection with his links
with the Seashore group. He was the
fifth BJD leader and second party MP to
have been interrogated by the CBI
which is looking into the affairs of 44
ponzi companies in Odisha following a
Supreme Court directive. Earlier, the CBI
had quizzed Mayurbhanj MP, Ramchandra Hansda who was subsequently arrested. The agency has also arrested BJD
MLA from Banki, Pravat Tripathy and
former MLA, Subarna Nayak.
Senior BJD leaders here said they were
convinced that the CBI is acting against
their leaders in a vindictive manner because it wants to tarnish the party’s
image at the instance of the Modi-led
BJP government at the Centre. This despite the fact that BJP president, Amit
Shah during his recent Bhubaneswar
“There is hardly any doubt left
that the CBI is acting in a
partisan manner. We have a
feeling that it is targeting our
leaders at the behest of the
BJP government at the Centre”
– A senior BJD leader
22 INDIA FIRST
State
IN THE
ROUGH
As one after another BJD leader comes under the CBI
scanner, can the immaculate image of Naveen Patnaik
help the party survive the Saradha scam?
visit had hardly attacked the chief minister and mentioned the chit fund scam
but once or twice during his speech.
A senior BJP leader said that BJD’s reaction was born out of panic. “They
know that the CBI inquiry is going to expose them completely. By the time the
inquiry ends almost the entire BJD party
would be behind the bars. So they are
accusing the agency of acting in a partial
manner. The allegation is baseless and
time has come for the chief minister to
resign,” he said.
What is more worrisome for the BJD
is that not only BJP but also the Congress, the main opposition party, has decided to go on the offensive and launch
a statewide agitation against the government on the chit fund issue. Newly appointed Pradesh Congress Committee
president Prasad Harichandan has said
that party cadres would hit the streets
soon. “This is a tough time for us. Our
public image had never been dented so
seriously,” admitted a ruling BJD leader
not willing to be quoted.
The CBI has intensified its investigation into the multi-crore chit fund scam
with the agency’s joint director and
other senior officials reviewing the
progress of cases so far. The central investigating agency has arrested more
than a dozen people so far.
On the other hand, the government is
struggling to save its image in many
other scams and scandals including the
one concerning discretionary quota allotments. Recently the government
made a face-saving move by deciding to
cancel all plots and houses allotted in
the state under the controversial discretionary quota (DQ). But the move drew
more brickbats than bouquets leaving
the ruling dispensation rattled.
While the major opposition parties including the BJP described the decision
as hasty and aimed at hoodwinking the
people, civil society activists and legal
luminaries slammed it as untenable in a
court of law.
The government’s announcement
about a vigilance inquiry into the cases
of houses and plots having been availed
on the basis of false affidavits has also
evoked ridicule, with opposition parties
demanding a probe by an independent
agency.
“The government has taken no decision on the land scam in Odisha, which
is much bigger than just the land and
houses allotted through the discretionary quota. They don’t have the
courage to order a CBI inquiry into the
land scam,” said BJP veteran Bijay Mohapatra who described the cabinet’s decision of cancelling discretionary quota
allotments made after January 1, 1995 as
a step taken in haste.
“I feel the government is terribly
scared of the BJP. That is why it has taken
this decision in haste,” said Mohapatra
adding that strangely enough the Task
Force report on the basis of which the
decision had been taken was never ever
discussed by the cabinet.
Asserting that the decision was aimed
at hoodwinking the people as it would
not stand the scrutiny in a court of law,
Mohapatra demanded that chief minister Naveen Patnaik make a statement on
16 JANUARY 2015
the issue. “Neither the state government
nor the Chief Minister has made any
statement on the issue in the last four to
five months. The statements that others
have made were essentially an attempt
to protect themselves and cannot be
taken as the statement of the government,” he said, adding that the right
course for the government would have
been to make the Task Force report public and then lodge FIRs against the violators. “Instead of doing that, the
government has said that the vigilance
will conduct an inquiry into the matter.
Where is the need for another inquiry
when the issue has already been inquired by the Task Force?” he asked,
adding that everyone knew the fate of
inquiries entrusted to the Vigilance
which was a state agency.
As many as 1,791 allotments, including 803 by Bhubaneswar Development
Authority (BDA), 921 by Cuttack Development Authority (CDA) and 67 by
Odisha State Housing Board (OSHB),
16 JANUARY 2015
“The government has taken no
decision on the land scam in
Odisha, which is much bigger
than just the land and houses
allotted through the
discretionary quota. They don’t
have the courage to order a
CBI inquiry into the land scam”
– BJP veteran Bijay Mohapatra,
criticizing the cabinet’s
decision of cancelling
discretionary quota allotments
made after January 1, 1995 as a
step taken in haste.
stand cancelled following the cabinet’s
decision which came in the wake of a
controversy over discretionary quota
which had been done away by govern-
ment in December 2011 but influential
people continued to avail plots and
houses under the quota.
The Comptroller & Auditor General of
India (CAG) had asked the state government to terminate all irregular allotment
of plots including those made under the
discretionary quota even if constructions have already taken place on the allotted land.
The ruling BJD, however, sought to
justify the government’s decision and
slammed the BJP for its criticism of the
move. “It is not for the BJP or its leaders
to decide whether the decision would
stand the test of law or not.
It is the court which would take a call
on that,” said BJD spokesperson, Pratap
Keshari Deb.
The big question, however, is will the
chief minister’s personal image survive
these scams and scandals? It is a million
dollar question because the party has
been winning elections on the strength
of his image. n
INDIA FIRST 23
B
ollywood stars and cricket
icons have something in common – a pub in this uphill picturesque Himachal Pradesh town that
has already gained prominence for attracting a steady stream of Tibet enthusiasts, Buddhist scholars, backpackers
and even Hollywood stars like Richard
Gere.
On visits to the town, they raise a
cheer at the pub.
Owners of the Mc'LLo restaurantcum-pub say Bollywood celebrities like
Preity Zinta, Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka
Chopra and yesteryear stars Vinod
Khanna, Dimple Kapadia and Dharmendra are among those who have
raised a toast at the pub.
Even Hollywood's Pierce Brosnan has
once raised the toast in the pub.
International cricketers like Adam
Gilchrist, Chris Gayle, Hashim Amla,
Jonty Rhodes, Mahendra Singh Dhoni,
Robin Singh, Virat Kohli and Yuvraj
Singh are among the fixtures in the pub
during the IPL matches at the Himachal
Pradesh Cricket Association's showpiece stadium in Dharamsala, located
just eight kilometres from Mcleodganj.
The Who's Who has included businessmen Siddharth Mallya, Mohit Burman and Ness Wadia.
Located at the town square, the quarter-of-a century-old Mc'LLo, with a seating capacity of 200 plus, has two floors,
with a rooftop bar.
The restaurant displays pictures of
celebrities from Hollywood to Bollywood stars, cricketers and models
who've frequented the place.
"During the IPL seasons, this venue is
the favourite haunt, both for the players
and for the fans," owner Pankaj Chadha.
He said Australian cricketer Gilchrist
is so impressed with the beauty of
McLeodganj, known for its Tibetan artefacts and traditional recipes like Tibetan
dumplings, that he promised to bring
his family here for a holiday.
Chadha remembers the day when
cricketer Brett Lee spent the entire day
playing his guitar in the restaurant.
"Actually he was a Kings XI player and
he was out of the team owing to an injury. He skipped watching the match
and spent the entire day playing the guitar."
Chris Gayle, as usual, was the life of all
the night parties hosted by Kings XI
owner Preity Zinta in Mc'LLo.
The restaurant offers Indian, continental and Chinese cuisine, as also Tibetan dishes like dumplings.
For liquor connoisseurs, the pub has
on its premium wine list brands from at
least 15 countries, mainly Australia and
24 INDIA FIRST
England cricketers Ian Bell, Stuart Borad (right) and Alistair Cook along with Mc'LLo owner Pankaj Chadha.
Kapil Dev (centre) at the Mc'LLo restaurant
Food
Where the Stars
Shine and Dine
in Little Lhasa
16 JANUARY 2015
n
Ravi Shastri (left) at the Mc'LLo restaurant.
Hollywood star Pierce Brosnan at the Mc'LLo restaurant.
16 JANUARY 2015
Getting to McLeodganj: By public
or private road transport from
Delhi via Chandigarh (500 km).
It's an eight km steep uphill climb
from Dharamsala. It is also connected by air and rail from Delhi.
The airport is at Gaggal near Kangra town, some 40 km from
McLeodganj. The nearest railway
station is Punjab's Pathankot
town, some 100 km from
McLeodganj.
n Where to stay: Hotels, guest
houses, and even home stays
with local people (Rs.1,000Rs.8,000). There are 91 registered
hotels with a capacity of 1,000.
There is no five-star hotel in the
vicinity.
n Nearby destinations: Tea estates,
some of them set up by the
British, in Palampur. Those who
want to mix leisure with spiritualism can visit Kangra, Baijnath
and Jwalaji, known for prominent
Hindu shrines. Most of these
towns are within a 40 km radius
of McLeodganj.
n A meal for two in Mc'LLo restaurant would cost between Rs.1,000
and 1,500 (without alcohol).
South Africa.
"A bottle of a top brand of wine costs
somewhere between Rs.2,000 and
Rs.5,000, depending upon the origin
and the vintage," Chadha said.
The restaurant is known for offering a
platter of an authentic taste of Italy – a
thin crust wood-fired pizza and, of
course, pasta too.
"Our pizza gives a smoky flavor as it is
smoked in a wood oven. Others use
electrical ovens," he said.
"We have a special Chinese menu,
which includes traditional Tibetan cuisine. Since most of our guests are Tibetans and followers of the religion, we
offer typical dishes like momos and
thukpa noodle soup, while the main
course comprises mutton thenthuk and
mutton gyathuk," Chadha said.
McLeodganj is the uphill quaint town
about 500 km from New Delhi. Also
known as Little Lhasa, it's home to thousands of Tibetans who found a second
abode to preserve their unique faith,
culture and identity.
The mighty Dhauladhar peak in the
town's backdrop, the nearby British era
tea estates and the spiritual pull of globetrotting Buddhist monk, the Dalai
Lama, is luring hundreds of thousands
of tourists. n
INDIA FIRST 25
Health
PCOS: A Growing Pain in Growing Girls
A
sedentary lifestyle, bad food
habits and obesity are some of
the leading causes of Polycystic
Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) among Indian
teenagers, with an estimated 10-30 percent adolescent girls being affected by it,
health experts say.
"There is a strong association of obesity and PCOS, especially when it happens
around
adolescence. The
incidence of PCOS is rising and lifestyle
changes, nutrition and dietary factors
play a large role in this," said Ranjana
Sharma, senior consultant – gynaecology, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals.
Agreed Sandeep Chadha, executive
consultant, obstetrics and gynecology,
Jaypee Hospital, Noida, who said that
hormonal imbalance is the major "culprit" in PCOS cases.
Among other reasons, he listed obesity, sudden weight gain and, in some
cases, genetic conditions.
"In the past one decade, a sedentary
lifestyle has taken the first place to create hormonal imbalance, and this leads
to Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. If we look
at urban India, approximately 15 percent young girls are falling to PCOS
every year in India," Chadha pointed
out. PCOS leads to the formation of
multiple cysts in the ovary and excessive
production of androgens (male hormones) and also causes increased facial
and body hair, menstrual irregularities
and acne.
"Symptoms like weight gain, patches
of the dark skin on the back of neck and
other areas, irregular periods, unwanted
hair growth and acne can lead to PCOS,"
said Hrishikesh Pai, infertility expert at
Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital.
"However, not every individual develops PCOS if she has all of these symptoms. Different people have different
symptoms with differing levels of severity," Pai said.
He added that the symptoms usually
develop around late teens and early 20s,
adding that teenagers suffering from
PCOS can often develop depression or
poor self esteem because of the effect of
the other symptoms.
"It becomes challenging for some
teenagers in future when they plan to
have children," he said.
According to Shivani Sachdev Gour,
director of SCI Healthcare, PCOS if untreated can lead to many other complications, including cancer.
26 INDIA FIRST
"In the past one decade, a sedentary lifestyle has taken the first
place to create hormonal imbalance, and this leads to Polycystic
Ovary Syndrome. If we look at urban India, approximately 15
percent young girls are falling to PCOS every year in India”
– Sandeep Chadha, executive consultant, obstetrics and
gynecology, Jaypee Hospital, Noida
"Type 2 diabetes due to insulin resistance, cholesterol and lipid abnormalities, increased risk of cardiovascular
problems, abnormal uterine bleeding,
infertility due to hormonal imbalance,
depression and increased risk of uterine
cancer due to exposure to unopposed
estrogen are some of the harmful effects
of untreated PCOS," Gour said.
Chadha said that PCOS can be diagnosed by symptoms and signs, ultrasound and hormone analysis, adding
that various hormone tablets are available if women do not wish to conceive.
"If she wishes conception then ovulation induction drugs along with weight
reduction and insulin sensitizing agents
are used," he said.
Gour added: "Weight loss in obese patients is the first line of treatment. It improves
menstrual
abnormalities,
infertility. Adolescent girls should be
counselled for lifestyle modification,
they should be encouraged to take part
in physical activities and should adopt
healthy eating habits."
She added that medication to decrease insulin resistance and the presence of male pattern of hair is also given.
"Surgery is the alternative procedure
for those who are resistant to medical
management. Mechanical electrolysis
and laser treatment are the options
available for facial hair but only after the
underlying cause is corrected," Gour explained.
Highlighting the role of parents and
offering a word of advice to them,
Sharma said: "They need to be made
aware and informed that this condition
can affect the entire body. They need to
understand two things: a) the right
weight should be maintained and b) immediate medical advice (should be
sought) as soon as the above symptoms
are seen in a growing girl." n
16 JANUARY 2015
Science
Unlocking the Powers of Muga
"Because of the
processing, the
muga silk exhibited
good anti-bacterial
property (due to
enhanced
hydrophobic or
water-repellent
effect) which is
one of the most
important facets
for sutures”
– Joyanti Chutia,
emeritus scientist
and former
director of the
Institute of
Advanced Study in
Science and
Technology (IASST)
M
oving past its image as a
popular textile, Indian scientists have tapped into
Assam's durable Muga silk to craft sutures, used for closing wounds, that
have the potential for fast and efficient
healing.
Muga, popularly known as golden silk
due to its glossy texture, is found in select parts of Assam and is a product of
the silkworm (Antheraea assamensis),
unique to the northeast state. The fibre
has the highest tensile strength (ability
to withstand stress) among all natural
silks and is known for its durability.
Scientists in Assam modified the silk
fibre with polypropylene – a versatile
substance that is commercially used in
making surgical sutures – in addition to
applications in packaging, textiles, and
housewares, among others.
"We grafted polypropylene on Muga
(made of silk fibroin protein) by plasma
processing (a form of physics) and successfully produced sutures suitable for
swift wound-healing. It is the best of all
the sutures produced," said Joyanti
Chutia, emeritus scientist and former
director of the Institute of Advanced
Study in Science and Technology
16 JANUARY 2015
(IASST), at Guwahati, on phone.
"The biomaterial was degraded inside
the system and wound-healing was observed within a few days," Chutia added.
IASST is an autonomous institute
under the Indian government's department of science and technology.
Wound-healing was observed in rabbits and the study was a collaborative effort between scientists of IASST, Assam
Agricultural University and the Laser
and Plasma Technology Division of
Mumbai's Bhabha Atomic Research
Centre. The additions improved the silk
fibre's physical and mechanical qualities so much so that the novel material
fulfilled the most crucial requirements
of ideal sutures for efficient woundhealing, Chutia said.
"Because of the processing, the muga
silk exhibited good anti-bacterial property (due to enhanced hydrophobic or
water-repellent effect) which is one of
the most important facets for sutures,"
she added. Also, the method used to fabricate these sutures is environmentfriendly and non-hazardous, the
scientist said.
The researchers have applied for a
patent this year.
Chutia said Muga silk is till now limited to conventional use as clothing material.
"Its utility as a potential suture biomaterial remains unexplored, although
the possibilities of this silk protein for
application in tissue engineering and
controlled drug delivery have been reported," she said.
The focus is now on furthering the
drug delivery aspect of the biomaterial,
she said.
Amit K. Dinda, professor in the
pathology department at New Delhi's
All India Institute of Medicine Sciences
(AIIMS), said the new suture material, if
it adhered to regulatory norms, could be
an important step in developing indigenous materials.
"For India, sutures are very important.
This will be a good suture material to
approach the wound, to close the
wound. If this material passes the strict
guidelines and can protect from infection, then it could be a very good thing.
It also has to be cost-effective since most
suture materials are imported," said
Dinda, president of the Indian Society of
Renal and Transplant Pathology, on the
phone. n
INDIA FIRST 27
W
ith record amounts of snow
falling, the pistes overlooking Himachal Pradesh's
popular tourist resorts Shimla and Manali have turned out to be a paradise for
skiers.
"This is just the beginning of good skiing days," skier and international coach
Roshan Lal Thakur said.
Thakur said the Solang slopes, just 13
km uphill from Manali, had more than
three-and-a-half feet of snow cover and
more spells of snow were expected.
Like Thakur, the Winter Games Federation of India secretary general, there
are a number of skiers who grew up with
the Solang slopes in their backyard.
Skiing and winter adventure sports
organisers in Manali say more skiers will
converge with the reopening of roads
between Kullu and Manali.
"Our institute has lined up courses,
both for amateur and professional
skiers, from January 11 in Solang and
Narkanda," said Randhir Singh Salhuria,
director of the state-run Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and
Allied Sports in Manali.
Salhuria said the Solang slopes offer a
challenging run to both beginners and
advanced skiers. However, for beginners, not for professionals, the
Narkanda slopes would be ideal.
Currently, Narkanda, some 65 km
from Shimla, has more than two feet of
snow.
Tourism
Himachal
Lures
Skiers
With snowfall aplenty this winter, the mountain state
has become heaven for skiing enthusiasts
28 INDIA FIRST
16 JANUARY 2015
"The snow quality is
marvellous [in Solang] and
moreover it's not crowded like
Auli and Gulmarg slopes ... We'r
looking at more snow"
– Mudit Arora, a skier from New
Delhi
The Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corp's (HPTDC) Hatu Hotel
at Narkanda provides ski apparatus.
According to the Met Office in Shimla,
it snowed heavily in Solang and
Narkanda December 13-14, the season's
first snowfall.
"The snow quality is marvellous (in
Solang) and moreover it's not crowded
like Auli and Gulmarg slopes," said
Mudit Arora, a skier from Delhi.
"We're looking at more snow," he
added.
Kufri, just a half-hour drive from
Shimla and known as a honeymooner's
paradise, has also turned out to be a hub
for skiers.
Discovered as an ideal hill resort by
the British in the 1930s, Kufri emerged
as a popular destination for winter
sports due to good snowfall. For many
decades, it was a regular venue for the
national winter games. But in the past
one decade no winter sports activity was
organised.
"This time, after a long, long break, we
have managed to revive skiing in Kufri,"
private instructor Mohit Bragta said.
Skiers said the Kufri slopes were
shorter and gentler, attracting mainly
the tourists and the first-timers.
Besides skiing, the tourists in Solang
can enjoy snow scooter and sledging.
A large number of private tour operators are providing both skiing apparatus
and instructors to the skiers at Solang.
Rohan Thakur, a travel agent in Manali, is upbeat about the skiing season
ahead.
"As per queries we are getting, we're
eyeing a huge opportunity heading into
this season," he said.
More than 50 private operators are
based in Solang to conduct activities in
winter sports for students, families and
corporates.
Himachal Pradesh, whose economy is
highly dependent on tourism, attracts
every year tourists who surpass the
state's population of about 6.8 million.
Kullu-Manali has emerged as a favourite
tourist destination, followed by Shimla
and Dharamsala, the abode of the Dalai
Lama. n
16 JANUARY 2015
INDIA FIRST 29
T
he status of "National Heritage
Animal" to elephants has done
little to save them, and at least
427 jumbos have perished in the last
seven years in Odisha. Though the state
claims it has taken steps to protect the
animal, experts say industrialisation
and urbanisation are the main reasons
for elephant deaths.
Elephants are continuously barging
into human habitations, triggering a
conflict.
At least 23 people and 26 elephants
have died in the ongoing human-animal
conflict, until September, forest department officials said.
A majority of elephants died unnatural deaths because of poaching, poisoning and deliberate electrocution.
According to the 2012 elephant census, its population increased to 1,930
from 1,886 in 2010, despite the death of
149 elephants mostly due to poaching
and electrocution.
While 51 elephants died in 2009-10,
the toll was 83 in 2010-11, 68 in 2011-12,
82 in 2012-13, and 70 in 2013-14, forest
officials said.
A total of 353 people died in the
human-elephant conflict from 2009-10
till September this year, sources said.
However, the government has failed
to formulate any concrete strategy to
save the elephants which barge into
human habitats, risking their lives as
well as wrecking havoc in the area.
Though the government has been
planning to implement an "Elephant
Corridor Management Plan" across 14
jumbo corridors by cleaning water bodies, planting elephant fodder plants and
ensuing connectivity between habitats,
the authorities have not been able to go
ahead due to mining and other reasons.
As a result, the starving elephants
continue to raid human habitations.
"Elephant is a migrant animal. It can't
stay in one place. It will move to other
places in search of food. Industrialisation and urbanisation has forced the
jumbos to move everywhere, falling prey
to poachers and deliberate electrocution," wildlife activist Lala A.K. Singh
pointed out.
He said elephants are now found in 28
districts, out of 30 districts in the state.
The expert uged both the government
and the civil society to shoulder responsibility for protecting the mammals.
There are three elephant reserves in
the state – Mayurbhanj, Mahanadi and
Sambalpur – along with 14 elephant corridors spread over 870 square km.
Besides, nine fragmented corridors
are also formed.
Though permission for notification of
30 INDIA FIRST
Environment
Predicament of
the Pachyderm
As elephants in Odisha continue to fall victim to
poaching, poisoning and intentional electrocution, the
government is being accused of not doing enough for
their conservation
16 JANUARY 2015
the South Odisha Elephant Reserve and
Baitarani Elephant Reserve were accorded in 2005, the state government is
yet to notify these two elephant reserves.
Elephants are even not safe in 19
sanctuaries and national parks in the
state, experts said.
In order to protect the jumbos, the
government had allotted Rs.21 crore
under the Compensatory Afforestation
Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) for strengthening of
transmission lines across the elephant
corridors in 2013-14.
It also allocated Rs.36 crore to the energy department to strengthen sagging
power lines this year.
The government has also constituted
district-level coordination committees
in every district to protect the animals
from the live wires.
But no concrete steps have been
16 JANUARY 2015
taken to pull up the sagging electric
wires.
"Both the departments are holding
coordination meetings to protect the
elephants from live wires. The energy
department is taking steps to pull up the
sagging transmission lines," Principal
Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife)
S.S. Srivastav.
The elephants have also little chance
to survive due to rapid loss of habitat
due to mining activities and industrialisation. Keonjhar, one of the most mined
districts in India, earlier had a sizeable
number of elephants.
However, many jumbos have left following loss of habitation due to excessive mining.
Officials say mining companies have
encroached upon forest land and disturbed the elephant corridor.
"Mining is one of the major reasons
for death of elephants in the state. We
want industrialisation and progress, but
it should not be at the cost of wildlife,"
said Srivastav.
The Karo-Karampada corridor identified by the forest department in Keonjhar district passes by the Bolani mines
of SAIL.
The Odisha government has asked the
Centre to reserve the Kalarapat bauxite
mines in Kalahandi district, which is
also coming under the Karlapat Wildlife
Sanctuary, to the Odisha Mining Corporation.
The borders of the sanctuary are
within one km from the bauxite reserves. According to the Environment
Protection Act, 1986, an area of up to 10
km from the border of any sanctuary or
National Park is termed "eco-sensitive"
and no developmental or industrial activities are permitted. n
INDIA FIRST 31
I
t's yesterday once more as Indian
Army soldiers in the icy Himalayas, to go by a parliamentary
panel's report, suffer a crippling shortage of snow boots, ski masks and ammunition, among others – precisely the
cause of the crushing defeat inflicted by
the marauding Chinese forces in 1962.
Parliament's standing committee on
defence, in its report tabled in the just
concluded winter session, says there's a
shortfall of 447,000 ski masks, 217,388
high-ankle boots, 186,138 bulletproof
jackets, 13,09,092 brown canvas rubber
sole shoes with laces, and 126,270 mosquito nets.
"The committee is surprised over the
fact that such deficiencies of basic items
of regular use, where no high-end technology is warranted, were allowed to
exist," the panel, headed by Major General B.C. Khanduri (retd), said.
An Indian Army representative was
quoted in the report as stating there is a
"major deficiency in operation and
training stock; inadequate capacity and
quality issues of indigenous ammunition by Ordnance Factory Board (OFB);
and inadequate budget support for the
Ammunition Roadmap".
Thus, the committee recommended
that "necessary steps should be taken by
the (defence) ministry so that ammunition in required quantity and of high
quality is always available with army at
any given time. Otherwise, in the opinion of the Committee, it would not be
possible for the country to sustain a war
for a longer period".
As for the non-procurement of
186,138 bulletproof jackets, sanctioned
in 2009, the committee felt that the figure...must have soared in the last five
years due to increase in number of new
recruits and also the wearing down of
the old stock".
"The committee is perturbed over the
fact that such an important life-saving
device has not been purchased by the
ministry, jeopardizing the lives of thousands of soldiers," it said.
On the non-performance of the indigenous 5.56mm INSAS rifle that was
meant as a replacement for the standard-issue AK-47, the panel found it
"shocking" that even in 53 years, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had not been able to
develop "a world-class basic product
like a rifle".
The committee also expressed "surprise" that the funds for raising a mountain strike corps (some 30,000
personnel) was to be taken from the
army's budget and there was no separate allocation.
32 INDIA FIRST
Defence
The Army’s
Cold Reality
Indian soldiers, who must often work in inhospitable
weather and unforgiving terrain, continue to be ill-clad,
ill-equipped and ill-armed
16 JANUARY 2015
"The committee is least
convinced with the reply of the
ministry that the allocation for
defence expenditure has been
constrained by the overall
economic and fiscal situation.
Such a reply is routine in
nature and as per [our] view,
the defence of the country
must have precedence over
other aspects and the ministry
of finance should prioritize the
entire budgetary allocation
appropriately so that there
remains no dearth of funds for
the services and the security of
the country is never
compromised for want of
money”
– A report from a
parliamentary panel headed by
Major General B.C. Khanduri
(retd)
"The committee is surprised to note
that for raising of this Corps, no separate
allocation has been made in this year's
budget," the panel said.
"As informed, an amount of Rs.5,000
crore has been earmarked for it, but it is
not over and above the actual budget allocated and the army has been asked to
raise this corps out of its own budget," it
said.
The report added that only war
wastage reserves were being utilised for
raising the corps, terming this impractical.
"It seems very impractical and incongruous that a new corps is being raised
with war wastage reserves. The committee feels that the ministry should do
away with its proclivity of ad-hoc plan16 JANUARY 2015
ning and provide adequate budgetary
support commensurate with the requirement of the mountain strike
corps," it said.
To be based at Panagarh in West Bengal, the mountain strike corps is meant
to counter potential threats from China.
It will be the army's fourth strike corps
after the Pakistan-central formations
based at Hissar, Ambala and Bhopal.
The panel also pointed out the lack of
funds for the forces, and asked the government not to use the economic situation as an excuse for not increasing
allocations.
"Although defence expenditure is increasing in absolute terms over the
years, the percentage increase... since
2000-2001 has not been consistent," the
report said.
"The committee is least convinced
with the reply of the ministry that the allocation for defence expenditure has
been constrained by the overall economic and fiscal situation. Such a reply
is routine in nature and as per (our)
view, the defence of the country must
have precedence over other aspects and
the ministry of finance should prioritize
the entire budgetary allocation appropriately so that there remains no dearth
of funds for the services and the security
of the country is never compromised for
want of money," the panel added.
India on July 10 hiked its defence
budget by 12.43 percent, with Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley allocating
Rs.229,000 crore ($38.15 billion) in the
budget proposals for 2014-15 that he
presented in the Lok Sabha.
This is Rs.25,373 crore over the
Rs.203,672 crore allocated for 2013-14
and Rs.5,000 crore over the Rs.224,000
crore allocated in the interim budget for
2014-15 presented ahead of the AprilMay general election. n
INDIA FIRST 33
Wildlife
Discovered: The Other Abode
of the Sri Lankan Flying Snake
A
flying snake, known to be endemic to Sri Lanka, has been
sighted in Andhra Pradesh's
Seshachalam forests, some forest officials and researchers say.
According to researchers, this is the
first time that Chrysopelea taprobanica
has been sighted outside the island nation.
The species, known to be found in dry
zone lowlands and parts of the intermediate climatic zones in Sri Lanka, was
spotted at the Seshachalam Biosphere
Reserve in Chittoor district.
It was about a year ago that the
species was seen in Chalama, a core forest area about 25 km from the hill shrine
of Tirumala.
Morphological studies and DNA tests
proved that it was indeed Chrysopelea
taprobanica, which glides by stretching
its body into a flattened strip.
However, the researchers have revealed this now after Checklist, a journal
of biodiversity data, mentioned it in its
latest issue.
"We have the specimen and we sent
this to many international biodiversity
organisations," said M. Ravikumar, the
conservator of forests in the Wildlife
Management Circle, Tirupati.
Researchers Bubesh Guptha and N.V.
Sivaram Prasad conducted the study
under the guidance of Ravikumar, in
collaboration with Simon T. Maddock of
The Natural History Museum in London, and V. Deepak of the Centre for
Ecological Studies at the Indian Institute
of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru.
"An adult specimen of C. taprobanica
was collected from the Seshachalam
Biosphere Reserve of Andhra Pradesh,
India, being the first record of this snake
species from India, significantly extending the known range of distribution of
the species," the international journal
said in its 10th anniversary issue.
The forest official said the sighting of
the flying snake was another evidence of
the rich biodiversity of the Seshachalam
forests.
He, however, said that unlike other
animals, it was difficult to observe
snakes as they were mostly nocturnal.
34 INDIA FIRST
"An adult specimen of C. taprobanica was collected from the
Seshachalam Biosphere Reserve of Andhra Pradesh, India, being
the first record of this snake species from India, significantly
extending the known range of distribution of the species”
– Checklist, a journal of biodiversity data
Guptha said he also captured pictures
of two more flying snakes spotted a few
months ago.
He believes the species may have
moved between Sri Lanka and the dry
zones of peninsular India before the two
regions got separated due to some natural events about 17,000 years ago.
According to the journal, an unidentified specimen suspected to be
Chrysopelea taprobanica was photographed in 2000 by V. Santharam in a
deciduous forest patch in Rishi Valley of
Andhra Pradesh, but the specimen was
not collected.
The Seshachalam hill range is part of
the Eastern Ghats, which are a chain of
broken hills in peninsular India. They
have been less explored for their biodi-
versity compared to the Western Ghats.
The researcher feels the development
could throw more light on the rich biodiversity of the Eastern Ghats.
"All talk about the Western Ghats but
we have come across rare species in
the Eastern Ghats as well. There is a
need for more long-term research,"
Guptha said.
The rare species found here in recent
times include Slender Coral Snake (Calliophis melanurus), Elliot's Shieldtail
(Uropeltis ellioti), Brown vine snake
(Ahaetulla pulverulenta) and Nagarjunasagar Racer (Coluber bholanathi).
Ravikumar said the Seshachalam
forests were rich in both flora and fauna.
"There are several endemic species," he
added. n
16 JANUARY 2015
Literature
Portrait of a
Muslim Scholar as
a Sanskrit Guru
Pandit Gulam Dastagir is doubtless one of the finest
products of a secular India
"Comparative study of different religions makes you more
reasonable. I am not a fanatic, just an ordinary Muslim"
I
n downtown Worli, it is common
to hear the strange greeting of 'Assalamu-Alaykum, Guruji' whenever an 80-year-old Muslim man steps
out of his modest home. He is none
other than renowned Sanskrit scholar
Pandit Gulam Dastagir, who over six
decades
has
impressed
the
Shankaracharyas, late prime minister
Indira Gandhi, RSS leaders and Islamic
scholars, all with equal élan.
Armed with a deep knowledge of both
Islam and Sanskrit, Pandit Dastagir can
speak with authority on any religious
topic – and earn their unabashed admiration.
Born in Chikhali village in Solapur
district, Pandit Dastagir completed his
schooling before joining a government
Sanskrit institution.
"I was the only Muslim student in a
class of around four dozen Brahmins.
My Brahmin Guruji developed a special
liking for me and encouraged me. I acquired my entire Sanskrit knowledge of
the scriptures, Vedas and other texts
there," Pandit Dastagir said.
Around mid-1950s, he shifted to
Mumbai and joined the Maratha Mandir
16 JANUARY 2015
Sansthan's Marathi-medium Worli High
School as a Sanskrit teacher for all
classes.
Two decades later, to comply with
professional requirements, he appeared
directly for a Master's degree in Sanskrit
from Mysore University.
After the Emergency, when the Janata
Party ruled India, Pandit Dastagir was
suddenly targeted. "They suspected I
was a namesake Muslim propagating
the RSS and Jana Sangh ideology
through Sanskrit. It was only after a long
investigation that they were proved
wrong," the man chuckled.
When Indira Gandhi returned to
power in 1980, she summoned him and
was surprised to discover that Pandit
Dastagir was actually a 'Syedvanshi', or
belonging to a clan considered the direct descendents of Prophet Mohammed.
"She met me several times and appreciated my knowledge and love for Sanskrit. In 1982, she told the education
ministry to appoint me as a 'Rashtriya
Sanskrit Pracharak'," Pandit Dastagir
said.
When baffled officials asked Gandhi
how should his duties be classified, she
reportedly shot back: "He will teach us
what needs to be done. Let him function
independently."
For two years, he toured India extensively and propagated Sanskrit in government and private institutions. He
quit the post after Gandhi's assassination in 1984.
"I acquired MA in Sanskrit only in
1987 when I was around 50 years old although I was proficient in the language
long before."
Since his retirement, Pandit Dastagir
lectures on the similarities between
Islam and Hinduism with reference to
various aspects of one of the world's
oldest and richest languages, Sanskrit.
"Sanskrit is not only for Brahmins. But
this perception made the masses reluctant to study it. I create awareness about
Sanskrit all over India among different
castes and religions," he said.
Pandit Dastagir explained that Hinduism does not recognize conversion or
the caste system. "The current craze for
conversion has no basis in Hindu scriptures. It is not recognized. At best, you
can change a person's name, not his
soul from the religion of his/her birth,"
he said.
An old darling of the Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), Pandit
Dastagir credits the group with giving
him full encouragement to pursue his
vocation without having to change his
religion.
He feels the RSS was not against any
religion. "But if anybody threatens Hinduism, they will hit back, irrespective of
the opponent's religious beliefs," Pandit
Dastagir said. He has also never encountered objections from fellow Muslims
over his passion for Sanskrit. "Comparative study of different religions makes
you more reasonable. I am not a fanatic,
just an ordinary Muslim."
His love for Sanskrit has not made
him lose Islamic identity. He prays daily
at the mosque. "I have built up a huge library of thousands of books on Sanskrit
and Islam which I study and propagate,"
Pandit Dastagir said.
He laments that there are many other
Muslim Sanskrit scholars in the country
but financial constraints prevent them
from propagating the ancient Indian
language.
Pandit Dastagir's wife Vahida is a supporting housewife. Their son Badiujjama is a Sanskrit scholar but runs a
shop, elder daughter Gyasunissa Shaikh
runs a Sanskrit research centre in Solapur, and their other daughter Kamrunnisa Patil never pursued her father's
passion. n
INDIA FIRST 35
Fashion
What’s
Out,
What’s In
for 2015
"Bold African geometric prints, fluffy
clouds prints, artistic ink splatters
and over-scaled blurred imagery are
all huge trends in terms of printed
fabric for 2015. Tartans and
houndstooth will be a big trend too
along with faux leather, textured
cottons, taffeta and organza"
– Designer Swapnil Shinde
M
ove over monochromes
and experiment with
colours and bold prints;
give the little black dress a miss for
skirts and crop tops – and emphasise
on bold and beautiful accessories to
put your best fashion foot forward in
the New Year, Indian designers suggest.
Skimpy dresses went passé from red
carpet events in the latter half of 2014,
paving way for skirts in all forms, as
well as sassy crop tops. Designers say
the trend will continue to rule in 2015,
as much for celebrities as for common
fashion-conscious girls.
From the city streets to the international runway shows of Jill Stuart and
Michael Kors – crop tops have been
making a splash of sorts.
Back home, it was actresses like
Sonam Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha,
Malaika Arora Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez and Alia Bhatt who flaunted
the trend during movie promotions
36 INDIA FIRST
and award nights.
"Skirts will make a big trend in 2015.
The ones with long slits, wrap skirts
and pretty much all kinds of skirts are
going to be hot in 2015. Crop tops will
also make it for big trend this year,
and they work both for relaxed casual
looks and for cocktail wear," said designer Kiran Uttam Ghosh.
But before opting for this look,
make sure you're toned enough!
If you wish to steer clear of a sensuous and feminine look, try casual
maxi t-shirt dresses and denims.
"A maxi t-shirt dress is best for the
lazy girls as it is a one-stop for comfort
and style. Also, denims in all forms
will be huge along with sneakers, that
were earlier restricted to gymwear.
"Running shoes are now being
paired with the most chic outfits. I
often wear my sneakers with my
dresses," said Ghosh.
Bohemian glamour is also knocking
at the doors of the fashion world once
16 JANUARY 2015
again, thanks to foreign celebrities
like Catherine Zeta Jones, Nicole
Richie and Emma Stone, who have
lately been seen experimenting
with this style.
For designers, fringes and florals
will add some spunk to this look in
2015.
"Fringes add a bohemian charm
to an outfit with an understated
flamboyance. The trend is going to
be seen on everything - dresses,
skirts, jackets, bags, shoes, scarves
and pretty much everything in your
wardrobe.
"Florals are also making its way
in 2015 like never before. From
large and loud to minute, it's all
about going floral this year," said
Ghosh.
The choices of out-of-the-box
fabrics and colours will also play a
huge role in boosting the glamour
quotient in you.
"Bold African geometric prints,
16 JANUARY 2015
fluffy clouds prints, artistic ink
splatters and over scaled blurred
imagery are all huge trends in
terms of printed fabric for 2015.
Tartans and houndstooth will be a
big trend too along with faux
leather, textured cottons, taffeta
and organza," designer Swapnil
Shinde said.
The colours that are likely to rule
the palette are shades of green –
olive, leaf and emerald, along with
amethyst, deep purple, mauve and
pink. According to Shinde, such
colours and fabrics will look good
on "clean lines, cocoon silhouettes
for an androgynous look."
What about footwear and accessories?
"Chunky bibs in copper and
handcuffs with interesting animal
or reptile motifs will steal the show.
Boots are also a huge trend for the
season, closely followed by ankle
strap heels," said Shinde. n
INDIA FIRST 37
Movie
Review
'Tevar' - masala at its best
Subhash K. Jha
Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha and Manoj Bajpayee;
Director: Amit Ravindernath Sharma; Rating: ****
F
unny, how more things change,
the more they remain the same.
"Tevar", which is one of the
most engaging Bollywood masala
dossiers in recent months, takes us
through the crowded 'gallis', 'mohallas'
and 'akhadas' of Agra and Mathura in
search of that elusive thing called love.
This is a love story where most of the
playing-time is devoted to the protagonists locked in a scuffle of the most
physical and violent kind. And yet,
there's a core of tenderness in the film,
manifested in Sonakshi Sinha's melting
pleading eyes as she makes a run away
from the city's arch-goon Gajender
Singh (Manoj Bajpayee,
bang-on), who has taken a
shine to her.
Mind you, it's not a
lecher's lascivious love. It's
true love.
Bajpayee interprets the
besotted goon's character
with such intuitive warmth
that you almost feel sorry
for this vicious uncouth
'katta'-carrying
ruffian
turning into jelly when love
strikes at a dance performance, which
incidentally could've been better choreographed.
Never mind. There is no telling about
tastes, specially when a man loses his
heart while the local lass swirls twirls
and unfurls a wave of endless violence
that ends at Terminal 3 of the Delhi airport.
Bajpayee's character's love for the
spirited Radhika would have made for a
more interesting case-study on the wayward ways of the heart than the other liaison between the hero and the heroine.
As the love-smitten sociopath, Bajpayee
instills inner reserves of wicked unexpectedness in scenes that seem to be
written to accentuate the demoniacal
duffer's embarrassing attempts to be romantic. Bajpayee takes the character beyond the precincts of parodic evil.
At the end of the day, "Tevar" is a
showcase for Arjun Kapoor's heroics, so
much so that the hero's friends – so
much an integral part of the mofussil
38 INDIA FIRST
drama with Salman Khan in "Tere
Naam" or Tusshar Kapoor in "Mujhe
Kucch Kehna Hai" – are reduced to a
babbling blur. Make no mistake, this is
Arjun Kapoor's one-way ticket to some
'hero-giri'. And would Mahesh Babu
please move over?
Indeed, the film offers Arjun the
chance to take his substantial stardom
to the next level. He grabs the opportunity with both hands. From his stunning
introductory sequence where he makes
his way into a kabaddi match by indulging in some earthy parkour to the
climactic fist fight with Bajpayee, Arjun
doesn't let go of even a moment of the
opportunity to juice his character for all
the adrenaline that it is worth.
A film about characters on the run,
stands the risk of running out of breath.
"Tevar" averts the wheezy and adopts
the breezy momentum of a narrative
hurling towards a pre-empted bloody finale. Oh yes, the film is violent. Extremely so. But it is not the sickening
life-sucking violence of "Ghajini" or the
recent "Lakshmi".
The action scenes, though stretched
out, are shot skilfully in the comicbook
mode. You could almost see debutant
director Amit Sharma thinking of the
original fights in the Telugu hit "Okkudi"
being reproduced here in tactile terms.
The narrative is pickled with crackerjack action sequences. And if Arjun is
the self-confessed 'Salman ka fan' hero
of "Tevar", then action director Sham
Kaushal's kicks and grunts are the hero's
hefty heroic ammunition.
The supporting cast is sketchy at the
most with Deepti Naval trying bravely to
paint shades into her shadowy character. But it's the redoubtable Raj Babbar
who springs a surprise. Playing the
wastrel hero's upright policeman-dad
Babbar succeeds in swerving his stereotypical character into unexpected areas
of empathy.
In fact, Babbar's character epitomises
the film's mood. We've seen the same
plot a million times. "Tevar" makes the
familiar look fresh and engaging.
If 2014 ended with a bang called "PK",
2015 if off to a flying start with this
bumpy joyride of a film, a cat-andmouse chase film with smartly written
scenes that leave us hankering for more.
In the film, Sonakshi's
character is shown to remove all the 'matar from
the paneer' whenever she
is served the dish. But we
don't mind taking the
corny dialogues which
come with the captivating
scenes.
Director Amit Sharma
takes a very basic plot of a
small-town boy on the run
with a hapless girl whom
the city's biggest goon wants to forcibly
marry. This isn't the first time that Sonakshi has played the damsel in distress.
She knows the character by heart.
In a couple of sequences, such as the
one where Arjun smears holi colours on
her face, and/or the pre-climactic interlude where he attacks Bajpayee with the
arsenic of sarcasm, Sonakshi nails the
character. This is her best performance
after "Lootera".
Luckily for the script, Arjun and Sonakshi look like the kind of people who
can bump into one another due to a
bizarre chain of events, and then fall in
love. The build-up to the couple's growing mutual fondness doesn't have a convincing graph. But what the film has in
huge amounts, is inner faith in the filmy
formula, and a virile fluency in the narrative pattern.
This week, just forget about gods and
aliens. Just go have a good time watching an unpretentious unapologetic
masala film. n
16 JANUARY 2015
Bollywood
'Badlapur' is special :
Huma Qureshi
A
ctress Huma Qureshi, who will soon be seen in dark, intense and revenge
drama "Badlapur", says it's a special film for her as she got a chance to
work with her favourite director Sriram Raghavan, who made sure she
was out of her comfort zone. At the launch of a magazine's cover recently, Huma
opened up about her role in the movie, which also stars Varun Dhawan.
"In 'Badlapur', my character's
name is Jhumli. It's a special film
for me because I got a chance to
work with my favourite director,
Sriram Raghavan. I'm a huge fan
of him. And from the time I saw
his films, 'Ek Hasina Thi' ,
'Johnny Gaddaar', I really wanted
to work with him," she said.
Huma, who has earlier been appreciated for her work in films
like "Gangs of Wasseypur", "Luv
Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana", "Ek
Thi Daayan", "D-Day" and
"Dedh Ishqiya", believes the role
in "Badlapur" has challenged her
in a different way. “About my
character, I would only say that
Sriram (director) really put me
outside my comfort zone. I think
Jhumli is a character that I possibly did just because of him. I
don't think I would have put myself through playing such a difficult character,"
she said. The actress even recollected one day during the shoot when she "literally
broke down". She hopes audiences "really enjoy how much hard work we have
pulled together in the film". “Badlapur", which also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui
and Divya Dutta in key roles, is set to release February 20. n
'Mary Kom' is for my dad:
Priyanka Chopra
"M
ary Kom" was one of the top gainers at the Renault Star Guild Awards 2015 and
actress Priyanka Chopra, who played the main lead in the film, has dedicated its
success to her late father Ashok Chopra. "Thank u #starGuildAwards for the acknowledgements tonight...#MaryKom is for my dad.. Thank you for watching over me," tweeted
Priyanka, who walked away with the best actress award for the film. Priyanka always found a
great support system in her father, who passed away after a battle with cancer in 2013. A
doctor by profession, he had retired from the Indian Army in 1997 as lieutenant-colonel.
The "Fashion" actress also has a tattoo of "Daddy's Li'l Girl" on one of her forearms. Directed by Omung Kumar, the film was released September 5. Priyanka, who has earlier
called "Mary Kom" her toughest film ever, credited the film's team for the success of the
film. "Congratulations to team #MaryKom for winning 5 tonight. @OmungKumar @SaiwynQ, Sanjay Sir and everyone who made this possible," she wrote. At present, the actress is
busy shooting for her first period drama "Bajirao Mastani", which also stars Deepika
Padukone and Ranveer Singh. n
16 JANUARY 2015
INDIA FIRST 39
Hollywood
Gomez spotted
holding Zedd's
hand
S
inger Selena Gomez has sparked dating rumours
with Russian-German music producer and DJ Zedd
after they were spotted holding hands at a Golden Globe
after-party. On Sunday evening, while heading to the party,
the 22-year-old was seen holding hands with Zedd, 25, as
she chatted up with Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux,
reports dailymail.co.uk.
The two looked like a couple as they made their way side
by side past a sea of people that included valets and partygoers. Earlier in the evening, Gomez was seen resting her
arms on Zedd's shoulder while on the red carpet with
model Cara Delevingne at the InStyle/Warner Bros party.
Gomez looked thrilled to be with Zedd and was seen
beaming at him while he posed for the camera. n
Blanchett uses
Emu oil for skin
A
ctress Cate Blanchett, 45, says she
swears by the power of Emu oil for
keeping her skin in check. "I tend to use really basic creams, and I like to put an oil on,
like an emu oil from Australia. It’s from the
Emu (bird) and it’s really nourishing. I prefer an oil to a cream," dailymail.co.uk
quoted her as saying. "In indigenous Australian culture, that’s the first oil they put
on a baby because it’s so hydrating. It’s all
pretty basic," she added. The product is
made from oil taken from the fatty tissue
on an Emu's back. n
40 INDIA FIRST
16 JANUARY 2015
Book
Review
'Two Women' and More:
A diva's remarkable story
Vikas Datta
Title: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: My Life ; Author: Sophia Loren;
Publisher: Simon and Schuster UK; Pages: 352; Special Indian price: Rs.699
I
t was a friendly and perceptive policeman
who, seeing a confused teenager before him,
may have helped launch a glorious career. It
was Rome, 1951, and the girl, searching for a leading
film production firm but finding the address she
had been given was of a police station, was wondering if she had been duped. The policeman then told
her the "Ponti-De Laurentiis place" was next door
and put Sofia Lazzaro on the path that saw her become one of the world's best-known and accomplished actresses. We know her as Sophia Loren.
Born Sofia Villani
Scicolone Sep 20, 1934,
in a small town near
Naples, Sophia Loren's
story is a Cinderellalike legend - from a
childhood where deprivation and hunger
were not far off to the
glittering film career
where she worked with
household names and
she tells of her life with
candour, grace and
characteristic aplomb
in her first autobiography - coming at the age
of 80.
It makes no effort to
hide her scarcely enviable childhood where
living with her maternal grandparents (who
she thought were her
parents due to her absentee 'father') and the
family teetering on the
brink of impoverishment and danger as the Second World War raged up
the Italian peninsula - she herself got hit by shrapnel in a bombing raid but a kindly American army
surgeon made the scar disappear.
At that time she gave no indication of the alluring woman she would become - getting nicknamed Toothpick at school due to her scrawny
build and dark colour before blossoming out as a
teenager.
It was a tortuous way ahead - beauty pageants
(with a home-made dress made out of the curtains), 'fotoromanzis' (the adored Italian photoromances), uncredited film appearances
16 JANUARY 2015
(including "Quo Vadis" where director Mervyn
LeRoy was impressed with her despite her naïve
but enthusiastic "yes" to all questions including
what her name was), till that fateful search for
that production house of Carlo Ponti and Dino
de Laurentiis. Then there was no looking back.
During her career (which spans six-and-a-half
decades of her total eight - and still shows no sign
of ending), she has worked with the Who's Who of
the film industry and she gives insightful accounts
of Ponti (who despite being two decades older became her husband),
Cary Grant (who
wanted to marry her),
director Vittorio De
Sica, Marcello Mastroianni, Frank Sinatra,
Clark
Gable,
Gregory Peck, Jayne
Mansfield (who suffered a "wardrobe
malfunction" next to
her at one Hollywood
bash), Charles "Charlie" Chaplin, Richard
Burton, Peter O'Toole,
Marlon Brando, Paul
Newman, Omar Sharif
(their mothers held an
eggplant cooking contest), Audrey Hepburn
(whose 'lunch' explains how she maintained the famous
waif-like figure) and
many more.
There may be nothing in this book which
may not be known or
seem a revelation, but the way Sophia Loren tells it
- as a Christmas Eve evocation of memories on finding a box of old photos and letters - makes it seem
a conversation carried out with the reader.
Film stars have so much written about them that
their lives are virtually public knowledge. But how
far trusty are these reports about those experienced
in working in a make-believe world, donning a
range of personas and moreover enjoying services
of an extensive publicity machine. It is then we wait
for their memoirs, hoping to get a glimpse of the
person once the makeup is off.
This is one such work. n
INDIA FIRST 41
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